Monday, December 31, 2012

Thoughts for the New Year!

I can’t believe how quickly the year has flown by. We began 2012 with the exciting news that we were going to be parents. I was only 4 weeks pregnant, but we already knew! We also were planning to build a new house. In a year’s time, we have built and moved into our new home, we have sold our old house, we have welcomed our son into the world, and we have already spent almost four months with him! We have celebrated birthdays, holidays, met new friends, kept the old, and we have made many memories. I can’t wait to see where 2013 takes us!
I don’t make new year resolutions, but I will say that I am now smaller than I have been in years! I am smaller than I was before getting pregnant and I would like to stay that way. I somehow doubt that will happen, but a girl can try!
I think Calum will definitely make the most changes over the next year. I can’t even imagine what all he will accomplish by the end of 2013. Right now he has just started using his jumper. He has a long way to go, but now that he can hold his head up well he is having a fun time trying to discover the purpose for his new toy!



Well, Damon, Calum, and I will see you all in the new year!

I’m One of “Those People”

I remember, prior to Calum, when I would get on Facebook and all I would see from some of my friends was pictures of their baby/child/children, and status updates all about their children. I remember that it didn’t irritate me, but that I just didn’t understand why all they ever wrote about was their child. What about the rest of their life?
I remember, when I was pregnant, being so excited about my baby and just knowing that I would love him so much- because that is just how it is, right?
I HAD NO IDEA!
I have completely become one of “those people”. In my opinion, the moment your child is born you can’t help but become one of those people, as a love unlike ANYTHING you have ever experienced or imagined takes you over.
I love my child. I love him more than any other person in my life. I find myself choosing him above all. I want to be with him, even when I am exhausted there is nowhere I’d rather be than with my baby.
Don’t get me wrong. I need breaks and I enjoy sleeping during those times when Damon feeds him, or watching TV on nights Damon bathes him, etc. My point is that the love you feel for your child and the need to be with your child or to think or worry about your child is very intense and something you just can’t imagine before you have it. I miss him when I am at work. I want to be with him as soon as I leave work. When I am shopping or doing things without him I enjoy that time, but I wonder what he is doing, I buy things for him, I think about him, etc.
The thing is, my baby IS my life now. He is my priority (I hate that word because it makes it sound like an obligation- that’s not how I feel). He is where I want to be.
Yes, I post pictures about my child on Facebook. Believe it or not, I try really hard to not over-post. So, if you think I post a lot of pictures or status updates about my baby, you have NO IDEA how many more you could have had to read had I not had control over it. Lol!
It amazes me, too, how your emotions change once you are a parent. Things that would have normally just made me sad will now make me bawl. I can’t read things about sick children, dying children, mistreated children without feeling overwhelmed by sadness, stress, worry, love. It is crazy!
How did God sacrifice his son for us? How do parents get past the loss of a child? These are things I can’t comprehend.
SOOOOOO, I completely babbled on and on in this post. Sorry. My point is, if you are irritated by my posts that are only about my child, I am sorry, but it isn’t going to change, so….

Baby Pictures from 3 Months to New Years!












Baby’s First Christmas!

We had such a good Christmas! Jeremy was able to come home from New York too. This was his first time to meet Calum. They spent a little time bonding.

Jeremy came home on his Birthday- Happy 28th! He loves my Grandmama’s banana pudding, so that is what he got instead of a cake.

We COMPLETELY made up for the lack of Thanksgiving pictures, with the enormous amount we took at Christmas. Sorry for all the pics. These are just a select FEW.
Christmas with Damon’s family
Tanner, with one of his gifts from his MawMaw:

Tanner and Aunt Bethanie helped Calum with his gifts:



Jason and Tanner, checking out Tanner's new game:

Calum is checking out one of his new toys. It's a favorite:

Calum and Aunt Bethanie:

Calum and MawMaw:

Jason and Tanner:

I LOVE this picture of Tanner and Calum!

Tanner had so much fun with Calum. Calum got plenty of attention.



Christmas with my family

Family Christmas Picture:

Holly and Calum:

Calum and his Nana:

Calum and his Great Aunt Terry:

Calum and his Great Grandmama:

Calum was never starved for attention:


A new toy:


Uncle Jeremy picked out Sully for Calum. Calum really likes him!


Damon, putting together Calum's first some-assembly-required present. It was from Nana!
A few from our Christmas- just us
Christmas Eve- Calum and Daddy played
  


Then Mama read a bedtime story
Christmas Morning!

Calum likes his candy cane from Gene and Cynthia!
Sugar had to have presents too! She knows which are hers and she waits impatiently for Christmas too!

Here are a few more "necessary" pictures of the baby