Happy New Year!

We had to lower Raughley's bed since he started pulling up, and he doesn't appreciate feeling like he is in jail when he goes to sleep.  Nothing makes my heart break a little bit like seeing him holding onto the bars of his crib with tears running down his face looking at me like "mama please get me out of here."  UGG!  It is like a whole new level of learning to let him fall asleep on his own again!  But, when I finally let him cry it out, here is what I find later...

I hope everyone has a happy new year and I will see you in 2010!

Cars and Trucks and Things that Go!

Santa surprised even Mommy this year by bringing Raughley a Polar Express Train set!  I think he was really excited about it! (As much as an 8 month old can be I guess) but he stared at it and watched the train go around and around the track all morning.  Christmas morning began early at the Wise's house- around 7:45, which we will probably be wishing for in a few years when R wakes us up at 5:45 bouncing off the walls.  

Raughley played with his blocks all morning at our house, and even Bryant wanted to join in the fun!  Bryant totally got Christmas this year, but was afraid of the train, so he would run into the living room and steal a present of his (a chewie or something) and then tear off into the Den to get away from the train.  Not 5 minutes later we would see him sneaking back into the living room for another treat.  Dogs are so funny!

Soon it was over to Mim and Granddaddy's house where what did Raughley get from Santa?

A car!  I think he's pretty pumped up!

Look at that face!

Here he is with his granddaddy, wearing his new Uggs. Howard has given his family and friends Uggs every year since way before they were the fashion trend, which has become kind of a family joke, because he must have to order 25 pairs or so each December- they must know him by name down under in the Ugg factory.  But this year R got some- can you believe they even make them in tiny people sizes!

Soon it was off to the Morris household to see May May and Pop.

What did Raughley get from Santa at their house?  A dump truck!  Uncle Pman had to put it together, but in spite of messing up a few times and having to start over once, he did a pretty good job!

Someone is getting good practice for his 16th birthday already! Watch out Dale Jr, you might have competition~

The grannies came over, and we took some "generational pics"

Mom, me, grandmama and R (above)

Dad, me, B, and R (below)

Finally, a family pic of the three of us.  Minus Bryant, who was present, just playing with all the crazy dogs in the back yard.  It was a great first Christmas for Raughley, although he did get very overwhelmed at times (who knew presents could be so overwhelming?)  he did great, and slept like a rock that night.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Crawling and Waving!

Here you have it folks, after moving one arm and falling down, after rocking back and forth on all fours, Raughley one day just took off, and has been crawling all over the place.  Time for me to baby proof!  No more unsupervised play time either.  Yesterday I set him in his room and walked down the hall to make my coffee, not only to hear him 30 seconds later IN THE HALL!  I caught it on video camera for you to see.  Also, he waves in this clip, which has been really hard for me to capture.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is a special day in my family because we celebrate two birthdays.  Baby Jesus and, my dad.  Happy Birthday Dad!

We started the day off right, with a bath! Bathing in the sink is so much easier than in the bath tub.  I think that is the way to go until Raughley gets bigger.  Plus I think he liked it!

All Clean!

After bath time we headed to BCC to celebrate Dad's birthday with his mother, my Granny B.  This is a tradition in my family and I always look forward to it.  We see the same people every year, and it's fun to run into old friends on such a fun day.

William and Frances Ellen, (above) and Patrick and Elizabeth (below)

Raughley snuggling with his Pop.

After lunch we headed back home for a rest before visiting Chase's family, Chase's friend George, and then back to B's house for the Morris family Christmas party!

Looking more like Daddy every day!

Below: a family photo.

Cartwright, Aunt Libbie, and Uncle Ed.  We spent some of the night looking through old pictures of Pop's (my pop, not my dad), and found a picture of Cartwight's dad wearing the exact same thing when he was about Cart's age.  They look like twins.

before Dirty Santa.  Willie looks pumped.

Raughley wearing Pop's hat that Lindsay won.  (Again, my Pop, my dad's dad)

Libbie wearing the hat.

Aunt Sally and Elizabeth

Uncle Lee, Patrick, and Uncle Ed.

Linds opened some holiday decorations for her new home after dirty santa was over.

All in all it was a wonderful day and night, however, exhausting!  But all the fun days are, aren't they!

Stay tuned for Christmas day videos and pics!  What did Santa bring little Raughley?

Merry Merry and a Montage of Mason

Just a few left-over holiday pics for your Christmas Eve Morning.

The princesses trying on their crowns

McCray playing with Raughley

She's posing by the way, it was hilarious, she knew she was being photographed, so she took total advantage to show off her modeling skills

Drew holding the R man

Raughley reaching out for Lee Lee, Mason's other neice.  They are almost 1 month apart.

"She's so pretty mama!

Drew, Rach and Sus

Susan with the Gulf Shores "sex machine" cup.  None of us remember how or who gave it to Mason.

The following selection is just a sampling of the nuttiness that went on that night.

Mason- "I shouldn't be here, I'm not supposed to be within 200 feet of a school, or a chuck-e-cheese"

Mason- R, you wanna go get a beer or something?

R- Oh, you know what? Next week's no good for me... The Jonas Brothers are in town. But any week after that, it's totally fine.

Raughley- "You're not really wearing that are you?"

Mason- It's where I keep all my things. Get a lot of compliments on this. Plus it's not a purse, it's called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one.  

You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my friend Reba brought Raughley home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Raughley joined in later

There just aren't words

Santa Who?

Last night we had a Wise family Christmas that started over at the Davenports, or Mr. D as he is fondly called by his family.  Raughley got to sit in Santa's lap again, and he had the same reaction, although this time I think he thought something was up... can you tell what it is?

Notice anything yet?

Cute little elf with his Uncle Carl.

I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus!

With Granddaddy

The Davenports: Amy, Mr. D, Santa, Me and R

Emma, Will, Ella and Mrs. D.

With "Grand Aunt Claud"

"Mem" Who is that funny looking man?"

Did you figure it out?