Ally's 1st Christmas Recap

Ally's first Christmas was a great success! She was a little under the weather on Christmas Eve with a bad cold and an earache that I think was related to teething pain. We ended up skipping church because I decided it was more important for her to get in a good nap. Once she was up, we packed up all of our Christmas presents and drove over to the Martin's house. We had a fun evening and a nice meal together (I love me some honey baked ham!) and we put Ally down to bed in their pack and play so we wouldn't have to rush home. Sadly I ended up falling asleep in an armchair around 9pm so we ended up going home pretty early anyway.

This is Ally sitting in her new 'Ally-sized' armchair in front of our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. It was a gift from her grandparents.

Here is Ally in front of the Martin's tree discovering all the exciting gifts underneath it!

On Christmas morning our little early bird was up at 5am so she and I watched a showing of A Christmas Story on TBS- I love their 24 hour marathon! We got Matthew up around 7:30ish, cleaned up, and headed back over to the Martin's house for breakfast and gifts. We ended up putting Ally down for her nap as soon as we got there. We enjoyed Ray's delicious egg casserole and the famous monkey bread with mimosas then we dug into the gifts- and there were a lot of them! Ally woke up midway through the festivities.

Here she is opening her first Christmas present ever! She was more interested in the bow than the actual gift.

This was our best attempt at a family photo- Ally did not like her hat and Matthew was hiding.

Here's a shot of the whole Martin clan. Ray, Ally (who refused to look at the camera), Dot, Dee, Matthew, me and Brian.

After our gift feast we all played with our new toys and just hung out enjoying each others company. Matthew, Ally and I went home in the late afternoon to relax. Our car was packed full of gifts and we spent a long time unloading and organizing while Ally napped.

She had lots of fun later that evening with all of her toys! The little blocks she's holding in this picture are some of her favorites!

Mom & Dad gave Ally this nifty little car- it makes some great noises! Morrison wasn't too sure about it though and was actually trying to bite the steering wheel in this picture.

Daddy & Ally both woke up happy the morning after Christmas!

We all went down to the beach with the dogs on Friday afternoon- it was pretty chilly and windy though so Ally got all bundled up- isn't her hood the greatest!?

Here is our sweet girl in a cute new outfit that she got for Christmas.

The rest of our long weekend passed by too quickly. We had the Martins and our friends Tony & Megan over for an evening of Mexican food and Mexican train dominoes on Friday night. A good time was had by all- we went through four bottles of wine to prove it! On Saturday afternoon we had a farewell lunch with Brian before he headed back to Charleston. Later that evening Ray & Dee were kind enough to come over to babysit Ally while Matthew and I went over to some friend's house for dinner and some fun Wii games. It was the first time either of us had played and I think Matthew is hooked. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a Wii in our future!

Sunday was lazy- I had too many late nights and early mornings over the Christmas break so I decided to skip church (again) and take a nap while Ally was napping. It was so nice to climb back in bed after putting her down! I napped for two hours and it was totally worth it! We did venture out in the afternoon and did our part to support the economy with trips to Babies R Us and Target. Matthew is off work for a while so he's home today working on projects. I'm working today and tomorrow and then we're off to San Diego for a week with my family and a late Christmas. It's hard to believe that it will be January of 2009 when we return!

A few other Ally related happenings that are worth mentioning... she will definitely be crawling any day now. She can now push herself into a sitting position from her belly and this morning I found her sitting up in her crib for the very first time! I'm sure it's just a matter of time before she's pulling up on the rails. Guess I'd better lower that mattress again! Finally- her 5th tooth has just poked through the gums- it's on the top right side and explains why she had a few really grumpy days last week.

Thanks for checking in- hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that 2009 will bring many wonderful blessings!