Day 268 (December 20, 2010) – Christmas Shopping

Today we went shopping for just a little bit with Mom-Mom. Annaliese wasn’t feeling real good and I called and talked to the doctor. They suggested I try the Little Noses for her stuffy nose and it worked pretty good. She only had about a 99.4 temp, not really a temp for a baby, so that’s why we ventured out. Plus, I just had to get a little bit more of my shopping done. I hope Annaliese gets better before Christmas! She still enjoyed a little playing in the diaper box. All kids love playing in boxes no matter how they feel!

Later Baba brought Aunt Della over for a visit. She enjoyed seeing Annaliese and we enjoyed her visit!

Day 267 (December 19, 2010) – A Cold in the Works

Today I cleaned the house and Annaliese got in her exersaucer for part of the time and then the other part she went to Grammy’s with Daddy. I got a lot done then! Annaliese tried peas for the first time today and did good!

I noticed while Annaliese was sleeping tonight that she was coughing and had a lot of congestion. I think she’s trying to come down with something right here before Christmas.

Day 266 (December 18, 2010) – Congratulations Brandon and Tay!

Today Eric and I went with the rest of the family to Brandon and Taylor’s graduation from college. We are so proud of all of their accomplishments! Now there are two more Monarch Alumni in the family!!!

Later we went to the “Ugly Sweater” Graduation Party at Taylor’s house. It was a blast. I found a plain pink ugly sweater and had taken Annaliese’s bath toy letters and spelled out, “Congrats Tay & Brandon.” The best part about the “VERY TACKY” sweater was that it also served as a teether for Annaliese as she teethed on all of her bath toys! “Wearable Teething Clothes” another great baby invention of mine…although I think someone else might have already thought of it!

Day 265 (December 17, 2010) – First time seeing SANTA!

Today Lynn, Aunt Loretta and I took Annaliese to see Santa up at the Yankee Candle Store in Williamsburg. They had such a beautiful background display and a great Mr. and Mrs. Clause. We had a good time strolling around and taking pictures. We had to wait in line for just a little bit but then when Annaliese finally had her turn she did GREAT! She just kept looking up at him with such a pondering look on her face then she would turn to the camera and smile.

Day 264 (December 16, 2010) – Baby’s 3rd Snow!

Yes, can you believe it, it snowed again! Annaliese has gotten to experience so much snow in her short little lifetime! We were supposed to go Christmas shopping again but since it snowed we stayed in all day. I don’t have any idea when I’m going to get all my shopping done that I still have left to do. It’s been so cold I haven’t wanted to take Annaliese out in it. I guess that’s a lesson learned for me next year…shop early! Her little face has been so chapped because of the cold weather also.

So on our day in this is what we did:

Annaliese threw toys in the dog’s water dish and then just looked over the side of her walker at it! Poor Quila!

She also began crawling away fast on the floor when you start to chase after her…so cute!

Day 263 (December 15, 2010) – Cookie Exchange

Today we went to Little Gym and Mommy and Annaliese had a super time. I would hold her and walk fast and Annaliese would get so excited and make a shrill laughing sound. She loved it. Her teacher, Mrs. Betsey, said the nicest things about Annaliese today and commented about her happy personality, her smile, her attitude, her abilities, and her outfits! Mommy felt soooo good when she left the gym today!

Then we met Grammy to go shopping and Annaliese slept a solid three hours through the whole shopping trip, in an out of the car, in an out of the stores, and in and out of the stroller! What an easy shopping trip that was!

Tonight we had our annual Cookie Exchange and Aunt Loretta’s. Instead of cookies Annaliese got her first, “Cookies for Santa” plate from Aunt Loretta. We had a great time being with everyone and eating delicious treats! Aunt Loretta had used my cookie cutters to make an adorable centerpiece for the table. Cute idea, Aunt Rhetta!!!

Day 262 (December 14, 2010) – Making Christmas Cookies

Today we did more “Ugly Sweater” shopping with Aunt Loretta. Annaliese has now decided that she is going to start throwing things out of the stroller. Today she threw out her doll baby, which was actually my doll baby when I was little…so therefore I didn’t want it to be lost! (The doll was the one pictured in the Christmas Tea post.) We had to search around the whole store looking for the doll and finally found it in the cart of a lady that works at the store. I was grateful that we found it!

Tonight we went to Grammy’s house and made Christmas Cookies for our upcoming Cookie Exchange. It was fun having all of us girls in the kitchen together! I hope that this is a tradition that we can keep up with every year. And in the future, Annaliese can take a more active part in the actual cookie making!

Day 261 (December 13, 2010) – Baby’s 2nd Snow!

Today we were supposed to go Christmas shopping with Aunt Cathy and Mom-Mom but we got “snowed out.” Yes, it snowed again today. It was beautiful and I just couldn’t resist putting my baby in it now that she has a snowsuit. She did great when I sat her in it and even felt the coldness/wetness on her hands.

We didn’t go to Little Gym either today but we did have to venture out later in the meeting because Mommy had an ADK meeting. Annaliese went to Aunt Loretta’s and was watched by everyone there playing Bunco!

Day 260 (December 12, 2010) – Christmas Tea

Today we had the Christmas Tea at Aunt Loretta’s. It was also a PJ tea so Annaliese broke in her new, Baby’s First Christmas PJs that Aunt Loretta bought her. She had fun crawling all around and just giggled and laughed when we would chase her around on the floor. We had a wonderful time!

Day 259 (December 11, 2010) – Decorating for Christmas

We stayed home all day today and decorated. Annaliese was so curious about all of the decorations and was getting in to everything. We put up three Christmas trees each year, one has colored lights and all of the fun/kid friendly/family favorite ornaments, one has white lights and all of Mommy’s pretty/collectable/engraved ornaments, and the last one is an Eagles/Redskins tree with all of our football ornaments. So, Annaliese and Daddy put the Angel on the pretty tree and the Star on the fun tree. She also got to help Mommy put up the Nativity Scene. This is a very old Nativity Scene that was my grandmothers. When I was

little I used to love playing with the people and the animals and would set them up all different ways. What I like most about this Manger scene is not that it’s the prettiest or the most expensive, but that it’s real looking and the pieces are plastic, and therefore kid friendly. I hope that Annaliese enjoys this Nativity Scene in the years ahead as much as I did in years past! She also helped put up all the little elves that we have and the Annalee dolls that Mommy has collected!