Christmas Season

This year, Christmas has been pretty spread out. We've been celebrating since December 10 and will finally wrap it up New Year's Eve. Here are a few photos from our Texas Christmas.

Taking in some late lunch with the aunts and grandparents at Kerbey Lane SW.

Plotting trouble

E with Aunts M & C

Aunt C giving Ellie a tutorial on how to hack into the iPhone.

So glad to see Aunt C.

P and Grandpa ready to take on the best of TX BBQ in the Fiat (Dante). They took their own utensils since many BBQ joints don't offer any.

Placing the first order of the Crawl.

Holy Sausages!!!

Firewood is SERIOUS business.

Highlights of that trip were the traditional trip to Mighty Fine (Ellie will have a photo album of photos taken in front of the Diversacut Sprint there), P and Grandpa went on a BBQ Crawl (6 lbs of meat!), we got to see Aunt d and Aunt c as well as cousins and Great Grandma. And, my personal highlight was the thoughtfulness put into several gifts that were heavily inspired by Pinterest. Love that website! It was nice to just kick back and enjoy some family time. We did do a fair amount of running around, but Ellie managed to stay on her sleep schedule pretty well for most of the trip. Five days was about our limit though. I have never been so glad to see my own pillow.

Now, we have to get back in the regular routine. I'm slowly unpacking and trying to figure out where all these new things go. However, I need to get the kitchen counter cleared soon or I'm going to lose my mind. Nothing bugs me like a cluttered kitchen.

Reading a new Dr. Seuss upside down and backwards

Enjoying a plush reading chair from Santa and untying bows like a pro.

In other news, I briefly thought I was going to get a chance at a rebranding project, but that looks like it probably won't pan out. However, I have a lot on my plate getting the Gardening Show booklet ready for the January 21st date. And, once I get that taken care of, I need to clean the craft room so hopefully I can finish the painting I started a month ago. I recently cleared space for P to set up a computer gaming station next to my iMac, so we can spend some quality time together while I'm designing or painting or whatever and he's shooting aliens. I'm already coveting his cushy chair, so I may have to replace my current clean lined chair with a padded match from Staples. My back has been acting up for a few days, so the stylishly contemporary molded plywood version I've been using just isn't cutting the mustard anymore.

We're thinking of how we want to celebrate New Year's and what our resolutions will be. Currently, we're planning an afternoon with the family celebrating Christmas #6. After Ellie goes to bed, we may cuddle up to watch both parts of Harry Potter 7. The top resolution idea is to get our affairs in order and finally make our wills. We've only been talking about it for a year and a half.... We (meaning me) should probably also start curbing the sailor talk. Ellie is going to start repeating what I say before I know it.

Tis the Season

See previously unseen birthday photos!

Well, we're almost ready for E's second Christmas. All presents have been shipped that need to be. I'm done shopping and just have to get packed for our trip.

Wish us luck as we fly over the river and woods to Grandma's (and Grandpa's) house.

Here are a couple of videos to keep you entertained....

Happy Holidays!

One Year Later...

Ellie on her birthday playing with her "big" toy. It makes a good island for getting across the room.

A flirty smile in the car captured by her number one paparazzi, Aunt C.

Another smile coaxed by Aunt C. She only had to take about 200 photos to get these two adorable smiles....

It's official. We have a one year old. We have been parents for a year. It was the fastest year EVER! Ellie had two little birthday celebrations. She had chocolate cake and presents after Thanksgiving dinner and nap. Grandma N was disappointed that she didn't get more cake in more orifices. She actually got messier the next day when we went out for lunch and we gave her black bean hummus. However, she did seem to enjoy unwrapping presents and she ate almost her entire slice of cake and her little birthday pumpkin pie on her actual birthday.

Presents ran the gamut from a Star Wars board book, toys that sing, Christmas books, pj's, a fancy Christmas dress, and a precious stuffed pull-lion on wheels. The unofficial theme for the gifts was lions. She got a cute jellycat lion from Aunt C, along with cute lion pj's. Great Aunt J and Uncle M sent a beautiful Caldecott award winning book about the Lion and the Mouse. And, Grandma N and Grandpa B provided the aforementioned pull-lion.

She is now cruising quite adeptly around the living room and once we (P) put together the Fisher Price "house" we've had for a year, she started crawling around. Not sure what the house did exactly, but that's when she started supplementing the cruising with crawling to get where there were no assists.

She had her 1 year check up on Tuesday. She is 18 pounds (7th percentile), 29.75" (71st percentile), and her head is tiny. Her hair is growing though. It's starting to look messy, but it's still straight, fine, and very blonde. Baby girl is a huge fan of peas. She will eat them any way they come. Her latest fave is freeze-dried. Dr. L recommended starting her on whole milk. I made it to my one year goal of nursing, but rather than cutting back, she seems to be "snacking" more. Throughout the day she points to, starts pulling at my shirt or pounds on my chest to make it clear that she wants what I've got. Then, she nurses for a minute, bites me, and pops off. The biting is getting really old. That, and the fact that all my nursing tanks are getting pretty ratty are my only real reasons for wanting to wean her. However, I still plan on letting her lead the way.

Potty-training is kind of stuck in semi-pro mode. She makes most bowel movements in the potty. But, every now and then, we just have an off day (like today) and she gets a few dirty diapers. Our best days are days we stay at home. I've decided to hold off on training pants until she is mobile enough to get to the potty. She's almost there.

Between the rash of vaccinations yesterday and the doctor ordered anemia test this morning, I've decided that the worst part of parenting (so far) is watching your child suffer. She's gotten to the point where she knows the shot routine and starts wailing before the needles go in. She is very aware of what being restrained by 3 people means. Today, they took a few ml of blood from her finger and that was utterly wretched for everyone involved. Including the kind older man in the waiting room.

In this video, I told Ellie, she had a minute to make it across the room to me. She did it in 40 seconds.

Ellie shows off some random crawling. No, we are not training her with a bell. The dog decided that was a good time to try to entice me to throw her ball (that has a bell in it). Maybe Isis is training her with a bell....

Sick of Sickness

Wednesday, Ellie woke up with a sinus infection. She has been super snotty and a bit clingy since. She doesn't want to sit on the potty. She has had very little appetite for solids, and she's started snack-nursing. Combined with that, she's been more clumsy than usual as she tries to be more independent. She can crawl, although mostly she doesn't try. She did a couple face-plants this morning trying to get the dogs again. The second time was on a block, so she lost interest in crawling pretty fast after that. Now, she has an "L" shaped bruise on her cheek. It goes great with the scabs from her scraggly little nails rubbing her face in her sleep. (She has had a manicure–very much against her will–since.) She is also getting in a couple of molars, so she has been drooling pretty heavily at times. Our normally sunny child is frequently crabby and demanding now. She does well if I keep her in the sling, but my back really doesn't want to do that, so I keep it for when I'm at the end of my rope or when we have to run errands. To top it off, P developed a tickle on Wednesday and woke up with the flu on Thursday. So far, he's missed two days of work. I'm glad Ellie and I got flu vaccinations earlier this fall, because I don't know if I could keep sane if we were all sick at the same time.

Up 3

And, a little game Dad and Ellie developed at mealtime...now, if I can just get her to do that with food.

Up 2

Here are a few videos and photos I meant to post previously.

The trio is finally complete. After 4 years Zeus doesn't have to hang alone anymore.

Halloween 2011 - Ellie doesn't like things on her head. Especially not her Ewok hood.

Later on Halloween - She is now hot AND still doesn't like her Ewok hood.

A week ago. Just standing around chit-chatting.

Up

Today, Ellie mastered a new word. "Up". I'm not sure she's really clear on the meaning yet, but her pronunciation is fabulous. She has, "Mom", "Daddy", "doggy", "kitty", can sign "milk" and "bye-bye" (sometimes and with a delay), and now she has "up". She manages to communicate pretty well with that limited vocabulary and an imperious pointer finger. If she absolutely needs to, she uses fussing and alligator tears to make her displeasure known.

She's making rapid strides in all areas except crawling. Walking becomes more likely each day. She already pushes her seat around her activity table more than she sits/stands in it. She will walk (assisted) as far as about 5 feet before she lifts her arms to be carried. She stands for longer and longer amounts of time when she plays. Slowly, she is gaining confidence in standing and switching her supports from one object to another. If we rearrange the furniture, she could probably start cruising around the room. Falling is becoming less shocking and she barely makes a fuss about it anymore unless she was really engrossed in something up top and then the fuss is because she wants to get back to it, not because she hurts. Just because she doesn't crawl, doesn't mean she can't get around on the floor. She spins very cleverly and can push herself backwards until there is nowhere else to go. Ellie now finds it ridiculously easy to push herself into sitting from her belly. When I put her to bed now, she generally sits after I put her to bed and plays for up to a half hour until she literally falls over and passes out.

Wednesday, we saw a sudden change in her pottying. She kept her diaper dry the whole day except for naps. It kind of freaked me out because it was so sudden. She still sat and went in her potty, but she didn't wet her diaper between potty opportunities. Thursday and Friday weren't quite as stellar, but there were still a lot of dry diapers. We used about half as many as normal. So, I started using the cotton training pants with plastic covers between naps. I think she prefers those since they are probably more breathable. The other change in her pottying is that she can signal when we put her on the potty and she doesn't need to go. She simply stands up after 30 seconds or so. At first, I kept insisting that she sit back down and humor me. But, she's generally been peeing pretty soon after sitting when she does go. Poo can take a bit longer, but she seems to recognize when she needs to go because she'll sit and read and play for as long as it takes. So, I'm learning to trust her instincts and I put her pants back on when she "says" she's done. Now, we just need her to tell us when she has to go....

We've also seen a return of drooling. She has a whopper of a tooth coming in on her bottom right side. It may be her first molar. But sporadic drooling is really about the only symptom. Every now and then, she insists on Orajel (by biting Mom's hands and arms), but mostly, there is little indication that she has pain.

Mom and Dad are not making nearly as dramatic progress. I am reading, Dexter is Delicious (number 4 in Jeff Lindsay's series). I just finished Diaper Free Before 3, and am really crawling on my latest endeavors of a cross-stitch stocking for Ellie and a new portrait of her. I've started my Christmas shopping. I just finished some work for a Tri Kappa Convention logo and am also working on poker chip designs for P and selling ad space for the Gardening Show program I will also be putting together in December. P is working through another Star Wars Lego game and designing a bed frame for our Christmas gift. Tonight, P is trying a new ribs recipe and Ellie is taking her second long nap of the day. At this rate, she'll be going to bed at 8. Unless she thinks she has already gone to bed for the night...Damn Daylight Savings!!!!