Don't sit on Baby Jesus!

Our Christmas festivities began a week ago yesterday with Levi’s Mom’s side of the family’s party. We had a lot of fun. The food was delicious, the gift exchange was very fun and then we played 10 cent bingo. Levi will probably add onto the bottom of this post all about the bingo game he created in excel. I never win bingo and I actually won, not just once but twice! I still haven’t decided what to do with my $2.20. We then spent Christmas eve with Levi’s Dad’s side of the family. The food there was also delicious. We played a game of Apples to Apples; that has got to be my favorite game, so fun! Christmas morning we spent at home with just the 3 of us.

We each took a turn opening a present with Claire (I feel bad that we only got Claire 2 presents for Christmas but at the same time it’s kind of silly to spend a bunch of money on toys she won’t be able to use for a while). She wasn’t very into it lol, but it was fun for us. Claire and I got Levi a pair of slippers, a Wii game and pistachio nuts and they got me a robe, a hot pink duffel bag and the newest Nicholas sparks book. It was a much lighter Christmas this year but we didn’t mind because Claire is the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for. Then we traveled up to my parent’s house and spent the afternoon with my immediate family. More good food, ahh, I’m supposed to be losing weight not gaining it!

Our nephews and niece are so adorable and they constantly make us laugh. Zenna is 18 months and she opened several presents of clothes, she would then try to put them on our dog. We kept telling her that they are her clothes. And the boys were being little Wii hogs. But it was pretty entertaining watching them. Both Claire and Zenna were dead asleep after opening presents. I love spending time with my family; we always have so much fun. I just wish we lived closer and could see them more often.

Christmas evening we stopped by the Borts’. I should have just wired my mouth shut, seriously, there was more good food and I have no self control! Levi was in heaven with their meat pie (I think they called them pasties) and leftover breakfast pizza. Then they made this delicious drink called a Hot Godiva (no alcohol in ours) but they were marshmallow crème, 2% milk and Hershey syrup. I couldn’t drink it fast enough!

The day after Christmas was my Mom’s side of the family’s Christmas party. This year it was moved to my Grandma’s church building because we can’t fit anywhere else! After another delicious meal, Levi took family pictures and then we had our little nativity scene Christmas program. Since Claire is the newest baby she was the baby Jesus. I told her that that was the only time she was allowed to cross dress. Levi didn’t want to be Joseph (this is Levi talking, this has to be the most ridiculous and embarrassing tradition ever, period.), and since Mary can’t be single, my brother Colin was Joseph. Our nephew Rayden sat on my other brother, Eric’s shoulders and was the star, and Kolten (our other nephew) was a shepherd. The rest of the shepherds and angels are all of my cousins’ children, my Mom and Aunt Cheryl narrated and the wise men were my cousin’s husbands; geez there sure are a lot of us these days! Zenna was sitting up there with us; she sat on Baby Jesus and then stole Kolten’s gun and kept pressing the button. I don’t think that’s quite how the story really went but it was pretty darn funny. Our gift exchange was really fun. We ended up leaving with an awesome ice scraper and some chocolate covered pretzels. Levi had gotten some sort of cold but he was such a trooper and still went.

Claire was so good at all of our Christmas parties! I am so grateful for all of our family and friends that have already shown Claire so much love. I think she is just so happy to be in this world and is just soaking it all up. It’s crazy how much harder it is to get out the door to all of these things with her. I’m still not quite sure how we did it all but it was all so wonderful and I wouldn't have it any other way. We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a very Happy New Year!

Christmas Craziness!

This last week has been absolute craziness! We finally got our tree up on Monday. Our living room is a little more squished than normal but luckily we only have to deal with it for another couple days.

Starting Wednesday I’ve been going into work after Levi gets home. I guess this is the busiest they’ve ever been. That nasty freezing we had a week or two ago has really done some damage to people’s pipes. So I just go in for like 2 hours. It’s kind of nice to get out of the house for a little bit and give Levi and Claire some Daddy-Daughter time. But it’s really hard on days that I haven’t gotten much sleep.

So Thursday I took Claire to the pediatrician. I’ll spare you all of the gory details but she’s still having a hard time going #2. When I called and spoke with the triage nurse the night before she kept asking questions implying that Claire isn’t poohing because she hasn’t gotten enough to eat and that is definitely not the problem. So she was weighed, drum roll please……. 11 lbs 15 ounces! She’s gained 3 lbs in a month! Our doctor was super impressed with her weight gain; she checked her out and said that all was well and that she is just using her food very efficiently. And just so everyone else knows this (because I had no idea) she said that it isn’t uncommon for infants to only go once a week! And she said to be prepared because it’ll be huge; great something to look forward to. ;)

When I got home from work Thursday night Levi had the best surprise ever for me. He had taken Claire to get a picture with Santa. It has got to be the cutest picture ever! I’m still so impressed that he got her all dressed and braved the mall with her. I haven’t even made it to the mall with her yet.

Last night was our little ward Christmas party. It was so wonderful. We go to church with such great people. The talent is amazing; it seems like everybody either plays an instrument or sings beautifully. Well everybody except for Levi and me. Back in the day when I was a teenager, I was dating this guy and we went to his house after our date. His family was very musically inclined and it was around Christmas time. When we got there, his sister was playing the piano and the rest of his family was singing Christmas carols. We joined in and it was really fun. Later, this guy said something along the lines of, “My sister was really impressed that you sang even though your voice isn’t very good.” Ouch, so needless to say I keep my singing to myself now.

Baby Claire loves her little jungle mat (thanks Tia!). I try to put her down on it a couple times a day for some exercise. She is so cute though, she hits the hangy-downy things (I haven’t quite figured out if that’s on accident or if she actually meant to) and then just watches as they swing back and forth. And she’s smiling at us! It is the cutest, toothless smile I have ever seen. It literally just melts my heart!

Well I had better get going, Levi’s family’s Christmas party is in just a couple hours and I’m not even finished getting ready yet.

Baby Blessing

Yesterday was Claire’s baby blessing. For those of you that aren’t LDS (aka Mormon), this is a blessing that is given to a baby usually by the baby’s father, in other religions it’s called a “christening”. The father and other worthy men chosen by the baby’s family stand in a circle around the baby while the blessing is given. Baby boys usually wear an all white suit or romper type thing and girls wear a white dress. My Mother made Claire’s dress and I can’t even believe how wonderfully it turned out; she is so incredibly talented.

So Levi gave the blessing and it was absolutely beautiful. He blessed that she would be obedient and always read her scriptures, say her prayers and attend her church meetings. He also said that he always wanted her to know how much her family loves her and to be a peacemaker and not hold on to grudges, and blessed her that her body might be strong and work the way it’s supposed to. We had so many family members come out for it. They took up 3 and a half of the middle pews at church; it was like 35 people! Then afterwards everyone came over to our home for a light lunch and just to visit. It was a little cramped in our tiny home but it was so nice to get to visit with everyone. We have such wonderful families; we are so grateful for all of them!

-Elizabeth



P.S. I still can't believe we fit this many people in our house, it was like a clown car!

-Levi