Ho Ho Ho

Merry Christmas!

Santa pics were priceless this year. Not to sound like a horrible mom, but just as I hoped they would be. When the kids are scared of Santa, those are always the best pics. Poor Z was terrified of the jolly ole man and Eliza has just started feeding off of Z.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent baking cookies and James making a lot of delicious food of course.

After the girls went to bed I had way too much fun putting together Z's dollhouse while James put together the bike and the table and chairs.

Everything was put together, wrapped and ready for the girls to wake up in the morning.

Christmas Day

Here is a video of the girls first coming downstairs and seeing all their gifts.

This was the first year Z really enjoyed opening presents. Z didn't give anyone time to open their own presents before she was helping them do it. Her daddy taught her some sound effects to go along with her mad unwrapping skills.

Thanks to Z, Eliza didn't get to open any of her gifts or be the first one to play with her toys. But she didn't mind because this is what she enjoyed most about Christmas. Tissue Paper!

Christmas dinner was spent at Brandon and Rita's house opening presents, eating lamb lollipops and consuming alcoholic beverages. Z came home with a fish and a American Girl doll. What a lucky girl. 

This is what happens when I ask the girls if I can get a picture of them.

I would say Eliza's first Christmas was a success. Until next year ... I am sure it will be even crazier.

Almost There

11 months! It is absolutely insane to me that Eliza is almost a year old. I know every mother says it and I said the same thing with Z but the second child has really shown me how fast time can fly. I really have to stop sometimes and tell myself to enjoy the moment because they don't last long.

The moments I do stop and enjoy Eliza is showing me all the new things she is doing every day. She is clapping her hands, dancing to music, and her newest is pulling herself up to standing, which she did for the first time the exact day she turned 11 months.

Can you tell how excited Z is that her sister is standing? : )

Eliza finally got her third tooth right beside the other two on the bottom. With those three teeth, she still loves to eat anything you put in front of her, moaning and enjoying every bite of it. The girl really loves food.

Eliza has so much to say. Wish I knew what she was saying. 

She has also discovered her lungs. Screaming happens mainly when she wants something and when we are in public, of course. Since Eliza is screaming, Z takes it upon herself now to scream as well. Can I say, "I have a CRAZY life and of course I love it (most of the time)."

Here are the many faces of Eliza:

Oh those eyebrows crack me up.

Boo!

I didn't forget about the Halloween pictures, things have just been crazy. Just like Halloween, crazy! I thought I had everything planned out perfectly for Halloween. We were going to be the Shrek family. James was going to be Shrek, I was going to be Fiona, Z was going as donkey because I asked her multiple times and she told me donkey and Eliza was going to be Puss in Boots. I bought the costumes and everything. A couple weeks before Halloween I attempted to put the donkey costume on Z just to make sure it fit and she went bonkers, hysterically crying. I just thought maybe that was her mood at the time, because these days she acts like a moody teenager and you never know what to expect. So I decided to try the costume on her another day. Same reaction, again and again. Halloween was approaching and no luck. We made the decision to send back the costumes and Z would go as one of her dress up costumes and poor Eliza would get the hand-me-down lamb costume from Z. I really miss the days when I could just dress Z up in whatever I wanted her to be. But she could not have been more thrilled to be Elsa. This is what she chose over Chase from Paw Patrol.

Elsa in rain boots. The weather was horrible but we decided to do our annual trick-or-treating at the Ballard businesses with Nana, who was in town visiting.

Z was beyond excited every time she got to put a piece of candy in her pumpkin bag. Eliza just got to sit and watch all the excitement.

Z did such a good job of fighting her temptations to grab a hand full of candy and only grabbed one piece. There are so many kids trick-or-treating, that the businesses are pretty strict about only taking one or two pieces.

Sometimes it took her a minute to decide which piece would be the best to take. Gummies or suckers always trumped the chocolate. Definitely, James's child : )

Then it was time to test out some of the candy. Z has never eaten so much candy in her life. I finally had to hide the candy from her.

Eliza wanted to know where her sucker was.

Once we got back to the house and after the Michigan game ended, of course, James and I took Z trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. We were shocked at how many people in our neighborhood participated in handing out candy and how many people trick-or-treated this year. Hopefully the trend continues. 

There is always next year for Shrek.

She Has Entered The Double Digit Months

10 Months yesterday and I am seriously in shock. I can not believe how fast the time has flown. But I must say I absolutely love this age. Eliza is so much fun and always happy and giggly, as you can tell from this adorable picture.

She has started to take a couple crawls but then soon goes down to her army crawl because she can get to where she is going sooo fast. A couple days ago she started pulling up on things, not standing yet, just to her knees. She is also going from laying down to sitting up. 

She still only has her two bottom teeth but that does not stop her from eating like a machine. I think she would just continue to eat as long as I keep putting food in front of her and she will eat anything and everything. She usually eats all her food then the rest of Z's because these days it is pulling teeth to get Z to eat. 

She still says Mama, (and a whole lot of other sounds) especially when she wants me to pick her up.

She loves to explore, getting into everything she is not suppose to be in, as you will see in the video. Z and her are really starting to interact with each other. It is absolutely adorable to see. Z loves to give her sister hugs and kisses.

Also watch how Eliza will crawl and then turn to her side for a little bit. We like to call that her, "modeling for a picture on the beach pose".

Pumpkin Patch'n

Well, I'm about a month late with this post but I guess it is better late than never. We went to the same pumpkin patch we have been going to for the past two years. This year we went with the Lee family. This was the first year that Z was actually able to enjoy and participate in mostly everything. It was a joy to watch her have such a blast.

First stop was the petting zoo with Danny.

Then she watched some pig races on daddy's shoulders.

Then off to the slides with Danny and Rita, who is such a sweet heart for always taking care of Z because I have Eliza strapped to me.

We took a very bumpy tractor ride to the corn maze.

And off they go through the maze.

Here is Eliza and I just following along.

Of course I had to the opportunity to attempt some photos.

This is the face I get when asking Z to smile.

James and Z did a good job of picking out some great carving and decorative pumpkins.

Eliza's photo shoot.

Before leaving the pumpkin patch we had to get the best family photo would could and I love it. It adds character and great memories.

A couple weeks later, Z and I carved a pumpkin. Well I carved and Z helped clean out the pumpkin.

Here was the end result. Tried to do a more friendly pumpkin because, for some reason, Z was afraid of mostly all Halloween decorations this year.

Halloween pics soon to come.

Nine Months And Doing Fine

Eliza turned 9 months and is still as happy and giggly as ever.

She is sitting up for as long as she likes now, which isn't very long considering she just wants to go, go go. She goes right to her stomach and army crawls to anything she can grab to put in her mouth. You would be surprised how fast she can army crawl. She frequently gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. It won't be long before she is full on crawling.

Grabbing at everything and anything especially if it is in her big sister's hands. Speaking of grabbing. She wants to grab and eat anything her sister is eating and she gets angry if she can't have it. No more purees for Eliza. She is pretty much eating anything you put in front of her, cut up in to small pieces of course because she only has two teeth on the bottom.

Z actually wanted to take a picture for the first time EVER! I'm pretty sure it was just because I was trying to take Eliza's picture.

Notice all the toys beside Eliza and this is what she chooses to play with. Typical!

Z doing what she does best: distracting Eliza. They are just too cute together.

At Eliza's nine month check up she weighed in at 17 lbs. 9 oz. putting her in the 28th percentile. 

Her height was 28 inches which is in the 62nd percentile.

Five Years

Every year on this day, I look back at our wedding pictures and there is always a different picture that I like more than I liked the past year. Funny how that changes. But I know one thing that will never change, it is the love and appreciation I have for this man. Thank you James​ for being such a wonderful husband and father. I was completely smitten by you in this picture and I still am today. 

Happy Anniversary!

And then of course there are those pictures that always make me laugh every year I look at them.

Notice my face on the next picture.

And there were so many more fun pics because it was such a fun time celebrating with all our friends and family.