Not Impressed

My apologies for it taking a week to get to this post.

Christmas was fun yet exhausting therefore a week later I feel like I am still recovering from a massive post Christmas hangover.

Steve and I woke up Christmas morning to open presents with Lauren and Tonka. The two of them were not exactly impressed. It was fun though!

Of course, the morning was not going to pass without us remembering Megan Grace. I took the picture below of the sisters spending their first Christmas "together".

This is Lauren trying out the Bumbo. She was being lazy because she can actually sit up in it a lot better than this.

At our next stop this is what she did the entire time we opened presents. Apparently she thinks Christmas is exhausting too.

Her in one of her many Christmas outfits complete with Santa socks.



And what a memory it will always be to think back on her first Christmas being a white one! It was amazing to see all that snow. The area we were in got about 6 inches. It was a winter wonderland!

She was clearly not impressed with her marshmallow outfit.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Elders

What a whirlwind weekend! There are tons of posts being drafted in my head right now however for the moment I must go catch up on some much needed sleep.

In in the interim I wanted to share a few special moments from the weekend.

Lauren was able to meet the oldest living members of 3 of her 4 family tree branches. Yea, don't ask what the actual terminology should be because 1) I do not know 2) I am too tired to figure it out right now.

So here goes........

Lauren and my great grandmother. This is my father's grandmother which makes her Lauren's great great grandmother. How cool is that?!? She will be a young 98 years old in May.





This is the oldest living member from my father in law's side of the family. She is a young 85. Good thing none of these ladies know what the internet is because I would be in trouble huh?

Finally, this is Lauren along with her cousins sitting with the oldest living relative on my mother in law's side of the family. I lost count of how long it took to get this picture after I snapped shot number 100 something. We never did get a good picture but this one is the closest so here it is!

It was a really great weekend filled with lots of family. I can't wait to share more pictures. For the moment I am off to bed. Goodnight!

Snow Day

It is icy outside today so we are all home for an unexpected snow day. Lauren and I are camped out in our Christmas pajamas together. Next year I vow to find us matching ones :)

Moooooooooooo

Over 300 oz. of milk!

Before Lauren was born I had only hoped I would be able to breastfeed. Never had I dreamed it would go as smoothly as it has to date.

My goal was to have 175-200 oz. frozen for when I went back to work. When I went back last week I was right at 300.

This post is not to brag on breastfeeding at all. It works for us. I realize it is not for everyone.

Personally, I am just so grateful that we have made it this far. Hopefully we have many months of a successful relationship ahead of us.

Layers

Ladies and gentlemen I have landed! It has only taken me 28 years but I have mastered (maybe) the art of layering.

See until the birth of my second child, I absolutely hated wearing more than one layer. It made me feel confined.

Enter the wonderful art of nursing into my life and layers are now a requirement.

And guess what? I LOVE IT! Why have I shunned this concept from my life (and my closet) for all these years?

It helps that for the last week here in the great state of NC it has barely cracked the freezing mark. COLD!

Thanks for allowing me world's most pointless fact for today. I'm obviously very excited!

Gratitude

When I reflect back on last Christmas I barely remember the majority of it. I was simply going through the motions. After suffering the two greatest losses of my entire life in less than 5 months, I felt like a hollow shell of my normal self.

This year is a quite the opposite. We are overjoyed to have this wonderful little girl in our life. At the same time, we take time to remember her sister during this Christmas season. As a way to include her in our family traditions going forward, we decided that each year we will get an angel ornament in her honor. So without further adieu, I bring you the ornament for this year.

This year our tree has also gained 3 new ornaments that belong to Lauren.

We love all of the ornaments especially this one. This ornament is identical to an ornament we were given in honor of Megan Grace last year. They hang beside each other on the tree just as we hold each of them close in our hearts.

This one is a gift I received this year as part of an ornament swap. I love that it is personalized with her name.

Finally, a gift from a friend in honor of one of my other loves. Go Pirates!

Each year as I put up my tree, each of the ornaments serves as some sort of reminder. A person, a trip, or a some other special memory. Decorating our tree each year is such a special time because it never fails to make me smile when I think of what each ornament represents.

Another thing we look forward to each year is the Christmas Cards we receive from friends and family both near and far. This year it seems that all of the cards are flat picture cards so this weekend after I realized this refrigerator doors were full I decided to move them to the french doors of the office. Aren't they pretty?

This year I am just so grateful to finally be joyful again after battling such a difficult year last year. We could not have done it without all of you as we trudged through what was in many ways the worst year of our lives to date.

Merry Christmas to all of you,

The Lavinders

Santa Baby

Christmas would not be complete without the token picture with Santa.

She did not cry but did not smile for the camera. This actually appears to be a trend. When she sees the camera all smiling stops immediately. Already.

She certainly learned this from her father.

Merry Christmas!

I'm Doing It

What am I doing you ask?

500 In 2011

This seems like a good way for me to kick start myself back into a regular exercise routine after taking basically 2 years off.

Yep. 2 years of not regularly exercising. I feel like a sloth.

So there you have it. It is out there for the world to see. My plan is to update here once a week when I turn in my miles to the blogger in charge of the group to keep myself accountable.

Last year at least one of my friends did it. Congrats Susan on racking up over 800 miles at this point (and completing 5 half marathons plus the Susan G Komen 3 day walk). You are amazing!

Anyone can join in so just post a comment here on the 500 in 2011 post to signup if you wish to join in on the challenge.

Happy exercising!

The Passing Of An Inspiration

Typically I am not one to get all wrapped up in celebrity. They are, after all, human.

Last year when we found out our daughter was not going to survive I picked up the book Resilience by Elizabeth Edwards.

Today I can't really tell you why I picked it up instead of the myriad of other books discussing the loss of a child. Maybe because it was written by a bereaved mother instead of a doctor, psychologist, etc?

It may have been because at the time her name was in the headlines after suffering yet another tragic blow in her life as it was rumored (and later confirmed) that her marriage was coming to an end due to infidelity while she also battled cancer.

Either way it was one of the top 5 best books I have ever read.

Her strength in the face of such adversity was amazing. When I heard the news on Monday that she did not have much time left I had hoped she would have one last Christmas with her family.

She didn't. Less than 24 hours after I heard the news she was gone.

My personal hope is that as she near her last moments her on Earth that she looked forward to being reunited with her son and leaving behind the pain, heartache, and tragedy she motored through during her life.

My heart goes out to her remaining children as they face the holidays without their mom.

RIP Elizabeth.

First Snow

Let me first just say that I love to look at snow. Playing in it is fun too (sometimes). My theory in regards to cold is that it should never be bitterly cold without snow so I was pleasantly surprised to have snow along with the bone chilling temperatures this weekend.

Many thanks to the big man upstairs for that one.

This year I have a very tiny person to introduce to the snow. Here she is in all her glory getting ready to go outside minus the snowsuit. Yes. The snowsuit (pram?) I had picked up many times without buying it because "she won't need one until at least after Christmas if at all this year."

Yep. That snowsuit. Parenting Fail.

Gloves. Yep. None of those either. Can someone please send me my parent of the year award?

It seems to have gotten lost in the mail.

We did make it outside for the token picture in the snow. Her hoodie is riding up on her and won't stay on her head. One day she is going to see this picture and be like ummm, mom why didn't you just buy me a snowsuit.

I know dear, I know.

Off to buy some winter clothing for my child now. This pretty much seals the deal on it snowing ever again before she turns 10.

Happy 2 Month Birthday!

Where has time gone? I feel like I should start planning her 1st birthday party already. The last 2 months have been tons of fun.

She is really a laid back baby. She has even been on a few shopping trips including her first Black Friday experience.

Yesterday we took her in to get her first round of shots. Poor baby did not appreciate it at all. Today she seems fine after much cuddling with Mommy to make it all better.

She was 10 lbs 5 oz and 22 inches long. So in 2 months she has gained almost 3 pounds and 2 inches. Way to go baby girl!

She has started smiling and talking. Every morning she just wakes up so happy but she is definitely the grinch in the evenings which ironically is how her parents are as well.

Her first Christmas is upon us. Someone has gotten a little out of control buying her gifts but we won't point any fingers on that one. Suffice it to say that I wrapped 5 gifts for her today and I *think* there are still 4 on the way.

We can't wait to see how she continues to grow and change each day.