Christmas with the Carpenters - 2011

Grandpa, Stella and Noni in Rockport - 12.23.11

Mimi, Griffin the Dog, and the Bird (who is eating a gingerbread man in her box) - 12.24.11

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  It all started with a trip to visit my dad and step-mom in Rockport where they showered us with gifts.  We received a fleece sheet set which makes me want to go to bed pretty much as soon as I wake up in the morning!  Here is the cutest picture of Stella taking a bath in the same bathtub I bathed in as a kid: 

Stella checking out the tree before church.

We've decided to start our own tradition of celebrating Christmas at our home; we invited our family and my mom and brother came to stay with us for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...it was lovely.  Tim had to work on Christmas Eve, parking and ushering for our church services; after the service with Stella (highlights:  her dancing in the aisles and eating the FAKE glitter snow off the floor), my mom and I came home and watched "Elf" with my brother.  It was a great memory and it's been a long time since we've done something, just the three of us.

On Christmas morning we all woke up and watched Stella open her presents.  She loves her kitchen from Grandmom Carpenter.  She enjoyed everything!  We bought a ham big enough to feed us for several weeks...ham, ham, ham, ham, ham!

Katie, Matt, Grammy Suze, Stella, Chris and Ben.

On Christmas night we went to visit with Grammy Suze and her family for dessert, and they did not disappoint!  It is wonderful to have such a great family - both family by blood and spiritual family.  I feel especially blessed this Christmas and am grateful to all of our friends and family for such extravagant generosity!

New Glasses!

How much do I love this girl?

We got Stella a pair of back-up glasses from Walmart in the event that she:
a. Throws her main pair (REALLY HARD) on the pavement the day after getting a replacement (yep, that happened).
b. Scratches the lenses of her main pair a week after getting a replacement (you guessed, it...that happened, too).

Since her pediatric opthamologist is all the way in Concord we have had to camp out for hours while they fix the one pair we have.  So, we saved up for a back-up pair that cost less than half of her primary glasses.  I would say she's stylin' in her new glasses.  They aren't quite a perfect fit, but she will grow into them and I think she looks like a little engineer, which suits her personality.  I could not love her any more.  What a doll!

Sleep issues = Yogurt Head.

Life has been wonderful lately.  I've realized there are long pauses in my blogging life - sometimes this a result of feeling like I have nothing to say, sometimes life gets full, and sometimes life is just good and I feel quiet...lately, I'm in the good and quiet phase.  God has been pouring out His grace in our life as we've wrapped up a ten week study on biblical financial stewardship.  In the course of the study we have seen God's provision in our life in absolutely stunning ways.  I mean, like literal "take-your-breath-away-get-down-on-your-knees-and-thank-Him" ways.  I have said it before and I'll say it again, I would never trade this time with Stella for any job outside the home; not only because I love being present for my daughter and for my family, but also because it has given us a front row seat to see the provision of the Lord each and every day.  We are preparing to start the process of adoption soon (God willing that Tim's car passes inspection in January and doesn't eat up our savings...).  It looks as though we will be going through Bethany Christian Services and trying for a domestic infant adoption.  I couldn't be more excited.

About three weeks ago, Tim and I noticed a shift in Stella's activity level.  Especially when she's out of the house she seems to constantly bounce from activity to activity.  We found ourselves asking, "Where did our calm, focused child go?"  It felt as if she didn't stop moving!  It wasn't long after that I realized she is entering into the next phase of her childhood - she's not too far off from two, she's very conversational and bright, and she's curious like an engineer.  Stella is growing up.  She is 21 months old and she's talking up a storm.  Today, when we picked up Tim from work to head to a friend's house for dinner, she saw him come out of the church and said, "It's a Daddy!"  And for the rest of the 15 minute drive she did not stop talking once.  Clearly, she takes after me.

Last week I panicked when Stella, for the first time in her life, did not take a nap one afternoon.  Her naptime is, simply put, a sacred time for me; it is the main reason, apart from Jesus, I stay sane as a stay-at-home-mom.  She has been a great napper since the first day of her life and I simply wasn't ready to consider the possibility that this phase of her life might be ending.

With the increased activity and conversation during the day her sleep habits have shifted.  She sometimes wakes up crying in the middle of the night.  The other night she wound up in bed with me at 2am, which I hate.  In the three, count 'em THREE, times in her life she has slept in our bed at night we both don't sleep too well.  It seems as if her goal is to climb back inside me with how close she sleeps.  She kicks me with her little feet and squirms all over - usually ending up on top of me at several points during the night.  In the morning, when she woke up at 5:30am (two hours earlier than normal...), I was exhausted and Tim took over.  When I woke up from the dead several hours later I heard bathtime noises and new that Stella was likely body painting with her yogurt again.  When I saw the milky water in her bath, I knew I was right.  Thankfully, Tim snapped a few photos before he washed her up:

These are precious and hysterical moments.  I'm doing my best to savor each one of them!

Stella's BIG Sense of Humor.



These days Stella makes us laugh all the time.  In the picture above she is reading a book on Soren Kierkegaard while wearing her pajamas and an orange hunting hat.

In the picture below she is walking through the Children's Museum of NH wearing a life vest she found in one of the exhibits.  She would not let me take it off her so she wore it throughout the museum for the rest of our visit:

Here she is wrapping herself in the rug which sits by our front doorway.  If this isn't a reason to keep the rug clean everyday then I don't know what is...

If her sense of humor is this big at 21 months old I have a hard time imagining how she will keep us laughing throughout her life!

Just Cause.

YUM.

Advent - 200th Post!

Recently, we have been busy preparing for the Christmas season and I'm listening to old-fashioned Christmas carols (my favorite) as I type this.  The season of Christmas is simultaneously one of my favorite seasons and one of the most stressful times of year for me.  The mix of the Christmas story in all its mysterious beauty paired with rampant consumerism  is enough to make my head spin.  I'm thankful, though, for a peaceful home that is a haven in which to celebrate the true meaning of this advent season - the waiting for the Christ-child's birth.  I remember clearly being aware of the waiting aspect of advent when I was pregnant with Stella, awaiting the birth of our own child...it brought an entirely new meaning to Christmas when I could relate to a small piece of what Mary must have been experiencing during the weeks preceding the birth of her son, God's son.  In this waiting season I am reminded of how much of my own life is mirroring advent right now.  My family is now in waiting for several things - we wait for God to provide the money to meet some of our goals (thank you, Crown Financial Ministries), we wait for God to provide direction for our upcoming adoption, we wait to celebrate the day of Jesus' birth in just a few weeks.  God has been so faithful and I'm trying to enjoy the waiting season and to remember how it connects me to the story of God during this time of year.

We bought a (GULP...) fake Christmas tree this year.  I thought I'd never utter those words, but don't you think it's adorable?  Also, we wanted something tall and skinny enough to fit on our landing so that we could gate it to keep it safe from baby hands and dog mouths.  I think we accomplished our goal and I'm thankful we went this route.  Never say never, right?!