Time with Uncle Bro

Skating on Erick's board. She really liked it.
Ellis and Erick's morning hair!
Bro and Sis. I really wanted him to stop taking photos so I was a little grumpy.
Ellis and Erick have had a lot of time together this trip to Nashville. She definitely enjoys hanging out with him, especially on his skateboard! More soon...

Ellis's First Christmas

Ellis looks so tiny next to Nonna's big Christmas tree.
She loved feeling the tree.
Being gentle with the Christmas tree.
Getting kisses from her Great Grandmamaw.
She looked so cute in her Santa hat.
I love that face!
The two Santa's were discussing their plan of action for Christmas morning.
Checking out her presents.
Ellis and Mommy
Practicing her walking in Nonna's kitchen

We had such a wonderful Christmas with Ellis this year. It is so nice to have all my family together on Christmas morning. Ellis did quite well through the whole ordeal. She ate some wrapping paper, tore up some bows, and generally did all the things that almost one-year olds should do at their first Christmas. Ellis was lavished with tons of clothes, books (her favorite) and Mister Roger's DVD's (my favorite). In general, it was a wonderful Christmas. Vimal flies home on Sunday, but I'm staying in Nashville until I meet Vimal for New Year's in Atlanta. It will be nice to celebrate New Year's away with Vimal. And I know that Ellis will be completely cared for by both her grandmothers here in Nashville.

Christmas Eve with the Shyamji's

Opening her presents with Bah.
She was more interested in the baby food bottle filled with coins than any of her new toys.
Eric loved his new Nike sneakers.
She was really fond of the Mega Blocks that Dada got for her.
Nechelle liked her new black boots.
Nicholas checking out his MP3 player.
Ellis and Nechelle
Ellis really loved Marcus. She never cuddles like this with anyone. So sweet.
Bah, Ellis, Vimal and Dada.

Vimal and I consider ourselves really lucky that both sets of our parents live within 15 minutes of each other because we never have to battle over where we will spend Christmas. This year we opened gifts with Vimal's side of the family on Christmas Eve. Ellis made a haul. She got a music table, tons of clothes, and mega blocks. She really likes it there too because she gets to crawl all over the huge carpeted living room. In Boston, she spends all of her time crawling around on hardwood. When she first sat down on the rug, she ran her hand over the carpet just to check it out...then she was off on a whirlwind. Afterwards, she napped for almost 2 hours! It almost made me wish we had carpet! More soon....

Let it Snow. Let it Snow. When will it stop?

"Hmmm. All this whiteness is pretty interesting."
Trying to figure out this whole snow thing.
Rosy cheeks!
Rolling around in the snow.
Mommy kisses in the snow.

It started snowing yesterday at about noon and, as I write this at 5:00 p.m. the next day, it's still snowing. We're probably up to about 10 inches, which is immobilizing us at the moment. Oh, and Ellis is sick with the croup again so we are really stuck inside! But we're hopeful that she'll feel better before we fly to Nashville for Christmas. More soon...

Surprise visit from Pop!

Her hair is really long now, so I finally started putting it up into two ponytails. I giggled all day just looking at her.

This is her "I'm going to cause some trouble and you can't stop me" look.
Laughing at her Pop and playing with Jack.
Deep conversations with her Pop.
Pop snuggle time.
She was fascinated with Pop's guitar. She's definitely got the music gene.
Climbing into Pop's guitar case.
Her own private concert.
She's ready to play. Let's take this show on the road!

This past weekend, Ellis got to spend some quality time with her Pop (aka my dad). He was playing some concerts in the area and had a few days off, so he came to visit. Ellis is always so intrigued by his guitar, and she loves to hear him play. The two of them definitely enjoyed hanging out. He's leaving this morning, but we'll all be in Nashville in a week, so it won't be long until they see each other again. Which I think makes them both very happy.

A Few Extra Pictures from the Weekend

Ellis and Mommy--we have the same eyebrows!
She's figuring out how to push herself around on this, but she can only go backwards.
Playing with Mommy's safety goggles for Chemistry class.
"Okay mommy, I'm ready to go to school with you."

What goes up must come down.

"Hey, look what I can do."
"I've got places to go."
"I'm almost to Jack."
"Wait. They moved Jack! Okay, I think I can...I think I can."
"Okay, the hard part is over. Now...focus!"
"Oh, so close. I'm coming Jack."
"You guys can't keep him from me!"
"Oh no. Now Jack is down there."
"I'll get you again Jack. Just wait there."
"Phew. Back to Jack."

Vimal has started building obstacle courses in our living room using seat cushions, pillows and whatever else he can find. Ellis loves it, especially if he strategically places Jack at the top or bottom of the obstacle courses. Anyways, I tried to take a video of Ellis climbing up the cushions but the batteries were dead so I took this series of photos instead. She had to work really hard to get Jack, but you can see that she didn't give up. I think it shows that she is stubborn, like her mom, and focused, like her dad.