"It's My Last Name"

Carly may not share her last name with my side of the family, but she shares her middle name with every first born woman on my maternal side since 1812.  There have been 8 women with the name "Ann", and this week 4 of the 8 of them got to spend time together.  My Mom and Grammy came to visit us this week and we had a delightful time!  It was Grammy's first time meeting Carly.  They are 83 years a part.  I was so excited to see her as I hadn't seen her since Christmas of 2010!  I hope we never go that long without seeing one another again!  I think it's fairly rare to have four generations of the same gender living at the same time, so we are blessed to be able to have this photo: 

The "Ann's" arrived late Saturday night, ready for three days of babysitting while Brian and I were at work!  Sunday we went to church, Monday we went grocery shopping and Tuesday we all had lunch together (Brian, too) and that was about it since I had to leave for work each day.  Brian also got to play 2 rounds of golf on Tuesday...a very special treat for him!  Although I wasn't around...the other 3 generations of ladies sure had fun together!

Wednesday Brian and I received the gift of time, as the "Ann's" stayed home with Carly while we went on our first date since becoming parents.  We went to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney's waters parks.  In two hours we were able to ride our favorite slides, spend time in the wave pool and take a cruise on the lazy river.  We then met Nana, Grammy & Carly at Disney's, Old Key West Resort for lunch at Olivia's Cafe. It was delicious and we will definitely be returning!  Brian had the Shrimp Po Boy...and it was probably the best thing on the menu!  Yummy!  After lunch we took a boat to Downtown Disney, where we did some shopping.  We took the boat back and Nana & Grammy took Carly home while Brian & I went to pick Meg up from the airport.  Her family is vacationing here this weekend and flights were way cheaper for her to come in a day early so we thought that would be the perfect opportunity to spend some time together!  Wednesday was a great day...and really the only full day we got all together.  I wish they would have been able to stay a few more days!

Thursday my Mom took Grammy to Tampa, where she will be spending the weekend with her brother and his kids.  When she came back we dropped Meg off at her resort, visited Brian at work, ran some errands, ate dinner and then it was goodbyes as she took off at 5:30am today! 

Thanks for coming, cooking me freezer meals, taking care of my baby and letting Brian and I have some quality time together!  Let's press the "repeat" button soon!  See you in 12 days!! :)

"Count Your Blessings, Name Them One-By-One!"

I wanted to take a quick minute to recap our fun week and share some more 6-month photos of Carly.  We had a fun outdoor photo shoot on my baby blanket.  Brian wasn't thrilled that Carly was essentially naked, but stylistically it's a really popular ensemble to do with baby girls. 

Here's a quick week recap:

Wednesday we had such a great day as a family.  We hung low in the morning, had Carly's doctor's appointment in the afternoon and decided to just spend time in Celebration before heading to Bible Study.  We hung out at the splash pad, grabbed a coffee and ate at the Town Tavern.  I love spending time with Brian & Carly more than anything else in the world.  I look forward to a time in our life when we can have two days off together again. :)

Thursday we hung out with Jenny, Karis and Issac.  Carly & Issac are both such cute babies.  Issac is super chill and has a beautiful smile! Karis is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met.  It warms my heart that she always remembers to greet Carly when she sees us. 

Friday we hung with Christi, Eden & Jude.  Eden and Carly will soon be really good friends!  Eden has a lot of personality and I bet she will teach Carly new tricks all the time as she is 2 1/2 months older!  Isn't Eden just beautiful?  She has gorgeous hair, too!  Christi also gave me a lesson on using my camera...so naturally I went home and practiced!!  I hope I can someday take semi-professional looking photos of my kiddos. :)

Saturday was a big day!  We threw a baby shower for James & Stefani who will be welcoming a baby boy next month! After the shower we all went over to their place for dinner and fellowship. Here are a few photos from the fun day.

super cute monkey cupcakes

James & Stef with Carly

Carly and Amanda hang out every Sunday afternoon!

All the girls from our Life Grop--Chelsi, Amanda, Stefani, me & Carly

Carly does really well when we are out and about.  She actually prefers being out than being at home.  I'm thankful she travels well and enjoys being social.  The past few weeks she has been extra needy for me to be with her, however, so it's becoming harder to leave her.

Alright...here are the pics of Carly as a little ballerina.  She is so precious...even if the tutu was a bit itchy!

And finally, Carly babbles all the time.  I could listen to it all day long.  I hope you enjoy hearing her sweet voice, too!

We've had a fun week of fellowship and quality time together.  God has blessed us richly with friends in the same stage of life as us.  When we found out we were expecting, we didn't have any friends in Florida with kids.  Now we have play dates nearly everyday!  I'm counting that as a huge blessing. :)  Thanks to Celebration Community Church for taking us in and including us as part of your family...you guys are the body Christ calls us to be!

"Girls Just Want To Have Fun" {6 Months}

Happy Half Birthday, Carly!  Can you believe it's been 6 months since Carly entered our lives!  It really seems like a long time ago.  So much has changed since then...especially Carly!  I was thinking this week about those first few weeks and how difficult it was to soothe her or figure out what she truly needed.  Now it's like no big deal.  She cries, we solve it.  And of course, she is SO MUCH FUN!  That smile has fun written ALL over it! :)

 There are a million things I could tell you, because each month her ability grows by leaps and bounds, along with her awareness of herself and the world around her, but I will try to bullet point the things we are most enjoying.

• Hands down the thing I love most is that she reaches for us when we ask to pick her up.  She will reach from Mommy to Daddy and it melts your heart when she wants to be in your arms!  She has also remained incredibly snugly with me and I just love it.
• She also reaches for other things, like the door knob when we get close to the front door, or the window on the back door.  She reaches for everything in sight, including my glasses, my hair, our food...you have it, she wants it.
•  She knows when we walk into her dark room that it's nap time and starts fussing immediately.  As soon as that paci hits her mouth she places her head on my shoulder.  I give her a kiss, tell her its time to sleep and lay her down.  Sometimes she plays for a while and goes down without a peep, other times she plays and lets us know when she is ready for us to come back and re-insert her paci, and sometimes she cries from the moment we put her down and will do so for 10-15 minutes (we go back in every 3-4, however, just to re-assure her and remind her it's time to sleep).
• She knows her name!
• Easy to entertain (if you don't mind sitting on the floor with her or walking around)
• Smiles more than she doesn't
• Sucks on her toes
• Adores being outside more than anywhere else
• Throws a fit when we change her shirt (not her pants, not her diaper, just when we have to mess with those arms)
• Has learned that dropping something can be just as fun as picking it up
• Can sit upright for a good 10 minutes if she is in the right mood and entertained.
• Is completely distracted when nursing if ANYTHING else is going on in the room.  I remember my Mom saying that at 6 months I was the same way...social girls run in the family, I guess.
• AND...she's just started eating "solid" food.

Actually, I saved the best for last.  Maybe it's tied with the reaching, but she babbles non stop. We just love listening to her jibber jabber about whatever it is going on in her head.  Her favorite thing to say is "Baa."  "Baa, baa, baa, baa, baa..." never gets old.  She is pretty loud, too, and has experimented with just how loud she can get.

I have essentially thrown the schedule out the window this month because it's just so darn frustrating.  The only thing that's pretty much guaranteed is that she will sleep between 9-9 1/2 hours each night.  The nap thing is so frustrating so I am doing my best to just roll with whatever she wants to do that day.  In a perfect world, her schedule would be:

7am-up, nurse

9:15-nap

10am-up, nurse

12pm- eat

1pm-nap

2:30pm-up, nurse

5:30pm-nap

6:15pm-up, nurse

9pm-get ready for bed

9:30pm-asleep

She actually does follow this schedule about twice a week, which adds to the frustration of the other days because I just don't know what to do when she takes those 30 minute cat naps.  Especially if her afternoon one is short, she ends up catnapping for 20 minutes on our chest from like 7pm-7:20pm.  Either way, we always seem to get her to sleep within 15 minutes of her regular bedtime, so somehow it always works.  It'd be great if she was consistent, or predictable, but she just is not one of those babies.  I asked the doctor about it at her 6-month check-up and his response was, "sometimes you just get what you get."

Speaking of the doctor, her stats this month remain consistent with 70 percentile in height (26 inches), 20 percentile in head, and 15 percentile in weight (only 13lbs, 13oz!).  Doctor said she is growing healthy and told her she had beautiful eyes.  I asked if I should be worried about the weight and he said absolutely not.  He asked how much she was eating when I give her a bottle and I said anywhere from 4-6 ounces and he looked at her and said, "wow, you eat a lot for such a little girl."  He thought 6oz was probably over feeding her a tad.  Ha...I over feed my child and she is still tiny.  I actually had to nurse her right after our appointment, so we went into the feeding room at the office and after I asked if I could weigh her again to see how much she was taking in.  She had eaten 4.5 ounces, which is really good to know!

Well I'd say that pretty much sums up our baby girl.  She took some fabulous 6-Month photos this week (dress compliments of Auntie Anna)! 

We just adore our little peanut, and rightfully so.  We remain thankful for God's blessing on our lives and for trusting us to raise His precious child.

"Food, Glorious Food!"

In honor of Carly's half birthday coming up this week, while Brian & I were both home, we decided to start miss Carly on "solid" food.  We actually went back and forth on it...debating if we should wait another month, but then I did some reading on it and found that a baby's iron levels drop significantly at 6 months, which is one of the many reasons its best if they are not getting their only nutrition from milk anymore.  Plus, Carly has become very interested in watching us eat, and generally grabs at whatever we are placing in our mouths.  So we decided it was just fair to get her started. 

After more reading, I also found out that research doesn't support starting your baby on a whole grain cereal anymore.  There is no evidence that it more beneficial than starting with a fruit or a vegetable.  I also watched a documentary on baby food and there was an interview with a nutritionist who said she believes that you should start your baby on avocado, green beans, apples & sweet potatoes, in that order.  I also read an article on WebMD that said the best baby foods to begin with are, banana, avocado, oatmeal, sweet potato, apple, peas and pears.  So we decided to be a bit unconvential and Carly's first food (minus that melon she sucked on a few weeks ago) was an avocado!  Here is the play-by-play:

Food prepared...

Carly ready with her bib...

First bite!

What is that??

I'll have some more, thank you...

This is funny...

Mom stop, I need to mix it with my saliva first!

I'll take the spoon now, thank you.

No, really...you are done getting to hold it, Mom.

Thank you!

See, everyone is much happier now.

In the hair, behind the ears, on the clothes...

I win!

That was fun...let's do it again soon!

I think for the first go at feeding her it couldn't have gone better.  I bet she ended up swallowing half a teaspoon...which is plenty for her first exposure.  We will feed her avocado for a few more days then probably move onto peas, banana, sweet potato and then probably oatmeal.  But we will see!  Here's a few videos you can watch, as well. 

She really was a delight to feed and the experience was so fun!  Definitely the highlight of my week!

"All Around the Mulberry Bush..."

Another week has come and gone and I keep trying to figure out how all these weeks keep flying by?!  I guess when your week is split up into three very different components, it just goes round and round!  Three days at work, 1 day as a family, 3 days with Carly, repeat.  It truly feels like we are the only family with such an odd life, but I know full well we are not!  Even so, I had three different people ask me this week, "So what are you guys up to this weekend?"  HA!  We don't get a weekend!  When will they figure that out?  Nevertheless, we have a great life and are very satisfied with what God has provided.  Here are the highlights from this week:

After Carly's Grandma left on Tuesday, I went to work while Daddy and Carly played.  Wednesday we had lunch at Coronado Springs as Brian needed to be at an awards banquet that day. I FINALLY got to meet his boss and she was a delight!  I feel like I know his co-workers pretty well now, so I'm pretty comfortable sitting and chatting with them.  All the ladies he is surrounded by just adore him, and it was fun yet again for him to show off his daughter to her "aunts".  "Oh, this is Brian's baby?  She looks just like him!"  I wonder if we will ever get tired of hearing that? :)

Thursday we had a great hang low day, full of sitting up!  She leans a bit still and gets tired after about 5 minutes, but she does enjoy that she is capable of looking at her toys from a different angle!  She is also very good an maneuvering herself over to whatever she is after.  It's so fun to watch!

She has always loved to stick her fingers in her mouth, but recently she has decided to flip her hand over and suck on them nails down. Looks uncomfortable to me!

Friday we spent a good portion of the day with our friend Stefani at the pool.  Carly loved it.  She was splashing around and when I would lay her in the water on her back she would just smile from ear to ear.  She was in there a good 45 minutes before she got tired of it.  I wish I would have snapped a picture because she was pretty adorable in her little bonnet and cherry swimsuit!

This morning we got up bright and early and we got our walk, workout and shower in all before 10am (well, we walked, the other parts she slept through)!  That is a record!  I haven't taken a shower before noon since she was born!  Might I say as well that a walk at 8:30am is QUITE a bit cooler than a walk at 2pm.  We should do that more often! I like that she is getting up between 6:30am-7am these days rather than 9am-9:30am.  Yes, I'm much more tired, but I like the flexibility it provides during the day.

Then we were off to Jude's 2-year-old birthday party!  I realized while we were there that this was Carly's first birthday party!  Wohoo!  In honor I decided to snap some photos of her in a party hat.

"I've Got a River of Life Flowing Within Me"

Grandma is here!  Carly and I ventured to the airport Friday afternoon to pick her up and she leaves this afternoon.  We have had such a great time...Carly seems to just adore her, and I think it's safe to say vice versa is true as well. :)  I think Carly can tell when someone is completely in love with her...because she has been so comfortable with Grandma, and usually she is a bit shy of new people.  It's so cute, every time she wakes up from a nap or gets done nursing, she finds Grandma and gives her the biggest smile.

Friday we hung low, went to Sonny's for dinner...you know, the usual. ;)  Saturday we had a great day...starting at 6:30am when Carly decided to be up for the day (She usually sleeps til 9).  She has recently decided that 9-9 1/2 hours of sleep is what she wants these days, rather than 11!  So we got right up, played, went to the grocery store and then after her afternoon nap we headed to Celebration for some shopping!  We also stopped by the big water fountain there because Carly loves looking at it!  Here are some cute pics of Grandma and Carly enjoying the water!

We go to Celebration quite often, and the fountain is always at the top of our list!  The Downtown area has some unique boutique shopping, which I LOVE, and I found myself some super cute shoes that I'm totally excited about!  First new thing I've bought for myself since having Carly.  :)

After shopping we went over to Starbucks to get our light mocha frappuccinos!  YUM!  We walked down by the lake and sat in some rocking chairs under an umbrella.  It was a lovely time.  Rhonda and I share a lot of the same interests, and we captured quite a few that day: we both love shopping, walking, coffee (Starbucks), sitting outside and we both love being with Carly.  We just sat there thinking, "this is the life!"  AND...Rhonda got to see her first Gator in Florida!  He swam right by us with his little eyeballs peeking out of the water.  Here's a pick of us enjoying our afternoon (Carly was perfect...she decided to cry right at the moment we were taking a picture, so you'll have to excuse her.  You will also have to excuse the thumb of the man who took the photo):

We walked back up the plaza and posed by another small fountain.  Goodness my girl just loves the water!  When she was an infant that was one of the few things that would calm her down immediately.  She wanted to jump right in!

Sunday we went to church and hung low before I went to work.  Brian got a treat of ordering pizza that night (I'm on a strict diet...no pizza allowed in this household when I'm home!) and they enjoyed spending time outside and watching the Olympics.  Monday was a bit of a repeat of Sunday and today has been a fun morning of grilling steaks and spending time together!  The weekend went so quickly...I wish she had a couple more days here.  I'm sure she does, too.  Her and Carly have had such a wonderful time together.

OH, and did I mention Carly is sitting up all on her own?!?! She can't get herself into the position but if you sit her down she can stay for a good minute or two!  So fun to for her to reach milestones while family is in town!

"You're Gonna Miss This"

FREEZE!  Carly is in her 5th month of life and I need time to just stop in its tracks.  She's perfect.  She's playful, happy, energetic, cuddly, beautiful and on the verge of transitioning from little baby to big baby.  I love her so much I can barely contain myself.  Truth be told it's been a tough year (one year ago this week we announced we were pregnant) of emotional and physical transitions, but I feel like I've finally got it figured out and I'm on cloud 9.  I don't want her to change from this perfect little ball of joy I feel she is.  I tell you, I am going to have to have lots and lots of babies to fill this void once she becomes a toddler.  Watch out, world! Or maybe I should say, watch out grandparents!  I think I will have as many littles as my Lord and my husband will allow!

Right now there are two things I never want to let go of.  First is her sense of humor that has developed over the past few weeks.  She knows how to play little games and giggles in anticipation!  Here are her favorite games...anything that involves an element of surprise and her control over a situation:

1. The, "Is mommy still sleeping" game.  When laying on my tummy in the morning, I close my eyes to pretend that I'm still sleeping while she is watching then pop them open and say, "Boo!"  Sure thing that will get some giggles

2. The, "Push mommy down" game.  Daddy holds her while she pushes me away with her feet.  Observe (side note...we had rented the movie with Adam Sandler, "Jack & Jill" and it was a complete waste of time...so that's whats on in the background):

3.  The, "Let's see how many times we can pull mommy's glasses off of her face" game.

4. The "I'm gonna get you" game.  One of us starts from across the room and with each slow-motion step say' "I'm gonna get you," resulting in huge smiles and giggles when we finally reach her and give her a big smooch!

5.  The "Eat my fingers" game.  She loves to experiment with cause and effect.  What will happen if I stick my fingers near mommy or daddy's mouth?

Those are the top 5...but she still loves "toes to the nose" and "so big" games.  She's just so playful!

The other thing I can't let go of is her desire to cuddle with me.  She will only cuddle with me...and it makes me feel so warm inside!  Even Brian commented the other night on how much more cuddly she is with me than him.  It might just be the best feeling in the world, with a close second being when she flashes her smile.

I was reading another one of my friends' blog this week and she is the mother of a 3 month old boy.  She was talking about sleep and said, "but it seems the more books I read and the more people I talk to about it-- the more "sleeping" seems like the standard of enjoying my baby".  Whether or not my Carly is sleeping how I desire her to be should not be the standard of enjoying her. Why couldn't I have read that 4 months ago?  Any of you who are regular readers know that has been one of my biggest hurdles, and bottom line is it was hindering my ability to fully delight in my baby.  Here forth I will give all new mommies that advice!

Here are the rest of the lyrics to the song I'm referencing in title of this blog.  Great words to remember in each stage of life:

You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast

These are the good times

So take a good look around 

You may not know this now

But you're gonna miss this.

I've taken a good look around and decided that I will indeed miss this stage when it's over.  I will never get this precious time with just me and my little babe and my big babe ever again.  So I'm soaking in up. :)

"She Wore an Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny, Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini"

Sunday was Carly's first time in the swimming pool!  She wore a cute little cherry swimsuit that Cora wore when she was a baby.  Seemed appropriate as we were swimming in the Saratoga Springs Pool that Cora was staying at!

So I guess she wasn't wearing a yellow polka-dot bikini, but it was a teeny weeny swimsuit! :) 

Saturday evening we spent time at DTD, where we shopped and ate at Raglan Road.  The Irish Pub has become one of mine and Brian's favorite restaurants and we intend to try as many things on the menu as we can! Delicious!

 During our dinner, some dancers came and asked Cora & Carly to dance with them.  Here is a cute sequence of the kiddos dancing:

You will notice in the photos that Carly has her paci in her mouth.  When she was born I was adamant about her not having a pacifier.  However, she would scream every time we put her in the car, and sucking on the paci seemed to help.  Then we started using if for sleeping and now she is fairly dependent on it to fall asleep.  Totally bums me out, but what can ya do?   She was so sleepy and we only give her the paci when she is sleepy...this photo was taken 2 minutes after she was finished dancing.

Each month I try to capture us as a family.  I am pleased with our 5-month family shot we got by the lake!  It's fun month by month to watch Carly grow and me shrink!! I've got 52 pounds down and 13 more to go!

Sunday evening Brian and Carly hung out while I went to work.  Since they were staying at the resort just minutes from DTD, I was able to run over there during my lunch.  After I arrived Carly started screaming.  She wasn't hungry, wasn't tired...it was her pain cry and nothing would comfort her.  I let her eat a little more while I was there but after she was done she was still hurting.  Kelly said we should try giving her an ice cube in a rag because her pain might be from teething...and Carly loved it.  She immediately starting biting it...so we pretty much assume she is teething!  Good job, Kel!

Monday morning we met them at EPCOT and had fun exploring before heading to Norway to eat lunch with the princesses!  This was actually a first for us, as we had never eaten at a character meal before.  So fun!

Cora said her favorite princess was Snow White, then later changed her mind to Belle.  Either way...she got in on a very very special meal that many little girls don't get to do when they come.  Her Grammy was kind enough to treat us all to this very special Princess Banquet!  I just realized that this was a first that the girls shared together, too!

While we were eating, Carly got fussy (which I don't blame her for...the two things Carly dislikes most are dark rooms and sitting down) and an ice cube in a napkin wasn't cutting it, so we decided to give her her first taste of food!  It was a spontaneous decision based on the one piece of honeydew melon I had left on my plate...but I must say she thoroughly enjoyed it!  She ate half the piece!  Another big milestone for our little girl.  We won't start her on solids for a little while yet, but we will always remember her first food was a honeydew melon. :)

Don't you love those eyes?  Those and her smile make her the cutest baby I've ever seen! ;) 

After lunch we headed to Soarin' and Brian, Cora, Carly & I rode Living with the Land.  Cora held Carly for a portion of the ride.  I asked her if she wanted to hold Carly and she looked up at me and said "Yes!" in a tone that said, "duh-of course I do!"  She is a delight to be around.  Brian and I could have listened to her talk about how "Cora's Dad likes plants near Cora's house in Chicago" all day long!

We had a wonderful time catching up with Aaron, Kel & Cora (and Cora's Grammy) while they were here.  I hope they come again soon!  Maybe next time we can snatch a photo of both girls smiling at the same time. ;) Or maybe it will be a good 4-5 years before that happens!