Jun 15, 2014 | Holidays, Sesame |
Dear Daddy,
I heard from the other kids in the church nursery that today is the day we celebrate you, my male parental. I’m a big fan of you. You were there for me the day I was born when Mama was high as a kite and didn’t even know where I came from. (How does someone get high as a kite? Mom wouldn’t tell me. She said to ask you.)
Sorry about being so upset in this picture. I didn’t like that my hat was covering my eyes.
I like when you sing to me because you change the words and make the songs new and exciting.
I know I look a little doubtful about this getup Mom put me in, but it has nothing to do with what my outfit says. I was only about four weeks old then so I still hadn’t figured out much about my life or the ever-present camera. (Mom says she wishes I could go back to being so tiny and squishy. I’m glad you accept my slightly larger but still squishy self as I am now without trying to relive the past.)
I made this little picture for you when I should have been taking a nap.
You’ll still be my favorite dad even when I have Prince William for a father in law.
Love,
Annabelle/Sesame/Squishy/your favorite daughter
May 13, 2014 | Holidays, Motherhood, Sesame |
Yesterday was the day people wrote touching stories about how they looked at their child and fell in love with him/her the instant it was born.
I did not feel that way.
When the doctor held her up, I didn’t think “I’m so glad Sesame is a girl” or “I love her so much”. I looked at her and thought “She looks just like Tom Carl.” Tom Carl is a boy I’ve known since I was born and hadn’t thought about for months, yet suddenly he popped into my head in the operating room. I didn’t remember having dated Tom and certainly didn’t remember marrying him but my child looked like him. My medicated self was so confused.
We did the baby dedication at church yesterday morning. The fact that I WILLINGLY SIGNED UP for an event that required me to stand in front of people proves that I have officially lost my mind. I was worried that I’d fall down the stairs or the baby would pull down the top of my dress but neither happened, hallelujah praise the Lord. Some people (looking at you, Alaska Sarah) pointed out that I didn’t smile while I was up there but there’s no way that was going to happen. We can only expect so many miracles on a Sunday morning. I hoped no one would be looking at me when they could be looking at a cute baby in her signature blue bow.
Annabelle and I wore matching dresses. I’m going to take advantage of matching with her while I can.
She really liked that we were matchy-matchy. Look at the enthusiasm!
That afternoon we went to the pottery painting studio because I wanted a tile with Sesame’s hand print on it. Not only am I sentimental, I am slightly crazy to think she’d be on board with the idea. She cried the entire time but we got it. One day, probably next month, I’ll look at it and cry about how little her hand was. Speaking of crying, the girl rolled from her belly to her side on Friday. Talk about traumatic. Rolling today, college tomorrow.
IF I even let her go to college, which is doubtful.
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| I love her squishy face. |
Apr 22, 2014 | Holidays, It's all relative |
Jan 1, 2014 | Holidays |
In keeping with tradition, I’m finally talking about Christmas six days after it happened. You can expect my year in review post sometime around Valentines Day.
Sesame’s first Christmas present came from my parents. We didn’t give Sesame any gift this year. I think the 24/7 life support it’s provided free of charge is plenty.
We drove to Texas to visit Christopher’s family for Christmas. I announced when we were about to enter Arkansas before I saw the signs because I’ve seen pictures of the Arkansas bridge on instagram so many times. Instagram is the geography textbook of the 21st century. As soon as it becomes the math textbook I will delete my account.
Arkansas gave us the gifts of three hours bumper to bumper traffic and a tree falling directly in front of our car as we drove down the highway. Good thing I was co-piloting because the driver who shall remain nameless was unaware that a giant piece of wood was about to crash down on us. I pointed at it and said, “Do you see that tree?” as calmly as one might say “Would you like fries with that?” We drove over the top of the tree and (obviously) survived, but I didn’t close my eyes the rest of the trip. Somebody had to keep an eye on the road.
I’d like to say it was all fun and games while we were in Texas, but sadly it wasn’t. All eight of us got the stomach virus to some degree or another. Merry Christmas to us! It was the gift that kept on giving. Sesame and I spent Christmas day in the hotel. (Yes, I do realize that in my attempts to capture Sesame’s first almost Christmas I ended up with a picture prominently featuring the floor.)
When we weren’t dashing to the bathroom, we got around town. We went to see Christmas lights.
And to church for a Christmas Eve service where I had some wardrobe issues with my dress.
We visited the zoo.
Sadie especially liked the flamingos.
On the way home we stopped at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. He’s my favorite president. ON OPPOSITE DAY. It was a good lesson in self-control to not give my own side of the story after every display. I will say that he did a good job with the rug in his Oval Office. I’m always on the look out for a good rug to put in our living room and this one fit all the requirements. I would have permanently borrowed it but a security guard was sitting right outside the door (hence the below photo taken under my sleeve) and I didn’t think I could take it without causing a scene.
We turned home to find our house a balmy 41 degrees. Nothing like a warm homecoming!
Dec 24, 2013 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
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My sincerest apologies if you are reading this and expected to have received a Christmas card from me by now. The company messed up with the shipping so the cards didn’t arrive at our house until after we’d already left for vacation. This means I’ll be sending out New Year’s cards which is really too much for me to bear.
Dec 13, 2013 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
Three years ago on our first Christmas we were in Arizona and decorated a tiny Christmas tree. I loved it. Last year we were in the apartment and ended up with a forest in our living room. This year we’re in a house and I almost had to buy bought/made a few more decorations. What a pity.
This wreath snowman is my Pinterest crafting success story. He’s just so cute.
I think the designers of our nativity did their best to include anyone who could have been in a 100 mile radius of the manger that night. Poor Mary. It doesn’t look like she had much of a silent night with the whole town crowded around.
Grandma gave me this nativity but she lost the original baby Jesus so she took a Jesus from another set. This Jesus is huge. I guess you could say Jesus is really big in our house. I’m sorry. The jokes are endless.
The stockings are hung over our fake fireplace with care. (We’ve put a man on the moon and yet no one has invented Christmas lights without the annoying and tacky three foot cord at the end.)
Our theme tree this year is a blue and silver snowflake downstairs. We picked out this tree after church Sunday night and it was so wet we couldn’t really tell what the tree looked like. It didn’t settle as much as I was hoping so I’ve spent considerable time pushing and pulling the branches in attempts to fluff it. You know what doesn’t bend and twist like a fake tree? A real tree. In the end it sorted itself out and looks presentable.
View at night from the top of the stairs.
I had some extra garland and lights so I strung them on our bed. I’m sure Aggie is looking at this picture and feeling depressed there aren’t any throw pillows on my bed. It’s like I’ve learned nothing from her during our friendship. 😉
We have our fake tree with all the decorations in our living room upstairs.
It’s held up with a package of No. 2 pencils. Klass act around here.
I searched high and low for a new tree topper and finally found one at the place whose sophistication rivals the pencils in the picture about- the Dollar Tree.
We got this Guess How Much I Love you ornament for Sesame. I know. The baby’s not born yet so technically doesn’t need an ornament, but you’re talking about the couple who in three years have collected the number of ornaments usually reserved for a couple going on their 44th anniversary.
May your Christmas be filled with joy and an overabundance of hot chocolate and ornaments.
