Merry Christmas 2012!

Wow, did 2012 fly by! This time a year ago, we were just learning that our family would be expanding by one; now, we've got a 3.5 year old and a 3.5 month old!

In lieu of the traditional Christmas letter, we invite you to peruse back through the blog. If you just want the highlights, here are a few:

• LittleBear spent much of the spring and summer plowing through books with Mommy, including The Red Carpet and Corduroy.
• In May, courtesy of our loving Aunt Sue and Uncle Vic, our entire extended family spent several days at a beachhouse on the Gulf. 
• In June, we celebrated LittleBear's third birthday with a visit to (and tour of) the firehouse down the street.
• Two of LittleBear's favorite activities of 2012 were blueberry picking near Houston and Baylor football's "Meet the Bears" day.
• Then in September, we welcomed LadyBear to the family! (Here's a look at her room, and here are some more recent photos.)
• An October highlight was Family Treat Night in the Baylor dorms, in which LittleBear and LadyBear dressed up like Woody and Jessie from Toy Story, thanks to Bethany's handiwork.
• Last but not this least, these two videos should give you a good idea of what life is like around our house these days.

Jeff's been busier than ever at work, leading some of Baylor's new social media efforts in addition to his work with Baylor Magazine. Bethany's been busier than ever at home, watching after twice as many little ones!

We hope you enjoy the blog; you can also keep up with our family on Twitter (@astrosjeff, @equusbeth, and @BrownBearCubs), or find Jeff and Bethany on Facebook. Drop us a line -- we'd love to know what life has been like in your world!

Until then, we wish you a blessed Christmas and a happy new year!

LittleBear gets a BigBear bed!

To celebrate LittleBear's 3.5-year birthday (and because he was getting too big for his old car bed), he got to move up to a "big boy" (twin) bed!

Here he is pretending to be asleep for a photo:

The transition went relatively smoothly... We've had a few "I want my old bed" moments, but he has relatively quickly been talked out of that. He got to pick out some new sheets -- he chose the fun, old-school Sesame Street set you see above -- and has enjoyed having those.

Here he is describing the sheets:


He's growing up so fast!

Guess Who's Three Months Old Today? LadyBear!!

 

Well, time just keeps on flying! LadyBear has grown out of the newborn stage where she loved to curl up on my shoulder and sleep all day.  She still loves to snuggle (hooray!), but she's a lot more aware of what's going on around her and doesn't really want to sleep that much during the day.  She loves to sit and watch whatever is going on (usually her entertainment is courtesy of LittleBear) and is still generally content unless she has a reason not to be (hungry, tired, diaper).  All in all, she is sleeping well at night and eating great.  We are very thankful!

As of this afternoon, LadyBear weighs in at 14.5 lbs (on our bathroom scale). She has been trying to roll over and can easily get on to her side, but not much further than that.

She loves to play silly games with Daddy and looks for Brother whenever she hears his voice.  The Christmas tree has become quite the attraction for her with the lights and different ornaments, she loves to have someone walk her up close to it.  She has also become quite the little talker telling us baby babbles happily throughout the day.  She's a happy girl and we are SO happy to have her!