It's Christmas!

Well it was on this day.

Sydney made out like a bandit on her first Christmas. She received more than double the presents Donnie and I received combined.

She loved to rip off the wrapping paper, but then she would try to eat the pieces of paper, so opening presents took a little longer than we thought.

Her favorite toy was the Tigger my parent's gave her. She started dancing to his song. Unfortunately, that was the favorite of almost every kid there, so you either really had to like Tigger's song, or learn to block it out and find a happy place.

Winter Wonderland

This year we went with Donnie's family to a couple of cabins in the mountains for Christmas. We were gone almost a week and so I am a little behind on the whole bloggy magic.

It was very exciting for me because it was my first White Christmas. In fact, there was so much snow that most of the family couldn't get in to or out of the driveway at our cabin. Here is the outside of the cabin we stayed in. Can you find the driveway?

Since we were pretty stationary due to the weather, we spent most of the time outside sledding. This was another first for me. I only went down the hill three times, and I crashed into snowbanks each time. I went down by myself at first, but then I had a partner or two for the last couple of times. One time I was so deep in the snow my brother-in-law had to dig me out and get me back on track. After this picture (we were just pulled out of the snow), my nephew said, "I think I'll go down by myself from now on."

Donnie helped me out of a snow pile too.

It was a great trip and Sydney was able to play with all of her cousins. She now has 15 on Donnie's side, and 4 were born within a few months of Sydney, 3 of those were girls.

We're in trouble now...

So we thought it was cute when Sydney started crawling around and we loved it when she started pulling up on the couches and bookshelves.

We even clapped for her and cheered her on while she was pulling things off the couch or finding papers nestled in a bookshelf. Now, however, we are regretting it.

She has recently discovered the stairs in our home, and she loves them. The problem is she moves really fast and so I can't take my eyes off of her when we are in the family room or she is on and up the stairs.

A new hat...

We will spend Christmas this year with my husband's family. As part of that, we are doing a gift exchange. The kids all drew names, but the adults (guys with guys, ladies with ladies) just have a random go at it.

Each girl is making a homemade gift to exchange. I decided to knit a scarf. Then I decided to knit a hat to go with it. After I finished those, I decided to knit a few for Sydney too. She really likes her scarf, but the hat she constantly tries to remove.

I pulled out the camera and she finally decided to leave the hat on long enough for a few shots. She even decided to show off her teeth!

Yes, I know she is holding a bulb syringe in her hand. It has been cleansed and disinfected. She likes to suck on it. I think it is gross, but it keeps her happy.

Be it ever so humble...

There's nothing like our Christmas tree.












We are going out of town and will be gone for about a week around Christmas so we weren't going to get a tree this year, but since it is Sydney's first Christmas we changed our minds. We ended up buying a little fake 3 foot, pre-lit wonder. It fits nicely on the countertop so the baby can't pull off the ornaments.

It doesn't look too small until you see Sydney next to it (keep in mind though she is really big for a 10-month-old girl).









Her favorite part of the whole deal is her dad's present - it's a watch so it is nice and easy for her to crawl around with. She pulled it down and clutched the box in both hands and proceeded to "belly crawl" around the living room. Everywhere she went that morning, the box was there too!

Looks like Santa overspent this year - a small box with pretty paper would have sufficed.