Santa: Past, Present & Future

We've been 'talking up' Ho Ho, aka Santa, since Thanksgiving. She was slightly obsessed with Ho Ho and made sure to point him out in every little picture she saw of him "Big Ho Ho" & "Lil Ho Ho". We wanted to make sure that he looked a little familiar to her when we plopped her on his lap. The little girl in front of us in line was the same age as Maryn and she lost it...real tears and screams. We tried to block Maryn's view of the fiasco. Her turn was up....she ran right to him, arms outstretched yelling "Ho Ho" "Ho Ho"!!! He whisked her up and she froze! FROZE! She was in shock and sat there, unable to move a single muscle except her eyeballs. Santa was great and after a minute, she was able to squeeze out a closed mouth smile.

Just look at what a year will do to your children! Hard to believe that we'll have another one of these next Christmas! Don't laugh, but I already bought Mare and the baby coordinating outfits for Santa's picture next year. Took advantage of some holiday sales:)

This one melts my heart

Looks slightly familiar to me 1980

We baked cookies and prepared for all of Maryn's grandparents to visit! We had a wonderful Christmas!

Bode was licking his chops and praying for a couple sprinkles to fall on the floor

She was so proud of herself and would bake cookies everyday if I let her...but then I'd eat them everyday

Can you tell that Grandma sent her this outfit..."Smitten with Daddy" :)

Endured the cold and went to the Mt.Pleasant Christmas Parade

All bundled up in moms gloves

Uncle Tim joined us too

Someone tell me how there are only 4 days left in 2010??? What!!?? We have another amazing year to look forward to and give thanks for God's grace in 2010. I'm reminded how blessed we are with each little kick I feel and every pound I gain when I jump on the scale. This is gonna be one big boy!

Tying up loose ends

Oh what joy December brings...the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, the rush to create, order, address and stamp Christmas cards, that looming feeling of guilt to create the same wonderful holiday memories for my daughter that my parents created for us, the mess in the kitchen from baking cookies and the task of smothering Christmas spirit throughout the house in the form of garland, lights, fraser fur, wreaths, big and small Santa figurines, stockings and of course the Elf on the Shelf. I LOVE Christmas and I do all of this because of the spirit that lives inside of me. When Maryn walks past the 3 ft stuffed snowman in the foyer every morning and stops to give him a hug and says 'hi Frosty' or she stands in front of the t.v. stand, staring up at the large Santa Claus and says with a twinkle in her eyes 'Big Ho Ho'...my day is complete and I forget about the dishes in the sink or the mound of dirty laundry in our closet. I also seem to forget that I'm pregnant until total exhaustion sets in around 6 pm.

I'm tying up loose ends with this post because believe it or not, I do this blog for me and my family. So that one day when my children are off to college and my house is quiet and I have all the time in the world to bake cookies and pies and the holiday decorations are up the day after Thanksgiving...patiently awaiting the arrival of my children...I can sit on my couch and page through all the tender memories and probably shed a tear or two because I'm such a sucker like that. People always say that the prime of your life is when you're in your 20's and you have no responsibilities and you can back pack across Europe on mommy and daddy's bill but to me and my husband...THIS is the prime of our lives!

Merry Christmas Friends!

Though I'm 21.5 weeks today, I had to record my half way picture that we took last weekend. And if you think I'm weird because I count half weeks, come spend a day with me at work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and you'll understand what a difference even a day makes.

She calls herself Mimi. I think she shortened Maryn Amelia.

After we established successful breastfeeding, I introduced the pacifier with hopes that it would give me a little bit of leeway at the grocery store when it was feeding time but not the most appropriate place to lift my shirt. She wanted nothing to do with it. But alas, I was cleaning behind her crib a week ago (because I have time for things like this in December) and we found a rejected pacifier. She adopted it for the day. With still only 2 teeth on the bottom and 4 on the top, I think it felt good to chew on it.

We're members at the Aquarium so if anyone wants to join us for an afternoon of fun, for free! let me know! We love it!

Happy Birthday Nanny! Check out Bode trying to get in on the action. We've been to 4 birthday parties in the last month and every time we sing 'Happy Birthday', she thinks it's Nanny's birthday! Sweet baby.

I'm really not sure how I've restrained myself from gobbling her up with this pregnant appetite of mine!

Time to jump in the shower and head off to a Christmas party!

18.5 weeks

We've been feeling a little blue...

There is a violent stomach bug making its' rounds through Charleston this month. It's so contagious that you basically only have to look at the infected person and you're throwing up 24 hours later! I had to leave work during night shift only to get home with 3 minutes to spare before I was face to face with the porcelain god. Let me just say that I haven't thrown up in 10 years...my 21st birthday. Sweet baby Maryn woke up from her nap the next afternoon... throwing up in her crib:( Parenting is not for the weak of heart, or rather...weak of stomach. Not only do I currently have the sense of smell of a trained hound dog, but the gag reflex of a pregnant woman...a pregnant woman with a stomach virus:( That afternoon was not fun but we survived. Mare and I were feeling rather BLUE that week but we managed to share the BLUE with daddy in a different way...

Baby BROTHER is on his way and daddy hasn't stopped smiling since we shared the news with him!! I found out at work after sneaking an ultrasound:)

The grandparents are thrilled and are excited to see whether this baby will behave as well as M, despite the Y chromosome!

She's been hyped up on blue icing for the last week.

This is about as naughty as she gets. But I couldn't be upset that she was pulling on the curtains because that's a paper towel in her hand...she was cleaning my windows! I love having a daughter and I'm a little nervy about what this little boy is going to bring to the table. He's been kicking me since he was 15 weeks and the doctor mentioned that he's got really long femur bones!! I suppose he'll have Mac's height but that only means he'll tower over me in no time...I'm going to lose all my authority!

M got a taste of what a little brother will be like when we babysat Cole. She LOVED him and was so gentle and caring. Her touch is loving, her voice softens and she HAD to hold the bottle for him. He loved her too...sat in the bouncy seat and watched her every move with a smile on his face. Oh, I can't wait..

...until he did this to me and then I decided I could wait just a couple more months. BOYS!!

And speaking of naughty, this boy is not allowed on the couch. I think he thought he was camouflaged.

Ella's birthday party

Her first face painting

The adorable dress that Grandma and Poppop brought back from their trip to England.

We spent Thanksgiving morning at the park

Wearing Grandma's glasses just like she does

And digging her paws into Poppop's pecan pie

Post Thanksgiving dinner:)

We have more blessings than we can count and are most thankful for our beautiful daughter who has enlightened our lives in a way we never thought possible. We our thankful that our son will have a strong and caring big sister to look up to and that our children will grow up knowing their grandparents love them unconditionally. We are Thankful!