Thanksgiving

We had such a great Thanksgiving holiday.  Michelle, Rod, and Nina came in from Colorado and Mom and Dad came from Texas.  Lily got to meet her cousin and aunt and uncle for the first time.  It was wonderful to have family around. 

 Here are the Carters, with Michelle holding Lily.  Nina loved that key from our media cabinet.  She was very careful not to lose it.  We had so much fun with Nina.  She really likes taking "pictures" with her princess cell phone. She also loves playing games, especially Sorry.  She was trying to convince me and Grandma to play and she said she knows how to play and win.  So I said, "Are you sure you don't cheat?" and Nina looked me dead in the eye and said "I don't cheat.  I win."  She intimidated me so I didn't play.  Later when I went up to feed Lily on our bedroom, I shut our door and noticed our closet light was on and the door was slightly open.  So I opened the door and here was Nina, sitting in the corner with a huge smile on her face.  She said, "Is Grandma here?" and I told her no.  Then she said, "Good.  Don't tell her where I am.  I'm hiding from her."  Then I noticed she had her Sorry game pieces in her hand.  Later, Mom told me they were playing and she was going to send her pieces back home so Nina grabbed them and ran.  I guess that's a win.

Mom and Dad had a great time, and lost some money playing cards.  Here they are with our "Little Turkey."  We had great weather when everyone was here so that was awesome.  It was cool, but not cold.  Quite pleasant really.

Nina was very careful around Lily.  Here she is holding her.  The two granddaughters.

 Nina takes a great picture.  Lily is a little distracted.  Lily just realized her hands are there for the tasting and was sucking on them all Thanksgiving.  She also has learned to giggle.  She has been constantly giggling since then.  We call it her pterodactyl cry, but it's a happy sounds for sure.

And finally, a picture of Auntie Michelle and Lily.  Michelle was about to go to sleep and Lily was up for her dreamfeed but it still looks cute. 

 It was so great to have Michelle here.  She is hilarious, and even though I wanted her to have a break, she did a lot of the Thanksgiving dinner cooking.  She made delicious stuffing and gravy.  Such good eating.

There is nothing like having family around.

Lily's Four Month Checkup

We went to Lily's four month checkup.  She is 11 pounds, 13 oz, 24.5 inches long, with a head circumference of 38 cm.  She is long and thin, according to her percentages.

When I said she has a small head, the doctor didn't miss a beat and said "She has your head."  So I guess either I have a small head or Jason has a big one.  We were also concerned about her eyes crossing.  Dr. Kapp checked them, said they looked fine, but will refer us to a pediatric ophthalmologist to ease my mind.  He did say it looks good, but her eye shape and position may exaggerate any cross-eyedness.  Then he said she has Jason's close set eyes.

I guess we have a looker on our hands, with a small head and close set eyes.  I was joking at first but then I took this picture:

I LOVE THIS PICTURE! She looks a little drunk.  She just ate and it is a bad shot but it sure makes me laugh.  Here's a more photogenic one:

Our little sweet girl!!

Visit with Nana and Mamma

We were so excited to have Jason's mom (Nan) and grandma (Mamma) come visit is for a quick weekend!  They were here for just a few days but I am so glad Lily got to be held by them.  Lily was a little fussy at times but Nana and Mamma were very gracious and didn't seem to mind too much. We had a great time and it was very relaxing.  Hopefully next time Lily will be a little calmer.

Here is a picture of 4 generations of the Hardeman/Cole family.  What a set of lookers!

Jason looks huge next to his petite family.  We are so glad they came!

She's growing!

Today it hit me on how lucky we are to have such a great baby.  Lily went down for her morning nap with no crying, woke up happy, and then we ran errands.  She got a little fussy in a new store I wanted to check out but I did forget her paci in the car so I can't blame her too much.  I got her back in her carseat and she cried some until she got her paci back in her mouth.  The rest of the ride was quiet so I assumed she fell asleep.  I stopped at the library and then the grocery store.  When I was getting her out of her carseat and into my carrier, I noticed she was wide awake, no pacifier, and just looking around!  And when we were leaving the store, I got several compliments on how alert she is.  She is such a good baby!

Her new thing is the bouncy chair.  Jay took this video the other day.  He's right; we could listen to the sound of her voice ALL day.

I think that sound is the beginning of her laugh.  Its a squeal of delight!

Apple Picking

Since we didn't have any plans for Saturday, which is rare, we decided to go apple picking.  We drove for about an hour and a half upstate towards Spartanburg.  We pulled up to Niven's Apple Orchard.  It was a great day -- surprisingly cool for South Carolina.  I think it was in the low 50's outside with a cool breeze. 

 
It is a really cute place, however I should have called to find out if they had any apples left.  They do, but they were all picked and bagged up.  With no apple picking, only apple buying, we walked around the farm, checked out some cute baby goats, bought 2 bags of apples and some muscadine cider, and were on our way home within 15 minutes of arriving.  It wasn't a total loss though.  I got some Arkansas Black apples, which I never heard of before, and some Winesap apples.  So it is a little more special than the grocery store apples.  We took a few pictures.

We love to carry Lily, and today it worked out really well since Jay got to keep her warm.  She loves the carrier too!

And the two loves of my life.  With matching hats, kind of.

And a close up of our sweet girl!  She was great the whole time, in the car and for all 15 minutes outside.  Its hard to tell, but her eyes are slowing changing color.  Right now, her right eye is darkening faster than her left, so she has two different color eyes.  Its not extreme, but noticeable.  We can't decide if they are turning brown or green.  We are hoping for green, but she'd make brown look good too!  It was a really nice day.  Now for a nice bowl of spicy chili, made by Jay himself!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween party at a friends house Friday night.  Another friend, Melba, was kind enough to take pictures.  Here is our family portrait:  we dressed up as two farmers that grew a prize winning sweet pea. 

Lily was really good at the party.  Its not a great pic of her because we just woke her up to put the costume on her.  Plus, it was a little too big for her.  But we love her anyway.  And it was Jason's great idea to put the pin on her.  I thought it made it much cuter.