A shot of Christmas

We're still here... mostly;-) We had a computer crash in Nov. that we still haven't fixed, so i finally bit the bullet and dumped pictures onto Johns school laptop... CLS has been a busy girl! She is almost 15 months old now (on the 17th) and is still not walking but is taking 4-8 steps at a time. Christmas was so much fun this year! Last year she was to young to care, and that was still somewhat true but by the end of the weekend, she got opening presents down! On the 26th, we headed to Richmond to visit my grandfather and my moms extended family. The snow the weekend before ruined our plans and pushed this back a week. Despite some car trouble on the way (always the worst!) we made it safetly and really enjoyed our visit. My cousin laura had 3 week old twins that we got to meet! It was so fun, adn her babies are so tiny! (5 and almost 7 pounds) Laura is holding baby girl, and my cousin April is holding my baby... she looks so big:-(

getting a baby doll from my papa. She LOVES it. it cries, eats, burps, falls asleep and has that perfect belly laugh that all babies have.

she really enjoyed dessert!

Christmas afternoon we headed down to my mom and dads house and celebrated with several of my siblings and Lyns boyfriend. She had a blast ripping paper, and we have had to watch her really close ever since we got home bc she will rip any paper she finds lying around.
and now: a video (sideways!) off her showing off... her shirt says I'm on the nice list... trust me... Def. appropriate as you watch the attitiude shine!!

we have teeth!

that's right! the little lady has finally decided the time has come to cut teeth, and we are PAYING for it! she cut one mon., one today and has 3 more pushing through. Although it is cute, I am a little upset about this... she isn't cutting teeth in the typical order. She is cutting teeth on the top, so before much longer my sweet little baby girl is going to have a mouthful of buck teeth... pics will follow when she learns to sit still... (dont hold your breath!)

One already?

Cara tunred one this week! I can't believe how completely fast this year has flown by! We celebrated her birthday yesterday (I spent sat, her actual birthday at an all day scrapbook retreat, it was WONDERFUL!) My sister Lyndsay and her boyfriend came over to help us celebrate. She slept during mosof the party which allowed us to eat a nice dinner without having her beg, then we woke her up for cake. She didn't like the outfit I tried to make her wear but liked the fire... In the end, her demands won out and she was allowed to eat like she prefers, mostly naked...

Hey, look Jonas... this is yummy!!1

She crawled back for more after she left the first time... It was really fun celebrating and the boys were super excited for it! We gave her a push walker thats a baby doll stroller. i'll have to post those pics later, she is so stinking cute walking behind her baby (whom i have named Kensington, since John didnt let me use that name for a real child of ours...)

Heres what she does: She weighed in at 18 pounds 5 ounces this morning (15%) and was 29 inches long (75%). she doesnt walk yet and MAY have cut her first tooth today (its the upper front, but she hasnt let me get a good look yet) She throws her arms up for touchdown whenever she sees a football game, or a hokie anything. she loves to blow sloppy kisses and thinks spitting is super funny. bath time is her favorite part of the day, and she still doesnt sleep through the night. we get a 5 hour stretch from 7-11 or midnight, then she gets up every 2 hours afterwards... it's killing me!

Bed head! she takes a great afternoon nap for us (2-3 hours) and is really cheerful when she wakes up

she goes to school with me 3 mornings a week and loves watching the big girls in the class play. her favorite part of school is the child size sink and she washes her hands all morning.

she loves to do whatever her brothers are doing and thinks she is such a big kid. steps are a recent discovery and we cant keep her off them.

if you're willing, she will swing for hours! she has been suhc a joy this past year! Happy birthday baby!!!!!

no more waiting on her faithful (but slow) servants

I don't know if I am slow to meet her needs, or if we have a fiercely independent child on our hands, but she has been so whiny lately as a result of frustration in not being able to do things for herself. Feeding times have become a nightmare and a constant battle with this child. She tries to grab the spoon and loves rubbing the wall with gross hands. After several evenings of annoying dinner time issues, I finally gave in and let her do it herself.... She loved it! (almost 9 months, rice and applesauce)

She has also hit so many milestones recently: she learned to sit herself up from her belly to criss cross applesauce around 8 1/2 months. She also quit putting herself back to sleep then because she would sit up in her crib to cry and won't lay back down. She also started clapping for herself. Yesterday she figured out the game of peek a boo and LOVES it! She will cover her eyes with anything cloth and laugh when you say peek a boo... I LOVE this age!!!

and finally: On the day she turned 9 months, Carrington figured out the art of crawling. She had been butt scooting for a while but wasn't making a lot of progress with it.... In all her glory.... Here is her version of crawling!

mullet no mo

It had gotten bad.... She got a bang trim in feb. but we didn't touch anything else. In the past few weeks as her head has gotten bigger, she has lost a lot on the sides, and is rubbing a bald spot on the back. john gave the OK for a trim, and I cut it before I chickened out..

It was so long and straggly....

she looks a little bit more like a boy, but I think it will grow out nicer now!

pics

Carrington is finally starting to hit her milestones! She rolled over front to back for the first time at 4 months, but then wouldn't do it again... this past week she started rolling over front to back and back to front! She laso FINALLY started grabbing for things! I feel so much better now that she is doing things she was suposed to do weeks ago...