Mia's First Christmas

Nick and I discovered firsthand how all the wonder and excitement of Christmas is magnified many times over with the addition of a little one. This year we spent the holidays in Omaha with the Inzerello clan and were lucky enough to stay for a week-and-a-half. Many gifts, friends, family, and good times later, we returned home to DC with about 500 pictures. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy blog posting...

One of the first things on the agenda when we arrived was taking family pictures. With no one behind the cameraman to make Mia smile, we were a little worried, but we ended up with some decent ones after all.

It was so fun to have "Uncle Stu" join us for Christmas too.

Erin & Stuart make it official in July!

Sweet little Mia...

Not so sweet Mia... Sorry about your nose, Grandma.

Mia was not too fond of the Santa hat at first... She pulled a "Clark Griswald with a squirrel on his back" face...

...but she enjoyed it a little more once she realized how to take it off.

Most of the trip, Mia spent her days being pampered and adored.

Grandpa just couldn't wait for Mia to wake up in the mornings. We caught him sitting outside her door watching her sleep (see evidence below), wearing out the carpet between his room and hers in the mornings, and pulling her into bed with Grandma & Grandpa at the first signs of her stirring. It was pretty adorable.

The three of us were able to head down to Kansas City to visit friends for a quick overnight trip and had a great time catching up with everyone and seeing how much their kids had grown. Thanks for your hospitality, Steve & Erica!

Next on the agenda was Mia's first picture with Santa. We had to wait a little bit while Santa was on his break & taking a nap in his chair, but Mia was patient. She knew her take on Christmas morning depended on it.

Finally Santa was ready & Mia was a star. Santa was pretty surprised when there were no tears, especially compared to the children before and after her. At some point we are going to have to teach Mia to be a little more wary of strangers, but for now we are loving that she isn't super clingy.

One of the highlights of the trip for Mia was being around so many other kids. Stuart's nephew is only 5 days older than Mia & they had a great time playing together.

Mia made fast friends with her adoring fans.

One of Erin's friends had a daughter just a few weeks before us.

When they came to visit, Mia was enamored.

And perhaps a little too friendly.

When we got to see our friends, the Beckers, Mia couldn't take her eyes off of "the big girl".

And she was in good hands with all of the cousins.

On Christmas Eve, Mia looked cute in her holiday outfit...

...but the hat was a little too big.

The highlight of Christmas morning for Mia was, of course, the paper and the ribbon.

Grandma & Grandpa gave her a stroller and her first doll. Nick wasn't too excited about how girly it all was, but recovered quickly after realizing it was inevitable. Mia IS a girl after all.

Auntie Erin is helping Mia foster an appreciation for shoes.

Our trip was extended a few days when a blizzard hit on Christmas Eve and dumped 18 inches on Omaha. It was beautiful & we were glad to have a very white Christmas and a little more time with family.

Nick, Stuart, and Al were busy keeping up with it.

Luckily, Al has two of just about every tool you can imagine & the work went pretty quickly.

We had such a great time and are all going through withdrawls. It was nice for both Mia & for Nick and I to have lots of people around who wanted to take care of Mia all the time. That was one of the best gifts ever!

Bah Humbug

Poor Mia has had kind of a rough week. She is on the verge of cutting her first teeth and has been pretty miserable with that. In the last couple of days she has developed a terrible cold and cannot breathe through her nose at all (which complicates things a bit when she tries to eat). As a result, we have had the nasal aspirator within constant reach, and Mia, who usually doesn't mind it too much, has had about enough.

Ebe-Sneezer Scrooge

She had had about enough of the Papparazi too. No more pictures....... please!

To top it all off, we went with a little mid-week visit to the doctor's office where Mia received her second seasonal flu & H1N1 shots. Once again, she was a trooper & didn't cry for either one, but watching it happen always makes me so sad.

Maybe next week we'll sign her up for Jazzercise... Check out those legs!

Needless to say, we are all a little worn out & hope Mia feels better soon.

The Many Faces of Mia

Mia has so many great facial expressions (especially now that she is teething) & there is no way to snap pictures of all of them. However, during this one bath time we were able to capture quite a few.

I can't get enough of this toothless smile.

What's not to love?

First Snow

On Saturday, Mia experienced snow for the first time! She loved watching the huge, white flakes fall from the sky. She could have stared out the window all day.

Oh, the awe and wonder...

Hat Trick

Mia got a new hat.

She liked it at first, then wasn't so sure. Grandpa Al swayed her opinion when he said she looked like a "Slovenian homeless woman".

Mia is now determined to learn how to pull hats off.

The Joys of Turkey Day

A couple of days before Thanksgiving, Nick and I had a conversation about how we both thought Thanksgiving might just be our favorite holiday. We love Christmas, but Thanksgiving didn't have all the stress of buying gifts and the madness of the holiday schedules. As I agreed whole-heartedly with Nick that Thanksgiving was wonderful, I had a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn't figure out until the night before Turkey Day. I realized what it was as I was faced with the realization of everything I had to get together by the next morning. Stress. I forgot that Thanksgiving has stress too... it's just all packed into one 24 hour period, so it doesn't seem like much compared to the entire month of December. And I wasn't even the one hosting it! I suddenly had a lot of sympathy for my mom for all those years when she essentially prepared the whole feast on her own. Sure, we helped, but were a bunch of kids really all that helpful? That thought was enough to make me never want to shoulder the whole meal by myself in the future...EVER. Admittedly, Nick confessed that his family had spoiled him into thinking that the men didn't have to do anything on Turkey Day but play football, eat, watch football, and eat again. I'm sure he will always look forward to the years when we are in Omaha for Thanksgiving, when he can revert back to his old ways... In the meantime, I'm grateful for his help!

This year, Nick kicked things off with a Turkey Trot through Old Town Alexandria.

Then we headed off to Mike & Mary's house to enjoy the next two days with the Selden clan.

Our friend, Nate, joined us & agreed to hold Mia for the first time... We've got proof now, Nate! Before long we'll have you changing diapers.

Sue, Brian, my cousin Jessica, & her husband, Ryan chattin' it up before dinner.

Grandma Sue couldn't have been happier to have so much of the family together... unless, of course, we could have gotten the Jacksons to join us. We missed you guys!

Mia was feeling the love from her cousins.

Turns out, those Selden kids inherited some of the music genes. First a piano concert...

... then a jam session on the drums. Great Grandpa Butch would be proud, Tyler.

Mike led some of the family in a serious game of Puerto Rico... I generally opt out of the epic games, but Mia was whispering strategies to Grandpa Wally the whole time.

Since it isn't a Selden year for Christmas in 2009, we did our 2nd annual Yankee gift exchange at Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, there were only 3 iTunes gift cards in play this time.

We had a great time and were grateful to Mike & Mary for hosting us all. Their new house was perfect for the gathering and everything was beautiful!