Gratitude

Many blogs I follow have had recent posts including what that blogger is thankful for, and I thought it was such a good idea with Thanksgiving tomorrow. While it is easy to get discouraged by the little struggles that pop up in our lives daily, it's important to take stock of all the things (big and little!) that we are thankful for. In my case....

(1)Two words….Alexandra Grace.

(2)That we live in a charming home that provides warmth and shelter for the little family growing within its walls.

(3)That we have our health.

(4)That Ryan and I are raising our daughter in a world where she can do anything she puts her mind to – while there is still a great deal of room to improve, the road for young women now is much better than it was 25, 50 or 100 years ago.

(5)That I am greeted each morning with sloppy and stinky kisses from our dog Pearl, a warm hug from my husband, and the sweetest smile that a mother has ever known.

(6)That I have an incredible support system, consisting of said husband, dog and baby girl; my wonderful parents, sister and in-laws; and a tightly knit group of girlfriends.

(7)That the price of gas has dropped to $1.66 a gallon and it no longer costs a small fortune to fill up the tank of my SUV!

(8)That I am the lucky sole recipient of my daughter’s first version of a “kiss” (she basically grabs the hair on either side of my head or both my cheeks, pulls me in close and then “bites” [no teeth yet] my bottom lip – sounds somewhat painful, but it is endearing!).

(9)Little "indulgences" like Caffeine Free Diet Coke, soft sweaters, my BlackJack, SIRIUS satellite radio, warm bread from Panera, and indulgent fashion magazines.

(10)That I am a Southerner, particularly a Kentuckian.

Tis the Season

We are decorating our house for Christmas this weekend ... in looking at the ornaments that Ryan dug out of storage yesterday, I was struck by the sensation that we had just put these ornaments up! I guess that is what happens when you have a baby, time just seems to fly by quicker and quicker...

At any rate, I ordered some very cute Christmas stockings for us this morning from Ballard Designs with our monograms. We already had stockings for Ryan, Pearl and I, but I had to get one for sweet baby girl and of course I wanted all of them to match! I found the cutest kiddie stockings on Pottery Barn Kids, but PB only monograms up to 8 letters which means no Alexandra on the stocking! Just as well, these from Ballard Designs are beautiful:



Speaking of Ballard Designs, look at this beautiful framed picture I found - if you're a dog lover, they have one for almost every breed imaginable!


Ryan and I have had fun in purchasing Alexandra's gifts from us and "Santa". We've only gotten a few things, since (a) she is only a baby and will be more content with the wrapping paper!, and (b) we know she is going to be getting lots of gifts from family. However, I can't wait to see her open these colorful gifts:


Alexandra's Christmas Gifts by saraclarkdavis

Jump Around . . .

. . .Jump Around. . .Jump Up, Jump Up, and Get Down. Sorry, any time I think about Alexandra jumping in her jumperoo, that old House of Pain song from the 90s pops into my head. I digress...

I think I successfully loaded my first video onto You Tube!! Just another way for me to overwhelm you with images of Alexandra. This video was taken this past weekend from my little Canon PowerShot (takes decent pictures, video image is only so so). As you can see from the video, Alexandra has definitely found her voice and is "talking" in her own special language. Her Aunt Rachel thinks she sounds like a pterodactyl (and yes, I had to google that term just to make sure I spelled the dinosaur's name correctly!). The people you hear in the background, encouraging my little girl to bounce up and down, thereby resembling a bobble head doll, are Mimi and Grandpops (aka, my Mom and Dad).



p.s. Sorry for all the changes to the background of my blog - I think I finally found one I'll stick with for awhile!

The First Six Months

At 8:49 pm tomorrow night, our sweet, beautiful girl will be six months old. It's hard to believe how this little creature has totally changed our lives in such a short period of time, but we cannot imagine our lives without her. She is pure sunshine, and brightens any room with her presence. Alexandra Grace, you are loved more than you will ever know - we cannot wait to see what the next six months and beyond holds.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Halloween!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween - Alexandra's first Halloween was a big success. By success, I mean she didn't cry when I put her costume on her!! We had lots of trick or treaters, thankfully clearing out our candy supply so we wouldn't be tempted to gorge ourselves on the leftovers, but unfortunately Alexandra didn't get to see many of them before she went to bed. It was a gorgeous night in KY for trick or treaters - clear skies and about 70 degrees - so many waited till after dark to come out and haunt the neighborhood.