Best Gift Ever!

I love gifts. I love giving gifts and receiving gifts. There is just something special to me about gift giving- about finding something for someone else that they love and gives them joy (or at the least is something they really need). And when someone does this for me (or my family) it makes me feel loved. Now gifts don't have to be big or expensive or even something you buy. In fact my favorite gift to give is photographs. I'm pretty sure that gifts are one of my love languages.

Well, once again this Christmas my family and I were totally spoiled with presents. Among other things Joe received a gun, a Kindle, and plenty of gun reloading equipement. I received a new camera lens, a great camera bag/backpack, and some fantastic leather boots that I have been eyeing for years. Lily received a wooden treehouse (like a dollhouse), an art easle, and plenty of wonderful games, toys, and adorable clothes. Eli received a fun bouncy house (that he'll enjoy using later this year when he is a bit older), a double stroller, and some adorable clothes and wooden toys. Like I said- we were spoiled.

But do you know what? I think it's safe to say that by far the most wonderful present our family received this Christmas has been the addition of our precious little boy. So when this onesie from our Aunt Cindy arrived in the mail shortly before Christmas it was just too perfect. Because Eli really is just about the best present ever. Second only to the birth of the first Christmas baby. Because it's pretty hard to top the present of God Himself. But Eli is a close second!

The Ballet

The week before Christmas Joe and I took the kids (yes, both kids) to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Maine Center for the Arts! Yes, it was a risky move taking a two year old and a newborn to a fancy ballet that is two hours long. I'm not sure I really thought that until we were there. See, I thought I bought tickets that were right on an asile (I figured that if necessary we could make a quick exit)- but I didn't. Nope. Instead we were smack dab in the middle of a very, very long row of seats. I also got our tickets very high up in the balcony thinking that there would be plenty of empty seats around us (this would give us more space and keep us from disturbing lots of people). Again nope. Instead there were people all around us and no empty seats. And because we brought the car seat in with us we had to have Lily sit on Joe's lap for the first half so we had room for the carseat. So things didn't exactly go as planned. But do you know what else I didn't plan for? I didn't plan that our two children would be absolutly PERFECT during the full ballet!!! It's true- it happened! Lily loved the ballet and pretty much couldn't take her eyes off of the stage the entire show! She's been very excited lately about ballet, dancing, tutus, ballerinas, etc... which is why we decided to take her in the first place. And Eli slept the entire show (literally didn't open his eyes until we were leaving) even through a canon explosion! All in all it was a wonderful experience. I wish I could have taken a picture of Lily's face while she watched with pure joy and awe as the ballerinas danced across the stage. And I swear you have never seen a two year old clap with such excitement. So yes, it could have gone very differently. It could have ended with all of us in tears or tantrums. But it didn't. And I am so happy that we risked it because I will never forget watching Lily watch her very first real ballet.

Lip Balm for Two Year Olds?!

My mom got Lily a little container of tinted lip balm (bubble gum flavor I believe). She LOVED it! A few minutes after I took these pictures she came back into the living room with the lip balm (which was very pink) all over her face! And I mean ALL over her face (even on her forhead)! Ummmm...maybe we'll hold off on the tinted lip balm for a while!

Cookies!!!

This Christmas we didn't do quite as much baking as normal, but we managed to fit some in during Eli's naps. A few weeks ago Lily and I made Chai Spice Gingerbread Boys. This year Lily was really interested in helping me with the whole process- from making the dough to rolling it out to decorating! She found it especially fun to play with the dough and the flour!

Also just a few days before Christmas we made some traditional cut-out sugar cookies with my mom and dad. Even my dad helped with both the cutting out of the cookies and the decorating! The decorating this time around was pretty interesting. Lily really likes to heap as many sprinkles on each cookie as possible so many of our cookies were VERY well decorated! Combine Lily's love of sprinkles and my mom's love of candy red hots and our cookies were anything but boring! Lily went straight from decorating cookies to the shower. I literally couldn't take her clothes off until she was standing in the tub- she was covered from head to toe in sprinkles and frosting!

Santa!

Once again this year we went to "Tea with Santa." Once again Lily ate lots of cookies and enjoyed her tea (red kool-aid) in a fancy teacup. And once again Lily was pretty much terrified of Santa. Leading up to this event Lily was really excited about Santa. Her eyes would light up and she would get really excited every time she saw Santa on television or in a book. Apparently the "reality" is a bit scarier because as soon as she saw him in person I knew that there was no way she was going to go anywhere near him. She was, however, perfectly happy to visit with Mrs Claus, talk with her, and sit on her lap. She insisted that I visit with Santa (and get the candy cane he was offering for her) while she stayed safely with Mrs. Santa! Oh well, at least I got a picture of one of my children with Santa (then again he didn't have much choice since he's only one month old and was totally asleep)!:)

Baby Sling

My friend Sarah made me this wonderful baby sling (she's super creative and crafty) and I'm loving it!! We didn't use a sling with Lily (we pretty much used our Baby Bjorn right away because Lily had great head control right from the beginning)- but this time around I am so happy to have one! Let's just say that Eli likes to be held- pretty much all the time when he is awake (and he would like to be held all the time when he is sleeping too if we let him). Obviously this doesn't always work (especially with a toddler). The sling allows me to have at least one hand free (the sling can support him mostly, but his head is still so wobbly that most of the time when I'm walking around I still support his head with one hand). Eli tends to have a bit of a fussy time in the evening. Thankfully it's not too bad or too long, but when he does get fussy in the evening the sling seems to work wonders! In general when he is fussy he likes to walk around and pick things up. Yes, you heard me right- he calms down the fastest when I walk around and pick things up (not just walking around). Apparently he likes a clean house!:) Well, the sling allows me to do that without totally killing my wrists. Thanks so much Sarah- it's a great gift that's saving my joints, calming my baby, and helping to clean my house!!

Family Picture

Here are our first attempts at a family photo- enjoy!!

The Super Pooper

He may look all sweet and innocent and he is except for when it comes to his "bathroom" habits!

Yep, this little boy can poop with the best of them. In fact, I've taken to calling him The Super Pooper. That's right- he's The Super Pooper!

And I swear that this sweet little bundle of joy poops or pees EVERYTIME we change his diaper (while we are changing his diaper)! In fact, sometimes he poops or pees multiple times while we are changing him. It's pretty normal that we go through 2 or 3 diapers every diaper change. And no, it doesn't always end up in the diaper. We often have to change his clothes and the blanket we are changing him on too!

I was warned that our little man would pee on us, but I had no idea how often we would be peed on and pooped on (let's just say it's really often). And now, I know that it's a reflex and that he doesn't do it on purpose- but I swear that I see him smiling after he does it!

And last week when I was getting him ready for him bath I walked in from getting his wipes just in time to see an arch of pee going straight from him onto Lily (who was waiting to help me give him a bath). Lily was too stunned to move, but she was screaming and cryng. And really it was all Joe and I could do to keep from peeing ourselves from laughing. I swear it was the funniest thing ever. We managed to hold it in for our daughters sake, because she was fairly traumatized by the whole thing! So yes, he has managed to pee on all of us- except for the dog (but I'm sure his time is coming)!

And by the way, while I was writing this Eli managed to poop all over his onesie while my mom was changing him. The Super Pooper stricks again!

It's a good thing this little guy is cute!

Big Sister

She Loves Him

Big Eyes

I could stare into those big, beautiful eyes all night long (and sometimes I do).

Sleep

After three and a half weeks of life with my beautiful newborn baby boy I can tell you that sleep is not overated! Sleep is good. I wish I was getting more of it. We are sleeping and we are actually doing fairly well all things considered. Eli is not a great sleeper but he is doing okay. I just keep telling myself that this will end, that someday Eli (and all of us) will sleep through the night (and parts of the day), and that I might even look back and miss my cuddly little boy who would like nothing better than to sleep cuddled up in my arms (rather than his crib, swing, etc...). Yes, I might even miss that- but I will be better rested!

Watching Football

Father and son watching football on a Sunday afternoon

Tree Trimming

Lily was so excited to decorate the tree this year! It was all we could do to hold her off until after her nap the day we cut down the tree! Before Joe even had the lights on it she was unwrapping ornaments. She then went ahead putting all of the ornaments she could find on the 3 bottom branches of the right side of the tree. We tried to convince her to put some of them in the center or even on the other side- but for some unknown reason she only wanted them clustered all together on a few branches!:) The ornaments were pretty much dragging on the ground. We went ahead and rearranged them when she was distracted with cheesy popcorn. In fact so great is her love for cheesy popcorn (the Smart Choice white cheddar delicious kind) that she lost all interest in continuing to decorate the tree. Instead she just unwrapped ornaments and ate her popcorn while watching Joe and I finish trimming the tree!

Grin

Getting Our Tree!

Last weekend we headed out to our local Christmas tree farm to choose and cut down our Christmas tree for the year! This year was a lot of fun because the weather was really warm (Lily didn't even wear a coat- just a sweatshirt) and she really was excited about helping us choose just the right tree! Of course Lily on her own would have choosen one of the really little trees (she seemed to like the ones that are her size)! We did manage to convince her that we should get one of the bigger trees! And of course afterwards we made a quick stop for our annual post-tree cutting doughnuts! I just love this time of year!