Atlanta Christmas 2010

It feels funny writing about Christmas on January 5, but oh well...here's a quick little recap! We loved our time spent in Georgia with all the family - and Lucca was a gem on both cross country flights, even when Yo Gabba Gabba didn't work on daddy's laptop (epic fail!!!). She had the best time at Mimi & Papa's house (AKA Disney World) - chasing Scruffy, playing basketball, collecting pine straw, riding bikes, looking at Christmas lights in the neighborhood, playing the piano, meeting Santa Claus, staying up til midnight on New Years Eve and spending time with her cousins.

Cousins baking Christmas cookies

The Annual Christmas Eve Puppet Show (Lucca was front row center)

Singing Christmas carols with Aunt Amy

And best of all, we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! This is when the snow just began falling on Christmas Day. I was so excited I had to run out right away and take pictures...even though it hardly even stuck yet. It was so pretty and such a treat for this California girl!

Daddy and Lucca watching the snow fall on Christmas

Mommy and Lucca

Lucca liked coloring on the boxes as much as opening the presents :)

Her favorite spot at Mimi's house...the pool table.

No time for smiles, opening presents is all business...

More presents

Yo Gabba Gabba coloring books!!!

Thanking Mimi for spoiling her rotten! :)

And after an almost perfect Christmas Day, this next picture was taken just seconds before Lucca decided to touch that space heater on the right, burning both hands and creating quite the dramatic Christmas night, complete with a trip to Walgreens for burn ointment (but better than a trip to the hospital!). Rookie mom mistake - don't allow kids near space heaters!

Lucca and Lia holding hands at the Atlanta zoo. Cousins rule!

Those are just a few of our many holiday memories from this trip. Christmas 2010 was a success! We kept saying it will be our last calm Christmas before the storm of next year when we will have TWO KIDS and Lucca will know exactly what's going on. We enjoyed every moment of it and are so thankful and blessed for our family to spend the season with.

Goodbye 2010 - Now on to 2011!!!

December Daily :: Day 10

And the Christmas spirit continues...

Lucca is one lucky lady! Today she got a special delivery from Mimi & Papa - her very own pink suitcase! Filled with Christmas goodies of course. She's been wheeling this thing all over the house, and even asked if we would put it in her bed!! um, no. You will not be sleeping with your new suitcase, Lucca. Here she is - trying to figure out how to get the suitcase in the crib :)

December Daily :: Day 8

Bedtime snuggles with Daddy after another very long day.

Also, can someone tell my husband Movember is over???

December Daily :: Day 7

Yippee - more early Christmas presents! Lucca was so excited today to get a box of Christmas books from Grammie. Lucca LOVES books!!! She's smiling so big here you can't even tell she's sick. We both came down with something yucky, and had a rough day, including no nap -- my worst nightmare.

Thanks Grammie for the surprise...it made for a bright spot this afternoon!

December Daily :: Day 6

Helping Mommy untangle the Christmas lights

December Daily :: Day 5

The Calm after the Storm

Whew! Bedtime! Today was not so merry & bright. You gave me a glimpse of a toddler tantrum and I would be content to never experience that again. To set the scene: we had a very rainy Sausalito day, a skipped nap, and a dead car battery. Once the car was fixed, you decided you did indeed want a nap, only it was too late in the day to let you sleep for long. When I woke you up, you were not happy.

We got in the car to go to the grocery store and discovered our stereo system needs to be re-programmed after the battery situation. To get the code, we have to physically go to Land Rover. You do not understand this. You want to hear "I'm a Little Teapot" NOW!!! The tears begin. The screaming begins. "Teapot, teapot, teapooooot" you shout. I figure once we get to the store you will be just fine, for this is certainly not my girl. I get you in the cart and the tears start falling again. You can't communicate what you want, but you are mad. I put a few things in the cart before realizing we needed to get out of that store asap. As soon as we got back in the car, you begged for the teapot song again. My singing wasn't cutting it. Pandora on the iPhone wasn't cutting it. Nothing was making you happy...Until we got home and let you watch Sesame Street. I've never been so happy to see Elmo in all my life. Dinner plans failed, and a Domino's pizza was ordered.

First stop tomorrow? Land Rover dealership.

December Daily :: Day 3

We ran into "Oliver Twist" today while Christmas shopping at The Village. This jolly green elf made Lucca a purple puppy dog balloon and she was amazed. And then she wanted to take every other balloon animal he made for all the other kids. We came home with more balloon animals than we did Christmas gifts, but such is life when shopping with a toddler...

December Daily :: Day 2

After a long day, here we are reading our bedtime story by the fire.

"Sweet dreams little kitty, Rock-a-bye and nighty night.

Sweet dreams little bunny, Big hugs and sleep tight.

Sweet dreams little puppy, Love and kisses, good night."

25 Days of Christmas

December Daily

Day 1 of 25

(Heidi's Christmas Tree lot in Novato)

It's December, my favorite month! We will be taking a December Daily photo of Lucca for the first 25 days of December to capture the 2010 Christmas season and all it's magic. The goal is to make a scrapbook out of these photos, and to make this a fun tradition for years to come.

13 Months

I thought the month by month counting stopped once your baby hit 1 YEAR OLD, but here we are, celebrating Lucca turning 13-months old today. Today we realized how much Lucca is living up to the meaning of her name. Lucca means "Bringer of Light" and ohhh does she ever light up our lives. And our families lives. And friends lives. And strangers lives. You get the picture. What a little spark this girl is!

It's funny, I always say my two favorite times of the day are when she wakes up and when she goes to bed. She is the sweetest and silliest when she wakes up. And then let me tell you how sweet it is once she finally goes to bed! :)

Here's the babe when she woke up from her nap yesterday. I caught some sweet, and of course, silly, moments...

Baby in Bermuda shorts

I'm loving these little Bermuda shorts I scooped up from Target last weekend. So funny/sweet to see Lucca's little bare legs running around the house today. She melts my giant-sized mama heart.

Lucca Dayz

Today was a simple day. The sun was shining and we had no agenda. We spent the day stacking, reading, snuggling and eating gigantic heart shaped San Francisco sourdough bread rolls...

(*not pictured: birdwatching, napping, shopping, walking, tubby...)