Here Comes 2009!!

We have been busy celebrating the Holidays with Family, and now are packing up to go ring in the New Year with friends up in Big Bear, CA. We are so excited to show Darby the snow!

Stay tuned for pictures and video of all our holiday fun!!

Have a happy and safe New Years!

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, from our home to yours!

We are so excited to be celebrating Darby's first Christmas, it is such a blessing to have her in our lives. I can't imagine life without her now that she is here, every minute is amazing. (Some are amazingly stressful, but amazing none the less!)

May each of you be filled with the peace and joy that the holiday season brings - no matter what holiday you celebrate!

Much love!

The Christmas Carousel

Last Thursday, when Darby sat on Santa's lap, she also got to ride the Christmas carousel for the first time. She had a great time sitting on the reindeer while her Daddy held her. She can't wait for next year so she can ride it again!

Darby Meets The Big Guy In Red

Today we took Darby over to South Coast Plaza to sit on Santa's lap! We thought she might cry (she has been starting to get a little separation anxiety-ish) but she just sat there wondering what was going on! We tried to get a smile, but no dice. I kept saying "Darby, Darby" and when we were all done the "elf" that was there taking the picture turned to us and said "What's her name? Barbie?"

It was a great family fun day. After Darby sat on Santa's lap, she rode the carousel with her Daddy. I took some pictures which I will upload and post sometime tomorrow. (Or try to at least!) We also finished our Christmas shopping, went to dinner and drove around to look at Christmas lights. Little D didn't make it for the lights though, she was pooped.

The Murray Holiday Dancers!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Baking and Park Time With Mommy

Darby is a great little assistant for her Mommy! Last week I baked and decorated some sugar cookies for favors for my best friend Angela's 30th birthday party, and of course Darby helped!

Today after running some errands I decided to stop by the park and push Darby in the swing. A few weeks ago some friends of ours had their baby shower at a park. While we were there we put Darby in the swing for the very first time. She LOVED it! I brought my camera along today and snapped some pics. Next time I'm going to bring the video camera. It's way too cute how she smiles and giggles while she swings!

On Thursday Eric is taking the day off and we are taking Darby to sit on Santa's lap, finishing up our Christmas shopping and then going to go look at Christmas lights. I will be sure to take the camera along!

Just Been Busy!

Yes, we are still here! Sorry I haven't posted in MORE then a week, we've been so busy with Christmas shopping, parties, wrapping gifts and just the normal everyday things that come with caring for a almost 5 month old.

Yep, you heard me! Darby will be 5 months next week!! I really can't believe how FAST this last month went by. I'm sure December will fly by too.

Darby is almost able to sit up on her own, she will put her hand down to support her but doesn't quite understand that if she moves it, she will fall over. It's so cute. She is loving her "solids" (I don't why they are called solids when they are hardly solid. I guess more solid then a liquid.) but not a fan of the fruit. I thought by giving her all the veggies first it would just help her like them more. But she ONLY likes them! I have tried all the fruits - Prunes, Peaches, Pears, Applesauce and Bananas. More then once. She hates them! I even mashed up a banana myself and mixed it with cereal, no dice. She gobbles up all the veggies, except the peas. I couldn't imagine eating squash or carrots at 8am. But hey, if she likes it, it's ok by me!

Darby is starting to grab for EVERYTHING. The other week I was at lunch with my Mom. As she sitting with Darby on her lap, Darby dropped the toy she was playing with. I told my Mom I'd pick it up, but she insisted she could handle holding D and reaching down to get it. As she bent down Darby grabbed her glass and dumped diet coke all over! My poor Mom was soaked in diet coke. Luckily we had already finished eating, and she had a good sense of humor about it. How could she be mad at Darby anyway! :0) Darby must just dump things on people she REALLY loves!

Well, hopefully it wont be another week and a half before I post again! This weekend is another busy one, but next week the calendar is looking nice and bare. With our Christmas shopping almost done, I'm looking forward to some relaxing! We will see if that actually happens!

Here is a video from the end of November that I keep meaning to post.

2 Years Ago...

...Eric and I said "I Do!"

Time flies. Well, I honestly have to say, it was both a long 2 years and a SUPER short 2 years. It was long because the first year we were married was a hard one. Not because we couldn't get along, or were having any marriage related problems. As I'm sure you all know, our first year of marriage was filled with overwhelming sadness in loosing our first and second babies. The pain was unimaginable, but we got through.

By the end of our first year, we were filled with the hope that our dream of having a baby would come true. It did!

Here we are another year later, with a beautifully perfect baby girl in our lives. Darby was more then worth the wait.

In honor of our 2 year wedding anniversary, Eric decided to surprise me by shaving off his yukstash mustache this morning! It was great to get a kiss that felt more like the kiss we shared when we said I do. (Of course it was 630 in the morning, while I was pumping - so it didn't have as much "gusto" as our first kiss as man and wife!!)

In other news...

Little Miss Darby has found her feet! One morning last week when I was changing her diaper, Darby decided to grab her foot. Now, you have to imagine my excitement. I had stuck her feet in her face for months trying to get her to even LOOK at them! I even bought her booties with rattles on them to make her feet more exciting. She just wasn't interested. Until now!

Dinning with Darby!

Here are two videos of Darby since we have started her on veggies and rice cereal! The first video is from the 18th, when Darby had her first tastes of something other then breast milk. The second is from Saturday night after she had some peas (which she didn't love. I don't blame her, they smell horrible!) Enjoy!

Four Months Old!

As a 4 month old Darby has officially graduated to a size 2 diaper, loves her rice cereal and has gobbled up both sweet potatoes and peas! I just can't believe how quick she is growing! Today she is wearing a size 6 month outfit, and it FITS her! What a chunk! Her cheeks are the MOST kissable cheeks EVER.

We are so excited for her very first Thanksgiving coming up this week! Last year we started hosting dinner for my parents, Eric's parents, brother and Aunt and Uncle. It is so much fun and I'm really looking forward to it with Darby here. Having a baby (or child) really makes the holidays so much more exciting. I'm sure they will just keep getting more exciting as she grows and realizes what's going on!

Here are a few "I am 4 months old" shots I took of Darby.

High Chair Time!

Darby's checkup went so well yesterday. She is now a whopping 14lbs 8oz and is 25 1/4" long! That puts her in the 75th percentile for both weight an height! She is growing so well and the Dr. was very impressed. We got the go-ahead to start little D on some solids - rice cereal, veggies and fruits. So yesterday while Darby was napping I decided to put together the high chair.

I decided that since I wanted to be sure Darby loooooves to eat her veggies, we would start those before we introduce the fruits. Here are some pictures of D (from this morning) enjoying her rice cereal and some sweet potatoes. (As I'm sure you'll notice she is wearing two different outfits. She had a major poop-out and required a costume change mid-meal!!)

She is really liking the cereal and sweet potatoes! She got really messy, but it was so fun. Last night as we were putting her in her bath (her little tub goes over the kitchen sink) we decided to try a few more bites of the sweet potatoes. She loved it and it made for some really silly but cute pictures! (Don't worry, there wasn't any water in the tub yet and of course we wiped her off before we actually have her a bath!)

Darby Tellin' It Like It Is!

Here's a video (it's a few weeks old already) of Darby talking up a storm - in a rather frustrated tone! I really need to stop the pre-nap recording since she is just a bit crabby then, but it also seems to be one of her cutest times, so I can't help myself!


... and... today our little Darby girl is FOUR MONTHS OLD! Time flies! This morning I was nursing her at 9 am, I just kept thinking about how four months ago I was pushing away and we were about to meet her. Now four amazing months later, she has changed so much and is growing by leaps and bounds every single day! Four month check up is tomorrow morning, so I'll be sure to post sometime after that to update on her growth! I also need to take some "I am 4 months old" pictures! Stay tuned!

Exersaucer Fun!

I recently put together Darby's exersaucer, and it's a hit! She loves being in it and playing with all the cool toys.

Darby has been doing great, not up as much at night, but unfortunately we still aren't back to sleeping 6 hours straight! But beggers can't be choosers, and I'd rather have her only sleep 4 hours straight then one!

She will be 4 months next week! Time flies! I am excited for her Dr. appointment - but poor thing will have to get more shots. I'm not looking forward to THAT part! I just can't wait to hear how much she's grown, and find out whats next! I am hoping the Dr. ok's her for some rice cereal and to slowly start introducing fruits and veggies.

We are really excited to be planning a trip to Big Bear for Darby's first New Years with a group of our friends. It's going to be Darby's first trip, and I hope there will be some snow so she can experience her first snow too!

On another note, last week Eric started taking our little D on a nightly run with him in the baby jogger. She loves it! He says she is quiet the whole time - well she's only been three times, and fell asleep once! I have her all dressed and wrapped in a blanket and as soon as Eric gets home from work we put her in the jogger. He gets changed and off they go! It's great because I get to cook dinner (which I love to do) without interruption! I will have to take some pictures of Darby all snuggly in the jogger. For now, here are a few from their very first run together last Saturday

Just one more quick thing I wanted to share with all of you - yet another use for the all too useful Boppy pillow -

Darby's One and Only...

.. Great Grandpa!

The day Darby was born, her eyes widened (I am not exaggerating!) when her Great Grandpa spoke to her. He is very special, the only Great Grandpa she has living and is one of those - one in a million kinda people. She already loves him very much, as I think it's very obvious by looking at these pictures.

(Pictures taken by Darby's Great Aunt Cindy - who she loves very much too!)

Darby's First Halloween Festivities!!

Darby loved her first Halloween celebration!
On Wednesday night, we started off by carving our pumpkins, and Darby helped!
Eric carved out the big pumpkin, and I handled the carving of Darby's little one. Next year we are going to get 3, one Daddy pumpkin, one Mommy pumpkin, and a Darby pumpkin! This year Eric carved a skeleton cross bones into the big one, and I made an owl face in the small one. Eric's still looked great by Friday, but mine ended up caving in before the trick or treaters could see it!
Here is Darby's Halloween day outfit. (I got the tshirt for 2 bucks the day before!)

On Halloween night, we set up 2 chairs and a table with the pumpkins on it at the end of our driveway to hand out candy. It was a lot of fun seeing all the little kids dressed up (and some scary teenagers too!). Darby was a trooper, stayed in her costume the whole night, and everyone commented on how cute she looked - and of course we concurred!

Once there was a lull with trick or treaters, we got together with some of our neighbors and walked down to a haunted house. I opted to stay outside with Darby and the twins (our neighbors that are 3 and a half), but everyone else went inside. I'm not a big haunted house person, I actually HATE them, so I wasn't sad to miss it! Eric said it was really good, and I'm sure it was - the little girl Andrea that lives across the street from us came out crying, her dad came out laughing. I'm guessing I would have been more like Andrea then her Dad!

It was a great first Halloween for our little family. We are looking forward to next year and doing it again, plus taking Darby around to trick or treat!

Darby's First Halloween - Sneek Peek!

Halloween is upon us, and Darby is all set!

We have a lot of kids in our neighborhood and get a lot of trick-or-treaters every year! We always have fun taking turns answering the door and handing out candy. This year will be extra fun with Darby ll dressed up to help us!

Here's a video of Darby modeling her costume. As you'll be able to tell, she was due for a nap! She was a bit fussy!

Just 'Laxin in the Grass!

On Saturday I took Darby out into the backyard for her first time touching grass! It was prickly at first, so she fussed, but I got her to calm down and snapped some pictures. She is by far my favorite subject to take pictures of and I just love doing it!

Another "first" down, up next, Halloween!!