Christmas in SUNNY Florida!!!

Now this is how we do Christmas in Florida...cabana shirts and shorts!

My sister got this cute little outfit for Sterling when he was born. I'm so excited that it finally fits him. I think it really works with the Santa hat...LOL!
This is our first Christmas tree. I've never had my own tree and I'm glad my first was with my own little family. I am so anxious to make ornaments with Sterling when he gets older. Also, Jeremey and I would like to decorate our tree with ornaments that represent our friends and family, so if you are looking to get us something for Christmas...please send us an ornament with your picture or your name or just something that we'll know represents YOU!
One of our many Christmas blessings this year was a visit from Pam (Jeremey's mom, aka: Grandmother) and Jessie (Jeremey's youngest sister, aka: Auntie Jessie). When I first saw this picture, I thought Sterling was 'flippin' the bird'. But he's not...there are TWO fingers up. :)

Sterling was having so much fun with these little jingle-bell antlers.Daddy was having fun with the jingle-bell antlers, too. I love my husband...never a day without laughter!Sterling wasn't really interested in learning to unwrap gifts this year...but he REALLY liked the ribbon from his gift from Auntie Jessie (some really great books...thanks, Jessie!). Here's Sterling "helping" Mommy unwrap some more gifts.

More Extended Family Shots

We were soooooo excited to see Miss Mya (Sarah's daughter) at Thanksgiving this year. The last time we saw her, she was less than a year old! She's going to be 3 soon...whew...that went FAST!
Mya was very anxious to meet "Baby Sterling".

She was super excited to get to hold him. That didn't last very long, though...because Sterling is only about 10 pounds less than she is! So, he got pretty heavy, pretty fast. :)

It's not going to take long for Sterling to pass up Mya in the weight department. He's chunkin' out pretty well and growing longer and longer every day!

Mya is such a little share-bug. Immediately upon picking up her Curious George toy, she placed it gently on Sterling's tummy and said: "he can have". It was beautiful! What a good girl! Mya just giggled when all Sterling wanted to do with George was suck face. Hee hee!
In this picture, Sterling is with some extended family. Uncle Johnny (on the far left) and his two kids, Michael (holding Sterling...his girlfriend is left of him [Lisa]) and Adrianna (far right). I had never met any of his family on his father's side...so it was great to get to meet them all.

Jeremey and I are cuddled up to Aunt Monte in this pic. She was a lot of fun! And she and her hubby (Syd) live in the Tampa area...so we'll be visiting them!

Here's Jeremey and Aunt Lupe. She's the eldest of all her siblings and seemed to really be the rock of the family. She was very sweet. She looks just like Jeremey's grandma (Lupe's mother) who passed away 4 years ago. I did not get to meet his grandma, so it was a neat experience to get to meet Aunt Lupe and just envision what his grandma must have been like. :)

Aunt Monte, Sterling (of course), Uncle Syd, and Aunt Lupe.

Uncle Syd is a CHARACTER...and so SHY.......................NOT!!!

My Brother's Artwork

My brother, Jared, is an amazing artist. Check out this charcoal/acryllic piece he did for a college course he's taking. If you know anyone who buys original art pieces...seriously, have them get in touch with me and I'll hook them up with my brother. In a couple of years, a piece of art by Jared Hansen (did I already mention he's MY BROTHER?!) is going to make you a serious art snob! ;)

Miscellaneous Adorableness

Daddy bought Sterling a fun jumper. As you can see...he really likes it. :)
Check out this look...laugh...go ahead...it's funny.

Mommy and Sterling on the way to Kentucky for Thanksgiving.

Daddy and Sterling on the way to KY.

Check out these adorable overalls!

Voting was a big ordeal for Sterling. He just pooped himself out trying to decide who to cast his vote for.

Sterling has discovered his feet and is now able to grab them with some accuracy. He LOVES his feet and he really likes trying to get them into his mouth. More pics of that to come! For now, enjoy the view of those thigh rolls! Ha ha ha!

My mom makes Sterling's karate gis right now because we can't buy them in his size quite yet.

He is demonstrating his punching skills in this shot...we have not quite figured out that punching OTHER people is better than punching ourselves. :)

Tummy time! Sterling is not too fond of spending time on his tummy...but we did capture some cute little faces during his tummy time a few weeks ago.

Doesn't this face just cry out: RODNEY DANGERFIELD?! LOL!

All Bundled Up

I realize that it doesn't get THAT cold in Florida...but we do have to get out our coats and hats occasionally. Here are some adorable pics of Sterling all bundled up and ready for the brisk outdoors. Brrrrrr......!I bought this snow-suit for him (on sale for $12!!!) to go to Kentucky for the holidays. It is a 6-month suit. I figured it would be a LITTLE too big for him, but perfect to wear over his clothes. yeah...it was a little bigger than I'd anticipated. Oh well...still super cute!

Sterling LOVES going for long walks outside with Daddy in his "snuggly".

Sterling and Mommy go for walks, too...but we ride in style with our cool shades. :)

Sterling Babbles

Sterling is 5 months old already and growing and growing and growing! He is the most content and happy baby. Sucking on his fingers and taking long walks to the park with Mommy and Daddy are probably his favorite things to do right now. He adores being outside...just like Daddy.

Because he was so premature, Sterling is still a little behind the curve for things like sitting and beginning to crawl...he's just now able to hold his head up for a couple minutes while on his tummy...but he doesn't really enjoy "tummy time" yet. We're working on that. :)

Sterling is not sleeping through the night yet...but his typical bed-time routine goes something like this. He usually falls asleep around 6:30 or 7pm. He either wakes up around 10 or 11pm (or we wake him up) to eat. He goes back to sleep when he's polished off 7 or 8 oz. of formula and stays asleep until about 2 or 3am...when he wakes up to be changed. Usually, we can just quickly change his diaper and he'll go back to sleep. Some nights it's more of an ordeal than others. :) When he finally goes back to sleep, he'll wake up between 4 and 5 (or we wake him up at 5am) to eat again. He usually is up for the day afther the morning bottle...but he'll generally take a morning nap. So, we're on our way to better sleep...and wearing lots of concealer over our dark eye circles to mask our exhaustion until then. Well, Mommy is wearing concealer...not Daddy. :)

We went to Kentucky to visit Jeremey's side of the family for Thanksgiving this year. Although we mourn the loss of Jeremey's father (he passed the Saturday following Thanksgiving), we celebrate the fact that Sterling was able to meet Grandpa Ernie. And it was a blessing to be around so much love during such a difficult time.

Sterling was soooooo happy to meet his Aunties, too. Here he is with Auntie Sarah.

And here he's snuggled up to Auntie Jessie.

And last, but not least, here he is hanging out with Aunti Amanda (aka: Tia Mala...just kiddin'!).

Jeremey and I were very excited to see our neice and nephew (Amanda's kids), Laurin and Jacob. We miss them a TON!

Halloween

We went to a pumpkin carving party at one of my professor's home. A bunch of graduate students and faculty came and we all had TONS of food and then we all carved jack-o-lanterns. Sterling was a little "needy" so Dr. D carved ours for us.

This little set of scrubs was a gift (Thanks Sarah!!!) and we used them as his "back-up" costume.

He actually wore these the day before Halloween to the doctor's office. All the nurses and doctors were so tickled at his little scrubs. PAGING DR. AHLGREN!!!

This little outfit was also a gift (Thanks Aunt Julie!!!) and was his "starter" costume. Isn't he adorable in it!?! My little jail-bird. :) The onsie actually reads: "Alcatraz Reject: TOO CUTE!"

I'M INNOCENT!!! I SWEAR!!!