We wish you a Merry Christmas

I love taking this time to look back at all of the changes that happen in just one year. Our biggest change this year, is the addition of our son, Carson Kyle Darby. I can't think of a day in his precious life that I haven't thanked God for him. He is my little angel. Here are some photos from the past few years....my little girl is growing up. Wow, thank you God for this amazing journey.

Christmas card 2008:

Christmas card 2007:

Alex and Carson with Santa (Alex: 3 1/2, Carson: 3 months):

Alex with Santa, 2007 (age 2 1/2):

Alex, 2006 (1 1/2 years):

Alex with Santa (10 months):
Merry Christmas to each of you. Enjoy every moment...it goes WAY too fast!

Holiday Happies

*Christmas cards: Such a nice break from the sea of bills and ridiculous catalogs in the mail. We love seeing updates and photos from everyone.

*"O Holy Night"- my favorite Christmas song. The Mariah Carey version is beautiful.
*Scarves and gloves.

*Fires at home and lots of cuddling. Hot tea with honey and hot chocolate.

*My famous toffee- this stuff is addicting. I only make it once a year. Yummmm. My aunt made this with me as a child each year and I've passed on the tradition.

*Sparkles" as Alex says for Christmas lights. Here is a picture of her in our sleigh in the front yard.

*Teaching Alex about Christmas. Every SINGLE toy commercial we get "That's what I want for Christmas REAL, real bad. I'll have Santa bring me one when he is at shoppin' with his coins."

*Watching The Wizard of Oz. A holiday tradition for our family. Not sure why, we just always watch it together. So, this was Alex's first time to watch and she loved it. Toto was her favorite! She asked "mommy, can I get a magic wand from Santa for Christmas and bing Emmy and Macy into Toto?" Translation: she wants to turn our dogs into Toto. She loves to "bing" her wand :)

*The smell of a fresh Christmas tree.

*Our Elf on a Shelf: an awesome new tradition in our home. Alex named our elf Criddle.

*Having my hubby home for many days. I am a quality time person, and I really am looking forward to spending time with my fam, the kids and Nathan. My parents are going to spend the night on Christmas Eve and be here when Alex wake up to see what Santa brings.

*Teaching the kids about Santa and Jesus. Alex thinks baby Jesus is in my tummy?! We clearly have some work to do.

*Annual photo with Santa:

This year more than ever, I am truly reminded of the reason for the season and so incredibly thankful for the abundant blessings in my life. This Christmas I am most excited about the little ones and loved ones that will surround our Christmas tree!

Thanksgiving at the Darby Cabin

I've been procrastinating to write this entry because we took 344 pictures! I know there are a ton, but this is my attempt at summarizing an amazing holiday. The cabin is located on the White River in a nature reserve right outside of Stuttgart, Arkansas (duck hunting capital of the world). Here is our view from the deck:

The cabin is awesome! It's out in the middle of nowhere....no phones, no people....just nature. A perfect place to escape especially in this madness of holiday season. All of our fam (and the pups), Andrea & Brandon and the 3 boys, Deb & Darby, and Andrea's mom and brother came for the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a BLAST! The kids were in heaven. The guys were in hunting heaven and the moms were so happy to have help.

Here are a few family pics:

Pops got in TROUBLE for messing around during fam pics. It's nearly impossible to get 6 adults and 5 kids to all take a good pic. Way to go POPS!

Carson was the center of attention and loved every minute. He met most of the family for the first time at the cabin:

Okay, I'm DONE with all these pictures...seriously!!

Here is a cute pic of "the boys" posing:

And....5 minutes later: (please don't hate me babe-- too funny!)

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Kids at play:

Alex playing peek-a-boo with mommy

Alex and Caden-- adorable together.

Alex learning how to use a pop gun!

Stud Caden using his bow. Can't believe he is 8 years old.

Alex & Dru playing with the box. Yes, we brought toys for them :)

Dru & Alex thought the pups would enjoy it too!

Eston & Alex having a precious moment on the dock. They are 5 months apart in age. So dang cute!!

Sharing smores

Poor Uncle B trying to catch a nap after a long day of hunting....

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And then there's Alex...the mess, as usual. The guys came home from the morning duck hunt and all of us lined up at the door to greet them. Alex went running outside and grabbed a duck out of Pops' hands. Clearly, she thought they brought her back a fun "prize" b/c she was cuddling with it (ew) and singing "rubber ducky, you're the one"...and yelling "quack, quack, quack" at the top of her lungs. It was hilarious. We all kinda just had to sit back and laugh at her innocence:

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Finally, here are a few pics of the Darby men hunting:

Nathan & Brandon practice.

Here they are at 5am ready to go.....why would anyone wake up to intentionally freeze and kill animals??

Dinner! (not for me)

And finally...a video of our strapping men "calling in the ducks." We were in tears watching this!! Nathan needs to get into it a little more-- haha!!

I adore our family. We have so much to be thankful for. We spent 5 days in very close quarters and couldn't have had a better time!

ghetto princess

We always say that Alex is our "ghetto princess" because she shows up every morning in our bed wearing a hilarious mixture of clothing and accessories. She is such a mess. My roommates in college always made fun of my "bed head"...well, I know where she gets it :) Here is the latest...

I also caught her playing dress up in my closet...note her "friend" has on heels too:

I also wanted to post a few Alex-isms. She is a riot. Here are a few of her special little phrases:

*"My beak hurts"-- this is referring to a sore throat. 90% of the time she thinks she is a Scarlet Macaw. What is it with birds?

*"Wiper tape"-- toilet paper

*"Someday when I grow up big and tall I get to eat SALT." How sad. Only our child would aspire to do this.

*"I can't like that"--I've never heard her use "I don't."

*"Pecker chips"-- baked lays. No clue. Maybe she means cracker chips?

*"And dear God say"-- she says this after each section of her prayer. For example" Dear God, thank you for my mommy and my daddy. And dear God say thank for Emmy and Macy and dear God say thank you for my friends and baby Carson and dear God say AMEN. Umm...this is from mommy and daddy telling her "Alex, when you pray say dear God"...so she must think you say and dear God say to get into heaven.

*"Swallowed"-- she thinks we are going to swallow baby Carson. We keep explaining it's a SWADDLE. She always sticks out her pouty lip and says "I can't like you to swallow baby Carson. If he is in your tummy I'll never see him again."

It really will be so sad when she gets everything right.

Carson month 3: November 2 - December 2

I've read a lot about colic over the past few months and one thing I've read consistently is at 3 months, most colicky babies are magically better overnight. Of course I've been cautiously optimistic that he would get better over time and sure enough he magically turned from the "I want to throw you out a window" baby to "the most perfect baby EVER." Of course I am kidding but any mother that has had a colicky infant can relate. I still can't believe the drastic change in this sweet little guy. I am so thankful that Carson is doing well. He is an absolute angel. He literally throws a pep-rally every time you look at him. It doesn't take much to get a huge grin. And, he has precious dimples like his daddy when he smiles really big. Ahhh, I can't get enough!

A few highlights from weeks 8-12:
*He has doubled his birth weight and now weighs 14 pounds. His pediatrician said "He's a moose like his daddy. He will be a football player for sure." He's already in 3-6 month clothes so we like to say he's advanced.

*Sleeping- he is sleeping consistently 8-9 hours now! Of course it seems like he is also in a growth spurt constantly (we've given him the nickname spurt), so we still have plenty of sleepless nights. But overall, he is an amazing sleeper and takes naps every cycle of his 3 hour schedule. Heaven!

*He loves his play mat. He can grab on to his toys now which is big fun. Has very intense conversations with his giraffe, monkey and rooster.

*He's quite the conversationalist. He coos all the time. He will look into your eyes and just tell you all about his life. It is so cute. Picture at 12 weeks...he loves his paci and so do we.

Alex has been the most amazing big sister. She calls Carson "her little fella." She will go over to him when we aren't looking and give him kisses on the forehead. She actually said "Mmma, he's the most precious baby I've ever seen. Can we keep him forever?" WOW! I knew that Alex had a nurturing side, but she's blown me away with him. I've never had oned moment with her. I really thought she would treat him like Macy. She thinks putting sand and bubbles in her eyes is a good idea. Whew, thank you God!
Here is a pic of mommy and Carson at Anna's birthday party. He is 9 weeks old in the pic:

Our biggest highlight was of course, Thanksgiving! We were blessed to celebrate with both sides of the family. We went to the Wagner's house (Moran fam) in Farmersville, Texas to eat the meal and watch the Cowboys play. I think there were 30 of us in one house. The food was terrific and Carson got to wear his first Thanksgiving outfit. What else do you call it for boys? I know outfit isn't the right word but Mariah Carey's "ensemble" is even worse.

Over the actual holiday, Nathan, Mel, Alex, Carson, Emmy & Macy all packed up and headed to the Darby cabin. I'll post all of the pics from our trip soon. I was SO nervous thinking of all 6 of us in the car for 8 hours. I am so proud of Carson. He NEVER cried. I sat in the back most of the time keeping the kids entertained, but it was soooo much better than expected. I was holding both of their hands- it was precious. A few of Carson's highlights from Thanksgiving:
Lots of lovin' with Pops:

Cuddles and love from DeDe:

Family members had to fight Aunt Onnie for Carson time. She loved on him a ton:


Uncle B was amazing with Carson and stole him a few times too:

And, Carson got to meet the Darby cousins: Caden, Dru, & Eston. Here are all the cousins together: Dru giving Carson bunny ears:Carson was hardly ever put down. In fact, Aunt Onnie gave him the "best baby she's ever met" award...and she doesn't give awards lightly. That was a big compliment! Yeah for a happy and healthy SPURT!