A White Christmas

Creative title, huh?

This year, Christmas came roaring into our lives and was over before we knew it! With Thanksgiving being so late in November, it felt like Christmas Day snuck up on us so quickly.  This year was totally different from last in the kid department. For one, the Christmas tree went from a beautiful tree with ornaments evenly spaced out to looking a little haggard with the ornaments only on the top half, and some underneath as well that a certain little somebody enjoyed taking off.  Also, because of this, we decided to not put gifts under the tree until Christmas Eve once Eli was in bed….a tradition I think we will maintain because it will definitely help the Santa effect! 

Christmas Eve we attended a very packed mass, and Isaac and I camped out in the back since he wanted to be rocked.  It was a pretty sweet moment though to be singing "Silent Night" holding my sweet little boy as he snored thinking thousands of years ago Mary was doing the same thing with baby Jesus. 

for the record I didn't take this during church, this was taken a few days later,
but wanted to use it so you all got the full effect of how seriously cute this kid is when he's asleep

 I definitely got teary eyed and then Eli started to "sing" and those tears quickly turned to laughter. These boys are angels, I swear! (Check back with me in 15 years to see if I'm still saying this!) After mass we headed down to my mom and dad's to have our traditional Christmas Eve meal.  We usually get pretty dressed up and mom puts on a spectacular meal along with party crackers and paper crowns.  I don't think Christmas Eve would be right without seeing all my family wear paper crowns! We had a wonderful time with my side of the family and Seth's folks joined us too, which is so great how well they get along with my family, I love it.  

Isaac gave us a pretty awesome Christmas gift which was sleeping about 9 1/2 hours Christmas Eve night…not even Santa coming down the chimney could've woken up that little guy!  Eli had so much fun opening his gifts, however, we had to plan for it to take about a half hour or more per gift with opening, assembling, and then of course playing.  

Eli must've heard Santa's jingle bells in the
night, because he came downstairs so excited!

Christmas morning with my boys!

My folks and sisters (who drove all the way up from Florida to spend time with us) came up Christmas morning and it was so much fun to be in our Christmas PJ's and relax and enjoy the time together.  Isaac enjoyed it all, mainly just being passed around lap to lap.  Eli got a special gift for his grandpa Stanforth, a toy backhoe.  Dad never got one when he was a little boy, and always wanted one. Mom hinted to me that Dad wanted one, but didn't want to get one for Eli because he wanted the backhoe to stay at HIS house.  It was so cute watching Dad and Eli open it together, and of course Eli immediately began saying "tractor! tractor!" over and over again and danced around at his grandpa's feet.  Heartwarming memories!

Dad's backhoe is going to get a lot of hours in on the days I work!

Later in the day we headed over to Seth's parent's house where Eli was spoiled even more and of course we were too! Mamaw and Papaw White got Eli his very own little basketball hoop and we've been practicing every day…but I think Seth and Papaw Ted have a higher field goal percentage so far than Eli. He also got a little musical set from his Aunt and Uncle and I can't wait for when they have kids so I can get their little toddler a set of cymbals too :)

Slam dunk!

Speaking of spoiling, my stinking husband went above and beyond and got me some amazing gifts even after we said we didn't want to spend a lot on each other and save it for the kids.  My favorite gift was a new tripod for my camera. I'm definitely not a professional photographer, but its my favorite and only real hobby.  I've been wanting one for a while and he had it set up first thing Christmas morning so we could take family pictures. Every year we attempt a family picture with my camera and since I don't have a tripod we usually rely on stacking up all the gift boxes and then end up with a really awkward family picture! Not this year! He is so good to me, but I don't think he realized he was going to have to become one of my models.

My family: Lisa (left with Isaac), Mom and Dad and Michelle, and May (the dog)

With Seth's family: Grant and Brenna, Taylor and Boiler, Seth's grandma Monica, Ted and Vicki with the boys, and even Bristol the pistol made the photo but if obviously distracted by something outside!

I hope all of you had a very blessed Christmas!

Tis the Season

Christmas is closing in fast and I can't believe how this year has flown by. Seems like just yesterday I was in college cramming for finals and now I'm wrapping presents for two little boys. Speaking of which, I feel like around this time every year I will wake up in a cold sweat because I was having a dream I was late to a final exam or even worse, that I realize I was enrolled in a class and haven't gone to it once the whole semester and now I'm going to fail. Thankfully now that I'm in the adult world I can stay up late eating homemade caramel corn and watch marathons of hallmark movies while nursing Isaac! I will have to say, I do miss the late night study sessions turned into slap happy prank fests with my sorority roommates. One year our pranks involved "kidnapping" the overly large nutcrackers from the formal living room (which really ticked off our house mom) and taking them on adventures. Lars and Giles, yes we named them, went outside in the snow, made various visits to girls' beds in cold air to freak them out, and even came to the piano bar at the Cactus one night!

Um...where was I going with this? 

Anyway! Christmas time is almost here and even though harvest is over I don't think things have slowed down one bit. I feel like we still have so much to do on our Annual Christmas Bucket List such as:

-Watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ("why is the carpet all wet, Todd?" "I don't KNOW Margo!")

-bake Christmas cookies

-send out cards

-take the boys to see Santa Claus (my kids will be believers until they're 10 like I did, but then again I still do kinda believe in Santa)

-watch SNL Christmas special (Schweaty  Balls, anyone?"

-watch Garfield's Christmas (this is Seth not me but since he sits through my sappy Hallmark movies I sit through this one)

- last but not least, watch White Christmas and recite every word, sing every song, and bawl my eyes out when they surprise the General.

However, things we have checked of our list:

- Christmas shopping, as in we are 98% done!

- watched Rudolph and Frosty, two of Seth's favorites

- Seth has been master of our "elf on the shelf" who without fail is in a new very creative spot every day.

-made homemade caramel corn with Seth's parents and Grant and Taylor

-and of course the tree and all other decorations went up the day after Thanksgiving in true White tradition!

I love this time of year so much, but it just goes by too quickly! If it were up to me it would be two months of holiday cheer before the big day! Hoping all of you out there are getting into the Christmas Spirit and enjoying your family!

Eli helped Seth put up the tree...I also think he will probably be the reason it comes down immediately after Christmas. No ornament is safe.

Our tree is full of all of Seth's ornaments through the years. I can't wait to do this tradition for my boys too! Here is Isaac's "first Christmas" ornament

I love it so much! It was a great find on Esty!

This little chunky baby is gonna be guarding the cookies Christmas Eve!

Like I said, no ornament is safe!

Harvest is done!

Its been a long harvest season...probably longer to me since the day after it started we welcomed a new baby into our family! So glad they are done and so thankful it was a good year for them. Seth was so relieved he chose to collapse on the couch with Isaac instead of his usual celebratory drink! Now time to start working on getting ready for the holidays!

 

A year ago today...

I know a big trend these days is to do the "throw back Thursdays" but since I still have yet to know what all this hashtag craziness is about, I just like to do the "look at your pictures you took exactly a year ago from today" type of thing. Well today's made me want to cry and laugh at the same time. This little guy is so stinking cute and just as mischievious! 

Just a little chubby thing learning how to pull himself up on things...

...and empty ever drawer. Child locks don't have anything on Eli!

And now he is still chubby and pant-less...feeding the dog Eli-style!

Happy Halloween

My mother-in-law warned me...Halloween is nuts when you're a farmer's wife! 

For one, you don't live in a neighborhood so trick or treating is me loading up the kids in costume and going to the "neighbors" house, two miles away. The perk about this is that since people know these poor farm kids have a whole 3 houses to trick or treat at, they don't just give you a measley fun size snickers, they give you a BAG of goodies and a toy!

 Last night, we got Eli loaded up in his adorable homemade Superman costume and Isaac all bundled up and headed out. We made it to Aunt Taylor and Uncle Grant's and all was going well, until Eli peed through everything he had on except his cape and socks. So, needless to say, Superman quickly became Captain Diaper-pants! When we got to Grandma and Grandpas he literally flew in, cape flying behind him and ran straight for the toy room with all his glorious chub for all to see! I just hope in 15 years when he's in high school, he doesn't try to make a comeback with this outfit. It definitely won't be nearly as cute as it was last night!

Eli and Seth (as Clark Kent) over the weekend at a Halloween party

Lois Lane and mini Superman Isaac!

How could you NOT give this cutie some sweet treats?

Superman one minute...

Captain Underwear the next!

 Hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween! Now its time for the REAL Holidays to begin!

730 hours

 730 hours ago, on September 27th at 8:33 am, we welcomed our second perfect beautiful baby boy into this world.

11 hours and 27 minutes of labor

4 of those with an epidural

9 short blissful minutes of pushing

8 pounds 11 ounces of perfection

20 1/2 inches of handsome

1 beautiful moment when our two boys met

52 long hours away from home and Eli

Since coming home we've had

roughly 360 diaper changes

6 meals I've actually cooked

2 bottles of wine

and too many sleepless nights to count (hence the wine)...

But we've also had

4 people in one combine cab

21 visitors to love on the boys

11 delicious meals brought to us by coworkers, family, neighbors, and friends

4 Grandparents with plenty of spoiling

2 Great Grandparents admiring sweet Isaac

60 "Good morning" and "Goodnight" hugs and kisses from Eli to Isaac

438 or so hours spent adoring my boys instead of cooking and cleaning, because really in the end will I remember these precious moments or how I didn't mop the floor?

It's been the most challenging, messiest, and exhausting 730 hours of my entire life. 730 hours full of beautiful, crazy, overwhelming, chaotic, and precious moments.  I find it hard to put it into any more words than I already have, so I'll let the pictures just speak for themselves to better illustrate the last month!

Easiest and most amazing labor ever, I actually enjoyed pushing this little guy out! 

A VERY proud papa with his son

Ahh, the moment I had been dreaming about!

Eli and Isaac finally meet!

My dad with Isaac

Mom with Isaac

I could do this all day...and I do!

Papaw Ted

Grandma Vicki

Just checking out my baby brother!

Male bonding at its best

Moments like this make my heart so happy

Mom are you almost done nursing him, time to play with ME!

Seth enjoying a huge plate of chicken and noodles brought to us by Dr. McDivitt

Seth snapped this during a rough night during Isaac's amazing 1 pound in four days growth spurt

Hes just so perfect! That nose! Those lips!

Big Brother likes to help rock Isaac to sleep

and snuggle with him

...and so do I!

Can't wait to see what the next 730 hours holds!

Pregnancy Prayer

Remember a few weeks ago when I was bragging how great I was feeling and I couldn't believe the end of my pregnancy was rapidly approaching? Yeah forget that girl and replace her with a huge swollen mess.

I am 39 weeks 2 days now, and growing grumpy and impatient.  I'm having all the normal "end of pregnancy woes" like the fact that I haven't slept in two weeks, heartburn, and random emotional outbursts.  At work I really try to pull it together and have a good attitude which takes a lot of energy and I've been failing lately. 

But then today, after a night filled with strong contractions that I " just knew" meant the baby was coming, and then he didn't, I finally realized I need to pray about it. 

So if anyone else out there is pregnant and miserable, feel free to use my words if you are having trouble finding your own.

Dear God,

I am coming to you, ashamed of the thoughts, feelings, and actions I have had or used this last week or so of pregnancy.

I feel like I have forgotten completely that this baby is a gift, from You. I'm sorry for that. I know I prayed for this child and I should be thankful for him, and thankful that You blessed me with him.

But my focus as of late has been one of misery. I am sore and tired. I cannot recall feeling such pain with my first pregnancy, and it is difficult for me to look past it to the joy that's around the corner. I am bitter and angry everyday that this child doesn't arrive. 

First, please help the physical pain. Allow me to find some source of comfort in these last few days.  I realize that the pain will soon be gone and replaced with a new baby, but lately I can not find relief. I am bitter every day and I can feel it making me feel ugly inside. Please help me fix my attitude towards the pain and find relief somehow from it.

More importantly, please help me find patience. Help me see the true beauty in this time of my life, rather than focusing on the bad parts. 

Most importantly, remind me of Your Perfect Timing. This baby will come when You have determined he is to come. Your Timing is perfect, and help me to remember that. Teach me the patience I need to follow you, to trust in Your Plan. 

Thank you for this pregnancy, Lord. You have blessed me with a fairly easy and healthy pregnancy, and for that I am grateful (even though I've been horrible about showing it lately). Grant me a safe delivery, and allow baby boy to come into this world in perfect health.  Help me to treat my husband with love and not bitterness and resentment. He is an amazing man who is trying his best to be supportive in a time that he doesn't always know how. Remind my husband and Eli and me of Your Presence in our family as we transition from a family of three to one of four, and always, as we seek to raise a family that trusts completely in You. 

Lastly, I pray for those women who are unable to conceive, and that I can bear this cross with dignity, grace, and even thankfulness.  I am blessed to have been able to carry two children when so many others cannot.

And as always, teach me to better trust in You. Your Timing is perfect. 

Amen.