The Glamorous Life....

Ok, not the fanciest pictures ever, but I downloaded my camera's pictures on the computer today and cracked up laughing when I saw this progression:













Anyone who's spent time holding Sierra knows this is a very, very common occurrence. Mama's just happy when it's less than 5 ozs. Oh yeah.
And in case you were wondering how I spend 90% of my waking hours, please, step into my office...




And for anyone keeping score: yes, those are pajama pants, and no, I didn't drink the beer in that St. Arnold's mug (sadly.)

Roll over Beethoven

There's a new roller in town! This daughter of ours may be a stubborn one afterall (like that's a surprise). I told my mom on the phone that Sierra hadn't made any attempts to roll over, then set her down on the mat 5 minutes later and viola! She flipped! She's been trying out her new found skill all weekend.
She's not happy about tummy time in general here, but she flips as if to say "Yeah, OK- I'll do your trick. Now can I eat?" That's my girl.... :)

Sierra Goes to Austin

We finally made our first trip back to Austin with Sierra! It had been awhile- our last trip to Austin was for the first football game when Chrissy was about 8 months pregnant! We really went up to visit with the family- Uncle Travis and Aunt Ashley were meeting Doug & Cindi to look for rehearsal dinner venues. We all got together with Ashley's family for drinks at their wedding location, Green Pastures, which was really beautiful! We can't wait for the big day! It's hard to imagine my litte bro is getting married- and that our little girl will be just 1 week shy of her first birthday at their wedding! This makes me feel old, so I had to share an old pic of us as kids...

The Fam in NYC in 1989



The weather was gorgeous on Sunday, so we opted for a walk around the capital building- something Chrissy has never managed to do in all her years in Austin.


Good exercise for Mama


We found the statue honoring the Texas Pioneer Women and I couldn't resist. Also, a good pic of that wrap I've been talking about.


And before we could leave Austin, we had to make a stop by the now famous Round Rock Donuts for their 2 lb special. In addition to being stupidly huge (Sierra could float the river with this thing), it was also very yummy. Sierra was excited too:

Baby's First Christmas

Awwwww- how could this not be fun?? :)

We started our Christmas adventures in San Antonio with Granny (Claude's Mom) as usual- enjoying some of the most delicious Mexican food this state has. Somehow we missed taking pictures of Sierra's first trips to Blanco Cafe and Henry's Puffy Tacos.... oops! Christmas Eve we celebrated with Carol, Byron, Lance, and Rachelle. Gingerbread-house-decorating and Lego-car-building-and-racing competitions this year. Fun stuff! :) Then it's back to Granny's for some caffeine and we're off to Midnight Mass. Sierra was a doll... of course, she was the only one allowed to sleep.....

"Wait- did you say presents??" 












Mamaw in her Christmas best: 












Cousins Lance & Rachelle on Christmas Eve:












Sierra & Granny all ready for Midnight Mass:

After a very short night, it's Christmas morning at Grannys! Let the fun begin!

"Hey this is fun!!!"













"If I'm cute, do I get more presents?"

Trading smiles with Great Granny:

Of course, we didn't forget the first-born: (It's a giant snake full of squeakers, in case you were wondering.) And Papa got a box from Italy....

Then a mad dash for the showers, some of Granny's fantastic blueberry muffins, and we're on the road to Sugar Land to visit the Stewarts. Dick, Charlotte, Catherine, Anna, and Jenny also came to celebrate! And Izzy & Moe too- they got adoption papers in their stockings. They'll officially be Pichots soon.... :)

I got to play with my new video camera there, so we have this little photo-montage:


And Sierra giving Papa his Christmas present...


After we crashed Christmas night in Sugar Land, then loaded up the car (again) with all 6 of us and headed to Beeville. This required the use of our new vehicle, a 2010 Subaru Outback. Yay!


The entrance to Claude & Cherry's new house:


 









Out for a walk with the fuzzy-child while Sierra sleeps:

Cousins Rosalie & Riley:


















Cousin Abby:

GrandDad & his great-grandchildren (Abby, Riley, & Sierra) and Frida:

Austin, GrandDad, & Travis:

Raised by Wolves

Finally emerging from the black hole of Christmas and New Years and I promise to load up on photos from the holidays very soon.
Mama's favorite new toy is the video camera. Here's a clip of life at our house- baby, dogs, lots of fun at the circus:

OK Santa, we're ready for you!!

So, I ended my last post as I was pulling Christmas out of the closet. And now, 2 weeks later, the house is finally decorated! Santa's allowed to visit now! 

The penguins are decked too! This is probably my favorite decoration! I made these last year out of a cheap little kiddie Santa hat I bought on clearance. We've enjoyed these so much, I'm thinking of expanding the penguins' wardrobe for more holidays....

In addition to our full Christmas tree in the den, we have our Texas tree in the living room. I'll have to leave it up until Jan 7, of course!! Maybe "Pistolas McCoy" and the Horns will leave us a certain crystal football under the tree! Hook 'Em!!
|,,/







Zoe would like to be a present under the tree too... awwww.

Look at how strong she is!! Still not a big fan of "tummy time"- we really only last a few minutes until the frustration sets in, the fussing starts, Mama caves, and Sierra gets flipped back over. Of course, if there's something fun to look (like the TV or a puppy dog), she's more willing to lift her head up high.

Our whole clan is ready for Christmas break! Travis has been working for 19 days straight now- most of those late nights too- so he's ready for a good vacation! Aside from running our little circus at home and "Christmas-ing", Chrissy has been juggling all the car-wreck clean-up. The Honda is officially totaled, but we're still negotiating on the value. And of course, we're in the process of shopping for a new car. Stay tuned for more!

Our first 6 weeks

So it's time for her first progress report, right??
(Well, we don't go back to the pedi for a couple weeks still, but Mama can operate a scale right??)

She's a happy, smiling, 9lbs 6oz! I can't believe it! She passed Mama's birth weight a long time ago, but still hasn't hit Papa's starting weigh-in. Don't worry, there will be a picture and an apologetic phone call to Mamaw to commemorate that event in a couple weeks.

Here's a side-by-side of Day 1 vs Day 42:

As many of you heard, it SNOWED here yesterday too! In Houston! This only happens about every 10 years, so we get pretty excited about it. Here in the city it was really wet, slushy "snow", not real pretty. Since Mama was on her own and couldn't figure out how to wrangle an appropriately-bundled baby AND Papa's fancy camera, we stayed inside and took pictures from the window.
Here's one early on that shows it coming down, but before anything started sticking. It actually snowed for several hours, so we ended up with a couple inches before it let-up in the late afternoon.

But forget the snow, the most exciting thing in our house the last couple weeks has been Sierra really starting to smile. Ahhh, it's the best! :) Aside from adults making goofy faces, she also smiles at Zoe and her favorite Mortimer the Moose.
Aunt Charlotte caught an adorable, toothless grin a few nights ago with her phone.

Big sister Zoe really likes the Boppy pillow also.


Actually, this reminds me....
Aunt Charlotte was staying with Sierra (our first separation- yikes!) while Mama went to rescue Papa from the side of 610. Yep, if you haven't seen the pictures yet, Chrissy's ol' Accord went out with a bang Wed. night- literally. Travis was car #2 of 5 in a rush-hour pile-up. Aside from a little sore neck the next day, Travis was fine. Since cars #1-4 were already stopped, the last car in line (in the back, the white Cavalier below) got the citation and should be responsible for all the damage. At least that's the story from the cops- we're waiting on the official police report to make it to the insurance company before we can do anything. Until then, our little circus is operating on 1 vehicle. (Read: Mama stuck at home with no car.) :(

The driver of the Cavalier walked away fine, btw. She hit a older pick-up that had no rear bumper so the Cavalier absorbed all of the impact. Note to self: don't drive behind jerks with no rear bumper.

Also, I promised a better picture our absolute favorite piece of baby-gear, the Moby wrap. I don't know if this really any better, but it's a fun picture anyways. Sierra got to go putt-putting last week! We met GrandDoug, GiGi, Uncle Travis, and Aunt Ashley in Pearland to enjoy the beautiful weather we had the day after Thanksgiving. (Far more relaxing than shopping...)

So, that should get us all caught up! Wow! Now Mama's off to pull Christmas out of the closet- yay!!!

:)