Goodbye December

Goodbye Candles, Goodbye Glow
Goodbye Ribbons, Bells & Bows
Goodbye Parades & Holiday Fun
Pack up the Ornaments One By One
Goodbye to Old Friends From TOO Far Away
(You Make Us Wish Christmas Could Be Every Day!)
Goodbye to the Cards (We Never Did Send)And to the Cookies We Ate (I mean: "Baked for our Friends")
Goodbye to Hot Cocoa & Eggnog, Too
Goodbye Pretty Tree! (Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo!)
Goodbye Packed Schedule & Making it Work
Goodbye to My Waistline (Hello Baggy Shirt!)
Goodbye to cooking & Cleaning Nonstop
Goodbye Crowded Stores Where We (Last Minute) Shopped
Goodbye to the Christmas-y Places We Went
Goodbye to the (Too Much) Money We Spent!!!
Goodbye to the Neighborhood Dressed Up in Cheer
Goodbye to Christmas for One More Year!

I want to complain, but I just can't...

(Disclaimer: Excuse the smear of goo on my car thermometer--I am constantly peeling animal stickers off of everything we own!)I have to laugh at this weather because Andrea has been talking about the ice storm they're having in Illinois. We have been having weather in the 70's and 80's so far this week and I have to say, we have been having a blast!!! Sure, it's a little weird to be raking giant piles of leaves in shorts...and even weirder to drive with the windows down at night looking at everyone's Christmas lights...but it has been so NICE outside that I just can't bring myself to complain. Landon and I have been to the zoo to see the new giraffes and lions. I also took him to the public horse stable and to the dog park downtown. We never feel like doing all of these fun outdoor things when it's cold! So, yeah, global warming is scary as crap, but I am southern to the core. I do like the one day a year when a few snow flurries threaten to fall and the whole city pretty much shuts down, though. There are over 600,000 people in this city and I swear almost every single one, young and old, skips out on work or school at the first sign of snow. Bread and milk disappear from the store shelves. Businesses close (under the excuse that the roads could get dangerous--ha ha!) just so people can go home and enjoy the few little snowflakes that drift through town once a year for about three minutes. Yes, it can get a little melodramatic, but I have my bread and milk, so I'm all set. Pat Conroy said it best in Beach Music: "Southerners love snow. It always surprises us." So true. I'll still stop everything like everyone else to try to scrape up a tiny snowman from the slush when our snow day comes this year....I always do. But for now, I am really enjoying being able to walk out to my car more than two slow inches at a time (I can't even function in the cold! I just shuffle around like an old lady or curl up in a ball and wait for it to go away). I love being outside with Landon surrounded by a mild breeze, my ghastly white (unshaved...Shhh!) "winter legs" gleaming in the sun, blinding all the neighbors. I think, "Wow, it's December!" and feel like I'm getting away with something really sneaky. Warm weather at Christmas--So wrong and yet oh-so-right! Ahhh, the upside of pollution! (Well, I'll get away with calling it the "upside" until global warming decides to snatch away my annual snow day! Hmph!)

Our Ornaments

We all have ornaments that are sentimental hanging on our tree. I thought it would be cool to post pictures of the ones that mean the most to our family. You guys should, too!
This ornament was a gift from Andy's parents. I've always loved these little family ornaments, but this one is the first one on my tree that hasn't included my parents and siblings. It really makes our tree feel like "Our Tree".

This one is a big reminder of how crazy I was during the last few weeks before my wedding. I actually thought it'd be a really great idea to HAND PAINT three hundred Christmas ornaments to hang on a tree at our reception as favors for the guests. Say no more, I was a little nutty. I had to post this one because, not only is this the one ornament my husband insists on hanging every year, it describes him to a "T". A soccer ball with a crown on top and a star underneath. Keep dreaming, my love! ;oD
I posted these for my little monkey. I had to redo the whole tree after he went to bed because he hung all of his favorite ornaments in one little clump at the very bottom of the tree. These two are his favorites: One is a Triceratops(oh, pardon moi, Landon has informed me it is a Protoceratops--It's so fun to be schooled by a two-year-old!)and the other is Swiper the fox (from a set he picked out at Target). I'll post some more later, when we get them all put up.

Basking in the Glow

We finally started decorating our house for Christmas this past weekend and, even though the guy we bought our tree from cut off the entire bottom of our poor tree, I'm love, love, loving every bit of it. Every night, we dim the lamps and light our Advent candles. We watch whatever classic Christmas movie is on, drink hot chocolate and just relax. I love this time of year!
The best thing about this Christmas season is that Landon is really getting into it. He has been reminding us for the past couple of weeks that HE was going to be the one to put the angel on the tree. He's already talking about what kind of cookies we're going to leave out for Santa and he's memorized every word of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". It's great that Christmas becomes magical all over again when you have kids!

I'm not bragging. (Well, maybe just a little!!!)

Hee hee hee hee!

Oh My Gosh!!

Click here to see what happened to Michael today!

He was driving his boss's car (he works for a vet when he's not at Furman) which makes the story that much worse. There was a trailer hitched on the back that was filled with double the weight the truck could hold. A tire blew and before he knew what was going on, the car just flipped right over! In true Michael fashion, he just climbed calmly out the "top" and hasn't made a peep about it since. (I would have been a nervous wreck!) Meesh, you're so cute! And thank God you're okay, my "brother-from-another-mother!! *hugs*

Our Anniversary

Andy and I thought we were soooo smart when we picked the date for our wedding. "Just between Thanksgiving and Christmas! How perfect!" we said. It is so perfect that we never, EVER have extra money for our anniversary! Yay for us! We always want to use every penny for all of the fabulous Christmas presents we want to buy....and every year, the list gets longer and longer. This year was no exception. Andy painted our living room for me last weekend as an anniversary present (my request) so I thought we were destined to sit around the house for the duration of our fourth anniversary watching old reruns of The Office and playing with Legos, but it actually turned out to be much better than that. My husband (who is famous for being...um...well, "less than romantic" on most special occasions, bless his heart) had a really sweet surprise in store for me. When he got home from work, he said he was going to take Landon upstairs to play. They called me up a few minutes later and when I got upstairs, I saw that Andy had a dvd playing on the tv. He had made a slideshow for me of our whole relationship displaying pictures from the summer of 2002 when we met, through wedding preparations (including some pictures from our wedding of me dancing with my Grandma right before she died) and our honeymoon...through family holidays and the birth of our son. It was awesome! It cracked me up because he had picked out some of the WORST pictures of me that he could possibly find (in one, my eyes were actually rolling back in my head...another was a very unflattering picture of me bending over in a bikini right after giving birth. Nice). He tried so hard to put it together and surprise me that the look on his face while he was giving it to me was worth more to me than the gift. It was so cute that I even bit my tongue about the terrible pictures--Hee hee!

I had decided awhile ago that we shouldn't go out to an expensive dinner right before Christmas shopping, so we were planning to eat at home...BUT!...we somehow (A little wink from God, perhaps?) received a gift certificate for $45 to Carabba's this afternoon in the mail (they sent it to make up for a mistake in a take out order from a couple of weeks ago!) So, we ordered tons of great food and had a delicious dinner for our anniversary in the comfort of our own home, joined by the best thing that has come out of our marriage: Landon! It was so much fun!After the dvd was watched and the food was eaten, I "let" Andy go to my sister's house to watch some of the Green Bay game. Yes, my friends, to my husband, that is romance.
So, I guess the plan is to go to the Grove Park Inn and the Biltmore Estate NEXT year! (We've officially been saying that for four years now! :o)

My Christmas Wish List

Okay, so I have been requested to post a Christmas wish list on my blog. I doubt the one I came up with (painstakingly, as I HATE thinking about gifts for myself!!!) will do anyone much good (it's just basically a list of stores I love)...but here it is:


Most of the people who wanted me to post this are out of town and this store is local, but I love everything at Foxfire! (One other local store I love that doesn't have a website is Emily Austin--It's fantastic!)




I also have a wish list with Ballard Designs. (It is one of my FAVORITE stores!! I love just about everything there!)





Another place I'd LOVE a gift certificate from is Wolf CameraI have sooo many pictures I really need to print for albums!




I registered a wish list with Bed Bath and Beyond


Pottery Barn is another one of my favorite catalogs!!




New York & Company



Ann Taylor--For clothes :o)



Ann
Taylor Loft has been more interesting to me since I had Landon. Teeny bopper clothes don't really cut it any more--LOL!




I am CRAZY about Artistry skincare products (especially now that I'm having to use the wrinkle preventing line!! LOL!)

Now you all better go make your lists, too, so I'll feel less guilty! :o)

Guess What Today Is!!!

Makes Me Really Want to Answer Their Call...

Mmm Hmmmm....
I love my caller id!

I've got it BAD!

You GUYS! I am having total baby fever this week! I am not kidding. We took down Landon's crib over the weekend, and even though we never really used it, I sat there on the floor in the most pitiful way, each piece being marched steadily past me and into a storage closet. I can't explain it, but it was like the last sign of there having been a baby in our house was gone. I hadn't really thought about it much until that moment, but I DO NOT HAVE A BABY ANYMORE....Landon talks, he uses the potty, he feeds himself---no more breastfeeding, no more night-waking...How did this happen?!
I remember, not so long ago, running my finger across the little tuft of barely-there newborn hair on his tiny head, wondering how Andy and I would ever be able to get such a helpless child (alive and in tact, let alone happy and smart!) to the age he is now. And--POOF!--Here we are...In the blink of an eye. My baby isn't a baby. The pictures of him on our walls still boast the delicious little baby-fat rolls and irresistible toothless grins we were so used to, but those have long since disappeared. Even though these things are gone, in their place I have something I cherish equally as much: my precious little boy, abundant energy, corny knock-knock jokes, loud dinosaur impressions and all. I have only traded in the slobbery kisses for dirt-covered ones, right? I have only given up the adoring coos of an infant for the real "I love you" that I now hear from the same little rosebud lips...I have lost nothing and gained everything, and yet somehow it feels like there is a huge void. I'm missing my BABY...
I know some of you who have more than one child (or who have children older than mine) are probably giggling at me right now, reminiscing about the good ole days when you felt this very same way, sad for my distress, but confident I'll cross that bridge eventually, right? I know it will be alright...I'm just having a very hard time. I bet the next thing you're wondering is why I don't just go and have another baby if I miss it so badly? I wish it were that simple for me. I love Landon enough to have ten of him! But, as many of you already know (and are probably sick of hearing), I had a really tough pregnancy with Landon (tough on both of us) and I have been struggling through some really "fun" health issues since his birth in 2005...And though I've always known I wanted to have more than one child, I'm stuck in this terrible place right now, wondering how and when that child (those children) might come to be, unable to commit to a solid decision. After two and a half YEARS of worrying about whether or not I should try to get pregnant or adopt...two and a half years of worrying that I'll be sick again and not be able to be a good mother...worrying about miscarriages and the possibility of suffering with post-partum depression again, it's hard for me to remember that these are things EVERY woman has to think about to some extent while planning a family.
That's just life, right? I want to be able to give my son the sibling he already talks about so lovingly. I want to be able to give up my ridiculous false sense of control. I want to just have faith and trust that God will handle the details. Beyond wanting to, I NEED to. (...Sigh...) Maybe that would make a good New Year's Resolution? Anyways, looking at pictures of Landen and Amelia , Aidan and Brennan, Jack and Sophie & Elaina and Zachary this week has really made me wish I was where so many of you guys already are. You're children are wonderful, your parenting unmatched. I feel so lucky to know all of the moms I have the pleasure of snooping on via blogs each day and if any of you have any advice to bestow on a poor, pathetic worrier....Have at it!

Soooo...

What are you all up to for the Thanks-
giving holiday this year? We are, of course, going to be running wild all weekend, trying to split time between siblings and parents, step-family and in-laws. We always say that "next year" we're going to slow down, pick ONE place to go to and then switch where we spend Thanksgiving the following year...but when the next Turkey Day rolls around, we can't bear the thought of not seeing everyone humanly possible.
Sooo...this year we are beginning Thanksgiving by eating lunch at my Grandma's house with all of my mom's family. After we're sufficiently stuffed to the gills with my Grandma's amazing (fat covered, calorie laden, gravy-drenched) southern-style cooking, we're heading out to my dad's house with all of my siblings (and their significant others). I'm especially excited to go there this year because Michael's mom is going to be joining us for the first time (Yay!) and my step-brother and his wife will be in town from Texas for the last time before Frank goes to Iraq. We'll leave my dad's house (probably ready to blow up...) and drive an hour and a half to Columbia to spend the night at Andy's parents' house--There, Landon will be spoiled rotten and Andy and I will gain ten more pounds. Good times. Are any of you planning on shopping with the crazies at the crack of dawn on Friday? Andy's sister tried to convince me to join her, my mother-in-law, and her grandma to go shopping at 5:00 am and, even though that sounded like SUCH a pleasant hour to brave crowds and parking lot traffic, I politely declined. (Maybe next year, guys!) I complain about not getting enough sleep as it is. I'm not giving up those few precious hours for all the sale racks in the world! I guess that means I'll be whining about all of the last minute shopping I have to do on Christmas Eve. Bah Humbug! I doubt I'll enjoy the crowds and traffic any better then, no matter what time of day it is! Ha ha!

You Know You're Jealous!!!!

Landon and I went to see The Wiggles this afternoon!! We got tickets just before the show started and sat in the FRONT ROW!! If you had told me three years ago that I would be THIIIIISSSS excited about seeing The Wiggles, I would have laughed right in your face....but I think I enjoyed the show even more than Landon--Ha ha ha!
The kids around us had the best time dancing and singing while the lady next to me and I had the best time checking out the blue Wiggle's "hip-shake" (think Ricky Martin)--Woo hoo! Good times! Life with children may seem lackluster for those who don't have kids, but isn't it so much fun to experience the world through their little eyes? There's nothing better as far as I'm concerned...