Christmas Weekend

I just want to say this Christmas by far was the best Christmas ever!!!  (except for the Christmas that Jesus was born, of course!)

What made it awesome was not the gifts or food.  What made it awesome was the feeling inside my heart, and family.

I am so thankful for my husband, and son.  When I was opening presents Christmas morning with John and Carl I was filled with joy, peace, and happiness.  All the little and big blessings we received this past year was brought into remembrance.  I wouldn't want to re-do this past year, but God was faithful and brought us through many trials.  That morning we opened presents and laughed and it was an amazing to feeling watch our son sit there with innocence in his eyes as he was presented with gifts and the best gift of all was his health.  Last year we were scared and nervous not knowing if our precious boy would be okay.  But God walked us through it all.  That was the best gift of all.

After opening Christmas presents that morning we went to the Claxtons (John's sister) for some yummy Christmas dinner.  And I got to hang out with some of the funniest kids ever.  I got to teach Alex the politically correct word for individuals without homes is homeless not "hobos".  And I taught Lucy a new kind of praise, "Hallelujah" and "Preach it Pastor".  She was super cute!

Christmas continued on Sunday.  We got to celebrate with some of John's cousins and aunts at the Vander Schaaf's.  Gotta here the best stories (thank you Karla), and enjoyed some amazing food (the trifle was amazing (good job Reed and Bridget).

And then I got to wrap up the weekend celebrating Kabbiba's 30th birthday bash!!!

I have the best family and amazing friends.  And being able to celebrate Christmas with the ones I love was a blessing.  There was many I didn't get to celebrate with, but they were in my thoughts!

I pray everyone had an amazing Christmas weekend, and I pray we can keep the Spirit for the days, months, and years to come!

Only Three More Months!!!

Carl is NINE MONTHS OLD!!!  Where has the time gone?  Since it is going by quickly I know I need to get on to planning the 1st BIRTHDAY PARTY.  But in the mean time I am going to enjoy every second with this little guy.

•  He is about 18 lbs.  We get mixed comments of "Oh he is so big", or "He is so tiny".  I think he is pretty heavy, but I have to trot him around. :)
• He loves to eat!  His food consists of baby food, regular food, boobie food; with him anything goes.
• He is a good napper.  I put him down and he plays for a second then he is out like a light.  When it is time to wake up he greets me with a little giggle and a smile.  Then of course he wants to snuggle with me for a bit.
• He "crawls" all over the place.  (His crawl consists of a low prone army crawl)
• He has one tooth that has broken through, it peeks out just a bit.  Can't wait to see that toothy grin!
• Speaking of grins, he likes to grin with his tongue out.  (The best pic of this eludes me, but trust me I will capture it!)
• He talks alot!!!  He babbles (likes to say Da Da, working on Ma Ma) and will just make random noises.  He used to just do it at home, but now he is very loud almost everywhere.
•  He wants my constant attention, this is a blessing and a curse.  But I love it!

What a sharp tooth you do have!

Finally, finally, finally!  Carl's first tooth has broken through!!!  There is still a lot more going on in that little mouth of his, but it has finally cut through.  This journey has been a long one.

Our journey for teeth started back in August.  There was the little sign of drool, then he wanted to chew on everything, and every so often when he would nurse he thought it would be a good idea to try and gum me!!!  He learned very quickly that was not part of the plan.  But these little signs brought nothing.  Then there were the days when his gum would swell up but a few days later he would be fine.

Then there was the Saturday after Thanksgiving (and the night before) he was miserable!!  He was up most of the night crying and he spent that morning and early afternoon crying unless he was held constantly.  This was so stressful due to it being Friendsgiving.  But we survived.  And I thought his tooth would have broken through that weekend or following week, but no dice!

And for the next few weeks he was okay, there would be moments his gums would bother him but he soothed with frozen blueberries (they are his favorite!)

There is still more journey to come, and I know it won't be that pleasant but today made me happy to see and feel that tooth break through.  And yes it is sharp, thankfully no issues with nursing yet, so hopefully you will start to see pics of toothy grin from Carl soon.

But for now you get this.