Phew

Well, Christmas has come and gone and I'm still recovering. Alex had a great first Christmas and will likely be climbing out from under his pile of toys until his birthday. It's so bad we're turning the bonus room into a playroom for him. Now I'm on a search for a loveseat to put in there (can't get a couch into the room because of the way the hallway is) and Justin is going to build built-in shelves into the wall so Alex won't lose any floor space for his 1000's of toys. It really was kind of ridiculous how much stuff he got. Justin and I were good, though. He got a playground ball, stacking rings, a penguin and sorting blocks from us. It was the grandparents that went crazy - but I know they had fun doing it so, no worries!

Justin and I also had our newly annual day after Christmas party and it was a lot of fun. We got to see a bunch of people we only see once a year and I got to see a friend that I haven't really hung out with since high school! I was so excited that she showed up - it was awesome. It was also a pretty huge night because it was the first time Alex spent the night away from us. I wasn't too excited about that, but he did great at his Nana and Papa's house and enjoyed himself. It was pretty hard on us though because I really missed him. It's funny how attached you get - and how quickly!

Oh - and Alex has graduated into a "big boy" car seat now. He's officially at the weight limit for his infant car seat so we bought a convertible car seat yesterday. Thankfully we went with a high weight limit on the infant seat because we were able to stall that purchase for a little while. We went with a high weight limit on the convertible seat as well - which means we had to part with a lot more cash - but its all worth it in the end. Alex rode in his new seat today and I think he's much more comfortable now. He really was squished in the infant seat.

Nicole and Erin also came over to visit today since they weren't in town during our party. I miss them so much and it was fun to watch the childhood development graduate student interact with Alex. Erin was pretty entertaining as well since her only experience is with cats - but she was great with him! And Erin cut my cats long nails which was AWESOME! I have incredibly bad eyesight so they get trimmed once a year when Erin is in town ;)

Here are some pics from Alex's first Christmas!

Picking out our first Christmas tree:




Reindeer butt!!!




Tired but still interested in the presents:






Alex and Maddie: