Our new niece

We have a niece! Ms. Evelynn Leigh Grabski was born 12/12, a few days early. She showed up the morning after the huge snow storm that blew through the area dumped over a foot of snow on us! My poor brother in law Dan had to shovel the car out before they could get to the hospital.

We of course went to visit as soon as we could that day. She is so beautiful, and tiny! I am used to lugging around a 1 year old, holding a 7 pound new born was quite a switch!

Here is the new mama and Evelynn


Ella was so curious about baby Evelynn. She wanted to stay around her and kept trying to touch her. She was close to poking her in the eye a few times, so I kept a close watch on her.




Here is the proud grandma, my mother in law Jan. She is such a proud grandmother!


Auntie Traci - I am so excited to have a niece!


Uncle Brandon - he looks like such a pro at holding babies now


In Ella news.....we get closer and closer to walking every day. She is walking really good just holding our hands and she is walking with only one hand on the furniture. Her new thing right now is walking on her knees. It is slow, but her preferred mode of transport right now. She also is taking bigger and bigger "risks" when moving between toys and furniture, trying to move between bigger gaps! I think she wants to be sure that she can do it before she does it, which is apparently what I did when I started to walk. Like mother like daughter! :)

She recently got 3 more teeth, and all at the same time! The poor girl was quite fussy for a week, and we weren't quite sure what was going on. It was the same week as the reaction to the MMR shot, so with the fever and rash we thought maybe she was just not feeling well, but turns out she was cutting 3 teeth. That would make me cranky too!

We are getting super excited for Christmas, Ella doesn't know what's going on but she is very interested in the presents.....well, mostly the pretty wrapping paper. She won't touch the tree, she loves to look at it, but will not go near it. It is nice that she is not pulling our ornaments off the tree, so I guess that's a good thing!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Ella is one!

So I realize that it has been a month since I last posted, but we had a lot going on over here! My little Ella is one! I'm not sure how that is possible already, but she turned one on 12/1. December has been a big month of firsts already, and we are only 1/2 way though! Her first birthday, first cake, first birthday presents, first outing to get a Christmas tree, and her first step!!! Yes, I said it, her first step! She is getting so good at walking along furniture and toys, and the other day while we were getting ready to get into the bath, she let go of the tub and took a step towards me. It was only a step and then she fell into me, but it was a step and it counts! I think she may be walking by Christmas.....

Lets start this off with Ella's first birthday....Brandon and I took off work for the day and spent the whole day with Ella. We did some shopping for her party, had her 1 year pictures taken, and had a doctor's appointment. I know, I know, I am the worst mother in the world making my daughter go to the doctor and get shots on her actual birthday. We had it scheduled a week later, but the doctor had to change it, so I got stuck with it being on her birthday. She is in the 10%-25% for weight (19 pounds), 25% for height (28.5 inches) and of course 95% for head circumference. She is developing well and the doctor was pleased. So, YAY!!! She did have to have 5 vaccinations that day, which was rough, but we powered through and let her have cake after dinner to make up for it! However, one week later, she developed a rash and fever over 101. Surprise, my daughter is one of the 5% of kids who react to the MMR vaccine. Poor girl is still a bit off, but getting back to herself more and more each day.

Here are some pics from her actual first birthday, 12/1.





And with a first birthday comes a first cake. Ella, lucky girl that she is, got to have cake 3 times that week! We gave her cake on her birthday in an attempt to get her to forget that we made her see the doctor and get shots....



And then she got to have more cake at her party 12/4



And then again at a family party for the Bliven clan on 12/5



She loved loved loved the cake each time, and did a great job of digging in and making a mess, I was so proud!

We had her first birthday party at our house on 12/4. We had about 30 people come by to celebrate. Ella was a bit overwhelemed at first, but did great and had a good time playing with her cousin Darren and gal pals Sam, Avery, Astrid and Katelyn.

I baked a cake for the occassion....I am not much of a baker, nor am I a cake decorator, but I thought I did pretty good!



Here is Ella getting all fired up for the party and waiting for the guests to arrive. She was playing with her candle, making sure everyone knew she was 1.



After opeining her presents, she was crawling around with a little bow on her butt, too cute!



She got to show her new toys to grandpa



And to the grandmas, who look very entertained by this doll house she got....



Ella's Godparents Steph and Nick came by to celebrate



And Aunt Kelli drove all the way here from Iowa to party with Ella



Ella had all sorts of gifts to open and was quite helpful ripping paper off and removing tissue paper from the bags. After this performance, I am looking forward to watching her open her Christmas gifts!!



Today she helped us look for a chop down a Christmas tree for the first time. This involved getting super bundled up in her new snow suit and braving the storm. We got absolutely dumped on with snow today and it is still not done.





We have had quite the busy month, and we still have 1/2 of it to go! We are looking forward to another addition to the family, my sister in law Darcy is pregnant and will be having a baby girl 12/15. I am so excited to have a neice and I cannot wait to meet her!

I am not sure that I will be back here before the holidays, so Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!