2011 already??

Let's take a glance back at New Year's Eve of 2009.... No children , no house, no idea where to go to get Kacey into Vet school. Then, in just one year's time, we got pregnant, bought a house, moved to Knoxville TN, and had a baby. It has been a year to remember! One of my favorite, definitely.

Once again this year, we traveled up to Illinois (this time with 3 dogs, 2 adults, 1 baby, and 1 teenage boy, Keyunta, from Marianna!) for a snowy, white Christmas. Although it was a whirlwind, we had a blast. It was a cold Christmas (i'm not pointing any fingers, Dad!)....but so much fun. Some of the highlights included introducing Sakora to family members, playing with the nieces and nephews, sledding on Lord's Hill, playing Citadels, laughing so hard with Bekah that I had tears coming out, introducing Keyunta to new foods, and waking up each morning in Mom and Dad's beautiful new home to a winter wonderland view. The worst part of the whole holiday was that i didn't hardly take any pictures! Trying to look after Sakora and socialize kept me pretty occupied. I will try harder next year.

I love that you can see Isaiah (Bekah and Ben's little boy) crawling around in the background...He is super fast!!

Kameryn and Bronwynn (Ryan and Dev's two girls) love babies and had fun getting to know Sakora. Kameryn was the protector and Bronwynn was the lovey-dovey one.So cute! Bronwynn trying to hold Sakora's hand.

4 generations! Another hightlight was playing Scrabble again...Thanks Grandma!

So, this morning we had pretty good light in the house so i thought i'd try to get some new pics of Sakora. She was quite happy despite her runny, stuffy nose. Saddly she has contracted her first cold and was up much of the night last night, but is coping well.

Hi-Yah! Practicing her ninja moves...

We are trying to have her do more tummy time, which she is generally not so happy about. Yesterday she looked like she was about to roll over, though!

This is her response to my cheering "Come on Sakora! You're doing so good!"

We have noticed that she loves things that make music and fun noises. So here are a few shots of her enjoying a panda bear that plays a few songs with different musical instruments.


How will Daddy ever say no to those eyes??

Happy New Year!

8 Weeks Today!

Sakora turned 8 weeks today! I can't believe how fast it has gone by...I feel like we are going to open our eyes one morning and she'll be packing for college! She has been growing well and no longer fits into most of her newborn clothes. Thankfully she is sleeping 6-8 hours each night and is really starting to follow the same schedule everyday. Other exciting news is that she has figured out how to suck on her hand! this may seem like a small milestone, but it has been a huge victory for our little family because she is now able to soothe herself while drifting off to sleep. Many times we'll lay her in her crib for naps or bedtime and instead of crying and crying, she will just suck on her hand until she falls asleep. We also frequently catch her chattering and laughing to herself when she is supposed to be sleeping :) What a cutie!

Here are a few pictures from her early days of life...

And more recently.... it's bath time!

More pictures from Thanksgiving...

You can really see her peach fuzz in this pic!

This weekend we got to see even more family! Nana and Marla came to visit along with Kacey's aunt Vicki, cousin Tasha and her two precious little girls, Olivia and Myca. Again, this really makes us miss being close to family!

Meet Myca... born in late July and wow is she cute!! One of the happiest babies I've seen.

Sakora cuddles with her bear...

...while Kacey takes Olivia out to play with the pups. They love kids! Especially Bear (our black lab). He gets SOOO excited when we let him say hi to Sakora and will give her lots of kisses. He will be so happy when she can play with him. Mighty is scared of her for some reason and Spanky is pretty indifferent although he has been a little protective when she starts crying.

Hmmm....decisions, decisions!

4 generations!

Olivia....also so adorable!

Tis the Season

Sakora is ready for CHristmas! She wanted to dress up in this adorable Santa outfit (thanks Devon!) and take some holiday pictures for everyone....

She already kind of celebrated her first Christmas this Thanksgiving with Kacey's family. We all met up in Tennessee and Kacey and I hosted THanksgiving at our home for the first time. It was so fun to see Kevin and Marla and Katie and Kody. We had many adventures in just a few short days... We all got up early and joined the Black Friday maddness for the first time ever! We also played some good rounds of croquet and board games (i finally got to play Scrabble! THanks Kevin!). Sakora even got in on Settlers and helped her Daddy strategize.Cooking huge meals is also always an adventure...especially with three cooks in the kitchen! THe food was great and Kacey and I are still making our way through the yummy leftovers. We were sad to see everyone leave and Sakora already misses her family...

Here are a series of shots of her enjoying her changing table...

Sakora also loves laying under the Christmas tree to look at the lights and ornaments. In these pics she was sleeping right before family pictures and looked so precious with all the presents!

When all else fails to get Sakora to sleep, Kacey comes to the rescue with Alterbridge! Alterbridge is one of Kaceys favorite rock groups and Sakora is apparently quite partial to them as well. Whenever she is super fussy, Kacey plays this one particular Alterbridge song and dances with her. As soon as she hears the opening guitar solo, she immediately stops crying and it never fails to put her to sleep by the last refrain. It looks like we might have a rocker on our hands!

Sleeping Beauty!

Snug as a bug on the couch...