January 3, 2009

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry sorry sorry! I haven't posted in a few days. And this one will be short! It's been a little holiday hectic! Carmen & I went to Mexico Christmas day and came back the 27th. Haley & Austin came with us. Alisa was on vacation all last week - so Haley & Austin had the tough job of keeping Carmen! Lori came up Tuesday evening & they all left today.

Carmen has entered the early stage of teething I would say. She likes to have her gums rubbed and likes to chew on any finger that goes near the mouth. Here's Haley's finger gettint attacked. :)

December 24, 2008

Today we are going to show you Carmen's hat collection. I didn't include the two you've already seen in the last week.

From Alisa, it was Jaren's.


From Peggy.



From Peggy.

This will be her hat when we go jogging this winter. It's really thick & has mittens to match.

Hand me down.

Hand me down from Alaina & Anna - it says "Papa's Little Hunter"

The bonnett Great Aunt Suzie made.

From Peggy.

From Daphne.

From Alisa, it was Ali's.

Hand me down.

Quite a collection huh?

Our other babies. :)

This is how Carmen sleeps.

Carmen's new thing captured in the video below. It's really cute unless you're trying to give her a bottle.

Just girl talk (sorry the videographer {me} couldn't talk & video very well.

December 21, 2008

Daddy says about TIME she wore a shirt with Daddy something on it...everything's been all about Mommy so far! :)




This hat is a bit big yet - we are just modeling for a photo here.

Good things come in small packages! Our friend Trudy from church said it's not such a small package. Is it bad to teach her to bite? ;) hehehe We just got home from the retirement home where we sang songs and talked to the people there. They all loved her & said how cute she was. She was full of smiles.

Carmen is on the verge of letting out the giggles. This morning I bounced her in her bed (yes, she'll be getting a new mattress very soon!) She thought it was so funny! I couldn't decide which video I wanted to includ on the page - so I just put both!!!

I laughed just watching her. It's the little things in life!

December 16, 2008

See how good Carmen is doing holding her head high?!? :) You can tell she is discovering the world now...that she can see more!








There's something to this expression that cracks me up.

Have some funny daycare stories. Tonight I picked Carmen up (Brian is working). When I walked in, Alisa said "Carmen, tell Mommy what you did today...and tell her she's getting a lump of coal in her stocking!" Carmen's first big "blow out"...we're sure glad it was with Alisa!!! She had to change Carmen's clothes - and her own! She also had to give her a little bath.

When I have dropped off Carmen, Alisa's son Jaren is always yelling "baby, baby, baby" when we walk in. Alisa said Jaren is quite protective of Carmen & tells the others to "not touch baby". Some of that is from what he hears Alisa say...the other little ones there are not allowed to touch the babies (germs, liability, etc.) Anywho - pretty cute stuff.

Carmen is grabbing for more & more things - and getting them to her mouth. She has hit a growth spurt and is now eating 6 oz consistently. Overnight - literally! Friday & Saturday nights both she woke up in the night to eat (Friday night 1x, Saturday night 2x). We fed her more on Sunday so we didn't have repeat performance! Sunday night she slept 11 hours straight w/o making so much as a peep.

Sunday we had a family dinner at Mike & Aunt B's. Carmen told lots of stories and showed off her pretty smile. She enjoyed time with Anna & Alaina - here's a pretty cute conversation between the Alaina & Carmen.

Uncle Troy & Aunt Tara playing with Carmen. Not sure if you can see how big her smile is - she was having a good time!

This is little Henry. He was also at the family dinner, he is 3 weeks older than Carmen. They didn't pay much attention to each other, although he did try to hold her hand when we had them sitting in the chair.

I started playing with Carmen this last week - kissing her on the neck. She just SMILES. She has started to anticipate when I'm going to "get her" again. It's not a very good picture, but you can kinda tell. :)






Carmen - off to daycare! I couldn't resist taking a picture. She looks so stinkin' cute in this hat!

December 15, 2008

The weekend flew by! I started this blog update on Saturday & here it is Monday & I'm just getting back to it. I hope to do another one tonight as this one will be short.

Laura, Rodney & Sunny came over Saturday for dinner. We had fun with the girls - although when they really discover each other it'll be even more fun!

Both girls were getting airplane rides in the kitchen - good neck muscle building & they both liked it!

This video is Thursday evening. Carmen was on the bed with all 4 limbs in the air. Pretty soon Lilly got on the bed with all 4s in the air too. It was pretty cute.

December 9, 2008

Ok, I couldn't help but to put this cute picture on Carmen's blog. Everybody's cozy!

Saturday at Huhtamaki - going to see Santa for the first time. Doesn't she look terribly excited? It was the first and last time wearing the cute snowman shirt. She's getting too long for a lot of her PJs & shirts that are 0-3 months!

Sunday going to church. We had a mini photo shoot as it had been a while. I need to do a real one soon!!! This first picture I have the camera pointed up at her. I can't believe I caught her blowing a bubble!!! The pictures where she is sitting up in the chair - she was watching Lilly. She's starting to watch the cats more but not a lot.

Ok I was trying to get a picture of Carmen & I...it was close to feeding time can you tell?? :)

Since she gets distracted by the camera, I disguised it in between the rails of her bed and took a side profile. It's about the only way you can pull off videoing when she's doing something cute! Which is almost just whenever she is awake. :) Watch - she pulls on the blue part of the dog toy. Probably an accident, but I have gone into her room & she's has a grip on it and it looking at it, which leads me to believe it's intentional!

Carmen has discovered her tongue!

Her 3 month old photo. I'm so annoyed. I FINALLY remembered to date stamp the photo and LOOK what year it is!!! 2007! My camera battery is dying so I suppose those 2 are related.

Brian made it home safely - long day for him, with some element of stress! I told him tonight it must be SO hard to know that you're the solution to the problem & you can't do anything about it! (salting the roads in rush hour - where you don't move but 5 mph)!!!

December 7, 2008

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, HALEY!!!

We've had a good weekend, just busy! We did manage to get our tree up - it looks a little bare as we can't find all of our ornaments (happens when you decide not to get the other 10 tubs of decorations out because there just isn't enough time this year!) Carmen will like the lights. Yesterday we went to the Huhtamaki breakfast/plant tour/Santa and last night we went to the Huhtamaki Christmas party. My neighbor/friend was generous enough to babysit. Carmen did not nap well yesterday and was crying when we took her to Marilee's. When we dropped her off, I told Marilee I hoped we could still be friends after the evening - she has 2 kids of her own so she's used to the crankiness at times. Come to find out Little Miss was an angel. Talking, cooing, smiling for Marilee & family! She put her down at 8 pm, we managed to get her home without her waking up and she slept until 6:30 am. Whew! And wahoo! :)

Today Carmen had a grip on my finger, and she was really trying to get it to her mouth. The Parents as Teachers lady told us this would happen. I asked why - she said because that's where the majority of baby's senses are. Interesting!

Here's another video from last weekend - playing with Anna.

December 3, 2008

We're having a good week! I can't believe it's Thursday! Tonight we had a lady from Parents as Teachers coming. PAT provides parent educators trained to translate scientific information on early brain development into specific when, what, how and why advice for families. They share age-appropriate child development and parenting information, help you learn to observe your child, and address your parenting concerns. And it's free! So we're excited about that.

Saturday morning Huhtamaki has a breakfast where they have plant tours, breakfast, balloon artist & Santa! I'm sure we'll have some adorable pictures to post. :)

Last night Carmen watched a little Polar Express with Daddy. He said she was really watching it for a while, then the sleepies set in. Tonight we were getting ready for a bath & Carmen was lying on her back. She raised herself up (torso) with her feet. Almost every day I notice something little that she's doing.

Here's more video from the weekend. I thought I'd post a few at a time. The 2nd one is my favorite video!! It's almost as if they rehearsed it! Carmen REALLY liked Alaina singing to her!

December 1, 2008

When we first got to Mom & Dad's house Wednesday, Carmen had a lot of catching up to do with them. Here's some great video of chatty Carmen. Watch how much she communicates with her eyes & eyebrows too. She has so much expression!

Playing with Aunt Lori sure is fun!!!