Christmas as a Family of 3!

2011 has been such a special year to me!  So many firsts..and this weekend was no different as we celebrated Christmas as a family of 3 for the very first time!  This is one Christmas that will live forever in my heart.  Here are a few pictures I thought I'd share with everyone..hope you guys enjoy!  And I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well!!

Year in Review (Jan.-Mar.)

I thought a good way to end out this year is to do a simple year in review with pictures!!  Hope you guys enjoy seeing our wonderfully blessed year we've had here at Country Roads!!

January

(We had our 'Gender Reveal Party'..during a big snowstorm, no less!)

(Me and my cousin being silly before the party!)

(Team 'Blue')

(Team 'Pink')

(Of course we all know I had a baby girl!)

February

(Went to see my Grandma in KY who was in the hospital)

(Definately showing by February!)

March

(We adopted Miss Daisy!)

(Her first and only trip to Petsmart, so far!)

(Damon planted his garden..with Daisy's help!)

(Growing a baby girl..precious moments!)



Merry CHRISTmas!

I wanted to wish everyone a very merry and blessed CHRISTmas!  I won't be on to blog for a few days, as most of you won't either, to celebrate with my family.  Its a wonderful time of the year!!  I'm feeling especially grateful this year..we have our biggest blessing and gift of my sweet little Makayla!  She will be 7 months old tomorrow!!  How crazy is that?  Time just goes flying by..but I'm enjoying each sweet minute of it too.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with family and friends, food and gifts, love and merriment, and most of all..that you sit aside some time to remember what the season is truely all about.

Its not called CHRISTmas for nothing!  Keep Christ in CHRISTmas this year!

Life ~ A Year (or two) Later

Lately, I've been thinking about how much my life has changed in the past year.  Even in the past two. 

It was two years ago..about this time of the year..when I realized I wanted a baby.

(it was this Christmas I realized 'something' was missing)

Fast forward to last year..and this was me......

(anyone else miss taking those weekly belly pics?!)

Fast forward to this year..and this is my life now......

(wouldn't trade this year for the world!!)

 

See how much can happen in such a short span?!  I'm definately a blessed lady this year.  I have alot to be thankful for..I always have..but even more so this year. 

A loving Lord and Saviour whom we celebrate His birth this time of the year.

A wonderful husband.

A beautiful baby girl.

A warm home.

Great parents.

Awesome friends.

A welcoming church family.

Loveable pets.

And many, many other blessings.  I could fill an entire screen full of things I'm thankful for really. 

Oh Christmas Tree....

Oh how I love the glow of a Christmas tree at night!  Especially ours I must admit!  I was always drawn to blue lights as a child..and still am (as you can see!).  There is just something about them that brings a calming peace to me.  I read once about the different colors of Christmas lights and what they mean.  Here is a list..not necessarily the one I read before...but one for your reading pleasure:

Red:  The blood Jesus shed for us
Green:  The life we have thru Jesus and the never ending love and presence of Him in our lives
White:  That Jesus is the light of the world and shines brightly
Blue:  Heaven, hope, and peace
Purple:  Royalty..which is Christ
Yellow:  reminds us of the ways in which God spread the good news of Jesus' birth
Silver and Gold:  the riches of God, such as redemption, forgiveness, and grace

Lots of "firsts"!!

Sweet baby girl has been impressing her mama alot this month!  She has had a few new 'firsts' as of the past couple of weeks.  After being totally paranoid about her last doctors appointment and her head circumference being in the 95% percentile..alot of the firsts she's accomplished lately (plus added prayers) have put me more at ease!  Hey..when the doc wants to 'keep a check' on her head to make sure it doesn't grow too fast or else an MRI might have to be done..its enough to worry a first time momma especially bad!!!  She just seems to have her daddy's head..yup..he's got a big noggin' too!  :-D  Anyways..here is what Miss Makayla has been up to!

1.  Talking!  She said 'mama' for the first time at the beginning of this month and has said it about a handful of times since!  At first I didn't think thats what she was saying..but after she did it at my parents house and they were both like "She said mama!"..I knew I wasn't just hearing things!!  And I 'think' she said "dada" once too..but not totally sure and its not happened again..but that was just the other day!  She still blows raspberries ALOT (how long does this usually last?)..we call her our "NASCAR baby" cause she sounds like she's driving a race car when doing this!  Yeah..I have a feeling watching nascar alot while pregnant and aferwards had an effect..lol!  Its gonna run in the family!

2.  Walking!  In her walker, that is!  She's nowhere NEAR pulling up or taking steps..but just yesterday I had her in her walker while I was cooking so she could watch me..and her little toes were finally able to touch the ground! So she would get excited..and push backwards and was moving in her walker..a first!  Mommy was SO proud...I'd get real excited and everything..and that just spurred her on to do it more!  She was having a very fun time!

3.  Sitting!  We've been practicing this one for a little while now.  She's been able to sit real good unassisted in my lap for a while now..but on her own she was doing so-so.  She's still not a 'pro' I wouldn't say..but tonight I had her on our bed sitting up and she was doing awesome!  Like doing it for a couple minutes with no assistance!  Very proud moment!  I'm scared to death to let her sit on the floor and do this..as we have hardwood through the majority of our house.  We bought one of those play mats a few weeks back but I'm still scared its too hard if she tips over (which is a given).  I know she's gonna fall down..its what toddlers do..I just don't want her to bang her head on those floors..that would HURT!  Any advice?? 

4.  Mail!  Ok I wouldn't say this is technically her 'first' piece of mail..that would have been her birth certificate..but I forgot to take a picture of that one!  This one was a big piece of mail..it wouldn't fit in our box at the post office!  The post master told daddy that he couldn't open it since it wasn't addressed to him..haha!  She got her very own Bible from her uncle!



anonymous commenters....

Lately I have been getting more and more comments from people who wish to remain "anonymous".  Granted, I know 99% of it is spam..but today I got one from my last post on my birthday and it was rather rude.  So..due to this I had to change some of my settings for people who wish to comment on my blog.  Sorry for anyone out there who can no longer leave a comment if you don't regularly blog..sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do.  :-)

Anyone else dealt with this (thinking I've read posts about this topic)?  If so, what did you do?