Closing Out 2009!

Wow. What a year!!! This time last year we were celebrating the tiny little life that was growing inside of me and praying that he/she would "stick". Matter of fact, one year ago today, we were at our first doctor's appointment and saw our little bean's heart beat on the screen. When they turned up the volume so that we could hear it, I thought I would die!!! What a blessing!!! So the impossible became possible and here we are one year later celebrating Kalissa Rae's first Christmas.

Our first Christmas with all three girls was beautiful. Kalissa must have known something special was happening because on Christmas Eve, the child would NOT go to sleep! She was all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 10:00 p.m. which is not typical of her.

On Christmas morning, she was the first to awaken....at 5:30 a.m! I quietly fed her and then brought her into our bedroom so she could wake her Daddy (he wasn't too excited about that! *lol*). Once he was up, we woke her sisters who didn't mind being up so early because they couldn't WAIT to open their gifts. All week, we had to hear Qiana beg to "open just one present".

First things first, Al had me open a specific gift of mine...it turned out to be The Temptations Christmas CD. Once I had it opened, he pushed 'play' on the surround sound (he already had it set up) and filled the living room with the music of my childhood Christmases. Awwww...I told y'all he's wonderful. Once the mood was set, the girls began opening their gifts and they were nothing short of ecstatic. Here is Kali with some of her presents. She was MUCH more interested in eating the wrapping paper! *lol*

My mom arrived a few hours later with more gifts and then we started our phone calls to our family members. Ahhhh...it was a beautiful day!



In addition to our first Christmas, Kalissa turned 5 months old! Along with this milestone came crawling!! Not scooting...the girl is on her knees putting one hand in front of the other and CRAWLING!! She started this on Christmas morning and has been getting better and better. I'll be posting a video soon. Everyone who has seen her doing this keeps saying she is moving out the way for her little brother/sister! Ha! We have yet to embark on that journey *lol*. Also, she is pretty much an 'unsupported sitter' now too. Notice on the Christmas Eve video, she is sitting up through most of it. She props herself up with one arm (she can't yet get all the way up) and waits for someone to put her in the sitting position and then she's able to stay there for quite a while. She also got her first cold last week!


Yes, 2009 has been a wonderful year for us. Our family is flourishing...the older girls have embraced Kalissa wholeheartedly. Candy, 16, is sooooo in love with Kalissa that it just warms my heart to see them interact. Qiana, almost 11, loves her too and shows it just as much. With them living 3 hours away we are thankful that their mom helps to facilitate their bonding by meeting us half-way every other weekend. We couldn't have hoped for a better blending of our families than what we have. I feel so blessed and am looking forward to 2010!!