While out shopping for food with my mom, Stephen spotted a large mug with the most gorgeous paintings of Geishas all around it.  Knowing my love for them, he bought it and gave it to me Christmas morning and I’ve been drinking tea out of it ever since then.

It’s beautiful.

Sometimes the impulse buys – the little things you spot that make you smile or think of a memory – those are the best.

He also bought me a bottle of water.  Took me a minute to remember but it’s the same water the hotel served on our wedding night.

Little things.

Christmas day was such an amazing day.  All the cousins, my grandmother, my family all under one roof.  Olivia was [enthralled] with her cousins – Ben, especially.  Ben is three and all rambunctious, rumble-tumble boy.  He falls and laughs, loves to be swung around upside-down, runs into his brother on purpose, dives into the couch headfirst squealing.

But when it came to Olivia, he was so gentle with her.  He calls her “O-leah” and told me very firmly to move so he could sit next to her on the floor.  He kisses her head and touches her face and talks to her about important things like crackers and trampolines.  And Olivia did not stop grinning at him for a minute the entire time he was there.  She grabs at his hair, giggles at him, babbles back and reaches her arms towards him.

It was so precious, I almost cried a few times.

It’s like they [know] they’re family without anyone telling them.  That bond is there already.

I want them to all grow up together.  And all our future littles as they come over the years.

A whole group of cousins who are best friends and protectors, confidants and playmates.

Wouldn’t that be [magical]?

Our visit will be over in a few days, which always makes me sad.  I long for the day when the drive up here is a permanent move and instead of driving 10 hours to return home from my mom’s house, I drive 10 minutes.

Dreams.

Goals.

I have caught myself several times here thinking I need to get all Olivia’s stuff together to go back home in time for bedtime.  It just feels so [home] to be here.

I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Resolutions.  Most make them and most break them.  Sometimes it seems a fruitless endeavor.

However, I want to make a few, in my opinion, attainable goals for the New Year.

I’ll compile a list and get back to you on that one.

How was your Christmas?

I hope everyone had a wonderfully Happy Christmas, wherever you were – be it at home or travelling.

Ours was so fun and loud and colorful and happy.  I would venture to say Olivia’s first Christmas was a smashing success.

Playing with Gramma on the floor

Olivia LOVES her cousin, Ben

Ben's pretty fond of Olivia, too

Christian found the trampoline pretty tasty

A Sophie and a headband are pretty awesome presents

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There is snow falling outside.  I can’t remember the last time I had a really fluffy cold white Christmas.  I’m sitting here in a comfy recliner that’s older than I am, with my mug of hot tea next to me, music playing on the stereo, and watching the snow fall out the living room windows.

It makes everything so perfect and quiet.

It’s Christmas Eve and presents are starting to pile up under and around the tree.  We have four generations here this Christmas plus presents from my mom’s clients.  Not to mention the requisite spoiling of the grandchildren by the grandparents.  The pile is growing.

I’m going to take pictures tomorrow morning of the full effect, now with piles of snow in the background.  It will be [gorgeous] and [awesome].

My mind goes to a million places when I’m up here and, yet, goes quiet all at the same time.  I love my farm life.  I didn’t used to.  At all.  But I now, since having Olivia, have a certain respect and fondness for it that I never knew I’d have.

It’s just so [peaceful].

One of these years, we’ll be in our own home instead of visiting family and can start our own traditions with our children.  I love traveling but I also love the joy of staying home with just Stephen, the dog and Olivia [plus the future littles].  I have ideas for traditions we could start.

We shall see.

What are some of your favorite traditions?  Do you have new ones now that you have a family of your own?  I would love to hear them.

Happy Christmas, everyone.  I hope it’s safe and wonderful and happy and peaceful and full of the little things that make you smile.

You know what’s rather surreal in a cool way?  Right now, upstairs in my childhood bedroom, my daughter is napping.

I only lived in this house a few years before leaving for college – we moved here when I was a lowly high school freshman.  However, this house, out of the myriads we lived in over the years, is the only one that I ever really identified as “home.”

This is a tea household and always has been.  My love of plain black tea grew from this home.  You won’t find coffee here unless mom buys some for her mom’s visits.  You will, however, find a cabinet brimming with mugs collected through the years, interlaced with black tea bags and little tins of loose tea.  A very old little sugar jar holds “real” sugar and is balanced precariously across a mug and a tin that aren’t quite at equal heights.

It’s quiet out here.  Even in my little neighborhood in Atlanta, I can still feel and hear the city all around me.  Cars, stereos, sirens, horns, people, movement.

Here, there’s a sense of stillness.  I can hear the highway in the distance and the occasional truck or trailer rumbles by on the road, but there’s still a sense of peace that this 23 wooded acres provides.  This big, old farmhouse perpetuates the silence even as floors creak in spots and dogs pad around from room to room, seeking out leftover treats or forgotten toys.

When I was 18, I couldn’t wait to get out of here.

Now, I’m 30 and a mom and a wife.

And I want to come home.

To stay.

Someday we will.  And I’ll really introduce my city husband to his country wife’s past.

Olivia’s first Christmas morning is fast approaching.  My childhood tree, set up in the front room, stands waiting to welcome another pair of tiny hands reaching under its branches for brightly wrapped packages.

So many hands have reached under that tree.  My grandmother, her children, their children, my mom, my family, my brother’s children, me…  And now my child.

My baby girl.

And my future babies.

Wherever they come from.

Me.

Or elsewhere.

Home to this country life.

And Christmases under a wise old tree.

Oh my heart, you guys.

I don’t need to even explain this one…

For more info on the Finding the Happy Project, including the rules, read all about it here.

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Today is a coffee sort of a day.  Last night was a up-every-few-hours-fighting-sleep-and-crying sort of a night.  I think I’m getting used to them.  Or I’ve just resigned myself to them.  In either case, I think my brain has finally accepted the fact that she’s going through [something] right now and it’s making her sleep patterns all janky.

We’ll get through it.

Stephen thought for a moment last night she had a tooth popping through but visual examination yielded nothing.  Who knows…

Crawling is still hovering on the precipice.  She pops up and hops forward on her knees then faceplants because she doesn’t move her arms.  When she gets the arms in there, she’ll be mobile.

She’s happily eating solids for breakfast every morning.  She nurses half the amount then flails happily in her high chair while I get her food ready.  I [love] making her food.  Our farmer’s market here has the best produce and being able to roast or steam something fresh and healthy is great.  She’s had pears, apples, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, carrots, bananas… I have some fresh avocados waiting for her and some steamed zucchini all ready to go for her to try next.  She has great messy fun with it all and usually eats every last bite.  She swipes at our plates now when we’re eating dinner and watches us intently when we’re eating.  I love this phase and I love introducing her to healthy, good food and cultivating her palate from scratch.

Stephen and I can’t wait until we can start adding spices to her food.  Thai, Indian, etc.  Oh it’s going to be fun.

T-minus five days and counting until we are in St. Louis for two weeks!

Can I possibly get across to you how unbelievably excited I am for this trip?  I get to see my mom, my stepdad, my grandmother, my brother, my sister-in-law, my nephews, my puppies….  And maybe Olivia will start crawling up there?  Wouldn’t that be amazing and cool?

Just keep us in your thoughts/prayers as we drive 10 hours Saturday night.  The Midwest got hit with lots of snowstorms and I don’t know [yet] how the roads and the weather will be during our drive.  I hope safe and worry-free and Olivia sleeps for the vast majority of it.

That would be perfect.

Oh! By the way, a Twitter friend of mine just opened an Etsy shop!  Go buy her beautiful headbands!

And buy me one, while you’re at it.

No, really.

This one.

Oh my goodness, this past weekend has been [busy] for the whole family.

We’ve had two Christmases and Stephen has been working nonstop on three [major] projects set to go live today.  Poor thing – I feel like I’ve hardly seen him for two weeks.

It’s Olivia’s first Christmas this year.  (I believe I’ve mentioned this once or twice or six times…)  And she will have a grand total of four celebrations when all is said and done.

Crazy.

We have two under our belt and that is my happy.  Seeing her opening her very first Christmas presents.

I can’t [wait] for Christmas morning with my family.  It will be amazing…

For more info on the Finding the Happy Project, including the rules, read all about it here.

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She’s always so serious when she plays.  Sure, she’ll look up and grin at me or her daddy, but, when it’s just her and no one else, that little face is [serious] and [thoughtful].

I wish I knew what goes on in her little head.  What thoughts does she think?  Are they in words or just images and emotions?  When [she] looks at her toys, what does [she] see?  I see a horse and a rattle and a cup and a teether.  Does she see a soft, and a loud, and a hard and a chewy?  Or is it just impressions?  [This] makes me happy when I touch it…

Stephen and I are going out tonight for his company’s Christmas dinner.  There’s only three folks in his company so a grand total of six people will be there.  I like that. Nice, intimate, small…  The only thing I’m nervous about is the reservations are at 7.30pm and Olivia’s bedtime is at 8pm so we’ll be gone for bedtime.

We’ve never been gone for bedtime.  She always nurses to sleep in my arms and I take her to bed, kiss her head, tell her I love her and creep out of her room.  Tonight is the first night she won’t have that.  It’ll be a bottle and her Mimi’s arms, which are quite snuggily and loving.  I just hope it will be enough.  My heart aches at the thought of her missing me.

Or will she even notice?

Next Saturday, the 18th, after a family Christmas with Stephen’s extended family, we’ll be heading to St. Louis for two weeks.

I

Cannot

Wait

Part of me hopes Olivia will hold off on crawling until then so my family can share in a milestone.  In any case, her very first Christmas will be with my family and under the tree from my childhood.  This means [so much] to me.

I hope it snows.

Oh my…

Seven months old.

When did she get [so big]?

I miss my floppy little newborn and, truthfully, have some serious newborn baby fever at the moment.

The sound you heard was my husband falling out after reading that last statement.

It isn’t time, yet, for Baby #2.  We still have so much snuggling and squishing and laughing with this little chunky monkey.

Truthfully, the thought of a house full of kids and dogs and cooking and gardening makes me smile.  I told Stephen the other night I want three of our own and to adopt one.  He chuckled, smiled and shook his head.  He said, “Let’s make it through this one first, okay?”

He’ll come around.

She’s [this close] to crawling.  I’m expecting it any day now.

She pops up on all fours, rocks, does a little hoppy thing with her knees, rocks more, then flops back down.  As soon as she gets her arms involved, I think we’ll have mobility.

Scary.

Exciting.

Scary.

I still can’t believe this is her first Christmas.

[our] first Christmas as a [family]

There are more stockings hung up.  And a box of baby presents for her to try to eat.

It’s

So

Exciting

Gosh so many happies today!

First, I woke up this morning to THIS!

I will be buying [everything] she makes now because I’m so so SO thrilled…

Secondly, Olivia is SEVEN MONTHS OLD today!  Pics and separate post forthcoming.

Third, it is Olivia’s first Christmas and, when she went down for a nap yesterday, there was no tree.  When she woke up, there was a tree in the front room.

So my happy picture? Olivia’s first Christmas tree ever…

It’s a naked tree, but she doesn’t care.  It has pretty, soft branches that fit [perfectly] in her chubby little hands.

So, so so happy…

For more info on the Finding the Happy Project, including the rules, read all about it here.

Don’t forget to grab the button and come back every Monday to link up your Happy!

Finding the Happy: Our Happy Collection of Links