Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year!

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful, happy and healthy 2008!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

A different perspective

First of all let me start by saying that I am most definitely NOT the mother that I thought or said I would be. I was, to say the least, a much better parent before Isabella came along. If only I could do what I said I would and not do what I said I wouldn't at least half the time, my parenting would be out of this world.

Luckily this is not a post about my parenting shortcomings; certainly no one has that kind of time. It is however, a direct result from a conversation I had with my friend Christie today after we picked Isabella up at MDO. You see, Isabella proudly showed me an ornament she made today in class and I couldn't wait to get home to put it up on our Christmas tree.

OK, so rewind about 6-8 years to an era when my Christmas trees were a "work of art". Every year I slaved over the tree for days decorating it in a specific theme (a different one each year mind you, which can get really expensive, really fast). Year after year Scott would find some of his childhood ornaments and hand them to me to incorporate into the tree decor. This is probably what I worked the hardest on ~ I was determined to find the best possible hiding place so that they were concealed, but yet I could tell Scott they were on there. Yeah,... not one of my proudest moments.

I also remember telling Scott numerous times that some day when we had children I would still have my very own beautiful tree but that we'd have a different tree to house all of the kids' ornaments. This is where that different perspective kicks in. Seriously, what in the world was I thinking?

Like I mentioned on the previous post, I love my big beautiful tree which is packed with a huge assortment of ornaments ~ some from years of collecting, others brand new, some are Scott's childhood ornaments and yes, ALL of Isabella's handmade ornaments. Would you like to take a guess as to which ones are my favorite? I can't even imagine her art not being a part of our tree. Her ornaments actually make the tree and she's so incredibly proud to point them out to us.



Hey, I guess this counts as one of those things I said I wouldn't do, but I am doing and I actually feel like a better mama for it.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Catching Up

OK, so it's been about a month and a half since my last post, and I swear it feels like it's just been a couple of days. Time is just flying by these days. Anyway I must warn you, this is kind of a long post. Alrighty then, where do I start?
For the last few weeks we've either been crazy busy or nursing one nasty illness after another. Unfortunately, I can't report that we're finally healthy being that as of right now we are ALL suffering from terrible colds. Ever since Isabella started preschool it's always one thing or another, and it really stinks for me since there isn't much I can take these days. Oh NyQuil, how I love and miss thee,....

I am however, happy to report that our Christmas cards have been mailed and our trees are all finally up. Three in total this year and I love every single one of them. My favorite one is the one in the living room. I love the feeling of calm and peace it gives me from just looking at it. Isabella absolutely loves sitting in front of it and admiring all the lights and ornaments. She especially likes the new ornaments I got specifically for her this year. We still haven't done the outside lights, but I'm not really stressing over it or much else for that matter.

All of our Christmas shopping is done allowing us time to relax, enjoy the true meaning of the season and all the fun events we've taken Isabella to in the last few weeks. We've seen Santa Claus a couple of times, but I think it's safe to say she's still quite leery of him. She really tried to do the whole "sit on his lap and tell him what you want" thing at Zoo Lights, but changed her mind at the last moment. The closest she has gotten to him was at the Pink Palace Museum Enchanted Forest where she made him move in order to be in the picture (God forbid she's uncomfortable or inconvenienced).
Anyway, whether she's close to him or not she's always made it a point of telling him what she wants for Christmas, and her list goes a little something like this: a baby doll, puzzles and chocolate chip cookies. And truth be told, she's been consistent about her list since before Thanksgiving. So let's keep our fingers crossed and hope she gets exactly what she wants this Christmas.

We also had the honor of attending her first ever Christmas Program this year where her class sang "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jingle Bells". It was awesome seeing all those 2-year old kids up front. They all pretty much stood there looking out at the audience during "Jesus Loves Me", but when it was time for "Jingle Bells" their job was to shake their bells and that's exactly what they did, and may I say she did it beautifully. We are so very proud of her.
Isabella's Nana sent her the most beautiful dress and beret for the special occasion. Now you tell me if she wasn't working the "Holiday Attitude" look.