Our Christmas 2013

This Christmas was a great one! Agreeably the best one we have had in several years. Gabe and I just couldn't stop high-fiving each other due to happiness. Haha! It wasn't just the fact that we were over the moon excited to give our family our gifts, it was also just that it was a "smooth" season. I attribute most of that to the fact that we started our Christmas shopping at the end of November. That is SUPER early for us! Also, we have a two year old now that loved every little thing about the Christmas season. I feel like it just got really fun with her!!

We had such a great Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. We go there every year, and it is always a blast. We took cookie dough to bake for Santa and let Amara get in her new Christmas jammies. Gabe and I stayed up until about 4:30 am assembling toys and finishing our last minute wrapping. We made some turkey sandwiches for fuel and then eventually passed out. I was so excited to see Amara open gifts that it took me a while to settle before I could actually fall asleep. :)

9:30 am came quickly, and I felt as though I had been hit by a truck. Coming off of a head cold and winding down from pre Christmas day festivities really took a lot out of me. I was still so happy though! We went up to get Amara ( who was talking in her bed), and let her color on her cards for Grandma and Gigi. Such a sweet start to the morning.. doing something for the ones we love! We made French toast and bacon and mimosas and just opened gifts throughout the morning. It was so. much. fun!

Amara's reaction to Santa coming? "Wooooow!" "Look, Aunt Jess!" ( who was sleeping on our couch)
We finished off our evening by going to a friend's house and eating with their family while our kiddos played together. Amazing dinner! Great cocktails! Even better company. It was such a sweet time, and I am so grateful.

Not forgetting the real reason we celebrate this day.... Jesus' birth. I will never be able to truly fathom his birth, life, death and resurrection. I am so thankful for His love and mercy on me my whole life! Happy Birthday Jesus! :)

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and enjoy the rest of your holiday!!

xo!

27 months!!

It is time for me to do an update on Amara. I feel like this last month has been full of so many new behaviors, sayings, emotions, and looks on her part. It has been pretty much the coolest thing ever to watch. We are praising God for her good health, carrying on conversations with actual sentences ( well, small sentences), getting lots of kisses from her without asking, and watching her a lot when she isn't looking. We are just soaking every bit of it up!!!

Some of our FAVORITE things that she is saying right now....I am not making any of this up!

"Come on, mommy!"
Oooooh, come on daddy..." ( as in "come on.... why don't you want to play?")
"I riiiiiiight back."
"awwww, thats's cute!"
"You okay?"
"mommy, I happy" ( that one is my favorite, and makes me want to cry happy tears every. single. time)
"what happened?"
"I okay!"
"It's warm." ( referring to food)
"It's cold outside."
"I likey shoes, socks, hair, bracelet,etc."
"You look pretty mommy!"
"Clean up...everybody share!" ( her attempt to sing the "cleanup" song..."clean up clean up, everybody do your share.")
"Daddy sing Toby!" ( referring to who daddy sings with)
"hmmmmm" as she taps her finger on her lips
" I love you too"
"Its baleeeeew" (blue)
" I see baby quick" ( when she wants to go see a random strangers baby and kiss it on the head)
"Awww, thank you!" as she bows after strumming a guitar or singing in her microphone

I am just so overwhelmed with how much she is learning and taking in. I am impressed with her social skills these days. She is so friendly and loves to talk :) I love her sensitive heart, her joyful spirit, and so much more. My cup is continually overflowing, and I am just so humbled by God's grace for me as a mom. I make mistakes every day, but I am so thankful that I am not doing this alone. I have an amazing husband also that puts in the time as a dad. We love those little moments that show us that the day of stress yesterday or the moment of correcting Amara and watching tears fall .....its all worth it when we see her sweet behavior come pouring out.

As, I end this post.....I just looked over to my left to see Amara pick up her baby doll and say "Hi baby,  I hold you?" Then, she proceeded to rock it and sing "God loves you, Amen!"

Thank you Lord....You are SO good!!

Savoring

I just randomly came across an IG account today of a woman of four children, one of which was taken at the age of 2. I honestly couldn't even tell you what the cause of death was for this precious baby because I couldn't make it through her pics far back enough to possibly find out. Midway through, I had to retreat to my closet to just have a good cry. I just couldn't imagine, but at the same time..... I feel like I can feel that knot in my stomach the best that I can without having actually suffered the loss. Does that make sense?

 Today, I got to take MY two year old to lunch, then the park, then kiss her to sleep for her nap time. I have a lot of days where I just wonder WHY I get to be the one to hold on to my baby just a little bit longer?? I hate how emotional becoming a mom has made me ( although I was pretty emotional before), but I am so glad for the reality it keeps me living in. I have many gifts. The gift of Amara herself, the gift of motherhood, the gift of TRULY getting to understand the meaning of "love" as best as I can on Earth. Ya know, "love"....the REAL kind that God talks about. It makes me so aware of how much God loves ME. Becoming a parent will really do that to you I believe.

Church has been such a lifeline for me in the last year. I am 28 years old, and I would say that I am finally beginning to understand what it means to "cling to Jesus". I am not perfect by any means, but I do know that I need Him desperately. I am not here to tell you what to believe, but I DO believe that there is a God that loves you, a Savior who DIED for YOU, and a place in Heaven for you if you would receive it. I know this is a heavier post for me, but I am just overwhelmed today with how much love I have been shown my whole life. I look at my whole family right now, and thank God that I could pick up the phone and call them if I wanted to hear their voices. That is a great feeling to feel around the holidays. This post isn't to make anyone who has lost someone feel worse, but for me to say to you that I hear your story, and want to love well because of it. I don't know what God holds for my life in the years to come, but right now I am savoring.

Hug your loved ones extra hard ( every day!)
Blessings....

And the owl says... "Whoo Whoo!"

Hope everyone had an amazing Halloween!! I am a little behind in posting pics because Halloween got "postponed" here in Nashville due to Tornado watches and stormy weather. Kind of a bummer, but man... I am sooooo glad that we got to celebrate tonight because it was beautiful out.

If I am being honest, I will tell you that I am not really into Halloween. I am okay not decorating for it, I  don't enjoy being scared, and quite honestly.... I don't really like giving out candy. I know! I know! I know! I am an awful person. I actually didn't even think I would enjoy trick or treating with Amara, but after the first house we went to all of my preconceived ideas I had of how our night would go were NULL. AND. VOID!!

You guys, Amara absolutely loved trick or treating. We did zero prep for the evening. I didn't even know if she could say the phrase "trick or treat!". So on our way to our friends' house I asked her to say it and she did. Then, she said it about 50,000 more times that night. She alternated between "trick or treat!" and "thank you!" on the way up the stairs before even getting to the doors and on the way down the stairs after getting her goods. One after the other.....she just talked the entire time. She dragged her bucket on the ground the whole way. I offered to carry it for her several times, but she insisted on carrying it herself. She is just so independent these days. Gabe and I just watched her with pride. She just seems more grown everyday (well, because she is technically), and while it makes me a TINY bit sad, it makes smile even more.

Lucky Ladd Farms

I don't know about you, but we have really been trying to take in the month of October the best that we can. Gabe is usually on the road for the majority of October....he has been since we have been married. However, he is actually off pretty much the entire month, and I am just LOVING it. I am not ready to give him up to this crazy tour season we have coming up.

In celebration, we are doing all things "fall". I love our little city during the fall months. It is just beautiful, and there are lots of things to do. We went to a farm this past week to pet and feed animals, "wing" high, pick out some "punkies", eat a caramel apple ( ok, that was just me), have fresh squeezed lemonade and just enjoy some time as a family.

Hope you are enjoying your fall season so far! There really is something special about this time of year, don't you think?

 ^^ The jury is still out about how she ACTUALLY felt about that slide. ^^

Color dipped Ikea kid's table

I have been searching for almost a year for the perfect kids' table for Amara. She is so little, that even the smallest chairs have been to tall for her. Not to mention the way that she climbs up onto the chairs meant that I needed something that wouldn't tip over easily. Table and chair sets are expensive ya'll!!!

As long as it has taken my undecisive self to make a decision, it appears that Amara has grown. This is great news to me because I really liked all of the hacks that I have seen done to the Latke Ikea table, but I just never felt like it was a sturdy enough combo for my little. Until now! $20 for a table and 2 chairs!?!?! Boom....DONE! We were able to get it shipped to us for $11 bringing the final cost to around $32.

I took some leftover aqua paint that I had from her play kitchen, and spiced up the legs on the table just a bit. I just used some painter's tape to mark off where I wanted to paint. I really love how it turned out!

I am SLOOOOOOOOOWLY trying to put together an office upstairs in Amara's original nursery room. I really just working with what I already have. No new storage ( for right now) and no painting the walls (hence the bright pink chevron). I wanted to create a little nook in the office for Amara to entertain herself while I do whatever it is you do in an office/craft room. Its just a bright open space upstairs, and I find that we do NOT live upstairs. We spend all of our time downstairs, and I am trying to change that.....one. room. at. a. time.

Here is Amara's little nook as it stands today. When the budget allows, I plan on adding some book shelving below the artwork to hold art supplies and such.

 ^^ I took an old Anthropologie catalog that I had saved and hung pictures from it with gold washi tape! I saved the catalog for the pig picture specifically, but ended up hanging others also. Just kind of quirky and fun!^^

^^ The tassel garland was something I had already made from a baby shower I threw earlier in the year. It pays off to save those things, huh? ^^

I kind of love this little space for now. I think it is nice to have a little something your child can do in each room of the house until they can be left somewhat unsupervised. If I have to go to a different room in my house, I hate feeling like I have to take toys with me. They will just be there already! :)

Have a GREAT weekend!!

J