Ellison's 1st Christmas

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Ellison seemed to really enjoy her first one. We started celebrating on the Friday before Christmas and will not be done with all of our "Christmases" until the Saturday after. She has behaved well at every celebration so far, which is pretty amazing considering how much her sleeping, eating and nap times have been shuffled around over the last few days!

First we celebrated at my dad and stepmom Nancy's. Ellison tried lasagna for the first time and loved it! She also met her first two cats and really liked them. She was chasing them all over the house! Not sure they liked it quite as much as she did. I forgot my camera (what a bummer) so I have no pictures until my dad or sister sends me theirs! Ells got a frog pillow that she thought was very funny from Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Nancy, and an Elmo book and pajamas from Auntie Kon and Uncle Ryan.

Next on the Christmas circuit was a surprise appearance at Graham family Christmas at my grandma's. Jay and I both had to work on the Sunday before Christmas so we weren't planning on going, but I rearranged my pre-work napping schedule so we could stop in for a little bit. I got in on the annual Graham kid stair picture and Ellison opened some presents. She laughed her sarcastic laugh (nicknamed the courtesy laugh) at everything she opened. My aunt Tina made her a beautiful sweater, she got some new clothes from my aunt Missy and Great Grandma, and a Minnie Mouse from Great Grandma and Joe's Disney World trip. And I got a doll that was mine at Grandma's, so now Ellison has one of my old stuffed friends. Fun!

Ellison's very own "stair picture - a Graham family tradition!

Christmas Eve we went to church. We go to church almost every week, and it seems like Ellison gets more active each week. She jabbers constantly and laughs at people sitting around us, and goes back and forth between Jay and myself constantly. During this particular service she laughed at the people behind us (apparently men with beards are hilarious!) and was poking at my cousin Jackson when she wasn't pointing and laughing at strangers. There were lit candles involved which she wanted to grab. Just overall an exhausting experience!

Christmas Eve dress!

After we got home and ate dinner and gave Ells her bath, she got to open one special present. My sister and I always got new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve, and I want to continue that tradition with Ellison in the future, but she had so many Christmas pajamas this year that we decided to start a new tradition! Every year she will get a new Christmas book to add to her (huge) Christmas book collection. This year she got one called "Room for a Little One", which is about the birth of Jesus, from the animals in the stable's point of view. Very nice book! We read that and The Night Before Christmas and then off to bed Ellison went so Jay and I could do our Santa duties! There was quite a bit of wrapping that needed to be done, so we had snacks and watched our favorite Christmas movie (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation). It was a really nice night! Hopefully we will get to repeat it on future Christmas Eves (hoping I won't be working too many but I know it will happen sometimes and it makes me so sad!).

Reading The Night Before Christmas with Daddy!

Christmas morning Ellison got up and got to open some presents before church. I was so nervous about going because it was at 9 am, around the time she usually naps. But she behaved very well! She looked around at all the other kids (she seems mesmerized by other small people) and then fell asleep in Jay's arms. I can't remember the last time she fell asleep in church!

First look at the tree with presents underneath

Crawled into a gift box!

Before her nap, Ellison opened some more presents! Her favorite as she was opening seemed to be the talking tea set. The teapot has an accent and she thought it was hilarious. The majority of the toys she got as gifts talk, sing, and light up. The songs are all running through my head constantly, but she seems to love them all so I think we can handle it!

Sure, just crawl right over...

After her nap Ells finished up opening her presents. Between her three times opening, she got clothes, lots of books, a CD of Sunday school songs, a Little People Farm, the Elefun ball popper, and some other toys too. We haven't opened everything yet and I don't know if we will for awhile. I figure if we bring new things out one or two at a time, she will think she's getting new toys all the time! After her last crack at gifts, we packed up and headed to Valders for Miller family Christmas.

She doesn't really sit still for books, but she loves to play with them!

Love her :)

We got to Valders just in time for dinner. After dinner (delicious turkey and yummy sides!) it was present time! There are 2 more grandchildren this year (Ellison and Olivia), bringing the total to 5. Our oldest nephew (Logan, 5) was pretty antsy to get opening so everyone dug in! I think the whole process lasted about 10 minutes! Ellison got more nice gifts...a book and Charlie Brown DVD from Grandma and Grandpa, a ball drop toy from Auntie Rach, a talking picnic basket from Uncle Brian, Auntie Litz, Isabella, and Olivia, and her very own grill from Uncle Brian, Auntie Shell, Logan, and Ethan. She is a very lucky little girl to have so many people who love (and spoil) her!!!

Well...we tried! Not one kid looking at the camera! Hopefully someone got a better version! Olivia (3 weeks), Isabella (2 years), Ethan (2 years), Logan (5 years), and Ellison (10 months)

Her own grill! Daddy will have a grilling buddy this summer!

Favorite toy at Grandma and Grandma Miller's house!

Ellison was pretty tired after opening gifts but was having a really hard time falling asleep...probably because she wanted to play with all of her new toys! I ended up falling asleep with her for a couple of hours and then she was up and sassy most of the night. Poor Jay spent the night trying to get her to fall asleep and it didn't really work. Ellison apparently doesn't fall asleep well in places that aren't super familiar. The same thing happened the last time we spent a night in Valders! Poor peanut (and Daddy).

We left for home after breakfast the morning after Christmas because I had to work that night. I can't believe how fast Christmas came and went! But we still had two more Christmases to go...

Quick piano lesson with Grandpa before we left for home

Tonight we celebrated with the Warzinskis, at Jay's house. We always have delicious pizza for our Christmas dinner there, and Ellison got to have a little too! She likes Jay's because he has a big fluffy white husky, Makena. Ellison giggled up a storm whenever Mak came into the room, chased her around, and tried to pet her. Ells was definitely the little entertainer the whole time we were there! She had everyone laughing with her antics...ripping bows off everyone's packages, crawling on top of gift boxes, and of course the dog chasing. She got spoiled by her grandparents, great-grandparents, and great uncles. Plus more gifts from Auntie Kon and Uncle Ryan! Too much stuff to name it all. Ellison is a very blessed little lady! My favorite gifts are a super cute gold Marquette sweater dress, Ralph Lauren sweatsuit and little Ugg boots from Grandpa Jay and Grandma Sandy. I think Ellison's favorite will be a talking (and singing, of course)mailbox from Great Grandma Barb and Great Grandpa Rich!

Haven't uploaded the pictures from tonight yet, but we have one more Christmas with Gramma Janis and Grampa Ron tomorrow so I'll post them when I post the details on that!

Here's some other recent pictures, because I didn't post enough Christmas ones...ha!

Showing off her crawling skills

Happiest girl in the world!

Her hair is just too funny...getting SO long (I refuse to cut it, at least for now)

In her hideout under the coffee table, I keep wondering what she'll do when she can't sit up under there?!

Spaghetti MESS!!!!

My little wild child...crawled under the bottom rail, sat up, and this is how she got back out

With Mommy right before I left for work on the 23rd (in my holiday best!)

Managed to crawl into her car seat without tipping it over! And SO proud of herself! She amazes us with new tricks daily

Playing with some of her Christmas books (there are 50+ from Mommy and Auntie Kon's childhood!)

Hope that was long enough and contained enough pictures! I just can't say enough or post enough photos of this amazing little girl! She is such an amazing gift and she made this Christmas the best one ever!

10 Month Update!

10 months old today! And somehow it's the middle of December already. I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. It feels like I blinked and the year is almost over. We will be celebrating Ellison's first birthday in no time! Of course, I have had it all planned out in my head for about 6 months already. The party date has been set, 1 year pictures are scheduled, her outfit has been discussed with its creator (actually, I already got the tutu from her), and the rest of the planning is set to begin as soon as the holidays are over. I'm excited but also can't believe my baby will be one so soon.

A little off topic, but I feel like it needs to be said...the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School this past week were very hard for me to hear about as a parent. I can't even begin to imagine the hurt the families of the victims are experiencing. I hope and pray that my sweet baby girl has an innocent and beautiful childhood. Every child deserves that. It is already hard for me to leave Ellison to go to work, but this past weekend it was even harder than usual. I cherish every moment I spend with her. I think because of the population I work with and the time I spend away from her taking care of other people's very sick little ones, I probably cherish my time with her even more than the average mom! Now I will treasure it even more...

I don't want to get into political issues, because politics really aren't my thing and nowhere near what this blog is about, but I have to say that mental health issues are very close to my heart and I hope there is more of a focus on them after this latest tragedy. There is so much that can be done for people if they are able to seek and receive treatment!

Anyway...back to the real focus of this blog! Ellison!!! She is loving our Christmas decorations. She has been so good about not touching the tree (although we can't put wrapped gifts under it because she would get into them in a heartbeat), but there are a few other things she can't seem to resist. We have a snowman pillow that she loves to pull off the back of the couch and play with. Her absolute favorite decoration is a strand of penguin lights that play "Jingle Bells". When they are finished playing she points at them and laughs like she just saw the funniest thing in the world and needs them to play again right away. I think we play them at least 20 times a day! Kind of wonder what she will think when we put them away...

Watching the Jingle Bell lights

My mom took Ellison to meet Santa last week. I love her picture with him! I was a little nervous that she would cry and make a big fuss (she has a bit of stranger anxiety right now), but she was such a good girl! I thought I would be extremely sad to not do things like that with her, but I am (finally) starting to let it sink in that as much as I wish I could be, I can't be with her every minute. I still find it really hard being a working mom, especially working 12 hour night shifts. I guess I thought it would get easier! I feel guilty about needing to sleep during the day after working three or four nights in a row, but after being back at work for over 7 months I am finally letting myself take some extra time for rest. I actually asked my mom to take Ellison for a few extra hours in the past couple of weeks so I could get some sleep! I usually just nap when she naps when I get off a stretch at work. It makes for one tired mommy! I just committed to staying on nights for at least the next 2 years, so I guess I should get used to letting Ellison go for a few hours here and there so I can catch up on sleep.

 

Eating table food is going pretty well. Ells definitely has her favorites and will pick certain foods out first when there is a few different things on her tray. The main one she goes for first is cheese! She also really likes fruit (kiwi, pears, raspberries). We still have to give her a few tablespoons of rice cereal or oatmeal with most meals because she doesn't eat enough on her own most meals, and sometimes we still give her baby food fruits or veggies too. Meals definitely takes longer and are a lot messier than when she was just getting baby food! But it's really fun to watch her try new things and see what she will and won't like.

Ellison started crawling on her hands and knees in the past few days. She is still constantly on the go and trying to get into everything! She follows us everywhere and her current favorite hobbies include crawling up the stairs, pulling books off shelves, knocking down stacks of blocks (she does not tolerate things that are stacked on each other!), taking magnets off the refrigerator, and trying to climb into the dishwasher. She hasn't started opening cabinets or drawers yet, but baby-proofing those is on the to do list in the very near future!

Magnets are apparently really fun toys!

I am really getting excited to celebrate Ellison's first Christmas. We didn't do many "Christmas-y" things with her this year (like breakfast with Santa, look at lights at Candy Cane Lane, bake cookies, etc) because she is so little. Hopefully next year! Since it hasn't been real cold yet, it doesn't feel like Christmas at all to me. I am not ready for Christmas in just over a week, but I guess I can't stop it from coming! I am definitely looking forward to watching Ellison open her presents, play with her new toys, read her new books, and just enjoy being with her family! I think she is at a really good age for her first holiday season.

Next post will most likely be after the holidays. So many things to do before then...another post probably isn't in the cards! Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

These bathtub pics made me laugh so I had to share!

Another fun toy...water bottles!

She does have actual toys...