Happy New Years!

As the new year quickly approaches, I wanted to write about some things I am thankful for and some things I would like to do better in 2010.

I am thankful for

I am so thankful that I became a mother this year. It has been exhausting and a full time job in itself, but I wouldn't give it up for the world. Em is so very special. She is one of a kind and I love her so deeply it hurts.

I am thankful for my hubby. He works hard to provide for us. I love his spontaneity and how he gets so excited about everything. I love his relationship with his little girl. She is going to be a total Daddy's girl one day.

I am so very thankful for my parents. They have done so much for us this year. I could never thank them enough.

Some resolutions for 2010

1. Become a better wife and mother. I'm not perfect and there are times that I get frustrated with Em b/c she won't lay still for her diaper change or she repeatedly pinches my cheeks while drinking her bottle or get upset b/c the hubby is not doing things the way I would do them. I need to remember that he will parent HIS way and I will parent MINE. Neither is right or wrong.
2. LOOSE WEIGHT. I am tired of being disgusted with the way I look. I need to join a gym and kick this butt into gear. Period.
3. Find a job. A full time teaching job. With benefits. And sick days. and insurance.

And because I would like to get to know all of you a little better, I will do as many others....I will take questions....ANY questions. Ask away and I will answer them. Leave your questions in the comments section of this post and I will start answering questions next week or I guess you could say....NEXT YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL THIS YEAR!

**Here's hoping I will at least get one question to answer. :)

Christmas Day

Em took a ride in her new wagon from Granna and Papa.

Played with her cousins. Ooooh, it is going to be so fun in a couple of years when these girls get together!
Emma had a blast trying to keep up with the big girls and the big girls took very good care of the newest member to their group.

(Some handmade bloomers from Mommy!)

I believe she is going to be a talker. She loved playing with her phone and held it up to ear constantly while babbling. Too cute!

Our last stop of the day was in Columbia to see Grandma, Poke, Joan Aubrey and the rest of the gang. We had a long day and were exhausted by the end, but it was great to see all the family and have them share in Emma's First Christmas! She is very blessed to have so many people that love her. Hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Em's First Christmas

We started off the holiday festivities with a candlelight service at my Grandmother's church. Don't you just love singing "Silent Night" in a candlelit room! Absolutely beautiful!

Then, since my brother had to work, we headed to his house to open presents. Emma snuggled with her Auntie and had a staring contest with her "uncle" Derek.

Of course, she was the main attraction as she opened all her presents. She had a BLAST!

And then the big guy in red showed up...
She apparently.... was very good this year. She ran to her toys Christmas morning and started playing. She is expecially fond of her shopping cart and kitchen...and of course...the baby dolls.

More to come soon about our jam-packed holiday!

Just need a little help

Something exciting happened tonight....

We had our Alexander family Christmas Party tonight and Emma L-O-V-E-D playing with my cousin's darling little girl, Ava.

Ava is 16 months (I think?) and such a sweet, happy little girl. She was very patient with Emma. I guess Emma got tired of crawling after her new friend....so.........SHE GOT UP A WALKED!

It's a little Christmas miracle. She took a good solid three steps and everyone cheered for her! After that I proceeded to tell my mom that I needed to add running shoes to my Christmas list. I think things are going to get interesting around here very soon!

Just a kid in a Candy Shop

Ho Ho Ho

On Saturday, we bundled up and headed out to see the lights at the Riverbanks Zoo. Emma's favorite thing about Christmas so far has been lights so we thought she would love to see the lights at the zoo.

A certain someone (ahem...Daddy) thought her feet might be cold, so he put her mittens on her feet. You would not believe how many people stopped us to ask where we got our high-heeled baby shoes.
When it was time to warm up, we took a pit stop in the gift shop. Em hugged all the animals and had a hard time picking out what she wanted.
She even tried on hats.
Before heading out, we had to stop to see the Big Guy....you know...SANTA! We have been teaching Emma to answer "What does Santa say?" with "Ho Ho Ho" for the past month and she does it occasionally. Of course, she didn't do it for Santa, but as we were walking away...she whispered Ho Ho Ho.

She was enamored by the jolly 'ole elf. Couldn't take her eyes off him. I think he was pretty smitten with her too!

Table Food Time

Need some Mommy help...What do you recommend about starting table food? What do you fix? ANY ideas would be helpful. Emma has been eating some table food (puffs, bites off our plates, ch (cheese, her favorite), but we haven't officially made the switch. She still eats baby food for most meals. Thanks guys...I know I can count on ya'll!

PS. This was definately a BATH night! She is such a ham!

Holy Moly...She's 11 Months!

My darling Em...here are some tidbits of info about you, my darling, sweet, ELEVEN month old!

• You sing, dance, wave, and clap on command.


• You are almost 21 lbs. and wearing Size 3 diapers and 12 month clothes.


• You can say Dadda, Momma, Nannna (Granna), Bye-Bye, Cheese (Ch), Juice (Sssss) and lots of other babble words.


• You have learned to tell others what Santa Clause says...HO HO HO!


• You are so very smart and can point people and things out in a room and in pictures.


• You are FINALLY getting some hair!!


• You love to people watch.


• Your favorite toy is your stuffed doggie.


• You love to read the paper with Papa every morning.


• Diaper changes and bath time have become a CHORE! Let's just say that they are not your favorite things.


• You have started eating table foods and I call you a little piggy. You LOVE to eat!

You are the best baby! I enjoy every day as your mother and I look forward to all the "firsts" we will have together. (Seriously, can't believe that your birthday is just ONE short month away!!) I love you forever, I like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be. I love you, sweetie!

***Pics for this post coming soon. NO time. You understand, right? :)

Baking Buddies

Have I told you before that I L-O-V-E to bake? Well, I do. I expecially love to make cakes. (and eat the batter, which I KNOW is so bad and I'm sure I'll end up with salmenella one day, but until then....) This past week, I had a little baking buddy, my own little person assistant.

She mostly just watched and banged the measuring spoons. She loved watching the beaters mix the batter. (and NO I did not let her taste the batter...Yet!)
I hope that in years to come, this will be something we can do together every Christmas. Something I can pass on to her. This particular day, I was making a strawberry cake from a box, but I love to use my grandmother's recipes and hope to pass them to Emma one day.

And then, the party ended. Someone got VERY unhappy. You see, Mommy would not let her have any batter, but Mommy (aka ME) was spooning it in as fast as she could go is eating it.... Why can't I?!

** And one more photo, just for fun...Don't you just love the Lindy Lou Who hairdo?

It's beginning to look alot like....

CRazYnEss!!

Our schedule is jamm packed! Something every day. I LOVE being busy, but I hate it too. It's easy to get wrapped up in the holiday parties, christmas lights, present shopping, and all the other things that this season brings and forget about the REAL reason for the season. The amazing love that God showed us when he sent his son in the form of a tiny helpless baby.

I am so excited to show Emma all the things I love about this time of year, but I want her to always know WHY we celebrate. I hope that she will not get wrapped up in the presents and the "give me, give me, give me" attitude that some kids (and adults) have at Christmas.
I hope that she will think of others at Christmas...ones that are not as fortunate as herself.

I hope that she will let Jesus shine in her.

I hope she will continue to help remind Mommy how GOOD we have it. (You see, I sometimes have trouble staying positive.)

Oh, and one more thing....I HAVE THE BEST, MOST GENEROUS, AND AWESOME HUBBY EVER!

(Someone got their Christmas a little early!)

Terrible Mommy Award

If there was such an award...I should be the first recipient. Poor Emma made a terrible trip to the doc on Wednesday. Well, this post should really just start from the beginning...

Emma was born with a hemangioma on her private area. It is rather big. The docs in NC said that as she grows it will eventually go away and that it does not hurt her at all. BOY...were they wrong. Last weekend, we started noticing that Em seemed to be in pain. She cried in the bathtub...which she NEVER does. She would scream during diaper changes. At first we thought this was just another phase...I mean she never really enjoyed diaper changes anyways. It's more like WWF wrestling than sweet, relaxing time with Mommy (or Daddy). Wednesday I had had enough. I was tired or wrastling (country talk :)) with the bear and I was SURE that somthing was wrong with that darn hemangioma.

To make a long story short, poor baby Emma has been suffering. The hemangioma has ulcerized. (or developed an ulcer and then opened up to become an open wound.) There is nothing that can be done until the wound heals. We were given antibiotic cream to apply three times daily and told to come back for more torture a recheck in a week. Hopefully the wound will heal and they will inject some steriods to shrink the thing. Maybe Em will come home from the doc on Tuesday with large muscles and a deep voice. :) J/K

Please pray that we can take care of this without surgery. That is a possibility. But until then, I should be given the bad mommy award of the century b/c after all the pain of the ulcerized hemangioma, I subjected her to not one but two flu shots. Terrible, no good, very bad Mommy indeed.

Tiny Miracle

Saturday we welcomed little Austin into our family. My cousin and his wife brought little baby boy into this world (a little early, 31 weeks) weighing in at 3 lbs. 5 oz. Please pray for his continued stability and health, a speedy recovery for Mommy Stephanie, and for comfort and peace for Daddy Andy. They have such a long road ahead of them.

Hanging the Greens

Back when I was growing up, that's what we called it....hanging the greens, trimming the tree, decorating for Christmas. One of my most favorite things about this time of year. Spending time with the people you love fighting over who gets to put the Angel on this year and where Dad's Pinnochio ornament should go, eating Pizza, enjoying the lighted views from outside, and just "being" together.

It all starts with a tree shopping trip. Growing up, we always went to a tree farm owned by a good family friend. Now a days, we just headed to our local home improvement store. The hunt begins...

Then back home for a little dinner. Em was just a laughing at her Uncle Reese. They always crack each other up.

Then it's into the pajamas and tree decorating time. Don't I look adorable in my new PJ's?

We had a couple of new ornament this year. Emma got to hang her first ornament to celebrate her first Christmas.

After all the ornaments were hung, two little workers got a little tired.

Do you have any Christmas decorating traditions?

Guess it's time to go bowling

This pic should tell you a little of how we felt
after the Tiger loss on Saturday night. Shocked. Spiller couldn't have had a better night, but the defense needed to step it up! So now, we have to look forward to the Music City Bowl in the Country Music Capital City. Watch out Kentucky Kitty-Cats! :)

Is it December already?

Time is literally flying! I can't believe it's time for Christmas trees and ornaments, fudge and eggnog, shopping, caroling, and all the other things that this season brings. As the holiday season quickly approaches, I can't help but look back. This year has been a whirlwind. A baby, a sold house, an out of state move. I sit back and think about how different things were this time last year. I was just beginning my 9th month of pregnancy and patiently awaiting the arrival of baby girl Emma. We were consumed with packing the bags, and "What to Expect", and kick counts. So excited about our soon to be daughter, but clueless as to how much our lives were about to change. We enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home just the two of us, where I attempted to cook Christmas dinner. At the time, I was a little upset that we had to spend Christmas alone, but looking back, that was a blessing. Just what we needed to calm ourselves and get ready for what was to come....our precious baby girl. I can't wait to spend this Christmas with her and watch as she soaks up all the joythat this season brings.