The Last Days of 2008!

I have a little backtracking to do before catching up with Christmas pictures...

On December 16 Will and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary! It is hard to believe that we have only been together for 2 years. I feel like I have always been Will's wife! What an extraordinary husband! I am so grateful for Will's unselfish, servant leadership in my life. I see so much good fruit from his influence in my life. This year has been filled with so many big changes and Will just keeps stepping up to the plate. I love being married to my best friend!

For our anniversary, we took our first overnight trip without Laurel. We had such a wonderful and refreshing time together in the Smoky Mountains. Laurel had a great time with her Mom-mom and Aunt Lauren and didn't seem to miss us a bit! We did miss our little girl, but it was completely worth it!

DECEMBER 25 finally arrived!

Here is Laurel enjoying some Christmas ribbons...this was probably her faorite part of the holidays! Uncle Brient bought Laurel her adorable Santa hat, which she loved.

This is Laurel's amazing toy from Grandfather and Mom-mom! It is a cross between a johnny-jump-up and a walker. Laurel can't jump yet, because her feet don't touch the ground, but she really enjoys playing with all the fun toys on the top.I think this picture is so funny! Laurel's aunts and uncles were so generous to buy her beautiful clothing, but it looks like we are going to need to work on gratefulness!

Ever since Laurel was a infant Grandfather took Laurel on "Safaris" all over the house looking for Zebras. It was a special way that he would calm her down and keep her entertained. For Christmas he looked long and hard and finally found her a special zebra of her own!

Heading of to Charlotte and home!

Wonderful Anne and my sweet, little cousin Kate! I so enjoyed getting to spend time with her. She is such a calm, happy, and serious baby. She has a very different personality than Laurel! I am so excited about watching them grow up and be great little buddies. I love my little niece so much.

Adorable baby Laurel in her new hat! She got a lot better at sucking her thumb over the weekend. 

Laurel licking Kate...enough said!

We are SO blessed!

Laurel and her fabulous Pop!

Laurel chillin' in front of the TV.

LALA (Aunt Allie's special name for Laurel!) had a wonderful time with her Great Aunt Allie. 

Ode to Pop

Due to the terrific pressure exerted on me by a certain anonymous commenter on this blog, I have decided to display some photographs of Laurel with her wonderful Pop and my wonderful Dad. Laurel really does love him! They have special times when they are together such as Dad always putting her PJs on before bed, rocking in the rocking chair and singing "Summertime", and, of course, lots of good conversations together...she even talks to Dad on the phone sometimes (mostly listens!). We are all so excited about being together at Christmastime!

Embarrasingly Long Picture Post...

I can't believe that it has been a whole month since my last post...hence the shocking amount of pictures. I have started with the least current and by the time you get to the bottom you should be updated!

But first I need to give Laurel's stats from her recent doctor's appointment. She is 24.5 inches long (75%) and 12 lbs. 11 oz. (approx. 37%). She is a little string bean!

This picture is from Laurel's 3 month photos that I took in our backyard. Even though I missed and only got her eyes, I think they look so cute and "smiley".

Here she is with her new jungle gym that great-granny bought her. She loves playing with it. Especially the monkey on the left of the picture. I'm not sure if I should be worried that she is gazing at herself with such adoration (that is a mirror on the other side of the "tiki hut".)!

Poor Laurel...I took her outside for some nice fall pictures, but it was way too cold for her.

I just thought this was such a cute way for her to be sleeping! (Don't worry...I didn't just leave her there where she could roll off!)

There is much rejoicing from the fruits of Laurel learning to suck her thumb! She is really able to soothe herself to sleep and it doesn't fall out like a pacifier. Plus, I think it is very cute.

Recently Bill built a firepit in our backyard and we had a fun family night making s'mores and talking. Add s'mores to the list of things that I didn't like in Charlotte and like in Knoxville (Egg salad and baked beans are also on that list...go figure!).

It was so wonderful to have Dad, Mom, and Mike come for Thanksgiving at the Kittrell's. We had such a great visit filled with lots of eating, talking, and laughter. I am so grateful that the Connollys and Kittrells are such great friends! Mom and I got a lot of special time together!! Here we are before talking Laurel on a nice, long walk. I am SO grateful for a mom like mine!

Granny (Bill's mom) was able to join us for Thanksgiving which is always a wonderful joy. She really loves her little great-granddaughter and it is so fun to have them spend time together. I hope that I am as joyful and contented as Granny when I am her age.

Celebrating "Pop's" birthday!!

NOT celebrating "Pop's" birthday. This picture cracks me up!

So does this one!!

How can you not adore this little person!

Laurel adores her bath time! She gets a bath most every night and no matter how tired she is she will almost always be very excited in her bath and splash around and smile. After seeing how many bubbles she ate, I think I will wait on the bubble baths until she is a bit older.

I was talking on the phone to Anne recently and telling her about how I didn't used to like these little hairbands on other peoples babies, but now that Laurel has them I just think they are the cutest thing in the world!! Do you agree with me?

"Gosh, I have such a terrible stomach ache!"

Looking back over these pictures I realize that allowing Laurel to play with plugged in Christmas lights really isn't such a great idea! God is the one protecting our little girl!

This is one of Laurel's favorite activities. She loves playing with her Dad and being turned up in the air and being upside down.

Oops! I didn't realize this was sideways! Anyway, check out those pretty eyes!

I like this picture of Laurel with "Grandfather" and "Mom-Mom".

Will is a wonderful Dad who sure does love his little girl!

The 2nd annual Kittrell Family Christmas Tree!

3 Months!

Our baby girl is 3 months old! Every time she enters a new stage I say that it is my favorite and this is no exception. I am so enjoying all the new things that she is doing. Her newest fascination is her hands. She loves to play with them, hold them, and try to jam them into her mouth (still hasn't really figured out the thumb thing). She is also getting a lot better at grasping things and trying to hold things. Hands are her almost constant occupation. It has also been so fun to see her develop an interest in toys. She will now stare at her "Freddy the Firefly" and try to grasp him and put him in her mouth. Very fun :-) Right now she is in the midst of her first cold which has been so sad. She is so stuffed up at night and I think it has made her a little extra cranky. I gave her a Johnson's Vapor Bath last night (per Mom's recommendation!) and I think it helped clear her nose a bit. I have also been ATTEMPTING to use saline drops in her nose (per Anne's recommendation) but the package directions don't tell you what do do if your baby turns her head and screams and cries! We are praying that her cold is healed quickly. All in all I am loving my baby girl so much. I just can't imagine life without her and I am looking forward to all the years ahead of us together.

Smiling at her much adored Daddy.
When we were in Charlotte for Kate's birth Lizzy and I got to spend some wonderful time together and we also got to introduce our kiddo's. I think this picture is hilarious!

3 of my absolute favorite girls!

Sweet, beautiful baby Kate! It was such a wonderful joy to get to see Kate and Anne in the hospital and spend a couple days in Charlotte. I love my little niece so much...I had no idea that I would miss her so much :-(

Pop and Granni with their little "lovey".

Loving those bubbles!

It is probably mean to take pictures when Laurel is crying, but so funny also! I wouldn't do it if something was truly wrong...she is just fussing because she doesn't want to be in her swing any more.

We certainly have a little drama queen on our hands! I don't know how Laurel learned to make the perfect pouting face...and I don't think we should speculate about it either...This is the face she makes right before she is about to start screaming and crying. For now I think it is adorable!A couple weeks ago Will, Laurel and I went to Cracker Barrel for a family breakfast (although it was noon by the time we got there...life with a baby!). We haven't done a lot of family things all together and it was so much fun! I'm sure we will be able to do a lot more as Laurel gets older and Will is less busy with school.

Laurel enjoying the fall weather outside of Cracker Barrel.

Family picture.

Dad and Mom's Great Visit

We had a wonderful time with Pop and Granni when they visited a couple weeks ago! They just can't visit enough.

This is Laurel enjoying her first trip to Cade's Cove.

She loves her Pop!
I love this picture.
Me and my Will.
Tired after a long day in the mountains.

It was so great to spend some time with Mom and Dad. I so miss living in the same town with them. I am so grateful that I am able to spend more time with them when they come since I'm not working.

In other news, my poor, sweet Laurel had to have her 2 month shots this past week :-( It was terribly sad and I'm so glad that it is all over. At 9 weeks she is 10 lbs. 6 oz. and 22.5 inches. She is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th for weight! I am glad that she is so healthy. Will and I are enjoying and loving her more and more! More pictures to come...

This past weekend "Aunt" Bebbie (Bethany Bussell) came to visit this past weekend. We had a wonderful time together but sadly we didn't get very many pictures.

Kate's birth...only 2 weeks away!!! Yeah!!!