Goodbye Pacifiers!!

After 17 months of Isla and Solomon being pacifier-dependent, we decided to get rid of them. Not to be mean, of course, but to encourage them to use their words. We decided to go "cold turkey" starting on a Sunday and about 5 days later they seemed to forget about them. Nighttime wasn't quite as bad as we thought it would be. There was a good amount of crying the first two days since they had to learn a new way of self-soothing. Fortunately, both babies did an awesome job and we are very proud of them and thrilled to say "goodbye" to the pacifiers in this household!

Need a Little Christmas

Simon's new favorite toy was from Hallmark. Auntie Angie collects the Hallmark snowmen and Simon loved one in particular. In fact, he loved it so much that we went to Hallmark after Christmas to pick one up. He played with it the entire trip home. Here's a picture of Simon in the car. He was sleeping and would wake up to push the button, just to fall asleep again before the music stopped. He loves his snowman friend!!

Christmas with the Moehring's

It's not a complete trip to Iowa if we don't get to see both sides of the family. Now at the Moehring's house for another fun Christmas. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for hosting us!

Christmas with the Ellingson's

We did it! We drove all night and finally made it back to our home state - Iowa!! It took us 17 hours with horrible driving conditions the first 7 hours but then it was smooth sailing from there. We were thankful to be back home and to see our family. Here are some fun pictures of our Ellingson Family Christmas in Bettendorf, Iowa - thanks to Andy and Angie for hosting everyone!! It was perfect.