Twenty-how old now???

According to my grandmother, I'm to stay 26 forever, she says today was my last birthday because they aren't allowed to have grandchildren any older than this :)  But I may have to bargain with her since I've been looking forward to turning 27 on the 27th for ages now!  Anyway, today was a fantastic day!  I owe a lot of other pictures to this blog, some catching up to do as far as Oliver goes, but I have to edit those pictures for red eye and whatnot and Nate has to get me a new editing program since the one I was using is no more. But for now...

The best people!

Kim (Rylee was sleeping and missed the picture), Meghan and Axton, me and Oliver, Suzanne and Alisha (with baby Jonathan on the way)

Suzanne spent the night with me last night and this morning we had birthday day donuts.  Then we went to my family's house and visited with my grandmother and Lyla.... grandma got me Ravens pants to add to my purple collection!!!!  Kim and Tarik through me a party :)  We ate pizza and cake and HUGE cupcakes and we girls played Just Dance 4 at which we are of course professionals!  Nate bought me a cake and a new memory card for my camera and the Dr. Who cook book for the Kindle.

Now I'm going to crash in bed <3

smiling until I smile more....

Recently, I have found myself smiling so much that when I realize it, it makes me smile more.  I like this!  I've pretty much always been a fun loving person, I have my crankiness, but don't we all?  I think it mostly has to do with Oliver.... God couldn't have given me a greater gift.  He makes me smile the most.  Even at 4 in the morning when he's wailing with his eyes still slammed shut so that he almost can't even hold onto the crib because he's not really awake.  I smile even then.

I had this moment, a few weeks ago that was one of the most surreal moments I have ever had.  Until staying home with Oliver, I had done the nanny thing for many years, thus doing many bath times.  Some of the older ones had toys or always all over the tub, and some had baskets of bath toys sitting around.  It was always just another bath time.  About a moth ago, Oliver got to smart for his baby bath, and too active for the sink, so we just decided even though he was still small that it was time for him just to take a big boy bath in the tub.  For Christmas, he got a few bath toys that we put on his Santa list.  And this was my moment:

As I got ready for bed, I passed by the bathroom and saw this.... My one year old's bath toys, I have a one year old, he takes a big boy bath, he has toys and there they are, all lined up.  Out of all the baths I've given, and all the bath toys I've cleaned up, never could I imagine that one day it would all be mine.

And since then, I've been smiling.  My life isn't always rainbows and butterflies... but there are so many reasons to smile like it is!

My brother David, he works at Medieval Times!  I never really used to like that place, I'd been once before and I guess it was fun but I thought it was over rated, but David invited us for his 19th birthday and it was thrilling... he got to be the squire for our section, so awesome!  I have a whole new appreciation for David and his job! And he loves it, can't ask for better.

We all have new friends this year.... Well for Nate it's an old friendship renewed.  These are the girls and the guys at new years... first pictures of 2013

Kim, me, and Alisha

Brian (Alisha's husband) Nate, Tarik (Kim's husband) and Tommy (Tarik's brother)

                                      
And this is Axton, he's a new friend for Oliver.  His mom Meghan, and Kim (who has baby Rylee) and I get together now for play dates and these two have so much fun crawling around and "sharing" toys!  Its so great  to see Oliver enjoying time with another baby!  Axton is a cutie :)  Alisha is also expecting a baby boy in a few months and we can't wait for her to join us when the baby is ready to have some fun!

Another surreal feeling I had, was one morning I was looking out the window, Oliver was letting me sleep in a little bit, and I noticed this familiar sight

This is the tree outside my bedroom window.  What caught my attention was those little balls that hang off the tree.  I don't even know what they are, but when the wind blows they are almost mesmerizing. Seeds I guess?  I realized that I hadn't noticed them yet this year... and thats because this time last year I was practically confined to my bedroom, pumping for Oliver every two hours, or at the hospital where my tiny boy was  just 6 weeks old, starting his uphill battle with his heart rate and feedings, but just starting to give us the sweetest SMILES!

so if I wasn't watching TV, I was usually trying to sleep but would end up watching the tree with the wind! And they look like they move a lot faster at night.  I remember watching them in the dark and then by morning they would seem to have slowed down with the clouds behind them!  Since I'm no longer in my bedroom for very long, I had yet to notice them this year!

And then there was this moment...

The one where a new baby really starts looking at you and interacting with smiles and little sounds.  Lyla is almost two months old and is definitely a keeper <3

Oh.... and can anyone say RAY-VENS!!!!!! (stolen from our good friend Mrs. Leary lol)  I don't often super gloat or anything, but come on, you all thought we couldn't beat Manning, welllll 38-35 baby!!!

And this is the moment when we realized we had a real chance of winning the game last night, with pop-pop and Oliver saying "ta-da!!!!"

So you tell me.... what's not to smile about?

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!