Anniversary Letter to My daughter

Nixon,

Today is a very special day for your daddy and me; today we celebrate when we were finally able to bring you home from the hospital, 77 days after you were born. For those 77 days we cried and prayed and held your hand. We cuddled you skin to skin for hours at a time and anxiously watched the monitors to make sure your vital signs were okay. We bribed staff with cupcakes and made friends with nurses to make sure everyone around you took extra special care of our little princess. Every couple hours I pumped milk for you to drink, and, when you were big enough, we fed you and burped you. I hummed songs to you, and told you every day that you were the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen, and that is still true. We clapped our hands with joy when you made progress and we wrung them when you struggled. And every second of every day since you were born we’ve loved you with all our hearts.

Nixon, you are our entire world, and we are so blessed that you are healthy and happy and beautiful. You are proof that God loves us, and you renewed our faith in miracles. 

Favorites

Nixon's grandma Julie just emailed me these photos and I am now in the market for a new heart, because mine melted instantly when I saw them.

Rule Breaker!

So, we've totally had our hands full since our little peanut started walking. Her favorite place to go is, of course, the one place she's not allowed: the kitchen. I HATE fussing with baby proof drawers and cabinets, so I decided that for now she's just not allowed to go in the kitchen. It looks like that has to change VERY soon.

Keeping the kitchen off limits was basically our first rule for Nixon. Well, our clever little daughter has picked up on this rule, and, as to be expected, she exacts great joy out of breaking it.  Every chance she gets she runs as fast as she can into the kitchen, straight to the oven, touches it, shrieks in victory, and then runs out. I usually wait until she's right next to the stove and snatch her up, play yelling "no babies in the kitchen!" but every now and then, just to hear her excitement, I let her win, and her smile couldn't possibly get any bigger than the moment her little fingers smack that oven.

Tonight I decided that I had to share this "game" with you all, so here it is for your viewing pleasure:

Matthew & Nina's Post Christmas Wrap-up Party

Adam and I were very excited for Matthew and Nina's 2nd Annual Post Christmas Ugly Sweater Party.

 The best sweaters of the night

 I <3 my hunny!

 Gotta love Cindy's tree skirt sweater!

 RAWR!

 Matching Sweaters!

 <3

 Our favorites!

 "Nina, can you get your balls out of my husband's face?"

 Such beautiful sisters!

 Adam's sweater TOTALLY should have taken 1st prize!

matchy matchy!

Christmas Morning

We had Christmas morning at our house this year, and Nixon's Grammy Lisa(my mom), her Grandma Julie and Grandpa Bill were all in attendance. 

I thought She'd love unwrapping presents, but Nixon seemed to lose interest in the paper pretty quickly.

She did however LOVE the tags and bows.

(I always say a present can never have too much ribbon!)

 Out of all of the expensive and elaborate gifts, I think Nixon's favorite "present" was this cheapy little silver ball of bells that I grabbed last minute from Michaels when I was checking out. She clung to it all day long!

 Nixon reaching for the doll her Grandma Julie made her

Nixon was worn out from waking up early to open presents, so she took a snooze with Daddy!

then it was back to playing with her new toys!

 If that expression doesn't make you smile nothing will!

she loves flipping the page (over and over again)

Taking a cat nap before Auntie Azra and Uncle Brandon come over for dinner!

We decided to start a fun new Christmas tradition, so Azra and Brandon came over to our house for Christmas dinner. Next year We'll probably have Christmas dinner at their house because they'll have a new baby and we'll want to spoil him! 

I decided to cook this year, and after surfing the web for some holiday suggestions, I settled on Green bean casserole and Shepherds pie.

 

 With these for dessert:

 (Check out the recipe section of my blog for these dishes!)

All in all it was a great day and we feel very blessed to have such great friends and family to celebrate with.