Christmas Week at Home

Has been a blast.    On Sunday AM, Aunt Kelley and Uncle Steve came over before they headed back to Charlottesville -- Carter got in some last minute fun with both of them...

  

... and then we also snapped a family shot around Campbell's stork -- hard to believe it was less than 3 years ago that we did the same for Carter.   For those in the Northeast, it's beyond belief that all the snow from the great Campbell blizzard of 2009 is gone already!

Carter has gotten in some good rides so far (weather permitting) on his new Yellow Hummer...

...but, can anyone explain why kids his age love watching TV standing up?

Aunt Rinney came by to visit on Monday and get in some more QT w/ Campbell...

... and then on Tuesday, the Klines came by to meet Campbell, and give the band some time to practice...

... before another great day came to an end with big-bro and big-sis hanging out...

... and then Carter had to get in some couch-jumping (are we permitting this?!) before bedtime (PS-yes, those are Halloween pajamas.  What can we say, the boy loves wearing jammies!) ...

     

A Christmas Recap

For obvious reasons, 2009 was a great Christmas for our family -- the birth of baby Campbell, plus, truly seeing the joy of the holiday in a more powerful way than Stacey and I had experienced, by living the holiday through Carter.   What a blast!

Carter made out like an absolute bandit -- after spending the month of December counting down the days until Santa's arrival with Mom on their Advent Calendar and with Dad on their "Countdown Board", Carter actually slept in until about 745/8am on Christmas morning but ran down the stairs and was presented with the following scene ...

... After quickly confirming that Santa and his reindeer had indeed eaten the cookies and carrots, and that Santa had taken some sips from the chocolate milk, we moved directly into the gifts, and as you can imagine, the Hummer served as a key base of operations ...

... Other gifts included a digital camera, a guitar, a bouncer ball, some new trains, a new dinosaur, and, most importantly, some new friends (for those not in the know, we've now got all five Backyardigans (Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, Uniqua, and Austin), Ming Ming from the Wonder Pets, and a Pirate Mickey) ...

... As the good big brother that he is, Carter gave Campbell a life-sized giraffe for her new nursery ...

... Speaking of Campbell, she was all dressed up for the occasion as well ...

... Then, we went over to Stacey's parents house for a bit, where Carter again made out like a bandit (pirate ship, binoculars, pirate sleeping bag, among others) ...

... And where Stacey got another tool in her ever-expanding baking toolkit...

... And Carter got in some fun cuddle time w/ Aunt Kelley and her puppy, Rockne...

... Then, on Saturday, the Lange's came down (up) from Long Island (Richmond) and we celebrated Christmas all over again, with Carter racking up the loot again (Geotrax, wheelbarrow, lawn toys, cash register) ...

  

All in all, a truly great holiday!

Campbell Meets the Lange's

On the day after Christmas, the Lange side of the family (Daddy's side) drove down to meet Campbell and share in the Christmas fun.    Campbell got to meet Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Michael, and Aunt Jenny.... and enjoyed every minute of it.

     

Campbell Meets the Zagol's

Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Campbell was lucky enough to meet most of her relatives on the Zagol (Mommy's) side of the family -- except for Uncle Brian, Aunt Jessica, and Cousins Lorelei and Charlotte, who were all spending Christmas at home in sunny Florida!

Between Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Brad & Aunt Christa, Aunt Kelley & Uncle Steve, Aunt Kara, AND GiGi -- Campbell certainly got her fair share of "hold me" time!

 

Day 6 w/ Campbell

I'm still running about a day and a half behind here... but we've had a great and special first Christmas with Campbell and her new, and pretty well behaved, big brother Carter.   Really makes you appreciate what's important in life, enjoy your blessings, and feel more and more like our own special family each and every day.

Hoping that everyone is enjoying their holiday festivities with friends and family!

Day 5 w/ Campbell - Christmas Eve 2009

Lots of fun pictures to share, but for today, just one simple shot of the best Christmas gift we could ever have asked for!   Merry Christmas!

Day 4 w/ Campbell

Another good day at home w/ our new leading lady -- including our first family car-trip to pick up a new girl-friendly diaper bag and help give Santa some last minute suggestions for one of his newest arrivals.   Campbell also got to meet (while sleeping) Aunt Kelley for the first time and Aunt Kara for the second time!

Mommy (who's doing an awesome job) is hoping for a bit of a better night of sleep tonight!     Tomorrow (Thurs) holds a quick check-in with the pediatrician at Noon and then Christmas Eve and Santa's arrival!

Day 3 w/ Campbell

Another busy day -- we were discharged from the hospital at about 11am and were excited to bring Campbell home to meet her big brother Carter and see GM/GP Zagol again.    We had a great surprise when we pulled into the neighborhood...

Then, Campbell got to spend some quality time with her big brother, including our first official family shot....

For the rest of the afternoon, things were pretty smooth, all things considered.   Carter was very interested and engaged w/ Campbell; the entire family (minus Dad) took a nice mid-afternoon nap; and when Carter and Dad ran some late afternoon errands, Carter insisted on "No Target, let's go home to see Baby Campbell."   When we got home, Carter got in some good time on the floor with Campbell, sporting one of his big brother tees.

Finally, it was time to head off to bed for the little ones, but Carter wanted to get his first chance to hold "Baby Campbell." It was hard to pick one image here that was the best, so I am just posting all of them!

Can't wait to see what adventures Day 4 brings!

Our Last Week as a 3-Person Family

Last week was a big week -- for obvious reasons, it was our last week as a three-person family.   But, we also had CWL's Christmas concert and a trip out on Friday night to go visit Santa Claus.

Click here to view the full slideshow.

Day 2 w/ Campbell

We've had a pretty good day 2 with our new little girl -- Campbell.   She spent a few hours in the nursery last night while Mom and Dad caught up on some sleep, and went through all of the tests that she needed (weight, hearing, etc.)   She came back around 6 this morning and it's been a great day since then -- a visit from Grandma Z, some great meals and snacks with Mommy, moving room (I guess it's busy at the hospital pre-Christmas/pre-New Year's, so the team was moved from a labor/recovery room to what I can best describe as a hospital/hotel room.)

Barring any unexpected events, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning and Campbell will get to meet her big bro for the first time (b/c of concerns about H1N1, the hospital has limited visitors to 17+.)

Here's a pic of our little girl, just hanging out, about 30 hours old.

For those who were running an over/under...

.... Campbell came in 19 days early vs. a due-date of January 8, 2010.   Somewhere, our tax accountant is smiling!

It's a Girl!

We're excited to announce the arrival of Campbell Elizabeth Lange!   She picked the biggest December snowstorm in Philadelphia in over 100 years for the night of her arrival, which made for quite the treacherous drive to the hospital, but we got here in plenty of time and she came into our lives at 5:08 AM weighing in at 6lbs, 15oz, and measuring 20" in length.

From Campbell Elizabeth Lange

From Campbell Elizabeth Lange

Clearly our kids will lack a bit in the patience department as she joins older brother CWL on the early side of the arrival scale (he was 5.5 weeks early, she's 3 weeks early).    But, what a magical Christmas gift for our family.   Mom and Campbell are doing great and we can't wait for you to meet her.

CWL Received a Very Special Message from the North Pole!

Click here to see it for yourself!

Big Boy Room

CWL has been in his big boy room for almost a month and he loves it -- granted, it takes him about 90 minutes on average to fall asleep, but he loves it!

CWL Helping Mommy w/ Cookies

The little man just LOVES helping his mom with whatever her task of the moment is -- lately, it's been getting ready for holiday cookies. So, if you get a holiday cookie with an entire jar of jimmies this year, or a Christmas tree that looks a bit unbalanced, or a snowflake that looks a bit crushed in the middle -- then you'll know you've got a CWL special!

A Holiday Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Are We Ready for #2?

Received a truly priceless email from SZL while at work one day this week -- here's a typical non-school day morning at home for Mom and son:

1. Carter wake up / diaper
2. George
3. Breakfast
4. Workout / Carter destroys basement
5. Changed a nasty poop and put outfit #1 on Carter
6. Christmas Card disaster with Carter's "help."
7. Cleaned up cup spill #1
8. More xmas cards
9. Cleaned up cup spill #2
10. More xmas cards
11. Spilled Cup #3 was on Carter
12. Changed Carter to outfit #2
13. More xmas cards
14. SPilled cup #4 - almost got xmas cards
15. Spilled cup #5 - on Carter's pants ... He took them off and ran upstairs
16. Went up after Carter - he was playing with gate and almost fell down
17. Decided to check email - Carter wanted privacy
18. Heard strange sounds in bathroom and found him naked in bath tub
- he managed to take off long-sleeve shirt, short-sleeve shirt, diaper
off.
19. PJs are back on
20. More xmas cards
21. Stopped Carter from ramming truck in back door
22. Just turned on max / ruby to get lunch ready

Maybe work isn't so bad sometimes!!

Setting Up the Lange Family Christmas Tree

First Weekend of December 2009

Busy weekend so far -- CWL visited Gigi for the annual visit from Santa at her community; we went out to Yaeger's to get the tree; and, we had our first snowfall of the year!

From Christmas Tree and First Snowfall 2009

Click here for the full album.