Our Five Days of Christmas!

Get ready for a ton of photos. . . 

Merry Christmas!
(This was our Christmas card picture)

On the first Day of Christmas. . . 

Sibling picture! 

 We started off the Christmas celebrating on Christmas eve. We did our secret sibling exchange! I had Meagan this year and Sean had me. He got me an adult coloring book and some candy. We had to skype him since he couldn't come home.

I was so excited for Eila's first Christmas! One of my favorite things I got for Eila was her ornament. When I was little, my parents got us an ornament each year to hang on the tree. I started that tradition with Eila too. Dan and I really wanted to find a bunny ornament for her since she loves her stuffed animal bunny so much. We went to pretty much every store and ended up finding one on amazon! 

We didn't have a big tree this year due to all of the animals and a crawling baby. Instead we had a little table top tree- it was the perfect stop for Santa to drop off some presents :) 
Eila had a lot of fun trying to chew them open! 

On the second day of Christmas. . .  

My mom made us "weasley sweaters" a few years ago. The photo on the left is from Christmas 2014. Eila was just a little wiggly baby in my belly at the time! The photo on the right is from this year- Eila got her very own sweater!
(also, ignore dan's hair. It was wet from the shower and he thinks he looks goofy in this picture.)

Every Christmas my family goes to see a movie. This year, Dan stayed home with Eila while the rest of us went to see "Sisters".  We changed out of our sweaters, into our Christmas outfits, and headed to Dan's mom's house.

Eila (and her cousins, all of which were there- yay!) did a great job at the Christmas party. They were all very tired by the end of the night and we ended up leaving around 7:00 (way earlier than usual). Eila loved munching on turkey, asparagus, green beans, and corn with me while we chatted with her auntie.



 On the third day of Christmas. . .  

The day after Christmas was another busy one! We had Dan's sibling gift exchange. Dan had Greg and I had Michaela. The babies all wore matching jammies and it was adorable!

Dan's sister, Michaela, got each of the babies the cutest little shoes! She got Eila, Nora, and Maeve baby converse and Jack and Evelyn baby toms. It will be little while before Eila fits into these but she will be oh-so-adorable when she does! 

On the fourth day of Christmas. . . 

Eila went to Nora and Maeve's house for a play date. The girls played so nicely together (well, as nicely as 15 month olds and an 8 month old can)! They all took a nap before we headed over to Dan's mom's for a baby party.

Eila played with her cousin, Evelyn, during the Packer game. 

We had a baby party so that some of Dan's family member who couldn't make it to Christmas could see the babies. His cousin got them matching snowman hats (again, so cute!). The older girls looked so proud while they were wearing their hats. The little three kept checking each other out/trying to figure out what was on their heads.

On the fifth day of Christmas. . .  

These babies are one month apart! They were born in March and Eila was born on their due date. 

We had lunch date at Dan's mom's house. His sister and her family was in town, so we've been spending as much time over there as we can! A snowstorm started earlier in the day, and by the time we left her house, it was in full force! We haven't had much wintery weather so far this season, so I was kind of excited about it. We snuggled up inside for the rest of the afternoon. 

Eila had some sensory play time with a little snow. At first she wasn't too sure about it. Then she started eating it! 

Eila had a nice, soothing bath after all of her excitement and went to bed early tonight. It was such a good first Christmas for her!

8 Months

I can't believe my little pudge has been around for 2/3 of a year! Where is the time going?! She's at such a fun age right now- probably my favorite so far (although I've said that about every age along the way)!

It's so much fun to see her personality continue to develop. She's a happy, silly, strong-willed, determined, on-the-go little one.

She eats pretty much everything we eat and gets really excited when we put her in her highchair or open the fridge. Her favorite foods are raspberries, veggie tots (they're tater tot type things I make), pancakes (I make a wide variety- everything from spinach to pumpkin to cinnamon and pear), and slices of fruit.

There are two little bottom teeth in her mouth. I think they are just the cutest things, but recently she has had some vampire moments while nursing (ouch!).

She hasn't been to the doctor since her 6 month check up, so I'm not exactly sure how much she weighs, but my guess is close to 20 pounds.

Her current favorite toy is a measuring cup. She carries it around, chews on it, taps it on things, and throws it so she can crawl after it. Her current favorite game is called "slalom skier". Basically, I swing her back and forth while walking through the house and pretending like she's going down a hill. I narrate her trip down the hill and talk about how she needs to watch out for the poles, trees, and people. She thinks it is wildly funny.

She likes to go wherever I go. If she's playing in the living room and I walk into the kitchen or bathroom, she crawls as quickly as she can after me. She likes going on field trips to the zoo and target, but still isn't a huge fan of being in her carseat.

Bedtime starts around 6:00pm. We have lotion time, diaper time, then jammie time. Then we go into her room, read a couple of books, sing a couple of songs, rock, and into bed she goes. She sleeps on her belly, face down, with her bunny under her face or in her hand, every night. She usually ends up in bed with Dan and me sometime around 4:30ish so I can feed her and then stays in bed with us until sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 when she wakes us up for the day.

The last 8 months have been crazy, but I wouldn't trade them for anything!

Catching Up to 8 Months!

Well things have been a little busy for the past few months! Dan lost his job in August and we couldn't afford to live in our apartment, pay student loans, car payments, and baby related expenses on my teacher's salary, so we moved back in with my parents. (We will hopefully be able to save up some more money to buy a house once Dan finds another job)

Also in August:
This little chunk turned 4 months old! She went to her first Irish Fest and charmed everyone who met her. She also had her first babysitter (my friend, Sarah) while Dan and I spent an evening at Irish Fest baby-free.  Eila was going through an I-only-want-to-be-by-mama-and-don't-want-bottles-phase, so she was not the easiest baby to babysit. Around this time, I got a job at a new school! I loved my old school, but it was a 45 minute drive to get there (in good weather, no traffic) and that was just too long to be away from my baby.

In September:
Eila turned 5 months old! We officially moved in with my wonderful parents. September was kind of a stressful month- we were (and still are) stressed about Dan's lack of job. He had some other health issues creep up, which did not help the situation. As far as exciting things went, Eila learned to roll from back to belly! Almost immediately after, she started creeping all over the place! That girl could army crawl so fast! She could sit up for very short periods of time and liked being propped up by her boppy. She started making more cooing noises and "talking" to us more.

 In October:
Eila turned 6 months old! She went on a trip to Cincinnati to visit her cousins for their baptism, played on the swings at the park, went hiking at Holy Hill, went to a pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin and go on a hayride, went apple picking, and won 3rd place in a costume contest (she was a chicken!)! She weighed 17 pounds, 8 ounces, was 26.75 inches long, and was in the 75th percentile! She could sit up a little longer on her own and could creep around a little faster. She also tried her first food: avocado! We decided to go with "baby led weaning", based on her doctor's recommendation, and she loves it!

In November:

Eila turned 7 months! Right before she turned 7 months, she went wedding dress shopping with her Auntie Meggie and started pulling herself up. She could sit like a champ, liked playing on the swings at the park, had her first thanksgiving, went on some brunch dates with Auntie Sarah, and learned to crawl like a real baby :)  We also started to get Dan's health issues figured out- which was a huge relief! Although he's still working on some things, he's feeling better already. He is, however, still on the hunt for a job. 

I'll add the 8 month update tomorrow- I can hear a baby over the monitor tapping her paci on the side of her crib, which means nap time is over!