First Bumbo Experience

Her head is still a little wobbly, but Aveline has started to enjoy sitting upright and grabbing at toys when I place the tray on the Bumbo seat.

Christmas, The Other Parts

As per usual, we made the trek to North Carolina this Christmas. It took us some time to get ourselves packed and actually get out of town, what with two little ones and a sick-feeling husband and all, but we made it -- even despite the two hours it took us to go about ten miles when leaving Atlanta, all due to traffic (on a Saturday) caused by people trying to get to the Mall of Georgia. I have never been there, but it must be some mall to stop all lanes of traffic going north on 85. It got really interesting when we were stuck in the midst of it all and Elsa decided she needed to go potty. Thanks to Jarrett, we were able to unbuckle her quickly, get her underwear off, and get her into a Pull-Up. "Good idea, Daddy. Now I can go pee-pee in the Pull-Up."

We arrived at Kate and Tim's house in the North Carolina mountains around 11:30 p.m. the Saturday before Christmas. All in all, it took us about eight hours to get there and, all things considered, it really was not that bad. The girls did great -- sure there was some crying, and maybe even a little screaming on Elsa's part, but nothing that was unmanageable. Both girls were sound asleep by the time we got to Kate and Tim's, though Elsa had only conked out about 30 or 45 minutes from their house. While there, Aveline and I shared a bedroom, and Jarrett and Elsa shared a bedroom, which worked out pretty well. We had a wonderful time spending the four nights with our friends, Jarrett and Tim getting out a couple of times to fish and hunt deer (they caught fish, but no deer), and Kate and I (and Avie) getting out to run errands and enjoy a morning out for coffee, some window shopping, and lunch in West Jefferson.

On Wednesday after lunch, we headed down the road to Charlotte to stay with my parents for another four nights. Elsa was spoiled rotten, getting to open the items in her stocking there the first night (she did not seem too confused that Santa left her things there too), and opening a present nearly every other night leading up to our usual Christmas celebration on Christmas eve. My parents have started somewhat of a tradition, having some of their friends over Christmas Eve morning for a brunch, which is always nice. And the girls were just doted over even more. And we all actually made it to the Christmas movie this year, which amazed me. We saw The Muppets, which Jarrett and I thought was quite good (though I think Jarrett was even expecting more). Elsa got a little antsy toward the end, but seemed to enjoy seeing Kermit and Miss Piggy on the big screen. My parents thought it was so-so. And aside from a little crying upon arrival because she was ready to eat and a bit tired, as well as a bump on the head on one of the chair arms thanks to an ill-planned move on her Mommy's part, Avie did great and hardly made a peep, either nursing, sleeping, or watching the movie herself. We all had dinner out, and then my parents attempted to take Elsa to a children's service at their church, but it was apparently way too crowded. Once they came back, Elsa opened her remaining presents, the favorites being a piggy bank and an Olivia umbrella. Then, once the girls were in bed, us adults were able to relax and open our gifts.

On Christmas morning, we (meaning Jarrett, really) packed up the car once again, and we headed up to the High Point area to be with Jarrett's family, although sadly Bethany and Jonathan and his wife, Michelle, could not be with us, so it made for more of a quiet, low-key Christmas. We started off the celebration with Grandad Craven, Stephen, and Jarrett's mom at her house, and enjoyed a wonderful meal and present opening together. Elsa was, again, spoiled rotten, and racked up with things like a Disney book set and a Thomas set.

Later that afternoon, we made our way over to Jarrett's dad's and Susan's house for another celebration, and another lovely meal. And, again, Elsa was spoiled. This time she got some fantastic art supplies and book, as well as an incredible handmade tent.

We spent four nights in total with Jarrett's family as well, and were able to take advantage of having grandparents around. Elsa spent one afternoon over with Grandad and Grandma Susan, trying out her art supplies, visiting the neighbor's horses, and making and playing drums with Grandad. Then Elsa spent another afternoon with Grandmom, while Jarrett, Avie, and I did some after-Christmas shopping. She also let Jarrett and I go out on a date one night after the girls had gone to bed. We decided to go into Greensboro and see how things had changed, and enjoyed dinner at Lucky 32. It was fabulous.

The drive home went decently well too. We were certainly all ready to get out of the car and just be there already, but at least it was otherwise fairly uneventful.

Christmas Baby

Christmas, Part 1

We went to see Santa Claus yesterday, and Elsa was so excited. I have an advent calendar that my brother and I used when we were kids, where you transfer a little mouse from pocket to pocket as you advance through December. I kept telling her that when we got to "15," we were going to go see Santa. And every day when she would go to move the mouse, she would ask me if she could move it to "15." So the day finally came, and the whole family went to Phipps for our scheduled appointment (silly, I know, but I have decided that it is rather nice to have an appointment so that you are sure to not have to wait in an incredibly long line). We checked in, and then I helped Elsa fill out her list to give to Santa, complete with the two items she had been saying she was going to ask Santa for for weeks now: a Rudolph puppet (which she fell in love with when she and Jarrett went to the puppet show) and a hammer. She was very anxious for her turn, but then, as you will see in the clip below, was a little hesitant actually going up to him. But she warmed up pretty quickly... after the crazy camera guy was finished shaking Elmo around and making crazy noises. I don't know if you can hear Santa if you turn up the volume loud enough, but he is clearly a little quizzical over her desire for a hammer.

After Santa, we headed over to Lenox to ride the Pink Pig. Sadly, I left the camera in the car, so I have no photos from this year's ride (besides a couple on my phone that did not turn out well at all). But just Jarrett and Elsa rode this year, as they wanted me to try to sit Avie up on the seat next to me rather than just keep her in the Ergo, which hugs her close to my body and is clearly the safer option. And it is such a crazy ride -- watch out! But Elsa and Daddy had a good time.

We had dinner out at Ted's yesterday evening (Elsa's favorite -- "the buffalo restaurant"), and then went home in time to put out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for his reindeer before putting the girls to bed. Because we were (supposed to be) headed out of town today (did not end up happening), we wanted to have our family Christmas this morning here at the house, so Elsa was very excited that Santa would be coming down our chimney last night. She had played this out over and over: "Santa is going to come down our chimney, into our fireplace, and then put presents in my stocking." She was certainly ready.

I was worried she was going to wake up and be so excited that we'd all have to get up and do Christmas in the middle of the night. But she actually slept until a little after 7:00 a.m., and walked straight through the living room and into our room without noticing a thing. It was like she had forgotten what was supposed to happen, which is so not like Elsa. But I played along. Jarrett was actually in the back room because he has not been sleeping well, so Elsa decided to go and "warm up with Daddy" (she likes to get under the covers with him in the morning to get warm), which meant she walked back through the living room and still did not notice anything. But that was fine. I was able to finish nursing Avie, and Jarrett was able to get prepared with the video camera. We all came out into the living room, and I asked Elsa if she noticed anything. She immediately looked at the coffee table, and looked absolutely stunned. She was amazed that only cookie crumbs, an empty glass, and the nub of the carrot remained. Santa had come to visit! It still took her awhile to realize that her beloved Rudolph puppet was in her stocking, but once she did she was super happy. And she could not part with Rudolph at all today -- he even joined her at Ms. Gabriela's (which Gabriela was thankfully okay with). The plastic animals were originally purchased for Elsa's stocking (from the $1 Target bins), but ended up not fitting, so they went into Aveline's instead.

We are hoping to get on the road maybe tomorrow to start our holiday travel extravaganza, with many more Christmas celebrations in store for us all, so we will have much to report, I am sure. In the meantime, merry Christmas to all of you!

Aveline is Three Months

Aveline turned three months old today. So there you have it -- we are officially through the "fourth trimester." So things should only get easier from here, right? Thankfully Avie continues to be a happy baby most of the time, so the main possible improvement, really, would be more sleep. She has been going to bed around 8:00 p.m. and waking once, usually sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., depending. Then she will usually wake again between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. It is at that time that I usually bring her into bed to nurse, and sometimes she will fall asleep there for a little while longer, but usually really wakes up once I decide to leave the bed. The poor child rarely gets a decent nap because she is being dragged around everywhere or is awoken by her sister, and when she gets really overtired, that is when you will hear her voice her real opinion of the world. She completely loses it. I am hoping after the holidays and in the early part of the new year, we will be able to get ourselves on some sort of schedule, but it proves to be difficult with needing to get Elsa to and from her playgroup three days a week, and then all of the everyday errands on top of that. Like Dr. Owen said today, though, it will only make her a more easy-going baby. Let us hope so.

Our doctor's appointment went well, and Jarrett was able to come along with us. It really ended up being more of a family appointment, as we all had our issues that were brought up during our time there. That is one thing I certainly love about us all going to the same family doctor. But as for Aveline, Dr. Owen said she looked great. Jarrett asked about her eyes, as he has been concerned that they are slightly off-center from one another, but the doctor thought they were okay and told us to just keep a watch on them. She measured in at 13 pounds, 4 ounces (still 75th percentile), was 24.5 inches in length (90th percentile -- and, as a side note, from the looks of her tracked measurements, Dr. Owen thinks there was an error in the measurement last month, when she also measured 24.5 inches), and her head circumference measured 16 inches (75th percentile). There were no shots today, even though she was scheduled to receive at least one vaccination, I think. But the office's refrigerator failed, and all of the vaccinations that were being stored were ruined, sadly. So we will catch up at our next appointment in another month.

Because we were talking about so many other family issues, I completely forgot to ask her to check the status of Avie's thrush issue, as well as address my intake of dairy. But I do think the thrush has gotten better, and I already am fairly certain that there is a definite correlation between my eating dairy and Aveline's green poop. I know this because I caved yesterday and got a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake from Chick-fil-A, and the green poop is back. Oops. She might be slightly more fussy than usual, but I really do not think it has a significant affect on her mood. I am more concerned as to what the green poop means. Whether it means her gut is then having trouble absorbing nutrients or what. So I will have to see. I might make an extra appointment to go back in and ask these couple of questions. Or I might just wait it out if Aveline continues to seem okay.

Avie is lying on the playmat as I type this, and is actually trying to swat at a couple of the hanging toys, but those hands still seemed to pretty much be balled up into little fists. They open for slightly longer periods of time, though, and I am sure they will really open up more over the coming weeks. She has rolled over a few more times, still back to tummy, but still only on our bed. She still seems to love the swing and enjoys the bouncer even more, which is where she tends to end up at meal times so she can join us near the table while we are eating or running around getting ready in the morning. Also, it seems as though her dark hair is slowly falling out, and I swear I see blond hairs coming in underneath it. I will not believe it until all the dark hair is gone, though.

She is such a cutie, and we enjoy her more and more every day.

Zoo Days

So I tortured my girls a couple of weeks ago, and we braved the weather to go to the zoo and get our November stamp for our passport (you get one stamp per month, and earn prizes when you reach certain milestones). It was cold. And wet. And drizzly. We bundled up, but we also had a plan. We were going straight to the reptile house, where I knew it would be warm. All of the snakes were actually quite active (kind of scary), so Elsa had a good time looking at them all, as well as the frogs and turtles. Here are the girls warming up:

As we left the reptiles, Elsa decided she really wanted to see the panda bears, so I complied. And I was so happy we made the visit. Watching this bear was totally worth freezing our tails off. I did not start the video in time to catch what he initially did, which was come right up to the glass where Elsa was standing, stood on his hind legs, and put his paws and face right against the glass. So cute.

And, as you can hear at the end of the clip, Elsa had to go potty, so we went as quickly as we could to the nearest restroom, which happened to have child-height, child-sized potties, with different colored seats. Elsa was thrilled, and chose the red one. I was thrilled that she did so well!

Today we visited the zoo again, this time with Shelly, Christian, Kate, and James. And the weather was much more kind to us -- beautiful, in fact. I brought the camera, but then accidentally left it in the car, so no photos or video. Except for these that us girls took of ourselves in the photo booth. :) I look rather frightening, but I still love the last photo of the three of us.

And Elsa even decided she would give the train a try today, which she has not done in quite some time. Now that they have rainbow lights in the long, previously dark tunnel, I think she is more okay with it.

A Few Christmas Card Outtakes

Big Sister, Little Sister

This morning, Elsa asked me if she could hold Avie. I cannot fully convey here what amazing progress this is. Yay for Big Sister Elsa! Now maybe there is hope that I will be able to get a photo of them together in their Christmas outfits.

Another Comparison

Since I put Aveline in another of Elsa's outfits for the first time, and since I have photos of Elsa in this outfit at just a day off from Aveline's exact age, I thought I would post another set of comparison photos of the two of them.

So here is Elsa, three years ago yesterday:

And here is Aveline in the same outfit today:

I know this last one is not the greatest photo, out of focus and everything, but I caught a smile and just had to share!

Roll Over, Roll Over

Aveline and I were laying in bed this morning, and what did she do but roll over from her back to her tummy! We shall see if she repeats it anytime soon, but it was at least a good piece of excitement for this morning.

A Comparison

Avie at her first Thanksgiving celebration:

And Elsa at hers:

There might be a little similarity, but I definitely think they look different, despite all of the comments I have been getting about how much Aveline looks like Elsa.

Happy Thanksgiving

With most of our close family planning on being out of town this Thanksgiving and, most importantly, with a ten-week-old and car trips to North Carolina already planned for last month and next month, we decided to spend this Thanksgiving at home. We originally did not plan to do much. We were not going to cook and were just going to take it easy. We still pretty much took it easy, but we were able to share a real Thanksgiving dinner with our friends, David and Shelly, which was delightful. Elsa and Christian had a great time playing together, and Aveline had a nice time just hanging out and swinging in their papasan swing, while us adults spent the time catching up and telling stories in between all the "Mommy" and "Daddy" calls.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Trying to Catch a Smile

She smiles quite a lot these days, but she still likes to try to hide them once I pull out the camera!