Merry Christmas!

From our Home to yours,
may you have a Merry Christmas filled with Christ's love, peace, and joy.

It feels like Christmas!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at the Rittgers home. Everywhere you look....The tree is up and decorated. The stockings are hung. The gifts are wrapped and under the tree. And most of the homemade Christmas cards are sent out.

We have been enjoying Judah's first Christmas season this December. Judah has been taking in all the sites and sounds of the Holidays for the first time. I think he feels the excitement as he often smiles and giggles a lot.

Our family festivities this year started with getting our Christmas tree down near Cumming, Iowa, at Howell Christmas Tree Farm. We did manage to get a live tree this year but we did not cut it down ourselves. One Sunday afternoon we piled up the stroller, bundled up in our coats and hats, and went to the tree farm. Judah slept through the whole process of walking the tree lots for that perfect tree. Seated cozy in the stroller we wheeled him around trying to find a tree. After an hour or so we finally selected a White Pine that had already been cut down and a wreath for the door. Judah finally woke up in time to load up the tree and catch a glimpse of the toy train in the shop.

Thankfully we got our tree put up before winter made its way to Des Moines. The weather outside has been frightful especially with the first storm mid-December dumping 16 inches. The fire inside has been delightful though as Judah and I turn on the fire every morning when we first come downstairs. Playing on the floor, we turn on the fireplace and tree lights each morning before we get our breakfast of cereal and homemade muffins.

During the first snow storm, Tim was snowed in from work for almost two days. Fortunately he had his computer so that he could work from home. Hoping to decorate the tree while being cooped up, we started getting out all the Christmas decorations only to discover that we did not have enough lights for the tree. So instead of decorating, Judah played with the decorations, toppled the nativity scene, helped wrap presents, and bounced to Christmas music in his swing every evening.

A week later we finally decorated our tree after buying more lights. Judah was fascinated with the tree decorations and lights. He sat on the floor watching us string up the lights, put on red beads and bows, and even helped daddy with the star and his ornament, a silver rattle. He tuckered out just in time to put up the rest of our homemade ornaments. What a night of fun!

We finished cleaning the house and decorating in time for our first annual Youth Leadership Initiative Holiday Party. This year we hosted a small group from Tim's work making the evening into a dinner party with all the fixings: cranberry salad, spiral ham, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, potatoes, and rolls all topped off with homemade apple pie and ice cream. Judah, or course, was the center of attention in his Christmas Penguin Elf outfit. We did enjoy the evening with our guests sharing fun memories of YLI.

The next evening (Friday) Tim and I went out on our first big date since Judah was born to hear Tonic Sol Fa in concert. We started the annual tradition with dinner at Centro, downtown Des Moines with some friends. This year we took an intermission to come home after dinner and before the concert to feed Judah (since he refuses a bottle now). Returning downtown to Hoyt Sherman, we enjoyed our double date listening to a capella Christmas carols and laughing at Plastic Santa.

While we were at the concert, Judah had Miss Julie (his babysitter for the evening) wrapped around his finger. The pair enjoyed playing and playing and playing. I am not sure who had more fun, Miss Julie or Judah. Mom was relieved to know everything went fine.

Since we had our Holiday dinner early, we enjoyed leftovers for a few days, even entertaining more friends. Judah received gifts from friends and so he opened his learning puppy, Christmas penguin pajamas, and Winnie the Pooh ornament early. He learned quickly how to rip the wrapping paper and eat the shiny bows.

Of course the season was not complete without getting ready to celebrate Jesus' Birthday. This advent season, our church did a wonderful series on the names of Jesus: "....and He shall be called Wonder Counselor, Almighty God, Prince of Peace, and Everlasting Father (check this out at http://www.pointofgrace.com/site/)." We wait for Christmas day by reading our advent verse for each day and playing with the Nativity. Merry Christmas Judah!

The Half-way Mark!

Judah is now 6 months old! I cannot believe it; how time flies. To say that he has become quite a little man during his sixth month is an understatement. He has grown into a fun-loving, happy little boy (most of the time). He is so small and yet acts much older all at the same time. I am amazed with how he has grown and the little character he has become.

The most evident milestone this month is that Judah has finally reached the stage where he is finally onto us. There is no turning back to newborn innocence; the monkey does what the monkey sees. He has picked up my bad habit of picking at my ear. He likes to play on the computer like daddy. He laughs at us when he knows he is supposed to go to sleep. He knowingly coughs to get my attention for things that he wants. He insists on feeding himself his food with the spoon. He also grunts to let you know he wants to keep going with something.

In spite of this stubborn streak and silly antics to get our attention, Judah is also rolly polly and full of life with stunts and smiles for all. He is gaining quite the personality. Mr. Social laughs and giggles a lot now as he finds certain things funny such as fish faces and ice water. He is very observant and watches the world around him as not to miss a single thing. His mechanical mind allows him to explores his toys one by one as he turns them over and over in his hands. He has also become more cuddly, nuzzling his head on my shoulder before nap time. If I happen to sit next to him on the floor, he will try to turn his body to face me.

I cannot help myself and often find myself playing on the floor with Judah. Judah likes to take his toys out of his bucket exploring them one at a time, looking them over before they finally end up in his mouth. He even tries to knock over the bucket when he is on his tummy. He enjoys playing with his penguin very much and I have caught him trying to share a toy by putting it up to the penguin's fin. He also likes playing with his cups, chewing them, stacking them, and knocking them down.

Judah loves to play games with people. He will grab my hands when we play patty cake or try to roll his hands when I roll mine. He also watches intently when we do the actions to songs like Head and Shoulders. We talk about colors and numbers using about any objects from laundry clothes to toys. Judah likes to hear animal sounds, especially a cow and a pig (because mommy snorts); he has this puzzle that makes these sounds and he tries hard to put the pieces in himself to hear it. Still enjoying his jumpy swing, he now as figured out to hop on his feet one at a time. I will put music on and he will bounce as if he is dancing.

I put him in his Excer Saucer in front of the mirror while I take a shower in the mornings. Occasionally you can hear him play with his toys and talking to himself in the mirror (if I do not hear him, we play peek-a-boo). What is really funny is that Judah will often strike up a conversation with my American Girl Doll, Kirsten, sitting in a chair right by the mirror as if she is real. He then proceeds to get frustrated why she will not talk back. In the same fashion he laughs at Maestro when he walks by and always reaches out for any grasp of fur he can get. Again, he laughs when someone is talking on the phone, especially when it is on speaker (watch out, you may be on speaker).

Judah is so close to crawling. He still lunges back and forth on his hands and knees really fast. He will then flop down and scoot backwards, forwards, or in circles. He just needs to get his hand out of his mouth and his head up. Fortunately, this gives us a little more time to baby proof the house and allows us to celebrate Christmas with all the decorations sitting around the house.

Judah checked healthy at his sixth-month doctor appointment. He weighed in at 15 pounds and 4 ounces. The doctor gave us permission to move to 3 meals a day with additional food other than rice cereal. We are working up to three meals a day now and we added peas (which he does not like but Maestro does). We tried to make our own peas through the food processor and will probably try to do the same for other foods. We also have started giving him milk out of a sippy cup which he does quite well with a little assistance. Maestro loves to find the three to four spoons on the floor every feeding.

Judah has still long and lanky at 26 inches and is wearing 6-9 month clothes. Tim and I go round and round about cutting his hair as it is growing over his ears. His cradle cap and itchy scalp has almost disappeared thanks to an olive oil rub and a bath. He loves to play in the bathtub splashing us and eating his ducky. He still gets silly right before bed and is ticklish on his feet, legs, and back. When he does finally fall asleep, you will find him on his tummy with his little butt in the air. He is so cute when he wakes up cause he often sports bed head just like daddy.

His schedule has fallen back into place after our trip to Ohio. He is back to his two naps a day, morning and late afternoon although it seems like the morning nap has become the long nap of the day. He has been getting up on average 7 or 8 am and going to bed anywhere between 8:30 and 9:30 (thanks to the Eastern time change). In between we play, do chores, and eat. We still try to take outings and pile up the stroller for trips to the store. We do get together for play time with friends during the day (usually when mommy is going crazy).

Judah attended his first boy-girl party (and it will be a long time until the next one). His friend Lexi turned a year old and to celebrate she had a penguin pajama party. Yes, we all showed up in matching penguin pajamas and had lots of fun. Sadly though, Judah was the only boy there.

Tim and I finally had an evening out with some friends to dinner and a concert. Judah stayed home with Miss Julie. They played games, read books, and exhausted every toy we had. Tim and I are not sure who had more fun (Julie or Judah) and thankfully the evening turned out to be a success.

Teething Pains

Carrots are a good way to soothe those ouchy gums!