Happy New Year!!!

2009 was a pretty good year. The highlight of course was Finley's birth. Every day after that was better than the day before. Mainly I'm just excited about 2010 because I get to buy a new planner;) Just kidding! I'm excited about all the fun things we get to experience with Finley. I really excited about being able to take her to the pool and on beach trips this summer. I cannot wait for her 1st birthday party. Of course Christmas next year will be awesome because she will understand what's happening a little better. 2010 is going to be a great year!!!

We had a low key celebration. We grilled burgers, lit sparklers and then took Finley around the neighborhood to watch other people's fireworks. I suppose that is one of the few(and I mean very few) good things about living outside the city limits. Finley is in bed now and I'm about to get in bed, do a crossword and watch my Seinfeld DVDs. Joey is going to watch Inglorious Bastards. I'm going to skip it as I know it is full of blood and gore. Part of me feels pathetic for not doing something "fun" on New Year's and the other part realizes that there isn't anything else I'd rather do :)

I wish all of you and happy and prosperous 2010!

Teefies!

Finley officially has 2 teeth! It took almost 9 months which from what the doctor told me was a little late. He told me on average babies cut teeth between 5-8 months. The first one seems like it came in overnight and the 2nd one I am positive came in overnight!! One day my baby girl went to sleep and the next day she was a big girl with teeth! I got a couple pictures today, but it wasn't easy.

Church nursery experience.

On Christmas Eve my family went to the Christmas Eve service at church. Since we've been in Mobile we've visited a few churches and even found one we liked, but since Finley was born we haven't been to church because I'm not ready to leave her in the nursery. I've never left her with anyone except family and I'd like to keep it that way until she can talk and tell me if she is being mistreated. That is my worst nightmare!!! I was going to try out MDO, but decided I just wasn't ready so Joey will have to be my MDO as needed;) Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and leave her for Christmas Eve service because I really wanted to go to church. We dropped her off at the nursery just before the service started and the instant my hands were off of her the tears started. She was doing that cry where her mouth is open and tears are streaming, but no sound is coming out. It was really awful! But I told myself we would be back in about 45 minutes and she would be fine. There weren't many kids in there either so I felt like she would be given some attention. All the other kids were happy and playing so I hoped they would distract her from the fact that mommy was gone. They gave us a pager like you get at a restaurant and that made me feel much better. The beeper never went off and once the service was over we practically ran to the nursery and I peeked in hoping she was smiling and playing with the other kids, but no, my child was catatonic in a swing just staring into space. As soon as she saw me she started crying. She was an emotional wreck. She just put her head on my shoulder and whimpered like that was the worst thing she had ever experienced. She was out of sorts for the rest of the night. Oh well, at least we gave it a shot.

Finley's Favs...

Post-Christmas report:

Finley's favorite toys are...
A pink push car
A piano
A lion walker

Incidentally, these are all gifts from the grand-parents. Thank you Cici, Grandpa and Grammie!

A Four Christmases situation.

We are home from all the Christmas festivities or Holicraze as I like to call it. I feel like we have been around the world, but we got to see everyone and Finley had a fabulous first Christmas! We have unpacked the car, but now the house looks like a tornado hit it. I'm not going to think about that today, I'll think about that tomorrow (Gone with the Wind);) Finley got lots of good stuff and Joey and I got way more than we deserved. I got perfume, clothes, money, an iPod Nano, jewelry and stuff for the house. Joey got clothes, a Bose stereo system, money, shoes and movies. I can't even begin to list what Finley got. She is a blessed little girl! Christmas was a whole new experience with Finley here. It was so much better than it has ever been! I'm already excited about next year, because she will know what's going on and we can do even more fun Christmasy things. To give a quick run-down of our Christmas activities...we drove to Bham Tuesday morning, went to dinner with sorority sisters, their babies and hubbies Tuesday night at CPK, went shopping at the Summit Wednesday, went shopping again at the Galleria on Thursday, went to Christmas Eve service then went to Joey's grandparents house for Dirty Santa and dinner, had Christmas at my mom's on Christmas Day, then went to Joey's parents house for Christmas with them. The day after Christmas we went to my step-sisters house to see my dad and step-mom and have Christmas and brunch with them, then we stopped in Prattville on the way home to see my cousin and his wife and kids and my other cousin and his wife. Joey hunted with my cousins for a while that evening. We stayed there longer than expected, but had a great time. Finley loves to play with her cousins and she slept the whole way home. We got home around midnight. Today we are putting stuff away and putting her toys together. Joey and I are about to watch The Hangover while Finley naps. Whew! We are glad to be home, but of course wish were "at home" in Birmingham.

Giftmas...

I'm really glad nobody went overboard this year on account of Finley's first Christmas. I would hate for her to think Christmas was all about getting presents. On the other hand, Finley is a loved little girl who has wonderful grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who made her 1st Christmas a great one!

Who thinks our families should pitch in to pay for the addition to our house we'll need to store all these gifts?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!