Counting Down to 2012...

2011. What will I remember as I look back upon this year? No doubt whatsoever - this will go down as the year of change.

There have been so many changes in so many places of our lives - jobs, day cares, cities, homes, climates, friends - but that aside, our little baby has become a girl.

Georgia astounds and amazes us every day. I can't believe this is what all parents see happen and change in their child's life, and I never knew how truly amazing it was until now. She makes me smile so many times every day... and there's some pulling out of my hair mixed in between some of those smiles, she is two after all. She loves laughing and smiling, she loves reading books, she loves singing songs, she loves her ABC's, she loves learning, she loves her "phone" (which is really her LeapFrog Pad), she loves Christmas and the lights and Santa, she loves "puppy" (her stuffed dog), she loves arts and crafts, she loves being outside, she loves Elmo and Sesame Street, she loves trying to do everything we do, she loves taking walks, and most of all - she just loves life. It's beautiful, it's really, really beautiful.

At the start of this year, I was laid off at work and that prompted so many of the other big changes in our lives. I got a new job as a main anchor and we moved from Omaha, Nebraska, to New Bern, North Carolina. We moved from a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house to a small rental where we are crammed in for the time being. My hubby went from well-employed to unemployed by choice, to allow me to take the job in NC. Georgia went from going to daycare to having a stay-at-home mommy to then having a stay-at-home daddy. But my hubby will be starting the new year with a new job, so it's back to daycare three hours a day for Georgia. We also went from being far away from family to within driving distance to mine, meaning we spent the week after Thanksgiving there. Family time is good time.

It has been the year of change - some of it not-so-great and some of it very good - but all of it change, which always seems hard and I'm a slow one to adjust. Here's to a much calmer new year, maybe 2012 will be the year of calm.

I'll leave you with a look back at some of my favorite pictures from 2011:

January:




February:


March:


April:




May:



June:

A visit to my childhood home in the Florida Keys.



July:

Our first trip to the beach at our new home.

August:


September:



October:





November:




December:



May you all be happy and blessed in 2012!

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Ho, Ho, Ho and a Merry Christmas!

It has truly been a Merry Christmas for me and my family. Even though it's her third, in a way, today felt like Georgia's first Christmas. It was the first she looked forward to Christmas, talked about Christmas and pointed out everything Christmasy anywhere we went. It was the first time she got the magical kid gleam in her eye and that look of ecstatic excitement on her face when we talked about the tree or presents or Santa or anything to do with the big day.

I know for a fact that Santa was in our living room, assembling Georgia's presents and putting them under the tree, around 3 a.m.

Yeah, late night for Santa... and an early morning for mommy and daddy.

But this little girl and her pure, true, unfiltered and over-flowing joy on Christmas morning... well, what more could you ask for? -- sleep be damned!


Funny, at one point I panicked and thought there weren't enough presents to put under the tree. I needed to be slapped because by the end of this morning, I was thinking we need to hurry up and buy a house big enough for all the new stuff!

So here you go, just a few of the things Georgia found under the tree this morning:

In the first minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the second minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the third minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the fourth minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the fifth minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the sixth minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, a puzzle map of the U.S., table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the seventh minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, more Play-Doh than any child needs, a puzzle map of the U.S., table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the eighth minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, a moment to be overwhelmed, more Play-Doh than any child needs, a puzzle map of the U.S., table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the ninth minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, a clock to learn telling time, a moment to be overwhelmed, more Play-Doh than any child needs, a puzzle map of the U.S., table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the tenth minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, wait - no that's my hubby (he's gonna kill me!), a clock to learn telling time, a moment to be overwhelmed, more Play-Doh than any child needs, a puzzle map of the U.S., table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the eleventh minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, markers, paints and chalk, wait - no that's my hubby (he's gonna kill me!), a clock to learn telling time, a moment to be overwhelmed, more Play-Doh than any child needs, a puzzle map of the U.S., table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


In the twelfth minute of Christmas my darling did unwrap, a room-consuming amount of toys, markers, paints and chalk, wait - no that's my hubby (he's gonna kill me!), a clock to learn telling time, a moment to be overwhelmed, more Play-Doh than any child needs, a puzzle map of the U.S., table and chairs just her size, a humongous cardboard castle, paint and a standing easel, play food from her Grama and a pink and retro play kitchen.


I hope your Christmas was as magical and merry as ours. Merry Christmas... and God Bless Everyone!

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Happy Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve. The presents are wrapped, the assembly-required gifts are on standby and waiting for their date with a screwdriver tonight, Santa's elves paid us a visit last night and left a few Christmas Eve presents under the tree and the big man himself will make an appearance at some point tonight.

Oh, and Georgia and I decorated a gingerbread house. I've decorated one every year for the past several years, but this year was my first attempt with Georgia's "help." It was so cute, but I think she missed the point of putting the candy "on" the house. Somehow our doors and windows kept ending up in her belly!

So we were going for this look:

Uh, I think we got close:



Tonight we'll sip hot chocolate and hot apple cider, listen to Christmas music and watch some Christmas Eve present (Frosty the Snowman, shhh, don't tell Georgia) that Santa's elves left under our tree last night.

It will be a wonderful way to welcome Christmas. Happy Christmas Eve everyone, and here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!

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Angel

I am still amazed - truly, purely, utterly amazed - at the things my two-year-old daughter says and imagines and comprehends. Watching her watch the world and learn from it holds tight to my fascination. To say it simply, she keeps me in awe.

Georgia said something the other day that stopped. me. in. my. tracks. I still cannot fully grasp or explain it. First, perhaps a little background.

Since my mother died two years, two months and six days ago, God and I have not been on the best of terms. We argue, we stop talking to each other, we pray, we yell, we curse, we apologize - OK, it's actually pretty one-sided and not going both ways at all... but you get the picture. Part of it is a deep-seated, fire-breathing anger, but part of it is the lack of "her." I don't "feel" my mother anymore. I don't "sense" my mother. I don't "see" my mother. I keep telling myself if there really was a God and there really was a heaven - why can't I sense my mother from time to time? Where is she?

Now I know there is this discussion we could go into about God and faith and believing - it's a conversation that could and already does fills books and church sermons and lectures and... I'm not getting into that here. We each have our own beliefs and our own level of beliefs, and I still say to each their own - you believe what you want to believe. These days I find myself sometimes envying those with unwavering faith. I once thought I had that - but loosing my mother and the continued lack of ANY hint of her presence, well that has shaken my faith with hurricane-force winds.

But that's enough background for what I started to tell you. In the days before we bought our Christmas tree, Georgia and I were discussing all aspects of said tree. We talked about ornaments and how we would hang them from the branches. We talked about the colorful lights and how they would twinkle and blink. And then we talked about the top of the tree.

I asked her if she knew what we would put on the top of the tree. She answered, "a star?" I told her no, we had an angel. We had never talked about our tree-topping angel before, hence the need for the explanation.

Then, and I still don't know why, I asked her if she knew who gave us this angel. Without blinking, without hesitation, she answered, "Oma." It felt as though every molecule in my body froze.

Georgia and I don't talk about Oma (my mother) very much. She knows of her and there is a picture in Georgia's room, but I certainly don't go out of my way every day to make sure Georgia knows exactly who my mother was. That will come in time and with maturity. And that is why Georgia's answer shook me, I don't know where it came from.

Why the angel (my mother loved angels) and why this angel? It was the closest I've come to sensing my mother since she took her last breath. This moment with Georgia took MY breath away.

And if you're wondering, yes, it was my mother who gave me the angel. She gave me an angel to top my Christmas tree like an angel had topped hers in all the years I can remember.

An angel, my angel - and that night, for a while, God and I were on speaking terms again.

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Christmas Parading Down the Street

It was our first Christmas parade. I can't remember ever going to a Christmas parade and my husband can't remember going to any parade. So when I learned our new home area has a Christmas parade in almost every town, there was no question we would head to one of them.

So we headed out Saturday morning to Morehead City, NC. It's the city near the beach area and one that we drive through often as, if you read this blog at all you know, we are always at the beach. It wasn't hard to find the parade route, people were already staking out spots. But they had blankets and chairs and... oops... we did not. Mommy mis-step #1,327. OK, I'm making a mental note of that for next time.

So we found our spot and sat down in the grass. About 20 minutes of toddler-fidgeting later and... here comes the parade!!

We live in an area with several U.S. Marine bases, so of course the Marine band was first up. Georgia loved the music and kept saying "trumpet."





And what parade near the beach would be complete without a boat... or two.




Georgia though, quickly discovered her favorite thing about the Christmas parade... and it wasn't Santa. No, it was the candy. Holy crap did they throw a lot of candy. Forget Halloween... there's Christmas parades here and you just sit. The candy comes to you!



As the parade went on and Georgia's candy pile grew, her tolerance for the loud bands and sirens did not.




The Christmas parade was more awesome than we even imagined, and it lasted more than an hour. I'm starting to like our new home state more and more.

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