Christmas and New Years

This year's Christmas was really exciting for me. Although Audrey is still too young to understand what it is all about, Santa, the presents, etc, it was drastically different from last year when she was only 3 months old and was oblivious to everything around her.

We visited the Santa at Columbia Mall with Joy, Ian, Gloria, Pete, and Cheryle. Audrey was in a bit of a cranky mood, so I thought she might cry, but instead she just seemed confused. She came close to crying once, and even stuck out her little lip to let us know she was not happy, but no yelling, screaming, or writhing as though in torture. I thought it'd be cute to get a picture like that,  but Audrey is just too chill. The pictures turned out pretty well, too!

We went and bought our Christmas tree one cold evening, and this is the one Audrey picked out. It ended up being the perfect height and width to fit nicely in the corner of our living room. The tree decorating was interesting. I only put breakable ornaments on the top half to keep Audrey from playing with them and breaking them. She did really well and wasn't as into the tree as I thought she might be. She did sneak behind the tree a few times and hide out, which is funny because I remember doing the same thing when I was little. I put some pinecones down low for her to look at and touch and she liked them. She would sometimes take them off to play with and then get this deer in the headlights look when she saw me looking at her, and then she'd shove it back into the tree. She's so silly.

We found a winner!

Hmm, I really want to touch this tree!

I think her favorite part of Christmas was unwrapping the presents. I caught her opening one a few nights before Christmas. It was like she just couldn't help it - a piece of wrapping paper had ripped in the mail so she could see a peek of the gift on the inside and she just HAD to get to it.  Every day leading up to Christmas she would sit down in front of the tree and look at me, asking if we could open the presents. She had fun ripping some open and then being so delicate with others.

She got soooo many cool presents. Santa brought her only boring things - socks, crayons, two pairs of new earrings, and a DJ spin machine (.....ok, clearly Josh picked that one out). But what Santa forgot, everyone else remembered! She got a little table and chairs from Maria that fit nicely in our living room. The chairs are still a little big for Audrey to (safely) climb into, but with help, she's been coloring and enjoying her snacks here. She also got a Scout and a Violet - they are programmable so that they can say Audrey's name, her favorite food, favorite animals, and sing her favorite songs. She loves them! She also got some trucks, books, clothes, a stool with her name, slippers, some Little People, a Dancing Puppy, a bunch of animals (her favorite!), a magnet animal set, bath toys, a new blanket, and so many more things that I can't even think of right now! She was certainly good this year to get all those gifts.

Enjoying her new DJ toy

Snacking at her table

The days after Christmas left us in a bit of a bind. What in the world do we do with all these toys??! Since Audrey got a fair amount of money for Christmas, we decided to take a trip down to Ikea and pick out a storage solution for her playroom. We found a nice one for a fair price, and I couldn't wait to get it home and set up! It was a great choice - the bins are nice and big so she can organize her toys, and still have easy access to them when she wants. We also picked up a long floating shelf and have installed it on one of the walls. I love it. It is low enough that she can see and touch everything. She already stands in front of the shelf and does her puzzles, so I know it was a great choice. I love how the playroom is coming together. It still has a long way to go, but its getting there. We hung the wire clips for her art work and although I like how it looks, I want to go back and get another one to place directly under this one. I want Audrey to be able to see it, but not low enough to touch it and pull and rip it off the wall (she would). Plus, I think it looks really uneven and off balance the way it is now.

Our New Years Eve was quiet this year (a lot like last year). We went to a First Birthday Party for little Ryley, and then went out to dinner with some friends in the evening. We went to Sweetwater like we did last year and we're looking forward to making it an annual New Years Eve tradition. Amy and Brett joined us, and Brett brought her little girl, Ellie. Ellie is 4 months older than Audrey and they had a great time together. They both enjoyed a host of activities including throwing food, knocking over drinks, dumping sugar, screaming, and flailing their bodies all over the place. Yes, we were THOSE people. It was a bit of a stressful dinner (especially since Audrey was on a hunger strike all weekend and refused to eat), but we had fun anyways and it was so nice to catch up with friends we don't see very often.

Overall, we had a busy but awesome Christmas and New Year's this year. It seemed to just sneak up on me and then fly by without really getting to enjoy it as much as I usually do. I already excited for next year when Audrey will be more into Santa and understand what is going on more.