NEW CHRISTMAS SONGS

I'm usually a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas tunage but these newcomers are fantastic. If you are looking for a way to spruce up your current playlist here are some to add:

A VIDEO YEAR IN REVIEW

I posted this on Facebook a while back but since I know a few of you don't have an account I thought I'd put it up here too. It's a nice summary of 2010... since it was mostly about preparing for, having, and then loving our little chicken.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This is a picture of Fanta (fake Santa). Have I ever told his story on this blog? He's an almost exact replica of a decoration Brad grew up with in his home every Christmas. I won him this past summer at the Carn family reunion through a series of tournaments that tested my very soul (or maybe it was just one lucky game of Bingo? I can't remember). Anyway, Fanta's story is pretty funny I'll get around to telling it sometime.

(EDIT - Get Charlie and Brook's perspective of Fanta's story here. Thanks guys!)


Today we are heading to Brad's parents house for Christmas and New Years. It will be nice to have a lengthy vacation where I don't have to worry about Brad studying for a 1:00 quiz or whether patients are pulling guns on each other in the clinic parking lot (true story). We have lots of fun stuff planned but we are most excited to spend our first Christmas with Finley. If I don't get around to posting I wish you all a happy Christmas and hope that you are able to spend it with those you love.

SIX MONTHS

Our chubby bunny is six months old. It's hard to imagine a time before she was a part of our family and I've recently found myself thinking, "what did I do with all that free time I had before?" But I honestly don't think it in a negative way because I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything. Yes it's a huge lifestyle change, but the good far out weighs the bad. We went in for her six months checkup and here are her current stats:

50th percentile for weight: 15 lbs., 12 oz. (more than doubled her weight since birth)
75th percentile for height: 26 1/4 inches (grown 6 1/4 inches since birth)


Our pediatrician said she is "perfect" and is growing at a great pace, very proportionately. She did move from the 50th to the 75th percentile in head size! We knew it was just a matter of time before that big noggin kicked in, luckily her hair is starting to come in a bit more!


As for her new tricks - she's rolling all over the place and doing this crazy back bend thing. I can no longer leave the room and expect her to be in the same place when I come back. Which is a sad stage to leave behind. She's even started pushing up on her hands and flailing her feet which propels her a few inches here and there, we are really not ready for a crawling baby! She also found her feet. In fact the other day in the car I looked back at her in the car seat and she was holding both feet straight in the air and just smiling out the window. Happy as a clam.


She sleeps slightly better at night then she did a month ago. Her (own) bedtime for a while there was about 12:30 and I've pushed it back to about 11. Which still entails a few waking episodes throughout the night but fortunately it's easy to get her back to sleep again. Our pediatrician told us to cut out night feedings which turned out to be harder on me than Finley. I assumed she was waking up because she was hungry, but I think I was just using it as a crutch to get her back to sleep. We went cold turkey about three nights ago and haven't looked back. Turns out Finley hasn't died of starvation as I feared. None of her sleeplessness has been helped by the fact that she got her first tooth right before Thanksgiving. And her next tooth is just below the surface - hopefully on it's way to full eruption in the next few days.

The trade off for hard nights is that she is one happy baby during the day. Most often she still smiles at everyone she sees but now she laughs a lot more. In fact now she is more ticklish. Even if you just make the sound and gesture that you are going to tickle her she starts to giggle. Brad is also enjoying the fact that he can toss her in the air now that she is getting tougher. And boy does she enjoy playing with dad. Sometimes she'll even cry when he leaves the room (never happens when I leave the by the way). I think we have a daddy's girl on our hands - Brad melts every time.


And the last big milestone she hit this month is starting on baby food. She has done well with butternut squash but peas and green beans have been a little less appealing (I don't blame her). So far she hasn't outright rejected anything but she was literally grabbing the spoon herself to get the squash into her mouth faster.

Finley also met snow for the first time today - we only went outside for a few minutes because we are all getting over some nasty colds. And below freezing is no place for a little burrito. Her "bear suit" is a size too big so it makes her arms and legs look extra long and extra adorable. But she didn't seem to mind the cold. Pretty good coming from our June baby.

WITCHCRAFT

So Brad's parents gave us their old Christmas tree when we left after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure how three people, a ginormous tree, and all our luggage made it back to Alton in our Civic but somehow we lived to tell the tale. Diane warned us that some of the pre-lit lights were out but I was thrilled to move on from our two footer to a big girl tree. Plus free is my favorite price. Anyway, once I set it up only three branches lit up. My mom told me about this thing that fixes your lights by plugging them into this gun-like device. I wasn't buying it at all - it just seemed like one of those "too good to be true" things. Or one of those things that works for everyone else but me. I went to Home Depot the next day anyway to buy one and made sure that they would let me return it if it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Well I don't want to over sell this but it was all it was cracked up to be and MORE. It seriously felt like I was performing magic. Every strand was fixed but one and it was ridiculously easy. Just plug and click and they magically start working again. Witchcraft, I tell you! Since then I have considered trying to break the lights again so that I can use the gun again. But maybe not. If you have lights that aren't working give me a call - I'll bring my gun over.

THANKSGIVING 2010 [PART 2]

Brad came up a few days later by way of bus and train and we met in Naperville. We had a relaxing week with family and we even got to spend an evening with all of Brad's high school friends where Finley was a hit. One of the best things we got to do was volunteer at the Bishop's storehouse on Thanksgiving packing up food orders for those in need.


Diane was in charge of cooking, so of course it was delicious. The mountains of rolls didn't last 24 hours! We had about 20 people for dinner and believe me we stuffed ourselves.



Brad's go-to expression. I'm not sure why... I think it has something to do with highlighting the eyebrows.

Remember this dog last Christmas? He used to be so tiny! He's still a little guy but definitely bigger. He's used to six kids running around but I guess 15 wore him out.


Jonah is the baby whisperer. I swear! Brad's family (it was a team effort) watched Finley while we went to see Harry Potter and she took a nap while Jonah held her for more than an hour. Jonah, do you want to come stay with us for a few weeks?




We had lot of fun and can't wait until Christmas. Since I'm no longer working we'll be able to take a nice long vacation to Naperville for two weeks during Brad's winter break. We are excited for lots of Portillos! Oh and EVERY member of the Carn's will be in town - all 35 of us! Mayhem. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

THANKSGIVING 2010 [PART 1]

Okay. Bad blogger alert! I'm hopelessly behind so for now I'll just post a few highlights from Thanksgiving. Finley and I went up early to go visit Ashley in Evanston which is a just a short drive from Naperville. This was the first time Ashley met Finley and I hadn't seen Lincoln since he was three weeks old - and now he's crawling! And Parker is so grown up - he talks up a storm. He really wanted Finley to "play" but I think he was a little disappointed that she wasn't much fun. When we first arrived I think he brought her every single toy he owns, he was such a good sharer. And Finley loves Ashley's husband Sam - she could not stop staring and smiling at him. Every time he came into the room she would follow his every move, it was hilarious.

We realized on the last day that we hadn't taken any pictures, and now I know why. Trying to photograph three children at once was quite the challenge.




This isn't a perfect picture but it's my absolute favorite of all the ones we took. I can't believe that between me and Ashley we have three kids! It really feels like yesterday we were going to our high school prom. I can't even imagine what our lives will be like in another ten years.

FIVE MONTHS

Our little chicken is five months old now! Can you believe it? In the past week I've really started to notice how big she's gotten since she's outgrown her second set of clothes. She's still in the 75th percentile for length and the 50th percentile for weight so her pants are getting a little short. She's finally getting some hair on top and it looks like it's coming in a light brown shade... who knows though, it seems hair color changes drastically in some babies. She's very vocal these days both in the cooing and crying department. Unfortunately she's found a new octave of crying so instead of sounding cute it's now a bit heart wrenching. We've had some regression in the bedtime department and she has given up entirely on any sense of a night time sleeping schedule. We thought that she was teething which would explain the extreme slobbering, fussiness, and refusing to eat but so far it's been over two weeks and nothing has appeared. So we are trying to get by on little sleep right now. I figured out that she likes her feet propped up when she sleeps so we use a rolled up blanket in her crib. So high maintenance. Our friends let us borrow their swing which has helped Finley with a few naps and she seems to enjoy being more upright. Honestly, it almost feels like week 1 again. I just keep telling myself that it's just a phase and it will pass. So if you see me running errands with my slippers on blame it on the fact that I've lost my mind.

But, even with the lack of sleep Finley still manages every day to convince us to keep her. She smiles when she meets new people and especially when Brad comes home. She hears his voice and lights up before he gets into the room. We decided she's a daddy's girl right now but prefers mom when she's cranky or sleepy (or maybe Brad has just convince me of that so he gets off easy). She likes playing with her toys Monsieur Chicken and Waspy. They both make that crinkly noise which seems to be her favorite. She's also quite the mover - I'm always amazed at how far kicking her legs takes her. Also, she's full on holding stuff now. Yesterday Brad was carrying his dinner plate in one hand and Finley in the other and since there were no more hands Finley carried a bottle of BBQ sauce to the kitchen. It's about time she started earning her keep. Where ever we go Finley is constantly adored. I'm telling you, if you want to make everyone's day happier just take a baby somewhere. More than once people have said how they were having a bad day but just seeing a baby smile at them put them in a good mood.

We are now getting ready for the holidays - even if we have been enjoying 80 degree weather here. Thanksgiving is just two weeks away and then it always seems like Christmas is two seconds later. My crafting goals seem to have gotten out of hand. I'm determined to make our Christmas stockings and an advent calendar by December 1st... plus a slew of Christmas gifts for Finley, nieces, and nephews. Yikes... I've barely begun! Even if Finley will only be about 7 months at Christmas I'm looking forward to enjoying it with a child. After all you only have one 1st Christmas!

*** I realize these photos are a little indulgent and the amount is overboard, just remember we don't live very close to any of her Grandparents.