Santa baby

back in November we went to the mall and noticed Santa was there. this was like Nov 14 or something...talk about over-zealous. well, since there was no one there, i thought it would be good to warm Ellie up to the idea of Santa and just sorta let her check him out. Ellie was very skeptical of this creepy old dude-- and since there was obviously nobody there, he was pretty insistent upon holding her on his lap. she was not a fan. that was until he asked her the golden question, "What would you like for me to bring you for Christmas, Ellie?" she stared at him for a minute and then said with conviction, "a frog toy. and princess shoes."

ok then.

then she jumped off his lap, held my leg and said, "where's my princess shoes?"

um, how do you explain the concept of "later" or "next month" to a two year old??

fast forward to now:
Santa has become the most popular dude ever at our house.

it could be because Ellie is obsessed with the fact that he'll bring her any toy she wants...

or it could be because i am obsessed with manipulating Ellie to stop being so gosh darn naughty lately by telling her things like " Santa doesn't bring presents to little girls who scratch their sisters on the face." or "Santa is going to be so sad to see you yelling at me like that." or "Santa wants to bring you princess shoes sooooo bad... but he can't when you throw things like a crazy person."

(Ellie is so good at being two, it's not even funny).

anyways.

so the other night we wrote letters to Santa....to remind him what we asked him for a bazillion weeks ago. which means that i whipped out my kindergarten handwriting and had Ellie tell me exactly what she wanted to say.







she realllly wanted Santa to know that she can say all of her ABC's, and that she can draw circles, and smiley faces (yes the circles and smiley faces were drawn by Ellie.).

afterward, she was insistent that we put it in an envelope and send it to the north pole. so mail it, we did.




i like imagining what our mailman did with it... because of course i forgot to retrieve it before he came the next day.

so then we went and met Santa at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom last weekend...because we didn't get a picture the first time way back when. she was so confused why we had to talk to him AGAIN if we already talked to him once AND mailed him a letter. "i already told him, Mama!", she'd say to me when i'd encourage her to tell him what to bring her.

which is true. she already told him.

so it comes as no surprise that Ellie would sit in the farthest spot away from Santa and cover her face with her sweater, because that way he might not see her.

and as always these days, Alice is just along for the ride. (same with us dorky parents).

one thing is for sure: Christmas is way more enjoyable with kids around.

xoxo

sweet Miss Alice

{look at this lil chunk!}

lil Miss Alice is two months old today. two months! i will now be cliche and proceed to explain how fast this whole infant stage goes the second time. because it really does. really really. what they don't tell you, however, is how much you will love the infant stage the second time. you see, i did not like it the first time. don't get me wrong, it's not that i didn't like Ellie. i just didn't like how i couldn't get her to stop crying and how i had to bounce on a dumb ball to get her to stop or to fall asleep or to do anything for that matter. while it was magical having a baby of my own, i was so much in "stressed-out-first-time-mom" mode, and "wanting-to-do-it-perfect" mode that i didn't really get to enjoy it. fast forward to now: i'm in baby heaven. and wish i would have taken more moments to just smell Ellie, and touch her soft skin...because those moments are so fleeting with a newborn, yet so sweet and lovely.

don't get me wrong. my baby fusses. and cries. and i still have moments that i want to pull my hair out. but most of the time, our days are sweet. so i thought i'd share a typical one with you:

-she wakes up and wants to eat. she proceeds to eat as if she's never eaten before and will never eat again. eating is serious business for lil chunk Alice (hence the chunk).

-after she is full-bellied, she looks at me and smiles. and smiles. and smiles. she is so super smiley. it is so super cute and no picture will ever do it justice.

-then it's bath time. she's basically in heaven. she then proceeds to engage in one of the many staring contests we have throughout the day. she always wins. because of her lil sensitive skin, we've become fans of aquafor- cleared all those weird sensitive skin patches right up.

-i then give her a bazillion hugs and kisses because she smells so delicious. i have to remind myself not to eat her right up for breakfast because she smells so good, and i'm usually pretty hungry by this point.

-then i dress her up in ruffles and tights and bows and whatever other frilly thing i can think of. it is nice to not have the two-year-old attitude telling me that she is NOT wearing whatever i picked out. i know i will miss her oblivious compliance deeply someday.

-she will then sit propped up in the boppy pillow or her bouncer while i get big sister all ready for the day. as long as Alice is included in conversation, and we don't leave the room, she is content to intently observe our every move. the minute we do leave the room, she'll squawk in discontent.

-Ellie will then smother her in affection- including (but not limited to) wet kisses, sprawling herself over Alice, talking to her, asking her when she is going to buy herself teeth so that she can eat real food, giving her toys and blankets, trying to wrap her in her blanket (which consists of Ellie throwing the blanket over her face...nice), and telling her to stop crying

-after we've exhausted the pillow and bouncer option, Alice just wants to be held. arms are her Hawaii- she wants to lay there morning noon and night. sometimes i don't mind. mostly because i know it doesn't last forever and i will undoubtedly miss it. sometimes i do mind though. like when every toy, DVD, dish, and item of laundry is thrown about the house and i'd just like my two hands for more than two seconds.

-after being bundled like a burrito, she finally falls asleep. she loves burrito land. sometimes she'll take a good lil rest, and sometimes it's pathetic. we're working on that.

-when she wakes up, we start over at the beginning of this list, minus the whole bath/get dressed part.

-throughout the day, she loves the bjorn, mostly hates the carseat (but not as much as Ellie did), will suck on a bink -- we're working on her keeping it in her mouth, loves to look into your eyes with her big blue ones (i'm thinking they're gonna stay blue...or maybe i'm hoping?), loves to hold your finger reaaalll tight, doesnt mind tummy time too much, coos and gargles at me and i love it, and loves you to kiss her cute lil feet.

*update* i snapped this picture of her in her crib this morning- this is how i found her:

she is the wiggliest thing in the whole world! how did she get like that?? her arms are still swaddled- yet she is side-ways. i'm baffled.

-the night time comes and she is usually wide awake until about 11. sometimes 12. sometimes it's brutal. i just look at her and think, dont you know i'm not a night person? but the last two weeks she's given me the gift of staying asleep till 4...and some days 5. last night it was 5:40! 6 1/2 straight hours of sleep is a beautiful thing, my friends. a very beautiful thing.

-and that's how i feel about Alice too. she's a very beautiful lil thing.
we adore her.
times infinity.

xoxo

the cutest dance recital there ever was

i think i mentioned earlier that Ellie is in dance.
she loves dance.
let me rephrase that:
she lovveeesssss dance!
she talks about it all the time.
she dances everywhere.
or twirls everywhere.
or rolls everywhere (probably her favorite thing about dance class).
and she has theee cutest teacher ever.
one who somehow gets a group of 2-3 year old little girls to do what she asks them to do.
and gets them to love doing it, too.
and this cute dance teacher organized the cutest little dance recital for us proud moms & dads & grandmas to come and oogle and awe over our little ballerinas-in-training.
now, i should mention: Ellie is very serious about her dancing.
this is no joking matter.
and  no smiling matter either.
getting a smile during dance is like trying to make a pb+j without the j- just foolish talk.
so, most of these pic's depict our very-serious-ballerina-in-training Ellie.

 

 {Ellie rolling on the mat...nice form, nice form}

{Ellie prepping for an impressive twirl, no doubt}

{seriously being serious out there on the dance floor...because, let's get real, dancing is serious business}

{Ellie chillin' with her fellow dancer, Kate-who wasn't so serious...but Ellie kept the stone-face goin' strong}

 {ooooooh, is that a smile!?}

{"no way mom. smiling's for sissies. i'm too busy hangin' out with my dancing peeps to smile."}

 {"but i will give you a thumbs up. because i did pretty dang good out there."}

Ellie, will you please just smile??

{fine. this fake half smile will have to do.}

we love her so much.
and are so happy she has found something like dance that she loves so much.
hope you enjoy a little peek from the show!



xoxo

blessed.

dear little Alice Joy,

this past weekend you were blessed. i know you won't be able to remember this wonderful celebration of your little life, but i will. and someday, when i tell you about your blessing day, these might be some of the things i'll say:

you looked beautiful.

you were surrounded by people who love you. people traveled from Utah, Boston, and all parts of California just to see you and take part in your special day. you are very loved.

 

 

 your Daddy was very nervous. in fact, he was dripping in sweat when he handed you off to me after the blessing was over. he loves you so much and wanted to give you the perfect blessing. he did. you were so lucky to have a daddy who is worthy to give you such a lovely blessing.

i already knew it, but your blessing confirmed it: your Heavenly Father loves you very, very much. and he wants you to never ever forget it.

Ellie was amazed by how beautiful you looked. she kept saying, "Alice looks so beautiful in her white dress!" Ellie is your number one fan.

you wore the same dress that Ellie wore on her blessing day...the amazingly smocked creme silk dress that Grandma made for you girls. it looked just as stunning on you as it did on Ellie.

you slept like an angel in my arms before the blessing and after it. your little fingers curled around mine. i love the way you do that.

during the blessing, you stared up into the heavens- someday i hope to know what or who you were looking at up there. 

we had a killer soup + salad party at our little home with our families (minus a couple of people who were greatly missed) after church. Ellie really wanted you to eat some of the homemade rolls i made because they were super delicious and she didn't want you to miss out.

everyone ooogled and awed over how sweet and beautiful you are the whole day. your sweet little smiles melted everyone's hearts into big piles of goo.


i was reminded how blessed i am to be the mama to such a sweet, pure spirit, so fresh from Heaven and the presence of our Heavenly Father. while Ellie is my sunshine, you are my Joy, little Alice Joy. i love you so very, very much.

all and all, it truly was the loveliest of days. one that i will treasure in my memory keepsake box forever. and even though you were the one being given a blessing, i truly felt like you were the blessing being given to me.

love,
mama

xoxo

pretend play at our house includes:

nursing baby dolls...

...and Mickey getting a front row seat to see baby Jesus in the nativity scene.

there just aren't words to express how i feel other than this one:

wow.

xoxo