Christmas Card Outtakes

We took our Christmas card photo today. It wasn't too stressful...maybe even sort of fun! :p Here are some practice shots of Sylvie. I wish Brett had taken more and that she hadn't crawled away from the shot. She looks so pretty in her dress.

I liked these, but didn't use either for our card.

Papa got some good behind-the-scenes ones. lol!

Brady got some good up-close ones. lol! (These are 5 of like 50 that he took- haha!)

We had a wardrobe change for the grandparents' shot.

Brett played with the settings on the SLR to get a good shot. The idea here was great- lower lighting so you could see our tree lights in the background. But apparently in this setting, you canNOT move. Um yeah, that doesn't really work so well with an almost 3 and an almost 1 year old! ;p

Love this one- the kids have funny faces and it's an action shot of Brett who just came running in to the frame and is trying to grab hold of Brady.

This one's not bad. But we don't wear shoes in our house, so we didn't for this photo shoot and I think it looks a little weird (well, actually it's just me- I should have worn socks. oh well, at least Sylvie and I match- ha! I only had white tights for her and they didn't go with her dress).

I like this one, but Brady has "ooooo!" face and the setting makes Sylvie's moving face blurry and her moving foot disappear- ha!

That's all for now. I'll end this post with a cute little ornamental bumper shot!

Step Right Up!

Sylvie has been taking one or two steps for the past couple of weeks. The most I had seen was 4 and then she falls down. Something clicked today and she got it...and I got it...on video. Perfect b/c Daddy is away at the Hokie game, and I know he'll want to see this. Brady was still napping (so I was able to give her all of my attention), but it was still hard to video b/c she wanted to come at me so I was trying to back up and focus the camera, but also trying to encourage her and deal with my emotional self- my baby is walking (!) sniff, sniff.

Here's video of how she stands up on her own. But often times (especially when she's in footie jammies and she's on the hardwood floor) she's unable to stop the splits and get moving forward. Still, pretty awesome that she gets up by herself.

I realized that the footies were impeding her. So maybe if I didn't have her wearing jammies all the time she would have walked even sooner?! So I got her dressed (finally @ 4 PM!) and then realized that I had put some pretty tight jeans on those cute little legs. oi! Way to overcome your obstacles, Sylvie! :)

Saturday Morning

Brett's back in the 'Burg for the VT vs. UVa game today, but we're having a blast at home! Brady really enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree and Brett kept saying, "We'll get you your own little tree." Well, we already had a bunch of super mini ones among our decorations. So this morning during Sylvie's AM nap, Brady and I made ornaments and decorated two of the mini trees.

When Sylvie woke up, we went outside to play. We ran around playing chase and kicking the ball. When I put Sylvie in the grass, she sat laughing watching the action. Then Brady sat down and threw leaves in the air around her. Her laughing encouraged him and he "just want to hug her Mommy!" I should have taken video b/c the sound of their laughter warmed my heart. The more she laughed, the more he laughed, which only made her laugh harder, and the cycle continued. Truly heartwarming!

Holiday Lights Hike

Brady asked if we could "go on a hike" this evening. We walked around and looked at all the Christmas lights and decorations that were already up in our neighborhood. It was a little chilly so Brady cut our "hike" short (meaning, we went about 1/4 mile- lol!). It was still enjoyable! Sylvie wore a hat from the Maya Collection. Even though it clashed with her pink jacket, I thought she looked adorable! Daddy mistakenly put one of our adult hats on Brady (so when it's fully on, it covers his eyes). But now Brady loves this hat and asked for "the orange one with the words" all the time. haha!

Haul Out the Holly

Today we began decorating for Christmas. Of course, the ladder made an appearance so Daddy had a most willing helper with the tree assembly. Brady even got to help Daddy put the star on top!

We had an intermission for lunch. I gave Sylvie a bowl with her bits of turkey soup in it. Usually I just put food on her tray.

So I'm taking pictures of her and as I'm looking through the lens I remember why I usually serve her food on her high chair tray instead of in a bowl. doh! I snapped this pict and then grabbed the bowl. (Sylvie Loves putting things over her head and around her neck. She always does this- with blankets, string, stuffies, you name it- she tries to wear it like a necklace.)

The ball of Christmas lights was also a hit. Sylvie was fascinated. Brady just wanted to unravel it. ha!

Happy Thanksgiving

This time I remembered to remove the mama-bracelet Sylvie was chomping on before the timer went off.

Brett was practicing with his paparazzi lens. Crazy clarity...but we had two small subjects who were ready to go. (Yes, Brady insisted on wearing his Diego backpack to Grandma's house.) As a last minute thought, I threw my jean jacket over my dress to match the little miss' style.

Cousin Kipp, Papa, Brady, Grandma, Sonya, Brett, Tiffany, and Sylvie

Brady resisted the tryptophan, and did not nap. Sylvie fought it, but eventually got comfy with Daddy.