Images of the Season

Fancy title.
Probably has you expecting snow dusted evergreens,
cheery caroling pictures and people dressed up in their Sunday best.

Naw.

Just a hodge podge of pictures taken on Christmas, and one odd funny face picture thrown in for good measure. Briar is a master of making faces that leave us in puddle of gooey emotion or just plain hysterical laughter. She's broadened her concerned look to include a bit of tongue commentary. Enjoy!

Here she is cruising in her car from Nana with Dad looking on proudly.


This was actually Christmas Eve. Happy, healthy and together.
We had our every wish come true this holiday.
Truly an embarrassment of riches.
Thank you to all of our family and friends who shared with us
through cards, calls, gifts and togetherness.

We feels so blessed.


Briar got her very own baby this Christmas and she is demonstrating very clearly how much love she has to give. We were both astounded by her immediate response to her baby, lavishing her with love and tender affection. Even giving her a fresh diaper!


Ok. Can you look at this and feel anything but delight?
Maybe I am biased, but she is just so expressive and funny!


Toys, book, clothes, music, guests.
All she wanted was to be in her box.
She was kind enough to let Barnaby join her for a bit.



I'll post more pictures soon and regale you with Christmas stories.

Love to everyone and wishes for a safe and joyous New Year!

Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning Part I

We had Nana, Ciocci Jeannie, and Betty
over for supper and playtime on Christmas Eve.
Briar was sure to let everyone have a turn
pushing and pulling her around in her box.


Ciocci Jeannie steering the box.


Nana being the motor for the box.


Daddy lifting Briar out of the box with a flourish.


Mom prefers to roll around without the box.


Christmas Morning.

It started relatively late, probably the last Christmas we'll have without seeing the sun rise.

She loves the piano. She really loves activating all her different musical
toys at once for an eclectic, electronic symphonic experience.



Briar now has her very own baby. She loves her, as well as her My Little Pony.
Little nostalgia for mom, remembering Abs with her My Little Pony dolls.


Loves the baby.


More Abbie nostalgia with a Care Bear stocking.


But I don't wanna take a nap, I'm having fun.
I'm not tired!


And she's out.


More soon.

Merry Christmas!!!

For Moms

So I just went into the bathroom here at work.

Caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and something was not quite right.
It took me a minute before I realized what it was.
I had managed to put two dangly earrings in one ear this morning.
Yes, nothing like the absent minded gypsy look for the holidays.
Here are a few other 'oops' things moms out there might appreciate.


Mascara applied on just one side
(and a mascara wand no where in sight for repair)

Baby sock traveling down a pant leg
(and on to the floor only when in clear view of non-parents)

Banana finger prints on sleeves
(FYI banana looks like mucus when dried on fabric)

Peanut butter smears at baby levels
(typically thighs and breasts)

Compulsive singing and or humming if toy music
(again, usually around non-parents)

Crumbs accompanying anything you hand to someone
(you guessed it, to non-parents)

One shaved leg
(and pants that don't reach the top of your sock)


There is also the joy of being absolutely incapable of:

Maintaining a clean car
(we're talking crumbs, blobs of the unknown, so much more)

Walking without clicking, clucking, or making other cheerful sounds

Getting out of the house in less than 20 minutes



It is a wild, humbling and exhausting thing to be a mom.

And I wouldn't trade it for all the glamour and order in the world.

So here's to smudged glasses, sticky hair and big, wet, baby kisses.

Almost

Looks like Christmas is going to extend to the 27th and 29th. Those are the dates that my four remaining Christmas orders have been rescheduled for delivery to by UPS.
Slightly aggravating, but all things considered, I should just be grateful that I had the means to make the orders and the people in my life for whom to order them.

This holiday snuck up on me. I cannot believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I wish I could have a few more of those days leading up to Christmas Eve, when everyone is just a tad kinder, the air crackles with that special holiday magic, everything looks sweeter, more wholesome. I forgot to play carols as often as I should have. I haven't had cocoa with a candy cane or sent out a single Christmas card.

This year did bring some special treats.

Briar gleefully tangling her legs and feet in the strings of white Christmas lights as Sean tried to uncoil them.

Sean trying to be serious and methodical about the tree decorating, but ultimately melting at Briar's delight at removing ornaments and "helping" with the lights.

Introducing Briar to snowmen.

Sharing the magic of being a parent at Christmas with Sean.

Being reminded of how truly precious family is.

Sneak Preview

We had our 20 week anatomy scan this morning.

The baby is about 11" long and weighs 13oz.
Strong, steady heart beat and an active body.





We are so thankful for our healthy family.

Merry Christmas!
-Amanda, Sean, Briar and TBA Magee

Photo-rama

More pictures.

On the weekends Briar just wants to hang out with her Dad.
Doesn't matter what they do. Sometimes she just wants to be touching him.


Just a neat looking picture.
She looks like such a kid.
She loves the Christmas tree.


She really holds her own with Ella.
They take turns kind of pushing each other around
Ella is an absolute saint when it comes to her toys.
As you can see, Briar was clearly saying,
"Give me the plastic bone toy!"


I love this picture of Abbie and Briar. The light. The mutual adoration.


The girls looking at Briar.

Briar Gets a Kitten

We had been planning on getting Briar a kitten for Christmas since she demonstrated such an unwavering love for all cats that we had to acknowledge that despite coming from two dog lovers, our daughter, is in fact, a cat person. Last night we followed through and went to an animal shelter to adopt a kitten. I think to our suprise, we are both falling for this little, fearless, loving creature that has completely weaved himself into our lives in a span of 24 hours.


So, here he is, Briar's kitten, also known as Ella's kitten.

Pictures of Briar and the kitten coming soon.

More fun with Abbie

Picture Time

Fun with Auntie Abs.

Basic Blogging Tenets

Keep it fresh.
Update frequently.
Be disarmingly honest.


Oy. I believe my last post was on the 11th.
The ELEVENTH!

It is the 20th.

Not fresh, not frequent, and not at all disarming.

So, let us see if I might redeem myself.

We had the West Coast Briar fan club in for a week.
My belly is growing at an impressive pace.
We put one of our dogs to sleep.
Our real estate odyssey continues.
The dishwasher is still broken.
Briar can almost open doors.
Work has been crazy.
And it's the holidays.

The West Coast folks- Grandma and Papa and exciting Aunt Abbie was incredible.
Briar worships her aunt, and after a bit of playing coy, she took many naps on Papa's chest, read books with Grandma and gave hugs and kisses. It was a sweet,
sweet visit. One of those that you really find that at the moment you say goodbye you've finally hit your stride. So parting was bittersweet. Everyone was grateful for the time, but there was a degree of cursing the distance.

Ze Belly of Ze Mommy.
Oui, oui. It is gi-gantic.

Naw, it's not that bad, but I am visibly pregnant and the baby is practicing
cirque du soleil acts in my tummy about 18 hours a day. Briar loves to watch me dress in the morning and smile at my belly. She has actually taken an interest in her own belly now. She walks around playing with her belly button saying some variation of, "Belly baby." Only time will tell if she will spend a week or two thinking that everyone with a bump has a baby in their belly. The timing of her discovery could lead to embarrassing moments for holiday treat over-indulgers. Cross your fingers for us.

Dean. May he rest in peace and find all the carrots to crunch, squirrels to chase and mailmen to bark at that he could have ever hoped for. This experience has been torturous. Putting a pet down, ending the life of a family member, cuts deep. We struggled for many months with what to do. Dean did not transition smoothly to having a baby in the house. Over time he did come to tolerate Briar, and even gave her an occasional interested sniff, but with another baby on the way, Briar's increased mobility and his decreasing mobility we started to see the writing on the wall. Sean visited at length with our vet. They talked about quality of life, time line, and approaches to handle the coming year, which the vet said would be Dean's last.

It was a week ago yesterday that Sean left the house with Dean. Ella, Briar and I stayed and went through our routine- dinner, bath, stories, bed. More than 2 hours later Sean came home. I had just put Briar down and I walked downstairs. I didn't know what to expect, I had not had to leave the house with someone I knew would not return. I did not have to endure the wait, didn't have to watch him go. Sean spared me those things. I wish that I could have spared him, I wish I could have protected him from the pain he brought back in his eyes. I wish I could take back having seen him in that kind of misery.

We spent that night remembering Dean. We did everything you would expect from people remembering a loved one- we laughed, we cried, we sat together in silence as we each revisited times we had with Dean. We reminisced about the role he played in bringing us together. We chuckled at the hell he gave us and the inimitable way he had of being part dog, part celebrity. We also talked about the life he had and the pain we hope that we spared him. The one thing the vet said that we cling to, "You cannot second guess this decision. It would have been a very hard winter for Dean."
Now when the mailman passes there is an eerie silence.

There's more to tell about our life, but my thoughts are on Dean.

Dean didn't waste a second of his life. He always did exactly what he wanted, sometimes to our great frustration. But he was certainly a model for making sure you took what you needed, said what you wanted and lived like it was your last day.

So let's end today with savoring every last drop of time with family. Let's approach the coming days with an appreciation for how fleeting time can be and that it is our own responsibility to give and get as much out of our lives as we can.

Life with Briar

Being with Briar is always special.
In the morning it's her appetite for life. She is genuinely excited to be awake, to kiss us, to laugh, to eat breakfast, to go downstairs and see her things.

At night it's how grateful we all are to be together, or the discovery of something new. A book she hadn't seen before because she hadn't been able to reach, climbing into a toy box to play or read a book, a new food at dinner.

My lunches with Briar are still so magical. She is excited every day when I arrive. She literally squeals and runds to me. Sometimes we nurse, other times we just play and read.

The first group of pictures were taken one morning. Sean had gone into work at about 6am. Briar and I were on our own, but she did not want to wake up. I finally lifted her out of her crib at 7:45 so we'd have enough time to get her fed and dressed. Her little face so was puffy and she was so groggy. Happy groggy.

Through her waking up fog she still managed to run around.



A mouth full of clementine.



Popped in a Baby Einstein dvd about animals on the farm. She LOVES these dvds and is particularly taken with a cow puppet.


She watched so intently. I tried to set her up with a chair, but she prefers to be within arm's reach of the screen.


Despite being totally engrossed in t he dvd, she flipped through the book, "Running In Heels" through the whole thing.


See the adorably puffy little eyes. She had a personality to match. When she was on the couch eating bits of clementines she kept falling over on her side and giggling.


This is from the day we decorated the tree. I need a little cuddle and nibble break. She happily obliged.


This just looks kind of neat. Our life with Briar gets blurry sometimes we move so fast.

Tis the Season for Slacking

So many times I have meant to pop online and jot down a few notes.
Clearly, with my last entry having been November 29th, I have not done so.

The things I wanted to share:

Briar watching a Baby Einstein dvd and "mooing" at the farm animals.

Briar entering a phase of extreme sharing - every food, every drink, book or toy, she extends her pudgy little hand and offer a bite, sip or glimpse of whatever she is enjoying.

A new level of interaction: she understands so much of what we say, demonstrates the need to receive of give affection, really listens and tries to respond.

The continuing magic of the bedtime process. She loves her stories and time rocking with mom or dad. She goes to sleep in her crib, wakes up, entertains herself, goes back to sleep. I think we are both profoundly aware of how important and precious the ability of a child/baby to get to sleep truly is. I also think we both still have a certain degree of fear that it may just be a brief phase and we'll one day return to the battle.

My growing belly and Briar's fascination with the changes.

The discovery that being a parent and part of a loving marriage just gets better with time. I thought the magic of being Briar's mom might fade, or that being parents might extinguish the spark and spontaneity of our marriage. Not true. Life is different, but there is still so much wonder and magic!

A broken dishwasher is a huge pain in the ass, but, much like stacking firewood there is a weird simple pleasure in washing dishes by hand.

That said, I will really appreciate hand washing the dishes as a memory some day in my future.

Well, I have my one year review in ten minutes, so I have to go.

More entries and pictures soon.