Christmas and New Year's Resolutions

Our second Holiday Season as a family was even more wonderful than the first! I was SOOOO tired on the first one that if it weren't for the pictures, I'm not sure I would remember it at all!

I have been trying to think about what I could write to express the joy that I feel this holiday season. Once again, I know how lucky I am to have such an amazing husband, kid, parents, in-laws, family and friends. In a million ways this year has been harder than I thought it would be, but in a billion ways it has been so much more incredibly wonderful than I ever could have imagined. That being said, I am completely guilty of getting caught up in my daily life and sometimes I take for granted how truly blessed I am. The holidays are always sort of a reflective time when I seem to put on an especially pink pair of rosy glasses. I just wish that I could keep these glasses on all year long and not let little things keep me from seeing how truly amazing my life is. I know that it is so cliche, but I really want to try not to sweat the small stuff this year. I want to be completely present when playing with my daughter. When I am reading to her I don't want to be thinking about the dishes in the sink. This year has gone by too fast and I truly know what people mean when they say life is short (There were a few years in the not so distant past that really seemed to drag on - so this sentiment didn't really strike a cord). The time you have with your kids is too darn brief. And you don't get to do a single day over again. As they say, "Life is not a dress rehearsal". Sometimes you flub a line but the show must go on! It is midnight and I'm not sure that this will even make any sense tomorrow. But right now it seems right and true.

Christmas day itself was magical. Though Julianna really had no clue about what was going on, she was delighted with all of the presents. She really has played with everything. We woke up here and opened presents and then went up to Grammy and Poppy's for the day. I think that it is the first time that myself and all of my siblings and our families have been in the same place at the same time since the day I gave birth. We had a great time and once again J was a real trooper. Just a real sweetie all day long - even with a VERY abbreviated morning nap and NO afternoon nap at all! Oh, and she has started to dance. It is so darn cute. She just bops up and down really fast to music. I will have to upload a video of it soon. Here are some pictures from the day.


When we walked into the room she couldn't take her eyes off this "key key", and when I put her down she went straight for it.




She LOVES Dora and her Backpack.


More lovin' on her "key key".


This shopping cart is too cute!






She is looking at a Swiper the Fox ornament. Swiper is the villain on Dora. She LOVES him and doesn't have any idea he is the "bad guy".


Beautiful Girl!






This little kitty is a present from Grandmama and Granddaddy. It is too cute. It meows and purrs and even kneads you with its little paws. She LOVES it.



Showing off in my "fur" coat.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Ryan and I took Julianna to see Santa at the mall. Before we got up to Santa she was saying "San-Ta!" (or something close to that) but when we got up to him, she had a full fledged melt down! She started clinging to me and crying. I probably should have just left with her, but I forced the poor child to sit on the scary Santa's lap so that we could get a picture. The picture is too funny. Ryan was taking pictures with our camera but he had to stand way back so you can't tell how miserable she really was. Anyway the rest of the day was much better for the poor traumatized girl. We went to my parents for the evening and then came home to help Santa assemble a wagon. Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve. I will post some pictures from Christmas later.

XOXOXO


Santa looks none too pleased either! I guess by x-mas eve, he was probably OVER IT!


Feeling much better now that we are far from that scary man!




Loving a peppermint stick.




Tights and shoes with no dress is a pretty good look, right?

Slideshow of J's 1st year

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I obviously didn't get the slideshow up before Christmas as I had hoped. With J's birthday and Christmas so close together and hundreds of pics taken in the last week, I have had a hard time finding time to download the pictures off my camera. Anyway, I have been working on this slideshow for a while now. It starts with the day Julianna was born and runs through her first birthday. I must warn you that this slideshow is a long one. I'm not sure exactly how long it is, but it is definitely over ten minutes long and contains over 150 pictures. I understand if you don't have that kind of time to invest :) I know it seems like a ton of pictures but with thousands of pictures to choose from, I really feel like I whittled it down to the bare minimum. hee. Also, this particular program will only allow you to use one song, so it just runs over and over again. Oh well. I promise to post about our Christmas and pics in the next couple of days. Just click on the little picture below and it will link you to the slideshow. You may have to maximize the screen by clicking on the middle little box on the upper right corner of the page.

XOXOXO


Julianna's First Year

Cindy Lou Who

Hi All,
I have been working on a slideshow of my favorite pictures from the past year and also wading through the hundreds (literally) of pictures taken on Julianna's birthday. I hope to post both in the next couple of days before Christmas. In the mean time, I was watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas with J (She LOVES it. She doesn't seem at all afraid of the Grinch and adores his dog Max.) and I realized that I had a picture of Julianna where she looks remakably like Cindy Lou Who. What do you think?
XOXOXO

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

Mommy and Daddy love you so very much. How lucky we are to be your parents. You are the sweetest, smartest, funniest, most beautiful child on the earth. Our love for you has no end.


One of my VERY favorites from the hospital. So very sweet.

I will try to post more favorites from the past year during the day as I get time.

5 Days 'Til Our Baby's Birthday

I cannot believe that Julianna will be one year old on Tuesday. Where did the time go? I can remember exactly how I felt one year ago around this time. I knew that if I didn't go into labor myself by Sunday I would be induced. I was trying EVERYTHING to get my labor started. My sister and I were walking the malls day after day. There are some other old wives tales that I tried that I won't mention. In the end I was induced and had my baby in my arms by Monday evening. How could that have been a year ago? Don't get me wrong, it is hard to remember what life was like before Julianna, but I can remember putting her in her carseat for the first time to come home like it was yesterday. It is like yesterday and forever ago all in wrapped up in one. I think that on her birthday I will try to post some sort of picture retrospective. She has changed so very much, but, to me, in a lot of ways she still looks just like that baby I brought home from the hospital almost a year ago.

Here are a couple from this week:

Tagged by Tracy

I've been tagged by Tracy: http://guatemamatwo.blogspot.com
I can't figure out the hyperlink thing either!

My cousin Tracy tagged me to play a game that goes around the blogs where you answer some questions about yourself. Oh by the way, Tracy just got the wonderful, amazing news that her little girl is coming home from Guatemala in January!!!! Congratulations Tracy, Jens, and Alex! We are thrilled and can't wait to see you all. Well here goes with the questions:


4 jobs I have held:
Nanny
Retail
Worked for Interior Design Wholesale Company
Mom - The VERY VERY VERY BESTEST!

4 movies watched more than once:
Good Will Hunting
The Sound of Music
Tombstone
The Christmas Story - Haven't we all been forced to watch this movie atleast a million times!


4 TV Shows I watch faithfully:
The Amazing Race
Heroes
The Daily Show with Jon Stuart
Any UNC Basketball Game (Go Heels!!)

4 places I have vacationed:
Several Caribbean Cruises
Prescott, AZ
San Diego, CA
Outerbanks, NC


4 Favorite Foods:
Anything Southern Fried - Really, anything.
Sashimi Tuna
Chinese
Thai


4 Places I'd rather be:
I like it pretty well right here! I think I'll stay.


Hobbies I have:
Taking pictures
Crossword Puzzles
Watching Sports (Especially College Basketball - Go Heels!)
Reading

Thanks for the Tag Tracy. It was fun. Well why we're here, I thought I might as well post a pic of the girl:


Her shirt says "Pinch Me, I'm cute". Don't you REALLY want to? I think I just might.

Bathtime!

Here are some super cute pics from her bath today.

*Also, I posted 3 different entries today, so be sure to scroll down to see the others. There are too many cute pictures that you don't want to miss. :)




I just love this cheesy grin!

Favorite Fotos From This Week

Hugging her 2 piggies


Very excited about watching Dora








Showing off the only 2 teeth she has!




I know that this is wrong on so many levels, but it is just too cute!

Key-Key and Daddy

Julianna is obsessed with kitty cats. She carries around the pitiful little black cat with the silly witch's hat that Daddy got her for Halloween everywhere she goes. She even sleeps with it and calls for it from bed if you forget to put it in with her. She goes around saying "key key" all the time. Whenever she sees one in a book, in our driveway, on television, she just squeals with delight and says "key-key". We think that she started calling them key-keys because Ryan would always take her outside to see the cats and say "Here kitty-kitty" to call them to him. She is just too cute! Julianna is also obsessed with Daddy these days. If Daddy is around she wants to be held by him! They actually snuggled in bed for like a half an hour and Julianna wasn't even asleep. She just cuddled up with him and was completely content to just lie there with him. She is usually such a wiggle worm and would NEVER just lie in bed with me in the middle of the day. Since Mommy is at home with her and her primary caregiver it sometimes makes her feel like chopped liver. Oh well, I know how Daddies and their little girls are. I guess that I'd better get used to it.