Christmas Eve '08

All ready to go to Grandma Nina and Grandpa Jeff's house!
Mommy and Seth all ready for Christmas Eve Mass
The best picture I got of the two boys together in their Christmas outfits
The cousins with all the presents

Seth helping hand out presents

Both boys got lots of stuff for Christmas-we're going to have to try to find room for everything!
Seth:
From Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Nina-Kids Songs CD, Monkey hooded towel, Baby's 1st Christmas Ornament, Sesame Street bath toys, a small Elmo doll (just like Elijah's!), a bathtub toy holder, numbers and letters bath toys, Little People Discovery Airport, some sweatshirts, and a UND outfit.
From Aunt Sassy and Uncle Curt-a bike helmet and a toy airplane
From Uncle Dominic-a Corey Combine book/tractor
From Aunt Kirby and Uncle Ben-bath toys
From Elijah-TaDoodles markers
From Mom & Dad-an Elmo shirt (and a playhouse for the backyard-if it ever arrives!)
From Grandpa John and Grandma Mary-bath toys
From Aunt Carrie and Uncle Ed-squirt toys for the bath tub
From Great Grandpa and Grandma Capp-a savings bond

Elijah:
From Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Nina-Thomas the Train set, sports wall decals, sports lamp, Gator Golf, basketball ornament, Duck hooded towel, Kids Songs CD, and an Elmo DVD.
From Aunt Sassy and Uncle Curt-Elmo DVD and Elmo jammies
From Uncle Ben and Aunt Kirby-basketball bath toy and a Dunk & Score basketball set
From Seth-a Color Wonder Cars Coloring book and markers
From Uncle Dominic-a tractor trailer/book
From Mom & Dad-WallE fleece and a Winnie the Pooh fleece (and the playhouse)
From Grandpa John and Grandma Mary-a toy computer
From Aunt Carrie and Uncle Ed-
From Great Grandpa and Grandma Capp-a savings bond

Seth's First Santa Visit

Seth has been making strange big time the past month or so, so I wasn't really sure how the whole sitting on Santa's lap would go. I refuse to be one of those moms who puts their screaming child on Santa's lap just so they can get a picture, so I was fully prepared to walk away picture-less. Luckily, Seth was content to sit on Santa's lap long enough to get 6 different shots. None were fantastic, but they did the trick. After the last shot he decided he had enough and started squirming and whining, so I went and rescued Santa and was later glad I did-the poor guy had to sit with a screaming child on his lap while mom tried and tried to get just the perfect shot. Ugh.
Elijah was a different story. The day we saw Winnie the Pooh we stopped and waved to Santa, but that was as close as he would get. The next two times we were at the mall, Elijah asked to see Santa, and of course Santa wasn't there. Today while we waited in line he was so excited to see Santa that he kept trying to budge in line. Once we got up to Santa he wanted nothing to do with him (of course). Santa was awesome though, and asked if he could get a five and knuckles. Elijah was okay with that. I thought maybe Elijah could at least stand next to Santa, but no way! He freaked out every time I asked. But fives and knuckles-not a problem. In fact while I waited to pick out Seth's picture, Elijah ran up and down the ramp and gave Santa fives and knuckles several times, but got upset every time I asked if he could stand by Santa. Oh well, there's always next year...
I'll put the Santa pic up later when I have time to scan it in.
Oh yeah-Elijah, Seth, and I got to hang out with my best friend from high school-Jenni! Elijah absolutely loved her, and talked to her instead of me. Every time we got to a traffic light, he would stay "tell me when it's green Jenni!" This is something usually reserved for Mommy, so he must think she's pretty special. He was bummed when we dropped her off at her mom's house-too cute! Jenni was a great sport and hung out with us while we did our shopping today-not an easy task! Mom's friend Megan often shops with us too-we're lucky to have such great friends to help us out!

11 Months Old!!!

Seth is 11 months old today-only one more month until his first Birthday!! Seth is still wearing 6-9 months clothes, with the occasional 3-6 month outfit that still fits. He still wears size 3 diapers, and wears a size 3 shoe. He is a pro at walking now, though he has his clumsy days every now and then. He's still not talking much, but does say mama, dada, nigh-nigh, and bye-bye. He's started to point and grunt-I'm hoping we can break that habit quickly. He is a great eater, and eats pretty much everything that we eat. He has baby food occasionally, and only because I have some in the cupboard and I'm trying to get rid of it. He likes pudding, rice, cheese, bread, muffins, and cookies, just to name a few things. He drinks water from a cup, but so far won't drink milk in it if I give it to him, though he has done it once or twice at daycare for Kim. I think after I get back from Chicago we'll see if we can replace a bottle or two with the cup...
Seth loves to dance, follow his brother around, play with the kitties and puppy, read books, and play with the shopping cart (which has some pretty wobbly wheels...hopefully he gets a new one for Christmas or his Birthday!). He has started sleeping through the night again (Thank God!!) and is his happy self again during the day. He still has six teeth-four on top and two on bottom. Not sure on height and weight-it's been awhile since we checked that. He did go in to the doctor on December 5 for his flu shot, but that was all he had done. Elijah got his flu shot first because I was worried about him see Seth get it done before him, but it didn't really matter. Both boys cried as soon as we laid them down-I think they knew what was coming. They're both real troopers though, and stopped crying as soon as I picked them up. After shots we had to hang out in the lobby for 15 minutes, so they got to play in the playhouse-they love that thing!
Oh yeah-he's experiencing his first blizzard today! In fact, I think this is Elijah's first blizzard too-I don't think we've had one up here since he's been born!

Elijah and Mommy's Day Out!

Today Elijah and I spent all morning and afternoon together, and we had a blast! We left Grafton around 8:30 because there's a blizzard coming tonight and we wanted to make sure we left Grand Forks as soon as Winnie the Pooh was over. We went to Wal-Mart, Target, the mall, McDonald's for lunch, and then a quick stop at Party City to check on party stuff for Seth's first birthday next month. We had a blast shopping together-Elijah is the best shopping buddy you could ask for! We talked about some pretty random things, he helped me pick stuff out, and at the mall he even helped me push the stroller. I was a little bummed-he said he wanted to see Santa, but of course Santa wasn't there either time we walked by. I'm hoping to get the boys out to see Santa before Christmas, but I'm sure Elijah won't want to see him then just because he wanted to see him today
After all our errands, we headed over to the Alerus. Our seats were pretty good considering we bought the cheapest ones that you could get (prices started at $40 a ticket-no way was I paying that!!). We were in the front row of our section, and most of the people around us moved down to seats farther up, so we were pretty comfy and no one bothered us. I asked him if he wanted to move up-we could've gotten all the way down to the floor, but he was happy where we were. He was really excited every time a new character would come out, and would tell me who everyone was. He was pretty disappointed that Christopher Robin wasn't there, but everyone else was there so hopefully that made up for it. During intermission we went and got a pretzel (he really wanted popcorn but I wasn't paying $10 for a bucket of popcorn...). He really didn't care for the pretzel, and instead ate all the salt off of it and then gave me the unsalted pretzel to eat. 1:30 isn't the greatest time for a kids' show though-after intermission he started to get really tired which resulted in a cranky little boy who stopped listening to his mommy. We made it through the end though, and he walked down every single stair to get out of the Alerus..On the way home he didn't even make it 10 minutes before falling asleep-he was out before the North Washington exit! All in all, it was a really fun day for both of us, and I hope that every month or so we can do a Mommy and Elijah outing.

Just Because Sleeping Pictures Are So Cute...

Seth Walks!!

At 10 1/2 months of age, Seth is walking!! I kind of figured he'd be walking by Christmas, and for a little while was guessing Thanksgiving because he had started taking 2-3 steps at a time, but it seemed like we were stuck at that point. Over the past week, he's gone from 2-3 steps to walking across the house! He's so darn cute because as he walks to you he gets the biggest smile on his face like he's so proud of himself. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up-I wonder what he's going to learn next???

Putting Up the Christmas Tree

Elijah decorated the Christmas tree-here's his work!
And of course the obligatory picture of the kids in front of the tree...