Lots to catch up on over the last couple of months, and I will try to do so since I know that many people have been checking for updates! First I wanted to update everybody with some videos and photos from Christmas, and this is going to be another long one, so I hope you have some free time.
The Christmas season this year was so much more special than it has been in year's past, and that is because Cece now knows what presents are and that Santa Claus was going to come visit. We wanted to make it special by getting some family photos and I saw a Groupon for Sears Portrait Studio, so I got the Groupon and we got a couple of good photos. Please don't ever use Sears Portrait Studio (at least the one by us in Durham), as the entire experience was miserable. Cece had been stopped up in the days leading up to the photo shoot, so that morning she was not happy, and popped right before and also during the photo shoot. Poor Michelle had to manage Cece in the public bathroom at 7 months pregnant, but luckily her parents were there to help. Like I said, we got a couple of good photos, but we will certainly never go back there.
Love this one of Cece and I, just wish she looked happier!
I put this photo in here just to show you how done she was with the photo shoot at this point.
Out front of our house before we left for pictures, next year I will have to get some real decorations.
Since we were already at the mall and dressed up, we also decided to stop by for a visit to Santa Claus, and thank goodness we got there early, because by the time it opened up, the line was long. We were like the fifth family in line, so it didn't take to long. We tried to get her to sit on Santa's lap, but she wasn't having any part of it, so she just sat on my lap. I thought it ended up turning out to be a pretty good photo.
Since we already had a lot of hand me down toys from my brother and sister, we didn't actually need a lot for Cece for Christmas. So to be sure that Santa got her presents that she really liked, we took her to Toys R Us one evening and just let her browse around the store. There was one thing in particular that she really keyed in on, and that was a Minnie Mouse vacuum. I know what you are thinking, this toy is just perpetuating the gender divide and trying to turn young girls into women who stay at home and clean, but her mother is going to have no part of that. Here is a video of Michelle talking with Cece and when Cece says what she wants, it is actually "Minnie Mouse vacuum."
Another Christmas tradition that Cece was very excited to partake in was the making of Christmas cookies! She had such a great time mixing the cookies and cutting out the shapes from the dough. Michelle told her that chocolate chip cookies were my favorite, so she kept going around and saying we are making Daddy's favorite, which was really cute!
She did pretty good at rolling out the dough!
Cece has definitely been getting prepared to be a big sister, and here are some good examples of that. The first one is when our friends Graham and Noelle brought their daughter Gloria over for a visit before Christmas. Cece for some reason still has trouble saying Gloria (she always says Boria, and when you emphasize the g in Gloria, she says Ga-Boria), but she loves hanging out with her. Here are a few photos from that visit along with a couple of photos she made me take afterwards of me and her.
She wanted me to take a cheese of her.
And then take a cheese of me.
Another example was at Michelle's company Christmas party where a coworker of Michelle's daughter had on pretty much the same dress, and Cece played with her for a little bit, but was definitely more interested in her little sister.
Maybe this will be a new dance craze?
She just wanted to play with the baby more than anything else.
And this is what happens when Cece tries to do her own makeup and we aren't looking (usually she helps Mommy in the mornings).
Now we are finally to Christmas morning, which we were all very excited for! Cece definitely knew that Santa Claus was coming, because we put out milk and cookies for him the night before, and that he was going to bring presents, but we weren't sure if she was really prepared for it. She actually was very calm and didn't go ripping through all of her presents, and actually we had to take a break and open presents after lunch and a nap because she took her time and enjoyed each present. Here is a video of her coming down the stairs very excited, that's cool!
She got lots of Minnie Mouse presents.
The proud new owner of a Minnie Mouse vacuum!
Here she is using her new vacuum and wondering where Santa Claus went.
One of her other favorite presents was a little guitar that we found at a children's toy store in Southport, NC when we had a mini vacation with just the two of us to have some down time before the baby came. She had already been obsessed with the electronic guitars that she had gotten, so we decided to go for the real thing. She immediately decided to put on a concert for us in her new rocking chair, which was so much fun to watch!
She also got a blow dryer for her doll Maddie, that she really loved so she could be like Mommy.
It was a musically themed Christmas, complete with bongos!
Michelle did such a good job helping Santa Claus get all of the presents right this year!
She got a crayon apron and cute little sweat suit that she also really liked.
We really enjoyed Christmas this year, I can now see why parents do crazy things for their children every Christmas. We thought that Toys R Us was out of Minnie Mouse vacuums at one point and were extremely worried that the one toy she really wanted wasn't going to be there. Luckily we found it at another store. I can't wait for next year when we will have two little girls and I will have to chase down the next big thing for Cece!
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