"hi"

Eliza is 10 months old (um, what? where did the time go?) and is becoming very verbal. The below video is a cute glimpse of how talkative she can be (note at the beginning of the video how she is "talking" to her doll) and of a potentially new word she has started mimicking. A couple times now when I walk in it sounds like she says "hi". I've convinced myself I'm reading to much in to a sound but I happened to catch it on tape. What do you think? Is she saying "hi" or is my motherly pride over imagining?

Christmas in Greenville

After some awesome time in Greenwood we headed over to see Eliza's Pops and Gma in Greenville, SC. On our way, we stopped in Due West (gotta love the name) to see Jonathan's grandparents. After visiting for a bit we were on our way to see Pops, Gma, and Neman (their german shepherd).

Eliza had her own stocking waiting on her! So sweet.

Pops had an extra special present in his stocking this year. :)

One of the many blessings of time with family is there's so many loving hands to help with Eliza.

Eliza got a WAGON from Pops and Gma!!! Oh goodness. We were so excited. Here she is testing it out (notice the hands clamped on the side, I think she wasn't so sure about the moving around at first)

But then she decided she loved it and opened the rest of her gifts in the wagon. :)

Hilarious. This is what happens when the first grandchild takes her first wagon ride. Paparazzi. (note- Eliza is locked in to the dog.)

I love my family (and Eliza is still watching Neman who she was fascinated with)

We love you Aunt Julianne.

"Mom, seriously? Put away the camera and let me enjoy my wagon ride."

And after a couple great days in Greenville we packed up, and headed home to Durham with goodies galore, a few extra pounds ;), and lots of great memories from a week in South Carolina.

ps- Eliza might be in dog withdrawal after our week in SC because every time we bump in to one she practically convulses with joy. And NO we are not getting a dog any time soon. :)

Christmas in Greenwood

the continuation of Christmas Shenanigans...

Monday morning Eliza woke up in Greenwood, SC to Christmas with Mimi. Eliza LOVES her Mimi and practically lights up every time she walks in the room. And if Mimi wasn't cool enough she has a little yorkie named Lilly that Eliza was absolutely obsessed with. Every time Lilly was in eye sight Eliza would screech, start almost panting and grabbing for her. (poor Lilly. When Eliza starts walking she has no chance) :)

Along with getting to celebrate Christmas with Susan, Julianne, and Jeremy, we had the amazing honor of participating in Julianne's debutante ball. Julianne was presented as a deb this year and that meant Jonathan got to escort her, I got to dress up in a formal gown, and we were able to dance and hang out with so many people in Greenwood who love Julianne. Here are some pics to commemorate our time...

I love my Mimi. (although she could also be smiling because she has found another bow to destroy)

Out of all the amazing things from Mimi Eliza's favorite toy is this little pink duck that lights up (oh goodness).

Lilly wanted to help open gifts too.

Uncle Jere got Eliza a Duke blanket. Starting her early... ;)

Eliza's "first purse" from Mimi. It's actually a foam book and is really cute.

I love seeing Eliza so surrounded by so many people who love her. What a blessed little girl.

The next day was "debutante day". Here's Jonathan and Julianne on the way to debutante practice where I believe they attempted to learn to waltz.

Before the debutante ball we gathered to take family pictures and brought Eliza along too. (don't worry, we left her at home for the actual ball) Here's Eliza with her Pops and Gma.

Julianne with her brothers. :)

Susan with her chickadees. She put a lot of work in to the ball this year and it was such a sweet time.

:)

Beautiful Julianne. What I love most about Julianne is she is more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside. I loved seeing her honored as a debutante and being able to see all the people who love her come together.

The ball was a blast and after sufficiently dancing the night away we were off to Greenville, SC to celebrate Christmas with Pops and Gma.

Stay tuned...

The Seal Crawl

Eliza is 9 1/2 months old and she can officially "schooch around the room. We've affectionally deemed this move the "seal crawl" because while she uses her arms to crawl she can't quite figure out the legs yet. This doesn't seem to deter her from getting anywhere she pleases though!

Family Walk

A staple tradition in my house growing up was family walks. I'm going to be honest; I wasn't always a fan. In fact I think years 10-16 were spent griping every time I put on my tennis shoes for a walk. But alas, now, all grown up, I love them. I guess Mom and Dad might have been right all along... in continuing with the tradition we took a family walk to burn off some amazing Christmas food. My sweet, amazing, selfless (I could go on) husband stayed in with Eliza while she napped so I could walk.

On the walk I just happened to bring my camera... ;)

Ruth is thinking "I can't believe she's taking pictures. We're just walking".

"newlyweds" Sam and McCall

Luke and Steph had just flown in from Taiwan last night... not sure how they have this much energy with jet lag.

Mom and Dad with the soon to be married couple.

love this

Luke and Steph get married on Jan 28th! woo hoo

sweet

sisters :)

brothers (who are looking rather like woodsmen in their flannel)

Mom with her girls!

Let the Merriment Begin...

We kicked off our Christmas festivities on Dec 18th this year by traveling to Spartanburg, SC for the annual Thrailkill Christmas party. This is Jonathan's mom's side of the family and it is a yearly tradition where all of Susan's siblings, their kids and their grandkids are invited. I'm pretty sure the kids out number the adults 3 to 1 and this was Eliza's first year going. Needless to say Eliza was thoroughly overwhelmed, fussy, and even scrunched her nose and frowned at the entire room at one point. Great first impression. We had a great time though and it was really sweet to be around so much family at one time.

Eliza loves her Mimi and Aunt Julianne!

My handsome hubby.

Metting Jacob for the first time (I promise she has shoes but they never seem to stay on)

A glimpse at the present opening. Oh my.

Eliza content to chill with the adults

Honestly, what Eliza loved the most this Christmas was BOWS. They are amazing and a new love of hers. ;) Here's a cute glimpse...

Eliza's first Christmas from Sarah Welch on Vimeo.

"Oh boy Dad, what is this?" (notice she still has a death grip on a bow)

Every year there's a Birthday Cake for Jesus and the kids sing "Happy Birthday" to celebrate Jesus' birth. I loved that the candles were blown out half way through the song and re-lit so it would be "fair" of who blew them out. Here's a glimpse...

Happy Birthday Jesus from Sarah Welch on Vimeo.

Learning new tricks with Mimi.

And let the vacation eating begin.... ugh

Dubbelman Christmas

After Christmas at the Summit was over we went to my parent's house briefly before heading down to SC for the week. The treat of all treats about time with my family was that Luke and Steph flew in from Taiwan on Christmas Eve and so all 4 kids and their significant others were able to spend Christmas together. This hasn't happened in years. I love my family and it was an incredible blessing and joy to spend time as an entire family; even if briefly.

Here's a glimpse of our Dubbelman Christmas celebration...

Merry Christmas Grandma!

Sweet baby girl at 9 months- this is what she did most of the morning, sat, watched people, and put anything she could in to her mouth. :)

Aunt Ruth showing her a new book while Eliza is concerned about what noise Uncle Luke is making.

This was Sam and McCall's first married Christmas! yah

I love my Mom and Dad!

Eliza LOVES her dadda. (ps- I wish I had a really cute pic of Jonathan and I from Christmas morning but alas I don't. Note for next year.)

Even though Eliza got some cool new toys she liked Aunt Ruth's watch best of all (that was not for her).

Mom and Dad has said "no gifts" for each other but Dad surprised Mom anyways. ;) Go Dad.

sweet mom

And the boys did not... but we made them take a picture anyways.

I love having people love on Eliza. She is so blessed by so many amazing relatives.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing morning with family. Now off to Greenwood, SC... will post on our whirlwind week soon.