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On the 26th, we had brunch at Opa and Beppe’s to open the rest of our Christmas presents. Everyone was still going strong with Christmas cheer and holiday spirit! We had a wonderful time relaxing together, enjoying good food and I think all felt grateful to be around one another. Here are some pics from the brunch.
Addie and Beppe by the Christmas tree
Janna, Anneke, Marika and Jared
Opa looking at Adelaide sitting like a big girl
Anneke taking a nap with her Beppe
Later that night, we had a bunch of people over the play games and hang out. Janna and I took that opportunity to take pictures of the girls together. Luckily, they were both awake AND cooperative so we got some great shots. I can’t believe how tall Anneke is in comparison to Addie – I think Adelaide only has a couple of inches on her little cousin!
Anneke and Addie on the blanket Audrey made for Addie for Christmas
Beautiful Girls
Christmas day was wonderful this year!! As usual, I woke up early, eager to open presents, but our little one was not up to it. I got up at 8am and by almost 9, Adelaide was still sound asleep, which led to me trying to wake her up, without much success as you can see!
How lucky can you be when you wake up to these beautiful angels
Before we left for my parents’ house, we had Adelaide open her first Christmas present. She had fun pulling the tissue paper out of the bag and I think she likes the book we got her.
We got to my parents’ house at about 9:15 and began cooking our usual huge Christmas breakfast. We then ate our weight in food, then opened presents and then played with our new toys. It was great fun! Here are some pictures of the festivities at the Robert household.
Merry Christmas doggies!
Samuel and Audrey enjoying breakfast
Jaimie, Dominic, Genevieve and John opening presents
Our family present this year was a Star Wars lightsaber game, which is lots of fun. Dominic and Genevieve fought first. Now family and friends, based on the respective fighters, who would you give the edge to? No offense Gen, but I think everyone would say Dom since he owns many swords and likes to play with them – and swords are pretty similar to lightsabers. Let’s see who won:
That’s right!!
We then headed to Derek parents’ house for dinner and more gifts. We tried to get pictures of Anneke and Adelaide and I think we got a few good ones – especially the ones with Opa Sysling.
Julie, Adelaide, Opa, Janna and Anneke
Julie, Addie, Beppe (Tina), Oma, Anneke, Janna and Marika
On Christmas Eve, we had dinner at Derek’s parents house and then went to Church. It was Adelaide’s second time in Church, the first being at her baptism. Addie was captivated by the candlelight and enjoyed the singing. She eventually fell asleep which was surprising since it was so loud! The picture is not great since we did not use a flash.
Adelaide at Church
We then returned to Opa and Beppe’s and opened more presents. Adelaide was in a great mood and had tons of fun playing peekaboo with Beppe and Tante Rika. She looked super cute in her knit Gap dress!!
Adelaide had fun with her Tante Rika, sitting on the floor and staring at her pretty fingernails.
Addie also started hitting her belly with both hands when she is happy. It’s really cute, it almost looks like she is trying to fly! Here she is looking really happy, playing with Tante Rika and Beppe.
We had a wonderful Christmas eve and Adelaide was super tired by the end of the night. Derek and I opened each other’s presents and then crawled into bed at around 2am. I had a hard time going to sleep because I knew that in just a few hours, Adelaide would get to experience her first Christmas morning!!
Dear Adelaide,
I cannot believe you are already one month older–it seems I was writing the last letter just a week ago! I think the time has felt like it zipped by because we have been so busy with holiday preparations and then the actual holidays themselves. You have been such a trooper over the last few weeks: coming along with your Mommy and Daddy to crowded malls, staying up very late with friends and family you were meeting for the first time and experiencing sleeping in your crib for naps for the first time. Have I told you how amazing you are? Let’s start with the “nap training” as we have been calling it. Daddy and I decided that when you were going to be 4 months old, we would start having you fall asleep for naps on your own in your own baby girl crib. The first day we started this new routine, you cried a lot and Mommy would come back in your room and give you your paci back and you finally fell asleep. I want you to know Mommy and Daddy hate hearing you cry, but now that it’s been a few weeks, you go to sleep right away. You even sleep in the cribs at Grand-Maman and Beppe’s houses-what a big girl you are!
Sleeping angel at Grand-Maman's house
This month you have learned to reach for things that you want, grasp them and proceed to stick them right into your mouth. You even got hold of Mommy’s glass of water the other day and drank some water (with assistance, of course). You have also started reaching for things when you are on your tummy, which makes me think you might be interested in crawling in the near future.
At the end of this month, you also got your first taste of solid food. You were not a big fan of rice cereal (though I think we are going to have you try it again soon), but you really liked oatmeal. You also got your first taste of vegetables on Christmas day–sweet potatoes! I think the texture and sweetness of sweet potatoes really shocked you, but I think you enjoyed it.
This month, and really the last 10 days or so, you have learned to sit on your own and use your little abs to balance yourself. You are able to sit on your own on laps more easily than on the ground, because for some reason, when you are on the ground, you only want to stand up. But remember Munchkin, you have to sit before you can stand!
It is amazing how much you have grown over the last 5 months. It’s hard to believe you used to fit inside my belly. You don’t have as many Michelin rolls as your Mommy did at your age, but you still have pinchable cheeks! And your little fingers and toes are just adorable.
love,
Mommy
Yesterday was our first Christmas celebration with the Woltil family. Since we will be on a tight schedule on Christmas day, we decided to stretch things out and do a little bit over several days. So last night, we had dinner together and then exchanged a few presents. Adelaide got to wear her first Christmas outfit – one of many, as you will see over the next few days – and she looked super cute! The dress was made by Elizabeth’s mom and it was adorable! Audrey gave Addie her Christmas tights which completed the outfit quite well.
We opened presents and Adelaide got to spend time with her uncles and aunts, and her Beppe and Opa. We had a great time and it’s exciting that there is more to come!
Adelaide with Uncle Jared and Tante Janna
Look at what Uncle Will did to my hair Mom!
I love spending time on Opa's lap
Even Bella was in the Christmas spirit!
Last night we had so much fun! Dominic and his girlfriend Jaimie, along with Genevieve and John, and Marika and Will came over to have dinner and play some Wii. Genevieve and John’s Christmas gift to each other this year was Guitar Hero World Tour, and let me tell you, best gift ever!! Especially since we all get to enjoy it! Much like Rockband, this version of Guitar Hero has drums, a microphone and a guitar. Luckily, Sammy has an old guitar from a previous version of guitar hero so we can have 4 people playing in the band.
Dominic was especially fun. He, trying to match my superior skills on the drums, decided to put it on medium (instead of easy, which is where he should have stayed). [Internet, are you catching my trash talking here? Because there was so much of it last night, I'm trying to give you a little taste!!]
To humiliate keep a record of his awesome performance, I decided to take a video of it. As you can see, we all join in to make fun of him.
The band, and Derek as the groupie
Adelaide with Jaimie
Addie with her sleepy Godfather Will
I was telling my friend Elizabeth about Addie not being as fond of rice cereal the second time we gave it to her and she said Rebecca was the same way–she never really liked rice cereal. She suggested trying oatmeal instead. I think Addie preferred the oatmeal, although she still made funny faces with a few of the bites. I suspect, however, that those faces may have been because the bites were a bit too big for her.
On the video, I am not talking to myself (even though it certainly seems that way). Derek was filming and for whatever reason, he was simply nodding instead of responding verbally. Anyway…just wanted to make sure the internet did not think I was going crazy…:)
Addie and I met up with Mandy and her daughter Avitol, and Marika today at a local coffee shop. Mandy is a friend of Marika’s from high school and her daughter is 2 months older than Adelaide, so we thought it would be fun to get together and chat, and let the girls meet each other. Avi is super cute! She has the biggest blue eyes and the cutest cheeks! Even though the girls are only 2 months apart, they look so different at this point. I took a quick video of the two of them and it is adorable – they were trying to hold hands, how cute is that!
Avi & Addie
Avitol deep in thought
Adelaide met Santa on Monday while we were at the mall in Victorville. The line was really short, so we thought, why not? Interestingly, she ended up falling asleep while in the line, so I ended up taking her out of the stroller and trying to wake her up but she kept dozing off. I put her on Santa’s lap, and as you can see in the video, she looks like she has just ingested a tranquilizer! She ended up smiling for the camera and we got a cute picture. Afterwards, I picked her up and showed her Santa since she appeared oblivious that she was in someone else’s arms. She looked at him and immediately put her arms out to grab (and probably pull) on his beard (which was an actual real beard). Santa responded by pulling away and handing her a small stuffed elf to play with instead of his facial hair. It’s nice to start these traditions with our little one. Enjoy the video!
Here are a few pictures that I took a few minutes ago. As you can see, it has been snowing all day long. I actually made a snowball and had Bella fetch it. She, of course, proceeded to eat the snow ball!
View from our front door
Derek has only been home for 2 hours and you can see how much snow accumulated!
I love snow!
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