Christmas Recap

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We were busy trying to make sure that both our families were able to spend some time with the three of us. We spent Christmas eve with Dan's parents and Grandma Jane. This was the first year that his sister, Lauren, wasn't with them for Christmas and also Dan's Grandpa, Dale, wasn't with the family. I think we still managed to have a good time though they were all missed. We opened presents with them that night. Elliott wasn't too sure about ripping off the wrapping paper. Tissue paper, on the other hand, was VERY exciting! He also enjoyed sitting in the empty boxes:



Here we are - I am sporting some horrible posture, I'll have to work on that...


E was super excited that he snagged a sugar cookie and no one took it away from him:


On Christmas day we spent the morning at home. It was nice to take some time to ourselves and not feel that we needed to rush out the door. We had Christmas dinner in the afternoon with Dan's family again. Elliott napped right through the meal - some might call that a bit of a Christmas present as we actually had some adult conversation instead of focusing on feeding him. After dinner we played some Wii and then left to go to my sisters house (sister Sarah) for dessert and to open presents with my family. We had a great time at Sarah's and were able to play with new toys and read books, and eat a ton of dessert (maybe it was just me eating a ton?).

Elliott is a drool machine right now. Must be working on a new tooth.


Grace got several new babies for Christmas. She was using Elliott practicing feeding them:


Now he's changed into Christmas jammies and a bib to control the drooling:


E also likes to be helpful and clean up after his messes:


Today, Tuesday, we got maybe 4 inches of snow in Portland. We were suppose to go to my parents house to celebrate my Grandmas birthday today. After loading the car and getting about 4 blocks from home we realized the city came to a grinding halt! Google maps was telling us that all major roads were red or red/black. Meaning they were either completely stopped or traveling under 25mph. We turned back and spend the night at home. Hopefully we can celebrate with my Grandma another day soon. I took E out into the snow for a minute. He didn't mind getting all cozy and warm. Being in the snow, however, was an entirely different story:





So, we came inside and ate homemade sweet potato fries. Much better:


Just to let everyone know how bad traffic was....my mother in law, Chris, left work at 4:05 and didn't arrive home until 9pm! That was driving from downtown Portland to Wilsonville, 15 miles south! We Oregonians really aren't prepared for snow!

I'm a lazy blogger

I admit it, I'm a lazy blogger. Recently I've had a hard time with sitting down to blog about Elliott or our lives around here. We've been busy with birthdays and holiday celebrations the few weeks with more to come this weekend. Last Saturday we spent the day in Wilsonville decorating sugar cookies with Dan's family and then going to my sister, Amy's, house for Christmas with their family. Amy and her family are in Sacrament until the 28th (I think) so we celebrated and exchanged gifts early with their family.

The bigger kids decorated a Gingerbread House - it collapsed:


Finally a cousin picture that almost worked out well (Josh is hiding):


We had a great time celebrating early and playing with all the exciting new toys!

Elliott is walking all the time now, sometimes even trying to run. If he does run he'll usually fall down pretty quickly, he isn't 100% stable. His new favorite book is Dr. Seuss ABC, specifically the letter L. There is a picture of a lion on that page and he'll growl at it. I'm not sure where he got that from, maybe I did it once? It's hysterical though. I do have a video of it but I'm not sure how to upload it on our new computer. I'll have Dan do it tomorrow.

E is also starting to sign a little more. We got him to do "please" this past weekend. He was being bribed with reeces pieces and doritos at first, but will now do it most of the time when we ask him to. A few times he will sign "dog" and at least 3 times he's done that sign as well as said something that sounds like "dag". He also knows what a door is now and will sort of say "door". There is a difference between how he says door and dog, surprisingly. Right above his changing table is a picture of a turtle. When we are very lucky he will sort of say turtle. That one takes a lot of coaching and most of the time he'll just point to it. Of course, we think he's a genius, I'm pretty sure every parent thinks that their child is one :) It's fun that he'll communicate in his little way. I'm really looking forward to knowing what he's thinking all the time.

I think maybe part of the reason I'm a bad blogger is because I feel like Elliott and I don't do too much. It's been rainy which means we are spending most days inside. If we go out it seems to be to go to the pharmacy or the hospital for me. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis about 5 years ago and this past year - basically since Elliott was born - had been a tough one. I had a mild "flare up" in February, a really bad "flare up" in June and another now in December. (A flare up is basically the reaction my colon has when it attacks itself. Many different lovely symptoms are included that I don't really need to go into, though I will say that on some lucky days I was in then bathroom at least 15+ times a day) I'm on 4 different medications at the moment and take a record number of pills a day to deal - 19 a day! The most recent medication is called Imuran and I have to do weekly blood test to monitor liver function, etc. Last week I had to go in for a Bone Density scan to see if I've lost any bone mass since I have been on and off Prednisone for close to 6 months. Good news - no loss since 2007 (when I first went on Pred.). Thankfully the Imuran seems to be working and things are finally calming down. I'm hoping to get off both Imuran and Prednisone quickly as both have horrible side effects. I guess the only upside to this all is that I've lost all my baby weight plus about 10 lbs! :) I'm back in my skinny jeans! I feel like we don't do too much because I do have to be aware of where a bathroom is pretty much all the time. So, that's why there isn't too much to write about. Sorry. :(

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays. We are looking forward to lots of good food and time with both of our families this weekend.

December Already!?

We've had a busy week around here. Dan took last Wednesday through Friday off from work to hang out with us and generally get things done. It was great, though we were busy every night. We had a great thanksgiving splitting it between the two families in Portland by celebrating on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, our Mac crashed today so I have very few pictures from the past couple of weeks that I can access right now. Here are a few from Thanksgiving at my parents house:



Cousin pictures never work out well :( Maybe in a few years....


Cameron had his 3rd Birthday party this past weekend. He seemed to have a great time, even though he didn't quite understand how to play any of the games. This was the best of him from the party:


Here is some cousin love:


We also just splurged and purchased Elliott a new highchair. Basically I'm lazy and also crazy about keeping his highchair clean. I took the old one apart every day (3 times a day) to clean it. So, we've upgraded to something that will be much easier to clean as well as will last a lot longer. Here's Elliott having his first meal in the new chair. Umm...maybe spaghetti wasn't the best plan (see floor below his feet):


Off to the bath we went! Also, just in case you were thinking that poor Elliott has no hair, check this out:


In other news....Elliott is walking almost exclusively now. He loves to climb stairs. He also has become VERY demanding. I like to blame Sarah and her girls saying he got it from our Maui trip - from them, of course! But, in reality I think it has more to do with turning 1 than anything. All day I constantly hear yelling in his incoherent babble. Usually meaning, "hey, read me that pop up book for the 15th time today!" or "let me play with your iphone, it's way more fun than my toys". At least that's my interpretation. Dan's grandma put it best the other night when she said, "Elliott has his bossy pants on tonight!" Yes, he does...all the time! I still like him though :).