Merry Christmas!

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas!! We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my parents' house. We had our traditional Christmas Eve feast- tamales, with family and close friends.

Four Generations.

Posing in front of the Christmas tree.

With GiGi.

And Uncle B!

*sigh* This was as good as we got of a family photo. Between my cruddy camera and Elise's obsession to stick her fingers in her mouth the second she sees my cruddy camera... well, you can see the result. Better pic in 2010!

Christmas morning was so fun! Santa came and spoiled us all! It was a beautiful day outside and I even got to take my new bike for a spin :)

Elise checking out the goodies.

Look!!!! Santa left Rudolph behind. Doesn't he look thrilled??

All in all, Christmas 2009 was wonderful... and so different from 2008. I feel so blessed and look forward to what this next year has in store for us.

Happy Holidays!!

I realize I haven't blogged a single bit this December (I'm still catching up in November) so I'm just going to do one big post that encompasses this fun month.

December has been a blast and it is totally true that Christmas is more magical when there are children around. We have been busy with holiday parties galore... some for children, some for moms, some for couples, and some to show off those tacky Christmas sweaters!!!

We started off December with a visit with Santa. Elise did okay with the man in the red suit. It wasn't love at first sight, but she warmed up to him.

Then we went to a party geared towards the children, though us moms had a great time too!!! Christmas on Castellani was hosted by Erin and Alecia at Alecia's lovely home. There were 7 kids and all had a blast!

Alecia's spread for the kids; isn't she creative?!

Elise sitting at the "big" kids table!!! I couldn't believe it! She ate her entire lunch sitting in that chair.

Though in true Elise fashion, her manners left a lot to be desired.

Here's a picture of the 4 "babies." I didn't get one with the three toddles :(. This one was hard enough to snap. And not very successful you'll notice.

"But I don't want to go home and take a na-na-nap!"

Ha; she slept for 3.5 hours straight when we got home. It was a wonderful way to start the holidays! (the party, not the nap.)

I also attended Melanie's "No Diapers to Change, Just Cookies to Exchange" party and had a lovely time visiting as the wine flowed! I came home with some yummy treats.

Ornament exchange at Silo

Christmas Gathering at Erin's

As you can see, we had a great December!!

To Be Continued...

Elise is learning to walk!

Here are two recent videos. The first was taken Christmas evening.

The second was taken this evening... sorry for the lighting. Or lack of.


I have a feeling it won't be much longer until she is a full fledged walker!!!!

12 month photos- the rejects.

I am sorry to say there are NO good 12 month pictures. They were all rejects! Our little Elise is a busy busy girl and sitting still and smiling just wasn't on her agenda the 3 different times I attempted this photo "session." This first photo is as good as I got. Seriously. :)

"Hey Mom, what's back here??"

"Never mind, I'll find out for myself!"

All of a sudden she got really interested (obsessed) with my camera. Forget the old sign. (You'll notice I didn't even try it with a sign.) The camera was gold!

And did I let her have it? No, I did not. Mean Mommy.

Mission: Make baby cry during photo shoot.

Mission accomplished.

Birthday Celebration Continues.

Mimosas for Elise's birthday Thanksgiving morning. Grandma even made the trip from Ohio all the way to Texas so she could be with Elise on her first birthday!

Chillin' with Tompa. He has become her most favorite person!

With her Uncle B.

And... lucky Elise even had a third birthday get together!! A group of us were supposed to have a playdate at the zoo, however the weather was really nasty so we hit up Chick-fil-a instead. My friend Kate surprised Elise and I with cupcakes and a birthday hat. It was so much fun!! Thanks again for helping make Elise's first birthday so special!!

Elise- 1 Year!!!

Dearest Elise,

Today you are one year old. I know they say times flies when you're having fun and this year has truly flown by. I can honestly say this has been the most wonderful year of my life. Watching you grow from a tiny little infant to a borderline toddler and little girl has been a blast!! You are a FUN baby (eek- can I still call you that?).

Some tidbits about you this month:

• You weigh 18 1/2 pounds and are still wearing most of your 9 month outfits, though you're starting to fit into 12 month clothes too.
• You are still a great sleeper! You sleep 12 hours every night and are still rocking the 2 hour morning naps and 1.5 hr afternoon naps. You go to sleep so easily, I just lay you in your crib and you're good to go. That said, you rarely sleep in your carseat or stroller; your crib is where you catch your ZZZs.
• You are becoming a picky eater. What you might love and devour one day gets tossed on the floor (by you) the next. Right now favorites seem to be blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Basically the most expensive fruits. Ha. You don't like bananas (what child doesn't like bananas???) and you're still unsure about meat. You dig your dairy products and your carbs. Grilled cheese and yogurt (and bc I'm sneaky, yogurt with veggies mixed in) are always favorites. You also like egg omelets... you love to try new things but don't always eat them all meal long.
• You have started the transition to whole milk. You're still nursing 2-3 times each day, especially in the morning. You like your milk to be warm and you only will drink it from a bottle. I'm trying hard to get you switched to a cup, but it hasn't happened yet.
• You have no problem standing independently and have taken up to 8 steps. However, you're not showing any interest in walking being your primary mode of transportation. Probably because you are a warp speed crawler and can get anywhere you want to go pretty quickly.
• You love opening cabinets and drawers and pulling everything out. Even though you're little, you're quite destructive!!! Daddy calls you FEMA; wherever you go, disaster follows. :)
• You are very chatty. Words include Dada, Mama, uh-oh, Ja (for Jaws), La (for lights), and Oooo... as in "oo la" which translates into "Oh, lights!" You babble all day long. Anyone you know and love can be called Dada. Sometimes I'm Dada, sometimes Tompa is Dada. :)
• You are very social and fun. We have lots of playdates and you love playing with other babies your age and especially watching older girls play.
• You still love to be outside and when a plane flies over, you point at it and watch it pass.

You are so pleasant and fun to be around. You put a smile on my face all day long. You have had a wonderful first year and I can't wait to see what next year brings!

Happy First Birthday Elise!!!

Elise's first birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day so instead of having a huge blow out that she won't even remember, we just had a small gathering of family and friends to celebrate this milestone. Elise really did have a wonderful time and squealed and laughed all evening long. She really did have a wonderful first birthday. It was perfect.

Let me also add that we're having camera issues... that accounts for the blurriness and bright white spots. When I see bright white spots and everything is blurry, it usually means I've had too much wine. I can assure you I have not been letting my camera drink ;). I'm boycotting buying a new one bc I feel like I buy a new camera every other year.

What a difference one year makes!

I can't believe we're about to celebrate Elise's first birthday!!!

Elise 11 month pics- the Rejects

I'm sure you noticed I had to edit an 11 month sign into Elise's picture. That is because her obsession with the blasted monthly sign continues. I even opened and gave her an early birthday present hoping it would elicit the perfect smile and distract her from the paper sign. No such luck.

"Sweeet! The sign is back!"

After 32 failed attempts at getting a picture, I decided to get crafty and tack the sign to the wall. Surely she won't notice it...

"Got it!"

"Mmm... snack!"

Yes, friends, my dear daughter ate her 11 month sign. I gave up.

Snuggles!!!!

"See Mom, I'm sweet! I don't eat paper!"

Then it dawned on dear Elise that this would be her last monthly picture. She's growing up and not going to be a baby for much longer!

"Do I have a saggy neck? Crows feet??? Where did these extra 5 pounds come from??"

And yes, I did get a smile. No, she did not look at the camera. I have decided for child #2 that I will take monthly pictures of them sleeping. Won't that be cute? And much easier!!