Christmas 2011

     We had a great Christmas this year, even though we were away from all our family.  Bryan wanted to get a tree, so a few weeks ago he went to this little cheap store and bought a fake one (the only fake tree I will ever have, unless we are abroad for other Christmas') he decorated it all and it looked great.  We got up Christmas morning and went to church.  When we got home, we helped Bryce open up all his presents.  He loved all his new toys and books he got.  During all the fun, he crawled over to me and brought a book with him for me to read.  So we had a little intermission during all the opening of presents for me to read a new book to him.  My sister Jennah flew in Christmas night at around 6pm.  I walked to the bus stop to get her, and we celebrated the rest of our night with her.  She made it just in time for Bryan's dinner he made us.  It turned out great and we had a great night!  It was so much fun to celebrate Bryce's first Christmas and also it was such a treat to have my sister here with us.  She will be visiting us for the next 2 weeks and I'm so excited.

Our little Christmas tree and most of Bryce's presents (we still have not received a few boxes of presents for him in the mail)

At church Christmas morning

Bryan passing out gifts

Opening up his very first Christmas present

Playing with a new toy

Reading a new book to him

Aunt Jennah is here!!!!

Getting ready to eat (and yes Bryan needs a haircut!)

Bryan made an AMAZING dinner!!!!

Helping Aunt Jennah open up her gift from us

Playing with his new toy from his cousin Harley :) (He loves it!!)

Looking good after 14 hours of traveling to Spain :)

Aunt Jennah reading to him

Visiting Santa Claus

   Bryce got to meet Santa Claus (or here in Spain aka Papa Noel) for the very first time tonight.  He didn't cry, and I knew he wouldn't.  He just gave him his stare down (that he gives everyone that comes around him).  They do their Santa Claus very different here..... instead of Santa sitting in a chair and the kids lining up to sit on his lap.... their lame Papa Noel was walking around the mall and the kids would just crowd around him.  I was pretty upset because I really wanted to get that picture (that I had always pictured in my mind) of Bryce sitting on Santa's lap.  Anyways, so we finally knocked down a few kids to get Santa's attention and Bryan handed Bryce to him.  The man DID NOT know how to hold a child (as you will see in the picture) but Bryce just stared at him, and also looked pretty uncomfortable from the way he was being held.  Overall, it went just fine, and I can say that my child did not cry with his first encounter of Santa Claus :)

     Papa Noel was loosing his glasses.  And yes that is a giant reindeer next to him.  I had to take the picture really fast and didn't have time to zoom out and get everybody.

This is a manger scene they have in the mall,  made entirely out of balloons!

Happy to be shopping for HIS Christmas gifts :)

Happy 11 Months!

    11 months already???  I can't believe it!  Where has the time gone?  Our little boy is growing up way to fast.  He is so funny and does so many funny things now.  He claps when he is all done eating (or when he is full and I don't know it, he starts to clap) It's the cutest thing.  Also he is doing very well on his "one nap a day" schedule.  He wakes up around 10:30-11:30 every morning now (and no we are not complaining about that).  I can't believe he has one more month until he turns 1!  This year has just been a blur because it has gone by so fast.

It is very rare that he lays his head down on us, so I had to get a picture of it (he was sick here, but still)

First time having ice cream

He loved it!

Sleepy head

     A week ago I changed Bryce's sleeping schedule from two naps a day to just one nap a day.  He did very good all last week with his new sleeping arrangement.  Though I think today his new schedule caught up with him.....

This was during lunch

After cleaning his face, taking his bib off, and putting toys on his tray... I went into the kitchen for 30 seconds and came back to this........



New discovery

   Well he finally dicovered the sliding door on our closet...and yes he has smashed his fingers a few times, but that doesn't seem to stop him.  I think I will tape the doors shut while we are in his room playing now, because I just cringe every time he gets close to smashing those little fingers of his.

Happy 10 Months!

   He is in the double digits now!  So crazy to think that he is almost a year old.  He is growing so fast and so big, and he is definatly keeping Bryan and I on our toes!  He has 4 teeth coming in on top (all at the same time) and he is handling it a lot better then when his 2 bottoms came in.  He is all over the place and doesn't sit still.  The only time I can get this child to sit still is when I read to him before he goes to bed at night (and that is only because he is tired and ready to go to sleep).  He still has that smile on everyday and he loves to play, and Bryan and I love to play with him also.  He is getting to that fun age where we are able to actually play with him now.  It is so fun.  He is constantly jibber jabbering and his main thing he says now is "Da Da Da"  all day long too.  I'm not sure if he knows what he is actually saying but sometimes when Bryan leaves the room, you can hear Bryce start to say "Da Da Da."  So I don't know if I can say that "Da Da Da" is his first official word or not.  Bryan likes to think it is though :)

  P.S. They don't celebrate Halloween here in Spain, so we weren't able to dress Bryce up.  But Bryce actually decided that he wanted to have a Halloween costume and he picked it out all by himself... he was an "Ellis Attitude"  and some of you know what an "Ellis Attitude" is and that it can be a pretty scary thing!  Not only was he an "Ellis Attitude" for Halloween, he decided to stay in character well into the next day, which is today.  We still love him though.

He claps his hands for "patty cake" now

He is always sitting on his knees

Bryce was pretty upset that we took him off the swing because it was time to leave the park

We finally got him to smile though

Walking home from the park

Bryan is trying to bite his cheek

My 2 favorite boys!!!!

Crawling, Swings & Other things

     Maybe I should just change our blog address to Bryce LeDuc since basically everything is about him :)  He is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up on everything!!  Bryan and I can't keep up.  Luckily he likes to play in his crib, cause we haven't baby proofed this place yet (you can tell we haven't by the huge bruise on Bryce's forehead in a few of the pictures/videos).  I just wish our place was a little bigger and that it didn't have wood floors.  Bryce doesn't seem to mind though :)  Here are a few videos/pictures of the past week. 

Crawling around after his dads basketball game

In our apartment

Swinging at the park (doesn't Bryan just look so thrilled in the background?)

Don't ask

Loves to swing

Crawling around

Bryan's first game of the season (and other random pictures)

   Bryan had his first game of his pro. basketball career.  He played so good (though he will tell you he didn't) but I think he played well.  He had 16pts. and 9 rebounds.  They lost by 4.... the final score was 105-101.  There was a guy on the other team who had 32pts. and there was no stopping him.  It was so fun to watch Bryan play out there.  I'm so excited to watch him this season and see what he can do.  Bryce did good at the game too.... the buzzer didn't bother him this time.  It's so loud in that place though and I'm surprised that the noise didn't bother Bryce that much.  We got to the game right when they were announcing the teams.  Since I have the stroller with me, I get to sit down on the court behind the bench.  The layout of the gym is.... court on bottom and then the stands up high (and the stands are only on one side of the court) so where I sit, I'm right underneath where the stands start.  So when I got to my seat (as they were announcing the teams) right when I sat down and parked the stroller.... confetti came falling down from the stands above, right onto me, me and ONLY me!!!  I said a few "words" out loud too cause I knew no one would even understand what I was saying.  I was so mad, and Bryce just loved it!  He lit up when he saw that confetti falling.  Bryan saw it happen and he said it was like in a cartoon where there is a rain cloud and it is only raining on one person.  It was a great game though, and very exciting to watch!!!  I know he is going to play great this season!  We are so proud of him.

   I figured that in most of my blog posts I will have some random pictures to add of Bryce, and Bryan and our adventure here in Spain.

 (but mostly of Bryce :)  )

This video is pretty long... but I thought it was so funny to see him laugh



We were at the park the other day on one of our walks, and this lady was so nice to let Bryce pet her dog.  He was so excited.





His new sleeping position (He finds that corner everytime)



We were on our way to church and it looked like he was holding on for dear life (this is in the elevator leaving our apartment)

On the way to the bus stop

After church