So Long Christmas...Happy New Year

From our family to yours.....

We started our Christmas celebrations at home on Christmas Eve with the immediate Smiths. We were unable to see the rest of the Smith Family as they celebrated on Christmas day which we celebrate with my mom's family at my aunt's. After an early awakening at 5 and a return to slumber I had to wake Carsyn up at 7:30 to get her to come see Santa presents! We had to leave by 11 for dinner at my aunts! So afer we all opened our gifts off we went!

Carsyn's closet is now officially packed with new clothes due to birthday and Christmas gifts and I have EVERY FisherPrice, Leapfrog, and Playschool song in my head! Her playroom is PACKED! Yet she still enjoys to play with the phone cords or boxes etc etc.....

Enjoy some pics of our Holiday festivities! I did more videotaping than photographing so there are only a few!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Wake up Carsyn Santa came!"

Carsyn in her "I LOVE CHRISTMAS pjs!" And on her new fave toy!

Lounging around the next day....

I was trying to get a nap in but to no avail of course....

Some Funny Times

Carsyn has been cracking me up lately......

She never had any baby dolls until her birthday but now she has 3 and she loves them. If you tell her to get her baby dolls she knows what they are and brings them to you. In fact the other day she carried one with her on our errands! Sometimes she will bring them to me and hand them to me individually to which I cradle each one and say "Oh sweet baby" Repeat, Repeat, and the she puts her arms up in the air for me to pick her up and say "Oh sweet baby!" She doesn't want me to forget who the REAL BABY is! I fear if there ever is a 2nd child it will be a bittersweet transition for Miss Carsyn Belle! HA HA!

Also she received a beautiful rocking horse for her birthday. We were skeptical as to whether she would get it on it now or wait 6 months or so, but she is already riding! She knows what "Ride the Horsey" means and loves to hear it "Neigh". (Aunt Ann will be soooo proud!)

Carsyn loves my jewelry..she broke 2 necklaces already this week! While she hates to wear her clothes she loves to pull her pretty dresses down and carry them around and look at them!

Carsyn is climbing over EVERYTHING and created herself a juggle gym out of boxes! I turned around and she had climbed up them onto the window seat! AHH! You can't turn away for one second!

She has been doing well with the Christmas tree...she still gets tempted but if you tell her NO she usually looks at you and says something in Babynese (probably like "But I just want to hold it!) and then backs away. The Christmas stockings and Nutcrackers on the fireplace mantle are more tempting and we have to get those down everyday numerous times.

There are many words and phrases that I know she understands yet can't speak. It is funny to see this little person emerging trying to communicate!

She makes us laugh so much!

Here is story that happened today....I am not laughing yet but maybe in a year or two..WARNING not for the uneasy stomach!
We are babysitting my mother's dog for a couple of days (if you recall from an earlier post I gave it to her) and Lilly still is not completely house trained. This morning I thought I smelt some dog poop but I couldn't find it....well a few minutes later I heard a scream and Carsyn had found it and sat it in and smear it all of herself. GAG! UGH! What a way to start the day!


On another note...Carsyn got to attend another buddy's first birthday and I photographed the milestone. Wanna see go HERE
:)

Beyond Ridiculus

Okay just beware...I am going to vent. I am glad I waited until now to write this because if it had been earlier I was REALLY PEEVED!

You know I think I have been pretty understanding throughout this whole moving process even though every time I attempt to change something it never seems to get done correctly the first time...ie checking account, insurance, driver's license, etc etc. If you recall the previous posts I slightly expressed some frustrations dealing with this process.

WELL TODAY BEAT IT ALL! It took me 5 phone calls before I could get an appt set up with a new OBGYN here in Mccomb because they kept telling me to call back so I finally switched to a different doctor and WHAMO got an appointment.. Even though I was supposed to go back in August.

Well in October I called to set up Carsyn's appointment for her 1 year check up because I knew they would be busy this time of year. I made the appointment for today at 3PM which is a week past her birthday but it was the first appointment they had with my chosen Dr. I started at the end of November trying to get her medical records from the Mobile Pediatrician office and have yet to receive a returned phone call or my records sent! Today I called the Mccomb Pediatrician to verify the time and they had no record of my appointment and refused to see her and made me reschedule for Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my child's health you are dealing with. Insurance, Checking account, car tags, driver's license I can deal with but screwing with my child's health is NOT OKAY! Besides the fact that she has a cold and I wanted her checked out and I have some questions to ask I expect that if I make an appointment 2 months in advance that I will be fit into their "OH SO BUSY SCHEDULE" if they make a mistake such as this! Do they know how difficult it is to get a baby to an appointment in between Chirstmas to dos and playgroups etc etc.

GAH! They totally ruined my HOLIDAY spirit today!

My husband bends overbackwards, often times at the expense of family time, to ensure that every complaining customer has their whiney needs met even if it means working longer hours making deliveries himself and I can't get ONE SINGLE person to do their job correctly the first time to save my life!

This Dr office relationship is NOT starting out WELL!

My Birthday girl!

What a wonderful and event-filled year this has been with Carsyn Danielle! She has taught us so many things and brought so much happiness to our lives. To see yourself in another human being is mind-blowing! I know my husband LOVES to hear how much Carsyn looks like him and we joke that she has my strongwilled personality! One never fully grasps what it means when people say your life will never be the same until you have your own. I sure didn't!



Here is a look back at the last year of her life and some of our favorite moments!

Also here are some pics from our snow day the other day....

PHEW This has been a CRAZY WEEK

I had intentions of writing a post on Carsyn's actual 1 year birthday December 11th but we ended up with 4 inches of snow and no power all day! Needless to say out trip to the zoo got cancelled! You never know what you are going to get with the weather in Mississippi. I think today is supposed to be 70!



Anywho we ended up going to the inlaws who had power and staying there until the afternoon. That night was Danny's company Christmas party and my mom was supposed to come keep Carsyn, however, she was nervous to drive with the weather conditions so Aunt Ann and Hannah came to save us so we could attend the party. The party was at the new Caboose restaurant in downtown Mccomb in a renovated old building. It is an awesome new venue if you haven't tried it yet! So Friday and Saturday were spent hurrying around making up for lost time to get ready for Birthday PARTY TIME!



I have failed to mention to you that starting last week Carsyn has been going to Ms. Sharon's house 3 days a week from 8-11:30 to play with some kids and allow me some alone time. It has worked out great. Surprisingly she naps GREAT over there and it is has allowed her to be a little more adaptable to different situations. It has also allowed me to learn to roll with the flow a little better. We both enjoy our time apart and it makes our time together that much more precious! There were some days I would hardly get a 1 hr break before bedtime at 8! I was losing my mind!



So back to the party on Saturday, just as Carsyn fell asleep for her afternoon nap before the party she had an unexpected bowel movement and had to be changed and put back to sleep....hee hee so she had to be woken up for her own party! She didnt know how to react when she awoke and there were tons of people wanting to talk to her! After a while she got into the swing of things and got to open ALL of her wonderful gifts. When it came time for cake she wouldnt eat it or smash it! I guess she knows Momma does not like messy eating! I never used to eat my cakes as a baby/child either! Anyway I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story. It was a great end to an unexpected week! I will post the year in review Birthday post later that I was planning on posting on her birthday!

Also here are some updates I keep forgetting to mention as they never seem to "fit" into a post...

Teething...Carsyn now has 6 teeth. They all have come in 2 at a time about every 3 months starting at 6 months. She does NOT do well with teething! She becomes an entirely different irritable child who can't sleep!

Sleeping...She is still sleeping 8-6AM and 2 naps a day. I think we will probably be down to one nap in a few more months. She prefers to go to sleep on her own in her crib with her stuffed cow and blanky.

Milk... for months I have been trying to get Carsyn to drink milk or formula from a sippy cup but she would only drink water then all of the sudden when she began going to Ms. Sharon's last week no more bottle and milk in the sippy cup ALL of the time! AMAZING! Also I had worried about our morning wake up routine without a bottle but now it is even better because when she awakes I give her a cup of milk and she drinks it while I hold her and we cuddle for about 30min to an hour...sometimes she even goes back to sleep for a while. This is my favorite part of the day.

Lesson for mommy this month...they don't call them babysteps for nothing, just when you think your baby won't change into the next phase they do it on their own time. Also the saying "worrying is like a rocking chair...it will keep you busy but not get you anywhere" is definitely true. I have wasted so much of this year worrying and now I feel I can actually enjoy my child more.



Enjoy our pics!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

So Here is what is going on

The Smith family (including inlaws) have been scurring around this house trying to get it ready for party time. I still was lacking in some furniture (I know the irony, right) AND had to get Christmas decorations up! AHHHH! In addition to the continuous list of "fixer-uppers" that continue in this ole house!



Carsyn and I did make a trip to Southwest Community College for their stage band Christmas production. She only made it through half-way before she started going down for nappy time, but the time we spent there she was thrilled. She had a little Jinglebell necklace on and she shook it along with the music! CUTE! She also enjoyed the lights. I was skeptical as to how she would do during the program but she seemed to enjoy it. I guess we have our first Mccomb Christmas tradition! The same day we attempted to see Santa but I didn't know he had a schedule and would not return until that afternoon! :( So we will have to re-visit! We returned to SWCC that afternoon to have our family Christmas card pic taken by a friend of ours. Here is the one we will not be using....You will see the winning picture on your Christmas Card in the mail!



Also here is our prized couch that I have been waiting on...up until now we have been sitting on a recliner and lawn chairs!


In addition to party preparations I have been finishing up some Christmas portraits for some families...if you want to see go to http://reflectionsphotographysite.blogspot.com/. Everyday I learn something new and I am very excited to share in everyone's memories!

Well I have to go string some Christmas lights on the tree with a toddler! FUN!

Getting Ready for a Party

We are in party mode....Only 1 week until her 1st Birthday! *tear* More to come later......