The nose knows

Sofia has discovered that Daddy's nose is ever-so tasty and just the right size to suck on:

And two new skills -- she's starting to give "hugs," and she's almost figured out how to clap her hands. Genius!

"Lucy, stop licking my bear poop!"

Ha! I bet you were expecting the next post to be "Baby's first Christmas," or something equally cliche. I'm not claiming to be immune from the cliche and mundane, but I like to keep you on your toes.

Christmas in the Caselli household was as lovely as ever this year, with Sofia playing in the paper and ribbon and Lucy trying to get into everything -- hence the post title. John filled my stocking with chocolate items closely resembling bear poop; Lucy seemed to like these best.

We were truly blessed this year, spending both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with family. Not only did we get to go to church to see the kids tell the Christmas story, we also spent hours laughing over games and freshly aerated wine (courtesy of my parents' slick new instant wine aerator). Johnny whipped up an amazing prime rib and some spicy Italian soup -- I'm still stuffed.

Without further adieu, our Christmas in pictures:

Sofia's first present with Grandpa O on Christmas Eve:

Christmas morning:

Sofia skis!

Today, the coastal trail was graced with three generations of skiers at once. Mom, Sofia and I took the Chariot ski trailer out for its inaugural run, and Sofia got her first ski run under her belt...er...Huggies.

Though it took me about an hour of wrestling with the Chariot, figuring out how to fold it up, attach and detach the poles and skis, get it in and out of the car, etc., the effort was well worth it. Sofia loved it, and even slept the second half of our run. The rest of the afternoon she was as smiley and giggley as I've seen her -- apparently it agrees with her!

I can't wait to get out again. That is, once my muscles have recovered...

Ma-ma-ma-merry Christmas

Sofia has progressed from saying "babababa" to "mamamama." Merry Christmas to me!

Another one for the puppy love gallery

Sofia has always loved the dogs, but the thrill has apparently kicked up a notch recently. She squeals and giggles with sheer delight when she touches them, and loves watching them shake their ears, growl at each other...pretty much anything. And Lucy clearly returns the affection.

In other Sofia news, she has mastered the letter "b." Our house is almost constantly filled with a lovely baby chorus of "babababababababababa." This is then, of course, followed by John saying "dadadadadada" and me saying "mamamamamama." Not that we're competitive about this or anything.

Because no Caselli should be without one, Sofia just received her first punching bag from Grandma Caselli. It's a toss up as to who actually enjoys it more -- Sofia or the dogs. Either way, it's a great toy and good for lots of giggles. Thanks Grandma!

Then and now

I found a few photos from this time last year. I was somewhere around 20 weeks pregnant, and we were celebrating Johnny's big 4-0 in Seattle. How can we ever top spending his birthday at a Seahawks game??? Sharp contrast to today, when his birthday plans revolve around when we can get a babysitter. Not that I'm complaining -- could life be any better with this smile?

A very Caselli Thanksgiving

First, it needs to be said that I'm sick. There is so much pressure in my head that it feels like my brain is twice the size of my skull. My eardrums have not popped in three days and two flights. That means I get a free pass for any spelling and/or grammatical errors or strange tangents in this post. Something also needs to be said about the effect that a 70-some degree swing in temperature can have on a person. It's not fun going from 75 sunny degrees to TWO FLIPPIN DEGREES. Anyway.

So we just returned from our week in Vegas. Apparently it's become traditional for us to get sick when we go to Vegas. Sofia caught the bug first, and of course promptly covered us in her germ-ridden drool. She's just fine now, but John and I are down for the count. Both our ears are completely plugged. It's pretty sad listening to us try to talk to each other right now -- neither of us can hear the other.

Besides getting sick, it was a fantastic week. Sofia was an angel for her first Thanksgiving! And, like the post title implies, it was a Thanksgiving in true Caselli style -- complete with pasta, cannoli, pool, boxing and lots of loud people. It was one of those weeks where, given enough wine, I might be persuaded that living in Vegas would be all right. Seriously, our Vegas family is amazing, and it's getting tougher and tougher to leave them. 

Here's our week in pictures...

Johnny got to catch up with his buddies:

Sofia got to meet her Papa Caselli:

Aunt Toni and cousin Anthony taught Sofia all about the speedbag:

The cousins turned Sofia into a pool shark:

We got lots of quality family time:

Sofia played the piano and made friends with all the Consiglio dogs, including the two brand new pug puppies, Rocky and Bella:

And last but not least, Johnny and I got a night out on the town. We caught the La Reve show at the Wynn, watched the fountains at the Bellagio, and just generally enjoyed wandering around the strip together: