Bring It 2011!!

In 2010
~ Carly learned how to walk,
~ Dave ran his first 10k, which was then followed by the swimming portion of a sprint triathlon, another 10k, and a 5k pushing Carly, and
~ Sharon ran her first 10k, which was then followed by a 15k and half marathon.

In 2011
~ Carly will loosen up her stiff running stance,
~ Dave will run another 10k and his first half marathon (and maybe his 2nd half marathon), and
~ Sharon will run another 10k and her first marathon (and maybe a 2nd half marathon)

So bring it on 2011, we are ready!!!

2010 Photo Review...Part One

Here are the pictures and memories from the start of 2010

Full Screen Slide Show

The Second half will be here soon.

All Done!

It is official! (I think) Carly is finished nursing. I have been fretting this moment since she was about 10 months old. I wanted her to wean herself, but I also was not very excited about the idea of nursing her for another 10+ months. I loved the bonding time she and I had with each feeding, but also longed for a nap or evening when someone else could put her down calmly and with minimal tears. By Carly's first birthday she was only nursing before nap times and bed time. By Thanksgiving she was only nursing at bedtime. She had chosen not to nurse December 19, but was very adamant that she would nurse the next evening. However, on Christmas Day she decided she didn't want to nurse anymore. Dave and I bathed her and got her all ready for bed like normal; however, when she and I sat down she immediately put her head down on me and made herself comfortable. She and I sat like this for a minute before I picked her up and held her. We swayed in front of her pack 'n play, with her head resting on my shoulder for a few minutes before I put her down.

The next night Dave and I got Carly ready like normal, but wasn't too sure about how our routine would progress between getting Carly in her pajamas and putting her down in her bed. Again, she wasn't interested in nursing, just going to bed. On December 27th (night 3) we decided Dave would try to put Carly down, again - no nursing, no tears. The following night wasn't quite the same. Carly had "run" on the beach and was VERY tired. I was anticipating needing to nurse her to help her settle down; however, Carly had a very different plan. Dave and I got her ready for bed, and as he turned to walk out of the room, Carly began to fuss. As soon as he turned back around and walked towards her the fussing stopped and she nose dived for him. Obviously, she wanted her daddy to put her to bed again.

We returned home tonight from our Christmas travels, so I was again curious about how our bedtime routine would go. Would she revert back to our "home" routine (which included nursing) or our "traveling" routine (which hasn't been including nursing)? Dave and I decided we would let him put her to bed again, to help her not revert back. However, she again showed us how she is slowly becoming an independent little girl. Once in her pajamas, Carly fussed a little bit for Dave, dive bombed for me, sat on my lap to finish her cup of milk from dinner, and then went to bed fuss free.

We are officially on night number 5 of no nursing, at this point there really is no going back.

I am completely blown away that the books were right (again). When Carly was done nursing she would just stop. I never in my wildest motherhood dreams thought she and I would have nursed for 14 months and 2 days, and that she would never be served formula. There were days/nights when it was VERY difficult. I pumped exclusively for 2 months to increase my supply, until Carly went on a bottle strike, eventually was able to create quite a freezer stock that was going to be used when I returned to work; however, is now being used on her cereal and morning cup of milk, and avoided having to give money to the formula companies!!

12 Days of Christmas

Okay, so maybe our Christmas wasn't 12 days long; however, it also wasn't only 1 day.

Our celebrations began on Thursday, December 23 as we travelled down to Columbia to visit with my parents and brother. We spent the afternoon celebrating my dad's birthday, but then loaded up in the car to begin our Christmas celebration by looking at spectacular Christmas lights in nearby neighborhoods.

We awoke on Christmas Eve and celebrated Christmas with my family, just like it was Christmas Day. A BIG breakfast (which included pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse's face) and a few presents. We then reverted back to our Christmas Eve traditions and packed up to head out to my grandmother's home in Blackville. There we were able to visit and celebrate with more family, eat our traditional Christmas Eve's spaghetti dinner, and watch Carly run circles around the house.

Unfortunately, our visit in Blackville was very short. We packed up again that afternoon to head down to Seabrook Island to begin our Christmas celebrations with Dave's family. During our visit we managed to spend a lot of quality time with family, take a trip into Charleston, walk the dogs on the beach, and spread out our Christmas gift opening for 3 days. (Apparently that is what happens when there are 3 children under the age of 3 celebrating together, maybe next Christmas we will synchronize their naps a little better.)

Our family had a FABULOUS Christmas vacation and are very grateful to have so many family members to celebrate with during the Christmas season; however, we are also very thankful to be home safe and sound tonight and ready to sleep in our own beds.

Overall Christmas Statistics:

Trip Length - 7 days, 6 nights

Cities Visited - Columbia, Blackville, Seabrook Island/John's Island, Charleston, Mt. Pleasant

# of Family Members Visited: 22 + 1 dog

Dave has posted many of the pictures from our big adventure on our photo website. Click here to view these photos.

Merry Christmas

The Christmas Marathon is half-way over and it is only getting started. Here are some pictures to tide you over until Sharon can put up a proper post.

Full Gallery

Merry Christmas

Discovery Place Kids (Again)

David is "off" of work for the next two weeks, so in celebration we headed to one of our favorite family spots - Discovery Place Kids.

During this trip we explored many of the same exhibits, yet every trip still seems to be uniquely its own. This time Carly and David decided to explore the Club House to its fullest by climbing all the way to the top. The Club House is an inside playground connecting the first and second floors. Kids (and adults) can climb, slide, crawl, and explore through this playground as they travel between floors. David and Carly chose a more direct route, climbing the platform stairs to the top, stopping only once to wave to me from a look out point.

Carly also spent a lot of time playing in the house. She made a meal in the kitchen area, took care of the baby, and picked up (aka moved around the play ware) the area.

Christmas Baking

Tis the season to bake, and bake we have! Today our friends Jason and Kelly came over for an afternoon filled with sugar! We began our baking extravaganza with Gingerbread Men (and other assorted gingerbread cookie shapes). We gathered around the dough as David began cutting out the first shapes, encouraging him to make more of one figure or to do something else. With anticipation as they cooked and cooled, we pulled out boxes and bags worth of decorating fun (thanks to Kelly). We had icing in many different colors, sprinkles, colored sugar, and some candy. We sat there and diligently worked, admiring each other's decorating skills and eating any mishaps.

About the time we transitioned from decorating our gingerbread cookies to using the cookie cutters on the sugar cookie dough, Carly awoke from her nap. When David brought her downstairs she was in complete awe. When she went up for a nap, the kitchen had been clean and I was the only one home with her. Now there were cooling racks and cookie sheets all over the kitchen and a breakfast room table that was filled with many bright colors and "stuff." She took a few minutes to warm up, but giving her a fresh baked gingerbread snowman really jump started her afternoon.

I really didn't eat it, Daddy decorated it that way.

Tasting the homemade sugar cookies.

Family of bakers and tasters.

Our fun continued with the decorating of sugar cookies and an attempt to make miniature cakes and brownies using different form pans. The sugar cookies were a yummy success, but I think we might have been on too much of a sugar high when it came to baking the miniature cakes. Either way we had a lot of fun.

Our afternoon of Christmas festivities continued into the night and we took a group trip around Jason and Kelly's neighborhood to look at Christmas lights and the NASCAR inflatables. Carly actually stayed awake during the car ride, but I think that had more to do with Kelly sitting next to her than the lights outside. Jason and Kelly's neighborhood even has a home who's lights match music played on a FM station, a truck with a Santa tied to the front grill, and more inflatables than even Lowe's carries. It was a fantastic way to end a fun day with good friends and their neighborhood is really quite a sight.

Rest of the pictures here

Imagination

Carly and I stayed inside ALL day today. I was slightly nervous that my plan to keep her in our warm home during our current cold snap may make us both a little stir crazy; however, after yesterday afternoon I should have known this would be far from the case.

Yesterday afternoon Carly's imagination had her trying to put a diaper on Elmo. Unfortunately, she wasn't working with a diaper but rather a burp cloth I was carrying around as her handkerchief.

After breakfast this morning Carly decided to clean out her cabinet and look at all the neat things she and I were storing in there. In the way back she found a bag of old bottles. I watched in anticipation as to what exactly she would do with them. It had been a while since her last bottle and was really hoping she wasn't interested in drinking from it. To my surprise, she stood up, walked into the family room and pulled her baby doll out of her toy bag. I assumed she was going to try to feed the baby doll, I was mistaken. Instead she went and got the lunch tote that I have always used to transport her milk and now solid foods. She then attempted to walk around juggling all three items before stuffing the doll and bottle into the bag.

Later on in the day Jake and Gertrude were playing. Carly attempted to "walk" into the action, but wasn't having much luck getting their attention. So, like any 13 month old she stepped back, watched for a few moments, and then crawled into the situation. I can only imagine she was pretending to be a dog too. She crawled between the two dogs and then circled them. This did manage to get their attention, so she quickly stood up and starting petting at both of them and waving profusely. (The petting and waving took up many points of our day.)

Carly also took time today to "cook," "shop with her shopping cart," and "read" to her doll. I continue to be amazed with how much she is soaking up by sitting back and observing her environment.

WAHOO!!

Wahoo!! I did it!! I ran 13.1 miles. Okay, so maybe I jogged. But I didn't walk, I didn't stop, and I did the entire 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 6 minutes, and 55 seconds. If you had told me a year ago today that I would ever participate in any type of running event, I would have laughed in your face and probably put a large sum of money against those odds. It is funny how life plays out.

When I started running this fall my goal was never to participate in a half marathon, simply to run a 10k with David (and if I beat him, then that would be the icing on the cake). Well, that first race led to a 15k a month later. The 15k led to a half-marathon about a month and a half later. I never understood when others explained that participating in these races was addictive, but now I do. I'm hooked. Part of the addiction is the anxiousness I feel the night before and morning of a race. I also really enjoy the sense of accomplishment I feel when it is all over. I am still in complete awe that by 11:15 yesterday morning I had gotten up, gotten all 3 of us out of the house, gotten to uptown Charlotte, waited "patiently" in the warm convention center, run 13.1 miles, come home, showered, and was busy playing with Carly.

Now that I'm hooked, I'm also at a bit of a loss at the moment. I'm not sure what to do next (a marathon is NOT the right answer). I plan to "maintain" my running through the winter, meaning I will run about 3 miles two weekdays a week and 5 miles once on the weekend, then begin training for another race in the spring. At the moment, David and I have plans to participate in the Cooper River Bridge Run (a 10k race in Charleston) this spring and the Kiawah Half Marathon next December.

In the Spirit

I have noticed more or more often that Carly is really getting into the Christmas spirit. She is jamming and dancing to the Christmas Carols Sharon has playing. Unfortunately her song of choice right now happen's to be Marriah Carrey's new hit.

While I don't have any good pictures to document the jammin', I did capture her "reading" Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

I have been reading it to her and I tried to watch the old 60's cartoon version of the book, but it was a no go. Instead she ran around playing while dad watched the show.

Imagination

Carly's imagination has really started to become apparent over the past few weeks. The first thing we noticed was her holding up play phones and babbling into them. She especially gets a kick out of doing this when we play along and talk into another play phone or one of the phones in our house. Since her birthday she has also really enjoyed pushing around her grocery cart and stroller. Although now she goes and gets her purse, places it on her arm, then proceeds to push her doll or stuffed animal around.

On Saturday morning she even copied her daddy in the kitchen. While I was out running the two of them worked together in the kitchen. David making yummy eggs for our breakfast, and Carly stood at her small table and copied her daddy in a small pot and spoon we recently had placed in her cabinet.

It is a lot of fun to watch her play pretend. It is really showing us how much she is observing each day, even though it may not be obvious in our day to day interactions with her.

Peas

Back History:
Carly still has no teeth popping through. As a result she didn't start putting everything in her mouth around 3 months, which led to her not being as interested in baby food early, and slowed me down in introducing her to table food. Dave and I would let her try soft foods if she asked for them. During a sick visit around 11 months her doctor asked how her progression into table food was going, I mentioned her lack of teeth and was reprimanded (nicely) for not having her on mostly table food. So home she and I went, with me feeling bad. David and I quickly realized that Carly was eating a lot of table food, just not pasta or vegetables. She would eat cheese, fruit, and bread products all day long if we let her. Meat was hit or miss, depending on her mood. However, she would eat almost any vegetable if we blended it. (Which the doctor was fine with at her 1 year visit, mentioning how most parents would be happy if their children ate a vegetable

any form.)

Since this doctor's David and I have really focused on finding table foods Carly will try and can be successful eating without having even one tooth. Her stubbornness at times has led to some frustration and pretty boring meals. A lot of food has ended up on the floor and fed to Jake. I have tried to hiding peas in her fruit cocktail, hiding green bean pieces in her pureed green beans, calmly putting corn on her tray and walking away (at least in her mind), etc. Nothing has worked. I've read books and online articles about to just keep trying and she would just start one day. I was starting to have my doubts and was thinking we should look into investing in a Smoothy King franchise so Carly could drink her meals when in high school and college. Then tonight's dinner came.



Tonight's Dinner:
David and I sat down with Carly for tonight's dinner. We weren't having any bread, so she was able to start her sliced ham (her first course) when we sat down. As she finished her ham she began pointing and grunting towards my plate. I offered her a piece of pork chop, she pushed it away. I then put a few peas on her tray and into her mouth they went. So, I put a few more. Same thing. She was shoveling these peas into her mouth like they were mini sugar/candy balls. By the end she ate more peas than David and I did combine. We were both completely shocked.


I'm not confident that she will eat peas again for me tomorrow, and that's okay. I have had a glimpse of the light at the end of the pureed veggie tunnel, and we will get there eventually. At least I'm not currently have to puree veggies and hid them in not so healthy dishes (there is a whole book now out in the stores about this topic).

Dancing with Daddy

Christmas Carols were playing so Carly and I decided to cut loose.

A little Dip


Some Box Step


A bigger dip




Having some fun


And now she is bored of her old man already.

Uh-Oh!

Don't worry, nothing is wrong and no one is hurt, this is just Carly's favorite little saying at the moment. Since turning 13 months she has really begun to communicate with us. Sometimes using parts of a word, pointing, motions, grunts, etc. However, she knows the meaning of Uh-Oh! now as well as she knows the word "dada".

Recently Carly has been having a lot of fun with this word. She will drop a book/food/toy (on accident and/or purpose) and follow it up with an "uh-oh!". This saying is then followed with a quick smile.

I'm not really sure where Carly picked up this saying. David and I didn't say it with any frequency prior to Carly saying it. However, now that she says with regularity we seem to be saying it more and more.

Hugs

Recently Carly has turned into a hugging machine. During Thanksgiving week she would "run" towards you if you got down to her level and extened your arms out (inviting her to come hug you). David and I both thought this was wonderful. Now she has stepped it up a notch. If he or I say the word "hug" we typcially get a similar reaction, without have to open our arms first. This type of hug mostly happens when we are already holding her, yet her back is very straight and pulled away from our body. If we ask Carly for a hug, she grins, extends her arms, falls into your chest, and nuzzles on your shoulder. Or she grins and dive bombs in the other direction.

Because these hugs are so much fun, David and I tend to be requesting them quite often throughout the day. We have to take advantage of these free hugs before she is old enough to run up stairs, and scream about how she hates us slamming her door.