Family Christmas

Dec 21st is technically not Christmas. But it was at the Facknitz house this year! Santa came early to our house because we'll be boarding a plane for St Louis tomorrow and he figured we wouldn't be able to take all the toys home in our suitcases. We were SO excited to help Santa set up all the toys and goodies. And although Elaine is too young to understand this holiday or its traditions, we didn't hold back on any details! Waiting at the top of the stairs, filming the descent, playing 'Canadian Brass' Christmas record, taking turns opening a gift at a time, having a big buckwheat & blueberry pancake breakfast, we did it all. Elaine had a wonderful time. Just see for yourself!

The Big Event!

Opening Present with Mommy

Opening Present with Daddy

10 Months; Elaine's First Holiday Season

Our baby is 10 months old? We're just 9 short weeks away from her first birthday? These epiphanies repeatedly bring the phrase "you've got to be kidding" through our chapped Colorado lips, but the calendar doesn't lie. This year has flown by, as everyone said it would.

She's finding new ways of communicating with her parents, now signing for the word "more" and doing a lip-smack noise when she's hungry or wants to eat whatever you're eating. And as you can see by the above and below pictures of her in an adorable outfit her mother wore 32 years ago, she's as cute as ever. Every time we leave the house with her, we can be sure she'll create a small scene somewhere with her smile.

Yes, Elaine looks a lot like Grammy Facknitz. We love that Chooch is sporting the Canadian National hat in the above picture!

Our daughter is still unimpressed with crawling as means of moving around. She finds leaning forward, scooting and pivoting much more to her liking. On the advice of counsel from a fellow Music Together attendee, we placed Puffs on the floor out of reach and had her "fetch" them herself. This was the result;

Puff Crawl Challenge

Elaine's first Thanksgiving was made complete with a delightful visit from Grammy and Chooch. They made the drive from Holland, Michigan and stayed a whopping 9 days. It was a welcome relief for Elaine's parents, who took full advantage with date nights to Blue Star and performing a couple of shows as a duo, which is a rare occurrence lately. Here's what Thanksgiving looked like in the Colorado Facknitz household.

We kept it simple, purchasing a pre-cooked Turkey breast, gravy in a jar, cranberries from a can and pilsner crescent rolls from the grocery store. However, Lindsay slaved away making the mashed potatoes, dressing, and carrot ring, a Weidmann family tradition. Elaine's first taste proved she is indeed at least one-half Weidmann. It's her new favorite holiday treat.

After Elaine went to sleep for the night, Jeremy, Lindsay, Gram and Chooch watched "Scrooge", the musical (a Facknitz holiday tradition) and sipped cider in front of Megan Weidmann's old TV/VHS player in the utility room. It was much nicer than it sounds.

Since we weren't sure we'd be getting together again at Christmas (it all depends on the weather), Gram and Chooch wanted to see Elaine open her Christmas presents from them in person. So Elaine's first Christmas technically started in late November, and will continue through the New Year. It's not so much a day as it is a festival.

Gram and Chooch did a great job, showering her with a beautiful matching winter coat and hat, a toy that will assist her motor skills, a reindeer, and other things. Uncle Jarod sent along Elaine's first set of blocks. It was a wonderful first of many "first" Christmas events Elaine will experience this year!

Elaine is enthralled with all things Christmas, and it's so much fun for her parents to rediscover the magic through her eyes. She loves the Christmas tree, the music and the lights. One fantastic find from the recent extended stay at the Weidmann family house in Belleville was a VHS recording of Neil Diamond's Christmas special from 1993. As you can see, Elaine is enthralled with Jewish Elvis.

Neil Diamond, The Christmas Special

On 12/11, we figured it was time Elaine met the Big Man. We dressed her in her holiday finest and took her up the mountain to the North Pole, located just outside Cascade, Colorado, just west of Manitou Springs (and you probably thought it was actually at the North Pole!)

The North Pole is open every year from May through Christmas Eve. It's been around since 1956 and appears as though it hasn't been touched since 1956 aside from general maintenance. Jeremy loves the simple, throw-back, 1950's vibe of the place. Elaine took her first ride ever on a carousel, we saw a magic show and watched Elmer the Elf sing some rewritten tunes ("In the big rock candy mountains, you never change your socks, and the trickling streams of LEMONADE come-a tricklin' down the rocks"), marveled at the 1920's Wurlitzer's throughout the park that play Christmas music at the top of each hour, took the train around the park and... met Santa. Although Elaine was fearless, I think mom and dad were more excited than Elaine to meet with Santa Clause, who says he's met 25,000 to 30,000 kids in the last 5 years! That's a lot of little ones!

First Theme Park Ride!

We're enjoying Elaine's first Christmas season, and look forward to our trip back to Belleville on 12/22 for Christmas in Illinois. Our next blog will document the magic that was Christmas 2014. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours, from the Facknitz Ferret Farm!

PS: Today IS Elaine's 10th Month birthday and she has another tooth on the bottom! And the other is starting to poke up too. Almost 6 teeth! Such a big girl!

Approaching the 9 month mark

I can’t believe how big our little baby is getting. And I can’t believe the first year of her life is 3/4ths over!!! How these precious days fly.

Elaine is more and more of a little person. She talks regularly now. Yes, its still babbling, ‘ya ya yaaaa, dada babaababa, maaama,’ but its quite expressive. She talks while she plays by herself and she talks with Jeremy and I often. Of course with new people and situations she still observes mostly. But the quality of her talking continues to develop. We’re doing little sign language signs with her and there have been a few times where she actually SAYS something close to what I’m saying signing. “Up? …. Uh.” “Daddy? Dada!” No doubt about it. She’s understanding a lot  these days.

As for mobility, no crawling yet but she LOVES to stand. We inherited an exersaucer and a little musical table from a friend when we got to Colorado and E has used both quite enthusiastically almost everyday. She has also been working on pulling herself up and lowering herself down. She can’t quite pull herself up independently yet but she’s very close. Once, on Daddio’s 96^th birthday, Nov 3^rd, she pushed herself up into a sitting position in her pack n play. She hasn’t done it since but it’s within the realm of possibility! She does pivot herself and roll a lot. She can cover the floor pretty easily so that means we’re officially on baby-proofing territory.

Standing Pretty 

Here’s a little video to give you an idea of her mobility and another one of her quirky phases. She started blowing spit bubbles out of the blue around Halloween and its been one of her favorite pastimes. I don’t know if she understands what she’s doing. She obviously can’t see the bubbles but perhaps she likes the sensation on her lips? What an interesting kid!

Bubble Machine

As for eating, Elaine is trying her hand at self-feeding. We’ve given her little melt-in-the-mouth puffs and although she can slowly pick them up she has yet to accurately get them in her mouth. She’s been successful once or twice but its not consistent. She has slowly been introduced to more and more texturized foods. I’m making her baby food more chunky these days, not completely pureed. She’s also become VERY interested in the foods we’re eating. So I am now giving her little tastes of ‘big people’ food and she has yet to reject anything. Veggie curry? Yup. Beef schwarma? Oh yeah. Cous cous? Yum. Banana pancake? Bring it on. Of course she just gums the food and swallows since she only has 4 teeth but she’s loving the variety!

She also met her little Colorado cousin Robin Tharp this past week. They were SOOO cute together. Robin hasn’t spent any time around another baby so he was quite enthralled. I think they’re gonna be good friends!

Cute CO cousins!

Another milestone that isn't nearly as fun or cute as the others is Elaine and I got our first colds together. Amazingly, she was in much better spirits than I and her illness seemed to be a lot less severe. Hopefully we won't have to have too many repeat performances this season. But it was nice to lay around the house for a few days in our pjs watching the snow fall. Onward with the building of the immune system! 

Halloween!

For Elaine’s first Halloween we decided to add to our little ‘family fruit basket.’ Jeremy and I already had our watermelon and banana costumes from previous years and we decided to make E a sweet little strawberry. She didn’t mind the costume so much as she minded getting in and out of the costume. Now that E is a professional roller, she has developed quite an aversion to getting her diaper changed and getting dressed. We have to keep her entertained with toys and stories if we want to avoid her rolling off the changing table.

We also briefly tried making a little Princess Leia costume using her sleep sack, ducktape, and her brown-haired mermaid but she only tolerated it shortly. Pretty cute though!

One of my favorite moments of the day was watching her and Daddy play ‘Scary Daddy/Baby Fort.’ It went on for a while. Elaine loves playing games with her wonderful Daddy and I love watching them! Here’s a little clip.

Scary Daddy/Baby Fort

Of course its not Halloween without a little taste of candy. E’s first taste of the sinful stuff was a  piece of reeses peanutbutter cup. No allergies!