The Espejos

Since we spent Christmas Eve at my mom's, we had three more families to celebrate with on Christmas Day. Isaac's mom lives all the way across town, so her and her husband, Craig, stayed over at our house on Christmas Eve. This way we could wake up and celebrate Christmas morning together instead of driving all the way out there at the end of the day when we're all tired. They were already at our house when we got home Saturday night, so Grace got to show off her new gifts while we all had some coffee and chatted. Afterwards, I put Grace to bed so Isaac and I  Santa could put together her new playhouse for the morning. Once everything was ready for Grace's Christmas surprise, we went to sleep eagerly anticipating Christmas morning. Last year was fun, but this year Grace can open presents and really enjoy everything she gets. We couldn't wait to see her face when she realized what was going on. Grace woke up bright and early Christmas morning (with a little nudgi...

...we had another ultrasound for the new baby. The doc said her heart looks great and since everything is going so perfect, we won't have another ultrasound until March. Although I'll miss watching her bounce around in my belly, I can now feel her and see her tiny movements underneath my skin, so the fact that she's perfectly healthy and doesn't need any monitoring is a plus in my book. I did get a pretty good profile picture of her this time. I think she looks a lot like Grace! Here's a comparison: BABY #2: GRACE: I know you're probably thinking that most ultrasound pictures look alike, but I've got tons of friends that are pregnant right now or just had babies, and you can definitely tell the difference. These babies have the same nose, chin, and mouth. I may be biased, but I think Grace is the cutest little girl I've ever seen, so I'm really hoping that this new baby looks exactly like her! ...Noah came over to play and he and Grace roc...

Since we have four families to celebrate the holidays with, we usually spend Christmas Eve at my mom's to give us a little more breathing room on Christmas Day. After finishing up some last minute wrapping, we headed over to Grammy and Grandpa's for our annual Christmas dinner and presents. Grace was excited to leave and sat by the front door trying to put her shoes on: When we got there, she hung out by all the presents playing with some Christmas lights: She wasn't happy when I tied her up in them: Once she was tired of those, she moved on to the piano and played a beautiful recital for all of us: (Child prodigy right here!) Then she chased Nikki around trying to make her eat a foam plate: We set the table for dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal of butternut squash soup, green beans, and a roast: After dinner, Grace passed out. It was perfect timing for Grandpa and Daddy to bring her big toys in and put them near the tree: I immediately woke her up, beca...

This past week, Grace and I had a baking extravaganza! Every year, my sisters and I usually spend one or two full days at my mom's house baking and decorating cookies. Two of my sisters now live in Ohio, and we have our own family now, so Grace and I continued the tradition together at our home. We woke up one morning, went to grab some last minutes supplies, and got all ready to start the day: We started out with sugar cookies since they always seem to take the longest. Grace helped roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to make them into shapes: She got bored with the baking pretty quickly and started playing hide-and-seek in the pantry. She'd go in there and shut the door (with no lights on) and stay in there until someone came and opened it: I finished the baking on my own and made some pretty sweet treats: After we were all finished, we packaged them up for our awesome neighbors: Isaac had the job of delivering them all. I am now accepting new recipe...