A Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a blessed Thanksgiving. Even though we couldn't be with family, we had a wonderful time with special friends here in WV. A couple from our bible study group came over with their 4 kids, as well as a guy from our bible study group. He works for the government and had to work Thursday and Friday, and his wife and kids went to her parents, so he was able to spend Thanksgiving with us. God has truly blessed us with great friends.

Every year, my mom gives the grandkids a keepsake ornament from Hallmark on Thanksgiving. Eliana had the chance to open hers by herself this year. Okay, she would rather eat the paper and then the box and then the box inside the box.




Even though Eliana wasn't all smiles, we still captured a family photo.


"Yummy for my tummy!" Eliana loved the feast! It was well worth the wait.


Tonight, it was Christmas in historic Shepherdstown. The stores were serving "sips and sweets". There were put-pockets passing out candy. There was a large bonfire for smores and chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Christmas carolers and Santa. We went down for dinner. Eliana was stiff, but cozy in her coat. She also liked to people watch through the window.

I'm Dreaming of...

a white Thanksgiving. Wait. What?



I think the only reason I got this exciting news coverage is because I just left Texas. Why else would anyone videotape snowflakes with such zeal. I learned from the best!

I Can See The World

Eliana had her first ride in her forward-facing car seat today. Little did she know she was on her way to get her one year old shots. She was pretty excited. Although, my little girl likes to just soak it all in and not wear all that excitement on her sleeve. She just looked and looked out all the windows.


And 5 minutes before I pulled into the driveway...



Her 1 year appointment went great. She is always so happy at the doctors office and so still when the doctors look her over. She is still 50th percentile in weight. She only gained one pound in the past three months. She is 20.3 pounds. Just barely enough to be in that new car seat. And she used to be 95th percentile in height, but has dropped to the 50th percentile. She only grew 1 inch in the past 3 months, at 29 1/2 inches. Her shots went well. She did cry when we laid her down for those. Then again there were 3 nurses to administer them! She only cried for a few minutes and then gave a big smile when I handed her a goldfish.

A Mixed Bag

This past week has been filled with scary, exciting and painful things. Let's start with the scary. Friday morning, we heard Eliana talking through the monitor. It was only 7am, so we usually let her play a bit before we are ready to get her up. The next thing we know, she is crying. And it was a different kind of cry. I turned to Jason and said, "That cry sounds different." He agreed and went to go check on her. He opened the door and she was not in the crib! He looked and found her on the other side of the room, sitting there, holding the monitor and crying.

Wow! It happened! My kid fell out/climbed out of her crib! She didn't have a bruise, bump or mark on her anywhere. This past week, I have been playing with her on the floor and if I don't want her to go past me, I raise my legs up. The little dare devil just dives right over them! So, I am not surprised.

On to the exciting. We got family pictures taken on Friday with our little one year old. Here are a few.










We also got Eliana's new forward facing car seat. Unfortunately she is way to tall and long to consider keeping her rear facing. We are excited to try it out. I haven't yet, because, well on to the painful part.

Eliana is no longer a nursin' baby. She has moved completely to sippy cups! I had dropped the three feedings that corresponded with a meal first. That way, I got her up and she was able to eat breakfast, lunch or a snack with her sippy cup. The last one was the one right before bed. So, Sunday night, we put her to bed without nursing. And she did great. Went right to sleep. It was hard Saturday night when I was nursing to really soak it all in, because I wasn't sure if she would go to sleep the next night or not. But she did great and is doing great. So, needless to say my body is adjusting to that decision. I didn't get any sleep on Sunday night from the pain. Luckily Jason stayed home Monday morning to help out. And I am wearing cabbage leaves. Yes, cabbage leaves. I don't know if they are working or not. I do know that it is a very disgusting feeling and I smell like warm coleslaw. Today does feel better, but still a little painful. I am sure I will be back to normal soon. As for now, I am off to get more cabbage leaves!

Birthday Watch 2008 - Part 3

Tonight we were able to spend her 1st birthday as a family. We had a few more gifts for her. Unfortunately she was extremely tired! She decided to talk through her afternoon nap. Check out that tired face!




And then it was cake time! Second time around for her and she didn't mind. She dove into it! Nothing like a lot of sugar right before bed.

Birthday Watch 2008 - Part 2

We spent Eliana's birthday at the park. She loves the swing! She also liked the leaves... she liked eating them! I love my little birthday girl!

Birthday Watch 2008 - Part 1

My baby turned one today! I still can't believe it. She is a number! No more no-year old. I guess she is just going to keep growing, so I better get used to it and not take any moment for granted.


The day started out with a daddy/daughter birthday breakfast date! And the location...


McDonalds! The first rite of passage... her first trip to McDonalds. I have been trying to hold off on that one, but we are really limited in the town we are in.




The second rite of passage. Her first McDonalds toy. The workers were so smitten with her and Jason had mentioned it was her birthday, so they gave her a toy. She played with that thing all morning.

Our Little Pumpkin is Turning 1!

Eliana Grace had her first birthday party yesterday. Wow! I still can't believe it. However a huge milestone can't come and go without any mishaps. This will be our conversation when she is older.

Eliana: Mommy, why isn't there any video of everyone singing Happy Birthday or even me eating my cake?
Mommy: Well, we didn't check to see if the tape in the video camera had any space left on it.
Eliana: Mommy, why are all the pictures really grainy?
Mommy: Well, we didn't charge the re-chargeable batteries and tried to put regular batteries in the camera, but apparently the camera didn't like that, so we had to use our other camera which takes horrible pictures in not-lit-so-well situations.
Eliana: Mommy, why didn't you get pictures of me opening presents?
Mommy: Because I was helping you and daddy was trying to video tape after he put in a new tape.
Eliana: Oh.

Yep, it is true. The good thing is she turns one tomorrow, so we will do all of those things all over again. I am recharging the batteries as we speak. Other than that, it was a great day. I kept Eliana out all day Thursday as we shopped for everything. Way to be on top of things, don't you think? And then I baked 50 cakes on Friday and started decorating. Yep, 50 cakes! I had this great idea from a magazine. Let's just say at midnight, when I started to ice them, and I realized I had know idea how theirs could turn out cute and mine could turn out like a blob of orange icing, I had to improvise. I still think they turned out great and everyone seemed to like them.

The day started great. Jason and I ran around finishing things up. Eliana didn't take her nap. Talked for almost 2 straight hours in her crib and fell asleep about 15 minutes before I needed to get her up and put her in her costume. Luckily she is a huge people person and I knew she wouldn't fuss or get too tired out of the excitement of everyone being there. All the little kids came dressed up for the party. It was great. We had a slide show of the past year, with special music that we had selected and I started to cry a couple of times.

Here are a few pics of her special day.


This was her cake. Since her party was a pumpkin patch theme, I made little pumpkins.



This was her party. I am so thankful we had a huge empty basement to fit tables and chairs.


I made little word finds for everyone with words from her first year.


Eliana dressed up as a ladybug for the party. I love this costume! And, she didn't seem to mind it.





She stared at her cake awhile and then lightly touched the icing. It wasn't until I cut into it did she take big chunks and stuff them in her mouth.


I love this picture. She is diving into cake at her first birthday party and in the background, the slide show has a picture of her on her first few days of life.


Her cake was pumpkin with chocolate chips. This is her plate halfway through. She ate almost the whole thing!



I just needed my wheels, see ya!