What a beautiful Christmas...

Though last year was technically Oliver's first Christmas, this year was very special to us because it was his first Christmas home with his family.... and it turned out to be such a beautiful few days.... filled with the craziness that lots of family visiting and events bring, but bringing the greatest memories.  The day before Christmas eve I played handbells in the morning and then ran around doing last minute shopping things.  Then in the evening we celebrated the holidays with my family!

Then on Christmas Eve we wrapped all our presents.... Oliver helped ;)  And Steve just wanted to know why he didn't get in trouble for playing with the ribbon like he would have lol

 That night I played handbells again at the candle light service, I also got to sing with the choir which was so much fun!  This is the Christmas picture with Jamie and Anna that we take every year, except last year because I didn't have time to commit to handbell practice with Oliver being in the hospital, which meant I didn't get to play Christmas, but it's always fun to spend time with them during the holidays when we're doing extra practices and everything :)

Next morning, Oliver slept in on his first Christmas home :)  Which was nice for mommy and daddy so we could get the place ready for my inlaws to come over!  When he finally woke up he was acting so silly, I love this boy!

 Nate's parents and sister came over from about 8:45-11 for presents and breakfast!

Then we went back over my grandmother's for more craziness and finishing the leftovers from the party the few nights before!  We went crazy opening gifts from each other, Oliver right in the middle of it all and there was wrapping paper everywhere.... it used to be like that when we were younger so it was a lot of fun and Oliver loved it!  Santa brought some really wonderful things to everyone... Oliver got a membership to the zoo for this year and new bath tub toys and more animals for his fisher price ark... and of course some new clothes!

Lyla's First Christmas :)

Aunt Karen rocking her buddy Oliver to sleep

Andrew, Rachel and Lyla with the "nuttydog" blanket <3 Everyone has had such busy days and been stuffed with so much food that we all sat around and napped :)  

Then this morning, Oliver slept in until TEN o'clock, wow!  That never happens!  With Nate going back to work, I had a chance to clean up our crazy living room and eat breakfast and drink some coffee in quite, while it started snowing outside!  Oliver was intrigued when he finally did wake up because he's never seen that much snow before.  He must be growing or super tired or something because he's already back to sleep for a nap, giving me a chance to do this :)

Though we get a little break to settle down, our fun isn't over yet!  Tomorrow, my aunt Debbie and Uncle Danny, with hopefully my uncle Jeff and cousin Abby will come visit from North Carolina.  We don't get to see them more than a few times a year so it's always exciting.  Then on the 30th, we will get together with my college roommates and their families... we haven't all been in one place in two years!  Usually we go to my friends, the Mackall's, for New Years, but this year they decided to have an End of the World party instead, the world didn't end go figure lol  But we had a lot of fun dancing and chatting.  Oliver made his social appearance and then went home with daddy for bed time, which mommy is glad he does well with a night time routine so she can party (in other words dance herself into feeling like a truck hit her the next morning!) And to everyone's surprise Lyndsay and her boyfriend drove from Georgia to join the party and her family for the holidays, so yay for getting to see Lyndsay and meet Aaron!  We thought we would be nomads for new years, but our friends Tarik and Kim are having a party, so we are nomads no longer.  They just had their first baby in November and only invite a few other friend couples, one of whom also has a son and the other is expecting a son in a few months, I'm so excited to start making some other family oriented friends for us to know well!  Then in January we rest :)

Lots of catching up to do!

It's been a long time since blogger has allowed me to upload any photos, and now it has and I'm so excited!  A lot has been going on these past few weeks!

Oliver says a few words now!  His first word was "yay" and he's so cute when he says it!  In the next week or so, he picked up "Hi" and "Bye Bye"... he will wave and say "hi-yi" and "eye-eye" is his bye bye.  He waves to the cats all the time now and to random people if we are standing inline or something.  He also has a specific sound he makes for the cats that could sound like "kitties" but I'm not calling that one official yet.

Next is his first Thanksgiving!  He was such a good boy for both family dinners with mine and Nate's family.  He ate turkey and pie at both :)

Ok, moving on.... My brother, Andrew, welcomed his new baby girl, Lyla Finn, into the world on November 29th weighing 6Lbs. 12oz.  Rachel's delivery went really well and all are home, healthy and hangin in there through the sleepless nights so far ;)

Which would make me a first time aunt :)  Lyla is so pretty, and while she's got a pair of lungs on her, she's a good baby and so alert, really looking at you when she's awake!

And Oliver is a cousin now too!  I'm happy he will have someone to grow up next to and play with and I hope they will be close and take care of each other when they're older :) Right now he just seems to want to eat her lol

And last, but not least, Oliver turned one last week!  I still can't get used to the fact that I have a one year old!  Not possible... my baby was two pounds just yesterday I swear!  We had a little party for him with my family and Nate's family.  We got Chick Fil A chicken nuggets which are one of Oliver's favorite foods so far!  And Surprisingly he actually ate his cake... well most of it until he decided he was finished and it needed to be on the floor :)

Birthday boy and his granddaddy!

And then these are just a few of my favorite pictures since then!

Red

Monday was an exciting day, for two very big reasons!

First, Taylor Swift's new album, Red!  Her last one came out during my 365 day photo blog :)  So Suzanne and I of course went to Target to buy it and got our traditional starbucks after!



 

 

And then second, but certainly not least....

My mister is all grown up now! He is pulling up on literally anything he can grab on to. He was so proud of himself too when I came in the room and found him that way. Of course his excitement was short lived when his reward was being jailed by daddy lowering the mattress as low as it goes when he got home :)

 



 Ramona: "How could you let this happen to us??"

The Badness I can Be!

Ten Months

Oliver is 10 months old today.  I can't believe in two months my little two pound baby will already be a year old!  This past month he became really good at occupying himself playing with his toys or in his walkers or play gym.  It's been so good for him to be happy playing on his own and it has really helped for me to have some free time even if it's just that I get to read while he plays next to me!  He was even so excited to see the camera today that he smiled big with all his teeth!

Last Weekend

Was the first out of our many busy weekends to come!

The clip on chair we found for $5at the annual yard sale on my grandmother's street.... thank God for that yard sale, a always find exactly what I'm looking for and it's always a great day! Saved me from spending 10 times the money on something I didn't actually want!

 

Saturday was the NICU reunion for Franklin Square Hospital where Oliver was born.  We got to see his doctors and a few of the nurses that will stand out in my memory of our experience there.  He got to do his foot print painted on a blanket that we can see next year which was cool.... though hopefully next year we can switch to his hand print (we couldn't get him to not want to "pick up" the paint off his fingers so we went with foot!)  We sent in his pictures for a slideshow and it was exciting to see him along with the other babies up on the screen!

 

This is Sharron, on the left, she was one of my favorite nurses!

And this is Stacey, whos reassurance and willingness to talk to me as more than just her patient's mom, I will never forget <3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on Sunday, one of the greatest days ever....

 

My first, and hopefully not last since it was so amazing, Raven's game at the stadium.  TV just doesn't cut it now :)  The stadium was thrilling.... and cold and I discovered I do not at all like the smell of beer all around me, but still!!! Our seats were great and it was even exciting hightailing it to the light rail after so we could hurry home to Oliver who was with my mom!