a very merry weekend!

This weekend was our official "breaking in Christmas" weekend! I say this for a few reasons. First off, since Gunner was born, I have been really hesitant about taking him out a lot. He's small, it's FREEZING most the time now, people are crazy, the world is scary, and so on and so forth. I just haven't felt safe taking him out. If I could, I'd honestly stay inside with him bundled up under blankets cuddling all day, forever.. No, seriously. But anyways, this weekend was his "breakout weekend". I wanted to start my Christmas shopping, and (because of not being outdoors probably) - I wanted to get us, officially, into the Christmas spirit! Afterall, this IS baby's first Christmas, so it was about time we started acting like it! And boy did we!

Saturday morning we went and watched my girlfriend Danielle's son Noah in his first ever Christmas play! It was the CUTEST thing ever! Noah is 3 1/2 and recently started daycare at a cute little place in Roseville. They hosted a rather big Christmas musical, and kids of all ages dressed up and sang Christmas songs. Totally adorable! (& totally may be enrolling Gunner at this pre-school one day) Gunner slept through the whole musical, but it was nice because I got to catch up with Karin & Danielle, which I rarely ever get "adult" time anymore, so it was so nice! And got to hang out with sweet little Noah (one of Gunner's best buds btw) and my nephew Ethan (who, if you know me, you know how obsessed I am with him), so it was lots of fun.

 

First photo of the holiday season together! I'm used to being behind the camera now, so it was nice having one taken of us :)

After the play, Gunner and I went to lunch with my mom at The Habit for some delicious hamburgers and onion rings (possibly my favorite onion rings, period). Then headed over the mall to start some SERIOUS Christmas shopping! Neither my mom or myself had started shopping yet, so this was a pretty important shopping day. Gunner had never been to the mall (or outdoors really besides a few walks to the park and doctor visits) so he was completely A M A Z E D all day long. It was the cutest thing watching his eyes just roam around all day, totally enamored with all the lights in the mall and the noises. It's really a beautiful thing watching the world unfold for the first time; I found myself following his eyes all day to see what he was looking and "oohing" at, and I'd stop and start to see the beauty in it too. But yes, he was WIDE awake all day long and it was so nice seeing those big blue eyes for so long :)

Walking around the mall, I couldn't help but stare at this little handome guy being so happy in his stroller<3

While at the mall we met back up with Auntie Karin, so we could take the boys to see Santa!! Ethan is 3 now, so this year is his first year really understanding Christmas, and being excited for things. And this is the first year I've ever seen him so excited to see Santa. He'd been talking about it all week since we told him we were going, and he waited in line patientely with a big smile on his face. Then after he took his picture he said it was time for him and Gunner's picture, so we got one of them both. SO SWEET<3 Gunner bear was not as impressed with Santa as he was with the lights on the ceiling, so he took that whole hour to sleep... THROUGH THE WHOLE THING! lol! But, thanks to Santa's help, we still managed to get some really precious pictures of his first trip to see Santa. Let's be real, even if he was crying I would have thought they were adorable pictures.

 

After pictures, we went BACK to shopping some more and got a lot of our shopping done! My main goal for Gunner's Christmas presents, were to find some really great books and bedtime stories, so I could start reading to him at night, and throughout the night, to help rock him to sleep. Those are my favorite times of the day, in the middle of the night rocking him to sleep, so I thought some books would be great to help make those times together more special. And I wanted some Christmas books as well. So I searched all day and found the perfect collection to start his little library in his room (Literally, these are his only books so far, and I'm so glad I got to get them for him.. well me and "Santa" got them for him). I can't wait to go buy more books to buy him!

These are actually really beautiful books! They were originally $30 each, but both were on sale for $20 at Toys R' Us, so I couldn't pass it up! One was perfect because it was "BEDTIME FAVORITES", which totally captured what I was looking for. There are over 20 of the classic Disney stories in there + new-age Disney stories like Cars, Lilo & Stitch, Monsters Inc., etc! And the "Christmas Storybook Collection" are all those same stories, but with Christmas stories mixed in! PERFECT!! And, I'm a sucker for "collection books" with gold pages so, it was a must-have. Perfect start to his library!

This was the exact tradition I was looking to find. Now, every Christmas Eve, I can cuddle up with my baby and read this to him. AND, with the recording feature on it, I can record myself reading the whole book to him, and he can play it anytime he'd like.

After all day shopping we went to Rick's mom and step-dads to watch the UFC fights and have dinner (we do this every Saturday now) and while Gunner got totally spoiled by everyone over there, mommy got in a little nap.. which was INCREDIBLE to the Nth degree. I hadn't slept more than 2 hours straight in almost a week, so needles to say, I felt like a new woman when I woke up.

 

Sunday was really great as well. My Grandma Ruby, who suffered from a severe case of Pneumonia over Thanksgiving week and has been in Urgent Care ever since, was released into the Rehabilitation Building at Sutter Hospital. Which, amongst meaning she was fully over the Pneumonia and could breath on her own again and get the tubes taken out of her, ALSO meant that Gunner could go visit her. Which was really really speical. Everytime I'd go visit my grandma these last few weeks, she'd ask about Gunner and how he was doing and I'd show him pictures and she'd just tear up. It was such a big deal that she recovered finally and moved into the rehab building, I had to take him in as soon as I could to see her. And she just lit up, it was so sweet. She'll be there for three weeks now in order to make her full recovery, but at least now we can go visit anytime we'd like and Gunner can too<3

My dad playing with Gunner at the hospital. It's so sweet watching them, Gunner laughs the whole time and Grandpa smiles bigger than ever. He's such a blessing to our family<3

After the hospital Gunner and I went on our first walk around the neigborhood since it was such a beautiful day (and not 40 degrees!) and he loved it. Can't get enough of those big blue eyes. As long as the weather is nice, we'll be taking walks daily now that I'm almost completely healed and he's old enough that it's not to scary to take him outdoors. He loves it so much, and let's face it, it's time for mama to start getting mobile and physical again - January is right around the corner and my diet and workouts start back up in FULL effect. So it's a win win :) And, it's just another thing we can enjoy together, and that's the best part.

 

Then, last night Rick ordered pizza for us and we had a movie night with Gunner and Grizzly. Not before I gave Gunner an extra long bubble bath, then lotion massage (his most favorite thing in the world so far is that combo, and I love it because he's so soft and cuddly after). I can honestly say that nothing makes me more happy, and my heart more full, then family nights at home by the fire, all cuddled up on the couch watching movies in our Christmas pajamas. That's the perfect night in my book.

Our two little ones. This is the rare time when they both were calm and let me take a cute picture of them together.. PS, HOW cute are his Santa Pajamas?! LOL

So there we have it, our "Kickoff to Christmas" weekend! A very MERRY weekend indeed :) And now that I've taken him out and seen how much he loved it, I'll definitely be making some fun plans for us soon. Afterall, this is his very FIRST Christmas! I'm bound & determined to make it memorable (even if it's just for his scrapbook's sake!)

 

Here's a peak into Gunner's Christmas wardrobe... It's a little ridiculous. This collection is NOT including the outfit he's currently wearing, and the other 2 that are in the laundry.. Yeah, we all went a little overboard on the Christmas outfits this year!