"Joy to the World"

Merry Christmas!

I realize I am late in saying that, but I do sincerely hope that you had a joyful celebration and spent some time meditating on the night, days, weeks and months that led up to the most important birth ever to take place in the history of mankind.  I found myself this year really emphasizing with Mary as she was 14 and carrying/delivery her Savior.  In Florida, the song, "Mary Did You Know?" was played like over a thousand times in a month so I thought about her life quite a bit. 

Anyway, here at Walt Disney World, we are well celebrated when it comes to holidays, but particularly during the Christmas season.  I love that Disney celebrates Christmas, and not "the holidays."  So that means there are endless experiences for our family; which I've touched on over the last several weeks.  And believe it or not, we missed quite a few things this year. 

This past Sunday was a a rough day for me, as I spent the day cleaning, doing laundry and dishes and being tired from a late closing the night before while my entire Stubbs extended family was eating a delicious lunch, having fellowship and opening presents.  But, Christmas Eve my parents and siblings arrived to the Sunshine State and so a week of crazy fun began.  We went to church that evening and came home, put Carly to bed and enjoyed a nice long dinner. 

Christmas morning Brian and I were up at before 5am to get ready for work.  Much of the company shortens shifts for managers on Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years Day, so Brian and I both worked 6am-12pm.  It was fun to carpool to work for the first time ever listening to Christmas music under the black sky.  But, it was sad to not wake up with Carly on her very first Christmas.  Trey graciously got up with her when she woke up right before we left and snuggled with her for a another hour.  Work wasn't as good as Thanksgiving, but I did hand out goodie bags of candy to all my cast working and made sure they knew how grateful we were to have them working.  We arrived home and had a Christmas lunch, opened presents, then headed to Hollywood Studios.  We really had a fabulous time there!  

Yesterday we braved the cold weather (72 degrees) and headed to Disney's Blizzard Beach Waterpark!  There were like 10 other people there, so we enjoyed going down slides as many times as we wanted!  Carly took a ride on the lazy river with Gpa & Nana and floated for a mile and a half!  After we freezed at the waterpark, we went to the Boardwalk to get an ice cream cone, and came home for a meal in.  Carly looked pretty sweet in her brand new swim suit but I didn't risk taking my camera.  She got multiple compliments, though.

Today we got up and went out for pancakes this morning (those of us who were awake, anyway), took a trip to see our soon-to-be-hope-to-be-house (I still haven't written about that...), which my parents and siblings LOVED, explored the amazing clubhouse, ate at Sanaa; an Indian inspired African restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge (my family and I spent time in South Africa, Mozambique & Swaziland in '04 so we love doing African-themed things) and then came home because we needed to get our Camry in the shop before Brian took it to work in the morning.  That was a $70 endeavor that turned into a $662 bill...ugh...so now we are in for the night and about to play some Phase 10. 

Tomorrow is Trey's 22nd birthday, so we will spend some time in the morning at the outlet mall, have lunch at home and then everyone will head to Downtown Disney and hang out while I work.  On Saturday I work pretty much all day, so I'm not sure what the rest of the clan will do and they leave Sunday. It's been a bit crazy with all these people under one roof, but hopefully by next Christmas we will be in a bigger home so it wont feel so crowded! Nevertheless it's been a fun Christmas week and the first time Brian and I have had the same two days off in at least 7 months!

Merry Christmas...and Happy New Year if I don't get a post in before then! :)  

 

"O Come Let Us Adore Him"

Carly has had a wild week...hitting 3 of the 4 parks in just 5 days!  She loves it, so it makes it pretty easy to sneak away and enjoy the Christmas spirit on Disney property.  First up, was our lovely family evening last Wednesday!  Brian had to work on this particular Wednesday (he is usually off W/R), so Carly and I met up with him at EPCOT when he was done.  We ate a Tangerine Cafe (quick-serve), which is in Morocco and really, really liked it!  We will definitely be dining there again!  From there, we went to take a photo with the Christmas tree in the American Pavilion that is now a tradition (since we took the photo in that same spot last year with Brian's folks) and it turned out splendid!

Next up we stood in line to meet Santa and Mrs. Clause.  I have been having this internal struggle on whether or not to do Santa (long story...you'll have to ask if you care to understand, but essentially I wasn't raised believing in Santa despite my parents best effort merely because I was way too logical and secondly I just think it contradicts everything we want our children to understand about Jesus, and takes away from the true meaning of Christmas) but after speaking with many of my Christian friends and family who were raised believing in Santa, I have settled on participating because it's part of our American culture and because I don't want my child to be the weird one who doesn't believe in Santa.  That being said, we will not place extreme emphasis on it.  Santa will be presented as a character, just like Mickey Mouse, not as someone who is real, comes down our hypothetical chimney and brings presents.  Of course next year (or maybe the year after) when it actually matters and Carly can understand, I have the freedom to change my mind, but for now I've settled on him being a character we meet because its fun and it's part of the secular Christmas spirit.  Carly thought he was a riot and enjoyed pulling his beard!

The best part of the evening came as we took our seats for Disney's annual Candlelight Processional.  My favorite Christmas concert of the year, for sure!  We got to see Jody Benson (voice of Ariel) narrate this year, and turns out she is a born again Christian...so the transcript was read just beautifully!  When we have seen the show with non-Christian celebrity hosts, it has not been near as meaningful.  So, we were a bit apprehensive attending Jody's night, but she did not disappoint!  Here is my favorite part of the transcript:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty.
Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family.
He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born.
He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness.
He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away.
One of them denied Him.
He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed;
all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned,
 put together,
have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that
one solitary life.

Gives me goosebumps every time I read it!  Carly also LOVED the show, but that didn't surprise us as she loves music.  She enjoyed the lights and it was a perfect night weather-wise.  Carly sat on our lap (and crawled on the bench) while she ate her pretzel and Brian and I held hands.  I wished time would just stop in it's tracks.

Boy this blog has become long after that rant about Santa.  I suppose I will end here and share more about Carly's park extravaganza's tomorrow. Plus, it gives me a chance to use more Christmas song titles! :)

"I'm a Little Miracle All Put Together Well" {10 Months}

Carly is 10 months old today!  The ninth month has definitely been my favorite and I've been holding onto it as long as possible.  Sunday we were out and about and someone asked how old she was to which I replied, "9 months!"  I enjoy everything about Carly.  I love that she is still snugly and wants to be held but that she doesn't want to be held all day.  She is independent and goes back and forth from playing with us to playing by herself.  When she is done having interaction she'll just crawl away.  I love that her personality continues to shine through and we learn new things about her preferences all the time.  I love that she still sleeps with me in the morning but will sleep 9-10 hours on her own, first.  I love that she is usually all smiles and giggles and finds humor in Brian and I.  I love that she still loves to nurse and chooses to do so sometimes for a half hour at a time.  I love that she can feed herself and that we can give her what we are eating for dinner each night.  Family meals are super special.  I hope I never take those for granted.  I love that she is easy to take places, that she loves being social with others (although don't try to pick her up or she will be mad!) and is incredibly verbal.  I love having a baby to hang out with everyday and still miss her terribly when I'm at work.  I never need or take a break and I'd rather be with her than doing anything else,ever.  Being a mom is simply awesome.

Here are some facts about Carly this month.

• Is most interested in clapping, and does so at least 50 times throughout the day, but is also quite capable of pointing and waving (even on command)
• Speaks in consonant sounds and can say Mama, Dada and JT (one of her many cousins)
• She enjoys eating soap bubbles 
• Loves counting objects, especially when reading books
• Always wants to taste our food, but doesn't like it as much if it's her food
• Is a pro at motor-boating her lips
• Gives open-mouth kisses on demand
• Loves water, mirrors and bathrooms
• She can be heard singing in her car seat or any time music is played (funny story...Brian and I were having a "who can sing higher" contest and as we got higher and louder Carly stands up and starts screaming right along with us. HILARIOUS.)
• LOVES puppets. Just adores them.  She was introduced to a Baby Einstein video with her babysitter this month and freaks out every time a little blue sock puppet comes on the screen.  Also responds the same way with characters at Disney...even from afar (like when watching a show)
• Gets very very excited when Brian or I come home from work.  She hears the garage opening and starts crawling toward the laundry room....precious!
• Can sign "so big," "all done" and "more please" using her hands
• Adores playing games with us; including: peekaboo, roll the ball, push daddy away, I'm gona get you, tickle monster and the song, "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands."
• Understands approximately 100 words
• Frequently bangs her head against her high chair or car seat or head board of our bed. (funny note about this...one of the articles on baby center this week was saying how banging their head is a development milestone of learning and control and that some children don't grow out of it until age 3!  They also said that she's not hurting herself and to let her enjoy doing it).  Brian doesn't like it when she does it but I find it hilarious.
• Thoroughly enjoys being introduced to new books.  This is a big change from last month.  Before, she enjoyed the familiar and would anticipate what was coming next.  We would have to introduce books slowly and one at a time.  Now, however, she is excited to see new images and hear new words, so we introduce new books all the time (which is more fun for us).
• Eats essentially all day long, 3 meals, 2 snacks, whatever I'm eating and nurses 4 times/day 

The older she gets the more I could share, but those are some things that came to mind today.  Her schedule is as follows (roughly):

5:30am-joins us in bed, falls asleep after nursing
7:30am-up, play in bed for a while (she LOVES exploring the items on our night stands)
8:00am-cheerios and whatever I'm eating
9:30am-oatmeal
10:35am-11:15am-nap (consistently sleeps about 40 minutes at a time)
12pm-nurse
1:30pm-lunch (this week she has eaten a lot of eggs, or a whole banana)
3pm-cheerios or pretzels or whatever I'm snacking on
3:30pm-4:10pm-nap
4:15pm-nurse
6pm-dinner
8pm-get ready for bed...usually asleep between 8:15pm-8:30pm

I don't have any statistics on her this month, but I bet she has gained a pound and half an inch; probably coming out at 16.5 pounds and 26.5 inches.  She has almost out grown her 9 month sleepers and has a little room to grow in 12 month hand-me-downs.  She can still fit into all of her 6 month clothes (minus sleepers bc her legs are so long) and can still wear her 3 month shirts and a few pants!  She also wears some 12 month dresses and wears a size 3 shoe.  In other words...she had endless options for clothes right now!

Enjoy her 10 Month pictures...it took 3 tries throughout the day to get a "typical" photo!  Also...I know I'm about to go a little crazy but I just have to post this sequence.  I took 71 photos in total...

And I also got some pretty adorable ones...

And I laid her on her back just for kicks and giggles...

Life is pretty good, we've been blessed abundantly by our Heavenly Father and we are thankful for the grace He pours on us, for keeping us safe and healthy and for giving us the capability to have so much love in our hearts.  I'm going to hold tight to these last two months of having my sweet girl as a baby!
  

"May Your Days Be Merry & Bright"

The past few weeks have been absolutely delightful.  I can't believe we are heading toward the middle of December already.  Christmas starts so early here but yet I still never get enough of it.  From the songs, to the food to the decor and overall cheer, it's just a wonderful time of year.  I want to highlight some of our endeavors since Thanksgiving.  And, I have some cute videos to share as well.  I don't know if I have a child genius on my hands (probably not, Brian and I are both at a fairly average intelligent level), but I can say she is doing quite well with her language ability.  Perhaps it's because I'm so verbal?

Anyway, a couple highlights from the past few weeks have been play dates. I hosted a play date with 6 moms and 6 babes all younger than Carly one afternoon and it was absolutely delightful!  We had 3 girls and 3 boys and the mamas enjoyed sharing stories.  Two of the babies were only 3 days a part...so they were in comparison mode!  We hang out with Karalea/Jacob, Stefani/Lucas every week, but it was nice to add Stacey/Aria, Hannah/Fiona & Carrie/Holden to the mix.  Each person brought a snack and we had a nice lunch.  I also realized just how hard Carly is/was.  I looked at all these other babies, who just sat there content and then crashed when they got tired and thought, "oh...this is how it's suppose to be."  It's reassuring to know that I wasn't going crazy and that my baby really is/was more difficult than most.

Yesterday, Carly and I had fun making Christmas cookies at Stefani & Lucas' house.  Karalea & Jacob of course joined...and as you can see Carly was picking on Jacob a bit.  Paci thief!  These photos explain well that Carly was VERY interested in helping me frost the cookies.  Am I a terrible mother for letter her lick the frosting right off the cookie?  We will go with no. ;)

Carly is a joy to be with...I wish she would stay 9 months old for at least a few more months!  We are so close to getting those cute little blonde bouncy curls...but they only appear in the humidity.  Her hair and fingernails grow so fast I can't keep up!  I guess that means she is getting plenty of protein!  She does like her eggs!

Call me maybe?

A birth mark appeared this month...great place for it!

 Carly's cognitive development grows each and every day.  She understands at least 100 words, responds very strongly to my tone of voice & watching her think for herself is quite fascinating.  Here is a video of her responding to me asking her how big she is.

She has also become quite good at playing games.  Her favorite is to roll a ball back and forth.

She is hilarious and she knows it!  I can't believe how fun she has gotten and I have such an appreciation for her personality! 

"Dashing Through the Snow"

I am hesitating to post a blog about what Carly and I have been up to the past week, but after much consideration and looking through the cute photos I took, I have made an editor's choice to compose and publish a short blog about our impulsive and very short surprise trip to the homeland (that may have been the longest sentence ever).  Please don't feel bad if you missed us...as we were only there for 3 days.  Brian happened to be searching for flights one evening and saw that a round trip to Iowa was the cheapest we had ever seen, so I told my parents that they should take advantage of that and fly their bums down here.  My Dad, however, couldn't get away from basketball and therefore convinced me to come there.  I was very apprehensive to leave Brian and was also nervous Carly would get sick and the whole trip would be ruined.  But, Brian reminded me that there were three really good reasons that I just couldn't argue with. 

#1 was to see my sister play basketball. It's her senior year of high school and I've seen her play every other year, so I wasn't about to miss my All-Conference player hit the court one last time. 

#2 was that I was missing my Grandma.  I have never gone a December without seeing her, and I wasn't about to start now.  Somehow we will have to make it home each December to see her.

#3 was that one of my best friends, Lindsay, had her second son, Micah 6 weeks ago.  I wanted to see her, her older son, Eli, and meet the newest addition to their family.  It seems appropriate to meet him at 6 weeks old being that in July of 2011 I met 6-week-old, Eli and in March 2012, Lindsay met 6-week-old Carly.  Carly is almost exactly 9 months younger than Eli and 9 months older than Micah.  I don't know if I will be able to keep up and deliver another babe to be 9 months younger than Micah...in fact...I think that ship has sailed already. ;)

There were certainly some bonus aspects of the trip, like spending dear quality time with both my family and Brian's family.  I didn't take a whole lot of photos but I captured a few.  Sunday we were delayed nearly 7 hours due to the fog in Iowa.  When you are only going to be on a trip for a short time, it's extra sour to lose a full day.  Plus, we were looking forward to seeing Aunts, Uncles and Cousins; which didn't end up happening.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed time with the grandparents and siblings.

The trip was a surprise for my family, so Brian's mom graciously agreed to pick us up at the airport.  We felt so bad that she ended up spending the entire day just waiting for us to arrive.  We finally landed and headed to Ames to give Grandpa a kiss before being scooped up and taken to my folks' house where my mom, brother and sister were having dinner.  I knocked on the door and my astonished mother answer the door.  Due to her reaction, my sibs came to check out who she was starring at and I was embraced with screams and hugs. 

Monday, we ventured back over to G&G Weiss' house for some wassail and some play time.  It was then that Carly showed us she could stand up unsupported ALL BY HERSELF.  Holy moly, folks, walking just isn't that far away

Tuesday was Tiff's basketball game, where we also surprised my Grandma that we were in town.  Carly LOVED the atmosphere of the game.  She enjoyed watching the girls run up and down the court and was highly stimulated by the lights, noise and movement.  That was a fun first.  She also wore an "I love my aunt" shirt to support Tiff.  They won a nail biter (or boot biter in Carly's case) of a game to climb the charts to the top 5 teams in the state.  Sweet.  I also figured out that Meg was in town from California, so she came to Tiff's game to see us as well!  That was quite the treat!

Wednesday we spent the day with my Grandma, and were visited by both of my Dad's siblings and by Anna.  Thursday morning we got up and got in a few more hugs and kisses before heading to the airport.  Carly was thrilled to see Brian and embraced him with a hug, kiss and a BIG smile.  He said she had grown up a lot in the 4 days she was gone.  The girl never stops changing, that's for sure!

We had a wonderful time and are so very glad we stopped in to say hello!  I believe there will certainly be some repeats of this trip throughout the next 14 months before Carly turns 2 and has to have her own seat!  Oh wait, she did have her own seat on the plane! ;)

And, for the record, we did not dash through any snow while we were there.  Looks like we just missed it!  But I'm glad about that.  I want Carly to experience snow for the first time when both of her parents are there to experience it with her. :)

"Deck the Halls"

Each time I sing this song, I think of our days in Madrigal, when our choir teacher would yell, "It's deck the HALL" each time we would add an "s."  I guess it interrupted the flow of the song.  Anyway...most of the world sings it with "Halls" as a plural word, so I will follow suite.

The Christmas tree is UP!  It was so fun putting it up with Carly crawling around it, picking ornaments off, feeling the tree and being mezmorized by the lights.  We put ornaments she could play with at the bottom and each day she takes them all off!  It's her first Christmas and it will surely be a delightful one!  I remember thinking last year when I was uncomfortable, ugly and very pregnant that I just couldn't imagine what life was going to look like one year later.  Let me tell you...life looks amazing.

Carly and I had the Josh Groban Christmas CD playing and little smokies cooking on the stove top when Brian arrived home from work.  We had plugged in a scented air freshener and Christmas spirit was all around us.  We put up the tree, strung the lights, ate dinner and then hung the ornaments.  It was really fun and I know it's only going to get more exciting these next few years.  What a blessing children are always, but especially during the holidays. 

Here is our little miss crawling around in the lights:

Of course she looked so precious I had to put her in her Christmas dress and pose her for a photo shoot.  Unfortunately my skills are not refined enough on my camera to take a cool picture with bright lights while also being able to see her face.  I need to google a tutorial on that particular skill.  Oh well, here is my best effort.

And some pictures of her, looking sweet as always:

She looks like a total Stubbs in this picture

As you can see, there are no little pearly's poking through those gums yet.  I wonder if this girl will ever get teeth!?

At some point we will get a shot of all of us under the tree, but here is miss Carly showing off her work!

I am also on the hunt to find the same stockings I got for Brian and I 3-4 years ago.  Why didn't I buy six or seven of them just to cover my basis?  So for now this pretty white stocking is a stand in for C.

MERRY CHIRSTMAS!!!  Wish we could see you all for the holidays!  It's not too late to hop on a plane and come see us. ;)