Christmas Cheer

This past week has been filled with lots of family activities and Christmas spirit. Even though Aspen won't remember this Christmas, I think all in all she had a great time.
We started our holiday off with an earlier dinner with Aspen's Poppy the weekend before Christmas. We were headed off to Midland and wanted to have a dinner with my dad before we left town. Jason made an amazing roast duck with potatoes, fig apple sauce (yum!) and carrots. It was a great meal and wonderful company. We set up the tripod to capture the moment and this was the best shot...I guess Layla really wanted to be part of the memory.



We headed off to Midland on Wednesday morning once Aspen woke up and finished eating. She did great on the drive, although Jason and I didn't have high expectations, so it wasn't hard to please us. Actually Aspen did amazing the whole trip. She is really starting to warm up to people more (other than her mom and dad), which has been nice to give us a break every once and awhile.

Our nephew Cameron wasn't so sure about sharing his Nanny's attention with his cousin Aspen at first.



I had to document as much of Aspen's first Christmas as possible. She woke up early that morning (of course!) and was in such a happy mood. I guess she was ready to open some of her presents.



Of course she didn't really know what was going on, but Aspen did enjoy the wrapping paper. We probably could have just wrapped boxes with paper and she would have been has happy as can be :)



We had to set up a photo shoot of the three cousins. For those of you that don't know, my two sister-in-laws both had children in the past two months--Jessica in October and Trevor in November. The three of them had matching "Xmas" pj's provided by their Aunt Sarah.

We started the shoot out with all four cousins and Papa.



Then we had to get some shots of the three little ones. This continued on for a while and in the second shot (which we slipped Cameron in) Trevor and Aspen had just about had enough. I couldn't resist posting the second picture. It's the perfect example of a bunch of parents wanting one thing from their kiddos, but ultimately the kiddos are the ones running the show.





I was a little worried with all the excitement, pictures taking, etc. that Aspen would burn out at some point, but she kept high spirits all day. I got this great shot of her wiggling around in her "Santa's Helper" outfit.



Aspen has been eating her rice cereal now for about a week and a half and has continued to love it. After all the excitement of Christmas morning she sat in the high chair and ate a nice large serving of cereal. She seemed content in the high chair so we left her in it for a while and all of sudden we looked over and she was passed out. To adorable for words...



We had a great first Christmas as a family this year. The whole experience also gave me more confidence as a parent traveling with Aspen. She exceeded both of our expectations. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday this year!

Dance Party

The other day Jason, Aspen, and I had a little dance party in her room. Lately I have been doing this with her because she gets the biggest smile on her face when I wiggle her around; you can even here some giggles.

The first video is Jason recording and I'm dancing with Aspen. We were trying to get her mostly in the video, however Jason didn't always know where I was taking her so it's a little bumpy at times.



The second video we took Jason wanted to take a stab at being the dancer, so I videoed it. Listen carefully to Mom's reaction when Dad decides to incorporate some "dangerous" moves. I guess I'm pretty over protective of my little girl :)



I'm sure there will be many, many more dance parties to come in this girl's future. We are off to Midland tomorrow for Aspen's first trip away from home. Fingers crossed she does well in the 5 1/2 hour car drive!

Mmmmm.....That Was Yummy!

Yesterday Aspen embarked on a new phase in her short lived life....eating food! Well I'm not sure if most of us would call it "food"; it was whole grain rice cereal mixed with breast milk. However, it was a big step and eventually she will get to the good stuff (all in good time).



I started out by breastfeeding her a little bit (what I like to call an appetizer), so that she wouldn't be completely famished while trying this new activity. I thought this would keep her from being overly cranky about the whole thing and it worked great.

As you can see majority of the food ended up on her face or on the bib.



At first Aspen wasn't sure what was going on--did she like this--what's this thing going into my mouth--it taste pretty good, I think? But then she really got into it and when I would bring the spoon close to her mouth she would open wide. I was so proud of her.



She even started to grab for the spoon and was sucking on it herself. Although a couple times she missed her mouth. I love her expression in this picture, she looks so peaceful.



After the meal, Bella was trying to get some leftovers. Unfortunately for her, Aspen ate most of it--but I couldn't resist taking a snap shoot of this. I think Bella is going to start enjoying Aspen eating food as much as we do!



Here is some video footage I took of the whole event. I realized after watching it that it wasn't the best angle, but you get the idea.



We have a had a great week with Aspen. The past three nights she has slept from about 8pm til 6:30am. It's been amazing for me to actually get a good chunk of sleep without having to get up at all. She also started falling asleep on her on at night. For the past month we would put her in her crib when she was about half asleep and let her fall asleep on her own. The past three nights she was tired, but still wide awake. So, we just put her in the crib and she fell asleep after minimal noise--I was really surprised! Also, last night I heard her wake up around 2am, but instead of going to her right away, I waited to see if she would actually start crying (she was just making little grunts/coos) and after about 10 minutes I didn't hear anything. I'm so happy that she is learning to self-soothe at night.

O Christmas Tree...

On Saturday the Dzubinski's hit the road and drove out to Elgin to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our very first family Christmas tree.

When I was younger, one year, my brother, dad, and I went to a Christmas tree farm and I remembered it being a fun holiday event. Someone Jason works with suggested it to him and we decided to check it out.

The whole drive to Elgin it was raining and cold. When we got to the farm the rain stopped thank goodness, however it was cold, damp, and kind of miserable weather. But, we made the best of it! When we got there we loaded onto the tractor/hall ride which took us out to the fields of trees.



Jason and Bella on the tractor ride.



Aspen stayed in her stroller the whole time, although she really loved the bumpy tractor ride.



We strolled around the farm awhile, until there it was....our Christmas tree!



I was pretty happy once we found it--it was pretty cold. Isn't she a beauty??



Jason did a great job chopping her down and dragging her home...or at least to the main area where you had to pay.





We both thought this was a fun way to get our Christmas tree and would recommend it to anyone. Hopefully next year when we go the weather is a little better!

Black and White Photoshoot

I have always loved black and white photos...as I'm sure many people do. Sometimes I think color photos can take away from the simple beauty of a picture; in this case that beauty is of course our daughter.

I was able to get some good shots of her while she was showing off her rolling over skills.






The two of us have had a great day so far. We were off this afternoon doing some Christmas shopping, met up with Dad for lunch, and now we are home taking it easy. I love these days I get to spend with her; I know there will be a day that I will wish I could have them back.

Look how I've Grown

**I forgot to include Aspen's 4 month picture. Check out how she has grown.

1 and 2 months old



3 months old



4 months old

Doctor's Appointment

Today we had Aspen's 4 month check-up. She was due for two shots and one oral vaccination. This time Jason and I approached it with less nerves and I think it helped because she barely cried during the shots. She has been a little more sleepy than usual all day and has been running a low grade fever all day, but for the most part is doing awesome.

Getting ready for the appointment this morning; I think Bella was wishing her well.



Getting weighted and measured.



Her stats...



After it all she still had a smile on her face, what a big girl!