The last of the firsts for her!

Thanksgiving 2012 was Addie's official last "first holiday" {besides her birthday, but I think that will technically be her 2nd time right?!} and it was a good one!

Being a nurse, It is expected that you will have to work your fair share of holidays…so I fully intended on working Thanksgiving or Christmas and/ or New Years. Thankfully, I got scheduled for NONE of them! How could that have happened?! I am not sure, but I am not going to complain! Although the double or double and 1/2 time would have been nice, there is nothing that beats holidays with my family.

Back to Thanksgiving… The day started off right with a beautiful run, and non other than my favorite treats: A veggie egg and cheese breakfast sandwich and pumpkin spice latte from my love {Starbucks}. 

Sam, Addie and I then made the 2 1/2 hr trip to New Ulm to Sam's wonderful Grandparents house. They always do such a great job hosting. They are seriously the most active and spunky grandparents I have ever met! It was nice to see all of his aunts, uncles, cousins etc that we don't get to see that often! Believe it or not, some of them had never even met little miss Addison yet! {Last Christmas we didn't brave the trip down there with a 3 week old, and I was scheduled to work on Easter.}

Addie was shy for a while {would we expect anything else?!} but after a couple hours, and a nap, she warmed up to a few people... and especially enjoyed the 50+ year old blocks!

I for one LOVE thanksgiving not for the food {I really don't like 99% of thanksgiving foods} but for the fact that it is a holiday NOT centered around gifts! So it was very nice just to 'be' with others!

On our way home, we stopped by my parents to pick up Mr. Theo, who of course couldn't spend Thanksgiving alone- and plotted the next days early morning shopping.

It was great {of course} to get the majority of our Christmas shopping done, and to get some good deals during our 12 hr shopping day…but so often I just felt sick to my stomach! The focus on spending so much money and all the gifts you 'HAVE' to buy just really got to me! I so wish we could do without gifts on Christmas. Or people would be satisfied with all home crafted gifts! It is nice to get new things for yourself, and to buy for others…but how much do we really need? It says a lot that most of the time we have to sit down, and think hard about what we want for Christmas.

Anyways, It was a super fun day with my mom, and maybe one year {hopefully sooner rather than later} we can start scaling down even more on the gifts, but it is hard because it seems like everyone would have to be on board!

All in all, I am SO thankful, and SO blessed beyond words can describe. I loved this Thanksgiving and look forward to the Birthday and Christmas festivities ahead! We fully intend on soaking up every bit of it! Can you believe my little monkey is going to be ONE year old in just a few days!?! WOW, it is cliche, but so true, time really does fly with the little ones! What a beautiful, sweet, silly, and special girl she is! Her giggles and sweet/ thoughtful spirit melt my heart each and every day!

When the going gets rough…

Man…sometimes life is just tough. There is some nasty things that happen to us and those around us, and it sure is hard to "act like everything is ok" and that you "have it all together" all the time. 

In a world consumed with things like Facebook/ blogs/ etc, it is even harder because it appears that everyone else's life is all peachy, and their biggest problem is what paint color to choose for their brand new house. When reality is, we all have junk that we have to endure. However, it's so easy to believe otherwise. Maybe it is just me, but it seems like we are so consumed with giving off the facade that our life is great. We have so many guards up that even those we would call our closest friends are not aware of the things we are going through. This is not okay. 

When the going gets rough {because it will}, we have a choice. We can either seek after God or be consumed with fear and sadness. I for one have a habit of doing a combo {leaning a lot more to the latter of the two}. That's human, I know…but that is still not what we are supposed to be doing. 

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Isaiah 43:2

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

The ever so popular battle of FOOD.

I have been told my many "experienced mothers" that if they could do it all over again, they would have lightened up A LOT when it came to battling with food and their children. I found myself agreeing, and trying to remember that in my own life. However, as a mom, I think most of us have a sense of obligation to ensure your child is getting a well balanced, nutritious diet. 

 My sweet spirited little daughter is also very strong willed, and to this day I absolutely cannot figure out where she got that! ;)

Saying "NO" to noodles. 

It took her a few weeks to stomach baby cereal…so at about 7 months, after weeks of spitting, sloppiness, and denial, she finally decided she would eat oats. AWESOME! I then slowly started making different fruit and veggie purees, which she surprisingly did not mind most of them. At about 10 months, I decided…hey…I think its time you start trying to eat some mashed/ table foods. And from my understanding, this is a very normal time to do this. Well…Addie thought otherwise. The only things she will eat are simple carbs and cheese. Almost Everything else doesn't even make it in the mouth, or touch her without tears. And we all know that a diet of formula, bread, and cheese does not quite cut it. And don't even get me started on her lack of desire in drinking from anything but her bottle. 

So the question…do I battle with her and keep trying the big girl foods, or go back to making pureed fruit/ veggie mixes? Well, fighting with a kid gets old real quick, and I myself don't desire to spend the time I have with her doing that…and being that she is in the 1st percentile for weight, she's not exactly at a point where nutrition can be skimped on. Thus, today, I found myself back at the blender, making some new creations. And what do you know, she ate them just fine! No questions asked.

Apple/Spinach!

I guess we won't be where we had thought, sharing meals with Addie by the time she is one. And I guess that is okay. Just another one of our "parenting expectations" that is inaccurate!

I know these things are all SO SMALL in the grand scheme of things, but they are still big in the sense that it DOES fill up much of days'  of efforts, thoughts, and worries. So they are important to process though and learn. And as mom with my first kid, hey, I'm just trying to figure it out! Aren't we all?!

So, if you don't know where to find me, just look by the blender, I'll be there…but my child will be well fed and happy :)

What we like to call the "Grandma without teeth- silly pucker- lip smack!"