Harlow's First Christmas

Someone almost beat us to it on Christmas morning...
Buddha could sniff out which present was his from about a mile away.

We had to get up pretty early on Christmas morning, there is no opening presents in our PJ's around here. At least not yet, maybe in the years to come I may put my foot down.
We got up early, showered and got dressed for the day before we even touched a present.
We let Harlow sleep in until she was ready to get up. She was the only one in her PJ's.
We had Christmas morning with our little Hafen family.
We opened all of our presents, and helped Harlow open hers.
And helped Buddha and Gus Gus too.

Harlow's Christmas breakfast with Daddy.

Anxiously waiting for the picture taking to end.

With some help, and some unwanted help from the dogs, Harlow got down to business and opened her gifts.

Her first teddy bear from mom and dad. These Jellycats are the cutest. We actually brought it home from Hawaii for her.

Too early for mom.

Her first dolly. Handmade find from Etsy.

And the #1 toy...
Her rocking dinosaur.

I realized we were running out of time, so the pictures stopped and we got down to work opening gifts before heading over to Grandma Lori's and Papa Rick's for more presents and breakfast.
After that we headed over to Aunt Salena and Uncle Roberts house for some lunch and to see everyone.

Christmas in Utah

On Christmas night, after all of the festivities at home and at our parents houses, we drove to Utah. Driving through the night is the best with a baby. There are no stops to eat, no diaper change breaks, and no entertaining a bored baby because she is SLEEPING! She slept the entire 7 and a half hours.

In the morning, we all got up and had Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Hafen. They sure did spoil us. Especially Harlow.

Grandpa helping Harlow open her favorite present.

She decided she could pull herself up and stand on her own.

Bath time at grandma and grandpa's house.

On our last night in St. George, it got SO COLD! Like ridiculously cold. And when we woke up in the morning, all of the surrounding mountains were covered in snow. So pretty.

It even snowed a little bit in town. On our way out of town to head home, we stopped to get gas and grab some coffee. I looked up and realized that it was snowing. That is always exciting for some reason. I don't even like the snow. I am not made for cold weather. I like short visits to the snow.

New Year - New Thoughts

I know I haven't posted about Christmas yet but I read something that made me go "ah ha!"

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone." -Bill Cosby



I'm a people pleaser to a fault so this is my new mantra for the new year. These two are my only exception. 2010 brought me some of the greatest gifts and I am crazy and anxiously awaiting the great things that I know 2011 has in store for me and my family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Babysitting [ A Small Reminder to Wait Before Having Another Baby]

Half of the day on Friday, I (with a few hours of Pete's help) baby sat Amelia, who is Harlow's cousin. Amelia is 2 years old. It was hard not to think that this could be what my life would be like if I had 2 children. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. So those of you rooting for us to have another baby soon, its not going to happen :)

Not to say that Amelia is a bad baby, because she is definitely NOT a hard baby. She is great, and smart and cute and funny. But running after 2 instead of 1 is mentally tiring. haha.

Bath time for the baby girls.

They played pretty well together, for the time it lasted before they got a little bored with each other.

Amelia giving Harlow a hug.

Amelia giving Harlow a kiss.

Oh, did I mention that we also watched Pete's mom's dog, Lacey, the same day... We don't need another dog either.

Say cheese!

Amelia really liked Buddha, I'm glad that he did so well with her laying all over him most of the day. Gives me hope for when Harlow is Amelia's age. Harlow and Buddha will be great buddies.

We lint brushed her before we sent her home, I promise!

On Saturday, I watched Harlow, Amelia and Jessi and Lori's dog, Lacey.
ALL DAY!
And we all lived.
But like I said before, it was great practice for the future on how to have 2 or 3 kids, but that won't be for awhile.

Santa! I Know Him!

We took Harlow over to Grandma Lori's swim and tumble school to meet Santa for the first time. This is Daddy and Harlow waiting in line to get their picture taken.


My darn camera didn't focus right the first time, so the real first meeting (which was the cutest) came out blurry! stupid technology (better yet, stupid me, who couldn't get it right!)

I sure do love that it started to focus better just in time to get the crying shots. The picture above it a classic first meeting of Santa and Baby. Pretty funny :)
Second try, we waited a few minutes for her to calm down before we tried again in hopes of capturing a better picture. Too bad the picture came out better but no smiles or eye contact with the camera.

Whoa, who are you?

Daddy calming her down afterwards.

Cousin Amelia, in the cutest handmade Christmas outfit.

Harlow in her Christmas outfit.

Aunt Jessi and Harlow.

Harlow's first meeting with Santa didn't go as bad as I thought it would. She is usually a really happy, social baby. What is it about Santa that makes kids cry? Even the happiest of kids seem scared of him. Oh well, maybe next year there will be no tears. For the record, she smiled at him for about .5 seconds before the tears started. I don't think she could make up her mind on how she felt about him. Maybe by next year she will understand why its important to be on her best behavior with Santa and not cry...