Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best for 2009.

No Wonder The Dogs Love Currier

This is the type of crap that happens when I don't occupy Currier with an activity while I nurse Rya. Notice Currier is also eating the dog treats—ick!

Daddy's Girl

I think Rya is going to be just like her daddy—laid back!

Look Out

Currier is hauling precious cargo!

The Wonderful Aunt Carrie

Aunt Carrie came for a quick visit to meet her newest niece. It was so wonderful to have an extra set of hands. Carrie had the magic touch with getting Rya to fall asleep. I swear every time she picked her up she would doze off! As always, Currier enjoyed his time with Aunt Carrie. He especially liked showing off his new train set. We can't wait for her next visit!

The Return of Captain Caca

After a brief regression due to the birth of his baby sister, Captian Caca is back with a vengeance! It's been four whole days without an accident. Let's hope diapers are a thing of the past for this super hero!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we made cookies, cleaned up the house, wrapped some last minute presents, made snowmen out of cotton balls, took a long nap, had the neighbors over for cocktails and appetizers, left a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer, read Twas the Night Before Christmas and went to bed anxious for Santa's arrival!

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, Currier and Rya didn't wake us until 8am—it was truly a Christmas miracle! When asked "Did Santa come?" Currier ran straight to the plate of cookies and carrots to find only crumbs. Santa and his reindeer had indeed come to the Balent house!

Santa left us lots of presents under the tree and also set up Thomas the Tank Engine motorized train tracks in the corner of the living room. Currier was so enthralled with the presents under the tree it took him 10 minutes to notice the train set. It was love at first sight and his reaction was so precious that Trent and I nearly cried.

Rya spent her first Christmas just chilling out on the couch catching a buzz on breast milk. Most of her gifts were baby necessities such as diapers and wipes, but Santa did splurge on a mini tiara which Rya refused to take off. She's such a princess!

Even though Trent thought it ridiculous, Santa didn't forget about the dogs. They got dog treats and squeaky balls. Being Italian, notice how Paolo and Bruco greet each other with cheek kisses!

Our family had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas and we hope you did too.

Merry Christmas from Charleston

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love, The Balents

The Greatest Gifts

Look what I found under the Christmas tree!

One Month Old

Dear Rya D.,

You are one-month-old today. I don’t know where the time went. It feels like it was just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital and yet the adjustment was so swift that I feel like you’ve always been a part of our family.

I’m much more relaxed and confident as a mother the second time around so I feel like I’m able to enjoy you more. I know this time goes by in a flash so I relish in every second because I know I will never get these moments back. You love to be held and I love holding you so we get along just fine. I could stare at you for hours. I love your crazy Pat Benatar hair, your dainty fingers, your Balent nose, your pouty lips, your double chin and your skinny legs. You have serious eyes, a sweet-raspy cry and the softest hands. You’ve already grown and changed so much in these four short weeks.

As I watch you grow, I want to stop the world and hold you. I want to protect you from everything bad. I wish I could promise that you will never feel sad, angry or betrayed. I can’t promise you that, but I can promise you love. Your father, brother and I love you more than you could possibly know and I hope you will always feel our love.

All my love,
Mama

Crafts With Currier

I've been trying to keep Currier busy with "projects" while I nurse Rya. Glitter-gluing decorations on little paper Christmas trees was one of such "projects". If anyone has any clever suggestions for other "projects", please email me. I'm always looking for fun/crafty things to do to keep Currier out of trouble.

James Island Holiday Festival of Lights

We took the kids to the Holiday Festival of Lights at the James Island County Park over the weekend. It was a three mile drive with hundreds of displays and millions of lights. It was a lot of fun and really impressive. We plan to make it a family holiday tradition every year.

Meeting Santa

We took Rya and Currier to meet Santa over the weekend. Currier asked Santa for choo choos, cars and blue cars. Rya asked Santa for the ability to sleep through the night... Funny, that was my wish too!

Getting Ready For Santa

The house is decorated, the Christmas tree is up and Currier is so excited for Santa to come. This is the first Christmas that I think Currier "gets it" so I've been using "Santa" as a negotiating tool.

It's funny, I was fully expecting Currier to be jealous of Rya but he's not at all—he absolutely adores her. Instead he's been defiant towards me which is probably a lethal combination of the terrible twos and realizing he's not the center of my attention anymore. It's been a very challenging couple of weeks but now that the tree is up and the anticipation of Santa is in the air, it's amazing how quick a child will do what he is told when there is the threat that Santa might not come. I think I might leave the tree up all year round!

Rya's 1st Bath

Rya's umbilical cord stub finally fell off yesterday so we were able to give her a bath. Of course Currier insisted on taking a bath with her which was fine by me since I was able to kill two birds with one stone.

All My Children

This is pretty much how we spend a majority of our day and if you look close enough you can actually see the life being sucked out of me by all these parasites!

Rya's 1st Doctor's Appointment

Rya had her 1st doctor's appointment this week. It only took three hours to get the kids and I bathed, dressed, feed and out the door and that was with my cousin Cheryl's help. Trent is back to work now and Cheryl went back to Massachusetts so now I'm on my own. The honeymoon is over and now it's time to see if I can handle it on my own. Stay tuned for the nervous breakdown!