Christmas is officially over

That may not sound so good to some, but I am actually a little relieved. It makes me feel like a Scrooge though. We went into Christmas thinking that it would be very low key and sort of relaxing this year. All of the Abrahams (minus us) were in Utah, so we felt like we had a lot less going on this year. However, it didn't end up feeling that way. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with my siblings and their kiddos. First off, there were way too many people in that house. We had some really good food, of course, and got to watch all the kids open their gifts. Jackie gave all of the kids union suits with their names on the behinds, very cute! Can you find Jackson? He was the only one that would stick out his tush. Jackson also got a remote control four wheeler from his Aunt and Uncle, of which he still hasn't played with because there are no batteries and I can't seem to leave the house to get any. Jared got a meat smoker, grill thing! It was really nice, and I think he's pretty excited to use it. I got a mini crock pot and a pair of pinkensheers, and I'm excited to use those. Colin got a really cute onezie with his name on it, and a super cute stuffed Camel. I know Mom was stressed out the whole time, but we did have a good time, and are very thankful for all the great gifts. The next day was our day to be at home together as a family. It was kind of nice for it to just be us. Jackson had a real good time as usual opening his presents. He is very enthusiastic! He got a box of instruments from Aunt Heidi, a light bright thing from dad, a new Vtech game (he calls it the Vbox, like dad's Xbox, and now Grandma and Grandpa have a Wiibox), and he got his favorite, the HotWheels racetrack. Jared got a really nice dutch oven and a pocket knive and a new set of Scriptures (of which I don't think he's going to use now after Heidi went to all the trouble to have them sent to us, because he downloaded the scriptures to his new IPhone that his boss got him). Jared got me a new phone, an mp3 player, and a vaccuum cleaner that ended up not working and UPS has yet to come pick it back up. It was still a nice gift though. After all the gift opening, we invited my parents and brother Chase over to introduce them to Christmas Breakfast. Jared cooked for all of us, and it turned out so good! They really enjoyed it too. That was probably my favorite part of all of the Christmas gatherings, just relaxing around the house after Christmas Breakfast. A couple days later, on Saturday, we were having our usual big family gathering at my cousin D'Anna's house. That just so happened to be the morning I woke up with Mastitis. I felt pretty awful all day, and didn't really get to enjoy that as much as I normally would, but it was nice to see some family that I don't get to see very often. I also got see my cousin and her baby, who is just eight days older than Colin. Jackson had fun playing with all of the kids and opening more gifts. I took a few days, but I finally started felling better. Just in time for our annual AbraLutz White Elephant Christmas party on New Year's Eve. We and the Lutz's have done this for the past two years now, and always have such a good time. I have to give the Lutz's all the credit this year though. They were so great, she even came over and helped me clean to get ready for it. It just so happened that this year it was scheduled for the same night as the stake dance, so we didn't have a very big turn out, but he still had a great time. We played Catch Phrase, Guesstures, and Boulderdash. We had our gift exchange and everyone stayed till after the ball dropped. We had a a nice Christmas, but I am a little glad it's over. I am looking forward to this next year, watching Colin grow, watching the two boys learn to play together, and maybe getting back in shape a little bit. We'll see...



This pictures a little blurry, but it's almost a smile. I have been trying really hard to get a picture of a smile. As for Colin, he still continues to grow, and he is so strong! He can roll himself off a pillow and I often joke that he's going to start walking because he can support himself so well with his legs. He's gonna be a big boy!

His First Month

I'm a few days behind, but Colin is a month old! I can't believe how fast it's going by. It's a little sad really, I feel like the holiday's have made it go faster than normal. Colin is a great little guy, and we have really enjoyed him in our family. He has learned how to use his lungs a little more than when he was first born, but he still isn't very noisy. He loves taking a bath, except for the couple of seconds between the cups of water being poured on him. I think he would be happier to be directly under the faucet the whole time as to have the warm water running on him continuously. He's a very sweet, cuddly baby and every now and then we catch a smile which always brightens any mood. He is chunking out very nicely. I have no idea how much he weighs right now, I just know it's a lot more than than where he started. I am beginning to think that he might be a morning person. He sleeps really well starting at about 6 o'clock. Well enough that I have to wake him to eat. I don't really know what happens in the middle of the night. Jared moved his alarm clock, so I never have any idea what time it is when I wake up in the middle of the night. All I know is that by about 7 o'clock in the morning, Colin's wide awake, and I'm still really tired.

He's turning out to be quite the cutie. In the beginning we thought that Colin looked just like Jackson, but that has changed a little now. I think that Colin has Jared's eyes, and my ears, and Jackson is just the opposite. I am excited to see the resemblances and differences in the two of them.

Jackson is adjusting to all the changes pretty well. He loves Colin, he just doesn't like that almost all of my energy goes into taking care of Colin and not him. I haven't quite found the balance yet. I definitely feel like Jackson has been put on the back burner, and that makes me sad. It seems like the few minutes I have are spent being upset with Jackson because he's doing something he's not supposed to be doing to get attention. Hopefully we'll get the hang of it soon. I do have to say that having a baby in the winter is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. I am a whole lot more paranoid to leave the house than I was with Jackson. I am a little ready for it warm up, and if you know me, that's way out of the norm. I normally love the cold and am usually wanting about a foot of snow about now, but not this year. We've all been sick at least once since Colin has been home, all of us except for him. Thank Goodness! Anyway, it's been a great first month for our family, and I wish we could be in Utah visiting with everyone, but hopefully we can get together again soon.

Christmas Activities

I have decided that this week I would have a Christmas activity for Jackson to do everyday. The weather has been too bad for him to go out, so I thought I could come up with some fun things for him to do to help keep him entertained. When I was little we had these christmas ornaments, and decorations that my mom had made. They were kits that she had bought, and made and had I always liked them. They are made of plastic, but when they're done, they look like stained glass. I did a little searching this year, because I thought that something like that would be fun for me and Jackson to do together. I found some on ebay, but they seemed really expensive. So, the other day I was shopping with my mom at Garden Ridge, and found some for just a few bucks. I was going to do them yesterday to start off the week, but we didn't get to them until today. So, here they are.

Here is what they start off looking like. They're just small metal frames.

Here's Jackson, filling in the frames. You get these little bags of tiny plastic pellets that melt into the frames when you bake them.

Now they're read to go into the oven!

And these are the finished product! The snowman is Jacksons, he did most of it by himself. I was actually suprised at how well he did. I thought for sure there would be a giant mess, but he did great.

And here's a really cute picture of Colin just because.

Colin's Baby Showers

I wanted to do a quick post to Thank everyone who was so nice to through showers for Colin. We had two wonderful showers this week. The first was Saturday at my Sis-in-law's house. It was so nice to have the family together, and to get almost all the new babies together.

My cousin's daughter, Stormie, is holding her new baby sister Braylee. My Sister-in-law is in the middle holding J.W., my other cousin's baby boy. He was born eight days before Colin.

This is Colin and J.W. together for the first time.

This is Ma-maw, my Grandmother, with Colin.

And this is Sharia napping with J.W. Too Cute!

We had a good time and got lots of nice stuff, but mostly just enjoyed the time together talking. Thank you Sharia for such a nice shower.

Then the following Monday several ladies from church had planned a shower for Colin too.

There was quite a good turn out, and the food was great. As usual.

Jackson was supposed to be helping me, but he was too busy eating. Oh well.

Sis. Whitehead got to be the first to hold Colin.

This is the adorable cake Hollie made for the shower.

Thank you Sis. Yanda, Sis. Saline, Sis. Albright, and Sis. Brazell for everything you guys did, the shower was so great, and I had a really good time.

Pictures of Colin

I am so far behind on posting. Skipped Halloween, Heidi's trip down here, and somemore I'm sure. However I wanted to post some pictures of Colin, he's changing so fast already. He's put on almost a pound in one week! I was being brave by slipping one in of myself, just notice the cute family, not so much me. Anyway, I am so proud of Colin, he is an awesome baby and we are glad he has finally made it here. We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we do.