Sweet Caroline

Our new friend is here!  Caroline Louise Gearhart was born 12.29.10 at 2:40 PM.  She is a tiny thing - 6 lb 7 oz and 18.5 inches - but beautiful!  She has blondish hair and is definitely a Gearhart.  The first two pictures are through the nursery window but soon we will have some close ups to share :).  We look forward to many, many years of friendship between Arden and Caroline!  Congrats Brock and Lindsey!

{Caroline and her "Aunts" - doesn't Mom look GREAT?!}

Merry Merry 2010 - 2

For some reason (read between the lines - I was fighting with Blogger on my last post, it has a mind of it's own!) this picture didn't make the post and since it was the only picture of the 3 of us that we got the entire holiday I wanted to share!

{Christmas Eve 2010 at the Looney's}

Merry Merry 2010

I wanted to call this post "Over the river, through the woods and through the state of Arkansas we went..." but I thought that was a little much!  Nevertheless that is what our Christmas was!  A whirlwind of Santa, travel and family and we loved every minute of it.  Arden had a great time and getting to see her smile and entertainment with each gift she opened made it all worthwhile.  We won't travel forever on Christmas day but while we are we have found a way to make it work for us and are enjoying it while it lasts.  I think our whole Christmas is summed up best in pictures so I have shared quite a few.  Kevin, Arden and I started our Christmas on December 22nd.  As a married couple, Kevin and I have always made time to have a special Christmas dinner and open gifts before we hit the road traveling so we thought we would do the same this year.  Instead of cooking at home, we chose to go to Pesto Cafe.  It is always amazing and I decided we both deserved someone to wait on us since he had been traveling and I had been single-momming it for the last little bit (really that is just an excuse, I can be waited on at anytime and be happy about it!).  That night we realized it was the beginning of the end of eating out with Arden :(.  I guess she has hit the age that sitting in a high chair and people watching is no longer cool.  She wants down and wants to be on the ground eating the crumbs.  If we would let her roam the restaurant she would be as happy as a lark but even though I am not a germ freak I draw the line at eating off the floor in public places!  As soon as we sat down we realized we were going to be in and out of the restaurant and we both secretly hoped that no one would be too upset by our family dinner in the middle of Pesto Cafe!  We ate and drank quickly, barely having conversation while Arden chewed on crayons (not because I didn't oppose), screamed to get out of her high chair, decided she wasn't hungry or thirsty and just overall decided it wasn't where she wanted to be at that very moment.  See what I mean?  The end of eating out has hit our family.  I have been oblivious enough to think it wouldn't happen to us, I mean Arden has always been a really chill girl with a go-with-the-flow spirit but now she has sass and like my Dad says "if she doesn't want it she isn't afraid to let you know!"  Pretty disappointed, we left and got home as quickly as we could where I insisted on her having her picture made in front of the tree.  Yes, I realize I just told a pity party story of her not cooperating at dinner but I figured at home she would be better and besides she was all dressed up in her Christmas outift (one of a few) and we were leaving town the last day so I had waited until the last minute if I wanted her to show off in front of our tree.  So we gave it our best attempt and while most of our pictures were no bueno we did end up with these...

{Arden: "I know you want me to sit here but I want you to hold me so  I will smile as I crawl off - that is compromise Mom!" 12.22.10}

{Arden and I 12.22.10 - as close as I could get to her smiling}

{Arden and Kevin 12.22.10 - she is just about to throw in the towel}

{But Dad finds a way to make this fun!}

Since it was our Christmas Eve, Kevin read to Arden just like my Dad read to my brother and I every Christmas Eve!

{The new tradition - Dad reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" the night before Santa comes}

{Santa didn't bring everything assembled - he knew that was Kevin's thing so here is Dad putting together Arden's chair}

Arden was really funny when we brought her down to see her Santa presents.  She just kept pointing to the baby doll with a grunting sound as if she were saying "is that mine?" and "i want it now!" all at the same time!  She made her way around her gifts to find books, bath toys, blocks, a ball, DVD's and a mini-chair with her name on it.  I don't have pictures of it but the chair was a huge hit!  It didn't take her long to get used to the idea that she could climb into it all by herself and when she did she was SO proud.  I hope the "new" doesn't ware off of this gift so that she is happy with it for a long time to come!

{"Christmas" morning - Arden trying out her new chair 12.23.10}

{And now holding the baby Santa brought in her chair - 12.23.10}

Christmas in Morrilton...

{Arden pushing the stroller that her new American Girl Bitty Baby came with - how proud is she?! Thanks Grandmother and Granddad! - 12.23.10}

{Arden with  Grandmother and Granddad - 12.23.10}

{On Christmas Eve morning, Kevin's grandparents PawPaw and Nanny came over for breakfast and brought Arden this baby doll - the doll moves and everything!}

Christmas in Texarkana...

{Arden opening presents Christmas morning with MiMi - 12.25.10}

{The ball pit that Mimi and Paps gave Arden - she loves it even in the box! - 12.25.10}

{Kevin and Arden putting the balls in the ball pit - notice she is doing it one by one! - 12.25.10}

{The top of the ball pit has a hole in it so this is the shot from above - she loves the ball pit!}

{Arden sporting a ponytail Mary Beth did, how cute! - 12.26.10}

{Arden pushing the grocery cart Uncle Doug and MB gave her - she thought it was great to load things up and move them from place to place! - 12.27.10}


So, if you can't follow my picture story line we left Fayetteville on the 23rd and went to Morrilton to see Kevin's family.  We had dinner and presents that night with Kevin's parents, brother and his wife and his grandparents.  The next morning Kevin's dad's parents came over for breakfast before we left for Texarkana.  We drove to Texarkana on the 24th and stayed until the 27th.  Arden hasn't done well sleeping away from home lately.  In Morrilton she and I ended up in Kevin's bed and he was on the couch and then Christmas Eve night in Texarkana my mom and I took turns staying up with her.  The girl knows when she is not at home in her room in her bed and it takes her a little while to get adjusted to life in the pack-and-play.  Each night in Texarkana got better for her (which means it was better for us) so I am hoping she does will in Morrilton while we are in New Orleans...we will see!  Overall, Arden racked up this Christmas and we all had a great time seeing family and friends and celebrating the holiday.  We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Santa Baby

This was our first year to visit Santa and I didn't know what to expect but I knew I had to have the picture.  Last year Arden was only about 9 weeks old and we were not about to take her to the mall with crowds of people and germs (this was during the second round of the swine flu) so we decided to hold off on year one but this year I was NOT going to let her miss on Santa's lap...besides how GOOD does this Santa look?  I mean really, we may never have a pic of a Santa this good again!  So, the week before Christmas we put Arden in her Christmas best (I figured Santa would really appreciate the smocked Santa dress, it was precious) and loaded her up for the mall.  We didn't know what to expect from Arden, bawling with an terrible cry face, laughing, confusion or what?  And here is the result...

{Arden and Santa 12.18.10}

NOT what I expected!  I really expected tears and arms reaching out for Mama but instead we have a "really Mom, can we get this over with?" look.  I will admit she was not feeling her best.  Lots of nose running and teething but I really didn't expect a reaction like this (especially with Kevin standing by the photographer basically jumping up and down with every squeaky toy in his hand trying to make her smile).  When I went to choose which picture I wanted the photographer was trying to be nice and said "I think the last one is the best" so I quickly looked at the first two and they looked JUST like this one, no change at all.  I secretly was hoping for the bawling picture, it seems so fun to look back on once they are older but instead my sweet girl kept it together and evidently it worked, Santa visited with LOTS of goodies (post to come).  Merry Merry!

Friends!

We had a great weekend with lots of good quality time spent with friends and family.  The weekend sort of started on Thursday when Ellison came over for a play date.  Her mom and dad had a work Christmas party so she got to hang with us.  Arden was beyond excited!  I knew things were going well when Arden shared her sippy cups with Ellison.  She kept pointing to them as if she were telling Ellison to pick them up and take a drink but of course she never did so Arden moved on to something else :).  Ellison had on some Christmas pajama's so I put Arden in hers to take a picture by the tree - this will have to be a yearly tradition because it is super cute!

{Sweet Ellison and Arden's sippy cups :) }

{Christmas PJ pic}

Later in the night, Ellison was in my lap and while Arden was somewhat jealous she handled it well.  She sat beside me on the couch and at one point she reached out (without looking) and grabbed Ellison's hand! It was as sweet as it could be and for sure the start of their BFF lives together.

Then Friday we went to eat with Aunt Shelly and Uncle Fletch. This was a great time as always!  Arden even colored with Aunt Shelly!  For anyone that has seen Arden lately you know that her hair is growing longer in the back than it is on the sides or in the front.  It isn't too much of a mullet yet but could be well on it's way (but I promise if it gets to bad I will have it cut, I just can't bring myself to do it yet!).  I guess I didn't realize just how long it was but Shelly started playing with it and was actually able to put it in a ponytail!  It was sort of cute but mainly just made us laugh and it really made Arden look older :(.  It stayed up pretty well for a while but then the ponytail holder fell out - regardless it gave us a good laugh!

{Arden's ponytail from a side view}

Saturday night Uncle Doug and MB came over for dinner. I didn't get any pictures but we had lots of good laughs with Arden at the center of it all.  She had her Uncle Doug rolling with her new noises she makes and then she laughs at herself which makes it even cuter and funnier.  He did get a video and you can hear him in the background, I will get it from him and post it later.

Sunday night we went to eat with our Small Group at La Hacienda.  It was fun but Arden wasn't feeling her best, I think ALL of her teeth are trying to come in a once (I know this isn't true but if you saw her drool it would make you wonder!) so she just wasn't on her A game.  She really got her feelings hurt when I snuck a bite of guacamole salad in her mouth - to say she didn't like it is an understatement!  She made awful faces, started crying and eventually spit some of it up.  She was not happy with me!  But at the end of the night Rowe and Ryder gave her her Christmas present and that solved everything!  They gave her a toy that she always plays with at their house - you push the buttons and the animal pops up and then you close it and do it all over again.  Her favorite part is closing the doors but she hasn't quite yet figured out how to open the doors so she just points to them and "tells" me to do it.  She is obsessed with this (as in she tried to carry it while crawling) so she needs to learn to open the doors fast!  Once we pulled it out of the bag she wouldn't even let me take it out of the box before she wanted to play with it.  Thanks boys - we love yall!

{Arden and her new toy...still in the box!}

Supper Club Babies

We are so fortunate to have a fun Supper Club group! We haven't been meeting as often as we were when we were all young newlyweds that didn't have kids and bed times and schedules but in the last year our group has grown - yes there are a few more couples that are regulars now but there are more BABIES! It is so fun and I am so excited that all of the kids will grow up being great friends. Arden is sort-of caught in the middle, she is too young for the "big" kids and she has started to be very interested in the babies (who are only 9-12 months younger) but they aren't active enough yet to play so she was somewhat on her own last night but she managed just fine :). At the end of the night we got a group pic of the babies laying in a circle on the floor. If anyone had walked in the house at that point and seen all of the parents standing near the kids making funny faces and silly noises they would have thought that we were crazy but it was all worth it. I, of course, didn't have my camera but this is one of the pics taken on a phone. Arden was starting to wonder what was going on at this point (can you imagine adults standing over you acting crazy?) but it is still a cute picture!

In the Circle (starting with the little cutie in the gray t-shirt):

Asher (5 mo), Porter (5 mo), Ellison (2 mo), Arden (13.5 mo) and Austyn (5 mo - Asher's twin)

The next baby to join the circle will be Caroline - we can't wait!

We are Thankful!

This year, we spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Morrilton. Kevin and I have sort-of figured out a schedule that works for us for all of the holidays but Thanksgiving has always been pretty easy: the year that LSU plays in Little Rock we will spend the holiday in Morrilton with his family, the year they play in Baton Rouge we will be with my family (usually in Dallas). I mean, the Thanksgiving holiday revolves around family, food and football so why wouldn't we plan our time around the Razorback football schedule?!

When we are in Morrilton, we eat lunch with Kevin's Mom's family and dinner with Kevin's Dad's family. Both of his Grandmothers are really good cooks so we know we are going to be fed well while we are there. This year we finally learned to pace ourselves at lunch so there was room for dinner too! Arden was her usual cute self and played and entertained and received so many hugs and compliments from family she was worn out when the day was over (although she didn't sleep well in Morrilton but that is something I can't even talk about right now, it makes me tired just thinking about how rough those nights were!). We are very thankful for all of our family and friends and the life we have - thank you to all of you who are in our life!

Granddad, Aiden (Kevin's cousin) and Arden watching the dancing Santa.

Being silly :)

Arden and Mommy - not exactly wanting to pose for the camera or cooperate with a smile...

But she really didn't want to sit with Dad for another picture! Needless to say, a picture of the 3 of us was out of the question.

Over Thanksgiving, Arden learned how to "talk" on the phone. If she sees a phone and we say "Hello" she will sort of hold it to her ear - she is doing pretty good here.

Talking on the phone hands-free! She truly tried to hold the phone between her shoulder and ear...hmmm, think she has seen me do that a few times?

A sweet smile a the end of the day.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving and it was topped off with a Razorback win - now on to the Sugar Bowl!