Wow! What a busy month we had. Clayton and Chloe celebrated their first Christmas, which meant it was a month full of parties, dressy outfits, and "late" nights (9:00 is our new late!). They both hit several developmental milestones and bless us daily with their infectious smiles, giggles, and babbles. Unfortunately, they both got their first really bad colds, which turned into ear infections. It was so sad to see Clayton and Chloe so miserable. Their sweet little personalities were absent for a good week, which was right during Christmas. They spent the majority of my vacation sick, but I'm so glad I was able to be home with them every day to care for them. On top of it, Clatyon cut his first two bottom teeth, so the poor little guy was so uncomfortable and in so much pain. All he wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth and his first bottom tooth popped through on Christmas Eve! Overall, though, it was such a special Christmas for us. God truly blessed us with two of the most perfect, joyful, happy babies. Christmas morning was so much fun for us as we got to experience the magic of Santa Claus through Clayton and Chloe's eyes.
Here's both babies latest and greatest...
Clayton's News:
*His bottom two teeth popped through! He was definitely unusally fussy and woke up a few times in the middle of the night, which is not normal for him, but once they came through, he was his happy self again!
*Clayton army crawls everywhere! He can get wherever he wants and loves being on the floor to explore.
*He rocks back and forth on his knees a lot, but just when you think he's going to full blown crawl he goes on his tummy and scoots.
*Clayton says "da da da" in a deep voice often. Ryan loves it!
*He also makes a motorboat sound with his lips and and a heavy breathing like he's out of breath sound, but he thinks he's really silly when he does it. It's an "ah---ah---ah" breathy sound. He especially does it when we walk up and down the stairs.
*Clayton eats lots of foods now, including ground turkey. His little mouth opens like a birdie's mouth when he sees the spoon.
*He had his first antibiotic this month, amoxicillin, for his ear infection.
*Clayton loved all of his new toys, especially his music table. He can stand for so long at it and his red wagon. I'm sure we will enjoy many walks in the wagon.
*He is about 19.5 pounds and 28 inches long.
*Clayton poops all of the time! He has a great digestive system!
*He loves to splash Mommy in the bathtub.
*Clayton now reaches for you, which I love. He also cries now when he's being held by someone unfamiliar.
*He often laughs uncontrollably for no reason...such a happy baby boy!
*Clayton bites the insides of his cheeks, which causes him to make really funny faces. I'm sure it's his attempt to relieve the pain in his gums.
*He still wears size 9 month or 6-12 month clothes, but the 9 monthers are starting to get a little tight.
*Clayton LOVES Roxi and he LOVES her toys. Roxi is so sweet with him, already allowing him to pick and pull at her.
*He opens the shutters in our bedroom every morning to let the sunshine in and is so proud of himself when he does.
Chloe's News:
*She can sit FOREVER unassisted. It was something she just sort of did too. She just decided she could sit, so she sat.
*Chloe found her chubby little feet and now takes her socks off.
*She's very observant and loves staring up at you, especially when you first pick her up. She has to really see who has her.
*Chloe loves to touch and pick at Mommy's face when she's eating her bottle. Consequently, Mommy has a few boo boos on her face from Chloe's grabbing.
*She continues to be a sassy little princess who has perfected the "happy scream." She screams all of the time. I don't have to take her outside during church because she's mad, but because she just wants the whole congregation to know she's there with her high pitched scream.
*Chloe still razzes when she's happy, mad, and frustrated. It truly never gets old and we think has become somewhat of a soothing mechanism for her when she's crying.
*She absolutely, positively hates tummy time, which makes learning to crawl nearly impossible. We think she thinks that when we put her on her tummy, we want her to go to sleep, so she cries or puts her thumb in her mouth. It's so funny. I've decided she's just one that isn't going to work toward her milestones, she'll just do it one day in her own time.
*Chloe loves her new toys, especially her laugh and learn kitchen and red wagon. I'm sure it will be the mode of transportation of choice in the near future.
*She eats solids so well. Chloe opens her mouth big and wide for every bite and clamps down on the spoon with a smile every single time. It's so adorable.
*Chloe had her first really bad cold over the holidays. She went to urgent care even on Christmas day, but came through the cold like a rockstar. Once recovered from the congestion, though, she did get an ear infection and had her first round of antibiotics, amoxicillin.
*She has the sweetest, most feminine little laugh and just LOVES it when she is kissed on her neck. She also loves "horsey go to town" and "patti cakes".
*Chloe LOVES Roxi and smiles every time Roxi comes near her. I'm sure they will be best friends one day soon.
*She has mastered "the I'm done with this, now pick me up cry" and we fall for it hook, line, and sinker every time!
*Chloe wears size 9 month and 6-12 month clothes and has a closet full of fashionable apparel and tons of colorful bows and warm hats (thanks to Nonnie and Grammie).
*She does great in the jumper now...good thing because she's got some thunder thighs that could really use some exercise! We love her chubby little legs and love it even more when her pedatrician says that she's such a healthy baby. She's come a long way from her 5 pound birth weight.
*Chloe still loves her thumb and even sucked some skin off of the base of it.
*She has to wear bibs every day because she slobbers like crazy, but no teeth as of yet.
*Chloe can give a high five, and is so proud of herself when she does.
Here's some pictures showing off their last month...
Clayton found his friend, the baby in the mirror!
Sissy can sit so well!
Uh oh...Clayton and Chloe found the Christmas gifts under the tree and figured out how to open them!
Clay and Chloe's first time in the shopping cart at Costco...nearly everyone stops to meet them.
Sweet baby girl loving her mommy.
It was family hair cut day at my salon, Cody Rose. Clayton got his very first haircut (we had to tame his crazy hair) and both Ryan and I got our hair done too. It was Ryan's first "salon" experience. Chloe came along for the ride, as she still doesn't have much hair, but what she does have is coming in a lot blonder than the hair she was born with.
We are such good eaters...we eat so much yummy food that our mommy makes for us, including apples with cinnamon, pears, bananas, blueberries, cherries, peas, broccoli, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, carrots with parsley, butternut squash, yams, yellow potatos, brown rice, ground turkey, and our mommy even let us have "Grandma's rice" which we loved!
We had our 6th annual Christmas party and were so excited to share the evening with our family, friends, and newest additions, Clayton and Chloe. Our house was full of fun people, delicious food and drinks, lots of energetic kids, and tons of laughter.
Clayton and Chloe had so much fun playing with my cousins' children. They even got to sit on Santa's lap again and he gave them both adorable singing teddy bears.
After a week full of rain, we were able to take Clayton, Chloe, and Roxi to see the amazing Christmas lights in Brea.
We all had such a nice time celebrating Christmas with Ryan's family. Clayton and Chloe got to play with their cousin, Braxten, and were spoiled with lots of new toys, clothes, and money. Grammie even made them a beautiful Christmas quilt with a very special note on it. I know it will be something we all cherish for the years to come.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! We went to church (my favorite service the whole year) and then came back to our house for our traditional Italian feast. Clayton and Chloe got to open their Christmas Eve presents, which were adorable gingerbread boy and girl jammies from Nonnie and Papa Jim and Ryan and I started a new family tradition of reading "The Night Before Christmas" to Clayton and Chloe before they went to bed.
Looks like Santa came to our house! We had such a special "first" Christmas morning with our precious babies. Santa of course went a little overboard, but Clay and Chloe seemed to enjoy everything. Poor babies were both pretty sick, though.
And Santa came again at the Aurelio family Christmas! The babies were spoiled here too. Their favorite gift by far was their first red wagon. It's so cool because it has a seat with seatbelt for both of them and then the seats flatten for when they get older. We had such a nice and relaxing day with the family celebrating each other and the true reason for the day.
Oh the things a mommy will do when her baby girl is sick...
