December Was Busy

 A new baby makes everything busier and the month of December was no exception! 

Thea started to really smile. This was pretty important because, just like with all my other children (though perhaps worse with her) I had a day where I broke down, sure that she was missing important milestones and that the missing of those milestones indicated a future that included autism, a developmental delay or some similar thing. 

 Ian lost a tooth and had three more follow soon after.

 Thea was still a cutie:) She also wore blue on occasion.  It was a warm sleeper, a necessity in the winter in WI.

 Because I had a real baby, Chris and I were asked to play Mary and Joseph in the live Nativity that was part of the Creche that is put on each year.  We did it two nights in a row and the first night Noah opted to participate as a shepherd. The second night (sorry no picture) Ian joined in and was a shepherd too.

 And Thea was still cute.

 It snowed but here in WI we don't let a little snow get in the way of school.  (Eventually, we would miss 4 days of school due to the -45 windchill.)

 There was the school's Winter Concert.

 At the ward Christmas Party Noah had a part in the program, putting ornaments on the tree.

 I opted out of making a slew of Christmas goodies this year. I'm totally blaming it on the baby. But we still wanted to do something for the neighbors and decided to go with a local favorite, Sprecher's Soda and cute little Pinterest labels about being "Soda-lighted" to have great neighbors.

 We had to bundle up because it was COLD!

 There came a time when I wondered if I would get a second thumb sucker.  Thea had adamantly opposed the pacifier since birth.  By this point I wondered if thumb sucking wouldn't solve some of our self-soothing woes!  It didn't stick.

 The kids like to play in the snow. This is good since we live in WI.

 I'm not quite sure the genesis of this project but I thought they did a pretty sweet job with some business cards, a cereal box, and some masking tape.