Ellison Reese

Well, I wasn't sure which would come first - the baby or the New Year, but obviously this blog name has to change with our impending addition if I don't want to pay a bunch of therapy bills for our second child. So I suppose a good cut-off point is the New Year. Though this blog will stay up, I will no longer post to it.

NOTICE: ***Our family blog will now be at www.sotojourney.blogspot.com

It's boring looking, but I will wait to decorate it until I can have new family pics and such. At any rate, we hope to see you there! You can be sure I'll keep you up-to-date date on everything - even that which you didn't care to know. ;-) Hopefully one of our next posts will be the announcement of our Little Bundle entering our world. Stay tuned!

Man, we Sotos are quite the party animals! For New Year's Eve, we went to dinner at The Olive Garden (thank you, Tato & Nilda), then headed home to prep for our family countdown at 8:00pm. We decided to do it early for Mookie's sake, and let's face it - we both were not betting on me staying awake until midnight. The last few years my track record has not been a good one, even without being very pregnant. :-)

The three of us cut up some paper confetti for the big moment, and Ellison filled up three cups of water for us to toast to.

The 8pm countdown. Ellison kept wanting to do it over and over...

Toasting with our water cups picked out especially by Ellison.

And she kept sprinkling confetti in my hair over and over.

For the record, I did make it to midnight, but I kissed my honey and rolled right over to sleep.

[December 31, 2010]

Ellison's been asking for a "side ponytail just like Liv" ever since her cousin, Olivia, wore a side ponytail at Ell's birthday party. I just kept telling Ellison we'd have to wait until her hair was a little longer. Well when Daddy took her out for the day this past week to run a bunch of errands, Ellison stumbled upon the very same fancy ponytail holders that Olivia wore on that fateful day. She came walking through the door saying "... now you can give me a side ponytail just like Liv's!". So I obliged, and she loved it.

Can't you see the joy?

But really, she did love it.

[December 30, 2010]

In our never ending quest to scratch some "projects" off our list, Ellison and Daddy finally went through all of our loose change, and then Ellison emptied her heavy piggy banks so she could make a nice deposit into her bank account. What is she saving up for? A trip to Paris. Kid you not. Every time she sees the Eiffel Tower she gets so excited - "Mom, that's Paris!!!". She has said repeatedly that she wants to go there. And why? Because of Barbie's Fashion Fairytale. She's bound and determined that she's going to go to Paris to visit Aunt Millicent.

Daddy took her to the bank so she could do her very own banking.

[December 30, 2010]

Ellison loves to do this thing where she gets right in your face and smashed her nose against yours, and giggles like crazy. It makes her totally giddy.

We are trying to enjoy our family time while Daddy is somewhat off work this week, and before our family life becomes a little crazier soon. We all felt a little stir-crazy, so we decided to take Ellison to the Ice House to go ice skating for the very first time. She was so excited to skate like Annika (from the Barbie movie)!

I have to say, this girl can walk in skates better than I can walk in shoes! And yes, I was simply a spectator this time.

We got to meet up with our friend, Chuck, and he gave this stand thingy to Ellison to help her out. She thought it was cool.

But then after one pass with it, she decided she didn't look so cool, so she ditched it. After a few passes, they took a quick break. She told me, "I can't skate like Annika." I had a little discussion with her about practicing, and after I pointed out some girls in the center of the rink that were doing fancy spins and such, she lit up and said "I wanna go again!"

Time for a hot cocoa and popcorn break.

We kept trying to tell her it was the last pass, since I had to work that evening and needed a nap, but every time they came around near me she'd say, "Just one more time?". I decided the pure smiles coming off that little face were worth me being wiped out and tired at work. She (and we) had SO much fun!

By the time we were getting close to leaving, Ellison was doing SO well on her skates!!! Her ankles don't wobble at all, and she even took a couple of passes with Daddy just holding onto one hand by the end!

[December 29, 2010]

Daddy's been playing around with the camera...

At one point during the day, Jonathan and I realized Ellison had been quiet for a long time. We called for her and called for her all over the house, and I kept thinking she must've fallen asleep while hiding or something. We could not find her anywhere, and she wouldn't answer us. Jonathan finally found her behind the Christmas tree, quietly decorating the tree topper with some bulbs.

[December 28, 2010]

Normally we wait until New Year's to take down our Christmas stuff, but as is my style this season, we're starting it early! Poor Jonathan wants to puke, since the hard work actually falls on his shoulders, but I'm finding myself being much more OCD lately in case I go into labor. Ellison wasn't/isn't thrilled about putting away the fun Christmas toys, decorations, and stuffed animals, so I'm having to sneak some away when she's not watching me like a hawk, and I have to promise her she can choose one Christmas animal to stay out this year. Her reindeer will go great with the "Valentimes" teddy and Shamrock bear in her room.

Thankfully our little organizer was excited to help put away Christmas ornaments off the tree.

Yes, Ellison has jammies on. Every single day she wants to either stay in her jammies from nighttime, or she begs to put on her jammies about an hour after getting dressed.

Had to include this shot because I can't believe I am so enormous!

Earlier that morning, I took Ellison to the pediatrician's because she has an ear infection. All along you'd never know she didn't feel good, but this afternoon she went downhill a little, and you could tell she wasn't feeling well at all. :-(

[December 27, 2010]

It just doesn't happen in North Carolina for Christmas. How awesome is this?!

The next day I had to work. After being off for over a month, I was eager to contribute to our income once again, if only for a little while before Bundle arrives. I thought for sure Ellison and Jonathan would've played like crazy out in the snow, but Jonathan said Ellison kept saying she didn't want to. (?!) After bugging her about it all day, she finally was ready to do it just before I arrived home from work. They had lots of fun out there, and I had fun watching. But poor baby needs her some snowpants!

Daddy pulled out the little saucer her got her, and pulled her around the front yard with a jumprope. She had the BEST belly laughs and just squealed with laughter. My face hurt from smiling so much.

She kept telling Daddy to pull her "just medium" - not too fast, and not too slow. Her little body would whip around so fast on that snow!

And BOY let me tell you what a Daddy's girl she is over the last couple of weeks!!!

Taking handfuls of snow to eat.

[December 26, 2010]

What a great Christmas we had! Jonathan and I were awake bright and early with anticipation at about 6:50am, thinking Ell might awaken early knowing Santa had probably come. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And talked a lot. And waited. And watched TV. And waited... Until she finally woke up at 8:15 and came down the hallway. She was a little hesitant, and wanted to make sure I would go down with her and hold her hand. When she saw the presents she smiled, and asked me to help her open the first one. I'm not sure why she was being shy about it at first. But then she quickly got into it. Santa brought her a new doll house, complete with all the fixins.

Then we got to open lots of presents from family, too.

Ellison unwrapped our gift from God, the baby Jesus to place in the manger. She got a kick out of opening a series of nesting boxes to get to our ultimate Christmas gift.

After opening up the goodies and playing and baking, we went over to our friends, the Spences, for a delicious brunch with a bunch of great friends. The Spences invite over anyone who doesn't have family in town to come and join together to celebrate on Christmas morning. It was our second year going, and we enjoyed it so much! Ellison is in love with the Spence kids' new rockin' kitchen set, and of course requested one just like it to replace her dinky little one. While we were there we were thrilled to see the beautiful surprise of a white Christmas coming to fruition!

After coming home for naps and more cooking and playing, we traipsed through the beautiful fallen (and falling) snow to our next-door neighbors, the Confortes (Nani Joan and Mr. Bill according to Ellison), for a big Christmas dinner with a house full of people. Even though we didn't know many of the people there, we had such a great time visiting in a nice, relaxed atmosphere. Ellison, shy at first, quickly warmed up, and had the best time, too. She was such an angel, and was being so polite and sweet, and just behaved very well. Whew! I wasn't sure based on how the last couple of weeks have gone.

Then it was back home to chill the rest of the evening and enjoy the gorgeous falling snow coming down outside. What a great Christmas!

[December 25, 2010]

Doesn't this just scream "Joy to the World"?...

Ellison was NOT into having a photo op before church on Christmas Eve. She had a fake smile in almost every pic. And I think she was ticked off that her "curly curlies" were too tight. She kept telling me she wanted bigger ones, not small ones, but I guess my hair curling skills were off that day.

We were happily surprised the day before when Jonathan's nephew, Tato, called and said they would like to come up for Christmas Eve. Ellison was so excited to see the girls, and even more excited to find out that she could sit by them for the Christmas service at church.

Ellison, Bianca, and Natalia

Natalia, Nilda, Bianca, and Tato

[December 24, 2010]