Unexpected Thanksgiving Blessings

This Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We celebrated two days in a row and we enjoyed it. The food was delicious, but seeing family and friends was wonderful. We got to see a few favorites that we don't normally see on Thanksgiving.

I have known Amber for a little over 10 years and our friendship has become even sweeter over time. From day 1, I knew she would be my buddy. Now, our little girls will get to be friends. What a blessing! We are so glad they made it to the US just in time for the holidays. Layla is so sweet!

Uncle John made it to Charlotte this year for Thanksgiving. Haven loved having her uncle around. He is so much fun.

Funny Family Portraits. HAHA!

Grammy, Pop, and their grandbabies!

John, Jeremy, Haven, Meems, Gampy and Jackie enjoying the lights.

Haven got to open her first birthday present from Uncle John. She enjoyed eating the paper the most. She will be so cute in the Santa outfit.

Christmas Show

Wendy and I went to the Christmas show twice. The first time we had to leave because the power was going out due to a wreck on Independence Blvd. The second time we went it was much more crowded, but we took the baby girls and had a good time. The ham and cheese croissant definitely stole the show. The girls had their first pictures with Santa. Neither of them even cracked a smile, but they didn't cry.




I loved this tree on display at one of the booths. I wish this is what Haven's Candyland tree looks like, but it isn't anywhere close.

100th Post

I have put this post off, because I wanted it to be special. We started this blog sooner than we expected, since Haven came 2 months early. So, the whole blogging experience has been different than I expected. I thought I would just post pictures of our baby for family to see, but instead I have posted milestones and experiences that have been challenging at times, but oh so blessed. I think this picture is pretty special and shows you how big our girl is getting.



Over the past week or so, Haven has grown so much. She crawls around and pulls up on everything. She says "up" and "ball." We can pretty much always tell exactly what she wants. She loves to walk all around the house with the help of our fingers. She loves her candyland christmas tree that I started working on the other day. She is still fighting this cough, but hopefully it will be gone in the next few days.

In honor of our 100th post, we would love for you to post a comment so we can know who all reads our blog. If you don't have a google account, just choose anonymous where it says comment as and then just tell us who you are in your comment.

11 months old!

Haven has become such a big girl over the past month. She pulls herself up and likes to walk around the room holding someone's hand. She still talks a lot and has said "Pop" and "baby." She crawls and sits up and scoots and stands. She has been sick the past few weeks with snots and coughs. She points at things she wants and it feels like she even tells us what she wants. She flew in airplanes and visited family. She started eating lots of finger foods this month. Haven is a busy bee and enjoys being around people so much. We still get the "happy baby" comment constantly and are so thankful to God for giving us such a sweet girl.


Funny Face

Her little mohawk and pretty eyelashes

RV pros and cons

On our recent trip to New England Haven took her first plane ride and we also drove an RV for the first time. I wanted to document the pros and cons, so that we won't forget and for those of you who wondered how it went.

Pros
-Campground life could be a lot of fun. Most of the campgrounds we stayed at were very nice with lots of playgrounds, ponds, rivers, and accommodations.
-It was nice to not have to pack up suitcases and a car everyday.
-We could take our time driving and take breaks whenever needed.
-Parking was very easy. Most places had special parking for RVs and we even got to park free a few places where cars had to pay.
-We bought groceries for the week and were able to eat 2 meals a day in the RV. We ate out lunch everyday at a unique spot where we were visiting.
-Hooking up the facilities was fairly easy at the campgrounds. Jeremy would just forget to put the caps back on some of the pipes.:)

Cons
-The price was higher to travel this way, but not outrageously more expensive.
-Although you don't have to repack everyday, you do have to secure everything before you start moving or you will have a mess on your hands.
-Our rent-a-rv didn't have comfortable beds or seating. We would definitely test out the mattresses before we ever do this again. We didn't sleep or relax very well.
-We rented a small rv and we really needed one more area/room for Haven to play/sleep. We had to get quiet whenever she was ready for bed.
-We weren't able to really enjoy the campgrounds because we got to them right at dark and then left early the next morning to get on the road.
-We had rain a few days and realized how dirty the camper could get really fast. I kept cleaning the floor. So bad weather could definitely mess up a trip if you enjoy clean things.

I Am Ralph

I was hanging out with Haven this morning while Holly was out, being the tremendous father figure that I am. She was kinda fussy, probably getting over some junk in her nose from the past week. She started crying pretty hard in my arms, and none of my jokes were working. All of the sudden she started throwing up big time. I was so shocked that I froze up and couldn't go anywhere. I've only heard about throw-ups of this magnitude from other parents and also the movie Three Men And A Baby, starring Tom Selleck. I've haven't actually witnessed one yet. I just watched in slow motion as she continued to ralph all 4 oz of the bottle she just ate, on me, on her, on my arms, on the floor, everywhere. I have never been puked on by another person like that in my entire adult life, and I'm pretty sure my entire adolescent life too (although those years are a bit fuzzy). It was a big milestone for me in my life, so I had to take a picture of it. As you can see, it was amazing. The accuracy was Jordan-esque and the coverage on my shirt alone was larger than Haven's whole body.