Our Baby's First Christmas!

Our Christmas celebration started on the morning of Christmas Eve with all smiles from Tyler! He couldn't wait for the busy travels and celebrations over the next 2 days!

We got all ready for Santa.

We set out our milk and cookies for Santa on the night of the 23rd since we would be at Grandma and Grandpa Breclaw's on Christmas Eve.

Santa came sometime in the middle of the night, as evidenced by the cookie crumbs and Tyler's over-flowing stocking.

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Mom helped Tyler open his gifts. Santa brought Tyler a toy for his car seat.

And the "Snowmen at Night" book.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth sent Tyler his first ornament for his first Christmas.


Then our travels took us to Manteno, IL to visit Grandma and Grandpa Breclaw. Santa had stopped there too!

And Tyler got another over-flowing stocking!

Mom helped Tyler open some of his gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Breclaw.

Dad helped too. Tyler decided to hold this present.

Tyler loves books...and he especially loves this "That's Not My Snowman" touch-and-feel book.

Tyler got lots of fun toys!

"Okay Dad....I'll help out too!"

Our family on Christmas morning.

Mom and Tyler

Dad and Tyler. He loves ceiling fans so he wouldn't look at the camera.

Tyler is getting ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth's next.

Mom and Tyler at Grandma and Grandpa E.'s.

Opening the ExerSaucer Tyler got from Uncle Terry and Aunt Michelle.

All Tyler's loot after we got home (minus the ExerSaucer which wouldn't fit in the car). Tyler was a very good boy!

Tyler's basketball lamp, painted by Grandma E.

Tyler obviously had a great first Christmas! Mike and I did too. It started when we dropped Spice off at Grandma and Grandpa E.'s on the way to Manteno on Christmas Eve. Grandma and Grandpa E. let us open one of our gifts a little early (totally against John's policy)! We were shocked to find that they got us a Nikon SLR digital camera and some accessories! Our other camera was taking lots of blurry pics so they got us an upgrade (big time!) so we wouldn't miss a single moment or milestone of Tyler's. Our Christmas fun continued with the celebration and good company at Grandma and Grandpa B.'s on Christmas Eve and then back at Grandma and Grandpa E.'s on Christmas Day. Christmas took on a totally new meaning this year with Tyler around and it was truly the best Christmas ever! Our family hopes your family had an awesome Christmas too!

Happy Two-Month Birthday Tyler!

Happy two-month birthday to you
Happy two-month birthday to you
Happy two-month birthday dear Tyler
Happy two-month birthday to you!

Many more birthdays to you
Many more birthdays to you
Many more birthdays dear Tyler
Many more birthdays to you!

Today is Tyler's two-month birthday! This month has been much more fun than the first, with Tyler being more awake and interested in what is going on around him. We are starting to see lots of little smiles but haven't been able to get a good picture of one yet. Below are some cute pictures we did get from his second month. Enjoy!

Spice has found her new best friend!

Big eyes

Quality time with Mommy

Sleeping like a zombie--too cute!

Tyler also went to the pediatrician yesterday for his 2-month checkup and to get his shots. He cried right away when he got the shots but it only last a minute and then he was fine. We were pleased to hear that he weighed in at 12 lbs. 1 oz. and that he jumped from the 10th percentile in weight up to the 50th!! The doctor said he has no concerns about his development but he is concerned about a small blister-like sore that Tyler has had on his lip for over a month. He is referring us to a specialist in Peoria to have it further evaluated. It sounds like it's most likely a birthmark (also called a strawberry mark) and it's more of a cosmetic concern than a medical concern so nothing to really worry about at this point. We probably won't be able to get an appointment for a couple of months though. Otherwise, he is doing great!

Concerts and Christmas Pics

On Friday, exactly eight weeks after Tyler's birth, Mike and I left Tyler with Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth and went on our first date out of town to the Oasis concert in Chicago. It was weird not having him around but we also enjoyed a chance to spend some time together as Jaime and Mike instead of as Mommy and Daddy! And according to Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth, Tyler was on his best behavior....or at least they agreed to babysit again sometime!

Before leaving town on Friday, we stopped at Portait Innovations to get Tyler's first portaits and our first family portait taken for Christmas. Tyler wasn't thrilled with all the lights but here are a couple of the better ones we had to choose from.

"It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas..."

It's one of our Christmas traditions to put up our Christmas tree and decorations the weekend following Thanksgiving. So Saturday afternoon, Mike pulled out all the decorations and put the tree together. Then on Sunday afternoon I turned on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and started putting up the lights. Well, I felt Clark Griswald's frustration with Christmas lights after I got half the tree done and then plugged in the third and final strand of lights only to find they were half burned out. When I tried to connect some newer lights to finish the job, I found they had a different size outlet. So we had to take down all the lights and start all over! I was so frustrated that I wasted all that time (hey I could have spent 2 hours sleeping ya know--I need it!) that Mike ended up putting the lights up himself on Sunday evening. Then on Monday, Tyler watched (and slept) while I finished putting up the ornaments and finishing touches. Granted it's never taken us 3 days from start to finish to put up the tree but we're happy that it's done! Here's a family picture in front of the tree.
Jeez it's hard to get a baby and a dog to look at the camera at the same time!


My old college roommate and good friend Ashley made a trip down to Bloomington Wednesday afternoon to meet Tyler and to visit for a while. It's always a treat to see Ashley and we had lots of fun catching up and playing with Tyler.

Ashley and Tyler

First Ashley, Tyler and I went out for lunch at Potbelly's. Then we came back and made Christmas cookies! Ashley was sweet enough to bring over all the ingredients to make (and decorate) yummy sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms and these delicious 7-layer cookie bars. We had a blast being in the kitchen together again and the cookies all turned out pretty darn tasty! Thanks Ashley!

Yummy cookies!!

Tyler says "Gimme Gimme Gimme!"