The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Merry Christmas to you and yours from the Living with Hope family.

We are truly enjoying some time off work and using it to reflect on the year, respect each other and provide an enjoyable 1st Christmas for Ellena.

Here is a picture of us, taken the other night, after the Christmas service at our church.

We started the "open one gift on Christmas eve" tradition with Ellena. So, last night we sat her down in front of a selection of gifts and what do you think she chose to open? That's right....socks! I guess that makes sense that a daughter's first Christmas present from her parents would be socks! At least they weren't tube socks!

Enjoy!

She Can Hold Her Own

What do you know, I was searching the archives and I found some video of E holding her own bottle for the first time. As you can see, she is a real pro!

Irving Berlin Got His Wish!

We were dumped on today...snow that is. The ground was clean, clear and snow-free last night and the storm (the same one that dropped flakes in Las Vegas yesterday morning) hit us early in the morning. By mid-afternoon, there was at least 10 inches on the ground at our house!

We fared okay though and even ventured out mid-storm to take E to a doctor's appointment. The roads were a slow go, but 4-wheel drive was a complete luxury today!

It's incredible how much snow can really fall in one day. Here is a sampling of the aftermath:



There is a bit more white weather in the forecast for the days between now and Christmas, so our "White Christmas" this year is guaranteed!

Wintry Mix

Well, the weather hasn't been the best here in snowy Michigan the last few days and rumor has it tonight and tomorrow are supposed to be even worse! The family health hasn't been the best either this week with Loren having the stomach flu and Ellena fighting a nasty cold. BUT, with all of that being said, our hearts are always warmed by this little bundle of joy! Wishing you a wonderfully warm and snowy holiday season!!

Works Every Time...

Bath Time, Revisited

She sure does like sitting up in the bath now. Ever since we tried it once, she has been resistant to laying down ever since. She would much rather be in a position to look around!

We just cracked up when she grabbed both sides of her baby tub and hung on. We have also since removed the netted sling she is sitting on here so she can sit further down in the water. She just kicks her legs under water, back and forth, back and forth, and has a ball!

"Who is that other baby?", she asked us

The Nut House, er, Bowl

Putting what we call her "flipper" to good use, here Ellena is having a fun time with S's holiday nut dish. She emptied the green bowl countless times but somehow we couldn't teach her to "put them away". Hmmm...is this a sampling of whats to come?

Happy Half Birthday!

It is easy to remember where we were exactly 6 months ago today. I was sleeping on the hospital man-chair/cot (and loving it...it was like a sofa with sides that served to keep me from falling off!) S was resting and looking forward to her first bite of sushi and her first diet coke. And we were both silently wondering, "now what?".

Yes, that's right, today Ellena celebrates the halfway point to her first birthday. It felt as though it would never come and just thinking about the fact that it is halfway here has a dizzying effect!

We have so many developments lately, but here are highlights of what excites us most right now:

• Holding Her Own Bottle - A few times, she has actually held her own bottle, but only when it becomes light enough.

• A Tooth - That's right, E has cut a tooth and we can just see the top of this chomper, which is located front and center in her lower gum. Wow, the possibilities for so many new foods are on the horizon!



• Sippy-Cup & Water - She's been eyeing the glasses we drink water from each night at dinner, so we finally let her sip some water from our glass. She did this like a seasoned champ, so we broke out the only sippy-cup we had on hand and she had a ball, both holding it and drinking the water! Currently the plan is to buy her some new cups - possibly as early as tomorrow!

• Improved Mobility - You should see how my little panda bear can scoot around the floor. She isn't quite crawling yet, but between rolling, sliding, semi-army shuffling and other forms of ingenuity, she can pretty much get near anything she desires to.