2013: The Year of Scenes

Two thousand, nine hundred, and seventy five.  Can you guess what this number represents?

A) How many times I've switched radio stations when the "Twelve Days of Christmas" comes on

B) The number of M&Ms the Carlsons consumed over the holidays

C) The amount of items I've needed help scanning in the ironically entitled "Self Checkout" lane

D) The approximate number of pictures represented by our first family Christmas

If you guessed "D", CONGRATULATIONS!!!  You've won a night shift at the Moody house with Emerson.  You may need goggles, biohazard bags, and a life threatening amount of caffeine to survive this task.

While answers A, B, and C were closely accurate, today's post is predominately picture oriented. 

As sweet baby girl truly dreamed of a white Christmas...

We were busier than a Wal-Mart cashier manning their one open register while trying to squeeze in every ounce of fun during our first Christmas as a family.

First on the agenda was the Finklea/LeGette/Greene/Carlson, etc. family Christmas soiree on December 21st, where many of them were meeting Emmy for the first time.

While my Mom and brother were running around in the kitchen making sure all the food was prepared I was upstairs doing the really important things, like making sure we had several games and toys set up.  I know my forte.

The next day was the Moody family get together.  There was no unidentified "deer tenderloin" on the menu this year.  Last year I got tricked, and it won't be happening again.

Those were pigs in the blanket, right?

Emmy lost her pants prior to this picture.  Don't ask.

On the 23rd we enjoyed Maggie and Aaron's oyster roast (minus the oysters for me) and the annual Jordan jubilee!

Emmy met lots of new people during our visit.  She also resisted a blowout on each of our esteemed guests, for which they should be eternally grateful.

Christmas Eve is always a marathon for me.  If you thought you heard a jet in Dillon that day it was actually my car zooming around running errands, practicing music, wrapping gifts, looking for misplaced keys (make that ANY day) and doing any other remotely festive activity in the span of a few very short hours. 

Christmas Eve Clock

After the annual Candlelight Service at FBC we enjoyed a thoroughly fattening dinner at the Johnson home.

Fact: If I ate as much every day as we did during Christmas I would look like this by the 2014 holiday season.

While most people start dieting on January 1st I'm waiting until I return to work.  Might as well prolong the misery and then bring it all on at once.

Mercifully we opened gifts at Ryan's on Christmas Eve instead of 5:30 on Christmas morning.   Even Santa has qualms about such an ungodly hour!

The photo books for our parents were quite the hit, and look at Snuggle Muffin in her new fluffy coat.  LOVE!!!

Look closely at the next picture: it contains a Queen, Princess, and a Barbie!

Christmas morning 2013 was unlike any other.  What did we get?  While you can't purchase a good night's sleep and wrap it under the tree we still received everything we ever wanted.

Nothing on earth could compare to having our baby girl with us.  It put lots of things in perspective, and as my mother used to say to me, Emmy sure made out like a bandit.

This is a stick-up.

She peacefully slept through the tearing open of each gift.  I now realize that had we wrapped up a bottle it would have woken her instantly.

Books for Christmas??? What is that?  If you've never seen this 48 second Youtube video you HAVE to watch it.

Original Youtube "Books for Christmas"

A few months ago these girls had their hands on my belly at my shower, and now we know who they were touching  : )

We had a most LOVELY visit with Joy and Dorothy, two of the most awesome people I know!!!

After Christmas we visited with Great Papa & Great Uncle David (Great Nanny was sick that day but is better now!)

Someone was excited about the car ride!

Editor's note: Yes, this is a shirt from 5th grade- the original Grumpy Cat.  Sometimes finding a nice outfit is a luxury that doesn't fit into my day.

Except for those Sarah McLachlan commercials with the sad animals few things are more depressing than saying goodbye to your Christmas trees.

I seriously see one of these ads every time I'm eating.  Ruins my lunch every time...future diet strategy.

Whoever said that taking down the decorations isn't threatening to your marriage, take heed.  This actually happened yesterday.

What was that about biting each others' heads off?

Each and EVERY day a crisis of some sort takes place in this house.  This past Sunday it was tee tee in baby girl's hair.

You're in urine trouble.

Don't ask how this happened; just know that a bath took place immediately after the incident.

Our parents got a taste meal-full of life with Emmy when they took the late night shifts while we were home.  Our latest discovery?  The girl fights sleep like it's her JOB.

Take that, La La Land.

She truly doesn't want to miss anything, just like someone else I know.

But I know one thing I'm going to miss deeply, and that's the year 2013.  Each month of this year brought more blessings than I could have dreamed, and I'm sad to see it go.  Every time I look at Emerson I am humbled that the Lord created her for us and ultimately for His use.  He could've given her to anyone else in the world, but he chose us.  It is a massive responsibility, but one I wouldn't give up if my life depended on it.

I really can't wait to see what's in store for us in 2014 (it used to be new clothes and accessories, but now it's formula, wipes, and diapers...that's another story).

Another year has almost come and gone, and I ask myself: what did I do for the Lord this year?  If I could look back at all the years passed it is my hope that I will be able to answer that question.  As our world continues on a deeper path further away from the Gospel and everything upon which our faith is founded we must not lose sight of the truth.

Here is my prayer for my loved ones for the next year - read closely.

I hope you hurt- I hope you love someone so much it hurts.

I hope you fall- fall deeper in love with the One who created you and desires your heart.

I hope you stumble- stumble upon things that make you wiser and upon people you hadn't seen in a while and make new connections. Get the chance to touch or have an impact on someone that may surprise you.

I hope you burn- burn with passion for even the most simple things- opening your eyes each morning, making a long trip with no car trouble, and living to see your loved ones for another day.

And finally, I hope you give yourself away- to your Savior, to your family, to the person struggling to load their groceries, the coworker or acquaintance who needs Jesus, the neighbor who needs a favor, the man in a hurry behind you in line, and to each day.  Because it was given to you.

So Happy New Year!  And that's a command.

A Not So Silent Night

The Black Eyed Peas took the words right out of my mouth:

"I gotta feeling...that tonight's gonna be a ROUGH night.   Tonight's gonna be a rough, rough niiiight." 

Woo hoooooo.

She goes from 0 to 60 in a matter of seconds.

Sweet & Sour: it's not just a sauce at McDonald's.

I try SO HARD to keep my little baby happy 24/7, but sometimes the poor thing is as distressed as King Wenceslas on substitute teacher day.

"Wenceslas?  Are you present?  WENCESLAS?!?!"  That kid had some cruel parents.  What kind of name is that?  What does it even mean?

King W's classmates reacting to the roll call.

And now when baby Emmy is in deep despair she has discovered that she can pull out the hair on the sides of my head.  By the new year I'll most likely have to pay a visit to Jada Pinkett Smith's hairdresser if said individual has not already had their cosmetology license revoked.

Just call me buzz lightyear.

It should have occurred to me that there would be no merry jingling or decking of the halls this year, or at least not in the traditional way.  I have completely lost concept of nights and days, I frequently forget what day it is, who I'm calling on the other end of the line, or if I have even combed my hair in the past 48 hours.

I had high hopes of caring for Emerson in my best clothes and in full makeup daily.  But instead of remotely resembling that girl in this winter's Macy's catalog I bear a striking resemblance to Britney Spears on an average trip to the gas station circa 2007.

And sometimes the same thing goes for my little girl.  For instance, we all know how hard it is for adult socks to stay together after a trip through the washer and dryer (a couples' retreat it is not), so you can imagine the impossibility of keeping up with matching newborn socks, outfits, mittens, and other like items.  While I make a concerted effort to keep Emmy looking fabulous on a daily basis, there are definitely days when her attire is a little less than put together...

Future Emerson?

I am okay with this.  I hardly think mismatched clothes will stop the earth from turning.  Plus, I have bigger fish to fry.

I still have lots of back pain, and those guys bench pressing at the gym have nothing on that car seat that I lug around everywhere.  Why has no one invented an infant seat that is easy to tote?  I look like a cricket trying to carry a cooler.  It is a very sad sight indeed, which is why I'm the frequent recipient of public ridicule.

What are YOU lookin' at???

My bothering back did not make decorating my house any easier this year, that's for sure.  It's pretty tragic when putting up the Christmas tree requires prescription pain medication.  I have plenty of meds left over from my hospital stay, but I really don't like taking it unless it's absolutely necessary (do I want to feel nauseous or live with the issue at hand?), but this time the pain won out. 

"On the first day of Christmas my doctor gave to me...Percocet in a pear tree."

I proudly announce that our house is fully decorated this year, and I accepted and conquered this challenge with flying poop colors.

Second only to the virgin birth of Jesus, this is indeed a Christmas miracle.  Our little girl has a tendency to make her way into everything that's going on.  I have to admit that she came by it honestly. In summary, she is the smallest ruler on the earth.

I'm sorry, Daddy.  Did you think you could put me down long enough to eat?

I didn't think so.

Oh, is this your side of the bed? My bad.

No ESPN for you this evening.

It's a tough job being a princess, but if the crown fits.

Need more physical proof on how much our lives have changed?  Bottlecaps used to be one of my favorite candies.  They are now real things that I find all OVER the house but never when I need them.

Warning: image to the right is not so tasty.

But we  I wouldn't trade disarray in the house for our incredible blessing.  Every time I look at her I fall more in love.  That's one of the many reasons why pictures are so special.

Our amazing engagement/bridal/wedding/maternity photographer, Valerie Schooling, has done it again.  When Emerson was just eight days old a pregnant Valerie packed her belongings in her sports car and drove all the way to Columbia to transform our home into a studio.  We are over the MOON with the images she captured of our Heaven sent girl.

While I may forget to comb my hair or straighten the house on many occasions the detail queen in me has remained.  I thought it was only fitting for Emmy and me to share something special, so I made her baby replicas of my wedding shoes.  She was ecstatic.

With Christmas being only DAYS away Ryan and I have been frantically trying to figure out what to get for Emmy.  As usual we have differing opinions.

My idea of a kids' toy:

Cha ching.

And Ryan's.

Just whistle while you work.

If Emmy takes after her mother sweeping and mopping will be low on the priority list.

You think I'm gonna enjoy cleaning?  GOTCHA!

One thing has remained despite all that has gone on: nothing will slow me down.  We've still been out and about, spreading our social butterfly wings.

We've had wonderful visits with Nanny & Papa...

Gone to Christmas dinner theaters, kids musicals, Birthday parties, you name it.

Yesterday was a great day.  First, Emmy did so well with her first shots and only had one little mishap at the doctor...

Like a River Glorious

After apologizing to the doctor for the fountain of gold and taking a calm car ride home, one of the three wise women named Jamie showed up at my door with Outback to-go and baking supplies.  She ROCKS!!!

Last night we had Jamie, Chris, Josh, and Megan over for a Christmas dinner.  We had a GREAT time!!!

It was not until I looked at the photos that I realized I set the table backwards.  Oops.

I invited these dear friends over with the intentions of hosting and cooking a lovely meal.  What ended up happening was Jamie cooking the entire thing, making and decorating two batches of cookies for dessert, AND feeding Emerson twice along the way.  

I told her she's hired.

Christmas is made even more special when spending time with friends and loved ones.

Thanks to Megan for the sweet gifts for Emmy's first Christmas : )

And take a look at this amazing decoration we received in the mail from Karen and James!  The lights, bow, and music notes on the bottle are fabulous, and the pictures all around of Emmy melted our hearts.  Karen, this is AWESOME and will be treasured for years!

2013 Christmas card assortment!

This past week I spent DAYS addressing, stuffing, & stamping envelopes containing Emerson's birth announcement and our Christmas card.  Highway road construction has been known to take less time, as such a seemingly easy task was not without crisis: there was a problem with the original birth announcements, the Christmas card company only shipped 1/3 of our order, I had to buy special booklet envelopes to fit all the items, and the original post office rep mistakenly told me it would cost $1.19 to mail EACH ONE.

And that's just the tip of the ice berg Christmas tree.  Since I was including the birth announcements in the mail out I decided to add a special poem and note, which also meant another trip to SOHO office and additional cost.  The first three family members to whom we handed the envelopes pulled out the Christmas picture and left the birth announcement and letter in the envelope to be thrown in the trash.

Who doesn't look in the entire envelope to ensure that all the contents are out???  I was in such a tizzy. I will not be happy if one of those pricey announcements are in a landfill somewhere, so please don't tell me you missed it and threw it away.  Ignorance is bliss.

See how stressful this time of year can be sometimes?  Shame on me for bringing it on myself.  It is SO easy to get caught up in the things that are petty in the big picture.  

In one of our latest sleepwalking sessions I began singing a quiet rendition of "Joy to the World" to Emerson.  I've heard, played, and sung that song a million times in my life, but in that moment one of the lines hit me.

"Let every heart prepare him room."

That is more than just a statement; it's a plea.  Let your heart prepare him room.  Ask Him in.  Have a relationship with him.  This time of year millions of people are preparing with parties, get togethers, decorations, food, gifts, shopping, and light bulb debacles, but how many of those millions have prepared the single most important thing this Christmas?  A heart with room for Jesus.  

I hold Emerson's tiny hands and feet and kiss her face and wonder what Mary was thinking as she held the One who would hold her in the end.  Make room for Him.  It is the single most important decision of your life, and one day- for all of us- it will be the only decision that mattered.

As we spend our first Christmas together as a family there is nothing that could bring us more joy than having our new baby girl with us.  It's amazing to think what can happen in a year's time.

You can't buy this in Belk.

From our family of three to yours we wish you the MERRIEST Christmas.

Repeat the sounding joy!