Party Party and then some more Partying!

Uff da, what a fun and exhausting couple of days. We have been spoiled rotten, eaten ourselves sick, and stayed out way past our bedtimes.

Ellie was a trooper through it all, mostly because she loves being where the action is and doesn't want to nap if there's walking around and squealing to be performed.

Friday the 23rd was her Grandpa's birthday party, where as you can see, she hated her some Santa. She was such a good girl, despite only having gotten 45 minutes of nap time during the day. When we got home though, she did do this:
She was so tired that she stayed asleep even after I picked her up out of her car seat - that hasn't happened since she was a newborn.

Christmas Eve she had to hang out with Tim and I while we cleaned the house and grocery shopped. Just kidding - I made Tim do the grocery shopping by himself while I did nap time. It's his payment for all of the other holiday activities I spearhead. You want me to wrap all the presents I picked out for our loved ones? Wade through the shoppers and buy me a ham. He also spent some time sitting with her while Grandma Rosie read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" via recordable storybook (aka, the best things ever.)


Then we picked up Auntie Sara at work and headed over to mom and dad's for the big gift exchange. The Nollins refused to give up their Christmas morning tradition, so they mostly sat around and snacked while the Thiels did present opening. Ellie cleaned up of course, with a great bunch of puzzles, a dress made by her Grandma Rosie, and most excitingly, a stroller for her babies from Auntie Sara. Oh Auntie Sara, she always knows just what a baby needs.

As for Tim and I, we got some good loot too, and we had an EXCELLENT White Elephant exchange - everyone won!

Then Christmas morning we hosted brunch for everyone. It went much better than last year - seriously, I don't know what I was doing last year, trying to host when I had a farty little baby and very little control over my brain. I think it was mostly about wanting to establish the brunch tradition, but I did not execute anywhere near correctly (or really at all. I just sort of looked at my mom with mystified "oh help me" eyes when she arrived.) This year, when everyone arrived I had coffee in the coffee pot, and the croque madame sandwiches in the oven, toasting. The only thing we needed was fried eggs, and Dad was happy to be the Eggman (coo coo cachoo!)

It was so nice to have everyone over, enjoying breakfast and some good company.


Ellie also cleaned up during the Ford Christmas exchange, after the hoopla had died down. SHE GOT HER VERY OWN PONY!

Hi Ho Silver, AWAY! You can also see her sweet new slide in the background.

Then, while I got her down for a nap, Tim and Eileen put the kitchen back together. It was a Christmas miracle! I am a lucky girl. We spent our afternoon with the Smith-Fitz clan, including Ellie's little twinsie cousins. They are suddenly so big! Amazing what 14 weeks can do.

Look at all those baby hungry aunts!

We spent today relaxing and hanging out with Ellie's pals. It was nice to have a chill day after spending so much time dragging her all over the place, to strange, unbaby-proofed homes (not that our house is baby proofed at all. Why buy cabinet locks when my kid hates when I walk out of her sight?) I went for a walk with two of my girlfriends this morning, and Ellie actually fell asleep (usually she just whines in the morning when she's done, that naughty thing!) Then after a little lunch and cleaning up, we met up with her friend Clare for a little park time. Clare was very envious of Ellie's stroller, mostly because she's not quite walking yet and so the lightweight stroller wasn't enough support for her to walk on her own with. On our way home, we got a text from her friend Dean (okay, from his mom) who was hanging out at the park in our neighborhood, so we swung by there as well. The park has a ton of quiet green space, and we let Ellie just run free (she and her baby, just exploring the grass!) After that, it was nap time.

Tonight we got in on some of the delicious Christmas leftovers at mom and dad's - tamales, posole, and finally, a salad. I feel like my body was about to shut down from lack of green vegetables. Frank, Jasmin and Baby Fluff were driving back from Christmas in Carlsbad, and they stopped by to say hi, which I'm so glad for. Baby Fluff has also gotten huge and even more adorable since we last saw him - he is starting to look more like his mommy, but still has all that red hair. Ellie was actually pretty well behaved about me holding another baby... until we tried to make them take a picture together (it was past her bedtime.)

It's like when Fluff and I were in college - me crying for no discernible reason, and him patiently listening and thinking what a moron I am. Oh, silly babies!