It's a Wrap on Christmas 2011

Well, Christmas is officially over in our house. We finally packed up the tree and put it back in the garage until next year. Since W is now toddling around and into EVERYTHING we made the decision to put the tree in our formal living room this year instead of the den. Thanks to the baby gates we installed a few months ago the tree wasn't the great temptation that we thought it would be. Of course, anytime we did anything around the tree (including opening presents on Christmas Day) the little man was more interested in climbing the stairs.

We had a wonderful and busy second Christmas in our new house and with the little man. We were surprised at his birthday party that he didn't have much interest in opening presents and that continued with Christmas this year too. I'm sure next year he will be all about opening those gifts. Instead this year, I did the wrapping and the opening so it was fun for me.


We were so lucky that my grandmother (and W's only living great-grandparent) was able to come up to Atlanta for the weekend. My granny's at that age where she doesn't like to travel away from home overnight. She claims its because when she's off with us we treat her like an invalid but I digress. I know W won't remember that she was here but our family will and that made the holiday more special. She also bought W his first bible as a Christmas gift and that is something I will treasure for the rest of my days.

We had a house full this year with 8 adults. I wasn't sure if we could do but we can. And we had a great time with everyone under one roof from dawn to dusk. My sister's boyfriend is from Germany so he shared a few special customs with us. We all enjoyed the experiences and I hope it made him feel better to have a little bit of home with our holiday celebrations.

The Feuerzangenbowle - mulled spice wine before the flames

and after

Here are just a few candid shots from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

I hope you and your family had as wonderful of a holiday as we did. I don't know about you but I'm ready for 2012!

The Happiest Days of My Life

So this post is in honor of my grandmother who just celebrated a birthday. Since its never polite to mention a lady's age, I won't tell you how old she is but I'm in my late 30s and she was 50 when I was born so you can pretty much figure it out from there. 


Every time I talk with my grandmother, she tells me how lucky I am to have been home with my son and how I shouldn't go back to work. Of course, she is of a generation of women that didn't have the option of working and raising children so I understand where she is coming from. 


Even though, my grandmother didn't have a choice about working outside of the home, she loved being a mom and raising her children. She tells me all the time how those were the best years of her life. But I know her child rearing days had to be hard. She had 4 children within 5 years and she didn't have the luxury of disposable diapers and take-out. She had to cook every meal from scratch and in those days husbands didn't babysit or change diapers. I can't imagine what her life was like in the thick of those days. 


Regardless of the reality, here she is at the end of her life and those years were her happiest. I hope that when I'm her age and I look back on my life that I will remember these years as my happiest too. One of the great advantages to being an older mom is that I've done a lot with my adult years. I've traveled the world and enjoyed wonderful experiences unlike my grandmother. So far none of that can compare to this journey called motherhood - it has been the most wonderful of wonderful experiences. 


I hope that when I look back on my son's first year, I remember when and where I was when he rolled over for the first time (that's probably a bad example since I was at work), said his first word, stood on his own, or took his first steps. I hope that I remember the happy days, the smiles, wet kisses, and cuddles and not the arguments, feeling so tired that my bones ached, or the crying, all the crying (from both him and me.) I don't want to remember the bitterness I felt after getting laid-off, the sleepless nights from worrying about college funds and savings accounts, or all of the "things" I didn't get to buy or do. So today in honor of my grandmother's birthday, I'm committing to enjoy this time because as we all know there are no guarantees on tomorrow. 

Christmas Cookie Swap

I recently attended my first ever cookie swap with a play group that we've been hanging out with over the last few months. When I told my husband, I was going to a cookie swap his first reponse was "Are you going to make the toffee cookies?"A few years ago, I found a recipe for Oatmeal Toffee cookies on the back of the Heath Toffee bits bag. My husband loves toffee so I made them and now a few times a year he request them. They are perfect during the holidays. 

I will admit up front they aren't pretty cookies but they are delicious. If you are looking for a new or different cookie recipe this year, you might just want to check out these Oatmeal Toffee cookies. They are a little bit of toffee, a little bit of chocolate, and a little bit of oatmeal and its a perfect combination. You can find the recipe from Hershey's web site and you can find the Heath bits in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips. 

Happy Baking!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I don't know about your house, but the holidays are in full swing here. I love the holidays and this year it is even more special with the little man around. But this post isn't about the holiday instead its about the movies. I'm so hoping with the extra people in our house that I can steal away a few hours to go to the movies. I love going to the theater this time of the year. The studios put out the best movies in hopes of getting some Oscar nominations. Just a few of the movies I'm dying to see are: 


The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo


I read this book last year and I've seen the Swedish version of the movie. I really like Daniel Craig so I have a lot of high hopes for this movie. I so hope I'm not disappointed. 

The Descendants


Who doesn't love George Clooney? 

Young Adult


I've loved Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" and "Thank You for Smoking" so I'm hoping to like this movie too. I'm not a big fan of Diablo Cody (the screenwriter of "Juno") but I'm willing to give this movie a chance. I just hope that they haven't shown all the funny scenes in the trailer. 

Hugo


A friend of mine went to an advanced screening of this movie and has been raving about it ever since. Martin Scorsese is behind it so I'm sure its a winner. 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


I'm predicting I will need a box of Kleenex to get through this movie, but I think it will be great movie. 

I just recently saw "The Help" on DVD and I loved it more than the book. If you haven't seen yet, add it to your list. The acting and directing were superb. I'm sure it will get a few nods during the award season. 


So are there any movies you will be seeing this holiday season? What else should I have on my list?

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Today is my son's first birthday. We had a chance to celebrate last weekend with our family and friends so today was just for us. We had our first year check-up and then we went to the Georgia Aquarium. We haven't been the aquarium in a few months so it was fun to see how much W enjoyed our trip this time.  We ended the evening with W showing off his new walking skills. I think its only a matter of time before he's running all over the house. Lord help me!

Time is Flying By

I have a confession to make, I'm not exactly sure what happened to the last six weeks but they are gone. They just flew right by me. It started with a week vacation at the beach and then we had three sets of house guests within the course of a week. Then Halloween came, and then the first birthday party to end all birthday parties. And now here I am on the eve of my sweet boy's first birthday. I'm not sure where the time has gone. It just seems like yesterday that I was waddling around the house complaining about my back and now here he is almost one. 


It blows my mind to think that this time last year, I was in a hospital bed waiting to be induced the next morning. Waiting and waiting. You wait for those 40 long weeks to end and then when they do you don't know what to do. If you are like me you are terrified when they send you home from the hospital. I remember saying to the discharge nurse, "Are you sure you should be sending this baby home with us? You don't know if we are capable or qualified to care for an infant." She just laughed and said "You will do fine. You are capable of more than you think you are." Boy was she right. I had never changed a diaper until we got home from the hospital and I had never spent any real time with babies. 


In fact, during the pregnancy I called myself the reluctant mommy. Motherhood wasn't something I had ever planned for myself but it happened and I can't imagine my life without this sweet boy. Of course before he arrived, I couldn't imagine my life with a baby either. I guess the saying is true, "God never gives you more than you can handle." He sure knew what he was doing when he sent us this beautiful little boy. 

Our First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

It seems that once you have a baby you start to do things that you never thought you would do. For us, we moved to a neighborhood last year that we probably would have never moved to if I wasn't pregnant. I've decorated my house with Halloween decorations - not only did I decorate but I had to buy the decorations!?! So last weekend, we were blessed with some great weather and we decided it was time to take the little man to North Georgia for his (and our) first trip to mecca of all things fall - Burt's Pumpkin Patch. Apparently, we weren't the only ones with this idea since the pumpkin patch was packed!


W had a great time people watching and playing around in the pumpkins. It also turned out to be a perfect photo opportunity too. I just love this Halloween-themed outfit from Beehave. But it must have looked girly because for the first time in 11 months, someone actually called my son a girl. I know it was an innocent mistake but still it hurt my feelings a little bit.