December 2011 & Christmas

Imagination Library

We kicked off December by going to Imagination Library created by Dolly Parton. No, Dolly wasn't there. She organized this program for children 0-5 years old to receive free books in the mail every month. This was the kick off party. There were crafts, balloon animals, face paintings and snacks! It was so much fun. Liam even won a build-a-bear. What a lucky kid, only 4 weeks old and already winning drawings.

Can you tell what Aubrey was?

Fort New Salem Christmas Celebration

This man was the Belsnickle, very similar to Santa Claus in the colonial days. He'd walk around the fort and either give candy to the good children or switches to the bad children. Even as scary as the man looked, Aubrey and her cousins were eager to take candy from this stranger.... I guess it's time to talk about taking candy from strangers.

The kids posing in front of this modest Christmas tree in one of the shops.

In the center of the Fort, they have a large pine tree that they light with real candles as a choir and the crowd join together in singing Christmas Carols.

Aubrey got in trouble just before leaving and she had to stick her head and hands in the shackles.

Time to Decorate the Tree!

While Daddy was at a meeting, the kids and I worked on decorating the Christmas tree. We were too excited and couldn't wait.

Aubrey did an amazing job decorating the tree this year! She new that if she put all the ornaments at her level then it would be off balance so she had me lift her high to get the top too.

One Sunday evening, we walked around the park with Emily and Chris's family and got in the Christmas spirit with all the pretty lights. A few weeks later, we went Christmas caroling to the houses near the park and we really enjoyed ourselves as our audiences were kind, funny, excited and even a few scrooges. It was still very fun and entertaining.

With the rainy weather, we have spent a lot of time indoors creating and playing with these cute kiddos. In the above picture, they are pretending to be wonderpets in their newly constructed fly-boat. They even had a fain to propel their contraption.

This is one of our many crafts (a snow globe made with baby food jars and little figurines)

More time with Santa this was the 3rd out of 4 times of sitting on this guys lap.

More time playing indoors.... painting the bathtub with colored shave cream.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera out for the earlier part of the evening when we did the Nativity Pageant, Birthday cake for Jesus, or our Christmas Caroling. Aubrey was the Angel and Liam had the star roll as Baby Jesus. Their cousin Aleigha was Mary, Brenton was Joseph... and their older boy cousins and daddy were the wise men/Sheppards. They did amazing! Neither Aubrey or Liam got out of character the whole play.

Later that evening, we got to each open one gift... Aubrey got a book from grandma and pop. Liam got a new handsome looking polo shirt.

Next they hung the stocking from the chimney with care with a little help from Daddy of course.

We forgot our handmade stocking at our house so Grandma and Pop sacrificed theirs for the kiddos. Santa stuffed theirs and ours in Christmas hats and toy sleds instead.

Last but not least, Aubrey left milk and cookies and a special note for Santa.

Then off to bed it was for the kiddos and Mommy and Daddy of course!

The Christmas tree after Santa came! It was so beautiful and magical too.

Before even making it out of bed Christmas morning, Aubrey started vomiting.... It wouldn't be the holidays without a little sickness, right?

However, she mustered up the energy to be excited about her first few gifts. Especially the rocking horse!

This was probably the last smile we saw Christmas morning.... She started feeling sick again so this scene soon turned into.............

...... this sad, sad scene; but this scene soon ended too when all energy was lost and quickly turned into.........................................

..................... this scene, when finally she was able to get some rest from all her suffering..................but need not fear, because when Mommy and Liam came home from church this pitiful little girl turned right back into.......................................

............................ this beautiful, vivacious little princess (especially when she woke up to find more presents waiting to be opened that she didn't have the energy to open up earlier in the day.)

This picture shows how much better she was feeling by then end of the day. She was feeling so good she felt confident enough to catch Daddy in mid air!

Liam too, got many presents on Christmas, but he opened them so fast we didn't get any pictures of him. His favorite gift was a new set of hair. He's been complaining about how bald he is so Santa got him a little Rogain! The best part is that it is guaranteed to last even through his 20's which is amazing given the track record of his Daddy and his Uncles.

Mommy and Liam were the only ones who got to dress up in our Christmas clothes because Daddy and Aubrey got to stay home and missed out on church.

Liam has become quite the smiler and talker these days. If you give him even just a few minutes of attention, he will offer you smiles and goos and gaas. He is so fun, just like Aubrey!

Liam with his girlfriend Maddie.... She is obviously and Princess and he is to surprise a Car head!

We hope you all had a wonderful December and especially Christmas! Now I am only 8 days behind on blogging! I am getting so close to being caught up! Stay tuned in to see how we celebrated the New Year!

Liam 3

Modern Baby Boy Birth Announcement

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The rest of November!

Thankful for Family

Life with 2 babies has been amazing... Our little man is soooo... good! It amazes me how content he is. He goes to be when we do and only wakes up once in the middle of the night to eat and then strait back to bed for him. Aubrey, is an amazing big sister! She adores her little brother. Whenever someone asks to hold Mr.L, she says, "Yes, but you need to be very careful." What great advice. She showers him with kisses, hugs, and love everyday. She is so smart, and knows exactly how to handle a baby. People often ask how life is with 2, and other than my house never being as clean or taking longer to get in and out of the car, life is just as "easy." I have been so blessed with 2 of the greatest kids!

My friend from high school, had her baby 6 weeks before Liam was born and they are already the "best of friends."

Liam's 1st bath without his little belly button stub.

This little guy looks so much like his big sister at times that it amazes me.

We have this same pose of Aubrey when she was his age, so we had to play with him too.

"Love's chattin' wid his home boys"

Happy 1st Thanksgiving!

Daddy's Fan Club on Thanksgiving Day!

Aubrey loves grappling with her Grand Dad! We had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving with Wade's Mom and Dad here in West Virginia. They came to meet Liam and spend time with Miss Aubrey. How lucky are they to have 4 grandparents!

Thanksgiving/Christmas Parade!

Aubrey was so excited when the parade started and especially when they started throwing candy! She filled her whole hat and grandma's pockets with lots of candy!

Enjoying the parade with Wade's Parents!

My lovely Mom and Sisters with all the babies bundled up!

I think we managed to get a picture of all the kids at the parade... it was really hard to keep them all together with the distraction of all the parade cars, horses, and Santa's Sleigh!

This was Aubrey and Liam's first time sitting on Santa's Lap in the year 2011. Although Aubrey doesn't look too impressed, she was very excited and couldn't wait to sit on his lap. However, as you will see in the next post this was only the first of 4x's of sitting on the "Big Guys" lap this year.

We hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving, as we did!
I am almost all caught up on blogging!
We'll tune in again in the near future!
Love, the Christensen's

Halloween.... Still Waiting on Baby Liam!

Aubrey got her "Very 1st Very Own" pumpkin at the Pumpkin patch we love to go to each year!

Since there was still no sign of Liam arriving for Halloween and he would miss dressing up in a cute costume, we decided to include him anyways... this year he went as a Jack-O-Lantern.

The rest of us went with a different theme. Me: Queen Bee , Aubrey: Bumble Bee Princess, Daddy: The Bee Keeper or "Honey Man"

We attended several community Halloween parties and enjoyed every moment of it.... Aubrey was a pro trick-or-treater and mastered the song "Trick-or-Treat smell my feet give me something good to eat, if you don't I don't care, I pull down your underwear!" She said this to about 1/2 of the houses.

LIAM'S BirthStory

Because Aubrey came 6 days early when she was born, I just expected that Liam would come just as early or even sooner. I was becoming very anxious and unfortunately, I confused that with a "Mother's Intuition." Therefore, leading myself to major disappointment. I began walking every day and night. Then that walking turned into a pathetic jog every night, mixed with other "Labor Inducing Activities." One Sunday, after much work, I was sure this was "It!" I began going down the line of calling my Mom and all my sisters; saying, "I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure so be on standby." Then after the contractions subsided, I had to make that depressing call back saying, "don't worry, you can go to bed... nothing's going to happen." My doctor is big on offering inductions at 39 weeks if wanted. I told him that we'd schedule one for 11-4-11, but I probably wouldn't take it because I'd go naturally on my own or I'd just wait till my due date.... Well, 11-4-11 came and this desperate, anxious Mom packed her bags an hour before she was suppose to arrive for the induction and made it to the hospital at 5:30am.

I was very nervous because Aubrey's labor and delivery went so well, that I was afraid that I wouldn't be as lucky this time around; especially, because I was being induced.

However, things started out great. As soon as they hooked me up to the monitor it was evident that I had already began contracting on my own. They said that even if I didn't come it that morning, they were sure that I would have come in on my own that night. The contractions were pretty steady at first but then they started the Pitocin to keep them coming regularly. We came prepared with the Ipad, Labtop, card games, and more to help pass the time. But early on, the nurse asked if it would be okay if two WVU students observed the birth. I agreed to let them. I thought that they would just be in and out the whole time with the nurses, but I guess if you're a student you aren't expected to do much so they ended up just hanging out with us and talking until it was go time and then there wasn't much talking going on. So needless to say, we didn't need any of the stuff we brought. My doctor came and checked on me once or twice and said I could have the epidural before they broke my water so I wouldn't get too uncomfortable. However, right before the anesthesiologist came in, the nurse checked me and I was already at 8cm. So much for giving me the epidural before I progressed too much.... hahaha. Anyways, I need to make mention about how nice the anesthesiologist was. He was AMAZING! He could tell I was very nervous, but he kept me distracted and was so patient with me... even though I dreaded his arrival, I was in LOVE with him before he left! I guess that's probably the standard with having a job like that. Immediately after, Pop brought Aubrey in to see Mommy and Daddy one last time before she was no longer the only child. After she left to go wait in the lobby, I was slipping off into dream land, but not even a 1/2 hour later the doctor came in ready to catch our little man. At this point it was 11:27 and we kept joking that I was going to beat Aubrey's time who was born at 11:54 with 15 min. of pushing. So I began pushing, and everyone kept telling me how close he was.... I didn't believe them because with Aubrey they said that and then I realized you could barely see any of her head so I continued to casually push as not to wear myself out. Well, after 6 min. of pushing, they said, "He's Here!" and I looked down in amazement to see my sweet baby boy in all his glory!

Liam, only seconds after entering this Great World!

I was able to hold him for a moment, before they started weighing and poking and prodding him... but that moment was amazing. He looked just like his Big Sister Aubrey and I was in love all over again.

Liam Cade Christensen weighed 6lbs. 14oz. and 20" long. He had dark hair with side chops that extended to his jaw and tiny little ears. He was perfect.

They only let the baby stay with Mommy and Daddy for about 1hour until they take him to get warmed up in the nursery. In that time he nursed awesomely for almost the whole hour, but then everyone got to hold him for a few minutes.

When Aubrey first saw her brother she was... In LOVE! Her first words were, "I love him... I love him... Can we take him home?" She is an amazing Big Sister! They soon whisked him away to the nursery. He had difficulty getting his body temperature back so he didn't get to come back with us for 5 hours. This was a little disappointing, but I must say the break was a little nice so I could get a little rest. We walked down to the nursery to see him after a couple hours and made it clear to them that we wanted to be a part of his first bath and the nurse agreed to come get us before hand. Well... after the 5 hours they came rolling him in all clean and clothed. I was a little upset about this as well, but we've already had too many baths at home to count to make up for the 1st.

Liam all clean and warm.

Wearing his first pair of Jammies.

Our first Family Cuddle session ended with everyone falling asleep in my bed. After they all fell asleep and I took the pictures, we put Liam back in his bed and I joined in on a nice, long nap.

We got lots of awesome visitors including family and friends!

Aubrey even got a visitor her own age. She shared her new Princess shoes that Liam gave to his Big Sister.

After 48 hours we were getting pretty bored and decided it was time to get home to Aubrey and start having fun!
All cute in his going home outfit!

Trying out his new carseat! He looked so tiny in it, now looking back, this really gives me an idea of how much he has grown already!

Rolling out to the car in front of the Hospital.

3 days Old and taking our 1st walk!


Aubrey's regressed just a bit... We have to swaddle her, binkytize her and rock her in the bassinet to get her to sleep... No Big Deal... jk.... she was just being her silly little self.

I'm still behind on all my postings, but at least I have his Birth Story recorded now. I am excited to share our Thanksgiving and Christmas adventures with you in the coming days. This post was just getting too long and there is so much we've already done since Liam's arrival.... Life is Grand!