Christmas Part Two

Wow, I have gotten behind on my blogging! Now that the holidays are over (and Eli is napping) I can finally sit down and do a recap!

Christmas weekend was spent at my parent's house in Georgia! We left on Thursday and it took an HOUR to get out of our town and on the road thanks to last minute Christmas shoppers who were all at the Galleria!

On Christmas Eve (Friday), we spent most of the day hanging around the house and playing with Eli. I feel like that's all that we ever do when we go home... but hey its fun! Eli is smiling and laughing a lot more! It is so much fun to engage him in a "conversation" full of babble! That night Grandma came over and we had our somewhat traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Penne ala Vodka and Steak (Daniel always LOVES this meal -- actually I think he just likes my mom's cooking in general!). That night we also opened our Christmas Presents! Eli got a bunch of clothes and small gifts from both of his great grandmothers, but the gift he loved the most was his Jumparoo from Nonna and Pops! It was so funny to see him in it because his feet don't reach the ground yet! Now whenever he sits in it he gets a very serious face and concentrates on his toys!

You'll never guess what Daniel and I got from mom and dad... another CAMERA!! Haha! I guess everyone knew that we were in serious need!
On Christmas Day my family never really does anything special. Growing up we would wait til Christmas morning and then gradually as we got older this changed. First we would open one present on Christmas Eve night and then wait til Christmas morning for the rest. Then dad started working on Christmas so we started opening everything on Christmas Eve night. Now we don't even exchange gifts (or at least we aren't supposed to... cough momanddad cough). But if we did we would open them Christmas Eve night and save our stockings for Christmas morning. Confusing I know, but that's how the McNichols do it. After all, its not really about the gifts is it?

Daniel and I have our own special Christmas tradition that we started in 2008. In 2008 we celebrated our Christmas engagement with dinner and a movie. However, the only restaurants open on Christmas were all Chinese places! So now every Christmas we pick a movie to see (that we later buy when it comes out on DVD) and go out to Chinese. We also save outr ticket stubs and fortunes! We plan on continuing this tradition as our family grows over the years! There is just something magical about being the only two people feasting on rice in a Chinese restaurant on Christmas! Lol! This year for our movie choice we saw Tangled and it was SO good!
We stayed at mom and dads for an additional 2 days after Christmas and had a blast! We played games, watched movies, and just sat around talking. Here are some pictures from that weekend:

Christmas Part One

This past weekend we went to McMinnville, TN to celebrate Christmas number one with Daniel's family... it ended up being quite the adventure!

We got on the road and after about an hour the van started acting like it was possessed; the lights inside the van started flickering, we could not accelerate, the blinkers did not work, the radio went out. We were so confused. Luckily there was an exit nearby, so we got off and pulled into a gas station. After a couple hours of stressing and trying to figure out what to do, with a screaming baby and a dog, we found out that our alternator was bad. The thought actually crossed my mind that we were going to miss Christmas!! Haha!
The problem was solved when Daniel's parents offered to come get us. So we sat at a Subway for 2 and 1/2 hours working on scrapbook pages for a family member's present. Eli was an angel and poor Boo had to hang out in the trunk!

We got in late and then had to be at PaPaw and Gigi's house at 8:00!!!! We actually ended up getting there only 10 minutes late! There were 22 adults and 10 kids! It was a packed house! We started with breakfast and Leah announced that she was pregnant (due in July)! That means at next years Christmas we will have three new babies, assuming no one else gets pregnant...
We sang the traditional 12 Days of Christmas, ate breakfast, played the left/right game, and opened presents. Daniel's family has themed Christmases every year hosted by one family. This year Rachel and Hector hosted the Wise Men Christmas. As a part of the theme we had to give our secret Santa a gift that we thought really hard about and before they opened it we had to present a poem or thought about why we got the gift for them. Cousin Tim (the high school English teacher in the family also a literary genius likened to Shakespeare) wrote a whole short story for his secret Santa! Needless to say, Daniel and I presented our last minute thoughts claiming we had left our poems in our broken down van :) I ended up getting a baby puree cookbook that I am really excited to use!!
The rest of the day was spent snacking on sausage balls and hanging around! That night we went back to Daniel's parents house and opened up gifts from them. We got a BRAND NEW camera and we are so excited because now we can take some great quality photos of our little man! Here are some samples:
This is Daniel's dad dressed as Santa with Eli

And here are some random pictures I took

This weekend we are going to Senoia, GA to celebrate Christmas with my family!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we spent 4 days at my parents house and it was lots of fun! I think I might be the only person in the world who doesn't get excited about Thanksgiving dinner, but Daniel more than makes up for my lack of enthusiasm!

This year the whole family was together, including Grandma who just recently retired and moved down to Georgia in the beginning of October. Dad and Sean spent Thanksgiving morning running a half marathon while the rest of us (including Eli!) slept in! Later on we all watched the Thanksgiving parade while the food was prepared!

Before we ate, Dad read off a list of all the things that he and our family had to be thankful for this year. We are so richly blessed and I am glad that we spent our time reflecting on all that we have been blessed with! Here is a list of JUST A FEW of my Thanksgivings:

1- My amazing husband. I believe that God brought Daniel and I together for a reason. When I look back on our relationship and see how far we have come in just 4 years I am in awe! God was definitely at work! I am so thankful that Daniel is my husband and that I get to share this life with him! He is my best friend, a wonderful listener, extremely patient, kind, genuine, funny, and best of all he loves me for me! He is also a GREAT father!
2- My sweet boy. I am so thankful for Eli! He is such a blessing in my life and words can not express my love for him. I am exceedingly thankful that he was born HEALTHY and without complications! He brings such joy to me everyday and I can not imagine my world without him! God is SO good!
3- My wonderful family. I could not have been blessed with a more amazing family than the one that I have! When we are all together I am constantly reminded of my love for each and every one of my family members! We all fit together so well and when we are all together the love can be seen and felt all around us! Not too mention they are hilarious and we keep each other laughing constantly!
4- Daniel's job. God blessed us with Daniel's job. There is no doubt about that. With the country's economy and job market in a downward spiral it was nothing short of a miracle that Daniel got a job just six weeks after graduating college, 2 and 1/2 months before the baby was born, with insurance coverage that would help pay for Eli's birth and keep us from getting into some serious debt! Our prayers were answered! We have a steady income, a roof over our heads, and food on the table (oh yeah, and diapers!)! Praise the Lord!
5- My Savior. I am so thankful for the sacrifice that was made so that my sins could be forgiven and so that I could look forward to my home in heaven when this life is over. Now that I have Eli there is no way that I could ever imagine giving up my son to die for people that I don't even know... but I am SO THANKFUL that I have a Savior who did just that!

Thank you Lord for blessing me and my family!

On Friday Eli went to his FIRST MOVIE! We saw Harry Potter in theaters and Eli was so good! He slept most of the time and woke up once for a snack!

The rest of the weekend was spent talking, laughing, playing with Eli, and just visiting with each other. We talked about how much fun it would be next Thanksgiving and pictured little Eli running around the house! I can't even imagine! :)

First Shots and First Time Seeing Santa

Yesterday was a big day for Eli! I took him in for his 2 month shots. He actually only ended up getting one shot (dTAP) and an oral vaccine (Rotavirus). We are following the Dr. Sears Vaccination schedule, which spaces the shots out a little bit more. The nurse looked a me like I had three heads when I told her we wouldn't be following THEIR schedule... oh well!
While we were getting ready to leave I felt so guilty! I was getting him all dressed and ready to go fully knowing that he would be crying and in pain in only a couple hours. Silly I know, but still, what mom likes to hear their baby cry!? When all was said and done Eli did GREAT! He cried for only a few seconds and then was back to his normal happy self!

Later that night Daniel surprised us with a fun evening in Birmingham! We went to "The Summit", a touristy shopping center near our home, where there was a small Christmas Parade! Eli was able to see Mr. and Mrs. Claus for the first time! He loved all of the commotion -- he sat snugly in either mine or Daniel's arms just looking around, cooing, and smiling! Afterward the whole shopping center lit up with Chrismas lights and there was a firework show! We had a blast!

Flying With Daddy

Eli absolutely LOVES this!

Night Time Routine and Lullabies

We decided to start a bedtime routine with Eli, since he is a whole 2 months old (gasp!). We implemented it the past two nights. It goes like this:

Eat
Snuggle on Mommy and Daddy's bed
Daddy reads a bible story
Mommy reads a book
Daddy reads a book
Sing songs
Kisses and Hugs
Pray
Put Eli into the pack-n-play
Replace pacifier when he cries, until he falls asleep

He has successfully transitioned from the rock-n-play (a comfy chair-like sleeping cradle that sits on a slight incline) which was in our room, to the pack-n-play which is also in our room. I am SO thrilled that this was a success. I was worried he wouldn't adjust well due to being flat on his back, but he slept really well both nights! The next step will be his crib which is in his nursery.

The only problem with this routine is that I DONT KNOW ANY LULLABIES!!!

So the past two nights I have been singing him Christmas Carols. I better start learning some lullabies otherwise I will be singing Christmas Carols all year round!

Halloween and Homecoming

We have been so busy these past couple of weeks. The past three weekends we have been in THREE different states! First we were at my parents house for a visit, then we were at Daniel's parents house for Eli's first Halloween, and finally we were in Searcy for Homecoming weekend. Things have finally settled down, so here I am to update!

We had so much fun during Halloween weekend! Eli was able to meet some of his family members for the very first time -- I think over 25 people were at Daniel's parents house on Saturday! It was so crazy! On Saturday night we dressed Eli up in his Halloween costume and went trick-or-treating with Reese, Owen, and Josie! Eli was a Ninja Turtle (of course). Reese was a Super Spy, Owen was Mario, and Josie was a fairy.

Before leaving for homecoming on the following weekend, something very exciting happened!!! ELI ROLLED OVER on November 1st! We caught it on video too! Its funny because you can hear Daniel and I in the background cheering him on!

This past weekend was exciting for all of us! We were back at Harding and my whole family was together again! We were able to spend some good quality time together at our Alma Mater! Here is a picture of Eli on the road -- he's such a good little traveler:

This weekend we will be spending all of our time in good ole Birmingham! We are all traveled out for now!

I'll leave you with these pictures of Eli! (sorry for the bad quality, all we have is our iPhones to take pics!)