First Birthday!

What a fabulous birthday Elise has had! Luckily daddy was able to slip out of work a few minutes early this afternoon. Elise and I got dressed in our winter clothes and met daddy down the street in our sled.... the maiden voyage! Elise was so cute riding in her sled. She sat very still and didn't move much to look around-- partly because she had so many layers of clothes! She screamed when she had to wear her gloves so we pulled her long sleeves down over her hands instead. This was a good compromise and Elise stayed nice and toasty. For dinner, we headed off to JoJos for some pizza.




















Now that we are making Elise's birthday entry, we realize that one year ago she was about to be born. We have come a long way! One year ago, Elise couldn't breathe on her own-- she needed medicine and monitors to keep her safe. She also had to be tube fed. Back then we could never have imagined how much would change. This same little girl now eats like a truck driver-- enjoys gobbling down green beans and beef tenderloin. She also enjoys laying on her stomach in the bathtub and putting her face in the water. Elise is also the girl who waves at other customers who shop at Giant Eagle, carries around her 'monkey man' blanket, and gives big kisses if you ask for one! Who knows where we will be in another year!

Even with all the 'bumps' in the road, there were a zillion wonderful moments that we have had that have made parenthood worth it. Neither Jeff nor myself would trade this past year for anything. Luckily we also have the support of our family and friends-- it truly does take a village to raise a child! We are so thankful for Elise... she has enriched and blessed our lives!!! Happy birthday Elise!

Let's Party!

Yesterday, Elise celebrated her first birthday with the family! We sent out invitations (more for a memento than an actual invite!) that had 12 pictures-- one for each month of Elise's first year.


Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Pappa, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Chris all came over to our house this past Saturday, January 2nd. After drinks and appetizers, Elise opened her gifts. Luckily she had warmed up with unwrapping presents over Christmas!



Elise opened a Busy Zoo Activity Center, a bumblebee Wheely Bug riding toy, a push cart (she loves grocery shopping!), books to add to our her library, clothes, and other thoughtful gifts from family and friends.










We had decorated the dining room with pink and orange decorations during Elise's morning nap. She loved the transformation and approved the decorating committee's work. Daddy worked hard to frost her strawberry cupcakes with both strawberry and chocolate icing. He even decorated the mailbox with streamers-- which the mail lady loved! Most of the party guests wore pink-- but daddy wore his #1 OSU jersey-- maybe next year he'll wear a #2!


After dinner (all of her favorites- turkey sandwiches, Waldorf salad, broccoli salad, and homemade macaroni and cheese) we presented the cupcakes. Elise didn't know what to make of all the singing and clapping.... nor did she know what to do with her strawberry cupcake. She took a few licks of frosting off of her hands and realized she wasn't interested in eating it. Instead, we shared some Neapolitan ice cream. Guess our meat and veggie girl isn't interested in sweets!


After the birthday girl turned in for the night (7pm), we all watched 'Elise's Greatest Hits' dvd that we had made. Since we have compiled so many hours of video from Elise's year, we cut and pasted together all the highlights to make a one-hour video-- which we used as party favors. You really begin to see how far we made it this first year. All the way from the NICU to a birthday party!

Finally, Christmas!

We finally got all the decorating and presents wrapped for Christmas. After a while, the tree didn't look so funny with its cage around it and Elise enjoyed another object to pull up and stand on. Daddy and I told her all about the big day that was approaching. Elise was eager for the festivities!





On Christmas Eve, Grandma and Grandpa Kaiser, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Chris came over to our house for dinner and presents. Elise donned her 'babies first Christmas' Santa outfit and enjoyed being called 'Miss Claus'. After a dinner of garlic mashed potatoes and beef tenderloin, among other things, Elise got to open her presents. She enjoyed carefully unwrapping each of her gifts. Some of her favorite gifts were her Fisher Price lion riding toy, red wagon, and ball popper.
















On Christmas morning, we drove to Medina to spend Christmas with Nana, Poppa, Uncle Rik, great-grandmother Granny, Uncle Kevin, Rachel, Amelie and Santa Claus! Before opening our gifts, the doorbell rang and there appeared Santa Claus! Luckily Elise wasn't afraid to visit with him this time. Santa gave Elise a Tickle-Me-Elmo. After dinner, Elise opened her remaining gifts-- a sled, Leap Frog musical table, blocks and other goodies.





All-in-all, the Christmas season was a ton of fun! What can we say, Elise loves a good party! Hard to believe all this gift opening is just a warm up for her family birthday party next weekend. Our little girl is about to turn 1!

Christmas card picture

Our Christmas cards have finally hit the mail.... now we can post our family picture with Santa.

Thanksgiving and Santa Claus

On Thanksgiving Day, our family drove to Medina to spend the holiday with the Nilsson side of the family. There was quite the full house at Nana's and Poppa's- Uncle Kevin, Rachel, Uncle Rik, both of Elise's great-grandmothers, and Elise's beloved Penny (Nana and Poppa's dog). Of course our little chow hound loved the turkey and all its fixings. Who wouldn't love a holiday that's all about food?! While Elise didn't wake up in time for Black Friday shopping the next day with Nana and Mommy, she was up in time for breakfast out at Buelhers-- her first taste of pancakes before hitting the road back home.














On Saturday, Elise celebrated Thanksgiving with the Kaisers in Maumee. Grandma and Grandpa hosted dinner for everyone- Aunt Amy, Uncle Chris, Uncle Dick and Aunt Jean. This marked the first Thanksgiving where all three brothers (Grandpa, Uncle Dick and Uncle Chris) have been together for a holiday since Uncle Chris moved back from the South and Uncle Dick and Aunt Jean had moved to Hawaii. Elise was thrilled to have another meal of turkey! She ate everything on her plate-- obviously not worried about consuming extra calories since she's been burning them off with all her crawling and standing!


With Thanksgiving over, it's full steam ahead to Christmas! We've put away all of our Thanksgiving decorations and have decorated the house for Christmas. The outdoor lights are up-- including a lit snowman that sits on our deck for optimal Elise viewing. She loves our transformation into a Christmas wonderland and all the festive Christmas music that we sing together. At first, when we set the white lights on the mantle, Elise would just sit on the floor and exclaim 'Hey!'--- as if we might not know they were up there! We've also put up a Christmas tree in our living room-- surrounded by a dog fence so little hands won't pluck off ornaments or topple over the tree.

Yesterday we went to have our family photo taken with Santa Claus. Elise was terrified of the jolly old man. First, we tried photos on Santa's lap-- which proved unsuccessful. We then got a few non-teary pictures with Elise sitting alone in the snow with Santa leaning down towards her. She seemed fine with this compromise. Our family photo turned out perfectly. In fact, it will be part of our Christmas card this year so no sneak preview! Maybe next year won't be so upsetting for Elise. But, I must say that she looked beautiful in her red Christmas dress and black patent leather shoes!

Standing and the Library

Elise always continues to amaze us! Since learning to crawl, life has seemed to have just taken off! Elise is learning to pull into a standing position. She's mastered objects that are lower to the ground but with some help, can pull up on taller things. Today she mastered climbing the one step that separates our greatroom and kitchen without any help. In fact, we haven't even tried giving her the idea that it could be done since up until now, the greatroom was its own little 'playpen'. Now with her explorations, we're quick to pick up the dog dishes (or other contraband) when she makes a beeline towards them. She giggles and laughs as she heads towards them. Elise even crawled up into our coffee table.. of course Garth observed to make sure all was well.




Yesterday I took Elise to the downtown Toledo library for her first of two H1N1 vaccines. Since the line was almost nonexistent, we spent some extra time checking out the children's library on the second floor. The toddler's room had thousands of board books on shelves along the floor-- making it so much fun to pull one book after another onto the ground. She also enjoyed the salt water fish tank so much that she threw a fit when it was time to go. Elise could have stayed all day! It was a fun adventure.

Elise has also begun turn taking. She'll play with a toy and then offer it up to whoever is nearby to engage them. It's very sweet. I've even starting 'training' her to give me fuzz and hair that she finds on the ground (rather than eating them!). It's much appreciated. With all the crawling and fuzz collecting, I'm even vacuuming more than my usual once a day! Maybe I should purchase a Roomba! On another side note, we are getting our fifth tooth!

The Tooth Fairy

Jeff's office had a candy buy-back program this past Monday from 5-7 pm where they bought Halloween candy from children in order to send it to the troops. Each pound fetched a dollar plus a goodie bag that had a free meal at McDonalds, Sponge Bob Square Pants toothpaste and other goodies. Jeff's whole office dressed up for the event....Jeff as Brutus the Buckeye and Elise showed up as the tooth fairy. Surprisingly the tooth fairy was in a wonderful mood even though she had to skip her afternoon nap for a flu shot.... a double bummer! Elise loved her tutu- something that a friend made for her. Aunt Amy hooked her up with her sparkly wand which created a problem when I took it away from her for the car ride home. She didn't understand that eating tinsel may not be a wise idea! The event was a big success and daddy will probably plan to make it a yearly tradition. Elise would have traded in her four pieces of trick-or-treat candy but it wouldn't have fetched more than a penny or two-- plus mommy had already eaten it!


The article that ran in the newspaper about the candy buy back (Oct 28):
http://www.sent-trib.com/stnew/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6479:sweet-deals&catid=1:fp&Itemid=115

The article that ran after the event (Nov. 5):
http://www.sent-trib.com/stnew/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6892:candy-buy-back&catid=19:local&Itemid=34