Meeting Santa and posing for the Christmas Card picture!

On November 20th, Dallas met Santa for the first time!!

Dallas got dressed up (with help from mama and daddy) in his new Christmas pants, which were part of his full Christmas outfit, purchased by Grandma (thanks!!) and we headed out.

We went to our local mall here in Appleton and thought we would be waiting in line forever once we saw the parking lot since this was the first day Santa was appearing and we got there right as he was getting back from a break
.

Alyssa dropped Michael off at the door to check how long the wait was and much to our surprise, it wasn't long at all and since they only allow 2-3 minutes per person, we figured it would move pretty quick.

So we went in. 

As we were waiting in line, Alyssa started to worry about a couple things (thanks to her OCD!)  She was worried that you would have to decide right there on the spot if you would be purchasing any pictures, she thought Dallas would be scared of Santa, she thought the pictures wouldn't turn out, she worried the Little Man's outfit would clash with Santa's outfit (okay, maybe not the last one, but you get the idea)
She sucked it up and continued to wait to see what Santa and his Elves had in store for us!

We approached Santa and thankfully Dallas wasn't scared at all.  In fact he smiled at the big guy, sat nicely on his lap, and looked right at the camera!  Say Cheese!

We DID in fact have to decide right away if we would buy any pictures because they can't move on to the next family until you complete a purchase or decide to pass...needless to say we didn't buy any, since we were able to take our own and at 20 bucks a pop for a 5x7, we figured we'd skip it!

Here are the couple we got with our own camera:

(I know what you're thinking, Michael looks THRILLED to be doing this..he loves cheesy family activities!)

Then, the next day (November 21st, if you weren't paying attention above) we dressed Dallas up in yet another handsome outfit to take our own pictures for the Christmas card!  Why not use a Santa picture?  Well Alyssa made sure to tell Michael that we needed a "horizontal" picture for the card and then as she took the pictures with Santa and Dallas, forgot (in true Alyssa forgetful fashion) and took them the opposite way!!  Oops, oh well, you all know how I love my photo shoots by now, so what's adding one more to the list?? No biggie!

So, here are some of the pictures we snapped in the comfort of our home, with Dallas sitting next to his very own tree, which we have in his room.  And a couple with the doggies:)

Posing...or falling over, whichever you like better!

"Here, do you want me to sit like this?"

"How about if I put my hand up, like I'm saying "call me"!"

A few with the Santa hat on, also courtesy of Grandma:)

Breath in, now, hold your breath for the camera...baby Yoga!

"What up, Dog(s)?"

This is a pretty good one, everyone is looking, very serious, but looking

"I've got my toes, and some dogs!"

"Hey, what the....who put this tree next to me??"

Silly faces!!

Don't worry, we are keeping the picture we actually used for the card a secret.

You'll see that when you get your card in the mail in a few weeks!!

♫It's the most wonderful time of the year♫

This week's highlights for our little man....

Watching TV with Daddy and tasting the remote! (on September 12th, 2010)

And exploring a new toy that mama waited and waited to get (on September 17th, 2010)

Trying to find his mouth....

Almost there...(it ended up in there eventually, and trust me, that remote gets sanitized often

just like the rest of the toys!)

Now, for the other exciting event...mama was probably more excited than Dallas:)

I saw this toy in Parents Magazine and thought it looked pretty cool.  I proceeded to call the website they were advertising the toy from and they were sold out and had a waiting list to get one shipped to you.  I tried toysrus.com and sadly saw the phrase "out of stock", sad baby mama. So, I decided to look on Amazon.com and low and behold, they had some available for shipping right away!! 

You better believe I had it ordered that very day. 

Why so adamant to get the toy, you may ask?  I just thought in Wisconsin playing with water only happens in the bath tub and outside, well for about 3 months anyway...see this post  about how we can't even swim at the local pool in the end of August!!

The toy also promotes tummy time, which we know strengthens the neck muscles!!

Can't you see the excitement in his face already??

Checking out the little boat floating in the water...

Posing for a picture

And another...I believe there is a picture very similar to this one of me (Alyssa) as a baby somewhere

and if I find it, I'll share it with you!

Gabbana checking out the toy or (licking Dallas's hand, whichever doesn't

gross you out if you aren't a dog lover)

Taking a break to get a kiss from Gabbana (if you are one of those non-dog-lovers, close your eyes!!)

I think he likes it

Now for a couple more pictures because this is one of mama's favorite outfits

and because he's maybe the cutest kid you've ever seen.... 

If you switch back and forth between these two, it might look like he's dancing!!

Finishing our photo shoot off with some baby toes, because who doesn't LOVE those???

July 14th to August 14th (month #3)

Since July 14th when we finished with our last update Dallas has been growing "like a weed" (as they say babies do!).  Who are "they" by the way?? 

We took some great pictures of our "little man", as we have come to call him, after his bath on the day after he turned 2 months, here they are:

 Still working on making his neck muscles strong

Where's Mama with that camera?

There she is!  (One of our favorites!)

Look at the cute booty!  I have a feeling some girlfriend will be seeing these in the far, far, far, future!

~~~~~~~~

Also on July 15th Dallas tried out his crib for the first time, but he didn't sleep in there just yet.

Looking around at the sports theme bedding his Daddy picked out for him

See, the same night, now in the bassinet:)

So peaceful!

~~~~~~~~

July 15th Dallas slept through the night for the first time (9:40pm to 3:40am)

Since he was sleeping so well, we decided to put him in his crib on the night of July 18th (yes, just 4 short days after we set him in there to look around for the first time).  Alyssa must have checked on him about 50 times that night to make sure he was okay, and he was.  He slept from 9pm to 3:30am, had a bottle and went back to sleep at 4am until 8:00!  He's been sleeping through the night, in his crib ever since...naps in there came later on since he wasn't really on a schedule and he still loved to sleep in his swing SO much.

~~~~~~~~~

July 17th was a BIG day for Dallas...

Can you guess what he was doing from these pictures?  Which were taken after his first trip to the Farmer's Market (sorry, we didn't take any pictures there).

Still don't know??

Maybe this video will be more helpful...

That's right, just a little over two months old and our little man figured out how to roll from his belly to back in both directions.  This is when we realized how fast he really was growing...

~~~~~~~~

July 20th, Dallas had his 2 month checkup.  Weight 12lb. 12 oz, 23 inches long, and his head circumference was 40cm.

We were still on the bath every night routine (which we started very early on)...it helping him sleep better at night.  Why change something that was making everyone happy:)

Yes, she JUMPED in the tub...we didn't put her in there...she's crazy, we know!

~~~~~~~~

July 21st, Dallas enjoyed a nice walk to Kohl's to do a little shopping with the girls; Mom, Auntie Katie, and Ella.  Little did he know this was just one of the many, many shopping trips he'd be going on.

~~~~~~~~

July 22nd, Dallas learned how to grasp onto his toy.  The soccer ball he's holding has become one of his favorite toys. 

Future soccer player??  Maybe so!!

~~~~~~~~ 

July 23rd...looking at the Internet with Daddy (I bet they are checking the football scores!) and some more bath time photos...we can't help ourselves, he's just SO cute!

  ~~~~~~~~

July 25th, we took Dallas to the park for the first time.  These pictures were taken at Plamann Park in Appleton.

~~~~~~~~

July 27th, Dallas learned how to hold onto his toys that hang from his bouncy seat!  That's hard to do when they are always moving.

With his left hand....

and his right! 

He seems to do a lot with his left hand first, maybe he'll be a lefty just like his mama and daddy!  (And Grandma too!)

 ~~~~~~~~

July 28th while Mama was getting a little workout in Dallas slept on the couch for the first time, yes on his belly, that was the first and only time it happened (until he could roll over on his own).  He was only like this for a couple minutes with Mom in the room.

Someone thought he looked lonely:(

And then another thought they looked lonely!

 ~~~~~~~~

August 1st...Dallas trying out his Jumperoo for the first time.  (He was still a little too small for it.)

 ~~~~~~~~

August 4th: Tummy time with Daddy!

That's about it for that month...yes we've only gone until August 1st and not all the way to August 14th, when he turned 3 months...but there's more to come, don't worry!