Delanie sings her baby a lullabye!

Part of Delanie's nightly bedtime routine is that her parents sing a few songs. Now, we are definitely not the best singers (my grandmother will be the first to tell you I can't carry a tune), and our repertoire of appropriate songs is limited. Delanie typically hears three songs: "Baby Beluga," "Last train to Clarksville" and "Amazing Grace." I have long thought that the singing went unnoticed, until Delanie started saying, "daddy sing train" when I tried to put her to bed. And, I do not know the lyrics to any of the Monkees songs! But, I was amazed that she had been picking up on the lyrics!

So, fast-forward to today, when she starts singing these lullabyes to her baby! I was amazed! please, no cracks on how she aquired her mother's singing voice! :)


Part I



Part 2



This is later in the video clip, when we asked her to sing her alphabet to her baby. If you are singing the song with her, she inserts about a dozen letters into the song, based on the tune and the pattern. She has never sang the song alone, though. This time, Dave got her to the letter "L" through sign language - amazingly, Delanie knows the sign for every letter in the alphabet!! She is doing better than me!

Snow Day!

Raleigh, NC
January 20, 2009
4-6 inches of snow!




Here is a true Southern snow outfit - something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue! And NONE of it matches! Thank you Cookes for the Size 4 snowpants, of course they fit!!

The snow fell until about 3 pm today. Here is Delanie's first snow experience, around 10 this morning. She liked watching the dogs play! She really seemed to like the snow, although not enough to actually "play" in it much.

A few times, she did pick up snow and try to throw it at Daddy or the dogs.

Our house - the snow is so beautiful!

Video to come!

Shout-Outs!

Thank you Mimi for my new dress - I loved wearing the same outfit as my baby! And, by the way, this face is me saying "Cheeessssseeeee!"

"The Wheels On the Bus" is my favorite book - thank you Uncle Nick for the hand-me-down!

Thank you Ms. Lynn for my "Thank Heaven" t-shirt! I loved the butterflies!

Big Girl Room!

Delanie moved into her "Big Girl Room" today! A big thank you to Papa Dave and Nana for the new mattress and Grandma and Grandpa for the comforter! She took her nap in there no problem, so I'm crossing my fingers that this evening will go as smoothly...

The reason why we chose this comforter set was mainly to match the red in the small sofa we have in her room, and also grow with her and not be too baby-ish. It was so difficult finding a set that wasn't too juvenile and also had the right tone of red. This set, from Pottery Barn, was just what we were looking for! And, in typical Deanna-style, we waited until it was marked down before getting it!

The walls are painted a light pink, and I plan to paint some flowers eventually. Dave was a little hesitant about pink, but we already have yellow (Delanie's bath) and blue (nursery and playroom). Those of you who have all boys are either cringing or envious... :)


And the bottom picture is the end result, once all Delanie's "friends" moved into her room with her. Proof that we have a lot of stuffed animals! Thank you, Grandpie and Granny for the new polar bear!

Alexandria, VA

We made a last minute trip to Alexandria, VA to catch some sights and see Dave's grandfather, Nick and his Aunt Kim. Alexandria has this wonderful "old Town" area on the waterfront, where we could walk into shops or grab dinner. This first picture is of Delanie feeding the ducks. Notice her monkey backpack, aka toddler leash...










On Friday, we decided to brave the cold weather and head into Washington, DC. Having not been to DC much myself, it is always amazing to just be walking and see these national monuments in the distance, as evidenced by this photograph.












We found a great deal on a great hotel, which also had an indoor pool. Delanie hasn't been in the water since summer, so she was a bit apprehensive at first. But, within 15 minutes, she was "swimming" with her father, kicking her legs and putting her face in the water. Admittedly, I mostly supervised from the hot tub (it was cold!).

Shameless Bragging...

We are not quite sure HOW Delanie has learned her letters so fast, but we are amazed!

December Pics!

Looking so grown up in this green jumper!



















Here we are running a daycare out of our house. We set up mats as walls and are now using decorative baskets as cribs, since we have exceeded our baby:crib ratio (this DOES NOT mean that she needs more cribs as gifts!!!).













Delanie trying on her new hat and gloves!











Christmas morning wouldn't be complete unless we stripped off some of our clothes!