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.

story people

maybe you know the story about how meg found out she was pregnant. maybe you don't. if not, today, the story is revealed.

it was any other tuesday and meg left us here to guard the house while she went to hang out with her high school friends at southern. apparently, the cafeteria hamburgers looked tasty to meg, who then left lunches and went through the drive through at mcdonald's to get her own hamburger.

on the way out of the drive through, meg finally thought to herself "that's strange. i hate cafeteria food. and mcdonald's. ...ohhhhhh... i could be pregnant." two pregnancy tests later, meg was praying out loud in the bathroom, alone, "Jesus, i trust you, i trust you, i trust you, i trust you."

shell shocked, she knew she had to wait until brett got home that night at 9 p.m. to tell him. not one to keep secrets very well, meg spent the rest of the day feeling like she was going to bust not being able to tell anyone.

that afternoon, her young life team got together and her friend, michelle baxter, gave her a present! it was story people greeting cards. {do you know about story people by brian andreas? if not, i suggest a little trip to this website to enter the world of fabulousness.} and then she said it:

"meg! i got you these story people cards because we both love story people so much. i really wanted to get you this print that was so cute, but it was about having babies, so i couldn't get you that since you aren't pregnant."

seriously. she said that. a few hours after meg found out she was pregnant. and a few hours before she would be able to tell brett.

and the real miracle of it is this: MEG KEPT HER MOUTH SHUT. didn't say a word. first time probably in her whole life.

anyway, all that to say, that after michelle found out meg was pregnant, she went back and bought the story people print! it's been in the nursery waiting for a frame to put it in, but we just couldn't find one we liked. (we're very picky dogs, you know.) but then meg was hanging out with her new friend, wesley anne, and wesley anne suggested buying a not so cool picture frame (50% off at hobby lobby this week) and spray painting it!

here's the before:and the after:
...and it's true, karis. we cannot WAIT to love you forever.