Merry, Merry Christmas!

I have a feeling this may be our last "laid back" Christmas. And I use that term loosely, as holidays are never laid back around here. Laurie really didn't catch on to the opening presents thing, we just couldn't get her interested. Watching the commotion from all our relatives with children, gave us a little peek into what is to come in the next few years.

Will and I had a leisurely morning, we got up and dressed before Laurie awoke, had some sausage balls and banana bread for breakfast. Laurie had her usual oatmeal. Then it was time for our gifts! I tried so hard to get Laurie to open her gifts, but she wouldn't bite. There is actually still a wrapped gift for her under the tree. Maybe it will wait till her birthday.

After we had our own little Christmas, we dashed into the car to speed off to see Will's family and all their children. Meg may have slept through the eve festivities, but Laurie snoozed right through the gift opening today. That's ok, then all the attention was on her when we finally opened her gifts!

Our Barbour noggin is just a little big for Laurie's little santa cap, but what a cute little stinker we are!

After Christmas with Will's family, we rushed off to see mine. Grandmother hosts a party Christmas night every year, there were a lot of people and a lot of noise. We didn't last long, but I was proud to show Laurie off to everyone.

This activity center from Bebe and Latta was a big hit. Laurie loves the telephone and peekaboo door. I thought she would love the walker, but we may need a few more weeks to get that down pat

It was nice to have lots of toys to keep Laurie occupied for the car ride.

Dada just wants to sleep off the holidays now.

Merry Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve! The kids in our family were excited to say the least! Our little family took the day slowly, Daddy had to work, so Laurie and I finished up with the cooking and visited with my friend Margaret. Once Daddy came home, we took off to spread a little cheer with Aunt Alice and Grandmother Margaret.




Afterwards, we met up with all of Will's family at William's home for dinner. I think the kids could hardly stand to wait through the night for Santa to come. Meg made a brief appearance before she went down for a nap. Charlie was so sweet to play with Laurie. Laurie loves Charlie.





The kids were not thrilled to pose for all the pictures, but they tried as hard as they could.



I think the longer we made them pose, the worse the pictures got. Lesson learned, be quick about it.

As we waited for Santa's phone call, Mary Stewart and Genevieve read the Night Before Christmas. What a fun tradition! Once Santa calls, it's a mad dash to run home and get in bed!

Eleven Months Old

Wow, this year has gone by fast. It was a year of firsts for all of us, and we loved every minute of it. In a short time, Laurie will be one year old and I can't help but feel that she really has always been a part of our lives. God has been so very gracious to our little family. To celebrate the end of her first year, Laurie thinks she will work on cutting her second set of teeth. I am going to miss that gummy little smile.

My Old Job

Yesterday, Laurie and I decided to visit my old co-workers at Farm Bureau and spread around a little Christmas cheer. The elves were busy working, but they were kind enough to take a few minutes off to visit with us. She did some heavy flirting with the fellows! I will have to watch those two!

Santa's Helpers

This is pretty cheesy, but I still laughed my head off.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/qv40AZ5LA6L3cpyT

Visit with Santa

I am not totally sold on the idea of "Santa" but I did want to be sure to get a photo of Laurie with Santa for her very first Christmas. * Due to our recent illness, those plans have run awry. Tonight, we attended the Barbour family Christmas party Marsha and Haley host, so I knew we had one final chance to see him this year. I hear from many parents with young children, that seeing Santa usually goes very poorly, so when I placed her on his lap, I was prepared for the worst. Even before I handed her over, Santa said, take it quick, this never goes well. I have no idea if she were afraid or not, but her eyes were glued to the odd man in red with the bushy white beard. No amount of calling her name would get her to look away. We have many pictures that look exactly like this.







* This in no way implies that Santa is not very real and attest to the fact that he does hand out toys to children each and every year.

On The Mend

At least I think we are on the mend. Praise God for His faithfulness. This was a very long week. At Laurie's nine month check up, she weighed 17.12 lbs. Now at almost 11 months and surely many pounds bigger, we went back to see the doctor on Thursday and she is 17.2. I can tell a marked loss in weight. Her little neck folds are gone, and I can see her ribs and shoulder blades. She wandered off that first night, when we went to check on her, she was curled up on her floor asleep. Sweet baby put herself to bed.

I think Wednesday was her lowest day. But on Thursday morning, I really thought she was perking up. On Friday, she showed an interest in eating again. Maybe too much interest, and permissive parent that I am, I let her cram her face with bread and potato and chug a whole cup of water. Which promptly all came back up. Saturday, I was much harsher and whine as she may, I really monitored her intake and everything stayed down!!! I think we are well again!!! We had oatmeal and apples for breakfast! She smiled! And is babbling up a storm! Praise God!

Our house was not very exciting this holiday season, but there were a few bright spots. I don't care how bad you feel, it is still necessary to empty your diaper bag and drag it around the house.







Nobody like Jo. After not uttering more than a whine all week, Josie was the first to get a giggle out of Laurie. We love Josie. That girl has earned herself a duck hunt, Daddy.

Our First Illness

We have finally caught our first illness. I say it's our first, Laurie has had the sniffles before (she and I always have the sniffles), but I was really considering her only sick if it involved some real discomfort. And I would say that 5 days with the stomach virus are enough discomfort to go around for everyone.

I haven't been particularly bothered by her being ill, but we have become increasingly worried about the duration of it. Laurie hasn't eaten since last Saturday. We have managed to keep her hydrated, but her increasing lethargy is bothersome as well. The doctor is seeing us again today, we hope he can do something, give us some answers.

We know where our hope rests and we know who's child Laurie truly is and we covet your prayers for a quick recovery for our precious child.

Here we are enjoying Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Hide and Seek

With it being so cold, I thought I would pull our curtains closed to keep in some more of our heat. Laurie thought it was a great idea too. She was so funny crawling back and forth from me to hide behind the curtains.

Let it Snow!

It snowed here in our little neck of the woods on Thursday. We don't often get snow, though it was more like slush. Laurie and I decided to keep warm and stay inside in our jammies all day long! We played by the window and talked about the snow a lot!

Pat the Bunny

Today, we were reading Pat the Bunny. My favorite is playing Peek-a-boo with Paul, it is too precious to hear her squeal, "Eeee!" in response to my "Peek-a-boo." Laurie really just wants to read about bunny (aka, ripping it out of the book).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1U-VK9zicc

We read it again today, I just knew I got a video of her shreaking peekaboo, but when I looked down, my camera said, "memory full." Aggh!

What We Are Talking About

Laurie is working so hard on talking. Though she only wants to talk about what she wants. The other night we were rocking and she threw her stuffed dog on the floor, so I said, "bye, bye puppy dog" and clear as a bell she returned "ba, ba puh duh". I have said it fifteen times since and she won't repeat it again. Though, in truth, she babbles so quietly to herself, she could be preaching a dissertation to rival Aunt Fair's and we would never know it.

She crawls around the room muttering "mamamamama" or "dadadadada" but to get her to direct it at Will or I is impossible. We have a photo album with a picture of Josie and it is the only picture she wants to look at, certainly not the photos with Will or I. When Josie is in the house, she will crawl around uttering "uh-JUY" over and over, with the occasional "C" thrown in too. Here we are checking out Josie in the backyard.

Happy Birthday, Dadda!

Dadda turned 40 this weekend! Will's birthday is always a busy time with getting ready for Christmas, enjoying the festivities and celebrating Will. But it was extra special this year. Laurie enjoyed helping me get ready for his birthday, she thought his chocolate cake was over the moon good and was a big help picking out the new gas logs for our fireplace. Will is excited to start enjoying the fireplace in our home! We always enjoy the Singing Christmas Tree at Belhaven, but we thought it might be a little to cold for our youngest family member.

To celebrate the big occasion of Will's fortieth, we had all Will's family over for dinner. It was a fun night and Laurie enjoyed having all her cousins over to play with her toys. She and Meg are especially funny together. After the big weekend, Laurie has been a big grump today and she is currently napping it off!

All Where I Can See Them

Always after the pursuit of not having our house look like we live in a daycare, I try so hard to keep all of Laurie's toys put away in baskets. All the various seats, swings and things put away so that we look as adult as possible. But it never fails, the first thing Laurie wants to do is dump everything out on the floor, pick up one thing, look at it for 2 seconds, toss it to the side, and move on to the next thing.

Barbour Family Tree Trimming

Sunday after church, we threw Laurie in her bed for a nap and went outside to discuss how best to get our tree inside.

Here's the bird's nest Will found in our tree. We left it there, Will said the kids could hunt for it later.

Will studying the tree and wondering how to trim two feet off. It is hitting the roof of our carport!

Post-nap, we introduced Laurie to the newest addition to our home. She is enamored. I have already had to chase her out of the living room three times today. I keep hoping the newness wears off and she loses interest in it.

The final product! Didn't we do a great job decorating? I think it looks beautiful! Will just keeps saying it's the best egg shaped Christmas tree he's ever seen! I had to build a furniture fort around it to keep Laurie from pulling it over on herself. Which she seems bound and determined to do. Plus, there really wasn't much else to do with the furniture anyway. If you come by our house for a look see, I promise to serve hot cocoa.

Merry Christmas!