Christmas Redux 2010

Christmas has come and gone again -- all expect for the tree, which will be taken down after the new year.

This was the first year that Ella really "got it", I think, although the whole Santa thing was still a little fuzzy.  Despite our efforts, we did not wind up taking her to see him.  If we had, she might have connected the dots a bit more.  She knows who he is though -- any time she would see him on the TV or where ever, she'd say "Dat's Santa!"  So it wasn't completely lost on her.

She enjoyed her presents a lot this year -- the biggest hits were the play kitchen that Santa brought, and the bike (tricycle) that Grandma and Pop got her.

Opening presents with her was funny.  When we would ask her what she got, the response was sometimes, "It's a box!" or "I got...this!" Even if she wasn't sure what she had, she was excited about it nonetheless, which was really cute.

Here are a few photos from Christmas Eve at my parents' house, and Christmas morning at home:

New bike!

New books! 

Bakin' cookies. 

Unwrapping.

Hope everyone else had a great Christmas as well!

My New Toy.

With our pending trip to Walt Disney World with Ella and my parents (Ella's first trip, and the first time in about 20  years that my parents have been),  Jon and I decided that it was time to upgrade our camera.  Jon gave me the little Olympus point-and-shoot we'd been using about 2 or 3 years ago, and the quality of the pictures just wasn't where we wanted it to be...especially when trying to shoot a 2.5 year old who's constantly on the move.

So after much -- MUCH -- research, mostly on Jon's part, and visiting several local stores to try out the options in person, we finally decided on this bad boy:

The Sony Alpha 290a.

My very first DSLR -- be still, my itchy shutter finger.


I've only had it about a week, so clearly, I've got lots and lots and lots to learn.  But boy, I like this camera.  I like it a lot.

Here are a few shots I've taken in the past week.

She's not drugged, she just can't NOT blink.

                             

     

Fevers and boo-boos.

So Ella has spiked a fever the last two weekends in a row.  Not fun, especially given that it's happening on when we could/should be out doing stuff, and really weird, since I can't figure out what's causing it.  This weekend wasn't as bad (100.3 vs last weekend's high of 102.9), and it usually dissipates within 24 hours, with the help of some infant Tylenol. But it's still a bit disconcerting, and you can tell she just doesn't feel well on the whole. 

She's also discovered the allure of Band-Aids this past week.  She cut her finger at school on Wednesday -- her teacher wasn't sure exactly how it happened, and Ella wouldn't commit to anything more specific than it was a toy that did it.  Since then, though, the injured finger has required a Band-Aid at all times, even though now, it's pretty much healed up.  Boring Mommy doesn't have fun character Band-Aids like they have at school, but the plain ones will do in a pinch. (Blame Costco.  We bought one of their ginormous packs of Band-Aids back before she was even born, and we still haven't used them up.  I refuse to buy new ones until we're down to at least one box.  That could take until she's in middle school.)

So between the fevers and the boo-boo, it's been sort of a rough week for the kid.  She's a trooper, though.

School's out for Xmas break starting this coming Tuesday, and the last day of Little Gym until the New Year was today.  I hope the weather improves over what we've been having so far this month so we're able to get out of the house and DO some stuff over the next couple of weeks.

Christmas Photos

These scanned in kind of funky, but the prints look normal!

I was really happy with how these turned out.  This is the first year I've had *actual* holiday pictures taken of her, and they did a great job.  Ella was really cooperative, too.

We actually wound up with an extra pose, too.  We'd only requested the 2nd and 3rd ones here, but when I was showing them to Mom and Dad later that evening, they noticed there was an extra one in there.  Nice.

Now to get them into Christmas cards and in the mail!

Photos are copyright of Portrait Innovations.