Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas...

I love that song. It is probably one of my favorite Christmas songs that I never get tired of. I love the line: "Through the years, we all will be together....if the fates allow..." That is always the line I think about when every year, for the last 7 or so, Nate and I have gone to our friends house, the Clems, for their annual Christmas party with our college friends.  How sentimental am I, really? But I get all nostalgic when I think of how long we have all been friends. This year was fun as always. Here's some photos of our weekend there:

A few of us met first at Woodford Reserve, a bourbon distillery, to take the tour. Gasp! We did indeed take our 6 month old on a bourbon tour but before anyone panics, it is more like the history of bourbon, old buildings, etc. And I love old buildings....bourbon, not so much. If you live in the Kentucky region, you might want to tour it sometime. Besides, it is surrounded by beautiful bluegrass farms and horses. The drive itself is worth it.

See what I mean? A photo op presented itself in front of an ancient copper pot. And the old brick walls....beautiful.

I have learned that the easiest form of entertainment is to put Drew in the baby carrier and just walk around. Therefore, the bourbon tour was perfect for letting him check out the world for a bit. Plus, he learned about the history of bourbon in Kentucky. What can I say, we like to provide educational opportunities whenever possible.

 Back at the Clems' house that night...Drew got to meet our friends Russ and Jess for the first time. Lindsey gave him his very first Christmas gift which he promptly ate.  She got him a metal sippy cup  and some cute little monkey rattles. I got kind of excited when I saw the cup. See, Lindsey is one of those people who is a fantastic gift giver. When we were shopping together about a month ago, she saw me eyeing a metal sippy cup (which I wanted because Drew throws everything on the floor and it has become obvious we need a cup that can take a beating) and remembered that said I liked it! She's good like that.

Kristy, Jess and me

It's a Christmas miracle! Russ, Nate and Steven are all smiling nicely for the picture!

This is just one of many Christmas celebrations that will be keeping us busy this week. I do love all the gatherings but when all is said and done, I might need a vacation from Christmas, otherwise known as the month of January. Does anything fun happen in January? I don't think it does.  Therefore, Nate and I will be working on the monumental task of finishing the basement. It has walls now! I'll be sure to do some before and after shots but here is a preview of what we've got as of this moment:

It's got a ways to go but we're getting there!

Blog Renovation

I changed up the blog a bit and am still working on it. First of all...the title is different, based on the name of our neighborhood, Crescent Hill. "Nate and Alison" was about as boring as you can get so that needed to go and Nate came up with the new title (about all he will probably contribute to the blog I think!).

Secondly, I'm going to try to commit to posting more often because, as I have said before, someday it will be nice to print out our blog and see what we were up to these past few years. There are lots more areas of our life I'd like to document and record (besides the obvious baby stuff) such as the continual renovation of our house, how our garden evolves each year (I swear every spring I can't remember where we planted stuff last year) and recipes/homemade ideas I'd like to keep.  Enjoy!

Pictures of Christmas

This will have to be a quick post because I'm afraid if I don't do it now it will move the the bottom of my continually growing "to-do" list. Just a few pictures of how we've been enjoying the Christmas season so far this year!

 Last week I had some girls over for a cookie exchange Christmas party...nevermind that we might have eaten half of what we wanted to take home!

Some of the girls I used to teach with came too.

Last night my parents and Laura came by for a quick dinner and then it was off to see Santa for the first time for Andrew!

He loves his Grandpop:)

And his Granna too!

We headed over to the Peterson Dumesnil House, a historic home in our neighborhood that was hosting a Christmas open house. It is also where Laura got married this past spring...minus the lovely pink coloring on the walls, it was all spruced up for Christmas!

Someone got a little sleepy waiting for Santa to make his appearance.

The "first time on Santa's lap" photo.

One more picture of cuteness!

6 Months and some reflections on being a parent

Andrew officially turned 6 months old the day after Thanksgiving, which I cannot believe. In many ways it feels like it's been 6 months since we brought him home and in other ways it's gone by so fast. Either way, there are many surprising aspects about being a parent. Since I don't have an official "baby book" for Drew, this blog will have to suffice and someday I'll get it all printed up and put into a nice book format. That being said, I want to record some of my thoughts here before I forget them.

Probably the most surprising aspect of being a parent is how much Nate and I love it. Doesn't that sound mean...that we are surprised by how much we enjoy it? In complete honesty, I was scared to death to become a mom! I don't always do well with life changes (or at least the anticipation of them) and having a baby is right up there with major life-changing events. Over the 9+ months of pregnancy, I worried a lot about completely pointless stuff,  most of it selfish (just being honest here). For 6 years, Nate and I had been married and our lives were ours. We slept in on Saturdays, ate out when we wanted, hung out with friends, traveled, hiked, etc. Was having a baby going to change all this "independence" we enjoyed? Of course!  But come one...people have been having kids for a gazillion years and of course I was worrying about silly little things.
For example, I do not function well unless I get 8 hours of sleep (I'm high maintenance in the sleep department) and we all know that the number one issue with a newborn is that no one sleeps! Then there was the issue of work. To work or not to work? Part time or full time? Daycare or in home childcare? Yikes! I made the decision to stay at home and thankfully, my school lets me work one day a week. But once again...another major life change! I'd taught high school for 6 years and, contrary to the impression many teachers give, I really loved my job and my students. It was not easy to leave that job and I had numerous "meltdowns" over the decision to do so.
And while we're being honest, moving from two salaries to one is no walk in the park either.  We've had to budget like crazy and I might need a 12 step program to break my addiction to coupon websites! But in the morning, when I go get our little guy out of his crib, he smiles at me so sweetly and all of the angst I felt over the job issue just disappears. How could I leave that little face every day? (FYI: I am in NO way implying that my working-mom friends didn't make a good decision...people should do what works for them and this was just mine and Nate's decision. Seriously, hats off to the working mothers out there because I know it is so hard to balance your time and energy with a job and family too.)
All of this to say, being a parent is now on the top of my list of amazing experiences. Nate and I have had so much fun with Andrew in so many ways. There's just no way to describe the love you have for your child...I can't put it into words. All of those fears I had during pregnancy have dissipated and now been replaced with fears not so much related to me but to Drew...the typical concerns all parents have of course. But if anything, being a mom has drawn the focus away from me and my petty, selfishness and directed it towards Drew and has also revealed to me a deeper understanding of the love of God as a Father.
Don't get me wrong; there have certainly been some sleepless nights as well as monotonous days when it feels like all I do is change diapers, clean up messes and do laundry. Nate and I have to plan ahead if we want to go out together and have had to change many aspects about our formerly free-spirited weekends and evenings, but I wouldn't trade any of it. Life has definitely changed in many ways but they are good changes. As I said before, it is surprising how much Nate and I love being parents and don't mind giving up some of those things; cliche as it may sound, we have gained so much more.

And now, for the six month stats:

• Weight: 16.5 pounds
• Height: 27 inches
• Milestones: sitting up mostly unassisted (but still working on balance), rolling all over the place like a little rolling pin, saying "mama" and other babbling sounds, waving hello when he's in the mood:)
• Eating: He has started on solids and now eats rice cereal, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, and pears each day at breakfast, lunch and dinner. I've made his baby food which was actually so simple and we'll probably start green vegetables this week.
• Sleeping: Still sleeping from 7:30-7:30 for the most part and taking a 90 minute morning nap and a 90 minute afternoon nap.
• Loves: being outside, riding in the Baby Bjorn/baby carrier where he can check out the world, even if it is just a trip to the grocery store, baths, music of any kind, watching Nate do ANYTHING, trying to pet Sadie, chewing on anything he can find which reminds me that I need to do some serious baby-proofing of our house!
• His little personality is really emerging and it is so much fun!

 The token "baby food all over the face" photo

St. Jude Half Marathon!

 This past weekend I went to Memphis with Erin to run in the St. Jude half marathon. We stayed with Erin's friend Kathy (far left) and her friend Beth (middle) joined us too. This was the first time I'd left Andrew overnight but he was in good hands! Nate's mom was kind enough to come down for the weekend and help Nate out with the baby-watching. Nate had a ton of prep work to do in the basement because we are getting it dry walled this weeks so he was able to focus on that while Dee Dee got to focus on her grandson!

The night before I left we gave him a bath in the kitchen sink. We are kind of in an "in between" stage with bathtubs. He is too big for his infant tub but our bathroom one kind of swallows him. For now, the sink works!

Beth, Erin and Kathy at dinner...Kathy and her husband were so kind and hospitable to us. They had the best pasta dinner for us the night before the race and her husband chauffeured us to the starting line and picked us up after the race was over. If you've ever done any sort of race, you know how crazy it is just to park and figure out where to go so it was great to have his help!

Kathy, Erin and me after the race. It was 65 degrees in Memphis and we were sweating by the end! Somehow on my drive home that 65 turned into 25 and sleet but the run itself was perfect weather. I did my best time ever at 1:48. Erin beat me by one minute but she's been doing that since we were born (3 minutes then!) It was such a fun weekend (besides my long drive!) to spend time with my sister and get to know Beth and Kathy.   It was also pretty nice to come home and get to see my little guy...

Here he is with his new favorite toy.

Tom stopped by for dinner and a visit too! 

Sunday afternoon we went to get our Christmas tree down on the riverfront. It was FREEZING! Needless to say, we picked out the tree as quickly as possible and only got a couple pictures.

Doesn't that little face just look cold? 

Tomorrow we head to the pediatrician for his 6  month checkup (about a week overdue) so I'll update with all of those stats soon. For now, we are hibernating inside by the Christmas tree and trying to stay warm! I'm such a wimp when it comes to cold weather!