Tante Tara's Visit: Jayden meets THE DOGS!

Jayden's Tante came home from Texas for a visit with the family for the holidays. (Tante means aunt). With her she brought Cricket and Nugget, two Yellow Labs. Cricket and Nugget where so excited to meet their young 'bi-ped' cousin. There was
tails waggin' and noses sniffin' everywhere. Jayden was a bit frightened at first.
Seeing these two BIG animals coming at her, she let out a
whimper. Cricket and Nugget are so well behaved that all Tante Tara had to do was say 'Stay' and they did. Even though Jayden was afraid, she was still very curious about the furry creatures around her. She was seen leaning around the couch to take a peak at both dogs (far left picture). It took a bit of getting used to but soon Jayden was crawling around with the dogs and even
petting them occasionally. All the excitement finally tuckered her out. Jayden just needed to settle down on Tante's lap. Last time Tante saw Jayden was at Aunt Lisa's wedding when Jayden was just 7 weeks old. Now Jayden has lots of motor skills that she displayed, making Tante proud of her 8 month old niece!

Hark, The Harold Angels Sing! Christmas Day 2005!

What an exciting morning it was for Jayden. This was her first Christmas! She ripped open those presents just as if she'd been doing this for years! Somehow, we think she enjoyed the wrapping
paper more than the toys though.
Jayden proudly displayed her goodies she received from grandma & grandpa while sitting on daddy's lap. Christmas Day was spent at grandma & grandpa's house with Noni (that's great-grandma), Uncle Johnny, Aunt Sandy, JP, JP's girlfriend and mommy's dad. Jayden even helped grandma put a Lady Bug ornament on their tree. Grandma's nickname for Jayden is The Bug (short for Lady Bug)...cute little story, I'll have to write about it sometime.
If you notice the picture to the far right, the toy that came in the box is next to Jayden, while
she plays with the box itself...this seemed to be the theme of the
day. That's okay, she'll have plenty of time to play with all the toys she received from everyone!

Merry Christmas to Everyone reading this!!

Christmas Eve 2005

Ah, Christmas Eve...the night we all look forward to...finally came! We celebrated at home with mommy's family consisting of Aunt Chrisann, Uncle Herman with Nicholas (2yrs.old), Uncle Chip, Aunt

Eva, Danielle (18), Michael (14) and Jennifer (5), grandpa (mommy's dad) and of course Nanny (in spirit). Mommy, with Uncle Chip's help, made spaghetti with clam sauce, stuffed salmon, prime roast rib (in the rotissorre), green beans and corn for dinner. Jayden had zucchini and pears (ala Gerber).
The kids all got to open presents before dinner. Jadyen got lots of toys including old-fashioned wooden ABC/123 blocks, finger puppets with a stage!! She looked adorable in her green velveteen jumper and hat. Would you believe Jayden actually kept her hat on!!
Michael got a Jedi Light Saber (?spelling), Danielle got a purse from Louie Baton (again ?spelling), while Jennifer got her very own (children's) LapTop!
It was a good night for all...but the real excitement awaits Jayden Christmas morning!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Tis a day to shop for the Christmas Tree!! This was Jayden's very 1st tree and we wanted it to be special. Normally, we get a big full tree for the house, but this year we opted to go with a little thin tree. We needed to put the tree in the corner of the living room between the love seat and couch since Jayden is now standing and a master-crawler! Don't want her to get into any trouble. Here's daddy with Jayden and our new Christmas tree!! Isn't it cute!
Monday night was 'tree decorating' night. We made sure Jayden took an afternoon nap b/c we knew she would be up past her bed time trimming the tree with us. Jayden helped put on her very own Christmas ball with her name, date of birth and weight on it. Mommy held up Jayden while daddy took the pictures. She was mesmorized by the blinking lights...it was all she could do to just sit and stare at them!

A Little 'Taste' of Snow

On Saturday we took a ride to grandma's & grandpa's for a visit. Jayden decided she wanted to do a bit of 'driving' with her Fisher Price stand up/walk car. Hmmm...should be give her a ticket for standing up while driving?
We didn't have any idea what Jayden would do once she had a chance to
actually 'feel' what snow was like. Grandma opened the door, scooped up a handful and allowed Jayden to feel it. At first she just looked at us then dug her hands into it, crumbling it on the floor. But then she did something funny...she grabbed the chunks from grandma's hand and put it in her mouth. Probably felt good on her teething gums. Once it started to melt that was the end of the snow ball...
Grandpa came home from singing in South Street Seaport, NY in the Big Apple chorus by 7pm and decided to show Jayden the pretty lights on their Christmas tree. From what I'm told she was interested in the texture of the branches. It was another exciting day at The Prestholdt's!

Lots of Snow

December 9th brought lots of snow to Jayden's home town (about 7 inches!)! Since the majority of the snow came during heavy rush hour traffic, mommy decided to stay at home with Jayden instead of risking taking her out on unplowed roads. We had such a fun day together, we played peak-a-boo, sang songs (well, okay...mommy sang and Jayden laughed), and chased the kitty-cats around the kitchen.
The most fun was watching Jayden's reaction to the falling snow! She was jumping up and down patting on the sliding glass door trying to catch the flakes, even licking the glass for a taste of them! All in due time we'll be teaching her to stay away from "yellow snow"!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

There was baking to be done. Grandma and her old friend from college, Cathy made almost 22 batches of cookies!! They baked from 10am until almost 7pm on Saturday...of course Jayden had to get in on the action and into the tubberware she went. Of all the toys the tubberware is what gets her attention most. Jayden was showing off her talents of master-crawler and standing up! Now she clapps her hands all by herself too! This she just started on Sunday (or at least it was the first time we've seen it). It was a very long day for Jayden and in the end...she slept til 8am the next day!




First thing was Jayden's Christmas Card Photo Shoot! It took all four of us for this...just like a professional model photo shoot! We had the photographer (Grandma), the lighting expert (Grandpa), the primper & prop master (mommy) and finally the holder of the baby (daddy). Bet you didn't realize a photo shoot takes that many people!! After two wardrobe changes and 65 digital photos...we finally chose 3 pictures for the cards...the following are just random pictures taking during the fun!




It was also time to "deck the halls" at the Prestholdts! Well, okay, maybe not "deck the halls" but to do some decorating to say the least. Daddy likes doing the Christmas Village each year at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Never have we seen the same step up...infact, this year he made 'rolling hills'.

Thanksgiving Wishes

Jayden's first Thanksgiving was lots of fun...dinner was at Uncle Chip's (mommy's brother) & Aunt Eva's house for yummy turkey and all the trimmings. Jayden had peas(ala Gerber) and pears. Then it was off to Uncle Johnny & Aunt Sandy's house for dessert. Ahh...apple pie with whipped cream...no, not for Jayden; although she enjoyed playing with PJ's cell phone with all the lights and buzzing. When she's old enough and understands, I'll ask Jayden what she is Thankful for. As for daddy and I, we are so very Thankful for a healthy, happy, and beautiful baby girl!