Christmas Photo Bonanza

Christmas was wonderful this year. We've been here there and everywhere with Libby and the exhaustion is finally starting to set in. Our first destination was Webster Springs West Virginia. Libby and Corey and I spent a relaxing three days visiting with GiGi, Aunt Debbie and Uncle John. Corey's parents came down on Saturday and then the whole Bozic gang was rounded out when Chris and Nan (with Aubree and Mia in tow) arrived on Sunday. The Christmas gift opening tuckered Libby out-she fell asleep after 3 presents.

Libby sitting with her GiGi

Libby's favorite activity in Webster was to "rearrange" the snack cabinet. And by rearrange, I mean take everything out and put it on the floor.

Here is Libby opening her first present. She was unsure if she was allowed because we had been telling her "no" for a couple weeks now.
Missy in heaven with Libby asleep on her. The two of them sat like that for a good 45 minutes!

Our second visit was with my family. We arrived at the Fontalbert household early on Christmas Eve-Claire was "patiently" waiting for us to get there! It was a really fun day. We lounged around for a bit and then everyone ate yummy lasagna (I smelled it and ate salad-not on a diet, just still sick!). Gift opening went well because Libby was taking a nap. She missed most of the chaos, and when she awoke she opened her presents in peace! After leaving Mom and Dad's, I realized I was very hungry (only ate salad for dinner), so we stopped at Sheetz for a snack and returned home to listen to Christmas music and admire the tree while I read the story of Jesus' birth to Libby. I think that may be our family's Christmas tradition.

Libby playing her new drum-just like Daddy

Kerri, Libby and I inspecting our presents

This was not a gift to Libby, it was a gift to Sami. Libby really liked to sit in it though.

Libby and Claire playing with her new xylophone.

Sami's first Christmas was fun too. She's just as spoiled as Libby already!
(Casey wouldn't take off her new hat for the photo)

Libby and Uncle Rob taking a breather from the festivities to watch Dora

Corey's new golf jacket-a favorite present since he plans to make more time for golf this year

Dad getting a kick out of Libby. She calls him PawPaw.

Libby loving her gift from Sami-a green stuffed monkey that is almost as big as she is.

Our final port of call was the Bozic household for Christmas Day. We went out early-not even bothering to get out of our PJ's. I t was a fun day until we realized that we forgot to bring Libby's blanket. We tried nap time without the blanket. At first it seemed okay, then she woke up crying and refused to go to sleep-despite her tiredness. So Corey went home to get her blanket and she once again slept through present opening. I guess she isn't ready to be weened quite yet. (On a side note, we were able to find 2 new blankets on our excursion to Pittsburgh so now we have 4 that Libby can use!)

Aubree opening her books from us-she played with them while her mom opened the rest of her presents.

We also got Aubs a box full of mini-books and she wanted to hold them all at the same time. She also read them to us all!

Christmas was exhausting. Here is Libby passed out yesterday morning. You see why the blankets are necessary!!

Things are turning around

Carseats at least. This is Libby's new Big Girl carseat! Thank you Aunt Debbie and Uncle John for getting this for Libby! We are excited to see how she likes it once it is in the car, but if this morning is any indication, she'll love it.

Graduation as promised

Here are some great photos from Corey's graduation! Libby yelled DADA about halfway through the ceremony, so she missed him actually walking across the stage, but I got to see! It is so great to be done with school for awhile. Libby and I are sooo proud of Corey for sticking it all out! He's going to be a wonderful nurse!

Playing in Boxes

Libby and Pappy playing Peek-A-Boo in the box

Libby with empty wrapper, blanket and monkey drum in the box

Normally, we don't put our daughter into boxes. But man at Meme and Pappy's, we had a hard time getting her to come out of the box. She literally played with an empty cookie wrapper in a box for a couple hours on Saturday. We finally had to move the box to a different room when she started trying to get in and out of it.

In other news, I am still pregnant and still sick. Although I feel like I am on the up and up. Cross fingers that I can eat delicious Christmas food without throwing up! I haven't posted pictures of Corey's graduation yet because I don't have them, but it was a great ceremony. It is such a relief to have us both done with school for awhile!

Look at all that amniotic fluid!

We are calling him/her "Our Little Swimmer"

So it is official, we are expecting again! I am 9 weeks pregnant (I know it is a little early to announce, but we've told so many people it'll be OK.) Last week, I went in for my first appointment (I'm still high risk because of Libby). They had time to do an ultrasound, and this is what I saw. All that black is fluid-which I didn't have with Libby! I heard the heartbeat-it was 158!

So far it has been very different. I am sick all the time-I was never sick with Libby. I am tired all the time-luckily Libby still takes 2 naps a day! But I know that God is watching over us and this new little one! We'll keep everyone posted as new ultrasounds etc come up!

Sami's first visit

We had an eventful weekend with my sister visiting. It was Sami's first big trip and Casey and I were so excited for Libby to meet her new cousin. At first we weren't sure if she was jealous of the baby because she kept reaching for whoever was holding Sami. But what she wanted was to hold the baby. She was so gentle and calm with her, I was amazed! Here are some pics!

Libby loved holding her-she just rested her head against Sami's

Libby and Sami again in their matching outfits provided by Grandma

A Family of Mountaineers-obviously before the game since we are all still smilingRandom picture of Libby with a "purse." She would put it on her arm and knee-walk around the room-too cute!

PS Congrats to Chris and Nancy for their baby girl born Dec 4 12:30ish! Libby has all kinds of new cousins

Old Friends and New Faces

My weekend was crazy-I went to Grove City to outlet shop on Friday and Saturday with my mom and sister. We got great deals, but I was EXHAUSTED! But what a treat to come home to a mini-reunion with the Jabbours and Taylors. Libby, Micah Jabbour and Ainsley Taylor

Corey and Scott and Noel have been great friends since high school-since then they have added wives and babies to the mix.Mandy and Micah Jabbour, Me and Libby, Danielle and Ainsley Taylor

The Jabbours, the Bozics, the Taylors

It was the first time all six of us were together (Scott and Danielle are in TN and Noel and Mandy are in MN) and the kids were so fun! Making our children pose for pictures was hilarious-we were all singing Pat-a-Cake to make Libby smile, and there was a lot of snapping and silly voices to get their attention. There isn't one picture where they are all looking at the camera at the same time!

Our Little Reindeer

We've had a busy week. We visited Webster Springs (Corey's mamaw and aunt and uncle) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Libby is always spoiled, but it is SUPER spoiled when we are in a 10 foot radius of Debbie and John. We got there and Debbie had bought her reindeer antlers (which Libby loved to shake) and little bunny slippers. Libby hadn't seen Deb and John and Mamaw for awhile, but she fell in love right away. While Debbie cooked, Libby "made" Cheerios in her pot. She put them in the pot and stirred them with a wooden spoon-occasionally stopping to sample her hard work!
We came back up to celebrate Thanksgiving with the rest of Corey's family - and my mom. It was a really fun day. Libby got an adorable set of miniature Peter Rabbit books from her Aunt Missy-the running joke is that you need a magnifying glass to even think about reading them to Libby. Libby loved all the food-especially sweet potatoes. She played so hard, making new friends with Corey's cousin Britney. Overall it was a really great day! And we are SO blessed.

16 months and I'm still surprised

Libby hanging out around 4:00 AM; I love how she holds her cup with her foot!

Well Libby turned 16 months old yesterday and she celebrated by being up from 2-4:30 this morning. We tried to get her back to sleep, but she wouldn't cooperate, and Corey and I aren't of the "let-them-cry-for-a-long-time" faction. We let her cry for 10-15 minutes, but that's it. So around 3, I brought her downstairs and she played for a good hour and a half. It just goes to show that you never really have a handle on this parenting thing. Just as soon as I think we are in a schedule, Libby decides to go off of it. Just when I think I know what she likes to eat, she spits out cheese (her favorite thing).

But she has done other surprisingly wonderful things too. The other day she crawled over to me with arms wide and gave me a hug-complete with the "aah" sound she makes when she hugs her babies. She has also defied the odds again. We went to the orthopedic surgeon last week and he was so surprised that she is able to cruise around the furniture. He still thinks she will probably need surgery on her right knee, but we are trying some new braces first. She gets fitted for those next week. She's a trooper!

Our Beautiful new Niece

Corey and I left Libby with her Meme and Pappy on Friday and headed down to Charleston to see Sami. Oh my goodness! She is such a cutie; she never cried! We did the Charleston rounds-Casey and Grandma this time. It was nice to sleep at Grandma's without the screaming child Libby can be in strange places.Claire and her "baby"

In other news, Libby is saying more words. It sounds like she says "up" and "play". She hasn't quite adjusted to the time change (thus a post at 7 AM), but I have full confidence that we can get through this too.

She went to the doctor on Friday and she is 17 pounds - slow and steady wins the race right? We go to ortho on Wednesday, so I'll let everyone know how that goes. I'm taking our physical therapist so she can ask better questions than I do.

Samantha Vanderbilt Beachy and other weekend highlights

The baby has a name! Samantha. This name was not even in the running, but Casey has a way of surprising everyone. She is adorable and Casey is recovering well.

The week has been an eventful one for us as well. Wednesday brought Libby's annual review with Birth-To-Three (the program that provides her physical therapy etc). Amazingly enough, Libby has caught up so quickly that we had to say good-bye to her Occupational Therapist Yvonne. Libby is not significantly delayed in fine motor or cognitive abilities. We still see her physical therapist Heather and her developmental specialist Jenny.

We had some good food and friends over on Saturday for Mountaineer Football and it was great. Libby and Elliott rediscovered the bouncy seat and they wanted to sit together. It was so cute! The kids played so hard all day, that it was hard to keep Libby up past 6:00 pm.

Finally, Sunday brought about Libby's dedication. It was our chance to make public what has always been in our hearts-that Libby is the Lord's. And we are going to do our best to raise her the way that He would want. Everything went smoothly and afterwards, we had a nice lunch at Meme and Pappy's!

The-Baby-Who-Has-Not-Yet-Been-Named

My sister Casey is the only person I know who cannot decide on a baby name. She has a heart that really wants to pick the best name for the child-and a couple of sisters who make said choices very difficult.

That said, the little unnamed baby was born this evening weighing in at 7 pounds 2 ounces. She is beautiful so I hear (unfortunately I am not with her!). She has a lot of peach fuzz (If you have seen Casey's head of hair this is no surprise). And I will update with the name as soon as Casey makes a final verdict.

She had to have a C-section which was not her first choice, and only just got to hold little no name a little bit ago. Baby and mom are both doing well!

Figuring out video

I'm taking more video of Libby and as soon as I figure out how, I will post it! For now pictures will have to do. This one is her new "O" face! It is hard to capture because she does it so quickly. She's moving great along the furniture now. She's not straight, but she is determined to walk.

We are all doing great. Corey is home more now that he is done with clinicals leaving us time to hang out - also time to go visit Skylar Addison Mercer (born Oct 22). Congrats Dirk and Jules.

We had a great weekend-Libby was with her Meme and Pappy while Corey and I hung out with Scott and his boss Jim. We all went to the game on Saturday-it was a lot of fun. Saturday night we got to celebrate the return of our friends Curt and Lindsay who have been out west all year. They are only back for a month and then they are on a new adventure to Alaska!

Charleston

Our weekend in Charleston was crazy, but a lot of fun for Libby. She adores her cousin Claire, and they played hard all weekend long. Libby also got to see her Gigi Fontalbert and their dog Abbey-and Libby was smitten with the dog (those pictures whenever my grandpa gets them developed).

We spent the majority of the weekend with Libby's Aunt Casey, Uncle Tom, Aunt Kerri and Uncle Will. Libby will soon have another cousin to love (I will let everyone know the name as soon as Casey PICKS ONE). Baby Beachy is due in early November.

Libby and her friends, her teeth etc.

Libby has been having s good week so far. She took some steps around the furniture yesterday! That is HUGE in her life. It is the first step toward walking on her own, and it is stretching her hamstrings, and other muscles. I attribute a lot of her progress to her friend Elliott. He is teaching her all kinds of things, like how to drink out of a cup, how to scream at the top of her lungs. You know cool stuff like that!

Also, Casey (and the baby-who-has-not-been-named), Tommy and Claire came up this weekend, so Libby got a chance to play with Claire. She said "Hi" a hundred times and waved and waved to Claire. It was so cute to see how attached she is. Unfortunately, she is also teething again-which now translates into less sleep, more drool and tantrums. Lots of fun for mommy!

We're looking forward to this weekend when we go to Charleston to pay everyone down there a visit (including Grandma Fontalbert who hasn't seen Libby for a few months!)