The Sisters' Baking Day

Today we gathered to do Christmas baking. We had a lot going at one time, cookies, candy, shortbread & pretzels. We managed to all be in the kitchen at one time, obviously we were at Mary's & Janet's.

Cindy helped in her very special way.  Actually she unwrapped the chocolate kisses, the Rolos for the pretzels and pounded down the Shortbread.  BIG help!  Because of a sore throat, she found some orange juice and salty food items to eat.

Little Babysitters

Today we got to hang out with lots of people and Cole got lots of attention and mama got some help and got to recharge with time spent with girlfriends. 

Whitney came over with her two kids and Davney LOVED to take care of Cole. We went on a walk all bundled up with Meghann. And then over to Travis and Michelle's for dinner and deer sausage making where Cara was eager to have the responsibility to take care of Cole while we are. Fun day for mama and baby!

(I am trying posting this with the blogger app on my phone...wonder if it'll work??)

Our world is changing

Our world is changing.  Cole is everywhere these days--constantly moving, crawling, climbing (on me, the dog, whatever he can find...).  He's not content to just sit and stay in one place for any length of time (except for when he firsts wakes up from a nap).  He wants to go, explore.  So, it seems like it's easy to run out of things to do.  I thought I should start a list so I can refer to it in the heat of the moment, when my patience is running thin, and I'm counting down the mintues to his next nap.  I'm always asking myself, "What ELSE can we do?"

• Read a book
• Take a bath
• Walk to Grandma and Grandpa's
• Facetime someone
• Dance to the music
• Sing songs
• Do Finger Plays (Isty Bitsy Spider, This Little Piggy...)
• Fold the laundry (he likes to play with the holes in the laundry basket, for some reason)
• Go to a friend's house
• Eat some solid food
• Play in the bouncy seat
• Pull out the pots and pans and make music
• Go on a walk
• Play peek-a-boo
• Go outside and take a look around

What else?  I'd love to have more ideas. 

This was daddy's idea the other day...

Loving the laundry basket!

He was pulling himself up on his knees using the side of the basket.

The edge is just the right height for an armrest.

Going to sleep on his own

Before Cole was born, I read up a lot on sleep and sleep training.  The best resource I found was "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth.  Julie had used it with Elsy, and I loved the results!  I hoped Cole would be just like Elsy. 

One idea I adopted from the book was a sleep routine.  Every time I put him down to sleep, I put his sleep sack on, pick him up, and carry him to turn on his noise machine, turn off the light, shut the door, turn on the fan, and then sing him "Lord, You are More Precious Than Silver".  All of these things worked together as cues to Cole that it was time to go to sleep.  And sleep he did!  He would often fall asleep during the song, and I would lay him down asleep and walk away from a blissfully sleeping baby.  Great, right? 

Great, yeah, but not if you're someone else trying to put Cole down.  He needed the song!  And he needed it from me...not from Grandma or Dad or anyone else.  We had a problem.

So, when we got home from Thanksgiving I came up with a plan to phase out the song.  I had heard that changing a baby's routine can take up to three days and you needed to just keep being consistent and push through the tough times.  I braced myself for the worst.  I was imagining lots of crying, missed naps, me biting my nails wondering what I should do.  But, I was so pleasantly surprised.

I gradually got rid of the song by singing less, humming part of it and finally getting rid of it all together.  Each time I would say the same thing, "It's time to go night, night sweetheart.  I love you!" and lay him down.  The first day he fussed for 10 minutes, a time or two but no all out screaming bouts.  And it gradually decreased.  By the end of the week, he was soothing himself to sleep with little to no noise at all (but with a lot of thumb sucking...oh my!).

I can't tell you how proud I am of him!  What a joy!

The Basement is Coming Along!

Marc has been working on the basement quite a bit these days.  Sometimes I'll wake up at 2:00 AM and hear him screwing in drywall down there.  We never know when he'll get the "itch," and he says he'd better take advantage of it!  Our friend, Matt, has been helping him a lot during the days.  Marc appreciates the help, the company, the extra set of eyes and another mind to think and talk things through with him.  Progress!

Here are some pictures I took Monday night when I returned from the Sublette Ladies Bible study at 11:30 PM.  He was finishing putting the drywall up in the office alcove.  The bathroom is just about complete.

The Office

 The bathroom

This is looking in the living room, right in front of you as you come down the stairs.

 

 The office, complete!

 

Aunt Cindy is trying blogging.

I had the pleasure of helping the Hunts out on Monday, it was Christina's first day alone with both children. Of course, I took Charlotte as well.
It was a fun day with all.   Eden was a great big brother and loved having us to play with.  I think Hide & Seek was my favorite for the day.  I got stuck when I tried to hide in his fort (where he had been hiding every time)  
I was taking pictures of Tirzah with her cute little hat on and it dawned on me I hadn't seen her hair.  So I removed the cap and shot pictures.  I sent one to Sara and she commented she had not seen her hair either. So I thought a cute picture of Tirzah's head should be on my post.

Ellis family LAST living Christmas tree???

Last Saturday morning we ventured out in the tween degree weather to hunt for our LAST living Christmas tree. The hunting party consisted of Dave, Brad, Kathryn and me.  The selection at the Longbranch Christmas Tree Ranch was not very good.  We finally settled on a tree that was far from perfect.  That has never bothered us. Our past experience has taught us that once the lights are on and the ornaments donned on the tree, it is always beautiful.  Well, until this LAST tree.  We knew the top was funky, but it really has the craziest top!  It looks so weird.  It makes us snicker, smile and shake our heads each time we look at it.  I keep saying it is the last "REAL" tree we'll have.  Brad's not believing it. Anyone want to place a wager??  No matter what it looks like, we'll enjoy it as the Christmas carols play in the background.  Merry Christmas!