Brave Family Life: 2018

Christmas 2018

10:24 PM

Christmas 2018

Super blurry but the only "good" picture I got of the three of them on Christmas Eve

It was truly the most wonderful time of the year and I am sad to see it go!

The boys were really excited about Santa this year. We went to see Santa twice first at the Zoo Lights and second we went to visit Santa at Fig Garden like we have for the last two years. James was extremely excited and hopped up on his lap without hesitation. William on the other hand was happy to have mommy or daddy hold him next to Santa and tell him what he wanted. Ellie was very skeptical of the man in the big red suit and definitely wanted to be sitting with mommy!

This year is also the first year I think the boys are slowly starting to understand the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate. We talked a lot about Jesus and read lots of Christmas books about the first Christmas. They could tell you whose birthday we were celebrating on Christmas.

I’m looking at all the things that I wanted to do this Christmas season and I feel like we did them all!!

We:

Decorated (and redecorated several times) our Tree

Hung up our outdoor Christmas lights (Will and James had a blast holding the lights and helping mommy. Ellie had fun causing trouble and trying to climb the ladder!)

Went for many walks looking at all of our neighbors Christmas lights (I mentioned to the kids the closer to Christmas the more lights there would be and the very next day James said “Its closer to Christmas, Now there are more lights”)

Watched lots of Christmas movies, a favorite this year: Polar Express

Went to Zoo lights with our friends and saw Santa

We read Christmas Stories

Made Salt Dough Ornaments with our friends

Decorated gingerbread house (Will and James did a great job decorating and had so much fun)

Baked (and decorated) Cookies The boys did more decorating than baking and lots more eating!

Made Hot Chocolate to enjoy while watching our Christmas movies. Even Ellie wanted to get in on the Hot Chocolate She cried and begged for some I gave her a little in a sippy cup but she saw the whipped cream on her brothers and wasn’t satisfied with hers

Visited Santa

Made handprint Ornaments I’ve done this with the boys the last two years and this was the first time for Ellie

This year we had a new visitor. One of Santa’s Elves came to our house! William and James named the Elf Penguin. Each day from December 1 to Christmas Eve Penguin showed up doing silly and fun things. He brought everyone pjs, paper count down chains, put bows on the playroom windows, hung up paper snowflakes, put ribbons on our pictures, hung up Christmas lights in the hallway, rode a polar bear, brought the kids Christmas books, hung out in our stockings with friends, brought stuff to make cookies, hung out in the nativity with Jesus, brought our gingerbread kit, hung out on our kitchen light, dangled from a Christmas ribbon suspended from our pendant light, went fishing for our fish, wrote on the bathroom mirror, made a snowman out of toilet paper, hung out in our tree, drew silly faces on our eggs, hung from pictures in the playroom, played music with our singing snowmen, sat on our jar of chocolate, hung off of candy canes,

We started a new Christmas Eve tradition this year with the kids opening up a box with a new Christmas movie, hot chocolate, and slippers. We watched Mickey’s Christmas Carol while drinking our hot chocolate after walking around our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. After our movie the boys each picked a Christmas book to read and I read one story out of the book that my mom always read to my sisters and me on Christmas Eve. I love sharing with them the special stories I loved and remember from my childhood and hope that they will grow to love them as much as I do!

On Christmas Morning I spent about 30 or 40 minutes hanging out in the boys room waiting for Ellie to wake up so we could wake up Daddy and head down to enjoy Christmas! The boys were so excited to see what Santa had brought them! The excitement and Joy of Children on Christmas is truly magical. It is a feeling that is so special and unique. There is nothing else like it and I love that I get to experience it with my own children.

We spent over an hour just playing with the toys that Santa brought and opening the kids stockings

After that the boys, and Ellie, got down to some serious present opening and our house looked like Christmas threw up on it! (Such a mess, but so much fun and lots of wonderful memories) After opening all of their gifts we went outside and the kids rode their new bikes, the boys rode their bikes while wearing their new dress up outfits!

Christmas

It's the most wonderful time of the year: Christmas Bucket List 2018

10:04 PM

Thanksgiving is over and December is fast approaching. And this is by far my most favorite time of the year! Ever since I was little I have loved Christmas and all that goes along with it! I love decorating the tree and house, spending time with family, baking cookies, listening to Christmas music (especially Andy Williams), Christmas Eve service, and buying gifts for family and friends. Now that I have babies of my own I can't wait to make this time of year as magical for them as it was (and still is) for me! There are so many things I want to do with Will, James and Ellie this year: here is our Christmas Bucket List

What are your favorite things doing during the holiday season?

diy costume

Halloween 2018

9:58 PM

Happy Halloween! This year was so much fun, all of the kids were excited to go trick or treating. Ellie didn't really understand exactly what was going on, but she enjoyed carrying her candy bucket, putting pieces of candy into it and watching all of the other trick or treaters. And Ellie really did carry her own bucket for the entire 45 minutes we were out walking around!

Will and James on the other hand really understood what was going on this year and couldn't wait to put on their costumes and head out to the neighbors to get candy! We have been talking about it for a while and they got to do a practice run at Daddy's work on Monday. After getting the candy at Daddy's work they were excited about the opportunity to get more candy!

The boys were also excited about their costumes. They picked who they wanted to be this year and have been telling people for about a month or so who they were going to be. As I slowly pieced their costumes together they became more and more excited!!

I had told them that I wanted to take their picture before we went out trick or treating. In hopes that if I prepped them they would actually let me get a picture of them without too much of a fuss. And it kind of worked because about an hour before we were planning on heading out the boys started asking to put on their costumes so we could take a picture!

It really was a fun night! The boys kept asking to go to more houses and did a great job saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" for their candy. One difference this year was the boys were scared of some of the decorations at some of the houses and would say "No Thank You" and keep walking past not wanting to get candy from those homes.

When we got home Will and James had just as much fun handing out our candy to all the trick or treaters that came to our house! They were excited when kids would knock on our door and as we were tucking them in they were still peeking out their window to watch the remaining trick or treaters go by.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween!

A little side note: I was super excited with how Will, James and Ellie's costumes turned out. My mom has always been super crafty and she actually helped me piece together the boys costumes last year since she happened to be in town, but this year I was on my own. I wasn't sure about making the Donald Duck costume but it turned out better than I thought it would! It took me a few tries and I gave myself a pretty bad hot glue burn, but it all worked out in the end.

12 month update

Ellie | Twelve Month Update

9:56 PM

Well I can't believe it my baby is one. I feel like I blinked and a year has passed me by. I continue to tell myself to slow down and cherish each moment I get to hold and snuggle and cuddle my sweet Ellie because before I know it she is going to be grown. Time is a thief and while I'm exhausted, and sometimes frazzled, I don't want these days to end.

Height: 30.25 inches (Birth 20 inches)

Weight: 19lbs 6oz (Birth 7lbs 5oz)

Sleep

Oh sleep how I miss you so much! I have now gone well over a year without a full night of sleep and most of this past year has been spent waking every 3-4 hours. Ellie gave me a glimmer of hope that her sleep was improving where she actually slept basically through the night 9-10pm until 5-6am a few times. But Ellie, unlike my boys, is bothered by everything and the first thing that is effected is her sleep. After a few nights of sleeping decently well for her Ellie got a cold and the good sleep disappeared. Now that the cold is gone she seems to be teething again which greatly disrupts her sleep causing her to wake ever 3-4 hours sometimes only going 2 hour stretches. I can't wait for this next tooth to pop through so we can hopefully get some relief but no tooth is forthcoming.

Eat

My oh My does Ellie like to eat! She is eating three meals a day with usually at least 2 snacks. She will try to climb up into her high chair when she is ready for food and will chase you around the kitchen to get your attention if you aren't getting her food quickly enough.

Raspberries have been a favorite food this month. I'm not sure I've seen a baby get so excited over a berry before.

Play/Development

This month hasn't brought too much change for Ellie. I feel like she has been acting almost like a toddler for so long now that now she doesn't have too many big changes.

But a few things she is doing this month are:

She will put her diaper in the trash after getting a diaper change
She will lay down when you ask for a diaper change or to have her sleep sack taken off
When she wants to sit on my lap she will walk backwards until she reaches my lap (it is so funny because she will start for such a far distance away, I love watching her slowly walk herself backwards)
She cut her bottom left side tooth

Language/Comprehension

This month I have started to use a few signs with her: Please, More, and All Done. I had started using signs with Will and James when they were a little bit younger than Ellie is now but I kind of forgot with to try using them with Ellie to be honest. I'm glad I remembered to try with her. She has quickly picked up on using the sign "all done" when she is done eating or sitting in her high chair. She will also use "please" but usually only when she really wants something. Ellie will also say a word attempt for "please" when she is signing.

I feel like Ellie understands so much. She is able to follow simple directions and identify common things she knows like: dog, shoes, diaper, bed, her different stuffed animals by name, book, daddy, mommy, brothers (she still gets Will and James confused sometimes, but I'll give her a break on that since a lot of adults that know them get them mixed up too), baby, stroller, and many many more things.

My Dear Ellie

I can't believe you have been here for a year already. This has been one of the fastest years of my life and it feels like you have always been apart of our family. You are a bright light. You continue to be just the happiest little baby I know. You are always smiling, giggling, and wanting to cuddle. You don't want to be a baby and want to do everything your brothers do and for the most part you are able to keep up! You surprise me with how much you are able to do. I can't wait to continue to watch you grow and explore new things this next coming year! Stay sweet and silly my Ellie and never change! I am beyond blessed that I get to be your momma!

I love you more and more each day!

Love
Mommy

Twelve Months of Ellie