Ryan and Casey plus 2

Whitney's first Christmas was AWESOME:)  We are so blessed to have her in our lives and enjoyed every second we spent with her this holiday.  Our family time is very important to us and this weekend was full of family togetherness which made it wonderful!!! We spent Saturday with Ryan's family at church and then back to the Skeldon's for food, presents and games!!  It is such a wonderful tradition that all of us enjoy so much.  Whitney was a trooper staying up way later than her usual bed time to join in the festivities!!   She ended up getting to bed around 9:45 which is almost three hours later than normal!!  She was pretty good at opening her presents but lost interest pretty quickly.  She also, just like every other child I am sure, wants to play with the toy she opens immediately which makes it hard on mom and dad haha:)  Not sure why they make those packages so hard to open!! Ready for church New hat in her stocking Watching the boy...

The three of us have really enjoyed this extended time off together.  We rarely get to stay home and hang out so it has been a nice relaxing break for us so far:)  It is especially nice for Whitney to have Ryan around because she just cannot get enough of him!!  I am so thankful we have three more days with him and then another three day weekend before reality sets in again!!! Here are some things we have done while on break: Whit and Daddy spent the day together on Friday and hung out with his family.  JJ is really great with her and Whitney adores him:) We practiced brushing our teeth, I am surprised but she really loves it!!! We couldn't believe our eyes when one, Whitney picked up Roxy's toy and started playing with her.  And two, Roxy let her get close enough to do that!!!  She liked it for a few minutes but then cried when Roxy got excited and starting jumping around! Standing, Standing and more Standing:) This is her new favori...

No movement as of yet but she has certainly learned the art of getting what she wants :)  Ryan and I have to be on high alert at all times are her because she does not want to be in one spot for more than a few seconds.  I had the misfortune of seeing Whitney fall and hurt herself the other day and I think I it hurt me more than it did her!!!  She will pull herself up on any and everything around!! The other day I put her down for a nap and looked at our video monitor to see her sitting up in her bed.  This is also a new development where she will push herself up from laying to sitting, yay!  And not five seconds later, I look at the screen again to see her scaling the crib and STANDING!!!  Perhaps she just sits and waits and holds it all in so she can accomplish two big milestones in one day :) The picture I got is funny because even though her nap just started I had to go document this big event and when I took it the flash blinded her...oops!!

Ryan and I haven't been to the zoo in ages; so when our friends, the Santoro's, invited us to check out the Festival of Lights with them tonight, we were excited! Whitney said "wow" and "oooooh" about a million times and once Will woke up (haha) he had his head tilted upwards checking out all of the flashing lights.  We had to skip several of the houses because of Betsy and Ryan's fears of reptiles/birds, even though they were all caged! :)  (sorry Betsy I had to lump you in there so it doesn't look like its all Ryan) but we did end up seeing some animals.  Whitney and I were the only brave ones to venture towards a lizard and believe it or not she actually went "pat, pat, pat" on its back!!  Daddy watched us from afar but soon he will have to "pretend" to like those reptiles so Whitney doesn't start to think they are scary too!! Perhaps it is because one day this week was close to sixty degrees but tonight felt extra cold...

Whitney got to experience the Post/Sims family Thanksgiving tradition this year in Siesta Key.  We were a little apprehensive to fly with a 10 month old, expose her to the sun and be in a strange place....because you know me --Mrs. STRUCTURE-- but we knew it would be worth it to spend the holiday on the beach with family!! The flights down (yes we unfortunately had a connection) went surprisingly well considering it was during both of her nap times.  She ended up sleeping 30 minutes on each flight and didn't scream or yell too much.  The flight out of ATL was a little stressful as we boarded the plane and ended up sitting there for AN HOUR while they fixed something (all the while not turning on the air so we were melting trying to entertain our lil baby).  I was getting nervous because we only have so many tricks and I honestly had it planned out in my head what to do when to keep her from going crazy.  Thank goodness we had a nice lady si...

***Disclaimer*** I am a bragging mother in this post -- I am not maintaining a baby book and realized that I better get this info about whits development down or I will forget it!!!  So bare with me! Recently Whitney has been repeating after us and talking up a storm.  One of her newest things is waving at everyone and everything that is in sight.  She sits at our window and watches the kids at recess and waves for what seems like ever.  She will also crane her neck to see birds in the sky and wave frantically at them.  She also has learned that she can drop things and say "uh oh"....which always gets a laugh and of course someone nearby picking up the item she dropped.  She did it all through the store this morning and got countless strangers to smile and pick up her toy she was dropping over and over:) Whitney's new favorite sign is "me, me, me".  She signs it when you ask, "who is the pretty girl?" or "who is the big girl?"  She claps, w...

Whitney FINALLY got to meet her new friend Will tonight.  We have been so busy that this date has been put off for weeks.  It was great to see his parents of course but just as my mom tells me, "when you have kids is isn't about you anymore..." haha:) Whitney wanted to touch him and "pat pat pat" his head but did NOT want her mom or dad to hold Will.  This has to be a new development of hers because she cried the second either of us were holding him!! Anyway, Will is going to give Whitney's friend Jamison a run for his money!!  We cannot wait until they are all old enough to have play dates together and actually know what it means:) We also got to spend time with their dog Baxter.  Whitney was not scared of him and kept trying to pet him when he ran by.  She also found out that if she dropped Cheerios on the ground he would scurry to eat them up!!! Poor Will just woke up and was forced into this picture! Trying to hold hands Hard to...