Precious Moment

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our Christmas decorations are up - I'll try and post some pictures later this week. Lily had tons of fun helping hang ornaments on the tree and placed the star on top of our tree.

A weekend of firsts

Bear had a long weekend full of firsts:

First Thanksgiving: We had a great Thanksgiving Day lunch with Steve and Carol and the rest of Josh's family. Bear had his first taste of dressing, sweet potato casserole, and turkey. He is still having a bit of trouble with table food, but seemed to like everything but the turkey. I would post photos, but I was a bad mom and forgot my camera. Lily, Josh, and I also enjoyed our Thanksgiving day festivities. We ate much more than Bear and had fun spending time with the extended family.

First Birthday: Though we had his party last weekend, Bear's real birthday was Friday. I still can't believe he's one!

First Alabama/Auburn game: The first of his many Iron Bowls was victorious for the Crimson Tide. Bear wore his jersey to watch the game with daddy and Alabama remains undefeated!

First Haircut: I took Bear today for his first real haircut. I've tried to trim his bangs a bit, but did a horrible job. Josh said he looked like Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber after I finished. I decided that it was starting to look bad and I was scared to try again so I took him to Fantastic Sams for a trim. He did a great job, much better than I expected. He looks like such a little boy now, not a baby! Before the haircut

Getting ready to start
First Snips
Patience is wearing down

Up Close

Finished Product

Thanksgiving Belated

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and it was so nice to be able to celebrate with family and reflect on all the many blessings I have in my life. I have many reasons to be thankful this year, but here are 8 for 2008:
1. Josh - Josh is truly my best friend and I am so thankful that he is my husband. It's hard to believe that we've been married for 5 1/2 years. It seems like just yesterday that we were falling in love at Furman - now we're settled into a wonderful life here in Georgia. He is a wonderful provider for our family and is always willing to pitch in and help with things around the house. His outgoing and carefree personality balances my reserved and cautious nature. We definitely have our disagreements at times, but I can't think of anyone else I'd rather spend my life with!
2. Lily - Lily is my little fireball. I love her curiosity and free spirit, though at times it does drive me mad! I am so thankful that she is happy, healthy, and so full of love for those around her. It definitely makes me feel like Josh and I are doing something right in raising her.
3. Bear - Bear has stolen my heart this year. He is one of the most content, easygoing babies I've ever known. I love the way he squeals with delight when I come to pick him up in the afternoons after work and how he is learning to blow me kisses and play patty-cake with me.
4. Friends & Family - We depend on our friends and family so much and are so blessed to have them all in our lives. Our parents have had a huge impact on who we are today and are now such great grandparents to Lily and Bear. Our brothers and sister-in-laws are so supportive of us and also are a huge help with the kids. We also have wonderful friends - from footballs games to girls nights out, our friends add so much to our lives.
5. Jobs - In this time of economic uncertainty, we are blessed to have good, stable jobs. Though my dream would be to stay home with my babies, I really do enjoy what I do. Children's is a great place to work and they are so accommodating of my need to balance work/home. I'm fortunate to have a great team of co-workers that makes going to work much easier.
6. Home - I am thankful for our beautiful home. We bought it about 3 years ago, before we knew we were having Lily. It's changed a bit since then, but worked out great because we've got tons of room for our family and are in a fantastic neighborhood. I love that we are making memories in a home that we can be so proud of.
7. Laney - Laney is our "1st child" and often gets overlooked. She is, however, such a sweet loving dog. She puts up with the torture that Lily puts her through on a daily basis and has never snapped or bitten the kids. She's a little quirky, but we love and are thankful for her.
8. My precious Savior - All the blessings I have are from Him alone. I can't begin to show my gratitude for all that He has done and continues to do in my life.

!st Birthday Fun

Today, we celebrated Bear's 1st Birthday with his party. His real birthday isn't until Friday, but with the Thanksgiving holiday next week, we figured it would be better to have his party this weekend. We had lots of fun celebrating with family and friends. Josh has really gotten in to grilling Boston Butt, so we had that along with macaroni and cheese for the kids. Our family, friends, and many of Bear and Lily's friends got to come to the party, including Katie Anne, Emma, Brodie, Ellie, Eliza, and little Lauren. Bear loved his cake, which was such a drastic change from Lily's 1st Birthday. She cried and wouldn't touch her cake, but he devoured his and loved the attention. He really didn't seem to get the concept of opening gifts, but that's too be expected. He got lots of fun new toys and clothes. Lily is loving having new things to play with as much as Bear.

The yummy cake

The Big Girls (Lily, Emma, andEllie) having their picnic
Bear and Katie Anne playing - Bear really wanted to keep up with her!

Eating and Visiting
The "Before" Baby Cake

Blowing out the Candle Just a taste

Digging in
Momma and Baby
The "After" Baby Cake
My sweet girlfrinds Katie and Natalie
Opening gifts
What a fun day!!

I'm having such a hard time believing that Bear is turning one in less than a week. It seems like just yesterday that I was snuggling with him as a newborn - now he is on the verge of being a very curious toddler, reluctant to sit still in my lap. Growing up, you always here about how fast time goes by. I never understood that until I had kids, but now I totally see it. Every new stage with Lily and Bear is so much fun, but I really sometimes wish I could just freeze time with them. Moments like today remind me to cherish every moment with my beautiful little blessings from God!

All I Want For Christmas...

Lily was watching cartoons tonight while I was fixing our dinner. Below is our conversation:

Lily: "I want that for Christmas" (pointing to a pink pony toy being advertised on tv)
Me: "Ok, we'll have to see."
Lily: "Ok."
The next commercial comes on. It is for a Dora dollhouse. Yes Katie - more Dora for my Mexican wannabe child :)
Lily: "Momma, I want that for Christmas too. When is Christmas coming? Is it tomorrow?"
Me: "Ok Lily. We'll have to see what we can do. Christmas is still a little ways off, it's not tomorrow."
The next commercial comes on. It is for a baby doll that gets her own teeth.
Lily: "I neeeed that for Christmas. I need EVERYTHING, ok?"

Thank you Nick Jr for putting all of these "needs" in my child's head! And if anyone needs ideas for Lily, she apparently wants/needs everything!

We're Back

Josh and I are back from a long weekend in New York City. About a week ago, a vendor that Josh uses invited him up for what is called in the finance world a "due dilegence" meeting. He'd have to "work" for 2 days, but we decided that I would tag along and we'd stay through the weekend and make a mini-vacation out of it.

On Monday of last week, I started having second thoughts about our trip. First, I'd not left Bear for more than 2 nights - we'd be gone for 4 nights. Then, on Monday afternoon, we found out Bear had a double ear infection - poor baby! To make matters worse, Lily and I both came down with a stomach bug on Tuesday. My sweet mother-in-law insisted we go and she'd take good care of my sick babies - so off we went.

We spent Wednesday in Newark, NJ for the first part of Josh's meeting. They had a cocktail hour and then took us into Manhattan for dinner at a Chinese restaraunt, Ollie's Noodle House. It was different, but good, and it was fun meeting some other people in Josh's line of work from around the East Coast.

I slept in on Thursday morning while Josh has meetings and then at lunch we were taken back to Manhattan where we'd stay for the rest of our trip. While Josh attended a few more sessions in the vendor's building in the Garment District of NYC, I went to lunch with a few of the other wives whose husbands' were on the trip. We were having lunch in a trendy little bistro when in walks Tim Gunn, designer from several shows on Bravo. I was a bit shocked to see him eating lunch next to us - and I was too nervous that he'd hate what I was wearing to say anything to him! I explored around Times Square the rest of the afternoon and then we were treated to another fabulous dinner by the REIT company we were there with.

Josh and I before Dinner in Times Square

Friday morning, Josh and I got up early and went to the Today Show. We stood in line before the show started with our poster for the kids in tow. It was fun to see Meredith, Matt, and Al and we even got on tv for a bit. (Josh is quite embarrased about my 10 seconds on tv - ask him all about it). We spent the rest of the day relaxing, sightseeing, and shopping a bit. Friday night, we had reservations for dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria and went a bit early to see a finance show that tapes in the hotel bar there. We had a great dinner, which doesn't happen often with 2 little ones and then headed back to Broadway to see the Lion King. If you haven't seen it already, I'd highly recommend it. We loved the show and had a great time.

Josh and I before the Today Show

Me and our poster for the kids

It was an early morning for my sweet hubbie!

Josh and I at the Lion King

On Saturday, we had fun exploring shops on the Upper East Side and then settled in to the ESPN Zone to watch the Alabama/LSU game. I would have really thought we would be the only Alabama fans in the place, but there were at least 4 other tables full of Crimson Tide fans! After a great win we went Christmas shopping for the little ones in the huge ToysRUs in Times Square and headed back to our hotel.

Josh and I watching the game

We had a great time in New York, but definitely missed Lily and Bear. It seems like all of our conversations some how ended up talking about them and how much fun it would be to bring them to New York when they get a bit older. They were so excited to see us on Sunday afternoon, but I know they also had a great time getting spoiled by the grandparents!