Advent/ Countdown to Christmas Calendar

While I am feeding the little babe, my source of entertainment is either facebook or pinterest (on my phone). I cannot have the tv on or other people in the room because he is such a distracted little fellow. With Christmas approaching, I have been pinning all these fun Christmas activities, goodies and ideas. I have the habit of pinning things, then completely forgetting about them, only to go back and look at my board and think, "Why didn't we do that?!?" I wanted a way to organize all the fun Christmas ideas, so I got thinking to making an Advent/ Countdown to Christmas calendar. I am not too familiar with advent calendars, but through my research it seems like you get a little treat everyday. I didn't really want to go that route, but rather the 'experience' route. I thought it would be fun to have a new activity, recipe, or treat to do everyday leading up to Christmas.  Now that we also have a little kiddo, I thought it would be a fun new Christmas tradition to start! I know that Zach is only 7 1/2 months old and he is too young to do any of these things, but I figured since I have the time (and enthusiasm) I might as well make it this year, that way it is ready to go years to come! My hubs thinks I am a little crazy, making an advent calendar for a 7 1/2 month old, and it has been at the end of many of his jokes lately. Tonight while we were praying for our dinner, he thanked the Lord for our advent calendar. He should be thankful! I think he (and the rest of our kiddos) will love it many years to come!

cute little festive embellishments are buttons! 

I went to pinterest to see what ideas were out there for advent calendars. This idea was a combination of several that I saw, put together into one. I saw one that were socks strung on a line, and thought it was cute. Instead of socks, I thought it would be fun to do little stockings. I thought the stockings would also be fun because then you could have the activity hidden away inside and pull it out each day. I also wanted to have something where you could take it down each day. That way the kids could physically count how many days were left until Christmas.

holly. gingerbread men. snowflakes. toy soldier. evergreen trees. 

 cute, festive clothespins to easily assemble and disassemble. 

This vision and idea for this advent calendar came together while I was shopping. I found the red and green stockings and twine at Walmart, then went to Michael's to see what fun little embellishments could go on the stockings to make it a little more festive and decorative. Originally I thought I would get embellishments in the scrapbooking aisle but I came across these tiny, festive buttons and thought they were perfect.  I liked the gingerbread men, the snowmen, the soldier, the bear and sled because it seemed kid-appropriate. Since this is for our kiddo, and hopefully more kids to come down the line, I wanted it to be something they would enjoy and look forward to. 

 activity for the day nestled in the stocking. 

Last, I typed up the activities and printed them out on cardstock. Here are a list of ideas that I used to fill our advent calendar with.

• ·         Decorate Christmas Tree
• ·         Drive to see Christmas Lights
•          *Present- Christmas Coloring book- color some pages
• ·         Make a Christmas craft
• ·         Decorate a Gingerbread House
• ·         Drink hot chocolate/ hot chocolate bar with cake pops attached to candy canes
• ·         Decorate Sugar cookies
• ·         Make Christmas cookies and deliver them to the neighbors
• ·         Have Christmas Floats: Peppermint ice cream with hot chocolate
• ·         Breakfast for dinner: pancakes in winter shapes- snowman breakfast
• ·         Make pizza for dinner- shaped like candy cane and snowman
• ·         Watch a special Christmas movie
• ·         Make an ornament for the tree
• ·         *Present- Read a new Christmas book/story
• ·         Make snowflakes and decorate the windows in your room
• ·         Sing Christmas carols
• ·         Have a picnic by the Christmas Tree
• ·         Pick out toy and donate it to a child in need
• ·         Go to the Biltmore at Christmastime
• ·         Go ice skating
• ·         Go Christmas shopping and wrap presents
• ·         Make gingerbread or peppermint play dough
• ·         Make cake pops
• ·         Unwrap a present early
• ·         Make your own life-sized gingerbread house with a cardboard box.
• ·         Go to the Grove Park Inn and look at the National Gingerbread House competition.
• ·         Go to Snow Mountain.

 

 printed in a fun, colored font with little, festive pictures

After many days of thinking, shopping, planning and working- the advent calendar is finished and we are officially counting down the days to Christmas!

Here is how I made it:

Materials: 
- Twine
- 24 Little stockings (Dollar Store, Walmart, Target- I found mine at Walmart: a pack of 4 for 98 cents!)
- Little clothespins (I found decorative ones at Michael's but plain would work too!)
- Festive embellishments or buttons
- Number stickers or cut out numbers using a cricut
- Cardstock to print out activity cards

Directions:
- Using the clothespins, start stringing the stockings. Spread them as far apart or close together as you like. *Don't cut the twine until all stockings are on- that way you know how long to make it.
- Depending on the thickness of your twine, double or triple it. I tripled my twine to make it a little more sturdy to hang the stockings from.
- Tie a loop at each end of the twine so that you can hang your advent stocking garland.
- Reposition/ adjust your stockings to desired places
- Number your stockings using either stickers or cut them out on cardstock using a cricut machine. You can either start numbering them with 1 (as if starting on December 1) or start at 24 (and show the remaining number of days until Christmas). I kept going back and forth but ultimately my OCD won out and I decided to start at 1.
- Add your buttons/ embellishments using a hot glue gun.
- Type up your experiences and print them out on cardstock. Cut them out and place them in the corresponding day.

I love the way that it turned out! Thanks to my mom who went shopping with me and help make some executive decisions about the embellishments. To my sister Jen, who helped assemble the stockings and decide where each embellishment should go. And my sister Hillary who let me borrow her cricut machine :) Even though I won't really be using it this year (although I was so excited that I almost bought Zach a Christmas coloring book at the store. I then realized how crazy that was and got my senses back and moved on) I am excited that it is made and ready to go for next year and the years after that. I think it is a fun new tradition for us to start with our expanding family :)

P.S.- 21 days to Christmas!

Seven Months!

This month was a big month for Zach in terms of growth and development. To me, he no longer looks or acts like a baby. It all started with him being able to sit up by himself, which seems to bring him a little more independence and also makes him look so grown up. He has also started eating 'real' food. Zach also rang in his 7 month birthday with [drum roll.....] his first tooth! He is continuing to grow and is moving more toward the toddler stage than the newborn/infant stage. He is also closer to being one year old than being a newborn! It is amazing how fast time is flying by and how much he is growing. He is such a happy little boy and has the most contagious laugh. He also seems to have a pretty good sense of humor and can understand when people are being silly or making a joke. He is also super sweet and cuddly. He likes being kissed and loved on and will let people show him that affection. Zach loves to sing and will burst out in song during worship at church. I will also catch him singing with a sweet, soft voice while he is playing on the floor, riding in the car or in the stroller. To the other side of his sweetness is his active/wild side. He has always been a very active baby. He kicks, rolls, army crawls all over the place. He is very curious and observant. You cannot hold him in toward yourself, or even on your hip. He immediately starts turning and wants to be facing outward to see everything. We had another busy month, especially in terms of reaching some major milestones!

Happenings from the past month:   

• A few days after my 1/2 birthday, I learned how to sit up all by myself!
• Daddy got me a welcome home present from Ohio. It is a bright orange pig that walks and oinks. He missed me so much while I was up in Ohio and I missed him too. When I got home, I had the biggest smile on my face when I saw him. 

• I had my third round of immunizations. I am getting better and better at having shots. 

• My diet has now changed and I am starting to eat real food: I eat rice cereal, peas,  carrots, avocado, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, and bananas.   

 

first food: peas

bleh- I did not like them! 

 "why mom are you giving me this stuff?"

 mmm carrots are much better!

making a mess with avocado. 

 banana is my favorite.

• I do this wave-like motion when I want something. I also do it to say hello to people. 
• I have some stinky feet. Mommy and Daddy used to joke and play a game with me where they would smell my feet and say, "Stinky!" One day mommy actually took a whiff and it was smelly ;)
• I can now put myself to sleep (at least at bedtime- still working on naptime)! After giving mom and dad some difficulty with my sleeping, they decided to "Ferberize" me. It really wasn't too bad and I cried some [under their watchful ears and eyes] but after 3 nights I could put myself to sleep almost right away. We have been traveling a lot this month so mom and dad haven't been super consistent with it when we are away. But I am becoming a MUCH better sleeper. I eat at 7:00, then have Bible reading and prayer time then am down at 7:30. I sleep until 3:00-4:00 and wake up to eat and then sleep until 5:30/6:00.
• I have a new-found love for my rubber ducky!
• Went swinging for the first second time. My aunts actually took me swinging up in Ohio. So this was my first time with mommy and daddy. It was very enjoyable, but I was having more fun looking at the little girl swinging next to me. Her exact words were, "He's so cute!" 
  
   
• I went to Atlanta TWO TIMES and got to spend more time with my Aunts, Uncle and cousins.

I love the L'Heureux's!

• Mom and Aunt Jen had fun getting [me] in the Christmas spirit. I also had some Christmas fun with Nana and Aunt Hillary.

Mommy's stuffing her stocking.

Little Who

 

• Had lots of fun playing in the leaves

• I love singing and I have started to sing a little tune independently. Mom will catch me singing in the back seat as we are driving or while I am being pushed in the stroller. I have the sweetest little singing voice and my mom loves hearing me sing. 
• I can get up on all fours and start rocking back and forth. It's only a matter of time now before I am actually crawling. 
• I can army-like crawl. I can definitely get across the room by myself if there is something that I want.
• My hair is still growing like crazy. Nana says that it seems to grow more every time she sees me. 
• I got some new winter gear in preparation for the cold weather and traveling up to Ohio. 

• Even though I am not entered in the Gerber Baby photo contest- mommy still says I'm the winner :)

• I got my FIRST tooth on my seven month birthday! It is a tiny little stub, but it is there nonetheless. Mom says I am now officially the sweet-toothed baby. Don't worry, I'm not really the sweet tooth [besides the ice cream my Aunt Emmy and Aunt Debbie let me sample AND the whipped cream Aunt Jen had me taste!!]

can you spy a tooth stub on my left [your right]?

please ignore the boogies. 

Statistics:
Weight: 17 lbs. 10 oz. [estimate]
Height: 29 1/4 inches [estimate]
Nicknames: Zachy, Boo Boo, Zach Attack, Zachy Doodle. 
Likes: Mirrors, rubber ducky, singing, Sergie the giraffe, mom's water bottles, bananas, Tigger, faces, real-word objects: measuring spoons, hampers, baskets, cups, belts  
Dislikes: Drying off after a bath, peas, staying still while getting diaper changed, naps  
Clothing: 6-12 months/ 9 months. Diapers: Size 3

Milestones:
Sat up independently: 10.19.13
Stand with support: 10.19.13
First taste with baby food: 10.24.13 [peas]  
Army crawl: 11.9.13
First tooth [bottom left central incisor]: 11.16.13

7th Month Pictures:

 hair is still defying gravity and does not appear to stop anytime soon. 

 army crawler. 

 i made it!

 loves tigger. 

 new favorite game- roll myself up in my blanket. 

A Note from Mom:
Hey my little buddy, my little boo boo- I find it so hard to believe that you are already 7 months old! The past couple months, I couldn't wait until you turned one month, or two months, or three months, but now that you are seven months, I feel like I want to stop time or at least make it go slower. This month you grew up so much and became such a big boy in my eyes. You now sit up all by yourself. You eat real food. You weren't too happy with the peas, but things began to look up with the carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. Then you were having a field day with bananas. When you like a food you kick your little feet in satisfaction. You even start to complain because I can not replenish the spoon and get it to your mouth fast enough. You also celebrated your seventh month birthday with your very first tooth. I almost wanted to cry because it was such another big milestone that you reached this month. You continue to be your fun, active self. You are such an active [but not really feisty] baby, yet gentle and sweet and lovey at the same time. Although it is getting harder to watch you grow and lose your baby-ness, I am excited to see you become more vertical, as you learn to pull yourself up, and eventually stand and walk. You bring so much joy not only to your dad and I's life, but to everyone's life that you are a part of. Get excited for the next upcoming months as you will be celebrating some of your first holidays!

my 'not-so-baby' baby