My very 1st.....

PIGTAILS!!

So they aren't the straightest or neatest, but you have one shot with her and she is DONE playing with her hair!

I cannot tell you how many times Levi said how cute, adorable, sweet, & cuddly Carrigan was after seeing her in her pigtails. He even got her out of her bed to sleep with him when she woke up fussy. But then, how could he resist when she was yelling from her crib, "DADA, PLEASE!!"
.....Although Daddy did compare his baby girl's hair-do to SHREK!!!

Santa & the Mrs.

Just a small tease! Many, many more to come!

Watch out ladies...

Gavin's got a new 'do' and is lookin' as handsome as ever!

(It was my first time using hair clippers and I can't believe his hair didn't come out a total disaster!)

Rub-a-dub-dub. Two kids in a tub

Talking at 13 months

Here is Carrigan showing off some of her words before bed the other night.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Christmas Thief

It took me hours & hours of shopping to find just the right Christmas presents for the two hardest people to shop for in the entire world. My husband and mother. I finally did it though. I found them. HORRAY!

The weekend is over, Levi is at work, so it was the perfect time to bring in and wrap those perfect gifts.

However someone else thought the presents were pretty nice as well and stole them right out of the trunk of my car.

I suppose I should be thankful the robbers decided to leave the Christmas gifts for the kids. What a nice little thief.

I may be a wife and stay at home mom, but I'll bet I could knock that guy (or girl) down to the ground right now.

He must get this from his daddy...

This morning Gavin was "reading" a Farm book. He was going through the animals, saying what they are, then doing their sound. He then would spell each animal name.

It then dawned on me. Gavin can identify every single letter of the alphabet in upper-case AND lower-case.
He can also sing his ABC's with getting a couple wrong. I am trying to get it on video.

He can count and identify numbers 1-10. We are now working our way up to 20.

Does this not seem terribly impressive for a 2.4 year old?

I managed to get him saying his ABC's with me repeating. It was all he would give me!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

brrr... It's cold INside!

Early Wednesday morning (around 5:00 a.m.) the electricity went out. It was literally freezing outside. I was praying by the time we all were awake it would be back on.

Nope.

It was a cold morning and I kept thinking about how great it was that I had just gone grocery shopping the night before and there was everything sitting in a fridge that was getting warmer by the minute.

However Gavin, Carrigan and myself found it to be a rather fun morning! No cartoons to watch or Facebook to check, just time to play!

(Sometimes I feel as if I am the only mother who puts their kids to bed in mismatched jammies. )

Usually jumping off the arm of the couch is a big No-No, but sometimes you just have to be lighthearted about things!

HOWEVER when I learned Carrigan was now able to climb up on the arm of the couch too, the fun had to stop! Her hair is getting so long!

Hands down, the funniest part of my day was when I sat down to eat breakfast. Every mother knows that 'its too quiet in here, something must be wrong' feeling. I get up to find what my little nibblits (Levi hates that I call them that!) are up to, and all the sudden I hear......

Here we are!!!!

They are just too funny!! I don't know how they were cramming themselves in there together, but they kept shutting themselves in until I would yell, Where did Gavin & Carrigan go??? Then they'd pop out and laugh! They are so much fun!


Oh, and the power came back on at 8:40 a.m. The instant it came on, I excitedly raised my hand in the air and said, "Thank you, God!!" Gavin has lifted his hand several times today and exclaimed, "Thank You, God!" =)

Lookin Good Thanks to Grandma!

Levi's mom made this adorable sweater vest and got an adorable outfit to wear it with. Carrigan looks SO cute in it! She'll be wearing it to church Sunday! Thank you, Laura!

I love you

Gavin has been saying, "I love you" for a while now, but it has always been in response to our I love you's.

Yesterday while I was playing with Carrigan, Gavin scooted by on his train and said, "Bye Momma, I love you!"

Just in case I haven't said it in the past 5 minutes, I love you too, Bubbas.

Grandparents and Grandbabies

This year Levi, the kids and I went to Bentonville for Thanksgiving. We had a great time! We learned we can travel at night with Carrigan now! WooHoo! We left around 4:30 Thursday morning and she was awake most the time, but coming home Saturday night she slept very well! I didn't manage to take any pictures on Thanksgiving, but I did get some of us playing at the park. Both Gavin & Carrigan had so much fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa & William!

12 Month Weigh - In

11-20-09

Weight : 21.15 lbs - 48th percentile

Length: 30 1/2 inches - 80th percentile

Head Circumference: 46

Her doctor said he could see her molars coming in. Yikes! Just what we need before traveling for Thanksgiving!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gavin's weigh-in on 8-31-09:

Weight: 23.4 lbs - 3rd percentile
Height: 33 1/2 - 20th percentile

Unofficial weigh-in 11-23-09:
23 lbs

Studious

I realized I have never done a post of Gavin's knowledge of letters, numbers, shapes, & colors. He asks "What's that?" 100,000,000 times a day, so he knows just about everything about everything!

Levi and my mom use the same word to describe what kind of child he will be:

stu·di·ous

adj.

1.

a. Given to diligent study

b. Conducive to study.

2. Marked by steady attention and effort; assiduous

3. Giving or evincing careful regard; heedful

4. Deliberate; contrived.

We hope he is like his daddy who did his homework as soon as he got home and NOT like Mommy who woke up early to do homework the day it was due!

Take Gavin to a toy store, and he will choose books to read and puzzles to complete. He has a little piano, and if he hits the first key twice, he MUST hit all the other keys twice. When he takes puzzle pieces off, he lines them up specifically. He prefers his hands stay clean. When he builds with Lego's, he will only build with 2 colors at a time. He usually puts orange and red together, then black and yellow. He loves to watch a video that is like flash cards for vehicles, shapes and animals.

These are the letters I know for sure he knows. Some I think he knows, but can't say, such as W.

A B D E F G H I J L N O P Q R T U V X Y Z

Numbers:
1 2 3 4 7 8 9 10

Colors:
Blue Red Green White Black Pink Purple Orange Yellow

Shapes:
Circle Square Oval Rectangle Triangle Heart

Animals:
Just about them all!

He can spell his name and likes to spell Goodnight Moon before reading the book.

But as much as he likes to learn, he still likes to have fun!

Carrigan at 12 Months

The first thing I have to list about Carrigan at 12 months is her list of words. It is rather impressive. There are 26 words on this list!

Night Night "Nigh-Nigh"
Cookie "coo-coo"
Cracker "Cakah"
Kitty
Mouse "Mou" -It's what she calls her Minnie Mouse doll and says when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on
Bubba
Momma
DaDa
NaNa
Diaper "DihDih"
Stuck "skuh"
Bite
Bath "Ba"
Baby
Eye
Hair "Hae"
ByeBye
Hi
Uh-Uh "said instead of No"
Elmo
A Book "a boo"
Hand "ham"
Cheese "chee"
Stinky
Bottle "BaBa"
Fire "Fiyah" although she only knows this as the fireplace in the book "Goodnight Moon"

Animal Sounds:
Pig: she snorts and puts her finger in her mouth trying to copy Gavin who puts his finger on his nose.
Dog: She pants
Monkey: Ooh Aah Aah
Cow: Moo

She will point to my eyes and say "eye" and point to my hair and say "hae"

You have 8 teeth. 4 on top & 4 on bottom.

First thing in the morning, you tell me bye bye then follow daddy as he gets ready for work saying, Hi Dada!

You love to follow around your Bubba and play with whatever he is playing with. This causes him a lot of stress! Gavin likes to take "ya ham" (your hand) and lead you around. You LOVE this!

You like to be chased. You do this by picking up a puzzle piece (or whatever else Gavin is interested in) pull it to your chest, then RUN! If the first try doesn't work, you pick up toy by toy, stare into his eyes with this funniest "naughty look" on your face until Gavin yells, "MINE!" then you get up and go!

Anything high enough to step on or climb, you will step on it or climb. All dining room chairs are in the garage. The computer chair lays on it's side when not in use. You like to jump on the bed and have fallen off countless times. The other day I caught you standing up on a chair that Gavin had put on the bed. Needless to say, you are fearless.

You LOVE cinnamon graham crackers and will stand under the "snack cabinet" multiple times a day asking for a "cakah." You would also drink apple juice all day if I let you.

You like to look at books and pretend like you are reading. You imitate the way Gavin reads his books by counting the objects.

It is not possible to let you go around without pants because you will take your diaper off within seconds!

You will eat just about anything I give you. You LOVE bananas! You will eat an entire one and beg for more.

If your brother takes a toy from you, you pull his hair or bite.

Elmo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse are your favorite shows to watch. You carry around a Minnie Mouse doll that your Nana got you for your birthday.

You aren't the easiest baby to take into a store. You want DOWN and to TOUCH! People always want to come up and comment on your big blue eyes and long eyelashes. You however are very easy in restaurants. As long as you have food, you are happy!

You love to give kisses to Mommy & Daddy. You will carry around baby dolls and hug them while patting their back. You will also blow kisses.

You suddenly went from the most difficult baby to put and stay asleep to the easiest! I carry you in your room, turn on your lullaby Cd, lay you down, pat your little booty until you fall asleep. You wake up 1-2 times a night and will usually put yourself back to sleep. The same goes for naps. I only wish you'd sleep a little longer during naps. You NEED 2-3 naps a day. You just can't function without them! You HOWEVER wake up about 10 minutes before the sun comes up, but I think your daddy's alarm clock is at fault.

Your daddy & I aren't sure where you got your personality from. Daddy, myself & Gavin are all pretty quiet and reserved, but you are OUTGOING!!!!

You keep us smiling all laughing all day long and we LOVE YOU!! We look forward to all you will accomplish as you grow. I can't get enough of you my Little Sunshine!!

I think this picture set the stage for our next year together as a family of 4!

Tiny Little Bundle of Joy!

Even though I should put these with her 1 year post, which is late, I know... I just have to post them after looking through old albums. She was only 5 days old in the 1st picture. Stay back Baby Fever! Stay Back!!!

Anyone remember this picture? It was 1 yr + 1 day ago. My oh my what a year can do!
I am completely holding back tears after watching a video. They were SO CUTE and SO LITTLE!!!!!