Christmas Time!

I like birthday's, and the fourth of July, and Thanksgiving, and New Years Eve, and Martin Luther King Day (because Casey has it off), and Valentines Day.... but I looove Christmas... (ok, I actually looove birthdays too, and Easter... well I really love most holiday's, but for illustration purposes just go with it...) This Christmas was no different... well it was different... but still extra special. It was different because for the first time I was not in Iowa for the Holidays, I was not shivering in the cold, I was not with my in laws and I did miss having Christmas with them. I was not with my aunts and uncles and cousins on either side, and I missed them too.

It was special in a different way though because we were celebrating the arrival of Caius and at the same time celebrating the birth of Jesus. It was also special because for the past two years our family has not been complete. You see, the first year Clinton was away from Hilary and from us. We didn't know him very well, yet we missed him during the holidays. We did try... we set up the computer with him on skype while we had dinner... but not quite the same. The next year both Hilary and Clinton were celebrating away from us all the way in South Korea, and even though we tried to have a Christmas in May... it was missing some crucial Christmas spark. First we were missing one, then we were missing two, and this year we gained 3! So, while we missed people back home, we weren't missing those three this year.

We (meaning my parents) rented a house in downtown Savannah to have our Christmas. It wasn't decked out for Christmas, but we did our best...

The palm tree is the new Christmas tree... didn't you know?

Irelyn got her own baby this Christmas... she likes to copy what she sees... except for the upside down foot hold... she has not seen that demonstrated

"Gee thanks for this baby... if I don't have my paci, she shares with me!"

She also loves her real baby... from 3 feet away she starts her kisses and keeps going til she gets her lips on him. And, if she just can't get close enough, she just grabs his clothes to pull him closer. She'd go for the foot hold on him too if she could.

Irelyn has her own purse now with everything she needs to go in it... money, a phone, lipstick, keys... she's totally set.

We had a great Christmas. We had fun giving our gifts, and baking cookies, watching cheese Christmas movies, playing games, and being together. Like every year it went way to fast, but gave us great memories to have forever.

Now, enjoy the chaos that ensues when you put a 15 month old with a 1 week old for a cousins Christmas picture...

"Don't help me!"

"What can I grab?"

"This baby moves! Why doesn't mine move?"

Here's the good one...

This just isn't enough for me... come here little baby!

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When we got home from Georgia we had our own special Christmas with just the three of us. I have to admit, I have a super hard time cutting off the gifts that I want to get for Casey and Irelyn. I don't think it's in a materialistic way, but I really love thinking of getting them things to get. Needless to say I had a ton of fun shopping for both of them, and I did find a cut off point.

Lame... I know... I took a picture of our food...

Irelyn's present from Grandma... bath toys... she loves her baths...

And she got a baby nativity, she loves it

All of her gifts

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that the year ahead is special and blessed!

Our Feathered Friend

Irelyn and I do our grocery shopping at the Ankeny Hy-Vee every Monday morning... except this week it was Tuesday. Maybe about 6 months ago, Irelyn started to exclaim every time we were in the produce/bakery section. Like "Ooooh! Look mom! Look!" (Only it sounded more like "Ahhh!") with some pointing. It took me a while to figure out, but her persistence allowed me every visit to realize there is a huge black feather on the top of a display wedding cake that she is enamored with!

I'm not exaggerating she literally spots it and exclaims about it every time we are shopping. It bounces in the breeze of the vents, and I'm pretty sure she thinks it is a real animal... and she's dying to hold it. We can be anywhere in the vicinity of the feather and she is yelling and pointing like "Look mom, it's our friend! Can I hold it? Please! Please!"

Here is a map of the back part of the store with marks indicating where Irelyn has spotted our feathered friend. The height of the feather gives her great range to admire it from all over... and she does.

Here she is reaching for it... we hadn't even gotten there yet and she spotted it. Usually we at least make it past it.

Anyways, I think it's pretty cute and it gives me a chuckle every time I'm transitioning between the veggie section and carb section... (either that or I'm excited to be moving from veggies to carbs).

Here's one final shot of naughty pants... she dug out all of the trash that I had just thrown away in the office and was pretty proud of herself.

Goodnight... Christmas blog to come very soon!

Caius Erich

The minute we found out that Baby Ellis was on his way and was going to be a Christmas baby, we knew that we were going to be spending Christmas in Georgia. The trick was to figure out when to go... What if she goes really early? What if she goes late? You know... because labor and delivery is very easy to plan around =)... It worked out... thanks to the end of the semester and a job that is tied to the academic calendar my mom, Irelyn, and I were able to fly down to Georgia on the 15^th. We were very excited to be able to be with Clinton, Hilary, and Baby Ellis, it was going to be Christmasy and special.... and I would finally have time to get my crazy mane of hair tamed a bit at the salon!

While this is supposed to be a blog devoted to Caius's arrival... I have to add a quick blurb about traveling down to Georgia... Going through security has to be one of the worst things that parents with toddlers have to endure. No matter how you plan, how you pack, what you pack, or who carries it all… it is a stressful event and I always feel like there are 100 other passengers tapping their toes impatiently behind you. Luckily, our first leg of the trip started in Des Moines… so I guess it really only felt like 50 passengers behind us.

My mom got stopped and had to be wanded (she is a dangerous chic)… and then for some reason I felt like I couldn’t just leave everything on the belt (Des Moines is pretty dicey someone might take it) so I needed to gather everything by myself… I can just imagine everyone staring and saying “oh that poor dear travelling all alone… why would she pack so much” (people are sympathetic to travelling moms as long as the baby is quiet =)) I grabbed my two bags, my moms bag, her shoes and belt, my shoes, Irelyn’s shoes, the laptop, our jackets, the “liquids” zip lock (such a pain) plus the car seat…. Ha ha oh yeah and Irelyn too! We stumbled over to the benches where I proceeded to drop it all (except for Irelyn) and start to repack everything…. We just had a little bit of a bumpy ride to Detroit (bumpy A.K.A. crabby baby), but finally made it to Georgia! Phew!

We got to spend 5, “pre-baby”, days hanging out, getting Christmas gifts ready, working on Christmas cards, baking cookies, getting pedicures, staying up late laughing and talking, (me forcing the rest of the group through several Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies... it's a must), and always eagerly waiting for baby Ellis to come. Irelyn also indicated to us that she would like a dog bed for Christmas...

Oh, and of course my to do list... getting my hair trimmed... because I finally had time! So in an attempt to get my one goal accomplished I made an appointment on Monday the 19th for a 12:00p.m. haircut on Tuesday- oh so exciting to get my hair beautified again!

We all wanted baby boy to come really bad… so not without our encouragement Hilary gave the ol’ caster oil trick a try… we felt a little funny as we slid it through the Walgreens checkout… Pregnant girl + caster oil = obvious attempt of labor induction. We expected a voice of experience to chime up from the person behind the register and tell us that it was going to be a failed attempt…. But we got through with a simple “hello” and “thanks for coming in” and Hilary bravely downed the dose in a cup of applesauce. That was Monday night (notice... the night before my appointment)... I told Hilary "you are going to go into labor now, and I'm not going to be able to get my hair done!"... she said "yes you will. I'm sure you will have time to get it done, it will be a long labor. He's not going to come right when you are getting your hair done!" (Yes... I am foreshadowing...)

We will never know I guess whether it was the castor oil or just time for Baby Ellis to come (probably a little of both- and I'm totally trying caster oil next time!)… but the morning after she took it, strong contractions started with a vengeance! I groggily read a text around 7:30 from Hilary that said she felt like she was having real contractions. She felt like it was time to leave around 9:30 and made it to the hospital around 10 where they found she was dilated to a 6! A 6! Ten minutes later to a 9!!! A 9 ten minutes after a 6... unbelievable!!! (Auntie Em is wondering why Hilary got all the fast labor genes!?!). Instead of arriving at the hair salon at 12, Irelyn, my mom, and I were treading the halls of the maternity ward waiting to hear the announcement, and needless to say it went fast! Healthy, beautiful, baby Caius made his appearance at 12:45 p.m (a mere 45 minutes after my hair appointment was supposed to take place)... No complaints though, it was definitely worth missing my hair appointment- I wouldn't have changed a thing!

Let the cuddle time begin!

Caius woke up for our first picture together... wish my stupid elbow wasn't so straight out!

Notice... the hair appointment was desperately needed... I got to go later that week

Gpa pa came the day Caius came home and got to have both of his favorite kids together

Uncle Casey with his first nephew...

It’s so hard to believe the time that we were looking forward to and planning for has already come and gone. But it was a great time and was so much fun getting to snuggle a new baby again!