Lots To Share

I have a lot to share in this post. Hence the title. It is always so busy around the holidays, but this year has been the busiest so far! We are so thankful to have had Jesstine this Christmas and we had a lot of fun as you can tell from the barrage of pictures! She was such a good sport even amidst the chaos that was our weekend following Christmas. As you may have guessed, the actual Christmas morning of opening presents was not really all that exciting to her yet! She basically played in her kick-n-play (kicky play as Stephen calls it) as usual! We also started feeding her rice cereal last week. That is always fun! At first she didn't care for it, but she got the hang of it and quickly graduated to 3 Tbsp. for her morning feeding! Sometimes at night she eats two, but the last few nights she has been pretty cranky and finicky. So, with out further adieu, her are the pictures! I have a really cute video clip to show you too when Seth or Jenni is able to get around to sending that to me! One of the pictures shows a little of what you will see. It is still best to have the sound with it to get the full effect.

I have to tell you this picture is slightly staged. She really had a cleaner mouth than this, but I figured to really show the full experience, her mouth needed to be messy! I really have never seen such a clean eater (for a first time solid food eater that is). Of course I give her mouth several swipes with the spoon. I am sure that helps.

This goes to show how much she really DOES like Elmo! Aunt Jenni and family picked this chair out for her and she loves it! It giggles and wiggles which makes her smile so big! She also sits in it nicely considering it is for an 18+ month old! Thank you Aunt Jenni, Uncle Seth, Noah and Ian for her new chair!

This is Christmas morning and her beside her presents from Santa *wink, wink*. You can see how thrilled she is! You can't really tell but her hat says "Baby's first Christmas on it." She got an incrediblock and some more peek-a-blocks to go with it! She also got a set of small maracas (chikitas) in her stocking. Those turned out to be her favorite!

This is just a still shot of the funniest part of our holiday! Ian and Noah (Jesstine's cousins) got Jesstine to laugh hysterically this weekend! It was so funny! Ian is Jesstine's new buddy. From the start he was fascinated by her. He brought her a stuffed giraffe while she played in her seat. He sat and watched her as she excitedly played. It was so neat to see them connecting even at Jesstine's young age. I keep seeing little glimpses of Noah when I look at Jesstine. She certainly has a lot of Hutchins in her! Hopefully there will be a video clip soon to show you how hysterical this actually was! Until then, here is the picture!

Last but not least. We have yet to get around to getting professional photos taken for her 4-month picture. We spent A LOT on her two-month ones because of where they were taken. It has been hard for us to get up the courage to seek out another photography place. I was told I need to go to Sears or Penny's and join their club to get her pictures done each month. I am thinking about every other month right now. ANYWAY, my family was also in town for the weekend. For those of you who don't know, we have had three babies added to our family in the span of 4 months! We tried to get a picture of all of Mom's grandkids for her as a Christmas gift. My brother-in-law, Ryan, does a great job of getting studio quality shots. So, we called him in to do the work! Jesstine was great to work with and the others were just a little difficult. We were unable to get a good picture of all of them. We managed to get the three youngest. Plus, Ryan took some of Jesstine alone because she was doing so well! Here is what we have decided to print for her studio quality 4-month picture. She is getting SOOOO much better at holding her neck up too. (Jenni, out of about 15 pictures, this was the closest thing to a smile!)

Well, we hope you all enjoyed your holiday season. We wish you all the best in this new year! We feel that God has certainly blessed us with a beautiful, smart, loving child! We are so happy to be able to share her sweet smiles with you!

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen, and Jesstine

P.S. For those of you who save the pictures off of this site, you may want to ask me for bigger ones. There were so many this time, I chose to make them small. The last one was a gigantic file too. Let me know if you want them!

Gonna Get Dressed, Gonna See Santa

This is what I have sang (or should it be sung????) to Jesstine on three different occasions! Today we FINALLY were able to see Santa, only to get a mediocre picture. She was very good. Not at all fussy like many other kids we saw there. She just can't seem to look anywhere but to her left! It is uncanny! I noted that in a caption for a picture in the last post! Stephen's maternal grandfather was always photographed looking in a different direction than the camera. Perhaps that is where she gets it! I did take a photo of her at home in case the Santa visit never happened. Next year I will be in search of a great Santa who is not a mall Santa. 1.) You never know what kind of Santa you are going to get. (This one kind of smelled of smoke and another that we attempted to see was out sick)! 2.) You never know if the mall Santa will be there or not (see last comment)! I would LOVE to find an authentic Santa. Maybe we will have to travel to Aunt Jenni and Uncle Seth's house next year to visit THEIR Santa! Anyhow, without further ado....here she is! Oh, I threw in a picture of her in the Bumbo seat to show you how much progress she is making on her neck strength. Our therapist continues to be amazed. She really is doing great! Before, I would sit her in the Bumbo and she would automatically slump to one side or let her head fall against the back. Now she even plays with toys in it!

Sitting up in Bumbo!

In case we didn't get to see Santa!

Great-Granddad pose....with Santa!

(Stephen calls him the emaciated/hippie Santa!)

Merry Christmas!

Lacie, Stephen and Jesstine Hutchins

4 Months!

Well, time is going fast. I was told that would happen. I just never really knew what people meant until now! Our little princess is now 4 months old! She is growing so fast! She is out of all of her 0-3 months clothes. She is well into her 3-6 months and will outgrow those as well. She is such a girly girl already. People have told me that girls talk way more than boys. I don't have a boy to really compare her to, but she has something to say quite often! Also, she is getting to where she is doing this almost shy thing when she smiles. She will smile and bring her hands up to her face, covering her mouth. It is so cute and reminds me of a giggly girl! Today is officially her 4-month birthday. Because it was a Sunday, she just happened to be dressed up. I have to brag about this dress. Okay, I know it looks more like an Easter dress and was probably meant for Easter (being that I bought it right after Easter). It was a steal though! It has four pieces to it (hat, coat, dress, and bloomers) and was originally $40! I picked it up for $10! You can't beat that (unless it was free), right? Anyhow, since she was dressed up and we had some shopping still left to do, we were going to take her to see Santa. Little did I know, Stephen did not like the idea. His reasoning is because she is too little to remember.....yada, yada, yada. Ultimately he left the decision up to me. By the time she would have seen Santa, she was cranky, tired, and hungry. I decided I would make a great effort to get her there sometime this week. I hope to post that picture soon! Until then, here are her 4-month pictures! Enjoy!

Giggly Girly Girl Picture

Happy and looking away from the camera like her Great-Granddad used to do!

Official 4-month picture

In Him,

Lacie, Stephen, and Jesstine

P.S. Does this hat remind anyone else of the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man (Ghostbusters)?