- JOY -

Joy joy joy joy JOYYYYY.

This is the most joyful Christmas season ever, and here's why:

This beautiful little angel gives us so many reasons to smile all day, every day! We are so thrilled and lucky and blessed and truly, wholeheartedly grateful that God entrusted this Little Miss to our care.  Loving every second of parenthood...especially during this magical season as we watch our daughter observe and awe and wonder! xoxoxo :-* 

So! 

Sending JOY from our home to yours! 

Merry Christmas, sweet family and friends!

- Santa Bebe -

Harper met Santa last weekend! 

And let me preface the rest of this post with a couple pertinent pieces of info.  Inherently, Harper is obsessed with long flowing locks.  She is a ruthless little hair ripping troll, and as soon as I realized this dude wasn't the REAL Santa, I immediately panicked that she would be demoted to the "Naughty List" for de-bearding Mr. Claus in front of a room full of happily believing children.  But I'll ruin the rest of my story by fast-forwarding to the end and letting you know that that very luckily and shockingly didn't happen.

So whatever, we were at this holiday party eating and mingling and Christmas-ing with all of Brian's family and friends when Santa walked in with his bag of toys. Right away my heart sank as I realized we forgot Harper's list at home: 

#momfail #wewillhavetosnailmailit

Luckily, Santa was very forgiving; he quickly penciled her onto the "Nice List" and she got in line to sit on his lap. :)  In the meantime, I was secretly hoping for one of the classic tomato-faced + sobbing infant-meets-Santa pics; but instead, she LOVED him!  [Although come on, what's not for an infant to love about a hairy squishy animated character dressed in a soft aberrant suit?  Word.]

Even in light of forgetting the list, Santa brought Harper her very first Christmas gift: a little baby that laughs and cries and says "Momma" and "Dadda."  She has barely put it down since that day.  Hello, little mama in the making! :) 

Harper's cousins with Santa! 

Thanks for organizing this event, Aunt Stephanie! It was a hit for sure!!!


PS --- Dear Santa, The authentic "Wish List" is coming via USPS priority mail express, so keep your eyes peeled! See ya on Christmas Eve! ;) 

- Trimmin' da treeee -

Just a three-second trip down the lane of memories today: 

*tear sniff heart heart heart* 

And now back to real time.

Someone posted a link to this video on Facebook the other day, and a tiny little chamber of my OCD heart infarcted when I acknowledged the reality of this being our last calm "adult" Christmas [until at least like 2040 when all our babies are soaring out of the nest or something].  ...NOT AT ALL saying that I won't be thrilled to watch my kid[s] learn about Jesus and presents and the North Pole and giving and Santa Claus and Bethlehem and just believe in and experience all the magic of the season, BUT.......I do love me a nice set of not-kid-proofed delicate decorations. ;) 

Stifle yourself, you damn Type A Grinch.

Anyway...

We have been married for three years now and we're going three years strong in our habit of throwing up the Christmas tree + decorations on Black Friday; three fo' three baby, so in my book that means I can officially establish this ritual as a "tradition."   Annnnd we had some extra little hands contributing to the tradition this year!  By the time all da' trees were trimmed, all three of us were sparkling from from head to toe.  And Harper continued sh*tting glitter in her diapers for a couple days, SO!...that's definitely a successful decorating session if you ask me.

Merry decorating and Merry [early] Christmas! :-* :-* 

I am so in love with Harper's awe and wonder; it really is incredibly fascinating to experience life through a baby's eyes... <3

And to wrap this up, here's PLENTY more Christmas joy I will gladly subject you to...

• Christmas 2014 with Harper in utero...

• Random babbling from Christmas 2013...

• Annnnd digging through the archives for Christmas 2012 [which no one likely gives a rat's @$$ about]

Ho ho ho. 

xoxo

- And make that... -

THREE! 

Threeeeee years and twenty days full of nothing but mushy-gushy head-over-heels googly-eyed passionate LOVE! 

...Jay kayyy, of course.  

I'm a little late on this post, but the thought of our third anniversary going down the drain without a mention made me shudder.  Truly, though, this little relationship coined "marriage" is so much greater than I ever imagined it could be.  A chosen best friend now STUCK with me for the rest of his life.  Muahahah.  Brian may not've understood "for better or for worse" three years ago, but I think he is starting to now...  In fact, in this VERY moment, my heart is smiling from apex to base at the sight of him washing out a disgusting blown-out baby outfit [chunks of baby poop for daysss!].  Hashtag marriage and families.  This is what it's alllll about.  ;) 

ANYWAY! The baby's crying and the house is a disaster and it's time for baths and bed.  Cheers to three years and many more to come! 

And in case you were wondering, Brian..................

...it's still a yes. <3

*****

Throwback to our actual anniversary celebration:  Brian made homemade spinach and feta-stuffed chicken breasts and we enjoyed a candlelit dinner for three!  It's amazing how our love grew exponentially stronger after that sweet soul in the high chair came along.  :)

Other fun lovey anni posts! 

• Second anniversary...

• First anniversary pics w/ Paige...

• First anniversary...

• Honeymoon...

• Wedding!!! [Well wedding pics, I mean...]

- The Bebe on Black Friday -

Cackle, cackle, howl, snort:  it's Thanksgiving morning and we could hardly hold back our snide snickers as we eyed these diehard deal shoppers and their pop-up tents already set up for the next day's shopping craze.....

...then Black Friday rolled around and we realized we're just as damn crazy.

In the event that you actually give a rat's @$$, I am happy to report that no one at the furniture store was trampled to death and all three of us left the store happily unscathed.  But!  It was Harper's first Black Friday, and she talked us into buying a new couch for the basement. *jaw-dropped emoji*  It's that cute little baby face and those big squishy cheeks; we just couldn't say no. ;) 

Fo rizzle, though, Brian has been working super hard [in all his not-free time away from working in the dog food industry and also taking care of Harper and her needy mother] at finishing our basement, and it's getting sooo close! We just need some carpet and furniture and.....maybe a space heater.  More pics to come of the basement project in all its glory! 

- Harper's FIRST Turkey Day -

Thanksgiving............  One of many days of the year that I take time to be thankful for my abundant blessings and THE ONE day per year that it's socially acceptable to unleash my alter ego [hello, inner fat girl].  Nom nom nommmm. Thankful for: friends, family, food, and ....well, lots of other things too.  But without any further gobble gobbling, here's a recap of Harper's first Turkey Day and our Thanksgiving twen-tah fifteen!

We made it to Uncle Ted's! 

The grammies and their babies... :) 

All da little bebe cousins! <3

Checking out some Black Friday ads with Grandpa! 

 

Gather 'round: it's time to bust out the old school home videos!!! [Now I see why none of Brian's sisters liked him! Mr. Mischievous to the max!!!]

On to the next family gathering at Aunt Joanie's! 

 Happy Thanksgiving! 

- #thankful -

I just realized that November 22 was the feast day of St. Cecilia [who is the patron saint of our sweet babe] and .....add it to my very long and always-growing-longer list of grievances for the confessionial..... we skipped Mass last weekend because life be spinning completely out of control and an extra snippet of sleep sounded sooo sweet.  Ohhh Lawdy, forgive me for I have sinned.  And holy run on sentence.

Sweet St. Cecilia, pray for us! 

ANYWAY, I'll throw down some dolla dolla Bens that you're already rolling your eyes in anticipation of another ridiculous post penned in my famous fashion.  But actuallyyyyy.........nope!  Not at all; I'm taking you for a 180 today. What what?!?...a post null of negativity?!?? ...Yeppers.  Today is Thanksgiving!  And today more than ever, I am so so so sooooo thankful.

My heart almost burst when Harper brought this beautiful piece of artwork home from daycare yesterday:

And as I'm sitting here this morning blogging ..... sipping hot coffee ..... watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade ..... waiting for the baby to wake up from her nap ..... fixating on that creatively lovingly beautifully crafted construction-paper turkey ............I can't help but think about how important it is to slow life down every now and then and just be thankful.  Therefore, flatter me by agreeing that now is da perfectooo time to throw down a short long list of people/things/feelings/places/situations that I am truly totally wholeheartedly GRATEFUL for.  So grateful.

Readers agree?  [I thought so.]

So! Here goes [of course accompanied by a handful of fotoz that I've paparazzied collected this fall]!...

Family.  Everybody's list starts with this, but I'm not just being cliche here...  I'm so genuinely thankful for family, because "family" ...even if it's stripped down to a purely biological definition... is where life starts!  No matter what, family is there from the womb to the tomb.  My family has watched me achieve my greatest accomplishments and make my biggest mistakes, and through it all, they've been there with smiles on their faces. 

[And for the record, I'm not just talking about ^^ this family.  Also included on my list of love are grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and the whole she-bang!] 

Friends.  Everybody's list starts with this, too, and it ain't a no-brainer why.  Friends are a special "extension" of family; friends are there for rejoicing and crying and all things in between.  Whether they live next door or halfway across the country, these special people mean so much. Love me some goooooood friendships! :) 

[Again, "friends" not just limited to ^^ these friends, OBVIOUSLY.]

And with those two EXTRA important listings aside, the rest go without long-winded explanations... :) 

Lighthearted humor.

A world full of color and wonder.

Food.  And the priority of eating all our meals at the table together. <3

Clean, dry clothes.  And lots of 'em.

Weekends. 

Shoes.  And warm, cozy toes.

Naps.  And a big squishy bed to sleep in. 

Priests [especially this one!].

Joy. 

A job that I love.  And the opportunity to continue my education.  

Having a best friend for life. 

Pets [especially my bro's dog slash Harper's horse!].

The ability to learn.

Peaceful contentment. 

Work family.

Natural beauty.

Waking up every day. 

Romance. 

Cousins.

A home away from home; AKA a daycare that takes care of our baby just as well as we do.

Health and happiness. 

And lastly but very not least-ly...

...a crazy little thing called "love." 

It's true what they say: this really is the most WONDERFUL time of the year! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! I hope you had a chance to ...slowww.....life.....down... today and take a minute [or three!] to appreciate all the blessings in your life. 

Be alwayyyyys #thankful !

Bye now.