Laurel's getting close to the 22 pound weight limit on her Chicco Infant carseat, so we've been patiently watching and waiting for our preferred convertible carseat to go on sale. We were lucky and caught the Britax Marathon seat marked down from $279 to $189 at http://www.travelingtikes.com/, so we snatched one up!

When it arrived we took it out of the box to let Laurel try it out. Needless to say, she found it hilarious that she was sitting in her carseat in the middle of the living room.


We are planning to leave Laurel rear-facing in her carseat until she meets the height or weight limits of the seat (35 pounds and 49"). There are so many safety benefits to continued rear-facing past the minimum legal limits of one year old and 20 pounds. Here are some from http://www.car-safety.org/ and The American Academy of Pediatrics:

• Rear-facing is safest for both adults and children, but especially for babies, who would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing carseat during a frontal crash.


• Rear-facing car seats spread frontal crash forces over the whole area of a child's back, head and neck; they also prevent the head from snapping relative to the body in a frontal crash.


• Rear-facing carseats may not be quite as effective in a rear end crash, but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more frequent and far more severe than severe rear end crashes. (According to Crashtest.Com, frontal and frontal offset crashes combine for about 72% of severe crashes. Side impacts are about 24%. Rear and rear offset crashes only account for about 4%.)


• Rear-facing carseats are NOT a safety risk just because a child's legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.


• Rear-facing as long as possible is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatricians, and can reduce injuries and deaths. Motor Vehicle Crashes are the #1 overall cause of death for children 14 and under.

Here are some videos that demonstrate a child in a forward-facing carseat and what happens to their body during a crash, versus a child in a rear-facing carseat in a crash.

For our family, reaching the next "milestone" by turning Laurel's carseat forward is something that can wait!

For the New Year's holiday, our family joined some good friends in Pigeon Forge for a great couple days of card-playing, football-watching and lots of feasting. On New Year's Day, some of us took the kids to the Gatlinburg Aquarium. At first, Laurel was a little intimidated by some of the large fish, but she soon got into the hang of it and helped us point out all the pretty (and scary) fishies.

2009 has been a wonderful year of ups and downs and more memories than I can recall. First and foremost is clearly the addition of Laurel to our family. We could not be more blessed in such a beautiful, cheerful, inquisitive child. She brings us more joy than I could have ever anticipated, and made what might have otherwise been a painful year, the best of our lives.

Both Tim and myself lost our last living grandparent this year when my dear Papaw Fain passed away in April and Tim said goodbye to "Chuck" earlier this very week. They were both very dear to us - strong, family-centered men of faith who faced the evils of cancer valiantly. They were both veterans of World War II, worked on the railroad, and lived healthy, vigorous lives well into their 80s. They will be well remembered and loved.

As we look toward 2010, we can't wait to see more of the person inside our sweet baby. We look foward to her first birthday at the end of this month and to all the adventures our family will experience in this new decade. To our dear readers, we wish you and your family much love and well wishes for health and happiness.

Merry Christmas! Ho, Ho, Ho!
Here I am with Nanny and Papaw on Christmas Eve (with baby Santa!)

Since my brother and his wife aren't going to be able to join us for Christmas, they came into town early to visit. And with them came Laurel's first Christmas present. She's never opened a gift before, so we weren't sure how she'd react. As the pictures show, she knew exactly what to do with that shiny paper!



Thanks Uncle Daniel and Aunt Amy for some great presents!!

This weekend we received almost 10 inches of snow in our corner of Northeast Tennessee, which is very rare, so we took full advantage of it by introducing Laurel. She wasn't too big a fan of getting all bundled up, but did pretty well once we were actually outside.
Here she is in her pretty white bunting, which we didn't think we'd have a chance to use.
We were really blessed that my brother Daniel and his wife, Amy, could make the trek from Charlotte, so we met them at my parents' house. Considering that they're both engineers, a construction project soon developed in the wonderfully packable snowfall.
Here's dad, Daniel, Amy and Tim inside the boat, fort, thing... Talks are resuming about possibly making it a full-fledged igloo soon.
And here's our home fully decked out for a White Christmas.

Tim, Laurel and I are tucked in here at the house on a very snowy night. There's already more than eight inches of snow on the ground and more is expected through tomorrow. Laurel has been saying "dada," "mom" and "nana" and now she says "tree." She loves our Christmas tree, along with all of the lights and decorations in our house. She has also started pointing at everything.

Now, without further adieu, her highness:

The house is now fully decorated for Christmas, including a completely kid-friendly tree (at least we hope!) Laurel loves the lights and the ornaments. I probably tell Tim at least ten times a day how much I love our house at Christmas. And it's true. The soft glow of the Christmas tree, the sparkle from the the ornaments and the stockings on the fireplace put me in the Christmas spirit. (And that's our cat Shelby watching from the back.)