Aliyah Noelle is here!

Aliyah Noelle was born January 8th at 1:02pm.

She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz, and measured 19 inches long.

This is a great shot of Caleyn sitting with Angela in bed. Greg and Alyssa had come over to stay with Caleyn while we went to the hospital. They brought Jason lunch and Caleyn was excited to see us. I think she wondered where we had gone - but she was happy to have her aunt and uncle to hang out with. Just moments after this picture was taken Angela's water broke. Greg and Alyssa decided that was a good time to take Caleyn home for her nap since it looked like Aliyah was on her way. Little did they know how quickly she would get there - 21 minutes to be exact!!

Here we are holding our precious little one - it looks like she is singing!

beautiful mother daughter shot

Thank goodness Uncle Greg and Aunt Alyssa were able to come over and stay with Caleyn. Here they are spending time with their nieces.

Caleyn is doing very well adjusting to the new addition in our home. She loves to give Aliyah kisses and always want's to know where the baby (or sissy) is, and what she is doing. The only thing that has been rough on Caleyn is getting in 3 teeth all at the same time. This has disturbed her nap time and she hasn't felt that well. Today was a good day so maybe we are getting past them.

After getting a sponge bath

They say it and you know what - it is true. Ever since we brought Aliyah home Caleyn is looking bigger and bigger. On top of the fact that she weighs at least 3 times what Aliyah weighs. It is funny how time flies and how children grow but we are loving every moment. In the past week Caleyn has started something new. When we put her in her high chair to eat she starts chanting "pray" "pray" and holds out her hands. Then she takes 1 finger from each of us in her hands and we pray for the food. She doesn't close her eyes but rather is fascinated that we are and continually glances back and forth at each of us. So sweet and we are enjoying every minute of it!

Now to our faithful blog followers. You may have noticed that we missed Christmas. Well not really but we missed putting pictures on the blog. Jason took some time off and we worked on projects around the house in anticipation of Aliyah's arrival. Jason started building a bunk bed and a window seat and Angela worked on sewing curtains with blackout fabric. We have also been finishing the decorative painting in Caleyn's new room as well. Needless to say we spent many nights working late into the evening as we like to do and didn't take time to update the blog. But have no fear - we have plenty of Christmas pictures and adventures to share with you so watch for them in the next week or so.

A fun weekend in our home...the celebration has begun!

Caelyn in her Christmas dress...checking out the poinsettia. She was really excited to put on her dress and sparkly red shoes for church!!

my baby girls

...trying to get a family picture but Caelyn was in a goofy mood!!

Mommy did Grandma toes for her birthday and Caelyn got her first pedicure too!

We celebrated Christmas with Jason's mom's side of the family this weekend. Fun times!

I sewed Jack and Kate hats for Christmas that I had found on a blog I like to follow...and Jack modeled his hat for us.

Caelyn really likes to watch the Singoff with dad...if she is still awake by the time it comes on. It is sweet to see them snuggle on the couch and clap for all the groups!

Caelyn has been doing really good being soft with Penny. Lately she wants to give Penny kisses too, I was trying to capture it on video...which you know how that goes (it never happens when you are ready with the camera) but it is still fun to watch her in action!

Another Project Finished!!

This is our latest project that we have been working on. We are working to get Caelyn's new room finished and part of that was going to be to redo the dresser we had in that room. As you can see we had painted it a light cream color and that really wasn't going to match all the painting I have been doing in her room. The piece on top was a find we made on the side of the road. Someone had decided it wasn't worth keeping and tossed it out - maybe because the mirror was broken in pieces. I saw it on my way home for lunch one day and mentioned to Angela that there was a cool piece with lots of potential on the side of the road. We checked it out and carried it back to our house.

Here are the two pieces together for a before shot.

This is our find from the side of the road - below you see the poor condition it was in.

After sanding them down and applying a light pink paint we decided to use a product recommended to us by a good friend of ours, who had recently refinished her own find from the side of the road. So we added a glaze to "antique" the two pieces. Then we went to F&M Fabrics in search of some nice fabric for a good price. Angela was sure I was going to fast and wasn't 100% sure how she felt about the fabrics all going together...but in the end we are extremely satisfied with how the piece turned out. We used padding on the drawers and then wrapped them with fabric.

Next we painted little wooden knobs to go on top of the fabric. We also used padded fabric where the mirror would normally go. Angela thought it would be nice to add ribbon so Caelyn can display pictures and cards and such.

We also added little hooks where the ribbon meets so that Caelyn can hang her necklaces on it...sometime in the future when she has necklaces!

Just last night it was the cutest thing to see as Angela picked up Penny (out of Angela's chair) and brought her to me. She was so relaxed and was purring and even closing her eyes. Penny is a great cat and very good with Caelyn but she is only snugly when she wants to be.

And sadly we have been having difficulty with our fridge. Supposedly they have ordered a part and are waiting for it to get in. Our fridge is set on 45 degrees and most of time is actually below freezing. We have been dealing with frozen eggs and juice although it helps bread not to mold! We ended up having to take out some shelves to see where water was coming from and a plastic piece that takes water to the dispenser had cracked from being frozen!! Luckily our ice maker water comes from a different area but for now - no getting water out of the fridge without making a pool in the bottom!

Christmas is coming!

Caelyn loves Christmas lights! She really likes our Christmas tree!!!

Grandma Buss- Caelyn is enjoying her birthday present! She has figured out how to sit on it as well and get off by herself...but her favorite thing is to roll it around the house.

Caelyn LOVES books...I can't wait to have her read me a story

I can't believe how long her hair is...I love it, it is just so beautiful.

Hume, Daddy turned 30, and Disneyland!

My apologies that it has been a long time since I updated the blog! We had the privilege of going out of town for a couple weekends and since we've been home I have been busy sewing, keeping up with Caelyn and housework. I finished the tree skirt that I have been storing for 4+ years, finished my first blanket which I sewed for Aliyah, and I have been trying to get some Christmas presents made too...so as we are watching the Biggest Loser tonight Jason wanted to update the blog! So here are pictures from November...

This is my only picture from Hume Lake because my battery died! So I didn't get any pictures of Caelyn with her cousin Landon...but we did have fun going up to the mountains. Jason went up to help the staff build the set for winter camp, and Caelyn and I enjoyed being in God's creation! We had to leave early because it snowed...I wish we would have been able to get more pictures but we'll go again!

Another big event in November was Jason turning 30! We celebrated by going out to dinner with family and some friends! Caelyn and I are thankful for the amazing man and dad that he is! On his actual birthday Caelyn was sick. I don't know if it was her teeth or a 24 hour flu bug but it was probably one of the only times that she has felt really horrible. Luckily by midnight her fever broke...so we still went to Disneyland on Thanksgiving!

We can't wait to go to the happiest place on earth! Grammie Pammie made our first trip incredible because she had to have a wheelchair since she is having knee surgery very soon and would not have been able to walk all day...therefore we got a fast pass for every ride, which was amazing since one year olds don't really understand the concept of waiting in lines!

We stayed in Fantasy Land for a good portion of the day! Daddy helped Caelyn try to pull the sword out of the stone! I love her expression...

Our first ride - Peter Pan

Dumbo - another favorite

Where to next?

Nothing better than resting on Dad's shoulder

fun times with family...much to be thankful for

Small World was by far Caelyn's favorite ride, we rode it multiple times throughout the day!

Our first time on Buzz Lightyear...Dad was the best laser shooter out of all of us! Caelyn liked driving/spinning the cart. I think she really enjoyed the day! She like all the shows and parades, she'd clap for the characters! We didn't leave the park until 11 p.m.!! And she was out before we left the parking lot!

C is for Caelyn Elise

and

A is for Aliyah Noelle

Some pictures from November

Jason has finished his retaining wall that he has been working on!

Caelyn has decided that she really likes to sit in Penny's cat condo. If you ask her to go sit in her chair, this is where she runs to! Penny wondered who she was calling on her phone...

I am loving my sewing machine, whenever I get a chance to sew it has been so much fun...can't believe I didn't learn how to sew earlier! So here is a picture of my latest sewing project, and my beautiful baby..I made Caelyn a turkey top for Thanksgiving!! It isn't quite finished, since we are going to Disneyland the turkey will be wearing a Minnie Mouse hat!! But I wanted to try it on her to see how it fit! Thanks mom for all your help...it wouldn't look as good without your expertise!!

Jason also built a deck and mounted Caelyn's slide. Eventually there will be an amazing playhouse up on the hill too! Caelyn LOVES slides...they are her favorite part of any park we go to play at!

The cutest goldfish I've ever seen!

For Caelyn's first halloween (that she dressed up) I made her a goldfish costume! I got the idea out of a Women's Day magazine at work. Jason helped me dye the tights and sweatshirt and pick out all the fabric, and I am really happy with how it all came out! She looked adorable! We went up to the Harvest Festival at church...next year we'll play the games and jump in the bounce houses! Caelyn just wanted to "run" all over...she was in constant motion when you weren't holding her!

Love love love her! This is a really fun stage.

Caelyn and her friend Josie, who was the cutest peacock there!

Joe, Josie, Caelyn and Jason

Family shot

Off she goes to socialize with all the people...it was hard to get a picture of the little fish! I'm so glad that she wore the hood. I wasn't sure if she keep it on or try to pull it off!

checking out the fire truck

We had a fun Halloween!