Christmas Time!

The Christmas spirit has officially hit the Gonzales household. This weekend was spent all around Christmas! First Heidi had to mail her list to Santa...she had been asking for weeks to do so! Luckily we actually got to see Santa Saturday too. Heidi asked for the Easy Bake Oven :)

After visiting Santa and Mrs. Claus - it was time to see some Christmas lights! First stop was GE - now normally we wouldn't visit GE after dark...not in the best of neighborhoods...but they have extra security during the holiday season because a lot of people come see the special GE lights. They have it tuned to music and everything. Very festive and fun.

Next stop was downtown Cleveland. GE also decorates a park there.

Today we decided to start making our cookies. I went shopping with Lucy (I'm exhausted now) and Heidi and Chris handled the cookies. We are freezing most of them for next weekend - but managed to sneak one or two...

Side note... I always love finding Heidi's little make believe play areas... I'm not sure what she was playing - but I think they were all waiting in line for the doctor. :)

 Also, today marked a milestone for miss Lucy - she had her first rice cereal... not much eating - more spitting it out and moving her tongue - but I bet by the end of this week - she might actually get some down!

We are getting closer to being ready for Christmas! This week will be a busy week preparing - but it should be a great time!!!

4 Months!!!

Lucy is 4 months!! But first - a sneak peak of the 2 minute photo shoot by Christina Kahler... a big thank you goes out to her for getting us pictures for our Christmas cards! Love them!

Now to our 4 month little peanut - LUCY! And I say little because she is barely reaching the 10% percentile for everything! She weighs in at 11 pounds 7 ounces...is 23 1/4 tall and her head is 16 inches... as the doctor put it - she is petite but portionate.

She was just intrigued by the doctor and was watching every move and let him do whatever he wanted. She is right on time for her milestones and is not behind at all. In fact she has been given the green light to start rice cereal and then after that for a couple of weeks...food!!!

I looked back at our blog and Heidi was more than a pound bigger at this age and a 1/2 inch taller - now she was a freak of nature and very advanced for her physical ability - but who knows, Lucy might just catch up. I swear each day - she is getting stronger!!

The doctor said her now hairless head on the back is common and her hair will grow back. I guess she has two birthmarks back there that will fade over time and they are just really irritated right now. He prescribed some ointment and even after one application - Lucy seems not as irritated! Maybe she will stop grabbing her head like she wants to rip it off!

She was finally able to enjoy some time in the exerciser saucer - but as you can tell - she is just sooo little!

The cardiologist appointment isn't until Friday and I will report their findings as well. But so far we have a normal baby on our hands!

Since we are so close to Christmas - we decided we better get on that decorating thing... Chris completed the lights outside and put up 4 or 5 trees - I lost count.

We have been DOWN with sickness here in the Gonzales household - so sorry, not a lot of pictures. I personally was blessed with the stomach flu, that finished with a nice case of bronchitis. Heidi had a fever from Thursday to Monday and she finished with an ear infection and upper respiratory infection and Chris came down with the stomach flu today. Lucy so far - she has lucked out. I'm sick of being sick and this house needs a DEEP clean!

Omaha Whirlwind...

Here we go!!! On the way to Omaha! The girls traveled so well!!! We did have some aftermath of crabbiness from Lucy for a day or two...or three - but then she got right into the swing of things and was quite fun during the trip!

Heidi and Kendall were very excited to see each other and whatever one had - the other needed it. Its always fun to see the cousins play!

Kendall I think was most excited to see Lucy!

We were lucky enough to get the three girls together again. Zara and Kendall were born days apart and Heidi was three weeks later! Its fun to see them grow and change!!!

Aunt Christina, I think, enjoyed holding baby Lucy :)

A picture of my mom! She will not pose for pictures - so I have to snap them when I can!

Blake and Kendall were so good to Lucy! Would entertain her if she cried and Blake would always calm her down with his penguin walk. :)

We tried the jump thingy - um... not so much - she needs to be a little bigger!

Kendall did an excellent job feeding Lucy for bedtime! She was so excited!

Friday was over at my dads and it was Husker game day!

Saturday was at the Gonzales household and Lucy was excited for her new toy!

Now Lucy has managed to pull out majority of her hair - so we have invested in some hats... I LOVE this picture!!!

Heidi and her best friend Ayla! I am always amazed how well they play together and have fun. My favorite was watching them on the video monitor just giggling and having a good ole time! For the record - I only had Mings twice and I'm thoroughly depressed about that.

Besides seeing good friends and family - we also had an awesome wedding to attend! Here we are running out the door for the rehearsal dinner!

 The happy couple getting tackled by kids!!!

 VAL!!!!

 The best family in the world! Thank you guys for an awesome weekend!

Heidi was their flower girl and she just loved opening all her presents for being in the wedding! She did such a good job - we were very proud of her!

 Wedding day! Once again a quick picture running out the door...

I'm hoping to be able to pull off some images from the wedding photographer when they become available! It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding! We were so honored to be a part of it!

Back to family and Grandma Babs the baby charmer!!!

I tried to capture some last minute pictures of everyone - I still missed family members - I think next time I'm going to make them line up and be forced into a picture! :)

We did lose a special person in our lives, our Aunt Lois, Darrell's sister. It was unexpected and she will be missed. Cass flew up to Omaha for the funeral and we were lucky enough to hang out with him for a little bit before he had to get back to Vegas.

 And just like that - we were back on the road to Cleveland! What a whirlwind. We tried to see as many people and spend lots of time with everyone - but its just so hard! We hope to be back in March!

We love and miss everyone!