three months old ... and early Christmas eve

Cheery and smiley--what a sweet 3 month old!And so we finally made it! Khloe has reached the 12 week/3 month mark. It is wonderful when a baby makes it to this point. Sleeping is under control, eating is under control ... she can play in the gym for a while. She is pleasant when awake. This is definitely a great point to reach. Once this growth spurt subsides, it will be business as usual. Khloe has started to laugh/giggle. It is cute to hear her make squealing and cooing and giggly noises when you play with her. She is starting to dislike her swing. It's sad, because up until lately, she would take her last catnap of the day in that swing. Now, she just cries. She would rather be put down in her crib. I love the swing ... but unfortunately, she isn't too keen on it right now. We'll see if she gets back into it or not. If not, I'll put it away. It takes up a lot of space. She's about to have her first Christmas. She's a little more aware than Colton was during his first Christmas, but it will still pass her by with not much knowledge that this certain day is any different from all of the rest.This is Khloe in a super cute outfit that Bill's co-workers gave her. It finally fits, so I thought I'd take a picture to pass along to them. She's looking so grown up ... well, more baby-ish and less infant-like.

I have made some treats lately ... and I made up this yummy veggie soup that Billy likes a lot. And I made biscuits from scratch for the first time. They were very tasty with one tweak needed ... I over kneaded the dough. Next time, I will do that less, so that I can get a more light and fluffy/flakey biscuit. Here are some pictures of my soup and treats. I made these chocolate Christmas cookies ... I replaced the mini chocolate chips with mini Christmas colored M&Ms. They were very tasty!The beginning of the soup preparation.My finhished soup project. It was delicious!The biscuits!

Tonight, we got my "push-present" for having Khloe. We bought a Nikon D5100 SLR camera. I am SO excited! I have taken a couple of pictures. I will have to read up on it, and maybe buy a book that will help me to take the best pictures. I am so thankful to have this camera. I am ready to take great pictures of the kids now without missing the perfect shot. This is the Christmas tree. I just like how it turned out.Billy and me ... it does make taking self-portraits much more difficult.

We decided to have our family Christmas Eve tonight. Since we will be traveling all of Christmas Eve, and since we're opening our gifts up tomorrow morning, we thought it'd be good to celebrate tonight at our house. We watched Dumbo (which hopefully will be a Christmas movie next year, instead--but once Colton gets something into his head ... it's hard to change his mind). He left out cookies and Mountain Dew for Santa. It would've been milk, but because we're leaving on Saturday, we are out of milk! Plus, I think Dad prefers Mountain Dew. We'll wake up tomorrow and open gifts and have a big breakfast. Colton is really excited. Like Billy said, "This is the first Christmas I am really excited in a long time!" And I think that's because we are so excited to see how Colton takes in all of these new experiences. It's something like living through your kid. You know and remember how wonderful Christmas was when you were little ... and to see that same joy in your child truly makes this the most wonderful time of the year. Cookies and Mountain Dew left for Santa.