Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Good-Bye 2008 - We Love You!!

Before 2008 is over, I found these priceless pictures I thought I posted, but just found them in my drafts.

These are from Alan's amazing first year birthday party! It was a sports themed party and oh so fun! So many touches that you could feel the love dripping in every one. Still can't believe Alan is one! Check out this adorable "toddler".

I absolutely love this picture with David and Lily! D loves football; especially the Bucs! Lily framed this picture for him and put it under the Christmas tree.




Ok, so we're not in matching outfits, but had to support the Gators who are SO much fun to watch! Especially TT!!



I guess since it's the new year, I'm cleaning house in blog land.
Found these in my drafts too!! This will go in her first year book that is coming together slowly but surely. I'm going to be so scared to hit "publish" when I finally order it because it's going to be filled to the gills.






This is one of my favorite spreads from her baptism...




And found these picture gems of Lily and Lainey. Feel like I went into a time machine for these! Lily is probably 2-3 months in these. Lainey just turned one. They have a neat friendship. They get so excited when they see each other and are always looking out for each other like sisters. If Lily starts crying, Lainey will run over with a toy, bring Lily her special green taggie blanket, get her bottle or try to distract her by making noises. They even sympathy cry for each other. If one starts crying, the other must be trying to validate their feelings because the other will join in. What girls. lol. Feel bad for Kelle in those moments, but she handles it with such ease. I love their relationship and how Kelle fosters it everyday!
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So as I clean up in blog world and close the year with a giant bow, I have nothing but love for 2008 and want to give a giant smooch! We were blessed in so many ways and I am humbled by all of them. Lily has changed so much in 8.75 months, but she is still so much the same because her heart is full of life, energy and happiness. She is like a beacon of light in our house and a giant band-aid over our formerly hurting hearts. I never thought life could ever be this perfect even though not everything is perfect. On April 4th, Lily came into this world and handed us these giant goggles to wear, allowing us to peek at this life through her eyes where everything is brighter, shinier, prettier, happier, funnier, kinder, and lighter. Lily is so little and too young to understand everything in her beautiful life; she looks at us and we know we are her entire world. If only she knew it was just the opposite.

She is our world.

She is our heart.

She is our everything.

Being a mom has changed me in the most dramatic ways. I feel like I belong to the most beautiful circle of parenting where I was on a really long waiting list, yearning to join, peeking through the windows, crying to the bouncer at the door, beating down the door, scaling fences trying to break in, trying to figure out the code to the padlocks, people begging me to join, looking for secret entrances and finally I was able to walk through the most beautiful & welcoming doors and feel more love than I've ever felt in my life. Not only for Lily, but for other parents, my parents, other babies, other kids, other teenagers, other people in general, even strangers, and just have my heart swell with happiness because I am a mom.

Finally.

And I feel like I prepared my whole life for this role. God just made us wait so he could hand pick this beautiful soul for us who was worth the wait. I forget about all the waiting and pain so often and have to literally remind myself because it seems like a different couple that went through all that junk. Another life. Another world. Thank you Lily for making 2008 one of those years we'll never ever forget and being the sunshine and the rainbow in our life. You make us better people and feel lucky enough to just hold your hand and know you. You will have a beautiful life and can't believe we are lucky enough to spend each day with you as you explore and become the person you're meant to be.

We are a family because of you.

Mother's Day 2008


Life is Good!!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

A Kid Again...

It's true what they say about reliving your childhood when you have kids. As an adult, I've never been so excited in anticipation of the big day. Wrapping the presents, preparing for Santa, planning surprises and seeing her face light up was the biggest gift I've ever received on Christmas. I couldn't sleep and tossed and turned waiting for Santa. I felt like today was Thanksgiving because thankfulness was just oozing from my every pore.

Thankful for Lily.

Thankful to have a family who loves her so much.

Thankful for a family who loves me so much.

Thankful for a family who loves each other so much.

Thankful for a family who is the epitome of love where I'm sure their picture would pop up if you googled the word LOVE.

This is what Christmas is all about...


Writing this letter to Santa was surreal to me. I felt like I was writing to God.

I still can't believe she is here.

She is real. She is ours.

She is staying.

When will it hit me?

Lily had a lot to say to Santa...


Santa left footprints to one of his gifts to Lily and she was jazzed up for it; smiling ear to ear.




Even Jan from Iowa sent Lily a present; personalized bib and Santa hat. Made her food even taste better. Thanks Jan...we love you! She loved the Jack in the Box too! Made her smile everytime!!


The kids made snowman cupcakes. See, Molly even feels like a kid again too. Kids do that to you.


Lots of hugs were given...



Bob's son Brian came too and was such a natural with Lily. He'll be a good daddy someday! We're SO happy you came all the way from MN to spend CHristmas with us!!


Lily's cousins love her so much!


Grace only says "Baby Lily" when talking to her or about her. She'll say things to me like

"Where is Baby Lily?"

"Is Baby Lily going to take a nap?"

"Can I help change Baby Lily?"

Or if she's talking to Baby Lily, she'll say:

"Baby Lily, do you want to have your bottle now?"

"Baby Lily, do you want to read a book?"

"Baby Lily, want me to show you how to crawl?"(go to crawl position)

So cute I can't stand it.
You can tell Lily looks up to her already!!


I think Grandma would take her home if she could...



and Lily even dressed up for the occasion...she was hit with all the elderly at church



She even got some exercise during her down time...


If there was a way to make this picture the size of my house, I would enlarge it to wrap around the outside ...this is why life is so good. It's not all the presents, the food, the shopping, scurrying around. It's the people in your life that make life so rich.


So Merry Christmas to everyone and thank you for enriching our lives in the way that you do!!

Life is oh so good! :)

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Santa Baby

There were major tears while we were waiting in line to see Santa.

Tears from me.

I used to avoid the malls like the plague around the holidays because seeing Santa represented so much of what I longed for. In an instant those feelings came flooding back! It's amazing how it usually seems so far away, but all the pain of trying to have Lily can come back in a moment! This was one of those moments.

Once we set Lily down on Santa's lap, I think she thought it was her turn to cry. She looked at us like we were crazy to put her with this crazy bearded man. Suddenly, the photographers were telling us to hop in the picture too. We knew we only had 1 shot at this so we wanted to get it right. Unprepared and not dressed appropriately, we hopped in and tried to make this picture what we always dreamed of...

we came up a little short...


Feeling defeated and ripped off because we had to pay an ridiculous amount of money for this jpeg and couldn't even use our own cameras, we went home thinking we'd have to wait until next year to get that perfect shot with Lily and Santa. I never knew pictures with Santa could be so rare and stressful. I called everywhere looking for a Santa. I thought there were Santas on every corner ready to say cheese.

Not so much.

Until we got home and I saw an adorable picture of Leah with Santa. I thought they were up North because of the background and great Santa, but Wylie told me it was just around the corner to us and it was FREE! And you can use your own camera!! That's my kind of Santa!!!



So the next night we hightailed it up there and got a much better shot of her with Santa.





Maybe one year, we'll be able to hop out of it so she can have some alone time with Santa. This picture is actually an optical illusion because even though she's smiling





it's actually an illusion because she's in the middle of a meltdown...(audience awws)




she went from happy-go-lucky to full out wailing in less than a second. even santa looks stressed...




awww, much better...Mommy saves the day(audience awws again)




Then we were honored to be invited to the Hampton 2nd Annual Hot Cocoa walk where they do a Christmas version of trick-or-treating going door to door playing Christmas music & passing out hot cocoa to neighbors. (topped with marshmallows by Lainey) It was so festive and the girls had a ball in their decked out Radio Flyer wagon which had a sign, garland, and even Christmas lights! Yes, battery operated Christmas lights!! At one point, Lily had a light in her mouth and she lit up like a glow worm!!





I would pay big money to know what is going on in their reindeer heads...




Thanks for including us Hampton Herd. It was snuggly, heartwarming, and put us ALL in the Christmas spirit!


Happy Holidays to everyone! May your hearts be full and bubbling over with love this holiday season!

Life is Good.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Balancing Act

Even though working and mommy'ing makes me feel "in the weeds" a lot, I still try to find the balance in all this...the wise and famous Arliss Perriello always said to picture your priorities in life represented as the legs of a chair. Giving equal attention to all so your chair of life doesn't get out of balance. Playing soccer is something I've done from age 4 to 34 and helps me to keep the chair stable. Having Lily on the sidelines with my dad and David is full circle for me. She watches intently like she knows the rules of the game. She's a cute mascot too.



She loves to be on her belly and is grasping at the carpet trying to get from point A to point B. She wants to crawl so badly, but can't figure out how to get up on her knees. The other night she rolled from one side of the great room to the other trying to get her goal. She'd roll to the left....take a breather...then roll left again...take a breather...then roll left again. She did this about 10 times until she got her grand prize...the camera bag.





God, I love this girl.





The monthly picture is getting harder and harder because she wants the paper in her mouth and will do whatever it takes to eat it. Don't be surprised if the paper is hanging from the ceiling next month. She LOVES paper! We usually have paper on hand to calm a fussy Lily! Works every time!




She looks like she's ready to take off like a rocket ship. December 4th was also Grandma's birthday - noted on the sign :)




then the famous back arching Lily kicks in...I think she's going to be a contortionist someday...






This could be her future self...


ok, that made me laugh.



For now, she'll just stick to the roads. Kelle buckled her up in this and Lily loved it!! Santa may be making one for her at the North Pole right now!



At the Christmas parade to see her cousin Katie...enjoying our life through the eyes of Lily heightens the 'special-ness' to a whole new level. Sometimes I feel like I can't smile big enough to represent my giddy feelings.



One of the pictures from our Christmas card...I love the way her tongue is turned when she smiles her open mouth smile.


Before mommy and daddy went out to our Christmas party - Grandma stayed behind and had a blast with Lily. Thanks Grandma! Not sure which of you 2 had more fun!

Life is good!
xoxo

Thursday, December 11, 2008

November Milestones

Some of the recent milestones. She's growing like gang-busters and her baby book is starting to bust at the seams trying to keep track of everything. (8 mo picture coming soon)




(fixed the missing "l" in "feel", but not showing up here for some reason?)


Mom is coming tonight to watch Lily tomorrow because Nanny K is going out of town. Nanny K's going on a much overdue trip to see her family in MI. Mom is chomping at the bit to get her paws on her grandpie! I don't know if I'm more excited for my mom to have so much uninterrupted time with Lily or for Lily to spend all this quality time with her Grandma. Either way, it'll be neat for both of them to bond all day!! Thanks Mom for taking a day off work to come over!! I feel like installing Nanny cams to watch all the love through the camera!!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Catching Up

Working on her milestone page from last month, but here's a peek at her Thanksgiving 2 page spread for her 1st year book on Shutterfly. I'm so excited for this book to be finished, but can't ever imagine her turning one so I feel like it'll never be completed.















I found these pages in my drafts that I never posted from her July and August milestone pages...







8 month pictures coming soon...how is she growing up so fast!?? Everyone says it gets better, but I think they're lying like Pinocchio because it can't get any better. I'm loving every minute and learning more about her everyday as she explores the world around her.


Life is good!