Carley's Walking!

Yesterday evening Carley took her first few independent steps.  Today she walked even more though she still resorted to crawling more often than not. She's exactly the age that Lindsey was when she first started walking, just shy of being 13 months.

What a Weekend!

Carley's birthmother came to visit for the weekend.  It was an amazing and overwhelming weekend.  I'm so glad we had her come for a visit, though we're all exhausted. I think Carley found it difficult at times to be the center of so much attention.  She was indeed a princess for the weekend, but that can be a little too much for a baby to handle.

Carley's First Sentence

Carley said her first sentence today, "Pick me up".  It came out more as one word, picmeup.   But she repeated herself and it was pretty clear and she said it in the right context so I think it counts.

Christmas School Program

As the parents of preschool children, we attended our very first school program tonight, a program of songs mostly Christmas.  I've dreamed of attending my children's school programs.  It was everything I imagined and more.  Lindsey went around introducing everyone to each other and directing the handing out of the programs.  She was the hostess with the mostest.  Sam literally laid on the floor silently for a good deal of the program because he was " 'cared".  He was a kid where in the past if I had seen him as a stranger I would have thought, "What's wrong with that kid?"  At home he sang all the words to the songs perfectly.  Mmm, that's what I get for being judgmental about other people's kids all those years before I actually had kids.  It looks like I'm still paying for that.  Most of all, though, I had fun and was very proud to be the mama of such great kids.

First Snow and Christmas Decorating

Saturday afternoon and evening it snowed enough for us to play out in the snow in our yard for the first time this winter.  That put us in the mood to get going on our Christmas decorating! 

Happy Birthday, Carley!

It's impossible for me to believe that it's been a year since our baby was born.  What happened to the 6 lb 18 inch beautiful tiny creature that we took home from the hospital when she was 2 days old?  She's grown into a beautiful one year old that's now 20 lbs 14 oz and 28 inches.  According to the doctor's chart she's exactly at 50th percentile for weight, height and head circumference.

She's lively, happy, demanding, and impossible for me to resist picking up every chance I get.  (Okay, she's spoiled.)  She's got 6 teeth, can stand, can almost walk unassisted, is a very fast crawler (you can't turn your back on her for a second), can climb stairs, has an infectious laugh, a vocabulary of about 6 words and loves her big sister and brother.  I can't imagine our family without her.