Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends!!!

I may have mentioned how excited I have been about Christmas this year.  It was  everything I had hoped for!  I started getting presents for Amelia very early on and had a hard time resisting the temptation to give them to her prior to Christmas Day.  Christmas Eve was tough because she was super fussy (cutting new teeth) and went to bed early - missing out on some family festivities.  But she woke up around 10pm and we kept her up for a while to play.  I have a really big family and everyone was at my parent's house for food and our traditional white elephant exchange.  So there was tons of people, laughter, noise, food and dogs.  Our dog Dexter was peeing on everything - Thanks, D.  On Christmas morning, Amelia woke us up early and we all went to the living room to begin the fun.  It took her a few minutes but once she understood that there were boxes which needed to be unwrapped, she was all in.  She got excited with each new box and loved all of her gifts.  Some of the big hits were bunny slippers, a Yo Gabba Gabba stereo, and plastic bracelets.  She got so many gifts from us and our family that it was a bit tiring to open them all.  In the end, Martin and I were opening them because she only wanted to play with the gifts that were already opened!

Enjoy some photos!

The Garza household on Christmas Eve

Lauryn, Melissa, Amber and Ashlee

Santa gave the dogs a Snuggie!

Amelia's Cottage - she loved her cardboard house!

Amelia's got her spot on her Pillow Pet and she's ready to go.  That's not even her present:)

Aunt Irene gave her some fun shoes!

Notice the bunny slippers!

Bad Dexter!  See him in the back putting a little extra on some presents!

Our Family!

Yo Gabba Gabba

I had a wonderful birthday - Martin and I took Amelia to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live at the Hobby Center with friends and their kids!  If you haven't had the opportunity to see an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, I would recommend YouTube-ing it.  I actually quite enjoy watching it and there are usually good musical guests like Weezer, and The Ting Tings among others.  The show teaches valuable lessons like - Don't Bite Your Friends and It's Fun to Share.  Obviously Amelia has missed both of those episodes but she's picking up on other things like dancing.


As soon as the show started, Amelia was mesmerized by the performance.  Se stared with mouth open through most of the show.  Here are some pics from my amazing birthday!

The character on Amelia's shirt is Foofa

Ava and her parents

We got to wear paper glasses like DJ Lance:)

Jack

These are the characters from the show

Amelia's pose for the show

Enjoying a snack during the break

Cheerios and Animal Crackers

Jack and Laura

This is Leslie.  I'm not sure what her claim to fame is, but she has been a guest on the show a couple of times.  Absolutely crazy costuming.

Amelia did not want to take a picture with Leslie after the show.

Getting Bigger

Christmas is fast approaching and we're really looking forward to it this year!  It will be fun to see her actually open gifts and maybe get excited about some of her presents.  Our little girl is getting so big.  I use the term "big" loosely since she's still quite petite.  At her 15 month check up she weighed in at a stunning 19 lbs!  Her height and weight are somewhere around the 3rd to 5th percentile.  Even though her size is not big, she's definitely got big attitude.  Honestly, I have no idea where she gets that from...  She's quite the talker too.  No surprise there given her parents ability for gab.  Her words aren't clear yet and she mostly only gets out the first syllable but she has a lot to say.  Some of her new words - Mo Chee (translates to More Cheese), Cold, All Done, Bye Bye and some others.  Of course Martin and I understand her, but the words don't come out so clearly.  She's trying though and she mimics us.  Which means I have to clean up the potty mouth.  I really don't want my kid to drop an "F" bomb on the playground.  Have I mentioned how much Amelia likes to read and be read to?  It's one of my most favorite things.  She loves books!  And she definitely has her favorites.  I know the words to Madeleine, Goodnight Moon, and Where The Wild Things Are by heart.  


The last few months have been tough on our little family.  Martin is living in Austin while the rest of us (Bug and Dexter included) are living in Houston.  Thankfully the end of our long distance relationship is coming to an end soon!  While it's going to be sad to move away from our family and friends, we are excited about becoming an Austin family.  We're looking forward to having a lot of visitors!  See y'all soon!


Some photos for you to enjoy:)

Thanksgiving

In Austin looking at the ducks

Could a 19 lb kid have anymore attitude?

She loves the slides at the park

There's a party in my tummy, so yummy!

Daddy's girl

Toy store madness

Again with the attitude

World Series Bound

Yes, we were there!  Game 5 when the Giants won the 2010 World Series!!!  Martin was in heaven.  It was a mad dash to get there.  On that Monday morning, Martin called me at work and asked, "Do you want to go to World Series game tonight?"  That was around 9am.  By 1pm I had Amelia in the car and we were heading to Arlington, TX - about 4.5 hours away.  We drove straight to the stadium and watched an unbelievable game!  Amelia was wearing her Giants dress but it was really cold so her jacket covers it up in the pics.

Happy Halloween

What a fun and exhausting day!  Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays and I have been looking forward to today for several weeks now.  Since Amelia cannot weigh in on the costume decision, I am allowed to decide what she will be without opposition.  I must take advantage of this while it lasts.  So this year I made her into Salmon Sushi!  It took a moment for some people to get it, but then we got some giggles after they realized what she was.  I didn't realize that there would be some people who have never had sushi before and wouldn't get it at all. 


We started the day off at the Houston Zoo for the annual Zoo Boo.  Lots of kids and fun costumes.  Amelia's buddies met us up there and we had a great time.  Then we went to another friends house for trick-or-treating.  Now that Amelia knows how to walk, she wants to take off regardless if Martin and I are with her.  I fully understand the importance of child leashes.  She did a lot of walking and some riding in her wagon.  And she fully understood the importance of getting candy in her bag - that's my girl!


Enjoy the photos!

Baby Sushi ready for the zoo

Mommy and baby sushi

Notice the ginger, wasabi & soy sauce packet on her head:)

The Gilbride Quads in as Pirates  - how cute is this?

Baby Gaga - aka Ava.  She's mad at her manager for not delivering raisins fast enough.

Baby Hermit Crab - aka Josh

Super Girls and Mermaids - aka Lela, Emma, Hannah & Katie

It's a seafood buffet!

Baby Gaga and her press manager

The result of parents torturing their kids.

Josh and Amelia ready for their night out on the town in search of sugar.