Giving Thanks...

 I've got a lot to be thankful for...

like...

 Decorating for Christmas (and being able to celebrate Jesus' birth)

 For a very helpful 2 year old son, who is really enjoying Christmas for the first time now that he's old enough to understand better

 For a cozy house with windows that now have snow flakes on them, courtesy of Colin

 For a Meemaw that is able to make the trip to see us quite often (but not nearly often enough)

 that is willing to help out whenever and wherever she can (like cleaning my oven for me, which hasn't been cleaned for as long as we've lived in this house, yikes!)

 For an amazing husband and father to my children

 For 3 of my favorite people in the entire world

 (with a son that has a mouthful of cookie, especially made by Meemaw)

 

For a son who is always willing to help out in the kitchen, making a green bean casserole for Thanksgiving

 For endless kisses and hugs

 For a great sister who is even a better Auntie Tiffey

 For being able to have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with family (even though they weren't sure if the turkey was done yet...eat at your own risk!)  It was great!

For 3 nights-in-a-row of continuous sleep, courtesy of Maggie Mae...

one of the best gifts of all! :)

6 Months Old

Wait...what?  6 months old?!

June, July, August, September, October, November...I guess that's right!

Maggie had her 6 month appointment at the doctor this week.

She is at 25-50% for weight (15 lbs, 5 oz), is at the 75% for length and 25% for head circumference.

What a little peanut!

We walked out of the doctors office with a handful of prescriptions for various things from a yeast infection to a goopy eye.  Oh, and if I haven't told you personally, maybe you gathered from my posts lately, that our little lady isn't doing so well at sleeping through the night.  She had the knack from 8 weeks to 16 weeks, then we lost it somewhere...

Well, after talking to our doctor, we figured it was likely one of a few things:

1) we stopped giving her Zantac for her reflux issue at 4 months, and that's when her sleeping started to become unpredictable.  We started her back on the med, thinking she likely is still having reflux issues coming out at night

2) she has a pink ear, meaning she has an ear infection.  Colin had sooo many issues with ear infections, I hope Maggie doesn't!  We got a med for this too.

3) she has goop coming out of her eye, likely due to her runny nose issue that she's had for weeks, likely caused by her teething.  Sheesh!

So, we will get this all figured out shortly.

Brian and I just want to sleep...

Here are a few random pictures from our nights this week...

Colin and Mags watching some Happy Feet.
Colin calls it the Penguin movie.  Maggie just smiles a lot...

Cute little kids

Munching on a cold washcloth after dinner. 

Maggie has tried squash and green beans so far...and she only likes the green beans.  We'll try the squash again later on.  Seems to be really getting this eating solids thing down pretty well.

Our happy little 6 month old!

We love you Mags!

Another trip to Michigan

Brian, Maggie and I made another trip to Michigan the first week in November. 

We were there to celebrate the life of my amazing Grandfather, Wesley Rice.

He passed away earlier that week and it was a quite unexpected death, as we had just been up to Michigan to visit my Grandparents just a few weeks earlier.

But, the Lord knows when he needs to call up his servants, and my Grandfather was ready. 

It was really amazing to see such great community support surrounding his death.  He was definitely a loved and respected man, not only in Milford, but in many cities and towns in Michigan.  



At Grandpa's visitation.  He was a veteran of WWII and it was really neat seeing pictures of him when he was younger, with a full head of RED hair!  Maybe that's where Maggie gets it...

After the funeral, enjoying a toast of R&R in his memory.  Grandpa loved his R&R with Ginger Ale.

Toasting to a wonderful man!  We love you Grandpa!

Grandma Rice...after some of the most tiring and emotional weeks of her life.

And this is how I will forever remember my Grandpa,

sitting in his chair...

chatting about some sports game...

making sure we were all taking care of ourselves...

Love you Grandpa!

Bubble bath

 Maggie got to experience her first bubble bath...with her brother, too!

Now that she can sit up pretty easily, we can plop her in the tub in the awesome bath seat with Colin.  He was really excited to show Didder how much fun bubble baths can be.  He could hardly contain his excitement all through dinner, knowing that bath time was soon!

 Pay attention Didder, this is our bath cup.  He immediately poured an entire cup-full of water all over Maggie's head.  I think that was his initiation of some sort - Welcome to the tub, sister.

 Colin has sooo much fun with this empty bottle of bubble bath.  He could spend all day filling it up, and pouring the water into random containers.  He was just showing Didder how much fun it was.

 Daddy introduced her to bubbles.  She tried to eat them, surprise surprise.

  Everything goes directly into her mouth these days.  

 One of Colin's word tiles for the bathtub.

 Immediately in her mouth...

(notice Colin still pouring water all over her seat)

 This bubble bath stuff is soooo relaxing!

 Cheese!

I just love this cheesy grin from Maggie.

Even though she hasn't been sleeping well for us for quite some time, she always remains to be such a happy baby throughout the day (which is good, I guess!).  

Bubble baths are fun!

Halloween 2011

Well October came and went in a hurry.  Very busy month for the Teson household.

Lots of memories made.

The kids had a blast celebrating Halloween.

We went to Grammie & Grandad's house the day before to do some trick-or-treating there.  Colin still wasn't too sure about the whole "wearing a costume" business, so we were hoping that a preview of the candy goods might help.  

It did.

 Maggie as a Lady Bug.  Meemaw got this costume for her and it was perfect!

 Dad & Mags

 The "a-ha" learning moment.  I dress up like Elmo, say "trick or treat" and Grammie gives me candy.  

This isn't so bad after all!

 Dad & Colin (eating the candy that Grammie gave him, as quickly as possible!)

 Halloween kisses!

 The best pic of the bunch.  Maggie was a bit disappointed she didn't get any candy.

 Give me some of your candy later, okay?

 Elmo cutie!

 Mom & the cutest Lady Bug EVER!

 Such a great baby!

 Colin & Olivia the princess.  2 best buds!

 Best of friends (at the moment) that can also be each other's worst enemy (sometimes at day care!)

 Big Johnny & Mags

 Hey little Lady! (Maggie wasn't into pictures at the moment)

 All four of the KC cousins at Grammie & Grandad's house

Then, on actual Halloween, we headed out to do some trick-or-treating around our neighborhood.  We had intentions of just going up and down our street, but of course, Colin had so much fun, we went quite a bit further.  It was a beautiful evening and wasn't too cold.

Colin made a game of trying to find the houses with their lights on, so he could get candy there.

 Starting out strong in our front yard...

 Hitting a haunted house down our street (he wasn't supposed to be in there, so we hurried away)

 Going strong still...about halfway

 Stopping for a quick picture.  I squatted down to be closer to Colin, then he did the same.  He's so funny right now!

 We met another couple while we were out in the neighborhood.  They snapped a picture of the family, and it actually turned out pretty good.  Happy Halloween!

Dad & Colin, just before we finished...

 Colin's loot...not bad for a 2 year old!

Just before bed, in his Halloween pumpkin pajamas, eating a candy bar.

Hope everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!