My poor little guy

Unfortunatly this is how we ended our holiday season. Brody ended up with a double ear infection and a nasty cold/cough and when we went back to the doctor the next day for a second shot of antibiotics he was wheezing so they put him on breathing treatments.They tested him for RSV but it was negative (thank goodness). He is doing better but it looks like he is going to have to have tubes put in his ears. He is on his 5th ear infection in about 4 months and now even the shots aren't clearing them up completely. Poor little guy...

Christmas

Despite Reagans HUGE aversion to Santa Clause, christmas at our house this year was a whole lot of fun!!!! It was so fun to see Reagan get so excited about all her toys...she kept saying "For me?" and "Surprise" everytime she opened a present... it was so cute. Brody was a trooper through all of it, like most babies at christmas the paper and boxes struck his attention more than anything else. Here are several pictures (in complete oposite order) of our christmas.

This is Me, Megan, and Jordan at my moms house in Charlotte (we went christmas day afternoon). My mom bought us matching pajamas and they came with those silly eye cover things so we decided to be dumb and take some pictures.

This is my Grandma (my kids great grandma) playing with Brody. It was so fun to have her around this christmas

My nephew Damian and my sister Megan fedding Brody breakfast.

Brody wearing Damians protective eye wear for his play chain saw he got for christmas.

Reagan got a big trunk full of beautiful dress up clothes and shoes from my mom...she prances around the house like she is something else in all her fancy dresses.

Brody on one of his Christmas presents...he loves when you push him really fast around the kitchen.

Brody among all the chaos

The christmas bomb that went off at our house (this is what it looked like after we were done opening presents and started playing)

Reagan and Brody's big gift from Santa this year was a trampoline...and yes that is water on it, it had rained the night before but i couldnt show Reagan the trampoline and then tell her she couldnt jump on it... yes she got wet but she loved every second of it.

Reagan was a pro at opening presents. She would turn it around until she found the little flap that she could put her hand under and tear. She opened all of hers and all of Brody's presents and then wanted to help with mine.

Brody playing with his stocking (he woke up uncharacteristically early and was back asleep before Reagan even started opening her presents)

Christmas Eve just after Santa left =) or should i say putting together that little pink thing on the right that came in 125 parts and took 2 hrs to put together.

Reagan decorating christmas cookies. Despite not liking Santa she was all about making him cookies.

It is a tradition in my family to make homeade sugar cookies and frost them on christmas eve day...one that i have now passed onto my kids and Reagan LOVES it.

It was a great christmas...spending time with our families and watching our kids enjoy themselves makes all the work that goes into it worth it. I have to share a quick story that really brought me back to the true meaning of Christmas this year....

I was putting Reagan to bed Christmas eve and I was reading her "The Crippled Lamb" if you havent read it it is a great christmas story. I wasnt sure if she would listen to it since there are kind of a lot of words to read on one page and well...she two so you know how impatient they can be. While I was reading the story about a little lamb that has a bad leg and therefore cant go to the greener pasture with the other lambs, Reagan was listening very intently. The story goes on and it ends up that because the little lamb was unable to go to the pasture with the other lambs he ends up being in the stable when the baby Jesus was born and helps to keep the new king warm. As I turned to the page where baby Jesus was laying in the manger, Reagan sat up in the bed and looked at the baby. She rubbed her hand over him and leaned forward and kissed him. At that moment I was overcome with emotion and almost wasnt able to finish the story. It was a perfect end to the day and a perfect way to remind me what we are truly greatful for this holiday season.

How does this ALWAYS happen???

Every year I finish shopping early, the presents are wrapped, the baking is done... every little thing is in place and yet somehow I still feel like I have so much to do and I have forgotten something and am left scrambling until the wee hours of the morning... oh well, its my own little christmas tradition I guess... Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!!

Pictures with Santa

Its a christmas tradition of ours to go and see Santa and have our picture made with him (really I just want to have it to scrapbook but we can call it tradition). This year at Reagans school Santa came and they did pictures there but since Brody doesnt go to school yet we had to take him at a later time. I tried to take both of them but Reagan would have nothing to do with Santa after her first experience at school.

Here is Brody looking all handsome in his Christmas clothes...he is such an easy going little guy...if you smile at him, he smiles back. Reagan had a pretty red dress with black sweater to match Body but she wasnt interested in participating.

And this is how Reagan feels about Santa (this was the very first shot the photographer took... it only went downhill from there.) I guess it is an improvement from last years picture where she is screaming with huge tears coming out of her eyes. I guess its safe to say Reagan is not a fan of Santa. Maybe her opinion will change when she sees all the new toys he brings her on christmas eve.

He went to Jared!!!

You know all those cheezy jewelry commercials where the girl is always saying "He went to Jared"...well yesterday Stephen went to Jared (Jared the Galleria of Jewelry for those of you that are still lost) and he came home will this GEORGEOUS watch. Our 5 year anniversary is next weekend and while I thought our trip to New York was enough to celebrate it Stephen had other things in mind.

I had mentioned a few months back that I would like a watch. I havent worn one since high school but with little kiddos I am always needing to know what time it is. So Stephen logged that in his memory bank (why nothing else ever seems to land in that memory bank I will never understand=) and picked this out for me. He couldnt have picked a more perfect watch for me. The picture doesnt do it justice... the face is pink and all the number are little diamonds. Then all around the face on the outside are little diamonds as well. And one of the best features about it... it's virtually indestructable. The guy that sold it to him threw it on the ground a few times and scratched the face with a steak knife and it was still in perfect shape.

The funniest part of all of it was that last night after I put it on I couldnt get it off. I was starting to get frustrated until I realized that I just wasnt pulling hard enough (I guess I thought I would break it.) Oh and in case your wondering why he already gave it to me...that is Stephens tradition. Since I have been married to him I have never received a gift on the actual holiday. He says its more of a surprise when he comes home and its unexpected. He is right!!!

Family pictures

Every year (usually around Christmas time) we have a family picture taken. It is always nice to have for "grandparent gifts" not my kids grandparents but my grandparents. They dont get to see me or my family very much anymore so I figure a picture is always a nice way to see how everyone has changed over the past year and this was the first time we had had a family picture taken with Brody in it. Reagan Brody and I had a picture made when I had a photographer come to my house when he had just gone to the hospital but Stephen wasnt able to be there for that on. We met an old friend of mine Heidi at a park in Gainesville and in less than 30 min she got several great shots. I was very pleased with the way they turned out...all I wanted was one good one, thats what I kept telling Heidi..."All I need is one good one for a frame and for christmas cards" so I would say since we got several good ones it was a successful shoot!

MIA

I know, I know... I have ben totally missing in action lately. It has been a CRAZY few weeks and I am still trying to get caught up... not that it will do me any good because the month of December is always busy...even if you already have all your shopping done (which I have since the beginning of October) but nonetheless here is why I have been missing in action:

Getting family pictures taken for our Christmas card (getting Reagan to cooperate with a camera is a challenge in and of itself so trying to get Reagan, 7 month old Brody, Me and Stephen to all look and smile at the same time...well lets just say our photographer did good)

After getting our pictures done, selecting a christmas card and addressing mailing, all that stuff that goes with Christmas cards (they are still in a pile waiting for stamps in my dining room).

Thanksgiving: We had my mom, sister, nephew, brother and all of Stephens family over for Thanksgiving dinner. Thankfully my mom was here to help me and Stephens mom brought over plenty of yummy stuff as well.

Then we turned around on Friday and went to my dads house for Thanksgiving over there...my step-brother Bradley came home from his mission Thanksgiving day so we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with them the next day...it was so fun to see Bradley after 2 years.

Speaking of Bradley...I had been doing a scrapbook of his mission for him and in typical fashion I had to play catch up with it right before he got home so the times I would have spent blogging, I was scrapbooking.

I also had a few scrapbook clients that I had to get caught up on so betwen them and Bradley's album I was spent...

My brother and his wife had a baby boy, November 18th at 1:30 in the morning so I spent quite a bit of time going back and forth to the hospital visiting them.

Planning a New York trip: Stephen and I are going to New York for our 5 year anniversary so we have been planning everything for that...it should be lots of fun, I just need to go shopping for some VERY WARM clothes for the trip. I have been there before at this time of year and it is COLD!!!

I have had a few christmas "Projects" that I have been working on and hopefully will finish before christmas.

WE decorated the house this past weekend. We got a 10ft tree this year and it is really pretty, I will try and post some pictures of it later.

Anyway, you get the idea... I have been busy but we are all healthy and happy so I couldnt think of a better time of year to be thankful for all the things we have been blessed with...especially eachother!!!