For Auld Lang Syne, My Dear- Goodbye, 2012

Hey friends!

First off, I have to say that I love "Auld Lang Syne" but I had zero clue until I wrote this post what it actually means. Here's what I found out. Auld Lang Syne= Days gone by. My favorite recording ever of this song is from Sex in the City. If you don't know the scene I'm talking about, click that little link. Not only will it make you love that song to pieces, but it will probably make you want to rewatch the Sex in the City movie. 

It's that time of year again. Time to say goodbye to one year and welcome another with open arms. Normally I'm super excited to have a fresh start, but this year is a little different. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. It has had more than its fair share of frustrations and pain. But this is the year that my life got turned upside down in the best way possible. This is the year that Will made me into a mommy. One of my biggest fears is forgetting all of the details of life with him as a newborn. I look at him now and watch him trying to sit up by himself, or trying to hold his own bottle, or laughing his head off at his daddy or me and I don't want to forget a single moment. I know I'm ridiculous. Everyone tells me that each stage is better than the one before, but I really can't believe them. What can top the smell of a new little baby? Or how they like to tuck their little feet under them when they curl up on your chest? I feel like each year will just push me farther and farther away from this wonderful time. 

I know I'm sappy, but I can't help but tell you what I'm really thinking about all of this. 

We found out just a few days into January that I was pregnant. That alone was a great kick off to the year. Our excitement grew every day that we grew closer to meeting our little bug. We waited a while to share our big news. Our very close family and friends found out earlier, but we told the facebook world back in March like this...

In case you are just skimming through my post, please know that this is an OLD PICTURE. We ARE NOT currently pregnant, nor do we plan to be for quite some time. That is all.

Between January and March was February. I was trying to do this whole thing chronologically, but I guess I already messed that idea up. In February my hubby started his new job. For a few months during my pregnancy we only saw each other two days each week. It was really tough and I missed the mess out of him, but I think it made us an even stronger duo. It also gave me even more respect for military families who go for WAY longer periods of times missing each other. 

In April  we packed up most of our old apartment and moved our stuff to our new one.

At the beginning of May I graduated with my Master's degree in Public Administration. At the same time I finished my position as a Community Director for the college I worked at. Both of these changes were huge in my life. Another big event happened in May. Two of my very best friends from college married each other. 

Are they not the cutest?

Here are my Mr. and me at the photo booth. I can't wait to tell our little guy that he was bridesmaid in his Aunt Lyric and Uncle John's wedding. :)

In June we spend lots of time getting ready for Baby Will. Want some proof?

We also went on our Babymoon. To anyone out there debating on whether or not they should go on a trip right before their first baby gets here, let me tell you- it was one of the best decisions we made. We had such a wonderful time relaxing and just enjoying each other's company. 

In July my not-quite-here-yet baby boy and I got spoiled rotten by my sweet friends and family with two wonderful baby showers. 

You can read more about them here and here. We are so thankful for every person who helped with the showers and who came to them. 

Obviously August was our favorite month. Baby boy was expected in September, but due to some circumstances, he made his debut a little early. 

September was a giant blur for my hubby and for me. Another couple of our friends got married and we spent lots of time getting adjusted to having a little one. 

October was when I really started feeling like myself again. I was getting back into my pre-preggo clothes and able to sleep on my stomach again. Woo hoo!

November was wonderful. We spent lots of time with friends and family. And of course I put this silly hat on my baby boy. 

And then of course was December. Bug's first Christmas. And what a wonderful Christmas it was. It's so strange to think that this time last year we didn't even know that we were pregnant. It's amazing to know how much life can change in just one year. 

I know I sound all sad about the end of 2012. And believe, I am a little bit. I also know that 2013 is going to be wonderful. My hubby and I are under contract on our first house and should close in February. I'm sure at some point this year our little guy will learn how to sit on his own, how to crawl, and even walk! And his first birthday will be here in less than 8 months. And before long, I'll sit down here and write a post similar to this one. 

So, 2012. Thank you for being good to me. And 2013? It's going to be so nice to meet you.

xoxo,

Maggie

Reliving Christmas + Secret Santa

Hey friends!

(Because every baby needs pictures of themselves with a bow on their head...)

I'm late posting again. Imagine that. Sometimes it feels like the more I try, the more behind I get. Plus? Sometimes I just want to sit and be lazy and snuggle with my sweet boy, so all other things fall to the wayside. Like dishes. Vacuuming. Sweeping. Dusting... you get the picture.
Nonetheless, I'm trying to get myself caught up.

I can't believe that my baby's first Christmas has come and gone. How did this happen already? And boy oh boy did Santa and his family spoil him rotten!

But- before we get to baby boy's first Christmas, let me first start with my gift from my secret santa. I signed up with Geek Can be Chic to participate in one of my very first swaps. I was partnered up with Liz from "Crazy Little Thing Called Life" and was immediately excited to pick out the perfect present for her. To see what I surprised her with, head on over to her blog! 
She is such a sweet lady and she spoiled me rotten with a sweet Christmas box full of all the goodies I'd need to have a date night in with my hubby. 

My box contained a super soft Christmas blanket, a set of wine glasses that say "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry," a delicious smelling Paula Deen candle (Liz is good! Paula Deen is my favorite), some cute socks, and a sweet little dessert of chocolate covered cherries. Thank you so much, Liz! In her note to me she wrote about how important it is to keep your relationship with your husband strong, especially after having a baby, and I couldn't agree with her more. Thank you for such a thoughtful Christmas package!

Clearly my little man is NOT a fan of camera flashes. Check out that face. He's not too happy about this.

Our first stop on Christmas Eve day was to visit Melissa, my best friend and Will's Godmother. She gave him his very first present on his very first Christmas. Being his Godmother, she decided she wanted to give him something "Godly." Any guesses?

She gave him ...

source

This is one of my favorites of all of the sweet gifts our baby boy received. I can't wait to see his face next Christmas when he gets to play with his very own nativity set. So thoughtful. 

We spent the night Christmas Eve at my mom's house and spent lots of time around this tree. I could seriously stare at it for hours. 

Every Christmas Eve we have a mini photo shoot in front of our Christmas tree. Every one must participate. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. This was Will's first time participating in the craziness, but it most definitely won't be his last. 

When he woke up on Christmas morning, he found himself surrounded by gifts. He must have been good this year. Santa sure did spoil him. 

In case you were wondering, he was pretty happy about it. 

We also like to goof off on Christmas morning. 

Want proof?

(Please excuse my Christmas morning hair. And by the way? I was really holding mistletoe in my hand. Promise.)

Will wasn't really a fan, but he participated anyway since he loves his mommy/ can't say "no" yet.

On Christmas day, we went to my Mr.'s grandparents' house and spent some time with all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. It's always so fun to get together with them!

After we left there, we went to Will's Mimi and Papaw's house. Once again, he was spoiled rotten. And he didn't mind it one bit. 

Like many other people, I am obsessed with Pinterest. I kept seeing lots of cute homemade ornaments pop up all over the place. Each time I saw one, I'd think "I must make that with Will." I refused to let this be one of the projects that I just ran out of time for because I never want to forget how tiny his hands, feet, and fingers are. Will was such a good artist and for the most part was pretty patient with the whole ordeal. Here is a picture of one of my faves. 

The other side of it said "'Snow' body loves you like I do!" I can't wait to make ornaments with him every year and see how much he's grown.

Ok, there really isn't a point to this picture at all, but I had to share it anyway. He was loving his reindeer hat. 

My Mr. gave me this beautiful necklace for Christmas and I cannot tell you enough how much I love it. It melted my heart and became one of my all time favorite gifts. 

And last but not least, here is our little man enjoying his Exersaucer. In case you couldn't tell, he loves it. 

Sending love your way,
Mags

Oh, boy! You're 4 months old!

Sweet baby Will,
I can't believe how fast time is going. I'm sorry that this letter is a few days late, but the pictures were taken right on time. You continue to amaze me every single day. I love you more than I ever knew was possible.
You weigh about 15 pounds now. That's double your birth weight. Sometimes when I give you your bottle my arm falls asleep. I'm not sure if this says something about you or me... :) No worries, it's well worth it. 

You love to smile at people. Sometimes it's a half smile, sometimes it's a stop-you-in-your-tracks grin that seriously steals my heart. You have long eyelashes that I'm sure any future sister (and I mean WAY in the future) of yours will be insanely jealous of. 
You giggle. This is one of my favorite things. Your daddy and I make funny noises or do silly things and you either laugh at us, or raise your eyebrows like we've lost it. Either face makes embarrassing ourselves 100% worth it. 
Your 4 month Dr.'s appointment isn't for another week since they are closed for the holidays. I'm excited to see how much longer you've gotten and to have you weighed again, but I'm not one bit excited about your shots. It breaks my heart when you cry. You have the nicest nurse who knows how to get down to business, but it still makes me sad. I'm pretty sure you handle it better than I do. You're a tough guy.
You've also decided that you like to talk. a lot. Wonder where you get that from... I must be guilty. Your talking noises are the cutest, funniest things ever. I'm totally that mom. Every time you start talking, I run to grab my phone to record it. As a matter of fact, I think I've probably taken a picture of you every day of your life so far. Before you I had about 50 pictures on my phone. 4 months later I have as many videos as it will hold and over 1,000 pictures. Obsessed much? To be honest, I'm not one bit embarrassed. 

Ok, let's have a chat about this hair now, shall we? Your hair is out of control. And I'm pretty sure it's the cutest mess I ever did see. You have long hair and it is SO curly, just like Daddy's. I absolutely love it. The sides flip out no matter what we do. Even if we comb it while it's totally wet, it just springs back up. You like to play with your hair while you eat your bottle, so I think you have something to do with its unruliness. But- it's so. stinking. cute. You have this one curl right at the top of your head and it is precious. You have good hair, bug. And recently you've discovered mine. :)

You sleep all through the night. Seriously. Every night. Can I please just tell you that even if you woke up 8029380489 times every night, I'd still love you to pieces, but I love you extra for letting us sleep.
You are such a happy boy. You only get mad when you're hungry, and I think mad may be an understatement. You go from giggling and smiling to screaming and red faced in about half a second. I think that we may have to work on your patience in the future. :)

You, sir, are our angel baby. I love you so much my heart hurts just thinking about it. I had to pack away your first big box of clothes you've outgrown. You'll be proud to know that I didn't cry. You might be embarrassed to know that I kept singing T. Swift's "Never Grow Up" while I did it. You are the most precious boy I've ever know. I'm so glad you're ours. I love you to the moon and back, little bug!

xoxo,
Mommy

Deck the... Tree?

Hey friends!

This week I'm linking up with Jamie for "What I Love Wednesday!"

Ornaments- Can I please just say that I love ornaments. Seriously. It's an obsession. Sometimes I look at my tree and I can't really see it because it's filled with ornaments. And I love every. single. one. of them. I saw this awesome idea on Pinterest where you take pictures of each of your ornaments with stories behind them and then type up a little blurb about their stories and make a book out of it so that you never forget why they are so important and so that later your kids and family will know why you loved these pretties on your tree. 

I definitely plan on doing this. I really can't wait to get started. Next time I get a code for a free shutterfly book, this bad boy is getting made. But, until then, I figured I'd document a few special ones for my blog. 

I really do love them all, but here are a few of my favorites:

I worked at Hallmark all during high school and I became obsessed with all things Christmas and cards. While I was working there, an ornament series began that features a different flower fairy every year. This little lady is the Mistletoe Fairy and she's pretty cute. My mom gets them for me and it's something I look forward to every December.

This ornament is the very first one I gave to my Mr. We began a tradition when we first started dating that we would give each other an ornament that meant something special to the two of us that would remind of that year. One of the first things I'd ever cooked for him was cinnamon toast. He'd never had it before and he thought I'd invented it. I'm not sure how he had gone his whole life without having it, but it cracked me up that he thought I was the cinnamon toast mastermind. Since then we've cooked countless tasty meals together, but this little ornament serves as a reminder of how much credit he gives me in the kitchen.

This here is the little fat mouse. The Christmas before I got married, when it was time to take down the tree (also known as one of the most depressing days of the year), my mom and I began to take ornaments down and divide them into her pile and mine. We had a great debate about who this little fat mouse really belonged to. In the end, I won the battle, but I did some pretty extensive digging on the internet and found her one. Each year when I put up this little guy, it reminds me of all of my mom and my Christmas memories. 

This is the other series that I collect and love to pieces. Willie started this one for me a few years ago and I love how cute it looks on our tree. Cooking and baking are two of my favorite hobbies and this cooking themed series is one of my favorites. 

This little elf might look a little silly, but we love it so much! My Mr. and I love traveling to Savannah. It is for sure one of our favorite vacation spots. We've brought many of our friends with us and introduced them to all fun Savannah things and helped them fall in love with the city, too. One of our must-stop places is Uncle Bubba's. Uncle Bubba is Paula Deen's brother. If you know me, you know I love some Paula. I'm not really an oyster fan, but UB has these chargrilled oysters that are out of this world! No lie. They cover them in garlic butter and parmesan cheese and grilled them. This ornament is made out of an oyster shell from UB. And Uncle Bubba himself signed it for us when we stopped by and he was there. 

For obvious reasons, this horse is approaching the top of my favorite list. This year has been such a blessing and we are just head over heels for our little man.

This ornament is also a favorite for obvious reasons. I love everything about being a wife and I really treasure this ornament.

My sweet friend Lori gave us this ornament and I couldn't love it more. It is the very first ornament that has all of the names of our little family. And what makes it even better? Will's eyes are really that blue. :) He gets them from his daddy.

When I look at this ornament, this year especially, I get emotional. I miss my Memommie all the time. This time last year Blake and I had just visited with her and brought her a little Christmas charm bracelet with the 12 days of Christmas figurines all around it. She loved and put it on the second she opened it. She never took it off. She passed away the day after Christmas last year and not a day goes by that I don't think about her. I miss just being able to call her and chat. I miss her making pillow cases for us that she was so proud of. I miss checking the mailbox and finding sweet cards out of the blue saying how much she loves me. More than anything, I wish she could've known that Will was on his way. We found out we were pregnant only a couple of days after her funeral. I know she is his guardian angel, and mine, too, but I still miss her so much. She gave me this heart shaped ornament a few years ago. When you wind it up it plays "You are so Beautiful to Me." The inside reads "I was never so blessed as the day you were born." The outside says "My Precious Granddaughter."  

This ornament is a little treasure that my best friend made for me 11 years ago. I smile every year when I hang it on the tree. I just love it so much. It reminds me of what a blessing she is in my life and how much I love her. Also, I love her cute handwriting. :)

So, what ornaments are on your tree? What do they mean to you? 

Sending merry Christmas wishes your way!

-Mags

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Hey Friends!

Today I linked up with...

I know, I know. It says Monday. But I know with my crazy mama-brained self, if I didn't actually go ahead and do it while I was thinking about it, I'd end up forgetting. And this is definitely not something I want to forget. So, here's to making new blog friends! Can't wait to get started hopping!
Now, on to our Christmas tree...
Hi. My name is Maggie and I'm addicted to Christmas. Seriously. It's a problem. I can't stop buying presents, or wrapping paper, or ribbon, or gift tags, or decorations... the list goes on and on. This season is going to be the death of my bank account. I think I'll blame Hobby Lobby for it. And Target. And Pier 1. See what I mean? I can't stop myself!
And now that I have our baby bug to spoil this Christmas, it's gotten even worse. I ran into Walmart to grab one thing. Toilet paper. That was it. I came out with a brand new toy for this little guy to have on Christmas morning. 
One of the most fun and exciting things we've done this season is picking out our Christmas tree. My Mr. and I normally have a fake tree, but this year we wanted the real thing. So far we haven't regretted it. We found a fun Christmas tree farm where you can cut your own tree, but we decided to go with a pre-cut Frasier Fir. I love, love, LOVE those trees. They are so pretty and full and smell absolutely delicious. 

 I just love this little boy to pieces. 

 Clearly we are on the good list. Santa doesn't let just anybody sit on his sleigh! :)

Anyone that knows my Mr. knows how much he loves the Vibe. It's a part of our family now. 
We even got the Christmas tree guy to slice off the bottom so we can make one of those ornaments floating around Pinterest. I can't wait to get on that!
Here's the sad part of this post. I forgot to take a picture of our tree before they packaged it and I still haven't taken one of the whole tree now that it's decorate. But- there will be a post coming soon with pictures of our beloved tree. I just can't wait to share it with you. 

Saturday Morning + Ornament Swap

Hey friends!

It's Saturday morning. That means for most people we are right in the middle of the weekend. For my policeman hubby, it means his weekend is over and he is about to go to work. He goes in at 3 and gets off at 11 pm. In January, he gets to be on day shift. This will be his first time on it since he got his job and we moved here. Can I please tell you how excited I am? I know that right now I'm staying home with our little man, so I definitely get to see my hubby a good bit, but it's always at night and we stay up way too late just wanting to hang out. Having him home to have dinner every night and help me give our baby a bath and read him bedtime stories is going to be wonderful. This wonderful time won't last forever because their schedules rotate, but I can't wait to enjoy every moment we get!

Back in November, I signed up for an ornament swap over at Laura's blog, The Luckiest in Love. I was so excited! I was paired with Molly who lives all the way in Kansas. That's one of the beauties of this blog world. We get to meet people that we would more than likely never meet. 

When the mail came, I about jumped out of my feet I was so excited. I immediately tore open the package and here's what I found. 

I absolutely LOVE both ornaments. We learned over emails what we both love Pier 1 and Target. What I haven't told Molly yet is that I walked all around that store with the same reindeer in one hand and the red present ornament I ended up getting her in the other. I chose the present for her since she likes to decorate in red. And that snowman? Too cute. He even has a holly leaf on his ear muffs. Also- are Molly and her hubby not adorable! What a sweet Christmas card. 

Molly, thank you so much for such cuties to hang on my tree! And please forgive my scatterbrainedness for forgetting to stick an actual card in your package and having to write a note to you on a address label... :)

When Molly opened her box, this is what she found. Wanna know what was inside of it? Head on over to her blog and check it out! 

Sending lots of Christmas love your way,
Mags

My First Guest Post

Hey friends!

I write on here about lots of what my baby boy is up to and lots of his firsts, but today? Today is one of my firsts! My wonderful friend, Lori, asked me if I would guest post on her blog! I was so excited to be asked and got to writing immediately. 
It's up and running today! I wrote about gift ideas for a mama to-be or a brand new mama, or heck, some of the things on there are good for anyone! 

Head on over to A Crazy Walk on the Safe Side and see what it's all about!

Oh, and my little bug wanted to say hi!

Hope you're having a great day! My Mr.'s off days are today and tomorrow, so we are going to get our Christmas on! Christmas crafts are definitely in our future... Just don't tell my hubby. :)

-Mags