The First Christmas - wrapped in nostalgia and expectation yet not actually recalled by the one whom it is all about. Funny isn't it?
I wasn't sure how much Emerson would really get into Christmas this year, but we tried to do a few things to make it stand out, for us adults anyway. We made a special ornament, picked out a few gifts and tried to share the excitement of the season. Fortunately, there is some forgiveness while we try to establish our family traditions, since these first few years give us some room for trial and error.
In the end, it turned out Emerson loved pulling the bows from the gifts. She didn't care too much for unwrapping (why would you when you have that cool bow!?) and she was only occasionally interested in the gift itself ;).
One of the traditions in my family is decorating the tree with Christmas movies or music and hot cider. Emerson got in on some of this action.
Her special 'First Christmas' ornament for grandma
Checking out the action
Getting a ride on Daddy to check out the Angel
A late night with our tree at home.
Christmas catch-lights
(our tree at home)
I have no idea how or why this picture is snowing. Seriously. No idea.
With her special ornament
Her hand print First Christmas ornament
In her Christmas dress for a practice photoshoot.
We have quite a bit of holiday festivities between our two families, starting with Christmas Eve service. I love starting the holiday off with sweet reminder of what the season is about. My favorite part is listening to the Christmas story from Luke and finishing up with Silent Night by candlelight. I wanted to get a sweet picture of her looking at all the candles, but she saw her daddy's and wanted it. No time for decent pictures!
After the service we went to Blake's family's Christmas eve party for carols and a visit from Santa (aka Uncle David). We might not always make it to this event, but this year we had a special present to pick up. Her hand knit stocking from Great Grandma D, which matches the rest of Blake's family's. Very special since Grandma D said that she was done two stockings ago!
She liked it at first.
Her first Christmas present... she's intrigued.
Checking out the stocking
And she's done.
Checking out her second cousin Finn. Still holding her wrapping paper scrap.
Aaaand Finn is done. He can crawl now soooooo. Peace.
Next up, Christmas morning. This year we were at Blake's family's for the morning. It was a wonderful morning and a little bit of a blur with a squirming little one on my lap!
Cousins
Oh look, a bow.
With her special stocking.
Hmm.. ya, I'll eat it.. with or without the paper.
The first present that she really took interest in,
she practically leaped out of my lap to get her mouth on this when I opened it.
We also went to Blake's grandparent's house to see his mom's family and opened a few presents. I only took one picture there though!
In the evening we made our way to my parents' house and had dinner with my grandparents. After dinner... presents! We scaled down this year and just did stocking stuffer type presents for everyone.
Visiting with G. Grandma S
Passing out the stockings.
L-R: My brother Jordan, my sister-in-law Theresa (and the bun in her oven), my brother Jared and Blake.
Trying on her cousin-to-be's hat with daddy-to-be Uncle Jared
Opening presents with Uncle Jordan
The day after Christmas with some of her new toys.
Playing with Grandma
In her sweater from daddy
Checking out Great Grandpa's buttons.
It was a wonderful first Christmas. Emerson was spoiled, but not too spoiled. She was interested in the festivities, but not too interested (and not mobile, so that helped). We all enjoyed the fun of watching her checking out the new things of the season. Can't wait until next year!
About ten miles outside of Ellensburg is a sweet little trail called Umtanum Creek Falls. Ellensburg is about halfway between Seattle and here, so it was the perfect place to meet our good friends Whitney and Lincoln. We met one cold, clear morning and walked the quick 1.5 mile trail into the falls, lingered around for a snack, some stretching, some photos and a cold but quick diaper change.
It was a great little trail with a nice little waterfall at the end. There was a little mud on the trail, but I'm not sure I'd expect much less from hiking in November. Overall it was a clear path, with just a few unclear junctions of deer trails, a few creek crossings and one downed tree.
Frankly it could have been the worst trail ever and we would have still enjoyed ourselves. There's nothing like a day (or several days) with Whitney and Lincoln. We do our best to keep up via email and texting but there is just nothing like bonding together in person. She said it best when we left that she always leaves with joy in her heart and a smile on her face. So true.
You approach the falls from above.
The trail follows (mostly) the creek.
A nice little beach and bowl of water.
The babies stretching out a bit
Whit and Lincs
Me and my girl
After our hike we found the nearest Starbucks to warm up and finish chatting.
BFFs
This usually happens too. Lincs is a curious guy. He wonders how everything tastes :)
Ahh. What a blessing to be able to spend the day with friends!
Half a year. Half a year!?!? It
seems like a blur and yet it’s a half a year full of wonderful memories.
This month’s milestones were
biggies. She started sitting up, can grab her toes, developed object permanence and started canonical/reduplicated
babbling. The babbling was just in time for this post. Last week she started
making the /f/ sound with her gums and lip and was pretty impressed with
herself. Then a few days later she discovered how to add her voice and make the
/v/ sound. She got a kick out of playing around between those sounds and I had
fun showing her all the bilabials (sounds made with your lips). She would just stare
intently at my mouth and watch me make each sound (I just have to say, I put equal emphasis on [dadada]
as I did [mamama]). Then on her half birthday she started babbling with /b/ and
/m/. It’s just so darn cute!
Emerson is at that ‘classic baby’
stage, sitting but not 100% stable (she still throws herself back when she
laughs sometimes and a rogue toy gets the better of her now and then), she’s
making those cute babble sounds, she’s putting everything in her mouth and
reaching for everything in sight with her sweet chubby fingers and wrists. Oh and those cheeks. They're just so kissable!
She is 18 ½ pounds and 27 ¼ inches
long. She fits in 9 month clothes the best and usually 6-9 months. Some 6 month
clothes still fit, but they’re getting pretty tight. EJ is still on the first rise of her BG 4.0s but now there are three snaps open in the middle. She still fits in her
co-sleeper, and has a little bit of room left. I’m surprised but glad that we've been able to
use it this long. We find that we carry more toys than burp cloths now and although she can still entertain herself she sure loves it when we talk back to her, stand her up and jump her around. She also really prefers that we stay within line of sight unless she's very into what she's doing... but may or may not be too happy when she finds out you're gone. We busted out the Johhny Jump Up and after a few days of warm up, she just loves it (I know, the horror.. they're a little controversial but we used them as kids aaannd we're fine. While I don't love that logic for everything... we're using it in moderation).
She has also started napping a little longer, although not consistently enough for that to disappear now that I've said it online ;). Sometimes we even get two, two-hour naps in a day.
People always comment about how much she observes. She really checks out the room, people and actions very thoroughly, and notices new details every day. She really checks out a new person before deciding if she'll smile at them (she usually does) and is pretty reserved until she's familiar with a situation.
As always, I reflect on my time with her as pure heavenly joy. She is such a treat. I love seeing her learning, growing and exploring. She's our sweet P and she lives up to the name.
And now..
There's that cool hand again.
And those awesome feet!
Look at what I have!
Yawn!
A quick nap
Just-woke-up smiles
Love those pudgy fingers
Looking in the mirror
I'll try to sneak the dress up into my mouth slowly, maybe then mom won't notice...
Watching Daddy
And here are a few out takes from our Christmas pictures:
