Jolly Old Saint Nick

Friday night was our ward Christmas party, and as promised there was a "special visitor" in attendance. Gus and I had been prepping Lilly for days hoping that she would enjoy her experience on Santa's lap this year. I figured she would do okay because she has a special love for old men and grandpas. Fortunately, I was right. She didn't mind sitting on Santa's lap one bit, and she loved the candy cane (kee kane) that he gave her. She talked about Santa (Ta Ta) all weekend long, and on Sunday when we told Lilly it was time to get ready for church she could hardly contain herself. She ran around the house yelling, "Ta Ta! Ta Ta!" She was pretty disappointed when Santa didn't show up at Sacrament Meeting.

Santa giving Lilly a "kee kane" with a card.

Lilly's not sure about Santa touching her arm...

A Day At The Park...Finally!

The weather warmed up just enough yesterday for us to get out and go to the park. It's been so cold lately! Here are a few pictures from our outing.

Lilly's House

Last week Lilly started climbing out of her crib - the end of naps and my alone time as I knew it. I had a good cry and then I had Gus convert the crib into a toddler bed. We moved everything out of Lilly's room except for her bed, rocking chair, lamp, and noise machine.

The next four days involved a lot of yelling and crying from both me and Lilly. I asked friends and family for their advice on how to get Lilly to stay in her bed. Nothing seemed to work. I would leave her in her room for hours and she never cried, she would just talk and play with everything that was left in her room.

She stripped her sheets off her bed and made a bed for her and Kat on the floor. She played in the blinds. She made a fort from the cushions off the rocking chair. You name it, she did it. Everything except sleep. Even though I baby-proofed her room I was afraid she was going to get hurt.

So, on the third day during nap time I started putting her back in her bed every time she got out. Four hours later and 75 times back in bed I knew it was going nowhere and so I gave up. The fifth day was more of the same with multiple trips back to bed and still no nap. As the days went by, she got more and more tired because of the lack of naps.

I finally told Gus that he was going to have to eat $80 and buy Lilly a crib tent. I would have spent $800 on the stupid thing. It was exactly what we needed. We call it "Lilly's house" and she loves it. The first nap time we put her in it she seemed relieved and fell right to sleep. It has been bliss ever since. Now maybe we can keep her in a crib until she is 10.

Oh Christmas Tree

Gus and I have never had our own Christmas tree until this year. I can't decide if it's because Gus is so cheap, or because we've never had room for one. Well, this year we have absolutely NO room and Gus is cheaper than ever. Honestly, I don't know how I suckered him into buying us a 6.5 ft pre-lit Christmas tree for $35 from Walmart, but I did. Come to think of it, it may have been because it was so darn cheap!

Well, Lilly absolutely loves it. She helped us decorate it (until she started throwing the ornaments everywhere). Now that it is decorated the way I want it she continues to redecorate it every day. Every morning she wakes up, plugs in the tree, and claps yelling, "Yay Ni Ni!" I know I shouldn't let her plug it in, but what the heck? She would do it anyway no matter how many times I yell at her. Alas, I give in and hope that she doesn't electrocute herself.