Friday, December 31, 2010

Beyond Blessed...

Just thinking back on this year of 2010.... and thinking of how incredibly blessed we are...


... Blessed and fortunate to both have jobs in this struggling economy







...Blessed to have had such a wonderful pregnancy, and able to give birth to our wonderful baby girl Abigail in October, a baby who brings us so much joy!



....Blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is everything I am not :)



...Blessed to have great family and friends




...Blessed to have a beautiful home

...and I cannot forget our Camden!!



... all in all, 2010 was indeed a very BLESSED year.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas 2010

This year was Abigail's 1st Christmas... it certainly snuck up on us quickly this year, and then away it went.  We had a nice Christmas.  I don't like to get too "crazy" with the holidays, but I do enjoy them. I like to decorate, but fairly simply. Plus we just don't have the space to go crazy like my mother does! 

We definitely did NOT go overboard for Abigail this year, like many people thought we would. We just got her a few toys she will grow into, like the gloworm that plays lullabies. She loves it.


We were fortunate that Ryan was off Christmas Eve, Day and the Sunday after.  We spent Christmas Eve running around town finishing up Christmas shopping, and grocery shopping.  It wasn't as bad out as we thought it was going to be. But we really needed groceries!

 I had planned on spending that afternoon wrapping gifts, (I had not even started!) before dinner & church that evening, but I was so tired, I could only get Ryans gifts wrapped.  I finished up on Christmas Day morning.

Mom came over for Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas is so very different now that Pop Pop is gone. We always spent every Christmas Eve at his house ever since I remember Christmas.  Nothing is the same now, especially holidays, since he was the "center" of the family.  We try and make the best of it.  But he is always, always missed.

We ordered out Chinese for dinner, then had the candlelight church service.  Abigail was actually awake for the service, (she usualyl sleeps through),  looking around and sucking her fingers which she loves to do.  We missed the "candlelight" part when she got hungry. By the time she was done eating, the service was over!!  

After church Ryan and I came back home, I was so very tired, I felt like I was getting the flu, and was burning up. I went to bed. Ryan took my temp later that evening and I had a low grade temperature. I was cold one minute, hot the next. So uncomfortable! but I slept good...

Christmas Day I woke up feeling a bit better, I wasn't as hot, and my temperature had gone down. Weird. My thoat was somewhat sore though.

Ryan's mom drove down from PA that day. She arrived around 1 and we spent the afternoon/evening together, since my mom was working.  She was able to get her "Abigail fix". I know it's hard for her to be so far away from her only grandchild!


We were planning on going to a restaurant for dinner, because I just didn't feel like cooking. However, we were invited to a close family's house for dinner.  We just love dinner time at the Murfree household!!   We enjoyed our dinner and time with their family. They had to convince us that we were not intruding.  It was a nice time. 

My sister ended up driving home from North Carolina that day, because of the looming snowstorm that had already started in the south.  She came in time for dinner at the Murfrees. Then we all congregated back at my house after dinner, and after Mom got off work, and opened our gifts.




All in all, it was a good Christmas this year. Abigail won't remember any of it. I am glad we and the grandmother's didn't go overboard. NEXT year will be the big one for Abigail!!


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

More Difficult Each Day...

The first week I went back to work, it honestly was not as hard as I thought it would be. I had mentally prepared myself the weeks while I was off. I knew I had to go back to work, and I knew I had a LOT of work waiting for me (it will take months to catch up!)  The first week was not too bad...

Now I am on my 4th week of being back at work already.... and it seems it is getting more difficult each day to leave my little sweetheart and head out the door for work in the mornings. One blessing from it all is that I only work part time, so that definitely helps. I have a wonderful boss who let me re-arrange my schedule so that I can be home by the time Ryan has to leave for his evening shift.

It definitely helps knowing that Abigail doesn't have to be "dropped off" at a day care, and that my hubby is taking great care of her at home while I am gone.  They have fun together, just daddy and Abigail.   But it is still getting very hard to leave her in the mornings!! I look forward every day to coming home to my girl. I lover her more and more each day. Especially when we giggle and smile together. I definitely think she will be a talker like me, based on the past couple of days!!!

Growing Girl

Last Friday we took Abigail to the doctor for her 2 month check up. I still cannot believe how quickly time flies. I think back often to her birth-day, which still seems like yesterday :)  She will be 10 weeks this coming Friday, yikes!

The doctor said that Abigail is doing terrific. She weighed in at 12 lbs 3 oz, and I think she is 22 1/2 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile, which is great!!

It is amazing to think that my body is providing the nutrition for Abigail, and she is growing so quickly because of what I provide for her!!! I had always wanted to at least try breastfeeding, and it seems to be going so very well!! I only hope that we can both continue to do well with breastfeeding, at least until she is 1 year.  We will find out- time is sure flying by!

The dr. could just barely hear her heart murmur this time, and he said the holes have probably closed up. I pray that they have!  We don't go back to the cardiologist until May, so hopefully by then, they will be completed closed.

Abigail loves to poop, and usually when she does, everyone can hear what is going on down there. She was lying on the table being measured by the nurse, and all of a sudden it sounds like a rainstorm coming from her behind!! It stops... then you hear more... then even more! Ryan was afraid to even open her diaper.  We got her cleaned up, and then went into the room to wait for the doctor, and then she did it again! This time, I changed her... I looked at her and asked her "are you done now?" and RIGHT after I asked her that, she pooped yet AGAIN!  It's amazing how a small cute baby can make that much stink!!! She is definitely getting what she needs!! And we think she laughs at us when she does it!

Monday, December 20, 2010

First Christmas

This will be Abigail's 1st Christmas with us. I hope we can make it extra special for her :)


Friday, December 17, 2010

2 Months Old!

On Wednesday, Abigail turned 2 months old... already!  I can't believe it. I just love her so much. More every day. Even when she is cranky and fussy!   We have been taking a picture of her for every "milestone".  Here is what we have so far:

1 week old:

 1 Month Old:

 2 Months old:

We are loving us some Abigail!!!   :)

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

All Smiles

Abigail will be two months old TOMORROW! I cannot believe it... it literally feels like last night that we were on our way to the hospital and then giving birth to her! Speaking of that, I want to write about being in labor and "our story" that goes along with it. Everyone has their story about childbirth, and now I have one too!!  I would love to share :)

Back to Abigail- We have been loving the past week, because she has started smiling at us now :)  When we talk to her a certain way, she just breaks out into a huge grin. I just love to see my baby girl smile!


Friday we have a dr. appt and she has to get shots... I am not looking forward to it, I hope she doesn't cry! We will find out.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Finding "the right one"

When I was growing up, I don't remember ever having a real Christmas tree. We always seemed to have a fake one, which was fine by me. I remember Mom always saying they started out getting real trees, but did not like cleaning up the pine needles. I never paid it any mind, as my Dad would say. We always had tons of Christmas decorations, both inside and out. 

Then I met Ryan. He had never had a fake tree, but always a real Christmas tree!! He got very upset with his parents in college when they broke down and bought a fake Christmas tree.  So when we got married, it went without saying that we would get a real tree.  I wanted that experience.  With Ryan, you don't just go to Lowes and pick out a pre-cut tree.. He likes going to a tree farm and picking "the right one" and cutting it down.  Fine by me, since I had never done that before!!

Finding just the right tree in Salisbury is quite different for Ryan, as he is used to the tree farm where he grew up, in PA. The "tree farms" around here in Salisbury are not like the one he would go to as a child and growin up.  For our 1st Christmas 2008, we were able to find a tree farm in Delmar, MD and found a tree there, but it ended up looking rather short and fat that year. We lived with it- it was our "first tree" together.  We ended up liking that tree - even if Ryan was taller than the tree itself!!

The next year, 2009, I found a different tree farm, in Hebron Md.   We definitely had to trek through lots of brush, weeds, and trees that were grown very close together, (not the ideal situation for Ryan) but we ended up with a decent tree that year.

This year, it took us a LOT longer to get a tree for some reason.  We were both having a difficult time getting into the "Christmas spirit".  We had some discussions about whether to even get a tree this year, but eventually we both broke down and Saturday we finally went to pick that "perfect" tree out.  We headed back to Delmar this year, as were not impressed with the tree farm last year.  It wasn't too cold outside.  Our entire little family went- Camden stayed in the pickup truck while we picked out the tree. After walking what seemed like FOREVER, as I was carrying a sleeping Abigail, Ryan picked out "the right tree".  It needs some trimming, but it will do.


We have not even got it in the house yet, and Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!! Our top priority these days is making sure Abigail is taken care of, and everything else has gone by the wayside. However, our goal this week since Ryan is off, is to get the tree inside and decorations up! I will definitely post a picture of our 2010 Christmas tree once it is complete :)

Something New...

I used to keep up a blog when I was in college at YCP... pretty much just described the fairly mundane details of my college life, mainly for a special aunt who lives in North Carolina to read since we did not talk on the phone much. 

Lately I have been following a few blogs and have been somewhat contemplating whether to start up a new blog of my own again.  Tonight I decided to go ahead and create this, and see where it goes. I would love to keep up with it. I don't have a clue about how to do all of the fancy things I see on friends' blogs!! 

I would absolutely love to routinely write about my life for all to read, now that I am a first time mom to baby Abigail, whom I absolutely adore more and more each day!!!  For those of you who are not aware, I gave birth to our daughter just about 2 months ago, on October 15, 2010.  She is the light of our world right now and we are enjoying each and every day, as it brings new things!!



So this is the start of something new. I hope to be able to write at least a few times a week, despite my busy schedule,  adjusting to being at work part time and being a mom full time!!! Hope you enjoy!! Feel free to leave comments, and if you have any suggestions, let me know!!