For my mom

Merry Christmas!!

I've been slacking on our blog and I thought no one had noticed, but my mom complained while were visiting her in Florida that it's been awhile since I updated, so this is for her-and anyone else who cares. Russell is quickly approaching 8 months (WHAT?) and is so great. The word that's popping into my head to describe him is delightful. He has always been a happy baby but as he gets older he has become more silly and smiley and fun to be around. The other day Ricardo took him shopping while I slept off the night shift and when he saw me when they came home he started hyperventilating with joy and waving his arms. I love those kinds of moments and I feel very lucky that they happen often! In other news, he said "Mama" today and is army crawling all over the house and very close to legitimate crawling at this point. I always put him down on a blanket but he seems to prefer sliding around on the wood floor-maybe it helps him get places faster? At my parents' house he would do the same thing and deliberately move from the carpet to the tile. He's learned that when he rolls over on hard surfaces he needs to put his head down gently, which helps me worry less about the lack of cushioning! He also hates soft toys now and would much rather bang hard plastic toys together-he's definitely a little boy! He is becoming so curious and cannot sit still for a moment when he's awake. Gone are the days when I could leave him in a room by himself! He is also eating all kinds of food now and is a great little eater. He especially enjoyed eating mango when we were in Florida. It's fun to see him try new things.

Speaking of Florida, we went for just under 2 weeks in early December and had a fabulous time! We spent the first half at Ricardo's parents' farm, which meant a lot of relaxing on the hammock for me and hard work for Ricardo. That's how life should be, right? :) A ton of goats were born while we were there which was fun-they are so cute! We enjoyed celebrating Christmas early with Ricardo's siblings and had fun playing with our nieces and nephews, who have all grown way too much in the last year and a half. We also got to catch up with a few friends who live in that part of town and had a little date night one night after we put Russell to bed. So nice to be near family to be able to do that!

At my house we enjoyed many Christmas festivities including ICE at the Gaylord Palms (which was awesome), eating tons of delicious treats, and last minute shopping the day before Christmas Eve with my siblings. We also trekked out to Weeki Wachee park and saw the mermaids. The weather was perfect throughout our trip-it even got up to 88 degrees one day and we absolutely loved it! We went for walks outside with Russell almost every night and it was blissful. There is nothing better than Florida in December. We were able to see other close friends in Orlando and at the end of our trip we said goodbye for 18 months to my little sister Cassidy because she is leaving on a mission to Germany for our church next week. We are so excited for her!

We had to come back on the 24th because of my job but we enjoyed Christmas morning in Philadelphia with Ricardo's parents who drove up from Florida to help us remodel our house. Oh by the way, we bought a house. I feel like I haven't told anyone about this but we put an offer on a short sale months ago and it actually worked out so we are moving (again) as soon as we finish working on the house. We are excited to make the place our own and also to put our money into something rather than paying rent like we've been doing for the past 4.5 years. I'll have to put up pictures when it's all done. For now you can enjoy some pictures of us! Sorry they are a little out of order.

Russell had a lot of fun pretending to drive while we were in a parking lot the other day. Like father, like son?

Petting baby goats at the farm. He was so gentle!

All bundled up for the cold Pennsylvania winter!

Helping with laundry.

Helping dad study for finals.

Bonding with his cousin-only six weeks apart!

Haha, I think his smile is kind of creepy here. Can babies be creepy?

Too cool for school.

We went to Longwood Gardens with some friends before we left for Florida. So beautiful and fun!

Oh and Ricardo had a birthday! He didn't have school, though he was home all day studying, so it was nice to have him around. My mom spoiled him with lots of presents as usual and I cooked some yummy food. 

This post is reminding me that I need to take more pictures! It was easier to take a lot when Russell was little because he would sit still, but I definitely need to do better! Add that to the list of New Year's resolutions! Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!!