Christmas Part 1

Every Christmas we buy more stuff and most everything is stored and forgotten within days so this year we decided to celebrate with a family trip to Florida.  The girls asked Santa for Disneyworld tickets and he came through with an early delivery.  

Elf Clause surprised with us with a scavenger hunt on December 15th.  The girls chased down the clues to find chocolate gold coins and the big news that Santa was coming that night!  

The big guy filled up the stockings and blocked off the stairs with ribbon.  

It was an exciting Friday morning with stockings filled with stickers, bubble gum, Hershey's Kisses, Frozen Dress for Cora, Minnie Shirt for Eden,  Beados for Milan, and Disney World tickets for everyone.  Dave and I got to spill our big news that we got everyone another day at Disney World, a hotel room nearby, and we were meeting Marie and Brynn too!    One more day of school and one more sleep then we were off on our adventure!  

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

We are having fun getting ready for Christmas around here.  

We decorated the tree a couple weeks ago and have been redecorating it ever since.  

This weekend we got to see Santa TWICE!  First, we drove to the Waterloo Fire Station to see the big guy at the DSA event.  All the girls jumped on his lap, but Cora was most excited with big hugs and told Santa that she loved him.  All the girls asked for Disney World tickets for our upcoming trip to Florida.  

Saturday evening, we saw Santa again at a separate DSA event.  This one was at Bounce U and it was so much FUN!  We got to reconnect with some friends and the girls made some new friends while running around like crazy people.  I'd say it was a total success!

Winter

Winter is pretty much here and even though it is my least favorite season, we have been enjoying it so far.  Time inside, less running around, and snow are all pretty spectacular for the first month or so.  

Cake Smash Time

Indie's birthday celebration was low-key and perfect.  We all watched her sample the cake with smiles, claps and lots of concentration.  After a couple of minutes, she was ready to take her mess all over the living room so we moved on to bathing, nap time, and presents.  The girls wrapped up some of Indie's favorite toys and re gifted them to her, which was fun for everyone.  Once Indie started eating wrapping paper, we decided it was the perfect time to bust out the Happy Birthday song.  

Indie {52 Weeks}- 1 Year

This past year has been one of growth- for Indie, for me, and for our family.  I never dared to hope that we would have a healthy and thriving little girl at the one year mark.  But that just shows what little I knew about this journey.  Indie is progressing, showing us that she is who she is and will accomplish things when she is ready.

• Indie is getting wherever she wants with a combination of rolling, army crawling, and transitioning to sitting.  She is super close to crawling and has been seen rocking back and forth in 4-point.  She'll let us know when she's ready.
• Just starting to pull to stand
• Lifts her legs up when she's getting her diaper changed.  If she's not rolling away, she can be very helpful.
• Eats like a champ, drinks through a straw cup, and takes 3 bottles a day.  She doesn't have any teeth, but can eat a wide variety of foods.
• Claps, waves hi and bye, and signs ma-ma, all-done, drink.  Says ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba (for bubbles or bye-bye).  All of these things are inconsistent, but we're working on them!  
• Plays with toys- pushing buttons, hitting pegs, turning pages, banging everything else.
• Introduces us to an amazing network- other DS families, therapists, and random ladies at TJ Maxx that run over just to tell me I have a beautiful daughter.
• Brings an immeasurable amount of joy to our family while increasing our faith, patience, compassion, and acceptance.  

I love this little lady, I love every second of being her mom and I am eternally grateful she's in our family, right where she belongs.  

Cancun

6 months ago I had the crazy idea to go on a trip for our 10 year anniversary and somehow all the pieces fell into place.  I picked the second cheapest vacation package in Cancun (still not cheap, but sooo worth it), scored the best babysitters around, and invited Marie and Scott to join us. 

Wednesday was a long travel day.  We woke up at 3:00 am, sat in the airport for a couple of hours for maintenance issues, and enjoyed a long layover in Houston.  It would have sucked, but I had Dave there making me laugh the entire time.  We rolled into the Ocean Maya Royale about 6 pm and everything looked a little familiar.  It turned out, we randomly chose the exact same resort we were married at and that made our vacation even better.  I forgot all about our long travel day as we walked around the resort and enjoyed a spectacular dinner at the Mexican Restaurant.  I got some yummy chicken and Dave pretty much got a bowl of meat with some of the best steak I have ever had. 

Thursday we relaxed big time with laying out in the shade, walking along the beach, and eating delicious food.  We didn't even swim, but we did go to a high pressure timeshare presentation.  Oh well, just more to laugh about with Dave.  Dave asked me where I wanted to eat, but just as a formality because he totally wanted Mexican again.  It was still delicious and Dave let me steal his steak again.  We ended the night with an impressive fire show and lots of funny commentary.

Friday we started our day off right with omelets made to order then a couples massage.  I had never had a massage before so had no idea what to expect, but it was spectacular.  Marie and Scott finally arrived after some flight delays so we showed them our sit, walk, eat routine.  It was so great to catch up!  We tried dinner at the fancy restaurant.  It was fancy, but not quite as tasty as Mexican, but our standards were pretty high at this point.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to watch the sunrise.  It was beautiful and so worth it!  We enjoyed paradise one last day then spent the evening shopping for the girl's gifts in downtown Playa.  It was the perfect ending to our perfect vacation.

Sunday was another travel day, but it was surprisingly relaxing.  Dave and I were not ready to leave paradise, but we were excited to see the girls.  Milan, Eden, and Cora gave us big hugs, but it took Indie a little while to warm up. The older girls showed us one creation after another and shared all the fun things they had done while we were gone.  Kyle and Sarah had been even more amazing to our girls then I could have imagined.  

I'm still on a vacation high so I want to share that I am so incredibly blessed!  I truly love Dave and love spending time with him.  Our life is crazy (okay, really crazy), but our relationship is constant and easy.  While on vacation, I told Dave I have everything I have ever wanted.  He gave me the crazy eye, but it's true.  I have a great marriage, a life full of adventures, and babies to love.