playtime.

FINALLY. they have welcomed me into playing with their things... karis' toys and boxes christmas presents are coming in. maybe, just maybe, they do still love me.

merry christmas from SOME of the lybrands...

you might notice who is missing from this "family" picture.

i would say that we are devastated, but we are getting used to it. kind of.

we'll forgive them if we get more christmas presents than the kid. we shall see...

nativity, snow & carolina basketball usher us into december!

last week meg pulled out some christmas decorations to start celebrating karis' first christmas {sidenote: they never celebrated either libby's or my first christmas. just sayin'.}

anyway, at some point, this happened to the precious moments nativity scene:
{which libby and i may or may not have had something to do with...}

at first, we were a little nervous about our big mess up. but then meg came home from her college life small group after reading through luke 2 and she got all excited about what we'd done with the nativity scene {FINALLY, we did something right!}

the circumstances of Jesus' birth were pure chaos: a scandalous pregnancy, the first ever census called by caesar, camels breaking down as folks headed to their hometowns, booked hotels, angels singing, magi fighting the traffic to get to Jesus... and we think christmas is busy for US? but this is what Jesus was born into. His birth was one of the greatest things to happen to the world, and yet it came silently, tucked away in an indescript barn in bethlehem. such humble beginnings...that came in the midst of chaos.

anyway...meg got real excited about that and we're just thankful we're not in trouble!

we also celebrated two other firsts this past saturday:
1. karis' first ever SNOW! {again, they never celebrated this for us. but we didn't care much because we had so much fun playing in it!}
2. karis' first ever unc basketball game that she watched. which they WON!

here we all are {above}... brett & karis watching the game, libby looking at the snow, and i'm just excited to get some daggum attention.

{karis bundled up to brave the snowy cold weather}

oh...i forgot. the OTHER thing they're all excited about with karis {can you sense my jealousy?} is that she is smiling! now, i would remind you that they never celebrated that with me or libby, but alas, we dogs can't smile. oh well. she's got us beat on that one.

...and just in case you need proof that they love karis more than me, here it is:

{meg's choice for cuddling in 2010}

{meg's choice for cuddling circa 2008}

life is good. real good.

well, it was thanksgiving last week. while meg and brett and karis were off celebrating and being all ooey gooey talking about things they were thankful for and stuffing themselves with delicious food at the beach with brett's family, sam & i were stuck in the kennel.

so here's one thing i'm thankful for today: getting back at 'em for sticking us in that kennel by stealing karis' paci. it was surprisingly delightful and calming. i understand why the kid likes 'em so much.

{note the PLETHORA of leaves in this picture...i'm thinking meg & brett don't rake the leaves so it will cover up our poop in the backyard. or maybe just because they are lazy. take your pick.}

things brett and meg and karis were thankful for last week: naps. and karis sleeping 7-9 hours a night! {except for the very last night when she had a melt down and slept from 2 a.m.-6 a.m. ...all i'm saying is that's what they get for putting us in the kennel.}


another thing we are all thankful for: smiles and LIFE IS GOOD PJ's! big news at the house this week, karis smiled for the first time at the beach. meg says she smiled there because she was so glad to not have to worry about swallowing dog hair or being licked by me. also, she apparently overate on thanksgiving with the rest of them because she has gone from newborn clothes to 0-3 months {at 2 months old...she might fit into 3-6 months when she's a year old. :)} which means she got to wear these new pj's which took even me away from my jealousy to sheer joy.

{they say "buttercup" on them... HOW CUTE?!?!?}

thing we are all SO thankful for: the nap nanny. that's the pink thing karis is sleeping on. ever since we got it, little miss thang has been sleeping for 6-9 hours a night CONSISTENTLY! {note how she has worked her way out of her swaddle and how her paci now grows out of her ear...}

...and even though sam and i put up a tough front, we are most thankful {only second to Jesus :)} for this precious little girl who lets us lick her and tolerates our dog hair on everything :)

Free Gift.

Karis=Grace

Grace=Free Gift from Jesus

Here's your first Christmas gift from Jesus & the Lybrands:

a day in the life of karis

tummy time with me & sam
{not sure why sam is so much less interested than i am...}

brett & karis take a nap
{we may or may not be jealous that karis gets to cuddle with meg & brett now...}

dressing up for halloween

{meg & brett were lame and didn't have candy for the trick or treaters... meg said something about not having time to get to the store and brett said something about how much candy costs... excuses excuses is what i say. they got their payback in having to stress out TWO nights about having to explain their lame-o selves to sweet little children since no one know whether or not trick or treating was happening on saturday or sunday. suckers.}

photo shoot by "mommy" {as karis calls her} showing off another onesie by jenny conklin and representing the yl

sneezing
{possible reason for sneezing: not sure the last time we saw meg vacuum that carpet...}

cuddling with daddy after bath time.
{thank you kaitlin briley for adorable frog towel :)}

...and while breastfeeding {sorry folks, no pictures for that :)} "mommy" and karis are reading created for commitment by a. wetherell johnson, founder of bsf. here are a few quotes from the book they are praying:

"Lord, i am willing at whatever cost that Thy death be worked out in me."

"Lord, I am hungry at any cost for You and if this is Your purpose for me, i'll go through with it, but please make sure i am in Your will."

two babies: one in a pumpkin onesie and One who rescued us all

fall has arrived! yesterday i {libby} was freaking out because storms were looming over alamance county... meg was trying to watch a little tv and feed karis when all of a sudden she scooped karis up and grabbed her camera and went outside. of course, we were totally curious... what mom in her right mind hears that there is a tornado warning and takes her 4 week old daughter into the outdoors??? {no need to call dss, folks. it all turned out okay.} she said it was something about how the lighting was great...

{special thanks to our friend, jenny conklin, for the adorable onesie!}

so a new routine we've gotten into this week is that we all {me, sam, brett, karis & meg} all get up into the bed and read karis the Jesus storybook bible and then sing "i love to tell the story". meg is VERY excited about the Jesus story book bible and thinks it's the greatest thing in the entire world.rejoicing today that He came to earth just in the same way karis did, as an infant... he relied on someone else to change his diapers, he got his nourishment from mary's breastmilk, he had to be carried around to get from one place to another. all because of his "never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love" as the storybook bible puts it...here's a section from it:

"and there, in the stable, amongst the chickens and the donkeys and the cows, in the quiet of the night, God gave the world His wonderful gift. the baby that would change the world was born. His baby Son.

mary and joseph wrapped Him up to keep Him warm. They made a soft bed of straw and used the animals' feeding trough as His cradle. and they gazed in wonder at God's Great Gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

mary and joseph named Him Jesus, "Emmanuel"--which means "God has come to live with us."

because, of course, He had."

{swaddling clothes being modeled by karis}

i drank too much.

i just don't know when to stop. who knew breastmilk could knock you out so fast?

--sam

Love.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

{1 John 3:16}

Week One with Karis!

you just can't even believe how busy libby and i have been. last friday night, we all went to bed like normal. libby in her crate, me in my bed. when all of a sudden meg got up at 1:30 in the morning and said to brett: "brett, i think my water just broke..." well then things got crazy. brett jumped out of bed in some what of a panic and after throwing some things in bags (forgetting the camera...how does that happen?) they ran out the door to duke hospital.

well you can imagine how libby and i felt. karis wasn't supposed to be born until tuesday october 5th and we had planned for that day, not saturday october 2nd! and besides that, who would come take care of US? breakfast was supposed to be in 6 hours and we were pretty sure they weren't going to be back then! thankfully meghan, our favorite dog sitter, came to the rescue and stayed with us for the next few days.

meanwhile, at the hospital, karis ann lybrand was born at 5:36 a.m. by emergency c-section. when we heard the news we were thrilled! when would she get home? when would we get to meet her??? while we waited with baited (or stinky dog) breath, we hosted company with brett's parents and meg's mom as they came in and out of the house helping meg and brett get the things done that they had put off until the last minute.

here are some pictures of all the fun they had in the hospital without us:






...and then when they got home, look what happened:


...we got IGNORED and the baby got all the attention. i mean she's cute and all, but we don't think we deserve to be treated this way. but it seems nothing is going to change any time soon, so we figure we'll make friends with her and enjoy it--everyone else is!

{with meghan}

{with anna aka "cha chi" :)}

{with grammy}

{with ashley & canaan, my soon-to-be best friend}

{with andrew & adrienne}


{with marissa}


{with crystie who took great pics of meg when she was pregnant with karis. check 'em out on her blog by clicking here}


{with susie}

karis is here!

october 2, 2010

6 lbs 15 oz

a true bundle of preciousness

...we can't wait for her to come home so we can lick her face!

glider and stuffed animals.

well, the nursery is coming right along! nearly done, actually. last thursday, the motsingers took meg to babies r' us in greensboro to pick up the new glider!
when meg went to order it at 34 weeks pregnant, the most unexcited and miserable babies r' us employee "helped" her. she and brett had picked out the glider together a few weeks before hand--the most important thing about it being that it was actually tall enough for brett--and comfy enough for meg. (they didn't ask us for our opinion.)

so meg looked at the fabric swatches attached to the glider on the floor at babies r' us and picked her color. then she sits down with miserable-unexcited-employee man, tells him which color she wanted, he took her information, and then he said:

"okay, your order has been placed and it will be here in two to three.... MONTHS."

to which meg thought "DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE TWO TO THREE MONTHS???" apparently miserable-unexcited employee man was also not very observant.all that to say, that's the reason the glider is brown. (it's the only color that you can get in two weeks instead of months.)

but we're thinking that worked out pretty well and is even better for the nursery than what meg had originally picked out...especially since it shows every single one of our dog hairs, which means meg and brett won't be able to forget about us when karis is here!

you might have also noticed the great table next to the glider:
it's from one of meg's favorite stores in the world, the nest (used to be second hand rose). you can visit their blog here, but you should also go to the store because they burn the most delicious smelling candles and it's just generally a fabulous place. just fyi.

we've also discovered one of our very favorite things about karis... STUFFED ANIMALS. this is my (libby's) current favorite:...but for some reason they yell "libby NO!" everytime i get one of the stuffed animals from karis' room to play... not sure what that's all about.