cheerios | funny chas | christmas photo shoot!

Last week I gave Ellie a few Cheerios. The baby books all say this is fine, but Ryan and I get so nervous about her choking - it seems she does too when she actually gets a piece of food into her mouth, at which point she starts gagging and panicking. I think I'm going to wait a while more before embarking on finger foods, for all of our sanity. However, the following video of her first experience with Cheerios is worth sharing. She enjoyed holding them in her hands and sucking on them when she was actually able to get them to her lips. Plus, she was in one of those moods where she was squeaking a lot, which I always find highly entertaining!

Experimenting with Cheerios (12/17)

Ellie has also been afraid of strangers lately, bursting into tears when she is confronted by someone she doesn't know very well. I was sort of nervous this past weekend when we went to lunch with a whole bunch of out of state family, plus Aunt Linda and our nephew Chas. But she did so great! She didn't cry at all, even when people started scooping her up and cuddling her; she seemed to enjoy observing all the new faces and getting extra love and attention. After lunch, Linda and Chas came back to the house for a bit, and here is the fun that ensued:

Laughing at cousin Chas (12/20)

This past weekend we also held a photo shoot of Elliott in her Christmas dress, which was given to her by my mother (thanks Mom!) She looked so adorable, and the pictures turned out really cute! Ryan also gets a big "thank you" for humoring me and helping out so much with the background and props - after some initial eye rolling. Here are the three "winners" that ended up on our holiday e-card, followed by a few equally cute runners-up:

The three winning shots (12/20)


Plus some mighty cute runners-up!

Mom, I also wanted to include these of your granddaughter in the "casual" Christmas-wear you got her. I think she looks precious, and these will keep her warm and comfy on Christmas day when she gets sick of her dress!

Chillin' in my casual Christmas gear (12/18)