Cuddling

I just had to post this one. She isn't feeling the greatest, and this is how she likes to cuddle...with my belly! She babbles at me and claps her hands together, it's just cute!

Sick Day

Try number one....

Try number two...there's the smile!

She doesn't always cooperate with me and the camera. We (pretty much me) have been having a sick day today. Cara is teething, which isn't making life any better, but she isn't sick. Yet. I am really hoping she doesn't catch this horrible cold!

Silly Hair

I totally got to sleep in this morning, curtesy of my awesome husband! I came downstairs around 10 in the morning to this! Blake is so funny! I am surprized he got her to sit there for all those ponies. He was surprized too, but he said she just sat there and let him! I guess our hair training is working out so far :)

Ponytail holders from Auntie Jess

Again we have no smiles today, however, I just wanted to show Jess the hair bobbies she sent. It took some finagling to get it to stay in her hair, but it worked! I am so excited to try it out on her when she has two piggytails in!

Her "bike"

So, she wasn't really cooperating with the camera today, but this is her little bike. Her toes can just barely touch the floor, so she's not really into riding it yet, but she does love to walk with it! She also really likes to tip it over and spin the wheels....who knows :)

Christmas Day

We had such a wonderful Christmas! What used to be a day filled with super fun with Blake and I, is now filled with fabulousness with Cara! We got up around 8am (some of us maaaay have been awake before that!), and opened presents. We video taped Cara opening hers, but of course our internet connection won't let me upload it here...but believe me, it was cute! She had a blast with everything, thank you to everyone!! Blake and I opened our gifts next. I'm pretty sure if you ask Blake, he'll agree that he is the MUCH better gift giver than I! I am just not that great at picking out fabulous gifts. He, however, is wonderful at it!! I do have to say, among my favorite gifts is this wonderful Jim Shore Cinderella:

She is just so beautiful. We made a super yummy breakfast after the gift giving and then just hung out and enjoyed each other for the rest of the day. I told Blake that this was defenitly the best Christmas yet...he told me I said that last year! I can't help it, they just keep getting better and better. We had a lovely dinner of ham, homemade mashed potatoes, greenbean casserole and some delicious banana bread. I think this year was, by far, the best. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We had an absolutly wonderful Christmas Eve. We went over to our good friends, Kimberly and Jason, house and spent some time with them. Cara opened her very first gift over there. It was a fabulous 25th anniversary addition cabbage patch doll. Her name is Lorelei Adell. Cara loves her! If you ask her "Where is baby?" she will go find her. She gives her kisses all the time, and waht she loves (most of all, I think) is the shoes. She's allowed to chew on them! It's just the cutest ever.

We came home and spent the afternoon here just with each other. Blake and I grew up differently when it comes to when we open gifts. I grew up opening them all on Christmas Eve, and he grew up opening them all on Christmas Day. Well, we've compromised and we open one on Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas Day morning. This is just my favorite time of year! Having Cara here makes it even better. Granted, I think she has no clue what's going on, but we do have fun. Well, I hope everyone is having a marvelous Christmas!!!

P.S.

Cara's gift to me was speech! She said her first word, Kitty. It's sooooo adorable!!!!

Christmas Eve Eve Eve...

This is Lulu, the alphabet spinning spider. She loves it and sings along!

Dancing to the music.

My little girl

I just totally think Cara has gone from a baby to a toddler in the last few weeks. It's like her brain grew or something. She is just so much fun (now that she's eating)! Blake got her up this morning when he got home from work and let me sleep in (awesome hubby!!!). He sat on the floor and read his book and she sat on the floor and read every single one of her books. Her favorite books at the moment are a Curious George goes to the Zoo and her Easter books. She has two of them and she loves them both!

She and I went out to dinner with my friend Kimberly, her cousin and cousin's friend last night. It was a really nice evening. Cara did great! She ate spaghetti and had a couple of bites of icecream for desert. We are having so much fun with her!

Today marks the first day of the Christmas week! We made peanutbutter cookies with chocolate chips and coconut yesterday. These are Blake's favorite cookies ever. I actually tried one today, and I have to say, I make some pretty awesome cookies! I never thought they would actually taste good, but I can see why he likes them so much. I wanted to make candy this year, but with Cara and being pregnant...I think I may just wait until next year. This is just such a wonderful time of year. I know it's easy to get caught up with the presents and the music and the candy. It's easy to forget the real meaning for the season...Celebrating God's greatest gift to us. I am looking foward to starting our tradition of reading the Christmas Story with Cara. I know she has no clue what's going on, but I really want her to grow up knowing that Jesus is the real reason for the season.

I am sure I'll blog again before Christmas, but I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Week!!

So Funny

I guess I point at her too much when I tell her no....she's started doing it back to me!

Contemplating the BIG no-no...it's so very tempting!

Another great day

We are on our fourth great day in a row! Cara has just completly turned around. We had such a horrible week a few days ago, I thought I was raising the worst kid in the world. I think God gives us just what we can bear, then relieves us. She has been so awesome. Food training is still crazy, but she's not cranky 24/7 anymore. I am so happy!!

27 Weeks

Sorry for the blurry picture. Our camera leaves much to be desired! Well, we are officially starting our third and final trimester. Yay! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by. Everything seems to be going great so far! I have my next doctor appointment on the 30th. I have to do the glucose test (yuck!) then as well. I just can't believe we have such a short time left until Alex gets here. I can't even imagine what life will be like with two children! I am excited to find out :)

10 Months Old

My Baby

Whoa, Mommy...enough with the camera!!

Loving to read her books

Laughing at the book (notice all the teeth!!)

Waiting patiently for Daddy to fix Lulu, the alphabet spinning spider.

I cannot believe Cara is ten months old already! It's just amazing. She is growing and changing everyday. I was talking with my mom and sister, and we all agree that she's changed soooooo much since she was born. She has such a personality! She loves to read her books, listen to music, dance while listening to her music, bug the cat...the list goes on and on. I just never realized that children develop all these personality traits so young. I just love her!!!

Hanging Out

She just loves the excersaucer. I think she loves it more now than she did when she fit inside of it! On a side note, the movie Space Chimps is totally lame! Apparently, I like lame movies, but this movie was beyond even what I liked...I just wanted to pass that little nugget of info on. :)

Supper time blues

Oh, the horror's of a tuna sandwich.

Finally, the good stuff, pears :)

Oh, the joys of training. Cara has hit a wonderful new stage of "choosing" what she wants to eat and what is disgusting. Everything seems to be the latter. We have started today with the training of eating what is on our plate. Wow, is this difficult! We started with a lovely tuna sandwish. It was NOT a favorite. She choked and sputtered on every bite. By the time we got done, she was at least somewhat opening her mouth for the bite. She still cried, but she ate it. She wanted to spit out each and every bite as well, but we kicked that pretty quickly....a little snip here, a little snip there....she finally realized that eating partially chewed bites was gross and she stopped spitting it out. Her reward for eating was pears. She hasn't had pears yet, and I was expecting her to object, but she loved them. I am really hoping tomorrow goes a little better!

Cara and Barry

Singing...she loves to sing!

Sipping her bottle. She loves to just take her sweet time with this!

So one of Blake's airmen got Cara a Barry the Bee stuffed animal. She likes him now, but when she first saw him, he scared her to death!! She wouldn't touch him. I am glad she got over it. She now loves him and all is well!

Teething

What a night.....she just didn't feel well becuase of her little teeth. She had a temp of 102 and was just cranky. She is luckily feeling much better today! I am very thankful.

Playing

She is so funny how she plays! She will quite literally pull all of her toys out and surround herself with them. She works hard on this, and then she just sits and plays. Everything she wants is within arms reach.

Swimming

We had a fabulous time checking out the new pool on base. Cara had a blast! She didn't cry at all. I was psyched when I saw they provided infant life vests, as we just havn't had an opportunity to get one yet. I am excited to go back again!! I am going to look into the Mommy and Me swim classes, if they have them. I think Cara would love it (I would too!). She just kicked and kicked. She didn't have a problem if I let her float by herself, either. It was great. We can't wait to go again!

New Pj's

These are her new pj's. I think they make her look like a Dr. Seuess character. She's so cute!

A new look

We tried piggy tails in the back of her hair today. Some day, the front of her hair will be long enough to fit in the same ponytail as the back of her hair. She's been in such a fabulous mood today. I just adore her!

She's just so cute

My sweet precious girl

Snow

I love snow!!

Cara's new eating position....all laid back.