Best Time of Year

This is the best time of year, in my opinion. I am filled with such a joyful feeling. I don't know if it's the cooler, crisper weather, or the fact that everyone else is excited about the holidays and it's contagious, but I just love it! It's the only time of year I actually don't mind my picture being taken - I love doing photo Christmas cards! I didn't do one last year, but we did the year before (our first Christmas as a married couple). That year was a great year: we were newlyweds and we had our first "baby" - our Jack Russell, Bella! We had many outtakes for this picture, obviously, but the one we settled on was of her yawning. We thought it was so funny! Here is that picture:


This year is even more special. We have a little baby to include in our Christmas picture! As you all know, it took us nearly 2 years and lots of frustration and tears to get our bundle of joy. Last Christmas was not the happiest Christmas. We had been trying to get pregnant for a year and I couldn't help but feel sorry for myself that we didn't have a baby to share the holidays with. Everyone around me was getting pregnant within a month or two of trying... some were getting pregnant without trying! So why was it so hard for us? I had wanted to be a mother my whole life. I did everything right... college, marriage, house... where was my baby? Little did I know, the very next year I would get my wish. I can't wait to portray our first Christmas as a family via beautiful photo Christmas cards from Shutterfly.com. This year they have a HUGE selection. I couldn't even make it through all of the pages of wonderful options before I fell in love with this one: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/merry-blossoms-christmas-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93476

I like this one because it is simple, yet beautiful. I want one that just utilizes one picture, since we are taking a family photo (with the dogs, too!) I like the combination of brown and red and I just love the design!

For other great Christmas photo cards, go to: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

Don't celebrate Christmas? They have a selection of holiday cards, too: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

Don't forget about photo calenders, which make a great gift for grandparents: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

Thanksgiving

It's a little late, but technically it still counts as Thanksgiving since I have yet to go to bed!

You all know one of the things I am thankful for this year... my sweet baby girl. She has brought so much joy to my life and makes me thankful for such simple things every day... like holding her, staring at her, changing her diaper, feeding her, playing with her. I am just thankful to be her mother, and thankful that she is healthy and happy.

I am also thankful for my husband. We have been through a lot in our 6 year relationship. We have endured separation of the worst kind - when he was deployed to Iraq for 8 months. We have been through trying situations in our relationship and have always come out stronger. We have been through infertility and now have a beautiful baby and so much love in our family. Even though a day doesn't go by where I don't get frustrated with him, I am so thankful for him and I fall more in love with him each day. I am thankful we are about to celebrate 3 years of marriage next month :o)

I am thankful for my amazing parents. They have been there for me every single time I have needed them and have always supported me in every decision I make, and have always been there to help me when one of my decisions was a bad one. They are honest, loving and so much fun to be around. I am thankful to have spent another delicious Thanksgiving with them, and I hope I have many more Thanksgivings to spend with them both.

I am thankful for my sister, Erika, even if she is a pain in my ass sometimes. She may not know it, but I look up to her for a lot of things. I love her free spirit and envy her high energy level (and she doesn't drink coffee!) I think she keeps all of us going sometimes. I envy her beauty and her innocence (yes, some 26 year old still have innocence!) I love her "can't knock me down" attitude. She has had an extremely difficult year, but she is still smiling.

Lastly, I am thankful that, in spite of the CRAZY year Jimmy and I have had with the cost of school, job losses and new little family members, that we have been able to pay every bill and have food on the table. I know not every family has been as lucky in this crazy economy, so I am thankful that we are still scraping by :o)

God has been good to me this year!

With her great grandma today on Thanksgiving:


With the doctor who delivered her this past Tuesday:


Swaddled and sleeping peacefully in her crib:


With her grandma (my mom) last weekend:

Christmas outfit and Shutterfly Offer

I wanted to post pictures of Lauryn from Saturday. I put her in one of her Christmas dresses because we went to the lighting of the Christmas tree at our beautiful new outdoor mall here in Jacksonville called the St. Johns Town Center. They had live music, a ton of activities for kids, an arts market, and of course shopping! The big surprise before lighting the tree was a live performance by Vertical Horizon. They played one of my favorite songs "Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)". Here are the lyrics:

So you sailed away
Into a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring

Nothing's quite the same now
I just say your name now

[Chorus]
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't want me back
You're just the best I ever had

So you stole my world
Now I'm just a phony
Remembering the girl
Leaves me down and lonely

Send it in a letter
Make yourself feel better

[Chorus]
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't need me back
You're just the best I ever had

And it may take some time to
Patch me up inside
But I can't take it so I
Run away and hide
And I may find in time that
You were always right
You're always right

So you sailed away
Into a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring

What was it you wanted
Could it be I'm haunted

[Chorus]
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
I don't want you back
You're just the best I ever had
The best I ever had
The best I ever

They also played "Everything You Want" which is another great song by them.

Anyway, I also wanted to blog about a promotion Shutterfly is having. If I blog about them, I get 50 free holiday cards! I don't think they are picture cards, but I could be wrong. I am waiting on an e-mail from them with exactly what it is. Anyway, just go here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery to check out their new holiday collection. I have made photobooks and have done holiday cards through them before. They are extremely affordable and nice! I recommend them if you want photo holiday cards or if you want to do your own photobook.

Here is my little Lauryn in her Christmas outfit:

Letter to my baby girl - 1 month old

Lauryn,
Happy one month old day! I can't believe it has already been a whole month. To say you have changed my life would be an understatement. You have made each day so precious. You have made each morning the best morning I have ever had. I wake up and hear you crying for me and I am instantly filled with so much love for you. Sometimes I try and remember what it was like before you got here, and I honestly can't remember.

My favorite thing these days is when someone else is holding you, or when you are in your crib or in your swing and you start to cry the cry that only I know: it's the cry you cry when you want me. You will cry until I pick you up and hold your head against my chest and talk to you. You stop crying once you hear me and you hold very still, and then you curl up into me and close your eyes. It is one of the best feelings to know that sometimes I am the only thing you want and need.

Another thing I love is kissing your chubby cheeks, and your tiny hands, and your little feet. You are truly the most adorable thing I have ever seen. You make the silliest faces, and you have so many different faces. You like to pucker your lips and open your eyes really wide - you do this when you hear a familiar voice, and when you are pooping (haha)! You have your sad face - you make the cutest little frown with pouty little lips. Usually I can make you happy again before the sad face turns into a cry, but even when you cry it's adorable. Then you have your happy face - you smile really big, and even though everyone says smiles at this age are just reflexes - I think they are real.

Lauryn, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I prayed for you for so long, and truly believed I would never get to experience being a mother. Let me tell you now that you were well worth the wait. You are perfect, and no matter what happens, no matter what you do or say, I will be here for you and love you forever.

Happy one month!

Love,
Mommy

Lauryn Update

I haven't talked about my baby in a while. I've been slacking in the blogging department, not that anyone reads my blog anyway... but at least I have all my thoughts down for her to read one day :o)

So, Lauryn is doing great. Every day we get more comfortable and used to each other. We are getting into a pretty good routine. Each day she goes to bed and sleeps for her 6-hour stretch a little earlier. Thanks to daylight savings, that time is now midnight! Hooray! This may sound late to most of you, but it used to be 2:00am to 2:30am. She has this insane 3 to 4 hour awake period at night. I don't understand it. She has another 2 to 3 hour awake period in the late morning. The rest of the day she sleeps, and wakes only to eat and get her diaper changed. Oh, and we moved her into her room last night because all of her little noises were keeping me up at night. We are both sleeping much better now!

The funniest thing about this baby is her farting. I mean, this kid can pass some gas! She wakes up and starts grunting, trying to poop, and she literally farts like 20 times. Loud farts. Louder than I have ever farted... seriously. I was so concerned about it that I asked the pediatrician, who said it's normal (while laughing at me).

Anyway, her first Halloween was good. We went to a pumpkin patch by our house and got 3 little pumpkins... one for each of us. We were going to decorate them with markers and stickers but never got around to it... and Halloween is over so they are just a nice fall decoration on the ledge by our stairs. Then we took her to my parents' house (in her little monkey suit, picture below) and hung out for a while, watching the trick-or-treaters come up to my sister's "haunted garage". She had it decked out and was dressed up to scare the kids.

That is about all I have to update on. She is a pretty chill baby. She only cries when she is hungry, and sometimes when she just wants mommy to cuddle with her. She was 8lb 1oz at her 2 week check-up which means she gained a whole 15oz in 10 days (she was 7lb 2oz at her 4 day check-up)... which is amazing considering they only look for newborns to gain 1/2oz to 1oz each day... so Lauryn gained way more than that! They were impressed since I breastfeed exclusively, especially since her birth weight was 7lb 1oz and they typically lose 10% of that within the first couple of days after birth... most babies are lucky to be back up to their birth weight for their 2 week check-up. Anyway, enough bragging about my awesome breastfeeding. I will be doing a special "letter to Lauryn" post on Thursday since my baby will be 4 weeks/1 month old! I plan to write a letter to her each month. So, until Thursday... have a great week!

PS - I forgot my exciting news: I am only 5lbs away from pre-pregnancy weight and I am BACK INTO MY PRE-PREGNANCY PANTS!! Go me! I think it's crazy that I gained 37 lbs while pregnant and in less than 4 weeks I have lost 32 lbs. I came home from the hospital and had only lost 12 lbs from the birth... then over the next week I literally lost 10 lbs of what I can only assume is water weight (I was SO SWOLLEN!) and then the remaining 10 lbs I am assuming is fat. Anyway, I am super excited about this! I can't wait to impress my doctor at my 6 week check-up. My goal is to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight by then (November 23rd)! Oh, and the gestational diabetes is also gone. I checked my blood sugar for a day after I got home, and it was completely back to normal. I hope that gives some reassurance to those of you out there with gestational diabetes!

For your viewing pleasure, my little monkey: