Evening Routine ...

After the fun of Della's first birthday and two days of Christmas, our Holiday season ended on a sour note. The house flooded due to a malfunctioning toilet and then everyone got sick with the flu ... starting with Della. We are all now recovered and moving onward into the New Year with hopes for smoother sailing.

To start things off I thought I'd share a compilation of photos depicting Della's typical evening. Granted these are pictures from several evenings combined together as if they were one but if you pretend that Della is wearing the same outfit in all the pictures then it all flows together nicely. While we're at it, lets pretend that my photos are amazingly artistic and not the result of a crappy camera phone.

Della's Typical Evening

Mama and or daddy arrive home to find Della usually excited to see them. Thanks to Nana for keeping her occupied and happy during the day.

 While her parents proceed to change out of work clothes and settle in for the evening there is usually time for Elmo! Babies LOVE Elmo although, as parents, we are still bewildered by the red furry creature who refers to himself (gender questionable) in the first person.

Della typically eats dinner first, usually in a highchair but the floor was adequate for this particular evening.

 This is followed by more play time as the parents eat their dinner.

As the evening proceeds there are usually some snacks provided in an attempt to fill-her-up so she'll hopefully sleep thru night (worked for the first time last night!) In this instance Della is enjoying some Japanese cracker cookies that were a favorite of her mama's when growing up in Hawaii.

There is a Popsicle for dessert and some more play time with daddy as we prepare to head up for a bath. Note: Della has learned to High-5!!  

 Mama watches over Della as she enjoys her bath ...

 ... which is followed by more baby play, this time clothing optional. We are still enjoying the last of the birthday balloons.

Of course toilet paper ranks slightly higher in entertainment ranking when compared to balloons.

 There is typically a lot of walking from one room to the next as Della assists with the nightly toy migration.

After awhile daddy rejoins the team for a little more play support.

At some point we manage to wrangle a diaper and pajamas onto the squirmy baby. 

We typically know Della is winding down when her attention strays from toys to books. She will actually stop playing with something mid-stride and switch her focus to books.

At this point Della most often crawls into my lap for a read and daddy quietly slips back downstairs. We'll read until she starts page flipping (not listening to the story) and then I'll turn out the light, provide a snugly nursing session, then tuck her into bed. Last night was the FIRST night Della slept thru without waking at least once! Hopefully this is the start of a trend.