A Holiday to Be Thankful For

Remember when I thought life just couldn't get any better? I was wrong.

This Thanksgiving holiday has been absolutely perfect from start to finish. My mom, Mac's Mimi, came to stay with us Monday and Tuesday and took laundry folding and nursery organizing to a whole new level. Picking up our house and setting up for Thanksgiving, plus running a few last minute errands, was so much easier because she came.

Bradley's family came to our house for Thanksgiving this year, so Mac got to spend time with his Nana and Papa, plus he got to meet his Uncle Todd and Aunt Laura for the very first time. What a treat! A few weeks in to his dairy-free, Zantac-full lifestyle, he's feeling so much better and everyone is thrilled. What a wonderful, low-key Thanksgiving we had - and what a happy baby we shared with our family. Such a blessing!

Mac's cute outfit is thanks to sweet Meredith at the Pink Poppyseed.

Today, the day after Thanksgiving, two of my closest friends came to visit and meet Mac. Sarah, from Chicago, drove up from Columbia to munch on Chick-Fil-A (don't judge - I suggested it because Chicago is sadly CFA-free) and catch up. Our lunch was Mac's first foray into fine dining (or any dining, for that matter, besides the homebound kind) and he did wonderfully! We're so, so grateful he's feeling better.

Sarah was so glad to see a little SC sunshine!

Later today, Charles and Kristen came over from their family celebration to see our sweet boy and chat about their upcoming trip to Charleston and the return drive back down to Florida. (Plus a little friendly Clemson/Carolina banter.) How I wish we were all neighbors!

Me, Mac and Aunt K

Just as wonderful, B has been home lots this week - helping out, enjoying some much-needed down time with me and Mac and putting the finishing touches on an unparalleled holiday.

(Plus Mac slept in this morning, going back to sleep after his 6:30 feeding. Hallelujah! And with two four-hour stretches last night, he only woke once between 10:30 and 6:30 to eat. This is big news, people! Let's hope it continues...)

Mac dreaming of the delicious turkey he can enjoy once he has teeth!

Hoping you had a wonderful Turkey Day as well and that you're ready to kick off the Christmas season with a long list of blessings to count!

What Makes Me Happy

The Wife of a Fisherman tagged me in a fabulous What Makes Me Happy post....so here goes!

Ten Things That Make Me Happy:
1. Bradley's number on my caller ID, his key in the door, his head on the pillow next to mine
2. The sound and sight of sweet Mac sleeping
3. Sunday morning worship service (We're ready to go back!)
4. That precious clean baby smell
5. Adorable Blue keeping watch over me and Mac when B isn't around
6. The check-in phone calls from family and friends, letting me know I'm thought and prayed for always
7. Chick-Fil-A sweet tea
8. Mashed potatoes (just tried my first dairy-free batch...interesting!)
9. The thought of Mac's first Christmas
10. Seeing far-off friends after way too long apart

A List and a Ramble

I'm not able to think too clearly these days - there are lots of scattered trains of thought and half-finished sentences. It's only fitting, then, that I make a few lists (my favorite form of communication and sanity) rather than writing a full-blown Sunday afternoon blog post. Hope your (rainy) Sundays are going beautifully, friends!

I'll first steal Erin from Blue Eyed Bride's post idea and make an honest list of bullet points for you...

• Mac is about 11 pounds and I feel like he produces about that much laundry each day. I've never washed so many clothes in my life - add to that two adults' clothes, linens and towels and WOW. We're keeping Downy in business.
  
  
• Yesterday's football game in Tigertown was SUCH a treat. I loved seeing so many friends, watching CJ Spiller's last home game and having a little "grown up" time with B.
  
  
• I also missed Mac lots - he spent the day just 20 minutes away with his grandparents but we flashed his pictures around so much he might as well have been with us!
  
  
• This Thanksgiving holiday week is going to be such a whirlwind - cleaning, cooking, visiting, cleaning more (the baby clutter spreads quickly!), feeding (a baby and grown ups), changing (just the baby, of course), and squeezing lots of loved ones.
  
  
• This eating every three hours pattern does slow down, right? RIGHT? I love looking at Mac and snuggling with him, but the middle of the night feedings (we usually do get one 4 stretch) leave me 2 or 2.5 hours of sleep at a time. Geesh. Seven weeks into this and I'm a little cloudy-headed to say the least!
  
  
• I'm heading back to work after Christmas and I'm already worried about how many boxes of Kleenex and hours staring at Mac's pictures I need to plan on for those three days. (Yay for short weeks!) Working moms, any advice?
  
  
• How is it already Christmastime? We're about to decorate and, although I'm excited, my brain stopped calculating time back in September....it's going to be 2010 before I know it.
  
  
• Did I say I can't wait for Thanksgiving? Family, friends and (non-dairy) food - what more could I ask for?
  
  
• I'm tired, it's true. I felt like game day took quite the toll on my senior-citizen self yesterday. I could use a few full (as in eight hours) nights of sleep. But this Thanksgiving, more than ever, I am tremendously grateful. I couldn't stay awake long enough to count all our blessings!

Catching Up

Fabulous:
1. Mac is six weeks old! Our sweet boy is getting bigger (over ten pounds now!) and cuter by the minute; he's learning to smile and making little noises that just melt us. I can hardly remember what we did without him!

(This is what happens when Mac doesn't want to wake up for his dinner... Precious sleeper courtesy of Steph, Neil and Emery!)
2. B and I will be cheering on our Tigers at the last home game of the season this Saturday. Hooray! Mac will be hanging out with his grandparents - but not before we snap a picture of him in front of Mac's Drive In on our way to the game.

3. I'm finally busting out the tiger stripe J. Crew cardigan I searched most every store in the country for last year - and then never wore. Oops. It's not too late to right a wrong, though, and hopefully the forecast will cooperate with my little sweater!

There's a lot riding on this game, but we'll discuss that later - no need to jinx it now!


4. I made it through six full days without Bradley when he headed up to Montreal last week for work. My mom and mother-in-law each spent some time with me and Mac, but I had two solo nights and survived! (As did Mac, of course...) We were both so happy to have Bradley home again!

5. Thanksgiving's just around the corner. I'm eyeing decorations and counting down the minutes until Mac gets to meet some family and friends who've been loving him from afar these last six weeks. Can't wait!!

Less Fabulous:
1. When Bradley returned from Montreal, I packed up Mac and took him to the airport as a little surprise, thinking we'd be waiting in baggage claim when B came out. Alas, his plane landed early and we missed each other by moments. Sigh.

2. I won't be able to order my very favorite chocolate milkshake when we stop by Mac's Drive In - and my Thanksgiving plate will look a little different this year. It looks like Mac is lactose intolerant, so I'm off of all dairy (wow, it's in everything!) and trying to enjoy the non-dairy options around. Still not sure how my mashed potatoes will turn out with soy milk, but we'll see...

3. If I bite my lip in the exact same spot on more time, I'm pretty sure it'll fall off. And won't that make for some great game day pictures??

4. To my knowledge, there is still NO self-folding laundry machine available. I'm keeping up with the burp cloths, onesies, towels and sheets - it's the folding that's not quite getting done. So don't mind a laundry basket or two of unfolded (but Downy fresh!) clean laundry next time you stop by, friends...

Hope y'all are doing well - I promise to be back with more pictures and chatting soon!

xoxo,
A.

Mac is one month old!

One month ago, this very minute, I was checking into the hospital, totally unsure of what was to come. I knew we were about to be induced and imagined that we were twelve or even twenty-four hours away from meeting our sweet boy.

Little did we know that I was already in real-deal labor; I was going to have Mac on October 5th with or without Pitocin's help! Eight hours later, at 8:06 pm, Mac arrived and the last month has been a world-altering blur. I'm still in awe at the unbelievable blessing we've been given.

Happy, happy birthday, Mac! I wish I could list all of the ways you've changed our lives already and made our little family complete. That, however, would require more brainpower than I've got at the moment.

Where is my brain, you'll probably ask one day? Most of it is devoted to feeding and comforting you, reading about how best to take care of you, talking to experts (acid reflux and lactose intolerance are for the birds!) and relying on the support (long-distance and otherwise) of our friends and family. Sometimes squeezing in a nap, but more often catching up on dishes, laundry, baby book reading and, you know, eating my own meals.

We love you tremendously, little man, and can't wait to watch you grow. For now, though, please stay little...I can see you getting bigger every minute. Take your time!! (Except on the sleeping through the night stuff - feel free to do that any ol' time you're ready.)

A letter to Daylight Savings Time

Dear Daylight Savings Time,
You're screwing with my mind. I don't enjoy this dark-at-dinnertime nonsense you've thrown my way. I'm not even sure what time it is anymore. When the sun goes down, I feel a sense of pressure - have I done everything I should? is it time for bed? how could this day be over already?

You're making me tired all the time, DST. It's 8:55 and I could easily pass out with a moment's notice.

Yes, I have a newborn who wakes often to eat. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, DST.) And yes, I'm sure that contributes to my constant sleepiness. But you, weird time adjustment concept, aren't making it any easier.

How is it that Congress can legislate time? I mean, how full of yourself do you have to be to think you can control when the sun rises and sets? Regardless, can we please switch it back? Longer days make for happier Annes. Or at least one happy Anne -and in this house that's all we really need.

So take that, Daylight Savings Time. Hope you feel the full power of my wrath.

And if this letter is too rambling and incoherent for you to understand, perhaps you had a hand in that, you bringer-of-early-sunsets.

With that, I'm seriously contemplating turning in for the night. (Until, of course, my four-week-old wakes me with a gentle reminder that he's hungry!)

Here's hoping to see some sunshine at dinner without enjoying the Senior Citizens' 4:00 pm special!

xoxo,
A.

I know this must have been cute at the time...

Take a look at the shoes, y'all. The shoes! Weren't these high-powered career gals??

Enjoy a flashback cast shot (that seems to have been jigsaw-puzzled together in Photoshop) of the quirky nineties show Ally McBeal. I remember something about a dancing baby, a coed bathroom - and a lot of pin-thin leading ladies.

There are whispers of an Ally reunion - all I can hope is that they update their wardrobes. Sex and the City from similar years doesn't have this dated a look to it. Guess that's what Patricia Field will do to a show!

Anyhow, back to Babyland! Night, everyone!

A new trend in wedding dresses?

Take a look at this piece in a NYT blog about Ivanka Trump's lovely and modest wedding dress. Her new husband, Jared Kushner, is orthodox and Ivanka recently converted, thus the need for something a bit more covered-up. Vera Wang made Ivanka's gown, inspired by Grace Kelly's, and I think it's so pretty!

The bigger question raised, however, is whether or not strapless wedding dresses are on their way out... I can't think of a bride wearing sleeves in the last ten years and am interested to see if my strapless dress wedding photos are soon going to look dated. Thoughts?

P.S. You have to read about the lace on this dress; I bet it was just gorgeous in person. You can see larger and more photos here.