Favorite Ornaments

We have a ton of ornaments - those that my mom collected for me all throughout my childhood, those that Michael's mom collected for him all throughout his childhood, those that I've bought one my own to decorated with, 21 angels that my aunt gave me each year starting at birth and ending at 21, yearly White House ornaments, etc. Here are a few of my favorites that we've been given in recent years. It tells you a lot about me...

Carmen's first hand-painted ornament:
If Michael were an ornament:
If I were an ornament #1:
#2:
And #3:

One Great Compliment

Someone said the nicest thing to me recently, "Motherhood suits you well, doesn't it." I loved that. And I agree with him. These past four months have been fantastic. My little love bug is the best thing in the world. Michael and I can't imagine life any other way. All I want to do is hold her, play with her, feed her, change her, show her off and admire her. She's the best.

I loved being pregnant. It was an easy and joyful time. The hardest part was the labor contractions. After pregnancy, I just assumed I'd have months and months of weight loss to work on but lo and behold it all came off. All of it! I hit pre-pregnancy weight about a month ago and it keeps on going down. The best part is that all I've done to contribute to that is eat more. It's been this weird balance of not eating enough because it's hard to eat when you have a baby and then eating so much because I'm always hungry. I love the miracle nursing. Now to keep things real, this doesn't mean I am fit and back in shape. You can totally tell that I've had a baby. I have no desire to wear a swim suit ever again. But I have a work out routine that I will begin to do soon to help out with that part....I know this "eat more food = shed more weight" won't last forever. But overall, I have loved my first experience with pregnancy!

And sleep - well, I get plenty of that! In the world's terms I get plenty - I would still like 9-10 hours of sleep but those days are over. Carmen sleeps beautifully. I cannot complain. She falls asleep sometime around 8:30 or 9pm and then wakes up at 7am. Michael and I are working on getting to bed earlier but have yet to make it a habit. We certainly need to beginning in January - more than that in a few days!!!

I can't do all the things I used to do. I can't keep a tidy house or get the laundry done, but I don't care (most of the time). Being a mommy is my joy and I am so grateful!

Photo Card

Hello 2012 New Year's

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Christmas In Our Home

Merry Christmas everyone!

We thought that being on one of the main roads in our neighborhood that we have a responsibility to bring Christmas cheer through lights. We did a small amount this year, bigger plans for next.

Our lovely tree that won't die
Family stockings, this was so fun to have 3!
Kid tree - decorated with all our childhood ornaments and other mis-matched decor that I won't allow on the main tree.
My favorite tiny trees
Carmen's wreath handmade by Mama Simmons. It's beautiful!
Carmen's tree - given to her by Danielle! Thanks so much!
I am hoping to get a Nativity scene this year to add to our Christmas decor. I love Christmas decorating!

All smiles

Loving on Daddy for his birthday (back in November)

Life with 3

Last weekend we went on a date, well family date, to National Harbour in celebration of 4.5 years. We went to shop around, see the tree lighting, watch the fireworks show, then sit down for a fancy dinner. Michael made arrangements at a restaurant that could easily accommodate a baby carrier and made sure we were welcome to bring Carmen along. It was really delightful at first. The NH is decorated for Christmas and all the store fronts are so pretty. We spent some time sampling Christmas goodies in The Stonewall Kitchen and then walked outside when we heard the massive boom of the first firework. The tall buildings made the fireworks echo so loudly that we were a little concerned about baby. But to our amusement, the fireworks put her to sleep. We arrived at the restaurant in time and settled in to our cozy spot. 45 minutes later we got up and left without even being served our drinks. It was sad. I had timed Carmen's feeding schedule out to perfectly compliment dinner so that we wouldn't have to feed her during our date. We walked around to every other restaurant and the wait was 1.5 hours everywhere. Despite the fact that we were starving and 9pm was fast approaching, fast food was not an option. We got back to the garage, paid for parking and headed back to Fairfax Corner where a 20 minute wait absolutely delighted us! By 10pm we were eating a delicious meal and everything on the menu was nearly half the price of one entree from our NH restaurant, so we ate a lot. Carmen was perfect the whole time and, despite my urge to wake her up to remain on schedule, I let her sleep and enjoyed my wine and pasta with Michael. It turned out to be a very good outing. We recognize that it won't be this easy without a babysitter for long, so we fully enjoyed our family date night.