Merry Christmas!

So, it has been a while since I last posted.  Things have been pretty busy around here and they aren't slowing down for a little bit.  Here is our Christmas card/summary of our year.  I still have Christmas cards to mail, but I ran out of stamps.  I also have pictures to post, but we still haven't found the cable to download the pictures.  We will find it eventually, but for now here is our card.

Merry Christmas!

He's Here

Ok, so he has been here for almost a week, but this is the first time I have had time to sit down and actually right about it.  This won't be long because Jackson is starting to stir in his crib.  Yes, his crib! Caelyn wasn't a fan of her crib, so we are starting out early this time with hopes it will go smoothly.

Stats:
Jackson Philip Gifford
Born @ 12:40 pm
Weight: 8 lbs 8 oz
Length: 21 inches

We are so in love with him and Caelyn is a fantastic big sister.  She loves her little brother so much and wants to spend as much time with him as possible.  I know that will soon change, but I am enjoying the happy moments we have together.

Here are a couple pictures from the last week.

First Picture with Mom & Dad

MeMe & PawPaw

All of Us

Sweet Moments for Mommy & a Curious Big Sister

Reading Jackson "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

Holding Her Baby Jackson

Ready to Go Home

Reading a Bed Time Story, Again it is "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

Cute Boy

Caelyn Tickling Jackson

Little Helper

I hate doing dishes, it is my least favorite chore in the whole world.  Fortunately I have a husband who doesn't mind doing the dishes and is quite effective at it.  However, since Phil has been busy working on home projects to prepare for the arrival of Jackson I have volunteered to do the dishes until I can no longer reach the faucet.

However, it seems like every time I start the dishes Caelyn goes from playing nicely on her own to wanting to be right at mommy's side.  So yesterday I filled the empty side of the sink with water and bubbles and let her go to town.  While I did dishes for 1/2 and hour, Caelyn played happily with one little cup in the soapy water.  It was great knowing exactly where she was and she had a lot of fun "doing dishes" with mommy.

One Month

One month from today Jackson is scheduled to arrive.  Hopefully he will keep that appointment or show up a little early.

Slurpee Round 2

Caelyn calls slurpees "Special Treats" because that's what they are.  We don't get them very often, but we all enjoy them when we get the chance.  We stopped to get slurpees on the way home from the beach with Phil's parents when they came to visit.  I don't think I took any other pictures while they were here, but I did get this on camera.

Trying it with a spoon

Looking for a quicker way

Style

My little girl has her own sense of style.  Including wearing her sunglasses upside down.

Look Out

Caelyn loves her binoculars.  Her favorite thing is to climb up on the ottoman and look for Phil.

Zoo with Daddy

Once a week we try and do something "special" with Caelyn as we prepare for the business that will come with a new baby.  We love to go to the zoo and this time Daddy was able to come with us.  It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun.

Caelyn's First Slurpee

Taking it Seriously

Up Close with the Ostrich

Watching the Giraffe Eat Breakfast

Riding the Rhino

Sitting Pretty on the Butterfly

One Angry Bison

Hopefully we will get to go again before Baby Jackson arrives, if not we will wait until it cools down and visit in the fall.

A little bit behind

So I have gotten a little bit behind in my blogging.  I am pregnant and have a two year old, need I say more.  We have already had a fun filled summer.  Including Caelyn's birthday, a trip to Orlando, and our many adventures around the house.  Here is a picture to keep you happy until I can post the rest.

Helping Daddy Assemble Her "Big Girl Bed"

Big Girl Room

With Jackson arriving in September, we wanted to Caelyn used to sleeping in her "Big Girl Bed" in her "Big Girl Room."  We sent Caelyn to Meme and Papa's for the weekend so we could make the big switch without her being there to through too much of a fuss.  Caelyn isn't a big fan of change, so we hoped a fun filled weekend with grandparents would help smooth it out.  We painted and put the bed together the week before, but we still had to switch all of Caelyn's clothes, toys, and some of her furniture from her old room to her new room.

Phil and I were at Tim & Angela's wedding when Caelyn came home, so we missed the big reveal.  However, my mom sent me a text message to tell me everything had gone smoothly so far and she loved her new room.  It took a couple days to adjust from the toddler bed to the full bed, but I think we are on track now.

Here are some pictures of Caelyn's "Big Girl Room."

We painted her walls Pale Apple by Valspar and she got a new headboard and footboard from Ikea.  I got a steal of a deal on the bedding from Pottery Barn, which made me oh-so-excited.

I updated the letters from her nursery to make them more fun and to match the colors of her bedding.

Inexpensive plain white curtains from Target with cute coordinating ribbon ironed on with Stitch Witchery, easiest project ever!

It is still a work in progress however, I need to paint this chair.  However, I am waiting to ask Phil until he is done with Jackson's room :)

Hopefully I will have pictures of Jackson's room near the end of the week.  It is almost done, but just a few finishing touches.

Orlando!

We had the privilege of representing our church at the SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL.  We shared a condo with Mark & Ginny Hopkins, which was tons of fun.  Unfortunately we took zero pictures inside the condo.  Caelyn loved having "her" GiGi & Mark stay with us.  Hopefully they didn't mind Caelyn's early wake up times.

My parents also attended the Convention and then my brother and Natalia joined us in Orlando on Wednesday night.  Here are some highlights of our fun visit to the different Disney Parks.

On Wednesday after the morning meeting we headed to Animal Kingdom.  Caelyn fell asleep as soon as we got in the park, which turned about to be okay.  We took that opportunity to figure out where we were going and what to do.  We didn't stay at the park very long, so that we could be back in time for the closing session, but we did have time to do the Safari and visit a few more areas.   Here are some pictures.

Caelyn isn't afraid of snakes at all, the creatures fascinated her.

Up Close with the Goat

With Mimi after the Safari

Caelyn loved being able to see all the fish.  She decided it was a good place to sit and watch.

Us 3

With Mimi and Papaw

On Thursday we went to Magic Kingdom with my parents, David, and Natalia.  Caelyn's favorite part was the castle.  Every time it would come into view she would get so excited.  I decided to pour down rain during the afternoon, so she and I got caught in a store for about and hour.  While we were in the store I let Caelyn pick out one stuffed animal.  Her choice was Minnie Mouse, who quickly became her favorite toy and her favorite character.  When the rain let up a little bit, ee then ventured over to a near by restaurant and met up with the rest of the family.  Caelyn discovered the castle and wanted her little brother Jackson to see it too.  

Everyone's favorite ride as Buzz Lightyear.  Even Caelyn liked steering the cart, which meant my mom and spent most of the ride spinning in circles.  Phil & David took advantage of the fast pass and the rain to ride it several times.

 

Caelyn on Papa's shoulders watching a show in front of the castle.

A little tuckered out.

On Friday our flight didn't leave until 3, so we took the morning to do a quick trip over to Hollywood Studios.  There Caelyn was able to see her favorite Disney Character up close.  Caelyn met Minnie Mouse.  I didn't think that she would walk up to a giant character all by herself, but she did and gave her a big hug.  There were no smiles during picture taking, but before and after she was all smiles.

Waiting for the Playhouse Disney show to begin.

Waiting in line for Minnie Mouse

Hugs for Minnie

No Smiles, I am just impressed she is not screaming.

All smiles when she was all done and kept talking about it.

High Five for Goofy

Just for Daddy in the Star Wars store

Happy Birthday Caelyn

Our little girl is 2!  She is a crazy wide-eyed one.  We love her that way.  She loves to sing and dance.  Caelyn loves to play with her babies & cook in the kitchen with mommy.  I don't think she ever stops moving.  Here are pictures of her birthday.  She had 3 parties.  The first was with Dan, Tabitha, Matt & Sarah when they came to visit for Memorial Day.  I learned that Caelyn doesn't like frosting or sprinkles.  I had to cut the top off of her cupcake so she could eat the cake part.  Here are some pictures.

Testing the Water

First Bite

Showing Her "Big" Smile

Frosting-less Cupcake

"Mommy, Me Messy"

The second was with MeMe, PaPa, David & Tia (Natalia) on her actual birthday when we went to get our family pictures done.  She also had a doctor's appt. that day.  We were told no shots, they lied.  However, she took it like a trooper.  Nothing a Strawberry Frapp from Starbucks couldn't fix.  I am still working on getting the pictures from my parents, so they will be coming soon.

The last was the day after her birthday.  We only brought a couple presents with us to see my parents, so we opened the rest of them the next day and finished off the cupcakes.  We put candles on her cupcake, which she wasn't too sure about.  We had a fun day.

Voicing Her Opinion on the Candles

Picking off the M&Ms, she still wouldn't eat the frosting

Making Sure She Gets Them All