Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Christmas Week 2009

We had a whole week of fun Christmas activities lined up last week! We started off the week by making a gingerbread house for Family Home Evening. I took the easy route this year and bought a pre-assembled kit that came with the candy. While I like the convenience of it, it wasn't nearly as much fun as assembling it ourselves and using all sorts of candy to make a creative house. But for this year, it worked perfectly! Ellie loved decorating and eating the candy along the way. I will upload the finished product when my computer decides to download it!


We had a little glitch in the week of fun when Ellie found a permanent marker that I didn't even know we owned and managed to color all over the wall in the hallway, in the bathroom, a small section of the wall in the master, a small section in her room, her dresser, her bedroom door, my bedroom door, and the bathroom door. May I repeat - with a permanent marker! And all in a matter of 5 minutes. Santa almost didn't come to our house. After trying every remedy I read about online, I gave up and resigned myself to repainting everything. On the plus side, my wall in the hallway is finally the right color and looks good! On the downside, I'm still trying to find the right paint match for the master bedroom. And still trying to figure out a way to cover up the tiny section in her room without buying more paint. Not how I wanted to be spending my Wednesday before Christmas - painting!


Christmas Eve we spent at Rob's parents house with a nice dinner, watching of Luke 2 movie, and opening sibling gifts and gifts from the grandparents. We headed home afterwards to prepare for Santa. Ellie quickly got into her Christmas pajamas (we give out pajamas and ornaments when we decorate the tree at the beginning of the month so she can wear the jammies all month long) and then we left the cookies and milk for Santa and brown sugar for the reindeer and a note to Santa. Ellie quickly went to sleep and I was quite happy since Santa was able to get everything set up and ready at a decent hour.


Ellie woke up in the middle of the night with a nightmare and wanted to go and sleep on the couch and threw quite a tantrum when I wouldn't let her do that (since Santa had already visited). I managed to convince her to come lay in our bed and go to sleep and then she slept in until 8:30. Not too bad! I had to even wake her up at that point since Rob's parents had breakfast at their house at 10 and I wanted to make sure there was enough time for anything.

Santa listened very well and got Ellie the bike and helmet that she asked for! It was hilarious to watch Ellie on Christmas morning since she didn't even notice the bike at first. She noticed her stocking and the stuff next to her stocking and was thrilled with the coloring book and crayons that were left for her. Then she was beyond excited about the bike and immediately tried to ride it. We've had lots of fun trying to help her learn how to ride it (it has training wheels and everything on it) because she can't get the concept of pedaling forward down... she knows how to brake really well! She had a couple books and movies in her stocking. She also got the fun Elefun game from Mom and Dad along with the Glow Doodle. Grandpa White and Grandma Debbie got her a Little People wagon and lego set (which she loves to pile all her toys into and wheel around the house). Chloe got a few little toys for her carseat and Rob and I mostly got books this year... although he did surprise me with a beautiful necklace as well. All in all a great Christmas morning!





And just for fun... don't you just want to eat this little chubby Chloe all up? I can't get enough of my sweet roly poly baby girl!


Thursday, December 17, 2009

Chloe's Baby Blessing

We were able to have Chloe blessed this last weekend on December 13th. My dad and Debbie were able to be there and Rob's sister Erin and her family was also in town from New York. It was great to have family there with us to share the special day!
Chloe was great and didn't make a peep and Rob gave her a wonderful blessing.

Me and the blessing girl.


Family picture with Grandpa White and Grandma Debbie


Our first picture as a family of 4


Great Grandma Bodine and Chloe


Another family shot


Afterwards, we had family over at our house for a little luncheon. Debbie helped me make most of the food the day before so it was pretty low key.
A happy Chloe




On Monday evening, we were able to go to the blessing of our neice Jane (Rob's sister Erin's daughter). Jane is only 6 days older than Chloe so it'll be fun to watch them grow up together. We got pictures of Jane and Chloe with Grandma Bodine (the maker of their blessing dresses) and then Erin and I with our girls. We're sad that they live so far away in New York and we don't get to see them often!



Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Tree, Temple Lights and Santa Pictures

A couple of weeks ago we got our Christmas tree from the local Home Depot. A lot different than my memories from growing up and going to a real tree farm and cutting down a Christmas tree... but it's the best we can do in Arizona. We got a Noble Fir this year (the kind that I grew up with) and I love it and the smell. Ellie helped me decorate and so far has been pretty good about not touching the ornaments too much. We get our Christmas pajamas at the beginning of the month so the kids can wear them all month so I tried to get them to pose in front of the tree. Poor Chloe doesn't look too thrilled with her sister's method of holding her!


My dad and Debbie came into town this last weekend since we were blessing Chloe. On Friday night we went to Mango's for dinner and then over to the Mesa temple to look at the lights. Ellie loved seeing all the lights and Chloe slept the whole time. We even managed to run into some friends from home in University Place - Ginger and James Coleman! (They live here in Arizona too but we don't see them very often).


On Saturday we decided to try out the Bass Pro Shop and their free Santa pictures. My dad and Debbie had given Ellie this adorable tutu with a matching headband earlier in the day. Well when it came time to get ready to go get Santa pictures done, I couldn't convince Ellie to change into anything else! So she wore her tutu over her jeans the whole night and for the Santa pictures. Pretty funny kid! While we waited for our turn for Santa pictures (they gave us a card to come back at a different time and avoid a long line) we went to Rubio's for dinner and then to Angel Sweet for dessert. We then headed back to Bass Pro and Ellie wrote a letter to Santa before she got her picture taken. I need to scan in the picture still but she wouldn't sit on Santa's lap - she left that to Chloe. She did tell Santa what she wanted even if it was very QUIET (A bicycle and helmet). Afterwards we walked around Bass Pro Shop for a little bit and checked out all the fun things in that store. And even had a scare of losing Ellie for a little bit too... that part wasn't my favorite event of the night! After Santa pictures we went to Barnes and Noble where Grandpa taught Ellie how to use headphones to listen to music.




And just because she's so cute - here are a couple of pictures of Chloe laughing that I managed to catch on camera:

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

November Recap



November is pretty much a blur to me right now due to the newborn baby Chloe, sickness and more sickness! We spent quite a bit of time at home in November and it seemed like at least one person in the house was sick at any given time during the month. But it seems like we are all healthy again and December is going much more smoothly!

We took a trip to the zoo with our friends Karlie and Sam in the middle of the month. Ellie loves to see the giraffes and monkeys! And the weather was fabulous. Chloe spent the whole time sleeping in the stroller (she is such a good baby!). I only took one picture when we there... not sure what I was thinking!

Chloe is continuing to grow bigger and is becoming a lot more fun. She is still such a good sleeper and I love that (although I'm still exhausted every day!). She smiles every day and has even started a little laugh. Ellie continues to love on her more than Chloe would like as captured by some of her faces in these pictures:




Ellie got this new coat and insists on wearing it all the time. I had to capture her falling asleep on the couch still in her coat:




December has been busy and a lot more fun already so I'm going to try and get updated here!

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a little more low key this year with a newborn that I wasn't quite ready to take out in public yet. But I felt a little guilty for not doing as many fun things with Ellie as we would normally do in the month of October - so the Friday before Halloween we had our friends Amy and Brooklyn (and baby Karalynn) over to decorate cookies. The girls had a great time putting as many sprinkles as they could on a cookie (even without frosting) and licking the frosting. It was quite the mess but they had fun and it made me grateful that I had easy to clean tile floors! Ellie's best friend Brooklyn holding Chloe
Ellie and Brooklyn
Ellie and Chloe
Ellie already sick of pictures Decorating Cookies
Showing off the hand covered in sprinkles
My little pumpkin Chloe



Saturday was Halloween and Ellie was really excited to dress up in her costume. When I asked her what she wanted to be she kept on saying she wanted to be pink (her favorite color). So I went with a pink fairy theme with wings and pink tutu and flower on her head. She loved wearing it and I think the tutu will keep on being used for dress up so it worked. We did have a slight costume mishap... I had ordered a costume for Chloe on Etsy.com at the beginning of October but it never arrived (complaint is in process on that one) so at the last minute I needed to come up with a costume that would fit her little body. I read online about people with preemies using small dog costumes for their little ones... so off I went to Target where I found a cute princess costume for a small dog that was only $5. I think it turned out pretty well and no one would know it was meant for a dog!





Rob took Ellie over to his parent's cul-de-sac for some trick or treating and carnival type games and she was done within an hour and came home to help me pass out candy. We've never been home between 6-7 p.m. to hand out candy so I totally misjudged how many trick or treaters we would get. We ran out of candy by 6:30! Rob had to run and buy some more. After 7 p.m. - we had hardly any trick or treaters. Ellie got plenty of candy and tried to eat as much as she could that night. And good for me because we didn't have much leftover after that!

After Halloween, the trouble began. Ellie started off Novemeber with a runny nose and horrible sounding cough so she stayed home from church with Chloe and I last week. I tried my best to keep her away from Chloe and keep the rest of us healthy but I think due to my lack of sleep with a newborn... I managed to catch it next. And it hit me really hard! I haven't had a cold that bad in years. And I really think mom's should be exempt from getting sick since there is no one to take care of us! Anyway - Ellie didn't seem phased by it and was her busy self all week. Chloe started getting sick on Thursday and Rob got sick by then as well. Luckily there has been no fever associated with this cold which has been a huge blessing! I took Chloe into the doctor on Friday because she had a terrible sounding cough and wasn't keeping any food down. The doctor decided that she was probably choking on the mucus from her cold and that is what is causing the throwing up. Poor thing. It's unreal how much throw up can come from such a little body! She's completely drenched me multiple times a day since Thursday and her cough just makes me so sad. I feel bad that there just isn't much I can do for her besides hold her a lot! And that is pretty much what I've been doing since she has been having a hard time sleeping unless I'm holding her. It is not fun to have such a new baby so sick! On the plus side, she gained almost a pound in a week so the doctor isn't too concerned with how much she is throwing up because she is obviously still gaining weight. And I'm loving her chubby little cheeks.

And poor Rob still hasn't fully recovered from his hospital stay in August and since this has been another sickness that hits the lungs hard... he's been struggling. Luckily Ellie and I seem to be on the mend (at least I can somewhat function now). And hopefully the whole house will feel better soon. It has not been a good year for us healthwise!