Day 05

Day 05: Thankful for the strong bond my husband and son have together. What a wonderful gift.

Day 04 & Leaving Santa Cookies....

Day 04: Thankful for my sweet boy who is growing like a weed!

Leaving cookies for Santa :So..... We decided to leave Santa some cookies... But we had to try one first....

And with Cookies... you need to leave some milk....

And then we had to taste the cookies again....

And wash down our bite with some milk.....

So Santa only got a one cookie and a half eaten cookie, with a tiny sip of milk....

Day 03

Day 3: Thankful for a supporting husband.

Through thick or thin, we have made it through. I can't wait to see what 50 years of marriage look like.

Will it look my my grandparents, who have been married for 52 years? They have the same routine everyday. And believe that time apart from each other is being selfish. So they spend 99% of the time in each others presence.

I wonder if they ever run out of things to talk about.

But they unconditionally love one another.

And that is all that matters...

48 1/2 more years of marriage until we reach 50 years!

Its gonna be a long ride. But I can't wait.

Day Two: Gratitude Project

Day two: I am Thankful for compassionate patrons at O'Charley's Restaurant today, and for the chocolate milk that finally calmed down "AV"'s meltdown of 2010.

Well... it is official... I think we are banned from fine dinning restaurants until "AV" and future kids turn 18.

I have been blessed with a job that gave me a four day weekend and
"AV" has gotten quite used to being home and having me all to himself.... Last week, "AV" had pneomia so he was home from daycare. We made it though all of the Christmas holidays festivities , and we decided to have a PJ day on Sunday. So today, we were ready to be out and about. "AV" and I went to the Charleston Children's Museum with some friends today. And we both took a late nap....

So since "AV" had such a good day, "DH" suggested that we go out to dinner. And obviously... it was a disaster. "AV" screamed and cried and I think you could hear him in China...

Neadlesstosay... he has reach that age of "independence" and defiance and therefore public places that are not meant for kids, we will only be enjoying by carside food service or on a date....

But I wouldn't have it any other way.....Lets just pray to tomorrow at daycare drop off is smooth...

Day 01 ( Gratitude Project)

How could I not start our this year of Gratitude by not thanking our Creator.

I am so thankful that God sent His Son for us. And who continually forgives us, even when we do not deserve it.

2010

I am not sure how I have managed to go through all of 2010 without a blog.... no update.... nothing..... Very depressing.

So much has happened in 2010 and I have had a lot of lessons learned....

2010 has been such a blur... and I (feel that I ) lost a whole year of growth..

As a review for those who have missed...

2010 started out:

• Jan: "AV" was admitted to the hospital for brochettes. He has always had a breathing problem it seems like and had been on and off the nebulizor for a while.. Every time he got a cold, his chest would wheeze. Three days on oxygen and intensive inhalers we were released from the hospital and Avery was placed on a preventative medicine until May.

I remember driving to the hospital to meet Brant and thinking... I should be panicking... but I guess as a mom, your instints kick in and you know that you have to be strong. I also knew that his condition was not life threathing as I have watched two of my close friends have "heart" babies and their struggles.

• Febuary and March seemed to fly on by..."AV" grew!

• April- "AV" turned one! It was a crazy safari weekend! Mimi, Pop-Pop, Uncle K and Gramma came down from MD and we all through a huge party for my boy! A week after that , I (reluctantly) gave up nursing, and a week later had "AV" off of his bottle! At the end of April early May, "AV" started to walk... or should I say ru
  

• May- "DH" and I enrolled "AV"in Infant Swimming Resource. My sister "M" enrolled her daughter, "E" first and I attended one of her lessons and knew that we had to get "AV" involved. ISR gives one-on-one lessons in survival swimming. For more information, follow this link...http://www.blogger.com/www.infantswim.com

Also, in May... "M" and I founded Because of Brayden, a non-profit (still waiting on our certificate) organization to teach our community Water Safety.

• June-"AV" was certified in ISR. He can now find his exit in water and is able to float (even in winter clothes) for up to 10 minutes.

• July-We took a huge family vacation to NY and MD to see "AV 's great grandparents and grandparents. It was an amazing trip

• August- We held our first Water Safety day! It was a huge success and even had a TV spot! The Friday before the big event, "M" and I were running around like crazy! We ended up parting ways to run separate errands... when I got the call to have the two of us interviewed... For those of you who know me, I am very particular about my house.. but the week before, I let everything go because we were rushing to prepare for our big event... So needlesstosay.. I had to run home and clean for the shoot. I found that the oven is a great place to hide dirty dishes! LOL.
  

On a serous note, we were able to educate over 50 children the importance of water safety. For more information or to request a newsletter: http://www.blogger.com/www.becauseofbrayden.org

• September-Our kick off for the holiday season it seems like... Life starts getting crazy!

• October-"DH" turned 38 and Halloween! "AV" was peter pan, "DH" was Hook and I was Wendy...

• November-"AV" got a great big surprise! he got another cousin (on DH side) ! Cousin N is a great addition to our family!

We had a trip to the zoo

And we hosted Thanksgiving!

• December-I turned 26, we took a mini-vac to VA/MD to see the new baby and grandparents. "AV" is truly spoiled by them! We also had a small (perfect) Christmas!

It is also time to reflect on this year... I lost contact with some friends, did not purse my relationship with God as actively as I should.

But...

I did..

• get connected more with my small group,
• Feel like I can now manage as a new mom. (for those of you who don't know(many don't).. I struggled a bit with the big change of being a mom.)
• Grew my marriage
• Was blessed each day with my baby boy...

My goals in 2011:

1. To be more thankful. I will be taking a challenge to find one thing in each day to be Thankful. thecreativemama.com/the-year-of-gratitude/ Hopefully, everyday, I will post either here, or on my facebook, one thing that I am thankful for for a whole year.
2. I want to run a 5k this year.
3. I am going to participate in the Daniel Fast www.daniel-fast.com/ with my church www.seacoast.org and hopefully this will jump start me in actively pursuing God everyday.
4. Keep in contact with friends and family more.

Lets roll 2011! Hopefully this time next year will be more progress!