WOW!!

Ahhh, 2009.  You're almost out of here.  Forever.  Gone.  Bye-Bye! 

It's rather sad that we are getting ready to say good-bye to such a lovely year.  The year I met one of the most amazing kids to ever enter the planet...my little Isaac Henry.  I got rather weepy when I started to think about saying good-bye to this year, to Isaac's first year, and entering into a new year for him.  But last night Isaac said his official first word. 

The word is..."WOW!!"

He would say a variation of this word when he was still trying to figure it out.  For a while it was "Waaaaa," "Waaabbb" or some version of that.  But last night, he brought out the big guns and said, "WOW!" Marcus and I were nearly falling over each other laughing out of pure delight.  

Actually hearing my son say a word made me more and more excited about the upcoming year, celebrating his first year of life, watching him explore this world, learn more words, and become more of who he is.  I can't wait! 

But with the New Year, like ever other person on the planet, I come to my yearly, "What the flip am I doing with my life?" question.  Yes, every year this happens and I always seem to stick with the same thing I've done every other year of my life for the past 10 years.  I follow through with a "resolution" for 14 days (tops) and then go back to my old way of doing things.  Well, this year I am hell bent on doing something about that. 

More on that later, but next week I'm going to unveil a little something I'm working on...or I should say I WILL be working on.  Changes need to be made, my friends, and by golly I'm going to do it!! And, truth be told, I'm rather excited about it. 

So soak up this last day of 2009.  This year treated us very well and I hope 2010 is just as gracious. 

Love to all!!! 

Catchin' up....

Have you ever noticed that after a trip it almost takes you as long as you were away to actually catch up with your normal day-to-day life? Landy! Maybe it's my 32 years catching up with me and I get "winded" by time away from home more so than when I was...31?

On Saturday we got back from a wonderful trip down to Orlando to visit Marcus' side of the family. It had been two years since we had been down there, which is just WAY too long in between trips, and we had a fantastic time. Isaac absolutely loved hanging out with his Grandma and Grandpa dePaula, he had a backyard full of trees that he could actually touch, we went on many walks WITHOUT a coat on (glorious 78 degrees in December...ahhh) and not to mention all of the attention he got from his aunt and uncle. And the food...aahh, the glorious food!! Barbara outdid herself and spoiled us rotten with amazing meals....thanks Barbara!!!

But it was Isaac's first Christmas and it was so amazingly sweet. Seeing him open presents, the wonder of ripping paper, figuring out his new toys, fighting the urge to crawl over to the Christmas tree and tackle it to the ground wanting to put every sparkly thing in his mouth was so much fun to watch. I love the "firsts" that are unfolding in his sweet little life. So many more to come!

But he was a trooper, to the fullest extent of the word, on the 11.5 hour drive to and from Orlando. Seriously, I was BLOWN away. The trip down was a tad bit more difficult than the trip back, but he did amazingly well considering he had to be strapped down, which does not a happy Isaac make.

But I'll leave you with a few pictures from our trip. Marcus has more, but until I can get them from him, please enjoy these!

Hope your holidays were merry and bright!!!

Baaaaaaahhhhh!!!!

When I was little I had what is considered MAJOR separation anxiety. M-A-J-O-R. So much so that when I was in the 5th grade I kind of flipped out and couldn't even make it through a class without bawling. For two weeks I would sit in a room behind the school secretaries and do my work from there. Looking back at it now, I'm so embarrassed to have acted like that and wonder what my problem was. I remember that feeling of dread and fear, which is something I never want Isaac to have to deal with.

Granted, we all get scared and have to deal with things we don't want to deal with. But one thing I didn't want to pass along to Isaac was the bone numbing separation anxiety. He's 10 1/2 months old and goes to the church nursery like a champ every Sunday. He loves it! All sorts of toys, girls to flirt with, things to get into, it's great!

Last night I experienced a taste of separation anxiety with Isaac. We had our yearly Christmas program at church and due to the fact that I could not get a babysitter for Isaac, he came along. The reason I wanted a babysitter for him was mainly due to the program starting at 7:00PM. Isaac is such a child of habit and is thrilled to go to bed at 6:30PM. I knew it would be tough, but he can deal with one late night in his little life. Marcus was already at the church and I had to be there at 6:00PM to run through songs with the choir. I dropped Isaac off in the nursery, he was happy and I went upstairs. At 6:55 one of the other mothers came up to me and said, "I'm really sorry, but Isaac is inconsolable. He won't stop crying."

KNIFE-TO-THE-HEART!!

We were the fourth performance in and things were going to start in 5 minutes. All I wanted to do was run down there and comfort him, but I knew if I did I would have to run right back upstairs and he would still be upset. So I decided to go down there right after we sang. Talk about the LOOOONNNNGGGEEEESSSTTT 20 minutes EVER.

We did our thing and I dart downstairs to the nursery. The poor little guy was NOT happy. I took him from one of the nursery workers and he is doing that little gasp for air after kids have been crying so hard. It was just the saddest thing. Being so beyond tired and having a new tooth come in was just a little too much for the boy. I gave him some teething tabs (seriously the GREATEST thing to happen to teething babies) and cuddled with him for about 20 minutes. I had to take off to do our second song, but after an initial freak out he was fine. THANK YOU LORD!!

I am so thankful that Isaac doesn't have separation anxiety. I don't think I could deal with it if he did!! I'd revert to my 5th grade self and bawl right there with him. I'm so tough.

Jingle Jingle....

I wouldn't call myself a Scrooge...maybe a Scroo...or maybe a medium sized grump. I don't like decorating for the holidays. There...I said it. I'm not a seasonal decorator at all. I've never understood the fascination with putting a bunch of hearts all over the place for Valentines Day, eggs and bunnies out for Easter, a massive cornucopia in the middle of the table at Thanksgiving, nor the massive amounts of decorations that litter yards for Christmas.

I love her to death, but my mother is the queen of seasonal decorating. We would always dread the day after Thanksgiving when we were kids because that only meant one thing...hauling up the 372 bins of Christmas decorations out of the basement. The funny thing is that me, my brother and my two cousins (who are practically my sisters) hate decorating for the holidays. Hate may be too harsh of a word. Hmmm....greatly dislike...that's better.

This feeling started to change last year when I was pregnant with Isaac. I was eight months pregnant during Christmas last year so Marcus and I decided to stay at home for the holiday due to the fact that I couldn't sit in the car for more than 15 minutes. It was lovely. We missed our families but it was such a sweet time for the two of us. I started to think about how warm and inviting my parents house is at Christmas. It's always warm and inviting, but with the smell of Christmas candles, the tree, the millions of little trees she has peppered around the house, and all of the love and time she puts into making the house scream CHRISTMAS IS HERE made me reconsider the decorating bit.

Then the unthinkable happened...I ventured out to buy a Christmas tree. ME!! BUYING A CHRISTMAS TREE! Granted it's all of four feet tall and artificial, but dang, it's a TREE! And...wait for it...I bought silver decorations for the TREE. AHHH!! I'M GOING CRAZY!!!

I just couldn't deny Isaac Christmas decorations. Granted, I know he doesn't know the difference this year, but I want to start fun traditions for us and give him the chance to experience all of the fun of Christmas, but teach him the beautiful truth of what the holiday is really all about. THAT I can get into.

And he can decide for himself if he wants to carry on the tradition of being a stick-in-the-mud like his dear old Mama.

Time, Time, Time...

In 19 days Isaac will be 11 months old. 11 months people...just shy of a year. While 12 usually follows 11 in normal arithmetic, this doesn't take the gasp factor out of the fact that I will be the mother of a one year old in just a few months. Those first few months seemed to inch by at a snails pace, trying to function with such little sleep, figuring out this new "mommy" thing out, mastering the art of holding your breath while the hairs are falling out of your nose from the blast of stink coming from your child's diaper, entertaining said child while changing said diaper so they don't roll around and get poop all over the changing table, all the while morning the loss of your wardrobe due to the excessive spit and throw-up stains that can't be covered up with a decorative pin that was originally in your grandmother's dress up box.

But after you power through those first few months (I seriously wanted to play the Rocky theme and run up a flight of stairs saying, "I WIN! I WIN!") time literally goes by so fast you can hardly believe it. That is certainly the phase we are in right now. I keep telling my friends who just had babies, "Believe me, it will get better. I promise! But hold on to your hat because it is going to FLY by."

When Isaac started sleeping better and only woke up twice during the night, I felt like a champ the next morning with 5 solid hours of sleep. Now he is finally sleeping 11-12 hour stretches, waking up early in the morning with me feeding him, changing his diaper, and then he will sleep for a few extra hours after that. Oh my, the sleep is GLORIOUS!! I wish he understood how happy and proud I am of him of finally catching on to "the more you sleep, the better you feel" concept that eluded him for the first 9 months of his life.

While I mourn the passing of Isaac's first few months of life and how sweet they were, I am so excited for the phase he is in now and about to enter. Makes the loss of my wardrobe a small sacrifice to make in the grand scheme of it all.