4th of July

I love holidays.  Any excuse to gather the family, indulge in favorite foods, watch the little ones play....sounds good in my book!  Despite the sticky heat that just wouldn't quit - we gathered the lawn chairs and cold drinks.  Once the sun went down and a small merciful breeze kicked in, it wasn't so bad.

Round 1:

You know we love a good, festive outfit and hairbow!

Natalie loved playing with all of her cousins, and especially enjoys watching the older kids play.  She is such a little studier.  She watches and absorbs and soaks it all in. 

Round 2:

 My beautiful momma and sissies.

 Natalie loves her Mimi!

 Impossible to get a picture with a wiggly toddler!

Cousins!!
Here's a pic in the same spot last year - they have changed so much!

Little bug tuckered out at my mom's long before it got dark, so we didn't go to see fireworks.  When we got home, we did enjoy a sparkler before snuggling into bed for the night.

Happy 4th of July!

Buh-Bye 2011

Looking back, I'm not sure how the past year has gone so fast!  A LOT has happened within our family over the past 365 days.  Last New Year's Eve, I was hugely pregnant with six weeks until the arrival of our baby girl.  We took a trip to Target to spend some baby shower gift cards, and purchased our stroller and carseat.  Mark spent the evening putting it together, then we watched movies and cuddled on the couch - which is pretty much what we do every year.  This year we attempted a family get together....but had to leave at 8:30 since my BABY WILL NOT SLEEP ANYWHERE THAT ISN'T HER BEDROOM.  Ugh.  So - here we are, snuggled up on the couch, as per our usual tradition.  Truth be told - I like it. :)

I normally look back at the past year with nostalgia and reverence and fondness.  2011 has not been our year.  We are both more than happy to push it right out the door, and ready to embrace 2012.  Of course, Natalie's birth and learning to be a momma was life-changing and wonderful and lovely and I will always hold this year in my heart as a special one.  But the stress, sadness, worry, and burdens of the past year have taken us to our limit.

Mark's eye injury and subsequent 7 surgeries took a toll on all of us this year.  After a recent appointment, Mark found out that due to the location of his scar tissue, he cannot have the final surgery to replace his lens and restore any vision.  He will be legally blind in that eye for life, and the appearance of his eye is obviously permanent as well.  Although this news was disappointing, Mark was relieved to have some closure after almost a year of pain, surgeries, eye appointments, and time off work.

Additionally we had various home "emergencies" this year (such as a termite invasion, plumbing problems, car break-down, etc.) - add that to the huge medical bills we incurred from an unexpected 8-day stay in the hospital with Natalie's birth - and 2011 dealt us a nice chunk of debt.  Our biggest "resolution" (if you want to call it that) is to become debt-free in 2012.  We have started the Dave Ramsey plan, and are looking forward to losing the stress and worry raincloud that has followed us around this year. 

I have struggled with returning to work and learning to balance work and mommy-hood and being a good wife.  I have not felt like I have done any of them well to say the least.  Guilt has been my new companion.  Second-guessing and anxiety and always feeling as though I'm not measuring up.  I will say good-bye to those feelings in the new year.  I am trying to put more faith in God, to put less pressure on myself, and trust in what His plan is for me and my family.

I feel that 2012 is a fresh start, and there is something rejuvenating about that.  Starting over, beginning again, striving to make it better than the year before.  I am SO READY to say good-bye to the bad memories of 2011, and take the good ones with me into the next year.  Welcome, 2012!  I'm glad you're here!

Some of the GOOD highlights from 2011:

January -  Snow days, finishing Natalie's room.

February - Our lovely daughter arrives.

March - Baby's first bath!

April - Natalie learns to sleep through the night. :)  First family Easter.

May - Celebrated Mother's Day with my momma and sisters...a really nice girls' day!

June - Mark's first Father's Day.  Our 3rd wedding anniversary. 

July - Celebrating our Freedom.

August - Natalie turns half a year!

September - Solid food. :) Whisper Walk.

October - Pumpkin Patch

November - Thanksgiving.  Crawling!

December - First Christmas

Thankful for these moments...looking forward to many more in the next year.  Happy New Year to you and yours!

Christmas...Part Two

Our Christmas morning was wonderful.  We woke up to a sweet little baby babbling in her bed.  Went in to say good morning and Merry Christmas to a sleepy-eyed, smiley-faced little girl.  Sadly, she had soaked through her Christmas jammies (learned my lesson on that one....put special jammies on ON Christmas morning).  However, she was in good spirits - so after a quick sponge bath and clothing change, we were ready for our first Christmas morning as a family of three.

Natalie was really into ripping the paper off of her presents, and she wanted to play with each item as it was opened.  Santa brought a cute little pink car walker.

Beep! Beep!

Daddy made breakfast, and we ate and played and snuggled.  By mid-morning, our little Christmas baby was tuckered out a ready for a little snooze.  Such a fun, relaxed, joyful morning.

Attempted Christmas morning picture....fail. :)  Oh, well.

Weekend: {The 4th}

We had a lovely weekend.

Started with our first night away.  I missed her.  A LOT.  I may or may not have woken Mark up at 9:30, rushed him through breakfast, begged him to drink his third cup of coffee a little faster, and ran into my sister's house (I think I might have been inside before Mark had the keys out of the ignition) to scoop up my sweetness and love, love, LOVE all over her beautiful little self.

I did enjoy the time alone with Mark.  But I just feel better when our little family is together.

We had a great 4th as well.  We ate.  We ate some more.  We passed the baby. We watched sweaty kids run around the yard. 

I made cake pops.  They turned out so CUTE!

They were....shall we say....time-consuming.  But fun.  I will share some of my tips and tricks (seeing as how I'm a pro now that I've made them ONCE)....later this week.

I loved dressing Natalie up in her 4th of July outfit.  She gave daddy lots of cute smiles while I clicked away.  I'm a bit obsessive about her first holidays....the outfits, the pictures, the traditions.  I just love making these memories with her.  Sure, they are more my memories.  But I hope someday she'll look back on these pictures and see how important it was to her momma to make her "firsts" really special. 

 Seriously.  Isn't she the cutest?  I can't take it.

Then we took some pictures outside.  Always one with mommy, one with daddy.

 (LOVE this picture!)

We made the cousins pose for a holiday picture.  Natalie looks thrilled, obviously.

It's difficult to get four children to all look at the camera and smile at the same time!  Then, they wanted baby Natalie to lay on the blanket with their flags.  More cuteness.

Chubby baby!  Do you see the spit up down the front of the onesie?  *sigh* We can't keep anything nice around here. :) 

We didn't go see fireworks this year, but we saw a lot on our way home.  We put the baby to bed, consoled our scared puppy (who absolutely HATES fireworks) and went to bed ourselves.  A great holiday!