Janie

I haven't talked much about Janie Lou. Probably because she is such an easy-going happy baby. And beautiful to boot! A few things about Janie at 5 months:

*She is a very social, chatty girl. She smiles, laughs, and babbles all day long.

* She loves getting her diaper changed and getting undressed. I think partially because she loves having the close attention and partially because she thinks she's getting a bath.

*She loves baths.

*She's rolled over once, but doesn't see much need for it as long as someone is looking at her and talking to her.

* Her face brightens everytime a face comes into view.

* She gets very excited at the sound of Daddy's voice and Carli's voice.

* She's constantly chewing on her hands and loves to grab at everything that comes into range, just so she can put it into her mouth too.

* She has the cutest high-pitched screech when she's excited.

* Red hair!!!

* She is a WONDERFUL sleeper and so easy to get to sleep. I just have to swaddle her and lay her down, no crying or fussing. She usually sleeps 13 hours at night (except over Christmas, of course).

We absolutely love and adore the ground she drools on! (And she's been doing plenty of that too. Bring on the teeth. . . )

Santa's Wonderland

Carli LOVES Bass Pro Shop. We went there one night not knowing they had turned it into "Santa's Wonderland". She went on the reindeer carousel, sat on Santa's lap and colored Christmas pictures. Unfortunately Janie was sleeping in the stroller, so we didn't get her in the picture like I would have liked. We kept meaning to take the girls back, but we never got a chance. Like I said, Carli has some strange fears (the vacuum being the worst, being left behind, anything being too loud. . .) but lifesize characters who are actually alive (the Easter bunny, the beluga whale and Shamu at Sea World) are so exciting to her. When she had to leave she cried pretty pathetically "I wanna go back and snuggle Santa!" What are we going to do with that girl?

Sea World, the Alamo, and Riverwalk

After spending a quiet Thanksgiving at home (we helped host Thanksgiving dinner at our church building with several other families), we ventured out on our first official family vacation. It was a blast!

Our friends gave us one free ticket to Sea World and Carli was only $5, so we were able to go for a great deal. I wish I'd taken more pictures, but I figured we can probably Youtube a lot of the animal shows, which were awesome, by the way.

They had just put up their Christmas displays, so there were a bunch of snowmen to look at (and climb on). Here's Carli on the Longhorn snowman.
There were Sesame Street characters along all the fences. Carli insisted that I take her picture by every single one. I chose to post her with the Count.
Blurry, but still funny. Somehow Carli has never been afraid of giant moving stuffed animals that give hugs. She wasn't even afraid of Santa Clause! Here she is with a beluga whale. Carli loved the animal shows. She was nervous about getting wet at first, but got over that when she figured out that wouldn't happen. She especially loved watching the trainers do the arm movements to get the whales to do tricks. She has added those movements to her dance repertoire now.

My cute family at the hotel before our second day in San Antonio. The girls did great at the hotel, probably because we wore them right out at Sea World the day before. Yes, Janie is real, she is not a doll. Everywhere we go at least 2 separate people get a look like something just dawned on them and say to me, "I thought you were carrying a doll!" I think she's so beautiful people think she just can't be real.

What a happy, content baby! She was so sweet the whole trip and loved sitting forward in the stroller instead of being in the carseat.

Carli in a log bench at the Alamo. It wasn't exactly an exciting place for the girls, so Logan and I took turns looking at the historical stuff and walking the kids around.

It was a pretty cool place.

After the Alamo we walked over the Riverwalk. We ate some Mexican food and watched the tour boats float by, then we pocketed some tortilla chips and went to feed the ducks. They were definitely not shy. Logan had this one literally eating out of his hand. Carli loved it!

Birthdays!

November we celebrated Logan's birthday and then Carli's birthday.

I actually pulled off surprising Logan this year, something I've never attempted before. It was really fun.

Carli was really excited about her Super Why party, but unfortunately was not feeling very well. Here she is (running away) as Princess Pea.

B. with C. as Super Why.

Her friend H. as Super Why.

J. borrowing a cape and mask to be Super Why.

M. as Super Why.

L. as Princess Pea.

It was a beautiful day, minus the extreme wind which made our craft of Super Why paper bag puppets a little difficult. Here are the kids about to enjoy their storybook cupcakes.

J. looks like he thoroughly enjoyed the cupcake!

The Workings of Carli's Mind

I know I'm due for A LOT of pictures, and I promise I'll get there. I just have to write this stuff down while I'm thinking about it.

* Carli LOVES the American Girl store. As in, she begs to go there daily, if you bring up anything that's "fun" she automatically compares it to the store. For example, going to the park is "just a little bit fun", but going to this store is "sooo much fun". Well, when we asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said she wanted the "princess girl". So, rather than pay the American Girl price, we got the Target knock-off and I made a dress as close to the "princess" dress as I could. Santa was definitely able to pull one over on her at least this once. Her reaction on Christmas morning could be described as awe and reverence when she saw the doll next to its tea party all set out on the footstool. In her mind, the store had been recreated in Grandma's house, and the display should not be touched or messed with. Daddy asked her, "What did Santa bring you?" and she answered in a hushed tone, "It's an American". It took a little while, but she started calling it "My American" and decided it would be okay to play with her. She sleeps with her, makes sure she's wearing her glasses and has tea parties with her. She is mini-Carli. A few days after Christmas from the back seat in Grandpa's truck (out of nowhere), she started to think.

C - "Mom, the other Americans are crying."
M - "Why?"
C - "They miss my American. We have to take her back to the store so they won't miss her."
M - "I think they are so happy for her because she found such a great home with you."
C - Pause "They want to be happy too. We need to go to the store and bring them home so they will be happy too. We'll go to the store and I'll get the bath one next and then the birthday one."
M - "You already have YOUR girl, the other ones like living at the store. Maybe we can make a bath outfit and birthday outfit for your girl."
C - "No, she's the princess girl. I want the bath girl and then the birthday girl."

Not sure what we've started, but she may take some convincing that she only gets ONE girl.

*She is so sweet with Janie. She loves getting her to talk. Janie has started to babble the last few days and is really good with "babababa". So, I repeat it back to her, and I often add in mamamama and dadadada, etc. Carli starts in on those, but always ends up trying to get her to say "Carlicarlicarli" or "sisisisisisis". Good luck with that one!

* She thinks that any social phone call of mine should be hers as well. She begs to talk to my friends and family on the phone, and when I hang up without letting her talk, she says forlornly, "I wanted to talk to (friend's name) because I like her so much!"

* After I explained to her that my sister is her aunt, she exclaimed, "I have an idea! I want her to be my sister too! How about she's both our sisters!"

* I used Carli's Fisher Price nativity to explain the Christmas story to her. She listened intently to everything that happened, but got really concerned when I came to the part about no room in the inn. I could tell it really bothered her. I tried to explain that no one was being mean, it just happened there were a lot of people and that the stable may have been the best place for Mary to have a baby. It still made her visibly concerned. At the end I tried to tie in Santa and how gifts at Christmas time are to remind us of the gifts given to Jesus and the gift He gave us of returning to heaven. She thought for a little while and said, "Is there room there?" I couldn't help but start crying and assured her there was room for EVERYONE there.

* Along the same lines, Carli loves the story and movie "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". But, it greatly concerns her when the story seems to make the Grinch out to be bad. She always reminds me, "He took the Christmas tree home to fix it, but he's going to bring it right back to Cindy Lou Who." It seems that she doesn't want anyone to be viewed as bad or naughty, everyone is trying to do the right thing and has good motives. I hope she can keep that perception of people throughout her life.

Hard to believe she's a Sunbeam already. She was so excited today and so good! What a beautiful, good, smart little girl!