Maelin's First Christmases!

Boy, it's been a busy but super fun time with the little one. On Christmas Eve, we went to my Aunt Laura's for dinner and xmas fun with her teenaged daughters (I can't believe how fast those girls have grown up!), my sister and her two boys, my mom of course and Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kat. We had a great time!

Maelin was a champ. She was tired from all the activity, but she hung in there in typical "I can go anywhere and do anything" fashion. She took a quick nap when we first got there and then again with my Aunt Laura around 8:30pm and then we took her home and she went right to sleep like always. She is SUCH a good baby. We are so totally lucky: not only is our little one cute, sweet, smart and happy, but she's so GOOD. We can usually take her anywhere and she's so mellow about the whole situation.

Anyway, we had a great time opening presents with my family. Here are a couple pictures of Maelin's first Xmas Eve with the Kimling Klan:




My two nephews couldn't have been cuter either. Ryan was singing "The Music Man" all night was given a "band in a box" from Kat and Jeff, so he was pretty excited. He also had a great time playing with the two older girls. Cole was adorable...we gave him a Pizza Set and after he opened that, he didn't want anything to do with any other gifts...he was hilarious.

We were pretty tired when we got home on xmas eve, so we all went to bed and woke up to...SNOW! 8 inches of snow to be exact! It was the biggest snowfall on Xmas Day in 40 years! It would have been picture-perfect if we hadn't had to get in the car and drive 40 minutes through the snow to Grandma's house...(isn't there a song about that?????) We almost didn't make it but we prevailed and showed up at Kevin's Mom's house just in time to see everyone and start another round of gifts.

Kevin's sister-in-law Sally gave us a fantastic "Baby Signs" book that we've already started using with Maelin. I'll post another time about how beneficial this is supposed to be for kids. It's pretty fun figuring out what "mommy" and "daddy" and "cat" means...we also got some really cute toys for Baby. Nana (my mom) and Grandma (Kevin's mom) went all out and got her some great books, clothes, toys and stuffed animals. My mom got Maelin her first baby doll! It's the cutest thing ever. Here's a few pics of Maelin celebrating her first Xmas Day:





We battled our way back into town through the snow, said a sad "goodbye" to Nana and settled in on Xmas night. I was exhausted and sweet baby Maelin slept like a champ. We woke up on the 26th to Santa! He had come all the way through the snow to see the baby since she's sooooo good. She had a great time opening up her stocking and the "busy ball popper" that daddy got her.

After all that, we've been taking it very easy. Kevin had to go to work, but Maelin and I have stayed home (it snowed again yesterday so we didn't even leave the house for 2 days!) and we've taken naps together, read books, played with new toys and just really really enjoyed being home. I LOVE not going to work!!!

9 days left...make the time slow down!!