Christmas 2011

Well, this is obviously a little late as well! We've just been so busy, and the holidays are over! While Amelia is in bed though, I'm going to try my best to get caught up. Which means there might be more pictures than words in the next couple posts, but hey, pictures are the best part anyway, right?!

This is a random picture of Amelia after a diaper change, sometime in the week before Christmas. I was struck by how big she seemed all of a sudden. Look how far her leg goes off the edge of the couch! And she's just about grown out of those jammies as far as length. Which makes me sad. I love those jams. 

I SWEAR my photos are being put into Blogger facing the right direction. I don't know why it keeps flipping them like this and I definitely don't know how to fix it. If anyone knows, feel free to help a girl out. 

She LOVES to suck on those toes! As of yet, she loves to suck on all her fingers, and any of her toes, but not her thumb. I think I've seen her suck her thumb once, for a few seconds. She prefers a whole hand full of fingers. Or a foot full of toes. 

I believe this is when we got back from picking Tom up at the airport. He was gone for 4 days and she was pretty happy to see him. 

Our tree on Christmas eve, after Amelia went to bed. Having a kid around for Christmas made it about a hundred times more fun. Even a kid who has no idea what is going on! Tom and I actually surprised each other with gifts this year. We usually either skip gifts because of some recent expense or we just basically tell each other what we want and get that. Usually before Christmas. So, actually doing gifts, and having a kid around really changed things up for us. It was so much fun too. I can't wait until Amelia is older and can get excited with us. 

Despite the fact that she would never know the difference, she got a little spoiled this year. I really wasn't going to get her much at all, so when I say spoiled, I mean she got a few things when I had originally planned on just doing one. But it was too hard not to. Also, I figured that besides Easter, we aren't going to have another chance to get her fun things until her birthday in July. So, a couple items are things she can't use right now, but she'll grow into it before her birthday. 

Also, she had several gifts sent to her. So, the bulk of what's under the tree is hers. She is loved, for sure. 

This was how she woke up on Christmas morning. Seriously, this kid was ready to go. She does generally wake up pretty happy, but I swear this day she displayed just a little more excitement. As per usual, I took a boat load of pictures of her happy little face. 

Please excuse the fact that half of Amelia's head, and all of my head are cut out. Tom took them. In his defense, I had told him to try and leave out my face if I looked bad. But then I had my face down by her and was totally smiling like I wanted to be in it. Which I thought was a signal to leave me in the shot anyway. He takes direction really well, and left me out, which cut off her head. Anyway, she was super happy and I wish you could see more, but it's all kind of funny now. 

She actually was pretty great at tearing the paper. She's in love with grabbing at things right now, and I usually have to regulate what she wants to grab so I think she was super happy to be given free reign to tear it up. 

New jams from her stocking. 

Tom got some scratch its in his stocking. He seemed happy and pleasantly surprised. 

Also from his stocking. A bottle opener he can mount to the wall. It says "Home Brewed" on it. 

Loving that paper.

Getting a little antsy, so I let her play in a pile of paper while Tom and I opened some stuff. She's modeling one of many knit hats that Tom's mom made for her. I need to get a picture of all of them, but the penguin was my instant favorite and I put it on her head the second she opened it. 

New toys for her play mat. I love the turtle in there, and I'm tempted to keep it for myself. 

Tom, opening his surprise gift from me.

He's a proud member of the beer of the month club!! Once a month, he'll get two six packs of assorted microbrews from around the country. The shipments don't start until the end of January, so for now all he has is a card. I think he's excited about it. I was excited about it, and impressed with myself for thinking of it, and even MORE impressed that I kept it a secret. 

Christmas mess. This is what it looked like despite Tom throwing away paper after each gift. 

The sideways is killing me. This never used to happen. Anyway, Amelia eventually was over the whole thing so we let her chill out with her new seahorse from Tom's parents. She loves it, thanks guys!!

Trying to redo the stocking shot, but by now she wasn't nearly as thrilled. 

She left a trail of destruction. 

Tom also got beer soap. Soap made from microbrews that he likes. Yes, he had a fairly beer themed Christmas. 

Scratching. He won five dollars. We still need to cash that it. 

Her first nap of the day. I loved the way she had her hands. 

Playing with new toys.

I love this face. 

And this one. 

She enjoyed my new Ipod almost as much as I did!

By the way, this is Tom's face. All the way. 

Our attempt at a family shot. Not too bad. 

Another Christmas nap on Tom's lap. 

These should all be up with the other pictures, but I don't feel like moving them up there. This is me with my first "real" Ipod. 

Amelia with her giraffe quilt, made by her Great Grandma Johnson. We all love it!

She got her own baby laptop. She kind of likes it, and I'm sure she'll like it more later. 

She also got a motorcycle jacket. It's way big and will likely be for next winter, but we're excited about it. 

Opening her seahorse. 

Holding her rock t-shirt but clearly more interested in the next gift to tear open.

Overall, we had a fantastic holiday with our little family and Amelia would like to say thank you to everyone for the gifts she received! I have to admit, holiday time can be a little rough because of the distance and having Amelia with us both helped and made it a little harder. If that makes sense. She made Christmas so much fun, and I loved celebrating with our own little family but I definitely was a little sad that she wasn't with more family. We miss everyone and wish we could have spent the holiday with family and friends, but we hope you all had a great day as well!