Decorating the Tree

We finally got to the point where we could hang the ornaments on the tree. Ellison gasped with excitement for each and every one that we pulled out of the box. It was so cute! She hung a couple herself, then decided it was funner and quicker to just keep getting them out of the box.

Oh the Christmas Tree...

Ellison stopped by the Christmas tree, the object that caused us to lose Daddy for a few days, to give him a little cookie break. You see, we bought this 1,000-light year-old pre-lit Christmas tree off Craig's list for a great deal. Well, over 600 of the 1,000 bulbs were burnt out! Daddy had to, literally, replace over 600 bulbs (no exaggerating) one-by-one. He no longer has any feeling left in the tips of his fingers, but hey, we have one heck of a tree. It was one of those moments where I thought, "If I was single, I would've cried not knowing where to begin, cursed a whole lot, and then bought a new tree". Daddy has been in such a good little Christmas spirit this year. I kept saying (I thought reduntantly) that we just would have to decorate outside next year - it was already mid-December, and what was the point this late in the game when we'd just have to take it down in a few weeks? But every evening last week, I would wonder what the heck he was doing - why he wasn't around in the house - and would find him putting lights on bushes outside or hanging wreaths in the windows. I have to say, he did a great job! The house looks so cute. He said "We don't have any family to spend the holidays with, so we are going to make it festive for us!". Thanks, Daddy. Thank God the holidays aren't in Mommy's hands this year.
[December 8, 2008]

Santa's Lap

We took Ellison to visit Santa at Bur-Mil Park's clubhouse. We talked Santa up like crazy, and explained to her how she would sit on his lap, etc. The second she saw we were actually following through and was placed on his lap, she kept saying "Get down... Hold you, Mama... Hold you, Daddy... Get down...". She never cried, but that poor girl was chomping her gum so fast that we never got a pic with a smile.

Love this look she's giving him...

And what body language. You can tell if Santa loosened his grip on her, she would've fallen right over trying to get away from him.
After the torture, we all had some cookies and hot cocoa while listening to some carolers.
[December 6, 2008]

Little Miss Growing Up

A make-believe conversation Mookie had on her fake cell phone this morning:

"Hi, Daddy!... How are you, Daddy?!... Good!... Come over your house?... Come home soon, Daddy..."

Awww, my heart just melted. She's said several times today, "Come home soon, Daddy".

She just started telling us she loves us on a regular basis, too, which is so cool! She'll just lean over and pat our arm, or she'll hug our leg and say, "Love you, Mommy (or Daddy)". So freakin' great... :)

Ellison discovered chewing gum this past month, and she LOVES it!!! I never would've guessed she would like mint-flavored anything, but this girl will chew a piece of gum for 2 hours. I'm knocking on wood here, but she has never swallowed it, and gives it to me when she's done with it. I say this, then watch my next blog post be how I find gum stuck in her (or my) hair.

She's really into her new panties the last few days. Either she (overtop of her pants) or one of her animals has to wear them around for a while each day. And not just one pair. It has to be 3 or 4 at a time. Can't imagine that's comfortable, but then again, what is comfortable when diapers are involved?

She's starting to really become quite a little jokester, too. Non-stop whit around here, folks. The other day I was walking out of Target with my arms full of bags and Ellison, when she kept flopping herself forward in my arms. I kept telling her, as I struggled, to sit up straight on my hip (she did not indulge me), until finally she flopped her head back where I could see her face, with her eyes closed and a little smirk, when she started making snoring noises, pretending she was asleep. This is a passive-aggressive form of "I can't hear you", isn't it?...

It's just so awesome every day to hear something new out of her mouth. Yesterday it was her touching my shirt saying, "That beautiful, Mommy". Or watching her say, "Hmm, let's see..." as she puts her finger to her mouth in deep thought, or "You're funny, Mommy" (as long as she doesn't follow that one up with "-looking".

When playing with animals or dolls or whatever, she now uses a squeaky little fake voice when conversing for them. So funny to hear.

Final Days in Buff

Our last couple days in Buffalo were nice and relaxing. Ellison was in her glory with the little Christmas villages and moving Christmas decorations, as I mentioned before. She would just lay in front of them and watch, or she'd play with the little figurines.

Ellison's cousin Nicholas. She kept calling him "Necklace" and grabbing her neck when she'd call him. :)

Titi Marie

Titi Ana

We miss you guys so much!

[November 30 & December 1, 2008]

Princess For A Day

Ellison's Aunt Marie, Aunt Ana, & her grandparents threw her a big princess-themed birthday party while we were there. They went all out spoiling little Mookie - she had 2 princess dresses to choose from to wear for the big shindig, a tiara, a necklace & earrings, sparkly shoes or princess slippers to choose from (she was ADDICTED to the pink sparkly shoes, but they were too big so she had a hard time clomping around in them; but anytime she spotted them when Mommy's hiding spots weren't that good, they were on her faster than you can say Christian Laboutin), in addition to the other birthday goodies. It was a great time! Thanks, everyone!The yummy cake (that remains on Mommy's hips to this day)

Princess preparations - lunch before the party

E loved her Titis' tupperware cupboard. You can tell by the look on her face that she thinks she's getting into something she shouldn't be.

Surveying her clip-ons

The first to arrive - Ellison's cousin Ruthie and her daughter Zaina. Ell & Zaina were coloring together.

Ellison with her cousin Sheree

Zoe (Sheree's daughter), cousin Ruthie, Ellison, Zaina, & Sheree

Hugs from Nati

Zaine, Natalia, & Ellison playing with hand puppets

The princess with her mommy (does that make me a queen? :) )

E had to be plopped right down in front of the bowl of chips

Daddy & Mookie

With the size of the partial ginormous Soto family that was at the party - you can imagine how great the "Happy Birthday" song sounded to Ell.

We had a hard time keeping E's fingers out of the cake long enough for a pic with her grandparents

Yummy ice cream!

Trying on her new engraved bracelet from Titi Ana

Taking a bath in Titi Ana & Marie's big sink with Abuela's help

[November 29, 2008]

Christmas Preparations

We avoided the chaos of shopping on the morning of Black Friday. I wasn't about to take my only child out with those crazy people. So we had a relaxing morning as Ellison's aunts started pulling out some decorations for Christmas and the Christmas trees got put up, which was perfect entertainment for the Mookster. In the evening, the 3 of us plus Aunt Marie & Aunt Ana ran to the mall for a little while.Ellison loves to look at pictures. She still says, "More see 'em", and it wasn't any different when Jon's sisters were wippin' out old photos.


Our electronics queen, following in her daddy's footsteps.

"Yeah, it was hard work, but I feel such a sense of accomplishment!"

"C'mon Titi Marie - you totally have a bare spot over there!"

Ell loves ladders, despite her neurotic former-ER-nurse mother.

Abuelo scooped her up to give her a hug and kiss. :)

During our shopping excursion, Daddy spotted a Yankees hat that he absolutely had to buy for his daughter. "I have to buy her her first Yankee's hat!". Ellison wouldn't go without it for a while - she puts it on backwards and just goes about her business. It looked especially cute with the pink pearl necklace she had to have on one morning.

Titi Marie let her decorate the little feather tree all by herself

[November 28 & 29, 2008]