Christmas Day

Barrett really surprised us with his excitement on Christmas Morning.  He woke up really early, had 2 bottles, and was cranky by the time we were ready to see what Santa brought.  Although he has been excited at every store's animated decorations, Christmas lights, and the discoveries of Santa, Christmas trees, and Snowmen .... We didn't expect to see that "Magic of Christmas Morning" look on his face.

As soon as he saw his presents from Santa, he wiggled out of my arms and walked straight to all of his new toys.  He looked like "Is All This REALLY for me?!?!"  He carefully touched each of his toys and books, and smiled at us each time he discovered a new gift.  Matt and I both described our hearts melting during those moments.  

Then we showed him his stocking.  I kept pulling out new goodies, and eventually he wanted to pull them out of his stocking himself.  I held the stocking so he could peek in, stretch is arm inside, and pull out the last few presents that were left.  So precious!

We left him in his Santa pajamas and headed to Nana and Papa's house for breakfast and more presents.  While we were there, it started to snow.  Even though we were totally unprepared ... no coat, gloves, hat ... we got him dressed and took him outside.  The excitement of his cousins may have worn of on him because he was WAAAAY more excited than we thought he would be.  At that point, the snow felt like rain, but Barrett loved every second of it.

After a little play time and lunch, we headed to Gamma and Poppy's house.  After a traffic free drive, we got there just in time for dinner ... and more presents!  (Barrett spent most of the next day in his new wagon being pulled by Poppy.  He LOVES it!)

Santa Left Me All This???

 

Christmas Morning Fun

He Loves the Christmas Tree

Silly Boy

Mommy Helping Open Gifts

So Sweet

Waiting His Turn to Open More Presents

 

Keeping Us Entertained

Playing with Gamma

Daddy Helping with the New Wagon

Trying to Figure This Out ... What Exactly Does it Do?

Poppy's Helper


My New Wagon

Christmas Snow!

Barrett has really surprised is with his excitement on Christmas Day. He's not quite old enough to understand it all, but he definitely had that "Magic of Christmas Morning" look on his face when he saw all his presents from Santa! We have pictures on the camera that we will have to blog about later.

We were also surprised to actually have a White Christmas! After Barrett played in the snow with his cousins at Nana and Papa's house, we had to bundle him up in the car to go to Gamma and Poppy's.

Little Man is DEFINITELY having a fun Christmas Day!

Christmas Shopping

Shopping with a toddler can be quite difficult.  Especially when during Christmas time when the trips to the mall are much longer than they need to be, the stores are over crowded, and stops happen frequently.  Unless you go to Northpark and there are puppet shows to see, waves to Santa, and birds and turtles in the water to explore.  

We also met Gamma and Poppy there ... so there were three us us to entertain Barrett while we were out.  

We saw the Scrooge Puppet show, but I think Scrooge scared Barrett a little.  He wouldn't let go of my hand the whole time! He was definitely intrigued, but he had a death grip on me. Then we found the Santa's Helper's Puppet Show a little later.  This was a whole different experience.  Barrett couldn't sit still.  He kept pointing, dancing, and walking up to the stage to see everything up close. 

 Deciding Whether THIS Puppet Show is Scary Like Scrooge, or Fun!

Dancing with the Ballerina

Enjoying the Show

Mommy, Did YOU See that Too??

Then we found some birds and a turtle when we crossed the bridge in the middle of the mall.  Barrett kept pointing at them saying "ish!  ish!" while bouncing up and down.  I think he was just excited to be out of his stroller for a few minutes!

 He did so great today!  And even had a smile on his face as we headed towards the car.

Cheeeeeeeeeze!

Santa 2012

We are LOVING this Christmas Season with our little man!  Last year he was only two months old, but this year he is noticing all the lights, decorations, and the Christmas hoopla that surrounds him.

Every time we take him to a store that has a blow up Santa, or more importantly a blow up Mickey Mouse dressed as Santa, he starts kicking his legs and pointing at it while he smiles and makes noises.  (I assume this is excitement!)  

We also went to go visit Santa, or "sntttt" as Barrett calls him.  The whole time we were in line he kept pointing and smiling at Santa .... until it was time to sit in Santa's lap.  I included all the pictures below because the progression of the betrayal Barrett expresses is pretty funny. 

I think he tried to make a run for it! 

The second we picked him up, he turned toward Santa to wave "bye bye" to him with a smile on his face.  

Below is last year's Santa picture ...

What a difference a year makes!!!

Barrett Christmas-isms

• "Sntttt" = Santa
• "ah-mAnnnna" = Snowman
• "iissss iiissss" = Christmas

Thanksgiving Week

Ignore the fact that he is wearing the same sweater in these pictures as he was in the previous post!  I guess it was a good buy!  

Daddy was able to stay home all week this week.  So we took advantage of him being home with us.  We decorated the house for Christmas, finished the Christmas lights outside, went to the zoo, and then headed out of town for Thanksgiving!

The week started off at the zoo.  We had so much fun because Barrett is starting to interact with us when he sees the animals.  The monkeys were all out and ready to play (we usually catch them during their nap time), and Barrett pointed to each one to make sure we saw them all!

Where'd the Monkeys Go?

Too Distracted by the Animals to Get a Good Picture with Daddy

Pointing to the Giraffes 

Then we headed to College Station to spend Thanksgiving with Gamma, Poppy, Uncle Kyle, and Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Chris.  They all loved watching him play and show off his new skills.  He's so close to taking off and walking on his own, and he got LOTS of practice this week at Gamma and Poppy's house!

Only Picture We Actually Took on Thanksgiving Day!

On Saturday we all headed back to Dallas for Papa Fred's 80th Birthday Party.  Barrett just met Papa Fred for the first time earlier this week, and getting to see him twice in one week was just the icing on the cake.  

Gamma's whole family was there ... and that meant lots of kids for Barrett to play with!  The party room was huge, so there was definitely room to play.  Barrett is one of the younger kids ... only 2 of them can't walk yet.  But he wanted to go play with the big kids so badly!!! 

By the end of the night he had enough courage to take about 15 steps at a time.  That's the farthest he's ever gone without toppling over.  I think watching all the other kids play was just the motivation he needed.  (I better finish baby proofing the house ... and FAST!)

The Barrett Kids with Mom

The Whole Barrett Family ... That Was In Attendance 

(Uncle Chris had to work!)

Arnold Cousins 

I may have been like 7 the last time we took a picture like this!

And a Picture With the Birthday Boy Himself!

We had a GREAT Thanksgiving Week!  And I know it was just a warm up for things to come.  We are looking forward to the Christmas Season and experiencing it all with our favorite Little Elf!  

Fall Weather

We are loving playing outside in this fall weather!  We have taken many walks to our neighborhood park the past few weeks to play in this beautiful weather.  A few days ago, Gamma and Poppy were in town so we brought them with us!

We also spent an afternoon outside watching Daddy put up the Christmas lights. 

Little Man wanted in on the action ..... so he started helping!

 (Photos of the completed project are to come!)

Halloween

We dressed Barrett up and took him trick or treating for the first time this year.  Ok ... we maybe didn't actually trick or treat as much as we walked up and down the street holding our cute Monkey.

Tuesday night we took him to a Fall Festival.  He was completely overwhelmed and under-impressed that we didn't stay long. But he did have fun playing with some of the toys that were set out for babies and in the petting zoo.  (The story of how I was completely freaked out while we were in the petting zoo and how a goat tried to eat my shirt is a different story.)

 Toys at the Festival

 Mommy and Monkey

 Petting the Goats at the Petting Zoo with Daddy

Climbing Over Daddy to Reach the Goats

We put him back in his Monkey suit on Halloween so he could help us pass out candy and go down the street with us.  Then he surprised us by deciding to take his first steps!  Maybe he was motivated by watching all the other kids in the neighborhood running around outside. :) We were glad Gamma was here so we had an extra pair of hands to capture his very first steps on video!.

Check out the video to see how our night went!

Monkey's First Steps Included

Happy Halloween!