Potpourri

OK, I know I have been a pretty slack blogger lately, but it's amazing how much less time you have to do things like blog when you have to work. This is kind of an assortment of everything that's been going on in our lives in the last several weeks.

First of all, our church called and asked us if we could be the "Holy Family" for the Christmas Pageant. They like to have a newborn for Jesus, but the family that was going to do it got sick so they started making calls to find a baby Jesus. After calling several families with younger babies, they ended up on Carter (a 7 month old at the time). We thought it would be fun to do and it was. I even had to say a line as Mary. Carter did great; he sat up in the manger the whole time and played with the straw. He was a pretty cute baby Jesus if you ask me.

The next momentous occasion was the lowering of Carter's mattress. I went to get him one morning and he was almost half way hanging over the edge. I told Scott that when we got home from work that day the mattress HAD to be lowered. It was kind of sad to see the change.....we don't have a newborn anymore.

Since I had to go back to work and we haven't been able to get Carter into daycare, Granny had to come save the day! She has dropped what she was doing back in MB and come to keep Carter for the next couple of months. It has been wonderful having her here, and I think Carter really loves it. They get to play, hang out outside, and play with the doggies all day. (I'm totally jealous)

Finally, (and this just happened on Monday) Carter experienced his first snow. Who would've thought! But sure enough we got a little covering on the deck, so dad took him out to take a few pics in the snow.

And last but certainly not least, Carter got a new cousin on Monday. My sister had to have an emergency C-section on Monday because her placenta was rupturing. So, we got Noah 9 weeks early. He was 4lbs. and 4ozs. He was having a little bit of trouble breathing because his lungs weren't fully developed so they sent him to the NICU in Florence. But he is doing much better and Holly is doing great. I don't have any pictures because I haven't gotten to meet him yet, but hopefully I'll get to see him Saturday and the pics will be forthcoming.

Working Girl

I'm officially a working girl (Scott and Dad have been calling me that lately). I'd much rather be stay-at-home girl, but oh well. Work is going really well. I've been training this week and reading up on the insurance industry.

I got to work on Monday and was pleasantly surprised by the size of my cube. It's really pretty large, and they had a banner up that said "welcome to the team, Amber" which they all signed. On Tuesday they took me out to lunch to welcome me also. Everyone is really nice and likes to joke around, so they seem pretty easy going. I really think it will be a good fit.

I sure do miss Carter though. It was everything I could do NOT to cry on Monday, but I didn't. And Granny is taking excellent care of him!

Ho Ho Ho

I know I'm a little late on the Christmas post, but I really haven't had the time. I figured better late than never, though. Other than being sick and then getting all the Rankin's sick, Christmas was great. My sister in law Shea and her husband and son stayed with us for a few days before Christmas and Carter and Caleb got in some fun play time. Caleb really liked pushing Carter around in his walker. This is when Scott and I were sick and couldn't get out of bed, but Shea and Eric so graciously helped with Carter. THANK YOU! (and I'm so sorry we got you sick!)

We always celebrate Christmas eve with Scott's side of the family. We got together at Sean's house this year for a wonderful dinner that Heather made. Then we proceeded to open presents while poor Sean was upstairs in bed, sick. Sorry Sean, but Carter loved the truck you got him for Christmas.
After we opened presents, Scott's mom played guitar and we all sang a few carols before going home to get ready for midnight mass.
On Christmas morning, we got up and Carter got to check out all the goodies Santa left him. Here he is checking out his stocking.
Then we got in the car and headed to Myrtle Beach to do Christmas with my family. This is Teagan opening the train table Granny and Papa got her for Christmas.

After presents, we had a great meal that mom prepared. Carter and I stuck around until Sunday when we got kicked out because Granny and Papa came down with the bug! So, we headed back to Columbia. Then we got to visit Aunt Heather and Chap (Carter's godparents) for the day. Here's Aunt Heather trying to convince Carter to take a nap. He wasn't falling for it though.

All in all, it was a great Christmas with family and friends and it will probably go down in the books as the year everybody got sick. I guess that gives us something to look forward to next year...a healthy Christmas!