Christmas Videos

We had a great Christmas! We got to spend time with my parents and siblings as well as enjoy the company of old friends from high school and college. Here are a few videos from our break - one of Elise opening her monkey pjs (from Uncle Josh and Aunt Rachel) and the other two from our trip to the Children's Museum on Christmas Eve.

Joy in the Christmas Season

I love the Christmas season! I love shopping for gifts and thinking about what each of my loved ones might enjoy. I love the Christmas music and all the decorations. I wouldn't go as far as to say I love the cold, but I can tolerate it during this season anyway. During this season, remembering Christ's birth on this earth, I also recognize the awesome responsibility Wes and I have to raise Elise to know the true meaning of Christmas - to remember Christ's life on this earth, and his sacrifice of his life for our salvation. It can be a bit overwhelming to think about, but I know God has trusted us with Elise's life and already has a great plan for her life.

Last week, my grandfather, Papaw, went to be with the Lord. He lived a long and joyous life. Elise and I traveled down to North Carolina for the service. People remembered him as always kind and always singing. Though the circumstances were sad, Elise got to meet all of her cousins, Great Aunts and Uncles on my dad's side of the family. We've been trying to introduce Elise to as many family members as we can, so I was glad we had that opportunity.

Here are just a few pictures from the last week or two. Elise got a very cool Disney Castle for Christmas from her Great Aunt Linda, which she enjoys playing in (and I am sure will enjoy more and more as she gets older).

She has also taken to climbing into a cradle that my Papaw made for me when I was little. Here are just a couple pictures outside in cold Indiana. In one, we're taking the dogs for a walk and the other Wes is hanging up the Christmas lights.

12 Month Check Up

Elise had her 12 month check up on Wednesday. She is still growing like a weed. She was 30 3/4 inches tall (95th percentile), 23 lbs 9 oz (85th percentile), and her head was 42 cm (50th percentile).

On Tuesday, she very suddenly developed the worst case of diaper rash I have ever seen. She literally had blisters on her tushy, which have now turned to open wounds. This does not make diaper changing a fun experience at all.

Otherwise, she remains one of the happiest babies ever. She has her whiny moments, but they aren't very often at all. She LOVES to say hi to people - whenever we're out and about, she says hi and waves to every person we pass. She'll just keep doing it until they acknowledge her (and usually even then she doesn't stop).

Anyway, just wanted to share the latest stats.

I've been tagged

Three posts in less than 24 hours - that never happens! But, I've been tagged, which requires me to post my fourth photo in my fourth folder in my My Pictures files. So, here it is - it's my daddy with Elise shortly after she was born. So sweet!

I'm tagging Nichole because she doesn't update her blog enough and needs some motivation (though she did update it not too long ago)!

1 year pictures

These are Elise's one year pictures - enjoy!

Thanksgiving/Christmas with the Erwins

We just returned from a wonderful week celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with Wes's family. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, so hopefully John and Rita got some more with the family. Here are just a few pictures.

Also, Elise is now completely weaned - that actually happened while we were in Fort Wayne. She was just nursing right before bed. It had gotten very short, so one night I just stopped. She sems to be perfectly content with just the bottle. Of course, now I have to wean her from the bottle onto a cup. Oh well. That is a battle for another day!

Happy Birthday Elise!

Elise had a wonderful first birthday! She was so happy through her party and loved eating her cake! We had a great group of friends and family celebrating with us (though she missed the Aunts and Uncles who couldn't be there). Enjoy the pictures and video of her starting into her cake. I meant to upload the video of her getting sung to, but I must have selected the wrong one.

On another note, the weaning is going much better. I made a few adjustments that worked well. I stopped trying to give her the bottle where I normally nursed her. I also started giving her the bottle earlier rather than right before she was going to sleep. She cries herself to sleep now - about 10-15 minutes of crying - hopefully that amount of crying will get less and less as she gets used to a new routine.

Arg.

Well, the weaning process continues to be a frustrating one. The last two days, Elise has taken the bottle fine, but then just refuses to go to sleep for her afternoon nap afterwards. Today, after letting her "cry it out" for almost a whole hour, I broke down and nursed her. Ten minutes later, she was asleep. Was she not full? Or did she just really want to nurse? I don't know.... Tomorrow she is at daycare in the afternoon - she usually takes a shorter nap there, but they manage to get her asleep somehow. We'll pick back up trying on Wednesday.

Anyway, here are some cute pix from this weekend. Elise has also taken to waking up earlier than she should be up, so on Sunday, Wes took her to the couch and slept with her. I guess she is just having some separation anxiety issues or something. Anyway, it resulted in an adorable picture. And, I realized I can turn my pictures to black and white on my camera, which I thought was pretty cute for this particular shot.

The next two pictures are Elise in her winter coat/hat/gloves for the first time this fall. We were getting ready to take the dogs for a short walk.

The last pictures are before church on Sunday.

Weaning

So this is a little more personal than my usual post, but I need help from any of the more experienced moms out there. I decided that this was the week to start weaning Elise. I really didn't think she'd have a problem because she takes a bottle regularly. However, I was wrong.

I started replacing her afternoon feeding with a bottle. She'll take the bottle to a point, then she starts screaming and rooting. I've tried just putting her in her crib and letting her cry to sleep, but she's not full, so she just cries and cries.

I wasn't prepared for weaning to be this emotional struggle, but it is!

Anyone have any successful weaning tips?

Happy Halloween

Apples, Trips, and Halloween

I'm a little behind in my postings, so here a some of the things we've been up to in the last couple of weeks.

It has become an annual tradition to go apple picking with Wes's parents. We went a little crazy this year, picking 40 lbs of apples. Elise liked gnawing on an apple while we picked!
This past weekend we went to visit Wes's grandma in central Illinois. Tim, Michael, & Molly joined us, and we also got to see Wes's Aunt Debbie.
Last night we went to our friends' house for the annual pumpkin carving party. Elise wore her Halloween costume - a pink poodle - isn't she cute?!
Madison Klein
Karis Klein
Randy and Kim Arnold (plus the twins!)

Family hiking trip

This weekend the whole family (including the dogs) went for a hike. Elise loved riding in the backpack, lent to us by our neighbors. Sam and Abby were thrilled to run around off leash in the woods - we usually do that several times a summer. Here are some pictures.

So cute!

Wes took this picture on his phone at Target. It is just so cute; I had to post it.