Carlysle's First Real Words

This is some video of Carlysle saying real words. She has started saying "Ball" alot. Everything round is a ball. I just agree with her right now when she points to an orange and says "ball" because I like to hear her say it. I figured I've got plenty of time to start specifying which round things actually are balls. So I don't forget I'm going to log the other things/words she says. I want to look back and remember what she was doing at certain ages.

Right now her only real words are ball, dog, Daddy, Riggs, duck, cheese, and cracker which she actually pronounces cougar but hey I know what she's saying (because she points at it). It still counts even though if a stranger heard her they would think she was asking for a large cat. Occasionally she'll say green and yellow when I point to them on her musical table. I know you're wondering about Mommy. Again I know when she wants me because she says "Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma" and for her Mimi she says, "Mi, Mi, Mi, Mi".

She knows lots of animal sounds as well, which seemed a lot cooler until I wrote it. Now I'm thinking why do we Moms always teach them animal sounds? Shouldn't they be learning words? I think it's because a long time ago some Mom said, "Billy, what does a cow say?" and little Billy said "Moo" and all the other Moms starting trying to proove that Jimmy could say "Baa" and so on.

Nonetheless, she says Moo, Meow (which is more like Mow), Ho, Ho, Ho (which is more like Oh, oh) Quack, Quack (which is more like Gack, Gack) and Baa (which actually does sound like Baa).

Mana and Papa's Visit

Mana and Papa came to our house in Columbia to celebrate Christmas with Lauren, David, Little D, and Grant during their "Southeastern Tour". Here are some pictures from their visit.

Carlysle and Bodhi

This is video of Carlysle playing with Bodhi (Lauren's abandoned dog). Just Kidding Lauren. Really I have no room to talk I also left my dog (Spencer) at my parents' house when I was in college. It was supposed to be for 6 months or until I got a place with a yard.......that was 8 years ago. So if you have a dog you can't take care of......I hear BeeGee and Papa are starting a waiting list.

Christmas at BeeGee and Papa's

Here is some video of Carlysle seeing her gifts from Santa for the first time. Of course, it nevers goes like you plan it in your mind. She gets scared of something and decides she doesn't want to come in the den and when forced, proceeds to have a little temper tantrum. Ahhh....the tantrums, gotta love them. After clinging to her Daddy for several minutes, she finally warms up and starts to get into the Christmas spirit.


Christmas Morning Part 2


Christmas Morning Part 3


This is Carlysle in one of her Christmas dresses.




Here is Beautiful Baby Grant. She is such a sweetheart. And has the cutest and most high pitched squeal I have ever heard a human baby make. I love it! She has the biggest brown eyes just like her Mommy!





These are our attempts at getting pictures of all the Grandchildren in a picture together. It was usually my child who refused to sit for the picture but we tried. I'm not sure I've had any pictures to post of Jolie before these were taken. So this is her introduction to our site. She is Little Don's daughter. She is gorgeous and the spitting image of Don III. She is so smart and such a sweetheart. We really enjoyed having her at Christmas this year.







Little David and Carlysle playing. Aren't they cute??!!

Swofford Christmas

Joey, Carlysle and I drove to Charlotte to my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Robbie's house to celebrate the holidays with the Swoffords. We haven't seen everyone in a long time and it was wonderful to spend time with them. I finally got to see Tucker, my cousin Lindsey's little boy. He was born a couple of months before Carlysle and I've never seen him until Christmas. He was adorable and All Boy!! So cute! And unfortunately I have no pictures of him. I forgot to even take my camera that day. These pictures were sent to me from my Aunt. So Linds, if you took any pictures of Carlysle and Tucker together....I need them.

Carlysle's First "Stitches"...

Ok so they weren't real stitches, it was Dermabond (the glue stuff they use now if they can). Nonetheless, it was a horrible experience.

Here's what happened.....

So I've said before that Carlysle loves to read and we have recently discovered the joys of the children's section at Barnes and Noble. So the Thursday before Christmas I decided to take care of a few Christmas presents and let Carlysle play at Barnes and Noble. The day was going great. Mommy had her hot chocolate and Redbook magazine. Carlysle and I settled in at the tiny children's table. She sitting on one of the little benches while Mommy sat next to her on the other. However, Mommy was sitting facing forward with her magazine on the table. The table was a little high for Carlysle to see her book so she was sitting sideways on the bench reading a book that was sitting in her lap. Like I said, everything was going great........

And that's when things went very bad. I did see out of the corner of my eye that Carlysle had turned her back to the table and had her legs hanging off the bench like she was going to get down (which she can't do by herself). Generally, when she wants something she will start making noises usually sounding like, "Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh" over and over. I assumed (wrongly) that she would do that if she wanted down.........she didn't. Instead she leaned forward and we all know that at that age your top half is much heavier than the bottom. So forward she went. This would have been a nasty fall by itself but unfortunately there was a display case of books beside the table and she landed forehead first right into the corner. I knew she was going to be hurt so I immediately grabbed her thinking I need to get out of here b/c she is going to wail. I had no idea what I was going to see when I flipped her over.

BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD!! She had a gash on her forehead that was bleeding profusely.....everywhere. At that point, my plan of a quick escape was gone. I now needed help because I had nothing to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. I looked around frantically and finally made eye contact with a an elderly gentleman and his wife. They ran over and handed me some Kleenex tissue. Then the horrid screams of my child began to echo through Barnes and Noble and that's when we began to make a scene and draw a crowd. Suddenly, I had a lady grab Carlysle and start saying "I'm a nurse, I'm a nurse". I was in complete shock. Apparently, I looked quite pale and non-responsive (which is exactly what you need for Mom to do in an emergency) because she kept saying, "Ok Mom calm down, she's going to be fine but she will need stitches". I wasn't even saying anything so I must have looked like a deer in the headlights. I did finally muster up a response which was "Oh my Gosh, my husband is a pediatrician and he's going to kill me". I don't know why I said that....um....repeatedly. But I'm sure onlookers were wondering who my husband was and vowing never to go to him. Finally, I got it together and said I just need to get her in the car and take her up to my husband's office. Thankfully, the nice elderly couple pushed my stroller out to the car and helped me load it up while I carried Carlysle and got her in her car seat.

It was quite embarrassing to walk into Joey's office with mine and Carlysle's clothes covered in blood. I also had dried blood on my hands and Carlysle had dried blood all over her face with a huge gash on her forehead. Thankfully, it was decided that she could get away with Dermabond and wouldn't have to have stitches.

So these pictures were taken a week and a half after the "incident". It really looks like nothing now. You couldn't tell by looking at her that we caused such a scene at Barnes and Noble. Sorry for the long story......there was just no way to make it shorter.

Where we going?

Carlysle loves to climb on anything and in anything. We went out of town a couple of weekends ago and while I was unpacking....this is what she did. She thought it was pretty funny to climb in the suitcase and out of the suitcase.....in the suitcase.....out of the suitcase......in the suitcase.....ok you get the idea.

We took these pictures while she stayed in the suitcase for about 5 seconds and only because she discovered my straightening iron. Don't worry it's not plugged in.

Or is it a telephone?

NKOTB

Well, we knew the day would come.....and it's here. Carlysle discovered my old "New Kids on the Block" dolls in a toy box in her closet. If you know me well enough you know that I was an avid NKOTB fan. Maybe even a little obsessed. I was actually waiting to pull out the dolls on a special occasion but she beat me to it. And she loves them so who am I to keep them from her. Here is some video of her enjoying her new toys....

I'm such a proud parent right now.

Carlysle "Reading"

Carlysle absolutely loves books! And that is not an exaggeration. I'm not even sure how it happened. I could lie and say that it's because I sat down and read a book to her everyday since she was born. Well, yeah let's go with that......

Ok, fine I didn't. I did attempt to read to her starting when she was a baby but as you can imagine she didn't get much out of it. And eventually I would, I mean, she would get bored with the 5-word book. For her birthday she received lots of new books (as well as some cool toys) but she suddenly became very interested in the books. She will sit in a pile of them and just talk like she really is "reading."

Now you really cannot go anywhere in the house because she will constantly follow you around with a book pushing it in your face saying, "uh, uh, uh, uh, uh". (She can't talk so she grunts over and over and over and over until she gets what she wants.) So here is some video of Carlysle reading to her Daddy.

Decorating Carlysle's First Tree

Decorating a tree with a toddler is not easy.......