Happy New Year!!!

Well, another year has come and gone. I can't really say they seem to be going any faster since I am an adult (most people seem to think the years are flying by), but there does seem to be less distinction from one year to the next. Growing up, it seems like so many new things were happening in each year. Now, not so much. So, here are a few of the things that stand out as the highlights and lowlights of 2005 (if they didn't make the list, I probably just don't remember them).

• Dylan is growing into an awesome little boy. He is no longer my baby, though he doesn't appear to notice it. I think I am okay with that for a while.
• Landscaped the backyard. It still looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.
• Became an aunt.
• Started trying to potty train Dylan. He's doing pretty good.
• Made out a Last Will & Testament and Legal Guardianship papers.
• Went to Vegas for the first time. We had a blast. We need to make arrangements to go back.
• Started TTC.
• Dylan built his first snowman over Thanksgiving.
• Had a lot of stupid fights, but nothing too serious.
• Conceived and miscarried.

Goals for 2006:

• Get Dylan to fall asleep on his own and sleep in his own bed for at least the majority of each night.
• Walk at least three times a week to get into better shape and maybe lose some weight.
• Get Dylan daytime potty trained (I'm not so concerned about nighttime training yet).
• Start scrapbooking again (paper and electronic).

To you and yours, I wish you a Happy New Year.

May this next year lead you to twice the good and half the bad as the last year.

Pregnancy Announcement and Update (Loss)

I found out I was pregnant on December 2, 2005. We planned to announce it to our families at Christmas by having Dylan wear his "I'm the Big Brother" tee-shirt.

I started spotting on Friday and my wonderful doctor actually opened up the office to get me in for an ultrasound. She thought we would be able to see a heartbeat and that would relieve all worries. We confirmed the pg, but it appeared to have stopped developing at about 4-5 weeks. She tried to be optimistic telling me I probably just had my dates wrong, but I couldn't see how. We still made the announcement to the families, we just tempered it with the fact that I was having some bleeding.

The bleeding continued over the weekend and my doctor confirmed the loss yesterday. I have to go back for testing later this week and early next week to confirm a complete miscarriage.

I think I am doing okay. I can't really talk about it without crying right now, but I think that is pretty normal. Once I started spotting on Friday, I resigned myself to the fact that this would probably be the result. It didn't make hearing it yesterday any easier, but I wasn't shocked.

To be honest with you, having Dylan is the best comfort I can imagine. I just look at him and know that I can get through anything. As I was putting him to bed last night, he was singing a song and he looked up at me with complete love and said, "I happy, Mommy". I just hugged him close and really thought about all the love and joy he has brought to us and told him I was happy too. And, in that moment, I truly was.

Christmas Chaos (not really)

We actually had a really great Christmas. Dylan got too many toys and a lot of really nice clothes. He really “got” Christmas this year. He tore into presents like a pro and helped his mommy and daddy with theirs also.

When he woke up Christmas morning, I don’t think that he remembered it was Christmas. As soon as I reminded him, you should have seen his face light up. It was all I could do to keep him upstairs until Jason got the video camera ready.

He loved everything he got, though the clothes didn’t thrill him as much as the toys. We opened presents at home with just Jason, Dylan, my mom, and me. It was a nice relaxed morning because we didn’t have to worry about anyone coming over. We left the house trashed when we left to go to SILs. She wanted to host Christmas dinner this year, and I quite enjoyed not having to clean or prepare anything other than a few appetizers. Dylan only got a 30 minute nap, but he behaved great. There was just so much going on that I don’t think he even had time to act up.

We did the present thing again when we got to SILs. By the end of the day, I don’t think Dylan knew which way was up. He had a blast and I really must clean out his toy closet to make room for all of his new toys. I think I will pack up some of the new ones to bring out in March or so, just to change things up. He won’t miss them as long as he doesn’t see them. There were a couple of gifts that are a little to “old” for him and those will definitely be put away for later.

All in all, a pretty good Christmas. Gifts highlights are:

Dylan – big teddy bear, bicycle, dump truck, bulldozer, blue truck, playdoh, many, many matchbox cars w/ carrying case and playmate, books, movies

Jason – watch display case, extra long fleece blanket, Georgia Bulldogs chair, new executive cotton dress shirts

Me – my perfume, digital camera, photo editing software, photo printer, new pjs, new shirts, chocolate

Now, I just have to get ready for my dad's visit in a week or so. He is having some minor surgery and will be staying with us for a couple of days while he recovers.

I've Been Tagged Again!!

1.Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Both, big things just sit out; little things get wrapped.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Sometime after Thanksgiving and before Christmas.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I love it all.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Opening gifts at my mammaw’s house on Christmas Eve and then getting to come home and openning our gifts from mom and dad before we went off to bed. We would wake up on Christmas morning and all of our gifts from Santa would be laid out. We each (my brother and I) would have one whole couch/loveseat dedicated to out Santa gifts. It was always so much fun to explore our couch.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Around 4th or 5th grade. After that I started helping mom by keeping my little brother distracted while she was shopping.
9. Do you open presents of Christmas morning or Christmas eve? One on Xmas Eve. The rest Christmas morning.
10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? I don’t know, this is the first year we will set out cookies.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I love it because we rarely get it. If I lived where it snowed a lot, I’m not sure how I would feel about it.
12. Can you ice skate? NO
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? No, it seemed like every year just got/gets better. Though there was the Christmas after Dylan was born that I got a 3 stone ring and diamond stud earrings.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? It’s just a fun time of year. This year we are doing Secret Santa at work, it brings back some of the majic for the adults. I also love the excitement that Dylan has this year.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I don’t know. I like so many.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Staying home or close to it instead of traveling.
17. What tops your tree? A bow
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Giving. I love seeing the person’s reaction.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Angels We Have Heard On High (Gloria)
20. Do you have a wreath on your front door? Yes.
21. What do you want most for Christmas this year? There is this one type of perfume that everyone seems to remember that my SIL loves, but forgets that I had it first. So, I made a point to ask Jason for it this year. He is the one who found it for me in Paris to begin with.

Weekend in Review

Saturday

• Went over to SILs house. She had made an appointment with Picture People to have her son's pciture taken and wanted a couple pictures with Dylan too.
• We decided to go ahead and have a full photo shoot with Dylan also.
• Spent 6 hours in a mall. I hate malls.
• Tried to have Dylan's picture taken with Santa. We were not successful and I refused to buy another crying picture.
• Spent way too much money on way too few pictures, but they were so good.
• Went home and went to bed.

Sunday

• We were all so lazy.
• Dylan and I took a 2 and 1/2 hour nap.
• Went grocery shopping.
• That's it.

I have an appointment on Thursday to have our carpets cleaned and then I am going to put up the Christmas tree. I can't wait to get the house decorated for Christmas. I think Dylan is looking forward to it too. This should be a really fun Christmas.