Isaac's first Christmas

Jordan and I had so much fun this year celebrating Isaac's first Christmas. It was a low key kinda day, which was perfect for us. Isaac certainly won't ever remember this Christmas, but it will forever be special to me! We woke up little buddy at his usual 7am and enjoyed his smiles and coos until breakfast was ready.

Paula Deen's Praline French Toast Casserole. It was DDDDDDE-Licious!

Growing up, our family always had a special breakfast on Christmas. This was a fun tradition for us that I wanted to continue with Isaac. I made french toast casserole and Jordan cooked up some sausage patties to go along with it. It was all super tasty and I hope to make it again next year for our little family! It's crazy to think that by this time next year, Isaac will be able to eat breakfast right along with us. 

This is our Christmas tree with lots of presents underneath! We didn't do a huge Christmas for each other or for Isaac this year, which is just fine. Christmas isn't even about the presents, am I right?? Did you check out our Christmas card?? The photos featured on the front and back of our card are the result of a family portrait session we did earlier this month with Cyndea from Peacock Photography. This was my Christmas gift and I LOVE the results. I can't wait to order a few ton of prints for our house. Jordan got a movie and some new clothes. Isaac got a few new outfits, a pair of pj's, a Curious George book, and a San Francisco 49'ers Dream Lite Pillow pet. Got any idea which parent the pet was from? Little buddy ended up falling asleep during present time, but Jordan and I enjoyed opening his presents for him. We each shopped separately for him, wrapped up our presents and surprised each other with Isaac gifts. It was really fun! 

Ready to open presents with dad! 

Each year while growing up, my mom would get my sister and I a new ornament each year and they were always the same type of ornament. I always got teddy bear ornaments; my sister always got rocking horses. This was another fun tradition that I wanted to carry on with Isaac, and after thinking long and hard, I decided that Isaac would get snowman ornaments! This year's first Christmas snowman ornament is this fun hand-painted ball ("Isaac 2012" is printed on the opposite side!).

Even Mauve got in on the festivities! She loves her bow, can't you tell?

After we had our Christmas morning breakfast and present opening time, I baked up some macaroni & cheese and a sweet potato casserole and we headed over to our pastor's house for Christmas lunch. We sang happy birthday to Jesus, filled our tummies, and had a wonderful time of fellowship and laughter with their sweet family. I'm hoping they dont mind that Isaac peepee-d on their couch. Whoops! 

The picture above is one of the outtakes from our would-be-naptime photo shoot. I know it's a little fuzzy, but I just love his funny little expression! His little faces are priceless!

Another funny picture from Christmas eve. He's still pretty adorable even when he's crying.

We have been so blessed this year! I am incredibly thankful for my wonderful husband and perfect little boy. Thank you Lord for your provisions on our family. Thank you for a healthy boy and thank you for letting me be his momma. Thank you for my incredible husband who also happens to be a sweet and loving dad. And thank you for sending Jesus to us, to demonstrate for us what true love really is.

"Emmanuel: God with us. To die for us. So He could live in us. Joy to the World, the LORD has come." -Richard Ross

Two Months!

Wowee Isaac! You're already TWO months old! 

Silly mom only wanted to take pictures when it was nap time. We have a lot of fussy and wiggly outtakes!

We got the greatest gift ever this year! You actually turned 2 months old on your first Christmas (see my Christmas shirt and present??). Waking up to your gummy grin, smelling your baby hair, and kissing your chubby cheeks made for a wonderful Christmas morning. 

When I look at these pictures and the pictures I posted when you were 1 month old, it's like looking at 2 different babies! For one thing, almost all of your newborn hair has fallen out. I get so sad when I find your little dark hairs all over your sheets, blankets, and towels. We can see some dark hair coming in behind what's fallen out. You haven't lost hair everywhere though... right now you're really rocking the baby mullet.

It certainly seems like I am a jinx-er... or else you just really enjoy making a liar out of me. On two separate occasions I've told friends and church members that you just love to sleep... only to spend most of that night awake with you. That's always the question you get from random friends and strangers at the grocery store isn't it?! "Getting any sleep these days?" and "How's he sleeping?" Now, I just don't even want to answer them for fear of jinxing us once again!  One day last week, I made a comment to Jordan that your spit ups were getting so much better... only to wipe up puke puddles after every single meal. You think you're so funny, don't you??

Even though I'm risking another all-nighter and lots more laundry, I want to keep track of how you're growing and changing... so here goes. You're sleeping all night long! We put you down at 10pm and you've slept all the way to 7am several times. We obviously still have some bad nights here and there, but those are slowly becoming less and less frequent and are being replaced with long nights of glorious sleep! It also seems like your spit ups are getting a little better. Maybe we're just better at learning how to prevent some of the big spit ups. I say that, but just this morning, I ended up with a lap full of spit up after your first feeding!

Getting ready for the Christmas eve service and NOT interested in a photo shoot!

Regardless, you are such a wonderfully sweet little boy. We are starting to see little glimpses of your personality and for the longest time, you seemed like such a serious kid! We told you over and over again that your name means "laughter" and that you needed to live up to that name. Here in the last few days, you have really started smiling a lot more throughout the day. When you look at me and smile, it makes my whole world light up!

On the way to the Christmas eve service! Much happier in Mom's arms!

We'll see Dr. Canales for your 2 month check up in about 10 days. Those Christmas holidays and our trip to Georgia really put your appointment off. At your last appointment, you weighed 10lbs and 15oz and were 22.25in long. I wouldn't be surprised if you were hovering around the 13lb mark by now. You are barely fitting in some of your 3 month clothes these days-- especially your footie pajamas! You can't stretch your legs out anymore!! Also, you are wearing size 2 diapers. We had to take back 1 large box and 5 packs of size 1 diapers because you grew out of them so quickly!

Update!! 1/7/13- you weigh a whopping 14lb and 2oz and are officially over 2 feet long at a crazy 24.25." Those numbers put you in the 85th percentile in both categories. I can't believe you are this big!!!

It's just incredible how fast you're growing into a big boy. You can slow down a little you know. We are enjoying every single minute with you. I just love my sweet boy so very much!

Merry Christmas!!!

This year, we decided to roll our annual Christmas card and Isaac's birth announcement into one spectacular greeting! It ended up being one of my most favorite cards we've ever sent. (That could totally be because there's a cute little boy included this year!!!) 

Best wishes and many blessings to your family from ours!

Front

Back

May the love of Christ fill your hearts this Christmas and throughout the new year! 

Squeal!

Earlier this morning, after feeding, burping, bouncing and talking with my favorite little buddy, I logged into my email, mostly to see what goodies Zulily would be offering today (which I would then drool over, maybe add to my "cart" but never buy. Anyone else have this problem? Endless browsing with zero commitment?) Imagine my surprise this morning when my screen refreshes and I see "You Won!" in the header! 

SQUEEEEEAL!!! 

I won a giveaway! I never win things...but today is my super lucky day!!! E, Myself, and I hosted this a-may-zingggg giveaway, which obviously I entered... never expecting that I would get all these great goodies!

I was literally hopping up and down on the couch (and cursing our spotty internet, which coincidentally chose to go down right at this moment. Seriously?!), which prompted some curious looks from my husband. I informed him that I won this incredible blog giveaway, to which he replied, "Oh, from Pioneer Woman?"

"No dear. Her giveaways have like 50,000 entries."

"Well, someone has to win"

Jordan was pleasantly pleased when I announced to him what this giveaway was all about... because here's the really awesome thing about this giveaway-- not only did I win FIVE awesome prizes (each one making up for the FIVE suspicious wet spots that we cleaned up last night! Hahaha), but ALSO, Elizabeth is making a $100 donation to the charity of my choice.... which just so happens to be Destino del Reino.

For those of you who have journeyed over from E's blog (thanks for the love!), here's the origin of Destino... in a nutshell. Back in 1999, Rhonda felt God tugging on her heart to start a ministry in Honduras. She was single and didnt know spanish, but packed up her belongings and moved all the way to Central America. After spending some time in the city, she realized that she was not learning spanish very quickly and moved once again to a small village in the Yoro mountains.

While living in the village, she quickly came to see that the people in the village were dying. They were very poor, had no way of using the land to live, had no education, and no Christian influence (relying on pagan practices like witchdoctors to cure sickness). She remembered a passage in the Bible where Hannah gave up her son Samuel to do the work of God (see 1 Samuel) and the vision for Destino was born.

Using this story from the Bible, she opened a children's home -- not for orphans -- but for children whose parents were willing to let them live with Rhonda, receive an education, and learn about the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Then, these children would return to their village where they could support their family and spread the Good News. In the last few years, Rhonda has also opened an elementary school (separate from the home), where children from neighboring villages can attend for free, get a great education, and the word of God.

When completely finished, Destino del Reino will consist of 6 homes for children and guest house for parents to visit, a church, an elementary and junior high school, a medical and dental clinic, and a vocational center for the surrounding villages. It really is remarkable what Rhonda is doing there in Siguatepeque, Honduras. I encourage you to take a few minutes and read more of her story, which can be found here.

You can also check out this post and this post to see additional testimonies of the great things happening at Destino.

This brings me to my favorite Christmas card we've received this year:

The front of our card. See the three wise men? And the star of Bethlehem? And baby Jesus in a manger??

        

...and the inside of the card. Melt my heart!!!

This is our Christmas card from Esdras, who is a Destino school child that we sponsor. He is in the first grade this year! It is such a joy to support this sweet boy, especially when I know Rhonda personally and am assured that she is pouring the love of Christ on this child.

I know it's Christmas and our wallets are thin, but if you haven't found that perfect gift for that special someone, would you just consider making a donation to Destino?? Or better yet, sponsor one of the children who attend the Destino school!


Thanks again E for hosting such a FAB get and give away!

Five Suspicious Spots

Earlier today, Jordan and I loaded up the car, baby included, and headed out to Corpus. It's always a little bit of an adventure these days making the 45 mile drive into the big city. But with some planning, packing, and careful scheduling, it's actually pretty enjoyable to spend the day with my boy. It's never a quick trip (not worth the 90 miles), which means I've already racked up some fun nursing spots.

On Tuesday it was the men's dressing room @ Stein Mart... Winning.

See the family resemblance?

Today I revisited Dillards for a nursing session, but my "preferred dressing room" was already taken. Many apologies to the lady I walked in on, *awkward* but thank you for volunteering to share your huge handicapped room so that I could nurse my child *SUPER awkward.*

Isaac showed his distain for the inferior dressing room slash nursing spot by puking on the floor. Strangely, I considered it a major victory because A. Neither of us had even a drop of spit up on our clothes and B. I just don't have to get all that concerned about the dingy old carpet in the Dillard's fitting rooms.

I haven't had much to say about little Mauve here on the blog since Isaac arrived, but rest assured, she is still keeping us on our toes.

Sunday morning, we woke up and her right eye was almost completely swollen shut. It was a terrifying and saddening sight! It was red and oozy and she could hardly open it, so she was just sitting down with both eyes closed, since it was so uncomfortable for her to bother with the bad eye. She reminded me of those poor animals on the ASPCA commercials. I was so worried about her, I made Jordan text a picture of her eye to a veterinarian who goes to our church, just to find out if it was something that was urgent or looked like it could wait until Monday. Imagine my terror when Dr. Harrell said she needed to be seen right away. I just knew she was going to go blind... and then we'd have one of those sad dogs with the cloudy eyes who had to be led around the house. How can she be our great protector if she can't see?? My brain was obviously in overdrive.

Turns out she has pink eye.

A few days of steroids and antibiotic eye drops later, and she's on the mend. Ever try giving a 78lb dog eye drops? It's an adventure. Dr. Harrell warned us that the steroids would cause Mauve to be much more thirsty than usual, which in turn means she'll have to pee a lot more. Imagine our surprise when we returned from our extended trip to Corpus today to find not one... or two... or four... but FIVE suspicious wet spots on the rug in the living room. 80% of our house is tile, and our sweet pup had to pop-a-squat ON. THE. RUG. Awesome.

What was that I was saying about indifference @ Dillards regarding their curdled milk stained carpet?


Looks like we've come full circle.

Ornament Fail

It doesn't take a genius to realize that this will be Isaac's first Christmas. Even though he will remember absolutely nothing of his first Christmas (the second and third Christmas are probably also going to be pretty fuzzy), that doesn't mean I don't want to have a few special things to commemorate this special occasion.

·Enter "The Ornament"·

A well meaning friend gifted us with this sweet DIY craft ornament. SO Cute, right? I loved it! In my crafty mind, I was not only looking forward to forever having a little Isaac handprint, but also planned on adding his name and "2012" to the impression before it dried. Perfect plan! This morning, while he was calm and before Jordan left for the office, we made our sweet boy's personalized ornament...

Nailed it.

I should've seen it coming when it was nearly impossible to remove the sticky foam-like compound from its own packaging. It stuck to the rolling pin it came with. It stuck to the wax paper. It stuck to my hand, his hand, my clothes, his clothes. It's stuck under my nails and basically everywhere. We would've had a great little handprint if the compound hadn't totally adhered itself to Mr. Isaac's hand, making removal of baby hand from sticky compound absolutely impossible. Because we're gluttons for punishment, we also tried his feet. It's now also stuck to his feet, socks, and pants. Nightmare. Looks like we'll be scraping white goo off until next Christmas. After the damage was done, I noticed the "mess-free" claim on the box and it made me chuckle a little bit.

Maybe we'll just do one of those personalized ornaments from the carts in the mall. 

Four Things

I'm linking up with Elizabeth @ E, Myself & I and following in Erika's footsteps and talking for a few minutes about my Christmas list. I've heard this idea from many people who claim to have done this before it was Pinterest-cool (you hipsters.), and of course now it's obviously all over Pinterest.

The idea is that you buy "Something you want, something you need, something you wear, and something you read." I think that when Isaac is a little older, it'd be a great idea to implement this gift buying philosophy for Christmas and birthday buying. It's a great plan to be purposeful without going overboard. Usually, Jordan and I get each other one or two things and call it a day. I've actually already received my gift this year and hope to share with with you all soon!! I have such a hard time coming up with Christmas gift ideas (ask any of my family members and they'll certainly testify!) and would definitely prefer being on the giving end as opposed to being the recipient. But with some time and deep thought, I was able to come up with my own Want/Need/Wear/Read list.

Let it be known that I'm not getting compensated for promoting these goodies...
I just Want/need/wear/read them. Over & Out.

Ok, so we NEEEEED towels. Even before Isaac was around, our towels were looking pretty puny.  Now that they've taken on the job of cleaning puddles of spit up, we are in desperate need of a new set. We could also really use a deep freezer. I think I'd be classified as an "overproducer" of breast milk, because each night for the last 5 weeks, I've pumped off between 10-15 ounces. As a result, our freezer is almost completely full of breast milk and we're running out of room for food! I am so blessed to have such an abundant supply to feed my little buddy with, and now need a place to keep it all!

My want is completely frivolous. I've been eyeing those Clairisonic face scrubbers for a while now and have always thought it'd be neat to have one, especially after hearing so much great stuff about them. But the price is outrageous... over $100! For a face scrubber! People say they're worth the money, but I would totally consider it a major splurge item.

You know how when you go to unearth your summer wardrobe after winter is over and feel like all the old stuff isn't very cute anymore??? Maybe its just me. Either way, now that I'm not in maternity clothes anymore (although I'd love to wear stretchy pants for-ev-er), all my pre-baby clothes just aren't awesome. Maybe it's because everything fits a lot differently these days, namely, the "girls" don't fit into anything. In an effort to hold onto some level of coolness as a mom, I would totally like a pair of Converse sneakers. You know, gotta maintain my street cred.

Although with that last statement, I'm sure I lost any and all credibility.

Lastly, my friend Kimberly recommended the read Kisses from Katie last week while we were having lunch. It's the true story of a girl named Katie who, instead of going to college, chose to live in Uganda as a missionary, has established a ministry there, and is in the process of adopting thirteen children. Yes, you read that right... thirteen. Keep up with Katie via her blog.


Just for fun.... what would YOUR Four Things be??