Christmas, Christmas EVERYWHERE!!!

This Christmas went so fast but was SO much fun. Abbie loved opening presents but understand why she was getting them. She was so cute when she was opening the present from our neighbors.

Here is her playing with the Rocking Horse. So much fun!

Christmas Eve was spent with Tom's family at his cousin's house. It is always a great time of food and laughing over the White Elephant game. Tom's cousin, Straker, thought it would be funny to wrap up my shoes (that I took off when I got to the house) and put them in the White Elephant. It took me a second to realize that those were my shoes. Straker thought it was SO funny and so did everyone else. I was laughing so hard too! Abbie was playing with her cousin Emily who was visiting from Boston. They had such a fun time together!

Our family picture infront of the fireplace

We went to my parent's house on Christmas Morning and has a lovely breakfast. I think that I ate AT LEAST 10 pieces of bacon. My mom got Abbie and Maggie these cute little chairs to rock in. Abbie loves this dancing cow at my parents house and was a dancing machine!*

*For some reason the video wouldn't post. Will try again later cause it is so DANG cute!

Maggie loves her cousin a little too much. Ha ha!

Grandma and Abbie praying. So cute!

When all was said and done it was a wonderful few days of family, FOOD, and a lot of love.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Family Christmas Party! WOO HOO!

On Saturday, we had my crazy Italian family Christmas Party. There are about 25 of us that get together and celebrate together. We ate and ate and had a few cocktails (excluding my mom) and ate and ate some more. Parties like these remind how much my family loves me. Yes....they are crazy....and Yes......they drive me crazy but they are my history. I am who I am because of them. They love me and my daughter so much. We had a fun time just looking at old pictures and laughing at Abbie and Maggie dancing. It was a wonderful night!

Chores...Chores...Chores

Growing up we never received an allowance for doing chores around the house. I understand my parents reasoning for not paying us....besides that fact that the bills needed to be paid over us getting an allowance. My parents wanted us to feel like a part of the family by contributing in some way. My dad worked, my mom stayed at home with us (which is harder work than she got credit for) and my brother and I took care of a few chores. Yes, we hated them and Yes, we felt like we deserved to be paid for them but I think that what my parents did was right. Our payment was more freedom. If we didn't do them (or did them with a bad attitude) freedom was taken away. Abbie will receive the same "payment" that I did. She will know that there are certain chores that are her responsibility and that by her doing her chores, she is a contributing part of our little family. Right now, her chore is to help feed Penny. I asked her to help me one day and ever since then it is a part of our morning routine.

She didn't want to close the door so there are some tears!

She is also obsessed with the Vacuum. She LOVES to touch it and kiss it. I got her a little dirt devil at a garage sale for a dollar and she will push it around all day. Hopefully this will last until she can really vacuum.

Here is a little funny video of Abbie and the Vacuum

P.s. she didn't mind the vacuum sucking on her face, as you can tell.

Friday Night Fun

It is funny how what you consider a "great Friday Night" changes once you have a baby. Tom and I use to consider a great Friday Night as follows:
-going out to dinner
-meeting friends at a bar and staying out until the bars closed and sleeping in until at least 10am
-going on an impromptu trip to Vegas (which made it s great weekend...instead of just one night)

Well....these things don't happen as much anymore. Our weekends are planned WEEKS in advance since we have to get babysitting. Oh and also lack of money makes you be more creative. I do miss those crazy nights and weekends before Abbie but noting compares to the joy that she has brought to our lives.

Last night was SUCH a fun night. Tom got 2 movies from Red Box for us to watch after Abbie went to bed. We all had dinner together, like we always do, and then headed out to look at lights. It was warm so we didn't need to bundle up at all (I was really wanting to dress Abbie up in her new coat). We walked to the Circle and looked at the big Christmas Tree that they have set up. Abbie liked the lights and the huge ornaments. We ended up at "Candy Cane Lane" and walked up and down the street. Abbie was saying "Lights" and was so excited...in the beginning and then started her mini melt down. Thank goodness that it was only a 10 minute walk from our house.

We put her to bed when we got home and then started our movies. My pick was "Julie and Julia". I knew that Tom wasn't too thrilled about it but he didn't complain because we usually don't watch the chick flicks (I don't put him thru that too often). It was SUCH a cute movie and Tom even enjoyed it as well. My favorite line in the movie was said by Julia Child's husband Paul..You are the butter to my bread. The breath in my life. I jokingly said to Tom...You are the spray butter to my diet bread. Ha ha!

It was 10 pm when the first movie was over so we called it a night....our carbon unit alarm clock is up at 6:30 am no matter what time we went to sleep. And I usually go to sleep at 9pm so I was staying up REALLY late.

It was a WONDERFUL night.

Daddy and Abbie: she hasn't gotten "cheese" down yet

Abbie and Mommy looking at the big ornaments

Italian American Pride

Rough and Tumble Abbie

Fearless and wild!
She makes us laugh doing things like this all the time!

Balance

I have learned a lot about balance being a first time parent. Balance plays such an important part in-

• my marriage
• my time with Abbie
• my relationship with God
• my friendships

It took a while to find a good balance in all of those areas. I will still always continue to work on the balance because it is a never ending process because life is ever changing.

I realized that as a first time mother, you want to focus solely on this new life that has come into your world. You obsess about schedules, feedings, if they are going to pee/poop too much or too little, if they are progressing like they should be, are they happy, if they are sleeping, and all the times when you have mini-meltdowns because of worrying SO much. Tom and I early on instituted "Date Night" where we go out and just spend time together. It didn't have to be fancy (usually it was just coffee and walking around Old Town) but it was time for us to catch up on what was going on with the other person. We have dinner as a family every night when I get home from work but it just isn't the same as one on one time with your spouse. If you don't have a balanced marriage how can you have a balanced child?

I remember the first time that Tom and I went out without Abbie. She was a few weeks old and we just sat there staring at each other not knowing what to do. We were so used to there being a little baby for us to take care of that we forgot how it was to just focus on each other. It turned out to be a great night of conversation ( mostly about Abbie) and just reminding the other one how much we loved and appreciated them. Last night was a "Date Night" and it was a blast. I LOVE just talking and laughing with Tom. He just gets me...and that is an AWESOME feeling.

I am working on the balance in my relationship with God still. That is one that I haven't quite gotten figured out. I feel like I could give him so much more of my time but then my selfish nature comes in and I end up sitting in front of the TV watching something totally vapid. Instead of watching "The Hills" (mock me if you will) I could have read the book that I am in the middle of. I could have spend some time in prayer and getting my heart right. I see all the missed chances to really connect with him.

So here is my new thought:

If you don't have a balanced relationship with God, how can any other relationship be balanced?