Six Months Already.....

It is finally Christmastime...and what Ted and I have been dreaming about for the past year or so....

Eloise's first Christmas!

We can't believe it is finally here.  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and Eloise will have visions of sugar plums dancing in her head (well more like mashed apples and bananas--her new fave!)  while Santa (and his wife) put out all the goodys for good a good little bear cub and her parents.  :)  We can't wait!  Seriously...we can't. I have been so tempted to put out presents early and let Eloise look and drool (literally) over them.  But, Santa comes on Christmas Eve! 

Something that is so crazy to me is that it's not only Eloise's first Christmas, but also she is past her halfway mark toward her first birthday.  I know parents say this all the time, but the times FLYS by so, so FAST. 

Example:

Just two nights ago I was looking in the mirror and playing with my hair when it hit me that I hadn't gotten my hair cut or colored for six months.  SIX MONTHS.  The last time I got my hair cut was the day before I went into labor.  I immediately told Ted all about my hair and what was wrong with it, and the next morning I had an appt. at 11:35! (Such a sweetie!) So, now that my hair is all ready to go, with about 5 inches cut off, I am ready to move on to the next thing we haven't done in six months: go to the movies.  Renting movies is nice, but I miss going out to a movie, and I know Ted does too.  We should get on that while I am on Christmas break.

Sorry, back to the original topic of Eloise and how she is already 6.5 months old....I looked through some pics since her birth, and decided to have a little review of how our little baby has grown and changed.  It is amazing how different she is already...I can't imagine what next June will be like.   So sit back, relax, and scroll down to see Eloise Iden Polleys! :)

Oh my.  My Little Baby is no longer so little.  This last picture was taken this past weekend, when we went for about an 8 minute walk, because we decided it was too cold.  These next pictures were taken this past weekend too. She is such a blast to be around!

Oh, and that heart outift is from Eloise's Aunt Samantha for Valentine's Day....but, um, if she doesn't wear it now, she won't ever wear it..so, Happy Valentine's Day! haha.

Okay, so I think this post just needs a few more pictures and then it will be all set...

Kidding. 

HELP!

We're addicted!

...to nicknames that is.  Ted and I have about 1.2 million nicknames for Eloise.  Some of you know most of them, but others are probably a little confused when I talk about something "Choo-Boo" did. (Although, you can most likely guess who I am talking about....who else??)

I thought I might list some of the nicknames, because they are so cute, and they won't last forever.  Some nicknames are already almost forgotten because we have moved on to others.  Okay, so here we go. (I will try to put them in order of progression.)

Eloise:

Weezy...Squeezy...Cheesy...Parcheesi...Weezer...Cheeser...Squeezer...EllaCheese...EllaWeezer...EllaSqueezer...Chugga...ChooChoo..ChooTrain...Relly...RellBell...RellyBelly...JellyBelly...ChooBoo...RooBoo...RooChoo...RubyChew...Chewy...ChewyMcChewerson...BabyBearCub...LittleBiggum...BabyChewy...LittleOne...(and many more variations of all of these)

Ted's favorite nickname as of now is Chugga.  Mine is RooChoo.

I wonder what Eloise thinks about all of this????







Oh Eloise, please forgive us. :-)

Weekly Cheese #6

Here is Choo-Boo in a pile of fleece blankets.  We were hanging out at church a couple of Sundays ago while Ted had a Soup Cafe Fundraiser.  There is a HUGE box in the Fellowship Hall that our church (and other churches around us) are filling up with fleece blankets for children in Africa.  Eloise needed a little break and so did Mommy's hip! ;)

Oh My Word...I Made Something!

For those of you who know me well...or even not so well...you know that I am not exactly a crafty person. 

I love buying crafty, one of a kind, original things. And I love thinking up new ideas for crafty things.  But, when it comes to making them my hands and brain don't get along.  My hands try to be unique and cute, but then my brain kicks in and tries to overpower them by trying to make everything perfect.  I am a little OCD when it comes to things being straight, neat and organized....and that doesn't mix well with art.  At least for me.

So, today, when I actually completed a couple little gift tags for Christmas.  I was proud of myself.  I didn't let my brain tell me that they aren't perfect enough, which is kind of a big deal.

So, let me tell you about my craft.

I made some Christmas Gift Tags. (You know, because everyone gets tired of those sticker ones and sometimes you want a present to look extra good!) I just used some old Christmas cards (we recieved from years past), some cardstock, and some ribbon, glue and a hole punch....and viola!  A Gift Tag!  Go me!  (Sorry, but I am really excited about these.)

Now, I just need to wrap some presents, so I can use these babies!

Just another day closer to Christmas............

Way to Go Cheesy!!

Eloise rolled over yesterday!  Yup. She did.  And she waited for her Momma to be home on her lunch break to do it!  Here's how it happened:

I was sitting on the couch and Ted was out shoveling slush off the driveway.  Eloise was on her back on her blanket on the floor chewing on a red penguin.  I was talking to her saying things like, "Eloooooiiiiiise...mama loooooooves you!" and other things you would only say when you have a little baby. 

Then I started making train noises.  (We make train noises because Eloise LOVES trains...not real ones, but the kind in Papa's basement.) I said, "Chugga chugga, chugga chugga, Chewwwwwwww-eeeeeeeee!!!" And, as I was saying it she was twisting around to look at me.  This is usually where she would stop twisting, and she would just crain her neck so she could look over onto the couch. 

BUT, THIS TIME SHE JUST KEPT ON TWISTING!  Soon she kinda plopped over onto her belly, where she propped herself up on her elbows and gave me a big grin.  I wanted so badly to go and pick up, but I was kind of preoccupied on the couch with one of my motherly duties ;) (since I am at work all the time).  So, I was praising her, and telling her how great she is, and on and on ...and on.  As soon as I was done I ran over and picked her up and squeezed her and squeezed her.  And, then we went outside and told Daddy all about it!   

Eloise even went as far as cheering for herself later that night!

Yay Eloise!  It took her six months, but now she is a pro!

 

So Much to Say, Part 2

I promised pictures of Eloise meeting Santa, as well as pictures of her dressed up in holiday garb.  So, here they are!!

This outfit was given to us by Eloise's Aunt Julie.  It is so darling...something Ted and I would never buy...which is why it was so, so FUN to dress her in it.  She loved it!  The fuzz around her wrists had her occupied for a long, long time.  She wore this to see Santa (of course) and then she wore it to Ted's Staff Christmas Party. (which was really fun, and had lots of good food!)

We headed down to our bank to see Santa.  He was there for one hour only (He's a busy guy, ya know) and you could take your own pictures, which is way better than having to pay for a photo that may or may not turn out.  We tried our best to get Cheesy to smile, but she was waaaay too distracted by everything going on around her.  She didn't mind sitting with Santa.  Ted and I noted later that it was really neat that Eloise can be held by anyone and be super happy...but then that scared us at the same time.

You can tell that Eloise doesn't really know what to do.  She is probably wondering why she got put into a pink puffball and then put on someone's lap that has an overabundance of white curly hair streaming from his face.

I told Eloise this morning that there was only 13 days until Christmas and she got a really big smile on her face.  I practically melted.  Although... I could have said I was going to have tuna for lunch and I would have got the same reaction from her.  :)

Are you as excited as Eloise about Christmas?!?

So Much to Say!

WOW!!

It has been two weeks since I have posted.  Shame on me.  But, my lack of posting proves how busy I am these days...being a working gal and all!  :)

But, seriously.  A LOT has happened. I have so many pictures and so much news. Most of it has to do with Eloise, well probably all of it actually. :)  She is our little smiley bear cub that we can never get enough of, and as each day gets closer and closer to Christmas it seems as if she gets happier and happier.  (It's like she already understands!) 

So, first, let me just update you with some cute pics taken around the house over the past couple of weeks.

oh yea and she can sit up now!

The pictures really tell it all!  :)

We put up our Christmas tree the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.  This year Ted picked it out by himself while I stayed home with Eloise. (She was asleep and we only had that specific night available to have time to put the tree up and decorate it.)  Ted and I decorated the tree with white and colored lights and opened up all of our prized ornaments while listening to Frank and Bing sing Christmas songs. 

We really wanted to wake up Cheesy so she could see it, but we thought better of it. 

Plus, she woke up at around 11pm on her own and so we showed it to her then.  Let's just say that she LOVES it!

The putting up of the tree was on Dec. 2nd and the next major event happened Dec. 6th.  Not only was it Cheesy's Six Month Birthday, but it was also the day of her Baptism.  I could have a whole seperate post on how long it took Ted and I to pray/think/discuss whether to get her baptized or dedicated, but I won't.  In the end, we agreed that we thought scripture and God were pointing to infant baptism, and if Eloise decides when she is older that she wants to get rebaptized to proclaim her decision of her faith, then that is okay with us.  Ted had a good point that we aren't going to be able to bring any new information to the table, no matter how much we study on it, so we made (what we thought) was the best decision.  So, here is Eloise on her big day!:

Her dress is over 100 years old.  Ted's great Grandma, great Aunt, Aunt, Sister (Anne), neice (Bailey) have all worn it.  (Ted wore it too.)  And, now Eloise has worn it. :)

She had no problem with Chip holding her either.  She actually gave him her classic stare that says, "Wait a minute who are you?  ...Oh okay, you look nice.  I like you." all at once.

It was a very nice service, and we were glad that some of our family could make it.  She is now a part of God's family and it is Ted and I's responsibility to raise her to know God and his Son. 

Whew...not exactly a small task.  We can do it though, with the help of our family and church family and lots of prayer. 

So, this is a super long post, so I think I will post more tomorrow....or later today.  Not sure yet.  But in the next post you will see:  1.  Eloise meeting Santa for the very first time, 2. Eloise in a super cute holiday outfit for her very first Christmas party, and 3.  More photos of Eloise loving the Christmas tree.