Christmas with Nanny Helen!

Since we were in Houma for Christmas, we celebrated Christmas with Nanny early! Which meant Gus was able to practice his unwrapping skills just a little more before the big day in Houma!!! He had a blast unwrapping her gifts....a little more interested in the tissue paper at first!!

In his horse outfit opening a gift in a horse bag....I wonder who made sure to have all the horses present??!! :-)


Yippee!! Bathtub toys!! A basketball goal with balls, three new rubber ducks and a turtle to put it all in!! Thank you so much Nanny!! This is what we have needed for a long time!!

Ball directly to his mouth!!

Belated December Birthdays!!!

This month has been incredibly crazy for me! Although I may not have posted a birthday wish for you on your birthday, I did not forget about you on your birthday!! One of my many new years resolutions is to keep up with this blog....easier said than done...maybe one day when I have a faster computer this will be a little more realistic!!

12.10.08 - Happy 2nd Birthday to Buttercup!! Buttercup, you are the best thing that happened to Jake and I besides having baby Gusley!! You will never read this and you may feel like we neglect you at times, but the truth is you will always be our baby girl!!!



12.15.08 - Happy 9th Birthday to William!! William, you are awesome! We love and miss you sooooo much!! We wish we could have been there for the birthday celebration, maybe next year!! Jake is so proud to be your Parin and I am so proud to be your aunt! Seems like yesterday we got the call that Sarah was going into labor....Jake and I had just finished up our exams at Vandebilt and were trying to decide what we were going to do with our afternoon!! What a wonderful afternoon it turned out to be...we met William for the first time and man was he cute....he still is!! We love you and watch your speed on your new mini bike!!

12.14.08 - Happy 2nd Birthday to Canon! We love and miss you too buddy! We wish we could have been at your party as well! Can't believe you are already two years old...time really does fly. Hope you had a Happy Birthday! Love and miss you too!

To everyone else that keeps up with our blog and has a December birthday....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TOO!! We hope you had a wonderful day, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Popeye the Sailor Man....toot, toot!!

One of the dishes that we were assigned to make and bring down to Houma was mom's famous Spinach Madeline. I took some of the cooked down spinach and ground it up in the baby food grinder and this is the result.......HE LOVED IT!!!

Sweet eyes on the last bite!!

Tennessee Christmas ~ 12.20.08

Since we headed down south for Christmas we decided to do Christmas with mom and dad before our trip! We debated if we should wait until the morning, but Gus was in a great mood so we did it on the 20th! He was adorable...he loved the wrapping paper and tissue paper and boxes more than the gifts I think! We all got some really great, useful presents and not to mention it was the best Christmas yet....a baby in the house!! You always hear how fun the holidays are with children, but to be able to experience it first hand was indescribable.

Here is Gus with his first gift from Pinki and Pops...his very own suitcase!!

He was more interested in the tag than the actual suitcase!

Our Christmas Tree and 3 stockings hung with care!!



Buttercup, our precious little elf!

Gusley and big sister Buttercup!

Second gift.....punchable penguin!!

Trying to get Gusley and his sister, Buttercup to pose in front of the tree....didn't work as well as planned!

Jake loves his little kneeling position....thought I would share a picture with everyone. It is pretty cute!!

The penguin was a hit....he loves this thing!! So do I!!

Pops and Gusley opening their new LSU "uniforms" from Pinki!!

I think he would prefer empty boxes.....please save them for him!!!! NOT! We have plenty up here!!

Getting his practice before we get to Houma!!

Gusley ripping through the boxes, paper and tissue paper....he was shredding the paper!!!!

An excited Jake!!!

Looks like we are ready to head to Houma!!

Me showing off my "Merry Christmas Lauren" bag that mom and dad have been recycling for about 15 years!!!

Helping mommy open her gift!

Checking to make sure he can fit!!

Sweet baby face with his array of new toys!!

Gus and his new age guitar...it plays "Love Shack", "Message in a Bottle" and "ABC"!!

Jake had to get a picture of what we were watching while opening gifts!! Wizard of Oz, what a great movie....follow the yellow brick road!!

The three of us with our awesome gift from Mom and Dad....a collage from when Gusley was 4 months old!

Gusley with his Curious George from Pinki and Pops!

Santa's Elves

Jake took this picture of mom and I late one night as we were wrapping presents and sorting out gifts! We were actually trying to sneak out to go get a treat, but he caught us so we got him one too!! Nothing like a Wendy's frosty at midnight when it is 20 degrees out!!

I thought this was a really great picture of mom and I and it really depicts our mood at that moment....very happy and excited about having a baby in the house at Christmas time!!!

I love you mom! You are the bomb, especially at Christmas time!!

10 Month Photo Shoot!!

12.14.08 - Gusley Norman is 10 months! My how much has been accomplished by him in these past 10 months. Rolling over in July, sitting in August, crawling and pulling up in September, 1st tooth in October, 2nd tooth in November and now walking in December!! AMAZING! Jake and I are loving every minute of being parents and are taking it one day at a time so that we can take it all in and try not to miss a special milestone is our little Peanut's life!!

Gusley and Jake have a very special bond. I really get to see it at night when it is time for bed. We bath Gus and sometimes try to read him a book, but usually he is ready to nurse and hit the hay...that is when Jake comes in! I nurse him and then he squirms until Jake takes him and sings to him or just hums him to bed. It is incredible. Gusley waits to fall into his deep sleep until Jake has him. I thought that the bond he and I shared through breastfeeding was special, but this is an awesome bond to be able to witness every night! Jake you are the sleep master, thank you! You really have a knack for getting him to bed at night!!

Here are a few pictures of Gus on his 10 month birthday! He is playing in his new little play area upstairs. I am so proud of this area. Gusley really seems to be enjoying himself and he will play in his area for a good while all by himself.....another milestone that is oh so sweet to watch. He has gained so much independence...Jake swears it is the tofu we started feeding him!!!

Home for the Holidays!!

I just wanted to take a moment to tell all of our faithful followers thank you and we hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!! Hope Santa is good to all of you! We will try to update while we are down in the dirty south, but we may be a little busy so it may be that I just post in bulk when we return! I sure hope to see some of y'all while we are in town!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Love,
Lauren, Jake and Gusley (Buttercup and The Dude too!!)

Gusley's First Christmas Card!

My Grandma mailed Gus a Santa Claus Christmas card the other day and he just loved it! I think that the pictures speak for themselves!!

It is 1:56am and I should be sleeping since we are leaving for Houma at 5:00am...yikes!! The good news is that mom is doing the driving so hopefully I will be doing some sleeping if a certain little someone allows!!!

Nighty, night...don't let the bed bugs bite!

This is for you Aunt Lisa....he has already gotten plenty of use out of the bib you sent up for him!! Thank you sooo much and we can't wait to see you!!!! Merry Christmas and all our love!

K-Mart Santa!!

12.14.08 We went over to K-Mart to see about a new car seat for Gus since he is outgrowing his infant carrier by leaps and bounds! While we were looking around the made an announcement that Santa was in the building and the pictures were FREE! Jake and I took advantage instead of dragging Gusley to the mall, not knowing whether or not he would even like Santa and being charged an astronomical fee. Well, he was not impressed.....Mother's intuition...I knew he would be afraid and sure enough he was...........see for yourself!!!

Not even the jingle bells or Mrs. Claus could make it better!!!

Now, I am officially signing off....Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!!