Bryce's 1st Christmas and it's a white one!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...actually no dreaming was necessary! What a wonderful year already, then to top it all we have a White Christmas. This year has been one of the best years of my life. First off Nic and I were able to become pregnant much sooner han we expected. Then of course the birth of our son was the best day of both of our lives. I knew I would love my son with all that I had, but I didn't expect my love for my husband to grow with that, it truly brings me to tears. Every year on Christmas morning regardless of the weather forecast, I look out the window hoping by some miracle there will be snow, it's truly magical that Bryce's first Christmas is a White Christmas. It's too bad he isn't old enough to appreciate and enjoy it. One day far too soon we'll be out there together building snowmen and sledding.

Of course this post is going to have tons of pictures. The first are from a few days before Christmas. Melissa wanted to take some pictures of Kell and Bryce together in front of Mom's Christmas tree.

Here Kell is...the proud cousin.

Kell and Melissa.

Here is Bryce meeting his Great-Grandma Kell on Christmas Eve...before the snow moved in.

Here is our snow covered home. I believe we got at least 6-7 inches. I know when I got Bryce and I home safely from my Mom's house on Christmas Eve, the snow was nearly up to my knees when in our drive way due to the blizzard like conditions creating large drifts.









Here we are driving Christmas morning on Memorial Dr heading northbound between 151st and 161st in Bixby.

Let the Christmas festivities begin!

Bryce is a making a funny face in this picture, you can almost see his dimple.

We were trying to get Kell to cooperate, I don't know exactly what he was trying to do in this picture, but I think it's kind of funny.

My Aunt Sareca, cousin Zoey, me, and my Aunt Sarah Dawn (of course Bryce too).

Add Melissa to the picture!

My cousin Evan trying to sneak a nap.

Evan's wife Channing and Melissa taking one of those famous self portraits.

Me and Nic.

Bryce napping.

Zoomed in to the bottom of the foot of his outfit.

My cousin Zoey and Melissa

The second coming of the grandkids generation: Zoey, Seth and Audrey. Oh I guess there is a great-grand kid in the picture making an awfully funny face!

Kell is so funny! He really liked opening the presents regardless of what they were.

Kell showing some excitement for his presents.

Watching a DVD of Grandpapy's life.

Everyone!

Kell and my Uncle Steven.

Our family of three and our first Christmas as a family of three.

Here's just a couple extra photos.

Nic and Bryce watching TV.

Bryce giving me a good smile! He's getting pretty good at giving me smiles. I can't wait for the laughs.

He's one month old already?!?

I cannot believe Bryce is one month old today!! We've officially graduated from the newborn clothes as Bryce is too long for all of them. With the assistance of the Nintendo Wii and the Wii Fit game and balance board we have determined that he now weighs 8 lbs 12 oz. That's all we have to work with right now since his next doctor's visit is on January 4th, which will be his 6 week check up and he'll get a couple shots...and that's the day I go back to work. : (

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Today we had a few errands to run, and on our way back we made it by our friends Chad and Jamie's house. They had a baby Brooks the day after Bryce was born. At birth Bryce was 7 lbs 6 oz, and Brooks was 7 lbs 8 oz. Today I think Brooks had a little bit of weight on Bryce. They were too cute laying on the couch together, not that Bryce stayed laying on his back long, but we managed to get a cute picture or two of them together before Bryce got upset.

This morning, after a pretty good night of sleep and Bryce actually sleeping in his bassinet for the majority of the night, I discovered that Bryce enjoyed sitting in his boppy, so this evening I made sure to get a couple of pictures of him in it as well as a video of him 'talking'. The video is at the end.

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I didn't realize how big Fara is compared to him, she only has a little over 3 lbs on him.



Studying his hand.

Here they are...

Here's my favorites...I think!

While I have a minute to spare...

...or I thought I did.

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Bryce is growing, at least lengthwise. He's too long for most of the few newborn clothes we have, yet not quite big enough for the 0-3 months. It's too bad it's so cold or he could just hang out in a onesie most of the time. He is putting on weight too, as he has pretty much grown out of the newborn sized diapers.

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He's pretty demanding and likes to be held...a lot! We're still working on the nights. We do know he does NOT like his bassinet, so it's an ongoing struggle. He did nap pretty well in it yesterday. I refuse to be one of those parents that are trying to get their 2 year old to sleep in his own bed.

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I've been trying to get the camera out more when he's awake, which is becoming more and more each day. So here's some pictures.

I try to let him 'play' in his gym a little bit each day and do some tummy time too. I thought this was cute of him looking in the mirror.

I should have all of his newborn pictures on either Saturday or Monday, I have reviewd them and they are really good. I don't know how we're going to narrow it down.

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Here's another teaser. I'm completely in love!

Newborn photo teaser

Thursday we had Bryce's official newborn portraits taken. After emailing a couple photographers and looking at tons of websites we decided to go with Kristen from Son Kissed Photography. One thing I really liked was that she took these photos at our home, so we didn't have to take Bryce to a studio where he could be exposed to germs and stuff that other kiddos might have brought in.

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Kristen is a natural light photographer therefore we needed the sun to be shining to take these photos. After a yucky weather day on Wednesday, the sun was shining in full force on Thursday and there was plenty of natural light in our house.

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We should be able to review the photos in the next day or so, but in the meantime Kristen posted a couple of teasers, as she liked to call it. So here's a little teaser of what's to come.

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2 week check-up

Today we took Bryce for his 2 week check-up. Either he shrunk or his initial length measurement was not correct, today he measured 21 inches. The nurse did it twice since the measurement at birth was 21 5/8, so we'll never know exactly how long he was. Right now his height is in the 65th percentile. Today he weighed 7 lb 8 oz (20th percentile), so he's now 2 oz over his birth weight, and has gained 6 oz since we left the hospital. His head circumference at birth was recorded as 33 cm and today it was 36 cm which is in the 30th percentile.

Eventhough we have his newborn pictures tomorrow, I decided I would try to take some myself. Here's a few that I think turned out pretty good.

It's still amazing that this is our child. He is worth every bit of the 9 month wait, from the morning sickness to the acid indigestion!

Thanksgiving

Wow! I can't believe it's been 12 days since Bryce was born. It's going by way too fast! Tomorrow is his 2 week checkup.

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving. With the new baby we did not want to venture too far from home, so we stayed close. First we made a stop by Nic's uncle's house in Bixby and visited a bit, then we went to my Aunt Sareca's house in Morris for Thanksgiving dinner. The food was yummy and it was great to introduce Bryce to more of our family.

Our family, but Bryce wasn't cooperating.








Melissa, Kell, Me & Bryce


Kell and his mini-piece of pumpkin pie.

Bryce with Aunt Sareca

Thanksgiving was great, and we're looking forward to Bryce meeting more family at Christmas.

Thursday we have his newborn photos, so we'll see how they turn out.