Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Welches!

(well ok, technically it's Dec 31st but I couldn't manage to get this post out before our holiday festivities...)

This was Eliza's first Christmas and Jonathan and I loved every minute of it. In honor of the Christmas season we officially celebrated for an entire week and a half between our church services, then going to my and Jonathan's family (and extended *whew*) gatherings. Blog posts will be coming about all of our holiday shenanigans and to start us off here are some pictures we took to be able to remember Eliza's first Christmas. Enjoy :)

9 months old

She's learned how to wave and therefore waves ALL the time now.

Eliza has been such a joy to our family.

"Seriously guys, not in public."

Merry (belated) Christmas from the Welches. :)

9 months

I'm not sure what has happened to my little baby but she has grown up OVERNIGHT. Seriously I think she drinks Miracle Grow in her sleep! How is she almost 9 months old?

Christmas at the Summit

Christmas is just around the corner and I'm so excited! Our church is putting on some amazing christmas services and I would love for YOU to come! There'll be music and preaching and services are Thursday-Saturday before Christmas. If you're interested you can find more information here.

Our worship leader's have been busy putting together some amazing music and Eliza's been helping too. ;)

Showing Dad how it's done.

"Mom, you're interrupting our music."

Poor Sophie

Eliza has a teething giraffe named Sophie (no we did not name it, that's what this toy is actually called) that she LOVES. Most of the time she just chews on it like a savage animal but recently she's figured out that if she beats it it will make noise. Poor Sophie.

Almost

Eliza can almost feed herself. She picks up the food, puts it to her mouth and "chews"... but hilariously enough she doesn't understand that she has to let the food go from her hand. At times I'll find her whole fist in her mouth (amazing) desperately trying to chew the food while still holding on to it in her fingers. (oooo good spiritual analogy)

Thought you'd like to see what meal times looks like. It's so precious to watch her learn things that we take for granted knowing how to do. :)

ps- I apologize for the poor quality of the video, it was taken from my phone.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Sweet Eliza is starting to show off her personality. She loves books (probably because we shove them at her every time she turns around) and bath books are her favorite because they are good for eating! Here's a glimpse into life with an 8 month old (and yes, this video is mainly for family because who else wants to watch two minutes of our child rolling around on the floor and attacking a book... we do we do :))

Nativity

And so it begins.... this is Eliza's first Christmas and although she has absolutely no clue what's going on, it's such fun for Jonathan and I to begin our own traditions with her.

Here's Jonathan telling her the nativity story.

It was so sweet showing her the manger scene. One of our prayers for Eliza is that she will know God at a young age and that she will "be great before the Lord... (and) be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from her mother's womb. And she will turn many people to the Lord their God" (Luke 1:15,16).

"Great Dad, now let me eat these guys"