So big.

This does not look like a baby.


















This looks like a little boy.

Not so fast, love. Your mama isn't ready for you to grow up quite yet.

What the world needs now...

...is cookies. Lots and lots of them. Because it's Christmas and that means you can eat anything you want without repercussion!

(Just go with it. It will make you happy, I promise.)

Sunday I spent the day baking with four of the nicest ladies you'll meet. This baking tradition of ours started in 2003 when my friend Andrea and I got inspired and baked a ton of Christmas cookies at her mom's house. Well, Andrea moved to Philly (boo), but her mom Linda, our friend Joanna, and two of Andrea's friends, Jackie and Colette, joined me in her absence, and we've been getting together to bake, chat, laugh and eat every December since 2006. Unfortunately (for us), Jackie moved to Japan two years ago, so this year another friend, Willa, joined us.

Every year we show up at Linda's house and make a huge mess. We all make 2-3 kinds of cookies, split everything up, and then leave with more cookies than one person should ever feel comfortable having in their home.

This year we made 15 types of cookies in a record-breaking four hours:

Peanut Butter Blossoms
Snickers Cookies
Haystacks
Mexican Wedding Cakes (also known as Russian Tea Cakes...at least by me)
Thin Mints
Pretzel Bark
Double Chocolate Biscotti
Cranberry White Chocolate Biscotti
Molasses Sugar Cookies
Cranberry Turtle Bars
Hello Dolly
Flake Cookies
Marshmallow Christmas Wreaths
Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Gingersnaps

And now they are all piled on my dining room table. I have plans to give them away, but there's something kind of wonderful about coming home to a cookie buffet...

No, that is not a picture of my personal cookie buffet. That is Linda's table before we split things up, although at that point we weren't done so there were more cookies in the kitchen. And on her deck, which conveniently doubles as a refrigerator/cooling rack.

Here's hoping my dear co-founder will be back in Minnesota next year and we'll be making this huge mess at her house!

Our Thanksgiving in (very few) pictures.

I am terrible at taking pictures during holidays. And at posting the few I did take in a timely fashion.

The Brall (Breyer/Hall) Thanksgiving was fun, as always. There was lots of oohing and ahhing over the group's two smallest additions — though Calvin seemed massive next to tiny little Madelyn (at nine weeks she weighs little more than Calvin did at birth...how on earth did I get that kid out??).

We ate, we laughed, we had some issues with tupperware. It was great to have everyone together, and fun to give Calvin his first taste of real food. He didn't seem very excited by mashed potatoes (Nate was devastated) but he did seem to enjoy the sweet potato casserole we made (my Nana's yummy recipe). I'm sure next year both will fall by the wayside when he has his first encounter with green bean casserole (the only thing that requires seconds, in my opinion).












And finally, a quick video of Calvin with Madelyn. What a flirt! We have high hopes for these two, as there has yet to be a Breyer/Hall wedding. Sadly, we didn't get a picture of them in the matching Thanksgiving onesies Laura bought them.

The sweetest sound you'll ever hear...

...has yet to be captured on video.

But, trust me. Hearing my little boy babble "ma ma ma ma ma" is the cutest thing in the world.

Hopefully "da da da da da" won't be far behind, as I'm sure Nate is tired of me gloating.

Addiction.

Vanilla iced coffee from McDonald's. Coffee, vanilla creamer, lots of ice, and what I have to assume is crack cocaine.

Don't worry, though. It's not like I have a problem. I mean, I can stop anytime I want to.

(No, I can't. Please help me.)

Status update [what's on your mind?].

When I told my friend Joanna I was taking Calvin to the doctor for his six-month well baby visit yesterday, she said "you'll have to let me know his status." She meant stats, but when you hang out on Facebook all the time, it's easy to slip up.

So, here is his six month status update:

Calvin Breyer is 17.3 pounds and in the 40th percentile for weight.

Calvin Breyer is 27 inches long and in the 75th percentile for height.

Calvin Breyer has a 17.5 inch head circumference, which is in the 50th percentile.

Abby McLaughlin Breyer was delighted to hear she doesn't have to buy a new carseat yet.

Six.

Calvin is cranky.

SUPER SUPER CRANKY. Or at least he was yesterday. It was quite the six month celebration!

I told Nate I thought Calvin was trying to reenact the pain he afflicted upon me at his birth. If that was his goal, he did a good job. Yesterday was plenty painful for me, although this time he did all the screaming.*

(To be honest, I didn't do any screaming at his birth. And there wasn't much pain, either. I had an epidural and slept. Highly recommended.)

Poor baby is teething. He is gnawing on everything within reach — his toys, his hands, the remote, our furniture, his spoon, Nate's nose, my chin. We are going through Tylenol like it's Diet Coke.**

I tried to get a cute picture of him to commemorate the REALLY AWESOME day we had together, but most of what I got looked like this:


















Enter Mattie, the love of his life.



















































Laughing at Mattie does not always end well, to which Calvin's face and Nate's pants can attest.


















Cranky or not (and usually not — hopefully those teeth will come in SOON), this little boy is the joy of my heart. It's been the hardest — but happiest — six months of my life. We love you, Calvin.


















*Except for the screaming in my head. There was quite a bit of that.
**No, that is not a typo. Yes, I know we need to drink more water.