Christmas 2010

I'm just realizing that I did not take nearly enough pictures the last few days. This is pretty much all the pictures I have. Sad - I didn't even get a family picture by the tree!

Elise was loving her Uncle Carl...

Auntie Lauren made Elise the cutest dress!

She played her first round of ping pong with Grandpa...

Opened lots of presents...

Her new trick: standing! She'd rather stand than sit these days...

And a little love from Grandpa Goote...

I'm working on a video of some cute things too - but naptime usually only lasts a half hour or so around here and I've got things to do!

Peace Love Joy

Wishing you peace, love, and joy this Christmas!

5 Months Old!

Elise is five months old! She is so much fun now - so smiley and happy! And - just this week she has decided naps are not so bad, which makes for a much happier baby and mommy. She's going to bed around 7 or 7:30, only getting up once or twice at night to eat, and then goes right back down until 8 or 8:30. She can sit up when assisted, and is starting to really play with her toys. We love you Elise!

"Oh hey Mom!"

"What on earth are you doing now....?"

"Hey, what's over there??"

"Dude, can I get a little help here?"

mmm....

Elise thought licking this apple was SO fun...

Elise's Busy Weekend

Okay there are way too many pictures in this post - but there were way too many cute pictures from this weekend! Saturday we headed over to West Side Christian for a Goote Christmas party. Elise was totally decked out but pretty crabby - so we left early and got no smiley pictures. She was a hit though.

Elise loves her some Grandma Goote! And she also loves to lick the bow on her shirt...

Elise and her cousin Beckham - he's only 3 1/2 weeks older than Elise but about twice her size!

Sunday we tried the Johnny Jump-up again. It was definitely more successful than our last attempt. Notice the huge glob of drool in the bottom right picture. I had to wipe up several drool puddles after she was done.

We also tried some rice cereal this afternoon! It was a hit. She would scream between bites.

My mom suggested stripping our very crabby baby (who still won't nap) down to her birthday suit. The girl loves being naked so it bought us a little happy time before we just put her to bed at 6:30. The thigh rolls just kill me...

Merry Christmas from the Gootes!

Gifted Tag Christmas

Personalize the christmas season with Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

(Shutterfly is offering a free $25 credit for posting our Christmas card to our blog!)

Fun with Auntie Aubrey

Aubrey is all done with her finals this semester and was able to hang out with us all day! We first met for lunch at Applebees...

And then Auntie Aubrey gave Elise TWO candy canes! Lucky girl.

Grandma got Elise a movie - Toy Story 3. This is her TV face.

Daddy Love

Sorry - more bath pictures. But she was just being SO cute I couldn't help it.

This girl loves her daddy - he just walks by and she smiles like crazy.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

New Things

Elise got a new bath seat so she can sit up in the tub (kitchen sink) now. She thinks she is so big! She's still a little tippy so we have to line it with towels. And pardon the breast pump supplies drying behind her...oopsies.

She kept trying to lick the bubbles. Smartypants this one.

And since she hates her carseat we tried to sit her up in her stroller like a big baby. She was loving it and kept trying to eat her straps. She's still a little small - those straps are as tight as they go!

All I want for Christmas...

It's like a Snuggie. For babies.
(I'm KIDDING people...)

Amazing!

Tuesday night around 11pm our furnace kicked the bucket. Not great when the low is in the 20s. Luckily Elise has a space heater in her room, and in the morning we headed to the mall and Grandma's house for two days. Definitely not a bad place to camp out while a new furnace is installed! A huge thanks to my mom and dad for letting their freshly cleaned house be invaded by truckloads of baby crap. Here's Elise with her stocking....
(Check out her booties AG - from Grandma Jane!)

My happy girl and her rosy cheeks...

Elise got a new toy - she is mesmerized by this thing...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Weekend

This weekend we went to Chicago with my family and Elise stayed with her Grandpa and Grandma Goote (THANK YOU!!!). They probably were having some serious flashbacks because Elise looks pretty much just like her daddy. This picture is from when they were both about three months old. Nick's response: "It's like it's the same person!"

Just for kicks - here's one of me at around the same age.

We missed Elise a lot but we had tons of fun. We went to a Christmas market, Second City, and a really fun piano/martini bar on Saturday, and Shedds Aquarium Sunday morning. Thanks Mom & Dad! These are the only two pictures I have...nobody looks cute when you spend the afternoon outside in snowy weather.

Baby it's cold outside...

I have a problem. I have too many cute pictures.
So if all you people are annoyed by all my posts - I'm sorry.
But if you like it - you're welcome.

Elise met Santa yesterday. We couldn't get her to smile - she was far too fascinated by all the bright lights. She's been pretty good this year, I'm sure Santa will have lots of goodies for her this Christmas!

Johnny Jump Up

We tried the Johnny Jump Up yesterday - poor thing's still a little too tiny! I didn't have the height quite right so her feet didn't touch the ground. She kind of just spun around mid-air and chewed on the front. It was huge - we'll try again in a month or so.

She thinks she is so big when she sits up in a chair...

And she is loving to chew on her hands lately - sometimes after we put her in bed at night all we hear on the monitor is her sucking on her hands until she falls asleep.

hot tub

This actually happened a couple weeks ago but I just remembered my dad took a video - and it's too cute not to post!
Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh, and Elise got a new hat. Actually she got a few new hats, which we will be modeling soon since it is SO cold here now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Elise!

Since Elise refuses to nap - this is the only way we can get her to sleep during the day. Thank you Grandpa for let me "hang out" for a little while!

Then we went to see Grandpa & Grandma Goote...

Happy 1st Thanksgiving Elise!!

4 Months Old!

Elise is 4 months old! She is busy doing big girl things like trying to sit up, and grabbing at toys.

We had our 4 month check-up yesterday - and everything is great! She had two shots and an oral vaccine - so she had a pretty rough day. She and I did lots of snuggling that afternoon.

Her 4 month stats:

Weight: 13 lbs 4 oz (42%)
Height: 24" (41%)
Head Circumference: 39.7 cm (17%)

She is loving her Bumbo lately...now that she can hold her head up she prefers to be sitting up at all times!