December 9 = Dress up the Cats Day

We have two small stockings for Joey and Marley.  Just like with Zachary's presents, I couldn't wait until Christmas to give them theirs.  They each got a battery powered toy- Joey got a bug and Marley got a mouse- that you can turn on and they scoot around the house, prompting the cats to attack.  But the more exciting presents were new collars and some collar attachments:

December 6 = Get in the Christmas Spirit Day!

Zachary and I have spent most of our Christmases traveling to NC.  Having recently gotten back from a trip to NC during which Liam nor Malia slept very well and Liam did not eat very well... and the ride back was nightmarish... we decided- after making sure our families would still come see us- to stay in Maryland for Christmas.  So not only did this mean no packing and better sleeping and eating but it also meant there was a legitimate reason to get a Christmas tree!  We've never really had to have the artificial tree vs. real tree conversation but I grew up with artificial trees and he grew up with real trees.  But marriage is all about compromise ;) and he knew I would love the way the tree would make our house smell so we headed out to Target (of course) and got lights and a tree stand and a few other things and then headed to the tree lot.  I was hoping to make a huge spectacle of choosing a tree- letting Liam walk around and see if he gravitated towards one... taking lots of pictures... but it was cold and when we left Target it started raining so Zachary let me pick one and we headed home to decorate!

They are such a pair.

We got a few battery powered stars to put in the window- they were a hit with Liam.

Missy Mae supervising.

Reaching for the button to turn the lights on...

Success!

Liam telling us what color each of the lights were- he loved them so much!

Santa's helper relaxing after all her hard work.

2/3rds of our family- just missing Marley & me.

December 4 = Red Bow Day

Malia is the most precious baby girl I've ever laid eyes on.

Grabbing those adorable feet was more important than staying upright.

December 3 = Sibling Love Day

They love each other.  Liam loves giving Malia toys or her bottle or her pacifier or even kisses!  Sometimes when we tell him to give Malia a kiss, he will blow a kiss to her from across the room, sometimes he will walk up to her and blow her a kiss... sometimes he will open his mouth wide and just plant all his slobber on her face and others he does the sweetest, most perfect kiss on her head.  And Malia has started absolutely loving looking at her big brother.  She will just stare at him and smile and a lot of time he will (unintentionally) make her laugh.  I have a feeling they will not always get along quite as swimmingly as they are now but I do believe they will always have a deep love for one another.

November 30 = Malia's Baptism Day!

Our little baby girl was baptized today!  Liam was baptized on Christmas Eve which was really neat.  We wanted to do something neat for Malia too so we chose the weekend of Thanksgiving since that's Zachary's favorite holiday.  Pops did both baptisms which is also really special.  Here's another picture overload post but what a special day!

Liam on the way to sister's baptism.  Spoiler alert- he was moved to his car seat before the car was turned on.

Pops and his associate pastor, Meagan, reenacting the baptism:

 Here's everyone that came especially for Malia's baptism: All the grandparents and both uncles (Pops was greeting the church members at the time this picture was taken), The Mercados, Great Aunt Shari, Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Tim, Great Aunts Pat, Lynn, Deanie and Betty, cousins Brooke and Callie and Uncle Matty's girlfriend, Rachel.  We are so blessed to have so many people who took the time to travel to share this special day with us.

If we posted a perfect picture with everyone looking at the camera and happy, it just wouldn't be representative of our family so let's just embrace the truth!

Grandma and Pops very graciously hosted a lunch at their house afterwards so friends and family could continue celebrating Malia's special day.  Here are the three Citadel grads:

A sweet picture of Grandma and Malia:

 And a rare, wonderful picture of Grammy and Malia:

Malia and Great Aunt Shari- she has the magic touch!

 Malia with her maternal great aunts:

The star of the day:

 And the exhaustion sets in:




And two more pictures.  This first one is special because we took the same one almost two years prior at Liam's baptism.  Too bad I couldn't remember which family was on which side- oh well.

 

And when Zachary saw this picture it reminded him of another picture he took of me and Liam a while ago.  He said, very sweetly, that most every thing looked the same except I look a lot more tired.  True.  Very true.

November 29 = Hanging Out Day

Sometimes it's nice just to relax!  Here are some pictures of Malia getting to spend some quality time with some VIPs.

New Toys are the Best!  Especially ones that make noises!

This particular picture may have been staged but is pretty much the state of our family the majority of the time.

And how cute is he?!

November 28 = Thanksgiving II

Friday morning we got all packed up and headed over for Smithfield to continue our Thanksgiving celebration.  How lucky are we?!  Since this was the first time Zachary's family got to see him since his birthday, we celebrated his birthday too.  I had no voice so I wasn't able to accompany everyone in "Happy Birthday" but thankfully everyone else had it covered.  Dinner was delicious and continuing to surround Liam and Malia with family who love them made the day so very wonderful.