11 months...

crazy right!!! 11 months!! he's almost a year!! he's also super cute and fun these days.

still the happiest baby ever and just content.  he's on a normal schedule... very predictable...  up at 8 am takes bottle, plays, after an hour has breakfast, plays, and a little after 10 wants to go to bed.  he naps for 2 hours wakes, has a bottle, plays, after an hour has lunch, plays and by 2:30 is ready for second nap... naps for 2 hours gets up, eats dinner plays till bath and bed time at 7:00... everyday.

- is still not crawling but army crawls all over and is getting faster and stronger everyday.

- loves to explore all around the room on his belly

chasing his friend blaze for  the hanger

- is having fun playing with all his new toys from christmas and his tastes have changed to more kid toys than baby baby toys... 

- is eating all sorts of foods on his own now and LOVES to feed himself... i like it too since it keeps him entertained so long on his own.

- loves to take baths and play for a while.. splashing and kicking his feet... and folding in half to drink the water with his mouth.

- lays in his bed forever when he wakes up... like sometimes 45 min... talking to himself, playing with pacifier,  playing with his cuddly buddy, kicking the bars of crib or wall it is next to... eventually he cries out for us to go get him.

- he loves to be in the car too... he is always content to sit in his car seat and look out the window.  

- loves to throw a ball and go chase it himself... on his belly of course.

- talks like crazy and has all sorts of hilarious facial expressions.

- is an amazing traveler on airplanes.

- smiles at everyone who smiles at him

- laughs all the time!!!! the most random things make him laugh

- he loves to just sit and play with one toy for a long time... the other day it was a book... he looked at it for 20 min.  pretty amazing with a kid that small.

- claps his hands all the time now and they actually make the clapping sound... so cute

here are a few fun videos:

here he is laughing at me dropping a ball on the floor... sorry its shaky... i was dropping a ball :)

here he is clapping for the first time... 

he was so chatty this one morning eating his bananas.... so chatty.

he is just getting so big and fun... can't believe he started out so tiny and is now such a big boy!!

christmas comes but once a year...

for christmas we headed out to sunny las vegas to spend the holidays with my family.  the weekend before we left i sang in our ward's christmas devotional and the next morning woke up with laryngitis... i always lose my voice this time of year... usually closer to january, i was way bummed to have no voice and not be able to sing the whole christmas week!!  anyway,,, i didn't feel too sick at all, but eventually we all got really sick while in vegas.

the airplane trip there was perfect!  daniel slept for most of the flight and when he was awake he was happy and playing nicely.  when getting off the plane the guy sitting behind us said he was impressed with our little traveler.  especially since 4 rows behind us a little kid was screaming for half the flight.  we got to vegas thursday afternoon and our first stop was to in-n-out.  yum!!! you just miss it so much when its not in your town.  we spent the next couple days hanging with family and just having a good time.  grandma susan came down from reno on saturday and spent the weekend with us.

saturday night was my family's dinner and white elephant exchange.  dinner was soups and they were good, plus a plethora of goodies my sister had received from her students in the high school... she had quite the array of treats to share.  the gist exchange was fun as always... started off with sam opening a beautiful scarf and modeling it for us... i forgot to take pics the whole time but here are a few..

it was a really fun night with my whole family together.  sunday we went to church and then after spent the afternoon at my moms and eating dinner... by this time poor daniel was really sick and started to run a fever which then stayed off and on for the rest of the trip.  christmas eve was quite the day.  we started by opening a few gifts with grandma susan before she headed off to reno... she gave us a cute recorded book of goodnight moon and david gave daniel a super cute little people helicopter. 

his face doesnt' show it but he really does like them!  the rest of the day i worked with my mom organizing games for the christensen extravaganza minute to win it games.... so hilarious.  chris went with grandpa and jack to buy some toys... for the big boys cause grandpa was bored.  they bought remote control helicopters, mustangs, cars... etc.  grandpa kept getting mad at jack for putting the helicopter so close to his head.  will loved the mustang and had a lot of fun running and screaming from it... hahaha

christmas eve took place at aunt joans and we had uncle david's family, my moms family, and aunt joans... there were crazy kids everywhere!! ahhh!!  but it was really fun and the games were so silly. meesha the soccer player kicked everyones trash in walk to bethlehem.... by kicking her feet faster than anyone else.

sam kept emptying his kleenex box onto julias and she couldn't see her box at all.. haha

jingle butt was the favorite and kids wanted to have a try as well... i got all my bells out of the box first... i know how to shake it... haha!

so many cute kids at the party including my cousin katie's twins.... so pretty!!

the party ended with the traditional family march.... always a hoot.

i took these pics of daniel before heading off to bed in front of my moms tree... he's just so cute!

he's very excited for christmas!

that night we got ok sleep, but poor daniel was getting worse and worse.  christmas morning we were up bright and early... still being mostly on eastern time zone... and headed over to my moms.  i helped her make christmas crepes and eggs and whatever else for breakfast.  all my siblings came over and we ate breakfast and opened presents... the kids were funny.... daniel didn't feel good or have any interest in ripping paper... so gigi helped him... she LOVES opening presents... will opened one present and wanted to just play with it and was mad at his parents for opening more... amanda was just cute.  she's getting so big and smart.  daniel did enjoy playing his new drum.  emily enjoyed dressing up in amandas new dr. mcstuffins outfit... 

gigi was also very cute playing with her doctor stuff... she sat right down and started writing on her notepad

we then headed out to my dads to eat sandwiches and open a few present with him.. amanda had so much fun showing everyone her room in grandpa's apartment as she spends a lot of afternoons there since grandpa picks her up from school.  we had a good time just chatting and enjoying capriotis sandwiches.. including the bobby... my favorite.

we headed back to my moms and daniel was just burning up so we got him all undressed and he just laid on my chest and cuddled for a while.

the rest of the day we just hung out and had a good time.  i did manage to find one cvs open so we could get some dimatap for daniel who was so congested and runny nose he could hardly breathe.  we all slept better that night as chris and i took nyquil... never again! i was soooo groggy in the morning it took me forever to wake up.  during the week a few other fun things took place... daniel got a haircut from grandma.. much needed as his hair was in his eyes.

lots of fun bathtimes... with will having a good time and daniel ending up in tears... he's so sensitive... haha

we also had lots of opportunities for photo ops in my moms beautiful backyard and fun things to play on...

daniel also had a great time playing with papa... who loves this cute little guy.  it was so fun to hang out with my grandpa again. we miss living with him and seeing him all the time.

the trip ended thursday morning early... we headed off to the airport.  daniel fell asleep before the plane took off and slept for all but 30 min!!! of the long flight! and then did the same when we got on our second shorter flight... he even slept getting off the plane and waiting for our bags!  amazing! made for a truly easy travel day.

so glad we got to spend the holidays in vegas.  sad we couldn't stay longer but chris had to check in for work friday morning and then we were back on liberty the next day... 

new years eve we spent with our friends the hassels.  it was so fun! we had fondue and games and lots of talking and eating and laughing... daniel was awake for half of it... he had a hard time adjusting back to eastern time zone... the only disappointment was watching the new york ball drop... vegas fireworks are so much better!!! 

happy new year!  we had a great year and look forward to having another one this year!!

2012 christmas card...

we didn'y buy very many christmas cards this year as we are trying to pay off school loans... so i thought i would just share it on here for those that we were unable to send them to... maybe next year we will mail more out...

10 months...

10 months!  its going by pretty fast.  it helps that this time of year is crazy with holidays and birthdays and anniversaries that next thing i know he'll be 1!! he is still the cutest little guy ever!! and still tall and skinny.

here are some fin things he is doing lately:
- not crawling yet but everyday is moving around more and more and just figured out out to pull himself forward, almost like an army crawl.
- he sits up great and is spinning around by moving his legs in a circle.
- he makes all sorts of noises from raspberries to buzzing elephant to just chatting and making lots of sounds.
-occasionally looks right at me and says "mama" not sure if he gets that i'm mom yet, but its still fun
- he knows the sign for "all done" and does it all the time now.
- he's waved bye bye once or twice... he often will do a new trick one day and then wait awhile before ever doing again.

- he is such a content child... i can leave him on the floor with nothing around him and he will just sit and find something else to entertain himself or play with the one nearby toy for a while.  i thinks its why he isn't crawling all over... he's just content.
- he has 8 teeth now... yep 8!! 6 came all at once.. it was a lovely month with terrible sleeping.  not fun.
- he loves to feed himself so i cut up little bananas and he picks them up one by one.  he also eats little tiny bits of bread.
- he is sleeping through the night for 12 hours.  and usually wakes up very happy.
- he laughs often at all sorts of things.

- he has had a runny nose for 2 weeks now and one day i walked over to him to find this awesome mess:

this is a very sneaky looking face....

here are a few videos for enjoyment:

for the first minute he is just making faces and then he gets real chatty at about a minute

he slides around on the ground and does pushups with the high chair as it slides

all his little sound effects...

this one is hilarious... he is being grumpy and has a little freak out and then just keeps playing...

his first scooting army crawl attempts

gurgling and chatting

we were watching glee and they were singing "we are the champions" and i was singing along and rocking it out and whipping my hair around and he laughed for about 10 minutes straight... and kept wanting me to do it... staring at me until i would do it again...

he is such a cute little guy and we love him a lot... tonz and more every day!

he's getting so big!!

thanksgiving...

since it is so expensive to fly across the country we decided to stay in jacksonville and have a nice relaxing long weekend.  friends of ours decided to go to the o'club (officers club)  for the thanksgiving buffet they do there so we decided to join them.  nice to wake up and just get dressed thursday morning instead of cooking all day and cleaning house for guests and then cleaning up everything after.  the food was great and we had a good time chatting with friends.  after we finished eating and at least taking one bite of almost every dessert... we headed home.  the rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing with daniel.  it was a really nice day... we definitely missed being with all our family and cooking with my mom... and i know they missed my super sweet sweet potato casserole.

the next day we slept in and then that afternoon we headed to the beach with a friend and her 7 month old little boy.  we just sat around and talked and enjoyed the scenery.  the boys had a good time playing in the blowup pool (used as a play pen)  stealing toys from one another... but being very cute while doing so.  we also took the opportunity to experiment with our new camera lens... i'm also experimenting with using manual mode... like totally experimenting not completely having a handle on what the numbers really mean.  but till got some great shots...

and yes his hat is the cutest thing ever! saturday we met some friends at the park and took family pictures for each other and then let the kids play for a while.  that evening we may have eaten dinner with them as well, but i can't remember anymore.  we eat with them quite a few times.  i will post the family pics once i have sent out our christmas card as they are the same .  sunday we went to church and  we then spent the afternoon setting up christmas decorations... what little we had.  can't wait to stock up during the after christmas sale... we really need more in our collection.  we were having such a lazy afternoon chris nearly forgot he had to go check in by 3... luckily a friend came over and reminded us.  it was a nice long and lazy weekend. which is sometimes just nice.

96 in DC... day 3

the last day we were in dc was by far the most exhausting!! we walked at least 10 miles that day.  we started off by heading to the zoo.  we hopped in the metro train and took it out there.  we weren't expecting much but it was actually a good size zoo!  we first went on the asian trail and then wandered aour way down through each of the other trails. first we saw these super cute pandas!! this giant one in the pics was hilarious laying on the ground with a branch on top of him eating away.

we stood there and watched him for a while.  then we saw otters, which we love! we liked them at the aquarium we saw a couple months ago... and these ones were so cute... they kept moving in a herd and all lifting their heads at the same time and running around.  love it!

we then walked around and saw all the different birds.  by far my favorite were the flamingos.  they were just so pretty and bright!!! and fascinating to watch.  they stand around on one leg and when they aren't looking or listening to something the rest the necks by laying their heads on their backs and their necks do this funny curl thing.  but i really loved them and daniel liked them too.  so bright.

we also saw this incredibly loud bird... can't remember what its called but it squawked so loudly! it was incredibly deafening.  we also saw a vulture. they are scary and its never a good thing to see these when out in the desert... means you are probably dead or almost... creepy.  we also liked the stork and the owls.

ok now really the most fascinating to watch were the gorillas.  they are big and kinda scary looking but do seem pretty human-like.  the biggest one was funny, he kept getting a snack and then sitting with his back to the concrete wall... just getting comfortable.  there were 4 others, one female, one young one and 2 other males.  just so neat to watch them.

there were also come orangutans ... we were excited as right as we got there one climbed up the tall tower and walked the ropes over our heads to the other side of the trail where there is another tower.  so cool how they move around.  there were two others just hanging out inside the tower feeding and cleaning eath other.

lastly we saw the lions... big loud scary animals.  daniel liked growling back at them.  we also saw a zebra.  so pretty.  my kind of horse.  

the whole zoo was on a downhill slope and we started at the top and sadly had to walk the entire length uphill to get back to the entrance and walk back to the metro.  wow i was exhausted!!!!! 

after the zoo we took a little break and ate lunch and sat down for a while.  we ate lunch by this really pretty lake/pond.  and couldn't help but take some pictures of little man dressed all cute with the leaves everywhere and the incredible fall scenery. 

  then we decided to walk around and see the rest of the monuments.  we walked to lincoln monument.  probably chris' favorites.  just really amazing man and all he did for this country.  

it also had the best view of the washington monument and the reflecting pool.  

we then walked over the the vietnam wall which was covered in flowers and papers from family members remembering their vetrans on nov. 11th the day before.  so many names its sad.  but a really neat memorial.  

we also saw the korean war memorial which i think is one of the neatest.  i just love the statues and all the faces reflecting on the wall next to it. plus the beautiful fall trees in the background!

we took another little break and had a snack... our feet were so tired and we still had a ways to go. we then headed over to the roosevelt monument which is this whole area and maze of his sayings and statues and water falls everywhere.  just so pretty in there.

the jefferson monument was our last stop... we walked all the way around the lake/river to get there.  i loved some of his words on the walls as well!  what amazing men have lead this country.  

we then walked back to our hotel and were so hopeful the baby would fall asleep on the way so we walked around forever!! we had even decided on where to go for dinner but ended up not being able to because daniel wouldn't fall asleep and was so tired.  so we grabbed mcdonalds.  awesome i know!  and walked back to the hotel.  we ate quickly, fed the baby and put him in bed.  i was just so glad i wouldn't have to walk anywhere for another 10 hours at least.  we got up early and headed back to camp lejeune.  chris had to muster (check in) at 3pm.  we made it in perfect time to drop us off and he went to the target parking lot and got checked off on the list.  it was an amazing trip and i'm so glad we took it now.  we may not have had such an easy time with daniel if he were older.  we probably won't do any big trips like this for a while since it is so expensive to just fly home for christmas every year, but it was awesome and perfect trip to check off our "must see someday" list.