happy new year, 2010

Who doesn't reflect over the past year on New Year's Eve? I don't make resolutions anymore. Mainly because I usually fail to keep them, but also because I don't believe that resolutions are a once-a-year thing. Aren't we all striving each day to be better? I don't need a tattered list of things like "take more baths" and "lose weight" to remind me of what comes into my mind each day. But I do believe in reflection. Because if you don't know where you've been, how do you really know where it is you want to go?

The Top 10 Things I Learned in 2009

1. I need to read more books and less magazines.

2. Childbirth is harder than people tell you before the epidural, and easier than people tell you after it.

3. I thought I was voting for the lesser of the two evils in the 2008 presidential election. I was wrong.

4. I am a better mom than I think I am, though not as good as I wish I was.

5. Just because you don't have a job doesn't mean you don't work.

6. There's little a good night of sleep can't fix.

7. Asking for help is harder than accepting it.

8. Cowboy boots are comfortable. Really.

9. Vices are bad, but necessary.

10. If I had my life to live again, I wouldn't change a thing.

leaving the nest(ing)

I've been nesting like crazy for the past couple of days. It reminds me of when I was nesting in the last weeks of pregnancy, making sure everything was ready for the baby when I brought her home. Except this time, it's to gain some control of making her leave. On Monday, in four short days, Britton starts daycare. I know the endless chores won't really make a difference, but is there really something wrong with believing that if her pants are folded nicely and the dishes are done the minute they hit the sink, she won't notice that I will be spending 45 less hours per week with her? Maybe the constant dusting will distract her from the fact that she will now be cared for by two women who don't know what her cries mean, or if she needs just a little more milk before she'll go to sleep, or if rubbing her eyes means her cold is back or if she is tired. Sure, they will learn. They will also be caring for seven other babies at the same time. Will they notice the first time she rolls over completely? Will they tell me, or will telling me make me cry the entire drive home because I wasn't there to see it. And they know it because they've seen it happen before.

And to make things more difficult, I'm not going back to a job. I'm learning a completely new one. A job where I won't have the same autonomy I did at my last one. I hope I like it, I hope I don't spend every minute wondering what Britton is doing, or if she is cold, or how long she cried before her nap, or if anyone noticed that her Winnie-the-Pooh snuggly fell and she can't reach it. I clean because it gives me a semblance of control over the changes that are happening. But, come Monday, I must put down the dust rag and put away the vacuum, because it's time.

merry christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! We received 14.1 inches of snow on Christmas Eve (a record in OKC), and pretty much stayed glued to the television to watch the progress of the blizzard. I think at last count the highway patrol had towed 348 vehicles. We watched "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and ate and never got dressed and loved every minute of it.

Grandma and Grandpa tricked us into going to a furniture store under the guise of them needing a new coffee table, only to turn around and buy us a beautiful leather sectional! Our previous couch was broken and uncomfortable and if you're ever thinking of buying a couch from Value City Furniture, I wouldn't. They gave us lots of incredible gifts, and Britton wasn't wanting for a thing when the wrapping paper stopped flying. The hub got me cowboy boots and two gorgeous sweaters, and a new coffee maker. I'm going "Office Space" on my old one and beating it in my front yard with a baseball bat! And my mom and sister had sent gifts, so we got to open them Christmas morning as well.




Pajamas + cowboy boots = new fashion trend I'm starting

my first christmas

Britton has a total of 3 "My First Christmas" outfits, and we're getting as much wear out of them as possible. Believe me, these fantastic striped pants will find their way into her wardrobe.

Seahorses pulling Santa's sleigh...courtesy of Grandma's mad Florida shopping skills

let it snow

And snow it did! Sandra and I ran out this morning to hunt down some red pants for Britton and pick up a few Christmas items. By the time we got to the mall, a whole four miles away, the roads were getting slushy. Luckily, having lived in West Virginia for many years, I am well-versed in driving in crappy weather. But it doesn't help that no one in Oklahoma knows how to drive in snow. So, we raced home and settled in to watch the news. Each hour a different interstate was shut down, 40 and 50 car pile-ups, and finally a declaration of a state of emergency. Needless to say, we aren't going anywhere.

art & steak

I have run into some very cute prints on Etsy and of course had to order them. These two are by MultiplePersonality (real name Sara) and the Halloween one is for the hub's office. I love the little girl's expression, I love the dog, I love the whole thing:




And I ordered this one from papermoth on Etsy for our bedroom, and the colors go beautifully with our new bedding (when it arrives on February 4th - stupid Pottery Barn and their backordering!). I love fall, it is my favorite season and this print gives me the same feeling. One of the best things about living in Charleston, WV was driving up to Morgantown for football games in the fall. Every trip the leaves were more and more spectacular, and the colors were amazing.



Also for our bedroom, these two prints were prints of the beach. Because they will no longer go with the new bedding, I decided to change them up (in a way I could keep them and use them again in the future). I turned the prints around and put in copies of our wedding invitation, enlarged to show the part with our names, then the part with the date and place. I love how they turned out, and $14.63 later at FedEx Office, I had art.



Now, back to our Christmas week o' fun. Yes, I have been doing more than buying myself Etsy art and new bedding. We waited until after Britton's morning nap, then headed out to Cattlemen's. If you don't know, Cattlemen's is a legend in Oklahoma City, located in the stockyards and is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

amazing lights

Last night we all piled into the truck and went down to Chesapeake Energy to see their Christmas lights. They have wrapped every limb of every tree with 2.5 million bulbs. It's amazing - like a winter wonderland that instantly puts you in the Christmas spirit.

not so newborn

I had to include this picture...she wasn't ready for the picture (or tired of the flash), but she was on the way to a smile and she just looks so darn cute...


Has anyone seen my newborn? I mean the little one who couldn't do anything but eat, sleep, poop, and occasionally look at things cross-eyed. Anyone? Because she's not here anymore. Instead I found a baby. One who tries desperately to sit up and looks like she's doing crunches, who can roll around her crib, who can reach both sides of the crib at the same time, who tries to talk and baby babbles in paragraphs now, who can hold her head up and sit in her Bumbo seat without slumping over, who wants to be entertained and demands attention beyond feeding, who can not only enjoy the activity mat but now reaches and grabs and pulls and squeals with delight if she gets the giraffe.

Oh, they grow up so fast.

I know the next milestones - the crawling, the rolling over completely, the walking, the talking, the eating. But I also know they grow to need independence, push mom away, demand to do it herself, leaving me the beautiful sight of the back of her head as she charges into the world.

But please, just let her be little...because she's only that way for a while...

getting ready for Christmas

Britton has been doing much better with her sleep, though I did catch her on the monitor one night doing what it is she does that wakes her up. She tries to sit up in her crib. All the activity finally wakes her up and she decides that since she's up anyway, might as well eat.

So she's been crashing in the early evening...


But that's fine with me. And she's still trying to put everything into her mouth, even our fingers.




Today Britton and I made Christmas cookies. I make them every year for the hub to bring to work and to give to friends. I LOVE baking, got into it when I was pregnant and never stopped. Cooking frustrates me because I'm not the kind of person to just throw in this sauce or that spice. I need the structure of baking because it being so precise I can guarantee the outcome. So this morning I couldn't wait until Mom's Day Out this afternoon and propped Britton up on the counter at 7:30 a.m. for a little baking lesson. I told her what I was doing as I was doing it, and threw in little tips (like "Don't overwork the dough!") along the way. She was completely entertained, and I'm certain that during her morning nap she dreamt of sparkling sugar and cookie dough.




Grandma and Grandpa will be here on Sunday, and Britton and I are making even more cookies so they'll be fresh when our guests get here. Then it is nine whole days of Christmas vacation. I can't wait!

family pictures

With the Christmas cards finally sent out, I can share our family portrait fun! Tiny Prints, the company that printed our cards, rejected the outside shots because of the sun. Something about it printing out as a white spot in the card. So we decided on the first shot, in front of our fireplace. And, as usual, when Britton saw the camera she refused to smile. Enjoy!



Love that Sadie and Britton are looking at each other...

lovely saturday and not-so-lovely saturday night

On Saturday the hub, Britton, and I ventured out to meet the hub's aunt Judy and cousins Carrie and Randi for lunch. They have an annual Christmas shopping trip to Oklahoma City, and this year we met up with them for some sustenance before they braved the mall.





We had a wonderful time hanging out with the ladies and eating some good Mexican food. It's not often that the hub and I actually enter a restaurant other than to pick up take-out, so this was a real treat. And of course, for me, adult conversation for an hour was incredible!

But, all good things must end. And Saturday night, between sleep regression and gas issues, Britton was up, off and on, until 5:00 a.m. The hub and I took shifts, pulling out our collective parenting playbook to comfort this girl into blissful sleep. But she wasn't having any of it. Finally, at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning, I awoke to Britton laid out on the floor of the living room, and the hub sleeping next to her with only a few throw pillows and a blanket. I tell you, my heart melted.

friday

My friend Missy told me that Britton really enjoys the Bumbo chair. We had tried it with her before, but she always ended up uncomfortable and hunched over. Not anymore...



And, in other news...

Guess what sleeping weird on your arm, plus carrying around 15 pounds, 2 ounces will get you?

disney and christmas

We love Disney World like we love Christmas - a lot. We're lucky in that Grandma and Grandpa live so close to Disney, and are also equally, if not more, in love with it. So I thought I'd share our Disney ornament collection (including the new "Baby's 1st Christmas"), which will hopefully be large enough one day to require its own tree.