Your Name

Dear Christian,
From the day you arrived your brother Benjamin has loved saying your name. He is VERY proud to tell everyone he meets who his baby is:)
But recently he has taken to calling you by a number of new nicknames that he has come up with all on his own (hmmm, no similarities to his Mama with that trait :)). We are working to get all of them on video so we have record of them all but in the event that some fade away before you can remember them I wanted to share your brother's favorites with you. Benjamin loves to call you...

• Bay Bay (pronounced without the long vowel but not Ba Ba)
• Little wad of dough (I think he heard Mama saying this too many times :))
• Little Feta (by far our favorite! We have no idea where this came from...aren't even sure if/how B knows what feta cheese is(!)....but you know how much your brother loves to eat :)
• Christian Glistian
• NOT Hairy Brother   (Benjamin now calls Stanford Hairy Brother as a step up from Brother. He has made this important distinction since his new little brother came to stay :) and it is classic when he yells..."hey, NOT Hairy Brother, look at my cars.")
• Nyarn yarn (we have NO idea but B thinks it is hilarious)

First TOOTH!

You may have noticed the plethora of bibs that have become a priority piece of Christian's wardrobe these days :)

Or the myriad of teethers we have on hand no matter where we are :)
Well (no pun intended)...the constant state of Niagara Falls was for good reason. Christian's first tooth has arrived! Mama found it while he was snacking on her finger in his bath. Glad to have found it then rather than later that evening while he was eating :)
It's off to the races from here...I can tell he is already wondering why we aren't sharing our pizza on Friday nights...now that he has his first valuable chomper.
Here's to all of your beautiful new teeth as each one adds to your gorgeous smile Bug!

The bib says it all....

 Why YES....yes it is!!!! :)

My Mama wants to eat me :)

My baby is 6 months old!!!

From then....

Time has gone too quickly...you arrived in such style and it seems like only a moment ago. But oh, how proud I am of you! You bring such light and happiness to our days!You are growing up to be such an amazing and wonderful little boy!

To now! My beautiful boy!!

Big brother Benjamin wishes you a happy half birthday too :)

We love you Christian, so very, very much!! We can't imagine life without you! Happy 6 month birthday!

Welcome Cousin Lentil!

On January 3 Christian welcomed his newest cousin, Ari Joseph; welcome to the family Ari!
Ari was known as Lentil for the first 10 months of his existence :) so in honor of his arrival Christian AND Benjamin enjoyed a dinner of Lentil Beans.

Both boys were HUGE fans! :)
We are so excited to meet you soon Ari where I guarantee your cousin's reactions will be the same!

Baby Yoga

Christian's favorite position.... pretzel, wad of delicious dough, maybe I can call it "calzone"? :)

And perhaps his main reasoning for loving this position....comes complete with a snack at no extra cost. Who wouldn't love to nibble on those little toes?!

What are you looking at Mama?? Yes, I am beautiful!

Patty cake with my feet :)

It's hard to decide what baby sugar I want to eat first!

Mmmmmm FOOD!!!

By popular demand here is a video of sweet Christian enjoying his first cereal. He was born to eat :)

A first Christmas

Christmas has arrived! So warm, so full of wonder and magic! Our boys have made this Christmas so very special!!

Christian was in awe of the lights and sounds of crinkling wrapping paper. And he LOVED his Gund puppy blanket from Santa (among other things!)
What a beautiful day we had together just the four of us (and Stanford of course!).

The "after"...Mama's favorite nest

Merry First Christmas Christian! Here is to all of the wonderful Christmases we will share together in all the years to come!

First FOOD!!! Hallelujah!

After much patience (Mama made him wait until his 5 month birthday) Christian had his first food! He was ecstatic! Acted as though he had been doing this eating thing his entire life. And, based on how he was still looking at all of our plates, I am quite certain he was still wondering where the rest of it was.

For now sweet one you'll have to enjoy the banana and sweet potato and we'll venture in to avocados in a few days :)
I am so very proud of you and this next step!!!

Sitting up in style :)

Christian has been working his tummy crunches and recently decided he was ready for a different view of the world. Such a strong boy!! He likes to hang with his favorite teethers and carefully observe what his big brother is doing in the moment!

More delicious than ever and impressing Mama with his latest achievements each and every day!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christian's first holiday season is in full swing (much to Mama's content :)). The boys' (including our hairy son :)) excitement is contagious and although Christian is not quite sure what is happening he is certainly aware of the tangible excitement in the air!
He is a big fan of White Christmas already (surprised??), was a huge help stringing his first Christmas tree with lights, and enjoyed his first meeting with Santa twice in one weekend.

First we met Santa on the Santa train...a joyous tradition we began with Benjamin and that we continue to love each year. And then Christian had his first chance to sit on Santa's lap at our club.

Just as his big brother before him Christian was not phased in the least bit by the big man with the white beard and red suit. Had he been able to talk we're pretty sure he would have asked him to grab him one of the breakfast sausages from the brunch!

And for all of you who understand....yes, my children will forever be a part of matching pajama tradition on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. In their first year of matching pj's we were delighted by our Christmas goodies in green!!

Meeting New Cousin Ellie

Christian and Mama traveled to Topeka, KS to meet new cousin (and Goddaughter) baby Ellie as she celebrated her 2nd month birthday.

Mama was so excited to meet her first niece on this side of the family and Christian was thrilled....each and every time we brought him over to say hello he tried to eat Ellie!

She is certainly delicious but I don't think Aunt Anne Marie and Uncle Michael want you to eat her, Christian!
When Christian wasn't trying to eat Ellie he was trying to breastfeed on Uncle Michael's elbow....oops! My little champion eater...always ready for a meal....

That's definitely not Mama though :)








It is an understatement to say that Ga and Mimi were happy as clams holding their two newest grandbabies. One more will close out their year!

We have officially started the countdown to Christmas :)

Mark our words...these photos will some day grace both Christian and Eleanore's graduation slide show. :)

A new treat...Toes!

Christian has found his beautiful chunky feet. And his joy is our joy in seeing him so darn happy to grab those ten little treats and nibble on them with delight!

PS. When did we lose the flexibility to be able to do this?!?

Oh what a pair...

Christian may not be able to walk yet but these two brothers are the best of friends already!
There is no way for us to describe how much this warms our hearts!!
Oh what a pair they are!

Reading Christian stories

I call it the hug ball...a daily dose!

And oh are we going to have our hands full as soon as our little guy does go on the move!