Merry Christmas!

Addison's first Christmas was even better than we anticipated, especially because of the fact that DJ and I had 5 whole days off from work to spend with our little Christmas Bear! We got up super early on Christmas Eve and headed back out to the Santa at the mall, and lo and behold the line was only about 10 minutes long at 8am. Wa-hoo! We finally got Addison's picture with Santa and it was as cute as we anticipated. There was a lady there shaking bells and dancing around, so Addison did crack a smile. When we got home we literally spent the whole day prepping and cooking for dinner that evening with DJ's parents. The Barats came over and we had fun watching Addison try to stuff wrapping paper into her mouth with the opening of every gift. She got spoiled of course, and raked in the new toys. When she went down for the night we enjoyed dinner and wine....DJ and I woke up Christmas morning and opened presents with Addison, then took a snooze while she took her morning nap. So nice! I never nap. Later that evening we headed to the Barats' for more celebrating and dinner with Guy, Heather, Carly and Cassie. All in all a great holiday and we still have another day left. Grant and Stacy will be here tomorrow so more to come. Also, we took some video (with our new video camera!) and will be transfering to a CD and sending on to family soon. Stay tuned!

Waiting in line for Santa

A little worried

The final shot

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

Christmas Night

DJ looks good with 2!

Winter Weather

It's been crazy cold here - RIDICULOUSLY cold! Who has even heard of temperatures getting down to 35 degrees below zero (with windchill)? Anyway, it's really cold. However, Saturday was beautiful with an all-day snowfall and temperatures at just freezing. We bundled the baby up and took her out for a winter stroll. Callie came along too. It's her favorite time of year to book it through the streets and people's yards, tearing through mounds of snow.

Addison received a fun gift from Grammie Pam on Friday - her very own chair with her name embroidered on it. Thanks Grammie! She likes to sit in it and "read" (chew) on her books, while Callie looks on longingly, hoping for an in to be able to jump up and share the new space.
On Saturday I hosted bookclub to discuss "Water for Elephants." Everyone agreed this book is now on our top five EVER! I highly recommend it, so go out and read it! Erin brought her son Max who was born 3 weeks before Addison. They rolled around on the floor together and made cute baby noises until Addison got crabby and had to go to bed. Apparently Max is a night owl/party animal who stays up until 10:30pm. Yikes! I'll take Addison's 7:30pm bedtime, thank you very much.

I'm not a fan of intentionally posed baby portraits, but I really feel like Addison should have her picture taken with Santa for her first Christmas. It's fun! Mostly I want to see how she'll react to a big white beard in her face. After I finally convinced DJ that this is a necessity of the holiday, we got the baby all dolled up, faced the negative 35 degree day and trudged out to the nearest mall. When we arrived at the Santa photo counter, the lady sitting there immediately said "You're not going to like what I have to tell you - the wait is 4 1/2 hours long." She sure was right about that. So after we turned down her offer to give us a beeper to let us know when our turn was up (like we were going to cruise around the mall for 4 1/2 hours with a 5 month old), we headed out and decided to try after work on Tuesday...cross your fingers!

Callie in her prime

Before Book Club
Max & Addison

All dressed up for Santa

Addison's First Meal

After weeks of grabbing for our food and watching intently as we took each bite, Addison was finally able to enjoy her very own meal. And what a meal it was! Who wouldn't want a tablespoon of rice cereal mixed with breast milk - YUM! Although it was little more than soupy mush, Addison was curious and ate the mush enthusiastically. We propped her up in her high chair, rolled the camera and as soon as the spoon got near her mouth, she opened up like a little bird and in went the cereal. So exciting! She opened up again and again, and when she'd had enough, she simply turned her head away. She made a few funny faces, like "what the hell am I eating", but if I had to make a guess I'd say she'll be a pretty good eater. We went out and bought a make-your-own-baby-food cookbook and have every intent of going that route - cheaper and healthier. We'll see.... She'll stick to rice cereal once a day for a few weeks and then we'll introduce other (but likely more tasty) forms of mush - peas, carrots, bananas. We can't wait, and can't believe that this stage in development is already here. So the video clip is a bit too long to post here, but if you go out to Flickr you might be able to pull it up there...good luck.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizabethbarat/3110752180/

A few cute pictures from over the weekend. Oh, and we got a TON of snow!!! It's currently -23 degrees with the windchill. Fun.

Morning sleepyhead

One of the first bites

Being entertained by Callie

Santa Barbara

It was a quick trip, but a great one. We were in SB for the weekend to celebrate Grant and Allan's birthdays and had so much fun. We flew into LAX and Addison was relaxed and happy on the plane, shuttle and rental car drive up the coast, which is always a relief. We love going there and just chilling out, especially in the middle of winter here in MN. We never wore a coat and I was able to sit out in the sun and read in the backyard - heaven! We were lucky enough to see auntie Shana - she made the drive up from San Diego for the party on Saturday night. The party itself was beautiful, although Addison was definitely not in the mood to socialize. Too bad, because she wore the cutest dress! She was so crabby that we didn't even get a picture of her in it. Thankfully she ended up falling asleep and staying with us through dinner. Her whole sleep schedule was thrown off, so except for the 3am wake up calls, everything else about the weekend was perfect. See you all soon, we love you!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Downtown SB

Farmer's Market

Hendry's Beach

Allan and Grant's party at the San Ysidro Guest Ranch - I wish I got more pictures of the gorgeous patio and food!

Just hanging out