Give me an "E"

Eli is lucky to have an amazing "Uncle" Billy (He has lots of amazing "Aunt"s and "Uncle"s that aren't blood related, but might as well be!).  Uncle Billy is awesome in many ways, but one special way in which he is awesome is that he crafts wooden name letters for all the babies.  He started this 4 years ago for his first daughter (adorable Ally) and recently for his second daughter (cute Kenzie).  We were so excited that he cut some letters for Eli just after he was born. Currently, they are hanging over his door.  I have been meaning to get photos and post them for months now and here they are, finally!

Thanks Uncle Billy!

Mother's Day 2012

My first Mother's Day was my best Mother's Day ever!

Cards, flowers, a nice dinner out, celebrating with my Mom and my little guy!

The photos speak for themselves!

I'm a spoiled Mommy!
(Thanks everyone!)

I can't handle the cuteness!!

Seriously, adorable, right? (4)

"Love you, Aunt Kelly!"

(Thanks Kel, for the adoable shirt!  Love the ants!)

Happy Easter!

We spent a very nice Easter Sunday at home, with Nana and Pop-pop coming to visit!

Eli discovered his first Easter basket, watched baseball and ate some cereal.  Eli really loved his bunny ears, his cute outfit (thanks Nana and Pop-pop), his easter bib and toy gift card (thanks Grandma), and all his toys from his girlfriends (thanks Aunt Kimmy and Aunt Anna for the awesome toys).

A very nice holiday, indeed!

Easter basket from Nana and Pop-pop!
"Who is that chocolate bunny for? Oh, Daddy!"

Happy Easter 2012!

"I found my basket from the Easter Bunny!
He hid it right here on the couch, next to me!"

"Yum!  Easter dinner!"

Seriously loved the ears! 
He is so funny!

We also went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall with cousins Hannah and Sophia.  Obviously, not a highlight of Eli's holiday.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

In March, we celebrated Cousin Hannah's 5th birthday with a big luau!  We can't even believe Hannah is 5 years old!  I still remember meeting her for the first time when she was about 18 months old.  She was so tiny, and didn't walk yet, barely spoke!  Now she's 5-going-on-25!  But still so cute, all dressed up in her luau outfit!

It was Eli's first big birthday party, and I think he had a good time celebrating with his big cousins. 



Hannah, the luau birthday girl!

Little Sophie, luau princess!

The 3 cousins
(can't you see the family resemblance?)

Hannah just loves holding Eli
(by herself!)

Hawaiian family fun!
Almost like our honeymoon!

Happy Surf Dude!
(Thanks for the outfit and shoes Natalie!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Celebrating Mommy's favorite holiday (wearing green & drinking beer yay!)!

Thanks Grandma for the Kiss Me I'm Irish tie shirt and Thanks to the Feeney family for the I'm your lucky charm shirt! Adorable!

Seriously, adorable, right? (3)

I truly think he gets more adorable everyday.

And it's not just that he's cute, it's his personality too!

(Thanks to Ryan's cousins John, Rachel and Baby Grady for the super cute firetruck outfit!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

He really is Mommy's Heart Breaker!
(Thanks Aunt Lori for the adorable outfit!)

February 14, 2012

"Christmas" with the Wynne Family!



Eli's Christmas celebration!

 Originally, Ryan's family was supposed to come visit us the day after Christmas so we could spoil our nieces a bit before the baby arrived.  With the change in Eli's arrival date, we pushed our Christmas celebration to the weekend and the family came over to celebrate on December 30th.  Eli was very excited to meet his Aunt Lori, his cousins Hannah & Sophia and see his Nana & Pop-pop again!

We had a wonderful 2-day visit which included lots of presents for all the kids.  THANKS for everything!  Eli was very well-behaved and had a great time.  Hannah (almost 5-years-old) was a wonderful big cousin.  She "held" Eli, helped feed him, got his bottle and picked out a special Christmas gift just for him (he loves his green sing-a-ma-jig!).  Even Sophia (just 2-years-old) was such a great helper and was so good around the 6-day-old baby!  Eli is so lucky to have such great cousins!  And a great Aunt Lori!

Eli was also very happy to be held by Nana and Pop-pop, especially after his Christmas Day incident that kept him in the nursery and he didn't get a chance to see everyone!  Eli was very happy to be held and loved all day long. 

Though it was a few days late, I think Eli really enjoyed his Christmas celebration with the family!

Here are a few of the hundred or so photos we took during the visit!

Hannah holding Eli for the first time!

Nana & Eli!

Eli & Aunt Lori!

The cousins!

Sleeping bags for the girls
to sleepover!

So many presents!

Eli loves his sing-a-ma-jig!

Pop-pop & Eli!

Hannah feeding Eli

And Sophia needs a turn!

Eli with the family!

And a few photos in his adorable first Christmas outfit! 

Thanks Grandma & Aunt Kelly for getting it on Christmas Eve before Baby Wynne arrived!

Santa's little helper

Adorable!

The first visit from the "Aunts"!

I have a lot of absolutely amazing friends.  Probably too many to count.  Two of my very best friends are Kim and Anna.

I won't go on and on about how great of friends Kim, Anna and I are.  I could.  We have been friends for a very long time and have been through everything together.  We are close.  Let me put it this way -- when Kimmy asked to see my c-section scar, I said "I don't think you want to, but OK" (fyi, I did NOT show her and Anna ... that is a very, very low cut).  Like I said, we are close.

Despite being close, we aren't actually physically near each other.  None of us have actually lived in the same city for the last 8 years or so.  Anna lives in Buffalo (where we all grew up); Kim lived in Virginia, then Albany, and now Rochester; and I lived throughout PA and NJ and now near NYC.  When they had their babies over the last few years, I didn't get to meet any of them until they were at least a few weeks old!

I figured they wouldn't get to meet Eli for a few months or so.  They have their girls and new jobs and lives to deal with.  But, with Eli's early arrival, it all magically worked out that they could come to meet Eli when he was just 5 days old!  I couldn't believe our luck!  And the fact that Aunt Anna and Aunt Kimmy were so nice to make the 6-hour drive one day to see Eli and then make the 6-hour drive back home the very next day. 

On Thursday, the Aunts arrived with SO MANY gifts for Eli.  THANKS Aunt Anna & Aunt Kimmy!  One perk of all of our friends already having kids, is a bunch of awesome things to borrow and lots of valuable advice!  Eli was so excited.  Of course, I was more excited.  It was nice to have my girls with me after such a crazy birth experience!  The encouragement and tips and support were invaluable!  I am so happy and grateful that they were able to re-arrange their lives and spend a day with us!

Eli can't wait to meet his "cousins" Ally, Emma & Mckenzie soon!  And Uncle Billy and Uncle George!

Aunt Kimmy & Eli!

Aunt Anna & Eli!

Eli loves his Aunts already!!
(even though he looks a bit terrified!)

The little monster's first vistors!

We were so happy that everyone wanted to come visit Eli!  The first week home was a wonderful parade of visitors!

Our first morning was a bit hectic as we settled in to a schedule.  Feeding Eli, burping Eli, diapering Eli, dressing Eli, getting Eli to nap.  Oh, and getting ourselves up and showered and dressed too! 

We managed to all be dressed by 1pm when Bridget and Jonathan showed up.  Eli was in one of the few outfits that I could find that actually fit him!  His "little monster" outfit from Jenny & Vance! (Thanks Jenny!!) 

Bridget and Jonathan also seemed to like our little monster.  They have an almost-one-year-old (who they kindly left at the baby-sitter's that day) Madeline who is going to be one of Eli's very best friends someday soon! 

Snuggles for Aunt Bridget!

Hanging with Uncle JC!

Yay!  First visitors at home!

   

We are very grateful to JC & Bridget!  In addition to bringing over lunch and some adorable gifts for Eli that day, they have been a wonderful source of advice and support during the pregnancy and this newborn phase.  Lending us books and giving us advice and sharing their own recent experience really helped us out!  We can't thank you enough Bridget & JC!