She's FINALLY here........................

Ok, so, before I tell you "who", there's a story (of course)............David INSISTED we would find out what we were having when I was pregnant. David INSISTED we would also keep the name a secret...oh ya, the name Dave INSISTED he got to pick! (do you see a theme here???)......he came up with the name Amelia. This was about the time the movie with Richard Gere and Hillary Swank came out but he INSISTED that wasn't why. So, Amelia it was......until he got the idea HE wanted to come up with a "good Irish name" for reasons unbeknown to me...........So, Amelia turned into Delaney. I NEVER TOLD ANYONE THE NAME AMELIA.......until, our family was together on Thanksgiving. Cousins Shawn and Elaine always find a "clever" way to reveal their baby names so we were told we would find out the next day. Oh ya, cousins Shawn and Elaine live in North Carolina and weren't with us on Thanksgiving. So, this brought up the discussion of baby names and I filled the family in on some of the names DAVID came up with. I told them the story of Amelia. The day after Thanksgiving, Shawn and Elaine sent a package to their parents who live here with a stocking and the name AMELIA embroidered on the stocking!!!!!!!!!!! We couldn't believe it........they had no idea this was one of "our" (ok David's names)........we knew it just had to mean something. Oh sweet little Amelia by the way was due January 16th. Well, our sweet little Amelia arrived yesterday, December 29th, ON MY AND DAVID'S THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!! Now, YOU may believe in strange coincidences BUT I DON'T!!!!!!!!!!! So, before I make you wait any longer, here is our sweet newest addition to our family, Amelia Grace Capps weighing in at 5.5 lbs.........(I wonder what it's like to have a baby almost HALF the size of the one I had!!!!)......
P.S. I know you're all wondering if you are going to see any Christmas pictures, well, there are over 300 of them!! I am "working" on it........we're going to have our own 12 days of Christmas because that's how long it's going to take me to post everything.......................

Wordless Wednesday

"In and Out".........

Even though today is Delaney's First Christmas, we're going to have to blog about that in another post because she's also NINE MONTHS OLD TODAY!!! I can't believe Delaney has been "out" for as long as she was "in". And let me tell you, she has been MUCH nicer to her mommy on the "outside"!!!! She is growing up right before my very eyes. She weighs 20 lbs. (not sure about length) and is still in size 2 diapers! She crawls EVERYWHERE and pulls up onto EVERYTHING. She can stand without holding onto something for a split second and then of course falls on her bottom. All of a sudden she cannot stand to get her diaper changed and squirms whenever it happens. She flips over and does a hand stand and has to be distracted with something and usually ends up throwing that something behind her dresser (we do this on a daily basis) and of course I don't mind. She is doing so much better about napping (with the exception of today she didn't take a nap but can you blame her, I mean it is Christmas!) For some reason lately she has been getting up at around 8:30 a.m. instead of her usual 9:00 a.m. I was praying for a "Christmas Miracle" today that she would sleep in (and yes, I know to most people 8:30 a.m. IS sleeping in) but she got up at 8:30. Just yesterday we discovered two new bottom teeth coming in. SEE..................... Dear Delaney Catherine,

Nine months ago you came into this world and forever changed mine. You are the happiest little girl I have ever laid eyes on. I could find a million things to say about you but I think everyone pretty much knows the way I feel. Funny thing though, I wonder if you ever will......you are perfectly perfect inside and out!!!!! (and if you're wondering if you're screen is dirty, nope, someone just forgot to wipe off Delaney's cheek)........................

Delaney has apparently decided she doesn't need the teeth protectors on her crib anymore because here is what she does with them!! Another one is on her floor!I think the hardest part about Delaney turning NINE months old (for me of course) is that I only have THREE months to plan her First Birthday Party! Good thing I was already planning it while I was still pregnant!!!! (Come on....that can't surprise you)............................

Delaney's First Christmas

Delaney had many options for the holidays...............We didn't know which to read first......(we also got some books for Christmas to add to our collection).Delaney's nursery had its own holiday decorations PINK of course! (oh and the pink word underneath her tree is NOT Wash....it is WISH.)

And of course our Elf on the Shelf made its appearance...................

Delaney's PINK stocking.......

Delaney's First Christmas

Our Christmas morning started out with breakfast (I know, I know, that won't last long and then we'll have to do presents first)......An "easy" Bob Evans breakfast casserole. Did you know you can go to their website for recipes? Well now you do!!! Check it out.........

And at our house, it's not Christmas without monkey bread......I know it looks like a "piece is missing" but I promise, it just stuck to the pan!

I stumbled upon this great FREE website to edit pictures...www.picnick.com...CHECK IT OUT! I took TONS of pictures this day of Delaney to get just the right one for our Christmas card! If you didn't get one, sorry, we didn't send many out this year!!! I think Delaney is saying "mommy, this is the last picture you're gonna get before I throw a fit"..........look at those sweet little cheeks!!!

Delaney got her PBK anywhere chair that was at the top of her list (ok, maybe mom's)....

Her very own laptop..........

Then we headed over to aunt Catherine's for Christmas lunch.

Where Delaney spent some time.........

And like any girl, when Delaney got a new pair of boots she had to put them on..........

Doesn't every baby get a glo worm???

Here is Delaney hanging out with cousin Stephen.....................

Then we headed over to aunt Beth's for Christmas dinner..........(yes, I made her put her headband back on).........Delaney's aunt Essie and uncle Jim got her this Christmas dress....

And of course Delaney had on her Christmas baby legs...I know what you're thinking, she could also use these for Valentine's Day...well she could if she didn't have a pair just for Valentine's Day!! Stay tuned........

Aunt Beth has a tree with her special/antique ornaments and no one is allowed to touch it. Well, no one except Delaney..............

And when we got back home, the mess was still there. Why can't Santa come back to help clean up????

Delaney's First Christmas

I have never been one to start celebrating the Christmas holiday "early". I cannot stand seeing all of the Christmas stuff before we even have Thanksgiving. It's basically like celebrating "Thanksmas" if you ask me since there is so much emphasis on Christmas so many months before its arrival. I am not a "scrooge" by any means, I just like to do things in order (well, apparently things other than my blog posts ha ha ha----but I found a nifty little feature on blogger that allows me to plug this post in as if it weren't January 9, 2011). "What goes up must come down".....right??? But does it HAVE to come down the day AFTER Christmas? Well, when you get a real tree the answer is YES!!! I could not wait to get this tree down. I am STILL finding needles everywhere!!! I thought I would start our posts with how we decorated. This was the first year I've ever used a tree bag and I'm not exactly sure why or where these bags from heaven have been hiding.....I LOVE THEM! Last year following Christmas I literally stalked the DaySpring website waiting for these beauties to go on sale. I think I got them delivered before New Year's and I could not wait to open them up and use them this Christmas. A few battery operated tea lights and we were set!

When you don't have a fireplace you naturally don't have a fireplace mantel, wait, actually, I do......hhhhmmmm I need to dig that out sometime, anyway, so you have to get creative where you hang your stockings. I used to hang them on the sofa table but I used to also not have a 9 month old! I am loving our new personalized stockings. Is it just me or did stockings get "longer" so Santa has to fill them with more stuff????? I have read a lot of people's traditions on stockings lately. Some people do them on Christmas Eve but growing up, we always did our stockings BEFORE opening presents so that's something I'm going to stick with. If you look closely at the tree, you'll see two small pears that sit in the pot. These are always there....who knew we already had a pear tree!

I am a "fan" of putting ornaments in anything that can hold them, bowls, candlesticks, tall vases, etc....................I use this vase for each season and fill it with "something". And if this was "truthful Thursday" then I wouldn't have still had pumpkins in it in December before I put the bulbs in....

And then finally, there was the tree...the one that was suppose to be "tall and skinny" perhaps I'm trying to live vicariously through my Christmas tree???? But when you wait until a week before Christmas to get your tree, you can't exactly tell the guy who's willing to trim off some branches so you can put them in a vase and tie a bow around it for your centerpiece the kind of tree YOU want! And, it's also not a good idea to wait until 10:00 p.m. to decorate your tree and decide you need more lights (as a direct result of buying a tree much bigger than you've ever had or wanted to buy) and decide you have to finish the project and drive to CVS to buy more lights! It was sort of a two for one trip though because while I was there I did a little Christmas shopping---who knew you could do that at CVS!! Oh and don't worry, I didn't wake up Delaney to go with me, oh, and I didn't leave her alone either!! My friend Angie was here and stayed with her. Oh and how sweet it is to have a friend who is an interior designer and helps you with your tree......did everyone notice this year how traditional tree toppers were "out" and the stores used feathers at the top? So of course we wanted our tree to be "in" and "trendy"...can a Christmas tree be "trendy"??? I think so too. I must have cropped this picture too much (yes, I TRY and crop all pictures before posting) too much so you can't get the full effect of the "stylish" tree topper! Hopefully it will still be stylish next year and we can use the feathers again........

Delaney's First Christmas Eve

I try to set my table differently each Christmas using things I already have. Well, this year was no, wait, yes it was an exception, I didn't already have the little wreaths hanging from the chair backs or the centerpiece...oh well, I did have the tablecloth, Christmas dishes and napkins!!! Here were the "stolen" ideas I used: Cut off (or, beg the man standing outside in the freezing cold who's cutting down your tree to) the lower branches on your tree and put them in water in a vase and VIOLA!! Second "stolen" idea, hang small wreaths with holiday ribbon from your chairs (I thought this ribbon was too wide for these wreaths but since it was "Christmas with the Kranks" this year, I went with it).We decided to not have "traditional" food for our Christmas Eve lunch. We had an Italian theme complete with a salad..........(I promise, there is lettuce underneath all of that cheese)and The Best Lasagna Ever (no really, that's the name of the recipe). If you'd like it (I've made it twice) it's from Pioneer Woman Likes to Cook. There was also garlic bread but I think I was starving by now and well, figured you know what it looks like...........

And Christmas Eve was no exception to the UPS man showing up. WITH DELANEY'S NEW PAIR OF SHOES JUST IN TIME!!!!!!!!

OOOPS, MAKE THAT NEW PAIRS!! She (ok, I) couldn't decide if we should get the brown and pink or the black and pink so we did what any respectable girl would do.....I don't think I've blogged yet about my other "new obsession" (in addition to Etsy that is) Zoolilly! Each day you get an email with "daily deals" from multiple children's' vendors. Actually, the pair, ok ok, pairs of shoes were my first purchase. I really am liking Zulilly because it's "different" stuff/labels. These shoes were just $8 each!!

Delaney got to open gifts and got a Columbia outfit in "Colts" blue......

And in this little package was a new pair of pj's in her signature colors of pink and brown!!

Patiently "trapped" and waiting on another gift to open.........

After the festivities, we piled in the car to go and check out Karey and Christian's Christmas lights which didn't disappoint!!! All white lights are my favorite!!

And then it was time for a certain someone to go to bed because Santa was on his way..........

Twas the Night Before Christmas.....................

and all through the house, Delaney was sleeping as quietly as a mouse. Her was hung by her dresser with care in hopes that St. Nick would leave something there. She slept like an angel all through the night. It won't be long now for Christmas is almost in sight! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Wordless Wednesday

Teething Biscuit

So, I decided today to open up the box of teething biscuits. THE BOX THAT SAID FOR 9 MONTHS AND UP!!! I really don't know what came over me, clearly, I have lost my mind. I mean afterall, Delaney Catherine will not be 9 months until Christmas Day!!!! Here are some fun pictures of her eating her biscuit......................

As you can see, things got a little messy (well, messy by mom's standards) so Delaney went straight from her high chair to the sink for a bath!!!