christmas

I know it's 2010 now, but there's still a few priceless pictures hanging around from Lily's 2nd Christmas. She has always worn footed jammies, every night, for the last 20 months, but to see her in these 2 piece collared button up jammies was too cute for words. I couldn't stop snuggling with her. She looked so grown up and reminded me of Hugh Hefner without his 'sidekicks'. lol





Lily has more babies than the Octo-Mom now and she can't get enough. She has all the accessories and feeds them, bathes them, changes them, rocks them to sleep, reads to them rubs their back, kisses them, and feeds them some more. This baby actually talks to her and makes a gulping noise when she's fed so this is one well fed baby who would need to go on Weight Watchers if Lily was in charge.

This baby even cries and when it happens, Lily stops in her tracks, her eyes get as big as saucers and she'll RUN over to her, pick her up, saying "baby" over and over while rocking her and patting her back. I love to see her loving these babies like her own as it's teaching her so many lessons about love, caring for others, empathy and just makes her heart swell with pride when the baby talks saying, "I love you" and her face lights up like she made that happen. I know the feeling Lils.


Then she went into the closet and went from the Heff into a pretty little girl all dressed in her Christmas best. How did we get so lucky? Be. Still. My. Heart.




and she even showed off her new digs to sweet Bella.


then the whole family came on over for the love and laughter...thanks to Dan's recipe, we all helped to make Jumbalaya to mix things up a little vs the traditional turkey and it was delish...despite the fact we lost 5 lbs of rice and actually went to Walgreens laughing all the way asking for 5 lbs of rice. The Jumbalaya Project Manager, (aka David) wasn't happy, but we managed to rake thru our pantry and find about 10 boxes of Rice_a_Roni and did our best to make it work. It was scrumptious.


and of course, many art breaks were taken too




and MANY presents were opened...and then some more...and then some more. Our great room looked like Toys R Us exploded right in our very own home. We could open an in-home daycare and have 20 kids on opening day.


and the shot of all shots...one of the shots I just can't delete from my camera because I love it so much. (hugging camera, petting lens) Not because everyone is looking and smiling, but because if you were to take an x-ray of my heart, these would be some of the people wrapped around it, hugging it, holding it up, and working around the clock filling it up with unconditional love, hope, laughter, kindness, strength, undying support, balance, peace, loyalty, more laughter, and making me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. (this shot was one take on a timer, camera sitting on top of books)

muah, i could kiss this picture.


life is good :)

Christmas Eve

Jen and Jamie were kind enough to host Christmas eve so after mass, we headed over to their house for the best chili this side of the okeechobee. They also had a new addition to the family. Meet Bella...sweet, kind, loving, cuddly and the best gift from Santa. Also, when we first got there, I did a double take thinking Katie had a friend over because I couldn't believe how much older Grace looked with her new haircut.



Lily squeals with delight when she get to touch the "daw", Bella




she even likes to tilt her head like a puppy...



I love when she's dressed in her "Sunday Best" even if it was a Thursday :)




Even the snowman got some cuddles...



lots of food, lots of laughing, lots of talking about nothing and everything all at once :)


Lily is a bit of a fixator lately...as in she fixates on something for looooong periods of time. Whether it's reading books, drawing, loving her babies, or playing with shoes, this girl likes to do it, concentrates and will do it for hours if we let her. Hours I tell you. The other day she was taking shoes off, putting them on, then started reading the labels in each shoe. Oh and she can't put a shoe on her foot to save her life, (even after many lessons) but she'll spend forever trying without getting frustrated. And I mean forever. So she had a little fun sitting in her big chair and drawing intently...what I wouldn't do to know what's going on in that little brain as the synapses are firing away!


and of course we stopped by her art station to try to join in the fun. Sometimes she'll say "bye-bye mommy" if I sit down next to her to try to play with her. (big eyes, busting a gut laughing)


and no night would be complete without a trip to see the moooooooooon in her new Christmas jammies. She says "moooon" and holds the word for 5-10 seconds, like she's howling and even puts her head up in the air like a wolf.


and of course "mouh" comes with too from the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series which she loves too...kicking myself for not buying all the stuffed animals when Kohl's had them. Who knew they'd be such a hit and after multiple calls, scouring the internet, I've let it go to the stuffed animals gods that Kohl's no longer carries the others (RIP pig, moose and cat; you would've had a beautiful life with us)


I couldn't fall asleep Christmas Eve knowing how much her face was going to light up at the surprises we (and Santa) had in store for her. Seeing Christmas through her eyes makes everything magical.

life is good

ho ho ho

So many pictures, so little room on the blog for them all...these holiday pictures will have to be a 5 parter post to save room on the internet for the other blogs; in short, i think we took around 300 pictures in 3 days...um, is that possible? There's a few pictures that have been safely transferred to my computer, filed securely, shared with family, but i can't delete off my camera because i love them so much and want to be triple sure they're never lost. And I have http://www.mozy.com/ working for me too. When a guy worked on our computer and saw my picture mgmt system, he said "have u ever been through a crash?" I was actually embarrassed to say no i haven't.

I digress.

With Lily's lack of love for Santa, but love for the gifts, we decided to take a chance at a shot with the jolly ole' man. No tears, but definitely didn't want to snuggle up with him so, as tradition would have it, we joined in the reindeer games (pun intended) Notice the hip Lily chose as we walked up to greet him.


and Lily hit it off with the friendliest, kindest elf named Meghan. Lil was rattling off her list to her and Meghan had to practically use shorthand to keep up with her.



Dear Bass Pro Shops, give Meghan a raise because she was a beautiful soul inside and out.




and when I was going through Lily's holiday clothes, I found this gem of an outfit and almost fell down the stairs from the cuteness. It said PD on the tag which meant only one thing...Peyton used to wear this too, which is baffling to me because she seems so much bigger and I can barely remember her this little. Thanks Heidi! Also, thanks Pam for the snowman that Lily carries around with her like a lucky rabbit's foot.



Grandpa joined us too and Lily really looks like a real little person (daddy's nickname) next to some of her favorite guys. :)



this is just a sneak peek of the fun, memories and love shared with family during the most beautiful time of the year. enjoy your family and give them an extra snuggly hug today and everyday.

life is good.

merry christmas

after 7 years of just the 2 of us, our christmas card was looking kinda stale; some years i was so sullen about sending them out because it was just us.

it was like a mass mailing to our loved ones announcing we still weren't pregnant. like somehow we were less than because we weren't a real family. no one said it. no one implied it. no one thought it. no one made us feel that way. but we felt it.

christmas was one of the hardest holidays when we were trying to become a family of 3 and if you're out there still trying, i know you've never felt such pain in all your life. sometimes i used to feel i couldn't breathe from the pain of just wanting what seemed so natural to have in life. i didn't want the winning lottery ticket. i just wanted to be a family. if you're in that place now, im here to tell you, you'll never know such joy.

one day.

your time will come.

the empty pain will vanish.

it will be magical.

i promise.

this is our 2nd year with the 3 of us and nothing makes me happier.

nothing.

i'd move mountains for these 2 people who are the reason we are 3.




her kind heart...her happiness...her filled room...her little voice...her sweet energy has breathed life into our family and we thank God everyday for her humbling and intoxicating love. in that, i finally got my winning lottery ticket.

merry christmas

Sharing in Sharon

So you know those small towns you hear about with one stop light, doors stay unlocked, and everybody knows your name? Well, that's Sharon, SC and where David's family lives. His parents retired there after 30+ years in the busy life Tampa and his brother moved there when he got married. It's like Mayberry. Life is simple there. WalMart is a 40 minute drive. gasp. And being that I was at our WalMart yesterday, I wanted to run and hide back in Mayberry. There is nothing simple about WalMart during the holidays. (mack truck running me over)

So, a few weeks ago, we packed up our suitcases and took Lily's 2nd flight to Mayberry. She couldn't believe she was so close to airplanes which she recently became infatuated with and can hear them miles away like she's in the army and her job is to spot overhead interference. If we're outside and she sees one, she freezes, her face lights up and she points saying "pane", then watches it intently until it's out of sight. She'll wave and say "bye-bye" like the passengers were all waving back. So she was pretty happy to be this close to her panes. She sat up on these chairs like she was one of the passengers waiting to board.


When we got off the plane, it was late, she was tired, in that tired half-asleep/half-awake not wanting to miss anything, super snuggly as she just changed into her fleece jammies... as soon as she saw Duane, who she hasn't seen in over a year, she took one look at him and put out her tired arms for some cuddles and hellos. I was almost run over by a car when I passed out from the sweetness. Here's Duane and Lily during playtime the next day.



And talk about sweetness. How about seeing little 20 month old Lily with her 97 year old great grandma. Sweet Thelma was playing peek-a-boo with her, stared and smiled nonstop when she was in the room and was even seen rocking it out next to the fish jukebox that plays "don't worry, be happy" while the fish dances mouths the words at a touch of a button. Guess who pressed that button 4,000 times?


The first day, she had the stomach bug, throwing up, sleeping extra long, but once she was over that and passed it on to daddy a few days later (who passed it to Dottie, who passed it to almost everyone after we left), but once she was over that she wanted to play outside and their outside backyard is about as big as my 5 neighbors backyard...combined. They don't mess around in Sharon with their lot lines. As in you can't see your neighbor's house unless you use your binoculars.

Here she is yearning to go outside...

Rusty the dog wanted to go too, but wasn't allowed so when I said "no, Rusty, you stay inside" she backed me up by pointing and waving her hand doing sign language for "no-no"....thanks Lil for having my back :) These two were fast friends and got along great (unless he stole her food then the serious waterworks took effect)



but once we got outside she didn't know what do with herself once she has all this open land to explore...

Lily loves to overstuff her arms with things to hold and walk around. She denies my many offers to help her hold anything. The other day she had full hands wanting to bring everything outside and she wanted to bring a book too, but had no room so she put it in her mouth. She used her mouth as a holding option. Hilarious. Here she is, once again, double fisted while playing. One of David's favorite pictures he wanted as his computer wallpaper at work. awww




after playing ball, we decided to do what is normal in most neighborhoods. We went to visit the neighbor and feed their horses. What you don't have horses living next door to you? Running wild and free? What? They don't lean over your common fence and want some carrots? In Mayberry they do.





and boy did she love being around her sweet, doting cousins Allison and Anna who never let her out of their sight when they were around...


then she took a little break, sighed and sat down on the step like "phew, this mayberry is wiping me out, i need a little time to myself"



so we went inside for none other than another story...Grandma made a special trip to the library before our visit so these were all new books which she loved...thanks Gma :)



So Lily and I were reading on the couch when she abruptly left me mid-story and decided she wanted to set up camp alone with her baby. She kicked me to the curb. Even said "bye-bye" as she was getting down. At least she was polite about it. ha
I didn't know what she was doing at first, but she went to the other clear end of the couch, tried her darndest to get up on the almost-too-high couch, sat down, got situated, re-situated, organized the books in a tall pile like we do before a reading marathon, made sure baby could see properly and read away. Book after book. She's doing the ItsyBitsy Spider on the left and will do the hand motions anytime she sees a spider in any book. She even claps for herself when she's through. Glad she has good self esteem. All this reading made her stop for a drink for herself then shared it with her baby. I truly don't know what to do with myself when I see things like this happen before my eyes. Silly little moments like this make me happier than I've ever known possible.



Later we went to visit Santa, which she's not a fan of from afar, I can't imagine what she'll do when she is asked to sit in his lap. Santa arrived via fire truck with sirens galore so that might have something to do with the fear. That or the fact that he's a big man in a red suit with white beard, hearty and deep voice that she's supposed to love. Not so much. You have to win affection from Lily - she doesn't give it out to any man who throws a candy cane at her and any ole' "Ho-Ho-Ho" to her. ha
(Thanks Skye for letting us borrow your adorable cozy sweater:)


Lily has replaced her love for the swings with a love to go down the slide and bobs her head while pretending to count to 3 with us and says "do" when we get to two, smiling all the way.




I thought this picture was cute of Lily playing chase, but didn't realize until later David was in the picture because she's actually running from him in her favorite game of all time...chase. If only you could hear the belly laughs...
(are you kidding me with the cute polo sweatsuit from skye? omg.)




then back inside for what? you guessed it, more books with baby...



On our last day, Duane scored some serious football tickets to the Bucs-Panthers game. Like 40 rows up on the 50 yard line. Like $350 tickets. each. for free. I don't know how he did it, but we were sure thankful he did. The only problem is that we were rooting for the Bucs while Duane and Sandy rooted for the Panthers. I trash-talked like I knew what I was talking about. So instead, I took the tagline from Sam's license plate and took a pretty picture with my camera phone.




and Lily stayed back rooting from the warmth of the house in her bucs jersey (thanks Kelle) that she wears every Sunday win or lose. Mostly lose :(




wait until you hear about this chair. I've seen it 100 times, but never knew it was Grandma Lilley's (no, not a typo, that's how she spelled her name) chair as a child. Then Dottie used it as a child. Um, hello meaningful rocking chair. Umm, hello, hello? She was named after this Grandma and now she's rocking in it? Someone grab a tissue stat. And then find a UPS driver to get it to FL statter. yup, that's a word. (thanks Peyton for the warm and yummy polka dotted outfit)



This picture just makes me laugh. Can you believe Lily threw the bucket this far? She's a wild woman. (pause while you scroll down)

actually the bucket is stationary, sitting upside down atop a pole in the ground that didn't show up in the picture so it looks like Lily has quite the arm like her daddy. teehee (oh and thanks again Skye for the cutest vest I've ever seen on Lily - can you tell lil doesn't have many winter clothes-ha)

So all in all, it was a great trip where Lily was lapped up in love, didn't know where she was, but didn't care because she knew she was with important people who think she's pretty special too. I don't like to call David's family "David's family" because they truly feel like mine too, but we just met later in life; like we were reunited in my 20s. Thank you for being you. We always feel at home when we're together and this not so little person is the glue in all of this that ties it altogether. (looks like she's gonna take a bow)

life is good.

Gobble Gobble

Is it illegal to predate posts so they'll appear timely on the blog? If so, then I just committed a felony! Our Thanksgiving was great, but we hopped on a jet plane right afterwards for a 2nd holiday celebration, therefore I'm a little tardy. (turning in note from parents)

"Tardy for the Party" (shaking and dancing in my seat, holding hairbrush as microphone) as the Atlanta Housewives once sang offkey. That's a catchy song so now it's in my head. Everytime I sing it to Lily I get a deadpan face like this. Like I'm nuts. I think she's onto me already at a ripe young age of 20 months! (gulp, we're in the 20's people?)



But really our Turkey day was great. We all ate WAY too much and it seemed like only the kids were smart enough to run it off while we just all laid around like stuffed hippos in the game Hungry Hungry Hippo. God, I love that game. I mean, God I lovED that game as in past tense(trying to appear mature)


Well, Grandpa skipped his tryptophan induced nap (well, postponed it) just to play Lily's favorite game of chase. Now that's love.


Lily has a new obsession with washing dishes. She started doing at school while the teachers are changing diapers. She feels helpful washing dishes in the nearby sink while the teachers change the smelly diapers one after another. If I'm her, I'd rather be playing with dolls and read books, but that's my girl... loving to do chores just like her mommy. (nose growing profusely) If she's in a 30 foot radius of a sink, she'll say "wah-do" for water, pointing and pleading to wash dishes. Is it too early to be arrested for breaking child labor laws? If so, Grandma is going straight to the slammer.





I think Grandma has been sniffing some rubber cement because she finds herself acting like the crazy grandma engaging in all the kids' activities. She might go straight to the looney bin after this picture; isn't there an age limit on these toys? I think I see some patient kids waiting their turn in the background. (actually a sweet picture, just in a poking fun mood)





and Lily can't get enough of her cousins. She wants to be just like them and truly looks up to them. literally.


and she knows she's "Baby Lily" when she's around them. Yes, she knows how to feed herself and wouldn't let me feed her if I tried. Like-would-bat-my-hand-away-violently if I tried and say "mine". But, all the rules change when cousin Grace has the spoon.




I love seeing them together playing and laughing like they are brother and sister. (or sister and sister in this picture)



while the kids were snoozing, we didn't hit the snooze button and had some retail therapy on Black Friday - never gotten up that early to shop so I had to buy a $1 hat at target to cover up the bird's nest upon my head. My teeth still felt furry because I literally rolled out of bed straight into the car. Case in point. Just look. Don't ask.




So yea, some serious memories were made. I don't know how we got so lucky with our family. Hit the family lottery superball jackpot. We laughed, told stories, cried at Chili's, hung out, snuggled and held hands. a lot.




Feeling more thankful than ever.
Life is good!