Christmas Part I

The Christmas season is upon us. We finally got our tree up and decorated about a week ago. Somehow it's been a little more difficult to get it all done this year. Hmm...I wonder why. We spent Saturday and Sunday in Cleveland with my parents and brother to do our Christmas since Gabe, Elliott, and I will be traveling to Knoxville for Christmas. Elliott enjoyed his time in Cleveland. He liked opening presents (well, mostly looking at the picture of Santa on his gift bag). In the near future he is really going to enjoy his bath seat that Melly and Pops got him.

I can't believe that next week my baby boy will be 4 months old. He is just a busy baby and is exploring the world constantly. After many years of studying child development and working with children, it is so cool to see how he is developing. I love to go and pick him up out of bed in the morning and see him smile, so happy to see me. The flip side of this is that now he cries when it's time to go to bed. I'm thinking this is because he doesn't want to be alone without mom and dad. Another perk of his age is that toys are finally fun! Up until about 2 weeks ago he would kind of look at toys but they didn't hold his interest for more than say 3 seconds. He definitely has his favorite toys--a Leap Frog cube that plays music and a purple hippo rattle. I swear that I can hear the little Leap Frog songs in my head when I sleep!

In the mean time, we are fighting cold #2 of the season. Elliott started the sniffling and coughing over the weekend. He has been sleeping like crazy during the day and I'm hoping he will beat this thing before we hit the highway for Christmas. My whole upper body is covered in some sort of bodily baby fluid--mucus, spit up, and/or drool. Yes, I know motherhood is a glamourous job. Somehow it is different when it is your own child but nonetheless I'm praying for relief from this thing soon!

Thanksgiving Fun

More than one week after all the Thanksgiving festivities, I am getting around to blogging about it. We left last Wednesday for our first road trip with baby in tow. It took two days of planning and packing to get us out the door Wednesday morning. Our car was completely slam full. I'm talking nothing else was going in there. We barely had room for the baby! Elliott did fine on the car ride even though he's not much for his car seats and definitely does not love long car rides. The main problem with the car rides is that unlike every other baby in the world he does not necessarily fall asleep in the car. On each way of our trip he had one good nap, so that means lots of time mommy had to entertain. Luckily we had a variety of toys and he especially enjoyed the soft blocks that make the crinkly sound.

Elliott thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving (in fact he fell asleep during dinner) and I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did despite being away from home. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving night he developed his first cold and woke up all stuffy in the middle of the night. He was pretty miserable most of the day Friday and definitely not himself. I feared the worst for our trip home on Saturday but he actually did well.

It was great to be back in Blowing Rock, NC again and the weather was surprisingly mild for that area. I loved introducing Elliott to all of the Magees. Thanksgiving has been probably my favorite time of year for most of my life. Though I love Gabe's family dearly, somehow it just doesn't seem like Thanksgiving without gathering with the Magees. It's so interesting now that all the cousins are grown and many have little ones of their own. We had a great time and look forward to more Magee Thanksgivings in the future.

In other Elliott news to report: he had his first laugh last Saturday. It is the sweetest thing I have ever heard! He always giggles a little when we're getting him ready for bed and he's laying on his changing table. It still just makes my night when I hear him. So sweet!