- Merry Christmas! -

In the spirit of 2017.........(!!!)...

...let's revisit 2016.

Ok, maybe not all of it.

Just Christmas at least? 

I got all wrapped up in keeping my RSV-ridden child alive that I skipped right on over posting the Christmas photos!  We did our traditional "four party" Christmas again this year [we've gotta stop! With a midget in the family, it's too much packing up and driving here just to pack up and sleep there and wake up here to drive there and ...well first of all it's totally exhausting, but second, I really want my kid[s] to sleep in their own beds on Christmas Eve and wake up in their own house on Christmas morning and find the presents from Santa under THEIR Christmas tree............  We have our own mini-family now and I would love to start our own new traditions. Buuuut for this year at least, we grudgingly rode the crazy train again because we love our families and truly do want to see everyone on the holidays!] ...Anywayyyy...

Christmas Eve Mass with my Grandma!  Harper has become a nose-picking fiend when she knows she's supposed to pose for photos [how did she learn that?]...

...then Christmas morning breakfast and presents at Grammy and Grampy's!

How 'bout 'dem matching family PJs, though?!??  Our childhood babysitter sent me a link to them and I couldn't refuse! Brian is a good sport for going along with it... ;) :) ...turns out he'll do just about anything for his Lil' Bear!

Hit another family Christmas...

...and another!  Boo isn't spoiled or anything... ;) :)

All day on Christmas Monday, she ran around the house yelling, "TOYZZZZ!" and truly just couldn't get enough of all these fun new things to play with! Immediate favorites [pictured below] were the baby stroller and the vet kit [though the baby stroller quickly found its way to the basement after Brian witnessed her ramming it full speed into the bottom panel of our stainless steel stove!].

Last Christmas was pretty great, but this year was AMAZING!  It's beyond magical to witness the awe and wonder of the season through a child's eyes! 

...And now...to fast-forward back up to 2017...

[...and to find a place for all these toys...!]

Merry Merry Christmas!!!

- Resolutionzzz for the record book -

A little bit ago, I was driving into town to get some groceries and got stuck at the world's longest stoplight right next to this old junker car with a smashed in driver door and bashed out back window.  When I drive sans husband, Jesus music is my jam and the radio station is allllmost always set to 99.1 -- "Joy FM" [when Dear Husband rides along, we rock out to 93.7 -- "The Bull," or 92.3 -- "Some Other Unnamed Hillbilly/Redneck Wannabe Station"].  

So anywayssss.....  My dad is a State Farm agent and we more or less grew up helping him survey all sorts of damages, so of course I glanced over to assess this wadded up car for a hot second and immediately noticed that the driver was continuously muttering some words.  I'm sort of nosy by nature, so I quickly pretended to look forward again while secretly still staring at her out of the side of my sunglasses [my 27-year-old eyes and their peripheral vision is on point!] and .....you guys! ...Turns out she was singing along to the exact same Big Daddy Weave song that was playing in my car!  I stared at her for a few more verses to make sure I was taking this in correctly [because, like I said, this is the longest stoplight ever] before the light turned green and she floored the pedal and disappeared. 

[[This post already seems like a bunch of random rambling and it's simultaneously painting me as a psycho... Maybe it's only because I'm sugared up on Starbucks AND today is my first day wearing Joy EO so I'm feeling extra real, raw, and energetic; or maybe it's that I'm actually taking the cliche "New Year, New Outlook" approach to heart. But for a few milli-seconds after she drove away, I sat there frozen and dumbfounded at the simple realization that this total stranger had the same exact song playing in her car and the exact same praises for our awesome God and the exact same heart for Jesus!  This is a really big world ...and me and my desires and wants and wishes are just like a drop in the bucket.
 

I'm not much of a resolution maker considering all my prudent promises usually fall through by the second week of January, but here's to 2017:  making legit strides to be a more conscious daughter of God and more readily recognize the good in everyone! And all deese things too:

...See how good I am at setting non-measurable goals?! Hah. #winwin

But fo' real:  Happy New Year, friends!!! Set your resolutions high, because I have a feeling this is gonna be the best year yet! 

xoxo

- Alive and [not] Thriving -

[A bellowing] "Hallooooooooo from the other side!"

Just checking in from RSV Quarantine Camp to let y'all know we're still alive! Our pediatrician strongly recommended us to lay low this week and stay away from family gatherings and New Year's Eve parties [yeah lady, try telling my husband he has to miss his cousin's NYE bash and stay home alone all day with a sick toddler while I work a 12-hour shift tomorrow... #not].  ...Although we put that argument on the back burner for now and then my boss gave me an extra vacation day this week [#happyholidayz] and so actually it's been a very lazy feelin', movie watchin', pajama wearin', all-day snugglin' type of week around here.....and I can't say I'm super upset about being on complete house arrest for a few days... ;) :)

^^ ...but it's really gonna be a post-Christmas miracle if I don't catch this virus before it's all said and done. Breathing one inch from the breath of death all night err' night for a few weeks on end isn't exactly the smartest thing I've ever thunk up; but move one muscle out of line, and the bebe immediately wakes up and moans, "Mommmmaaaa!" in this super pitiful, hoarse little voice and.......my throbbing momma heart just can't refuse.  [<-- Was that whole paragraph really just one sentence?!]  

In other news, Harper got a prescription for these "breathing treatments" -- AKA, the pediatrician's cool way of describing an inhaler connected to a pediatric mask and chamber -- that we're supposed to administer every 4-6 hours until she hasn't coughed for THREE FULL DAYS. Ha...ha...ha......slow laugh..... I almost fell out of my chair when I got this instruction combined with the prediction that her cough would last "approximately" 6-8 weeks.  And as we assumed, she hates the inhaler and thinks the mask + chamber combo is some sort of old medieval torture technique instead of a modern-day evidence-based medicinal practice that will make her feel allllll better real soon.  Come on bro, it's only two puffs.  Please just play nice and do it.  I digress. 

We ordered Chinese last night because the fridge is running critically low but no one really wants to get dressed and run in town to the grocery store sooo ...why not order out?... and Harper's fortune was:

I stay absolutely clear of horoscopes and fortunes and all other weird satanic readings/cards/sh*t, but I wouldn't mind -- just this once! -- if this worthless little piece of paper actually held some truth... *side smile/grin*

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me... I really do see slow, steady improvement and think we'll be up and running sooner than later! I hope you all have a great weekend bursting with exciting plans and adventures; after all, you only have 30 more hours to make 2016 count!!! :-*

xoxo

- 'Tis the season... -

Fa-la-la-la-laaaaa-la-cough-cough-coughhhhh. 

Deck the halls and cue the jingle bells, cuz:

I'M THE WORST MOTHER IN THE HISTORY OF BAD/WORSE/WORST MOTHERS!!!

We just left the pediatrician's office a few hours ago where sweet Harper Bear swabbed positive for RSV. :(  I guess brushing off two weeks of congestion + coughing up a storm at nighttime -- AKA neglect -- is what you get when your mother is a hard-hearted, knuckle-headed nurse... 

Dear Lawdddy, strike me with a lightening bolt and curse me until the day I die for not making the prudent choice to be a stay at home mom [more commonly referred to in the world of legit stay at home moms as "SAHM"].........which would therefore result in my princess not being pushed out into the "real world" two days a week where she surely contracts all these deadly illnesses.

Here we go again...

Every time Harper comes downs with a runny nose or boogery eye or small cough, my momma heart just shatters into a thousand pieces and I immediately consider putting in my two-weeks notice so I can be a full-time SAHM and keep Baby Bird always nestled in my wings. 

...But then she gets better and bounces back full force all is swell.

[And Brian comes home from work and talks me down from the ledge right before I jump.]

It's a terribly vicious cycle, though.

And the #momguilt is sooooo real.

I should've picked up on this nas-tay virus a few weeks ago when I noticed something just wasn't quite right:

But instead we just swept it right under the rug and declared the next day a "lazy day" -- which consisted of never leaving the house or even changing out of our PJs.  There was lots of elf-work and snuggling and book reading to be done, and my partner in crime seemed to be on the mend...

Mostly better?! I think so! Helping Great Grandma trim her tree! :)

All smiles! [[Picasso Claus on the right!]]

Three cheers and several handfuls of M&M's for Christmas baking! [Momma assumes] I'm feeling better and growing stronger each day!

Then we suddenly yanked on the reigns because: one step forward always equals two steps back ...and a full night of hacking and coughing easily earned this beauty another pajama day with Mommy...

[[Got an Omaha Steaks delivery from Daddy's work! ^^ And 'dem curlzzz, tho!]]

Friday nights aren't what they used to be... ;) :) Donned our finest sweatpants in perfect fashion to construct the gingerbread house! Kate came over to help!

On the last few pieces of candy, Harper realized the candies AND icing were edible...

...which went over reallllll well, of course.  :)

And suddenly...

...here a cough, there a cough, everywhere a cough! cough!...

...and the days of December came and went and Christmas Eve Eve be officially here!!!

Weeeee! 

'Tis the season [fo sho!] for sniffles and sneezes and snots [and RSV, apparently]...

...but 'tis the season, too, for family and friends and fellowship and spreading all kinds of Christmas cheer!

So!  

I'll switch up the sob story gears and get off my pout-box [for now] so I can go snuggle my sick little nugget while she naps, BUT! We wheezed right on through the holidays so you betcha there's plenty more holly jolly Christmas Eve + Day posting to come!

Merry Christmas...almost!

Bye now!

- Happy happy happppppy! -

...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to this guy right hurr! We celebrated thirty-six years of bad-@$$-ness at Popeyes Chophouse in St. Rose with great company. Thanks to our awesome family for flying under the radar and helping me pull off the dinner surprise! :)

We love you so much and are so lucky to call you ours! Hope this year is your best year yet! 

- Love is ALL you need! -

When your brother makes a surprise trip to the homeland and your mother requests a family photo, you pull out the stops and do whatcha can!  I'm no professional, but we threw up the tripod and clicked away anyway! I've been forbidden to post before now so as not to spoil Grammy Resa's Christmas cards, but the holi-daze are ova so here they are! I love this beautiful family that God gave to me!!!

Harper and Daddy golfed while we set the scene! :)

A lot has changed since our family photos in 2015, but really has anything changed?!

...It's true what they say: love is all you need!!! 

- xoxo -

- Fall Firsts -

Going through some old-ish photos on my computer this morning [to make room for new-ish ones, of course!] and I fell love all over again with a few fun "firsts" from this fall!  This little beauty is the apple of our eyes and y'all should know by now that not many things go undocumented around here... ;) :)

Keep trialing and erroring and exploring and learning, little munchkin; you are gonna move mountains!!! :-* :-*