Starting a Tradition

Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Grandpa's first time with a new tradition.

Christmas morning was met with a hot chocolate bar and Christmas music.

Our First Christmas Eve.  

This year isn't turning out like I had planned. This holiday is filled with heavy hearts for my family.  But Its a reminder for everyone: forget about the arguments, it doesn't matter if the kids are cranky, Uncle Bob had one too many beers, or the turkey is overcooked.  Just love each other. 

We made a Mistletoes plate for Santa's cookies with Jessy's baby footprints.  I think its going to be my favorite Christmas plate for quite awhile and a great way to remember her birth day!

We've been making a list and checking it twice, trying to find out who's been naughty or nice!

Jessy's become my little helper in the kitchen with all of the holiday baking.  We have a few more treats to make this weekend and then we'll be able to sit back and enjoy the season (with a Christmas movie and some hot cocoa of course)!

Last night Jessy and I made our Peppermint Kisses Cookies.  She sat in her highchair in the kitchen and sang to me while I mixed and molded!  We have singing competitions of who can be the loudest.  She usually wins!

I've decided I'm going to start taking pictures of the mischief my husband and daughter seem to get into.  I know when it gets quiet in the house, someone is doing something naughty... I just didn't imagine my husband would be the instigator!! 

This Year's Christmas Card!

Merry Christmas!

Great article on a woman being tossed out of a court of all places... Click here.

I have been struggling lately.  My friends certainly don't understand and sometimes my own family members seem to be frustrated with me when I have to time my trips out in public with my baby depending on the last time she was fed. I am not a strong woman when it comes to this.... and that's okay.  I could not stand the humiliation of being told to leave a place. I have at times gone into a bathroom stall to feed my daughter so as not to upset anyone else... Question?  Would you want to eat in a dirty public bathroom stall?

Breastfeeding is the hardest thing I have ever done, you do not have a life, its not just about the milk issue (how many times have I heard, "just leave a bottle with your husband").  I am her security blanket, her comfort when she needs it, her pacifier.  This is how she goes to sleep at night when she is upset or in pain, she doesn't have a binky, I am her binky.  Right now she is constantly going through physical growing changes, teething and mental development leaps.  When she is crying tears of pain from teething, the only comfort for her is to latch for a few minutes.  Not drink, but just latch.  This is part of breastfeeding, its what I committed too when I decided to have her.  But to be honest, it's extremely lonely.

She has herself on a wonderful schedule of going to bed at 7pm and getting up around 7am.  And she NEEDS to be in bed at 7pm.  No matter how much I want to socialize in the evenings (and believe me, I miss my girlfriends TERRIBLY) I can't justify messing up her schedule and having her be miserable.  I have a super amazing good baby.  Why would I want to take that away from her for my own selfish desires?

In the grand scheme of things, its a blip on the calendar.  Things will be more "normal" soon. And I hope my friends will forgive me...

This weekend was ice cold... actually it was ALOT colder than ice with windchill temps in the minus 25!! So we didn't leave the house with the babe. But we finished the Christmas decorations, adding some lights outside (we made our own lighted trees that turned out great!) and starting our batches of Christmas goodies to give out. Of course I was just told by the doctor to stop eating gluten AND dairy because our babe may be having a reaction to one of them. Do you know how tough this is?  Of course my husband has been generous enough to be the Christmas goodie tester... and you know quality control means having to test a million a few times. Isn't he just the best?

If you do have to go out in the cold, these little suits by Old Navy are the best!  It makes her look like Ralphie's brother from the Christmas Story!

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a family of three.  We visited our family for a few days and then headed home to start making Christmas treats and decorating the nursery!

I made some of these peanut butter balls

And decorated the nursery with some reindeer garland, flannel polar bear crib sheets and little Christmas signs around the room. Its looking very festive in the house!