Christmas ornament fiasco

Elsie was given many sweet gifts from friends and family!  One of those special gifts was a handprint Christmas ornament from the Bauer family.  The Bauers are friends of Brian and Clella from North Carolina.  The Bauers have 3 boys of their own and have made this memorable craft with all of them!  We decided to make the ornament when she was 2 weeks old.

 

What we didn't consider was the fact that babies at this age never open up their hands!  Elsie's hands were in a tight fist at all times.  So this project was going to take several people.  Poppi rolled out the dough.  I held Elsie.  Nana tried to pry open her fingers!

 

 

Once we got her hands opened, we remembered that, unfortunately, the palms of her hands constantly had soggy lint stuck in them!  Gross!  So our first attempt left little black pieces behind!

 

 

Poppi seemed confident in his solution to the problem!  Nana and I weren't so sure!  We ended up putting fresh dough overtop of the lint-filled handprint and rolled it out again!

 

 

Clean fingers and clean dough!  Here we go again!  Oh no!  Crooked fingers!!

 

 

Finally!  Success!!  Daisha Love was across the table taking pictures of the entire fiasco.  Elsie is peeking at her in this picture and thinking, "Daisha, put the camera down and come rescue me from this mess!"

 

 

What a fun memory and a precious keepsake!  We will certainly never forget the laughs we had making Elsie's first Christmas ornament!

Lots of "firsts"!

Having a baby helps you to appreciate the "firsts" in life.  There will be many many firsts in Elsie's life, but I wanted to document a few in photos!  I could have a "firsts" post every month...if only I was that organized!

 

First SMILE!!! 

 

 

This was so fun!!  I went in to get her up from her nap and she totally smiled at me...not just a wince from a gassy tummy....a legitimate smile!  I'm convinced it wasn't ME she was happy to see, but the fact that SOMEONE was going to release her from the straitjacket she was forced to wear to sleep! 

 

First sleepover!

 

 

She doesn't know it yet, but she has the BEST cousins!  It's so fun to have cousins...and she has TWO!  It was a true "kid sleepover"...you know...the kind where they don't actually SLEEP!  Well, the older kids slept, but Elsie had her momma up half the night! 

 

First Mother's Day!

 

 

So this one is more a first for me!  But it sure was exciting and strange to be a mom on Mother's Day!  It was memorable for so many reasons.  One being that we had a rough night and I woke up feeling discouraged as a mother. Fitting! But my sweet little family encouraged me all day, starting with being served coffee in bed by Clayton!  Elsie (and Daddy!) got me a gift certificate for a massage since my back was hurting from nursing and leaning down to pick up the baby!  They also got me a salad spinner...because I needed one and it's such a "mom gift"! 

 

First Father's Day!

 

 

Daddy didn't do a "photo shoot" on Father's Day like mommy did, but I love the sweetness of this picture!  Clayton quickly became one of Elsie's favorite people!  He gets the most smiles and laughs of anyone and I love their special bond.

First photo shoot!

As I've said many times, we are incredibly blessed.  We had friends who walked the pregnancy road with us (Melissa and Greg Moad, Lorraine and Myron Swartzentruber), a friend who cared for my medical needs during pregnancy and ultimately delivered Elsie (Dr. Kerri Brackney), friends who brought us meals for two months after Elsie was born (too many to name!! But Megan Cook organized the meals!), friends who showered us with baby items and clothing (especially Kristin Runyon and Karen Stover who've given me practically ALL of their girls' hand-me-downs!) and one friend who graciously offered to take Elsie's newborn photos!  Karen Stover came to our home four days after Elsie was born to capture these precious moments!

 

 

 

Her skinny little stick legs chunked up rather quickly!

 

This was the stage when we could do NOTHING to wake up this girl!!  We had many laughs over the things we did to try and rouse her!  She could sleep through ANYTHING!  I wish that was still the case ;)



 

Are those eyes that I see?  Could she be awake?

 

 

Trying to stay awake for a few photos....

 

 

Nope.  Can't do it!