We're headed to SC! Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to Everyone!

Anonymous

This morning when I finished feeding Peyton, I put her in the swing in the living room and noticed a card on the floor. Someone had slid it under the door at some point. So I open it up, totally expecting a card and maybe a picture of someone (I love getting the cards and finding pictures in them). Anyway, boy was I surprised! Someone anonymously sent us a card with money. There is not a more humbling moment than when you know you've been blessed by God and you did absolutely nothing to deserve it. Granted we're not the richest people in the world, but we're also not the poorest. So why should we be blessed with such a generous gift? My conclusion....there is no reason in the world, God is just good to us even though we've done nothing to earn it. SO, I wanted to write this post this morning to give all the praise and glory to God! He continues to bless His children in spite of ourselves. He's been so good to us this Christmas season!

Being a Zombie

And I thought I knew what sleep deprevation was in college! Suddenly, the new norm changes. See, before I was pregnant, 9 hours of sleep a night was the norm. If I got less than around nine hours, I felt tired. Then when I got pregnant and started getting up and going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I thought that if I only went once or twice, I was doing good. Any more than that, and I was really tired. Now at this point, I was still getting eight or nine hours a night, but with a few interruptions here and there. HOWEVER, now if I get three uninterrupted hours of sleep at a time, I just want to praise the Lord. Last night, I slept for fours hours, with an hour "break" in between. FOUR HOURS!! And suddenly, the new norm is set...if I get six total hours or seven a night (even though it's still broken), I feel so good the next morning. Our little angel isn't into sleeping much at night. She doesn't think it's cool. She is slowly leading her mommy and daddy to a complete state of zombiehood.

I am so excited about Christmas and the fact that I get a break and get to go home and visit family and friends. Please pray for us that we would have a safe trip to SC, and that our little bundle of joy would be a good little girl. We had another colic episode this morning. And we thought we were past that!

And here's a fudge recipe I thought I would share. This is the best fudge ever. I make it every year at Christmas. You can also find it on the back of a jar of marshmallow creme.



3 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 small can (5 oz.) evaporated milk (about 2/3 cup) (Do not use sweetened condensed milk.)
1-1/2 pkg. (12 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, chopped or 1 pkg. (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 jar (7 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallow Creme
1 cup chopped PLANTERS Walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla

LINE 9-inch square pan with foil or 9 x 13 pan, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan; set aside. Place sugar, butter and evaporated milk in large heavy saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil on medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 min. or until candy thermometer reaches 234°F, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.
ADD chocolate and marshmallow creme; stir until completely melted. Add walnuts and vanilla; mix well.
POUR immediately into prepared pan; spread to form even layer in pan. Let stand at room temperature 4 hours or until completely cooled; cut into 1-inch squares. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.

She's praising the Lord in her sleep

Back to Work

Going back to work when your baby is two months old is so hard! As I've stated before I like my job, but leaving little Peyton at home makes me want to cry. Actually, I have several times
:( Arnold is taking care of her this week, which I'm happy about, but little babies still need their mamas! One nice thing is that my work threw me a little book shower for Peyton on Monday, my first day back. Instead of people bringing the normal baby shower fare, they brought children's books so that Peyton could start building her "library" just like her daddy. She got some really great books. Arnold brought her to William Carey for the shower, but she only lasted about thirty minutes then got upset.
The other nice thing is that I get off for the Christmas holidays next Wednesday and don't have to be back until January 7!!!

So, I have plenty of pictures of her in my office as I sit and type this (sshhh! don't tell work!) and drink my hot chocolate (my alternative to coffee and lots of caffeine...though I desperately could use A LOT of caffeine at this point). And the past nine weeks went by so quick that it seems as if they never happened. And that's life isn't it?

Two Months

Two months. Hard to believe it, but Peyton has been with us for two months. Joy will be going back to work on Monday and I will stay at home with Peyton for about a week. We went on our first big outing yesterday. We spent most of the day at the mall wandering around. They have a great train ride set up for the kids and Santa is around for some pics with the kids. I really want some pics of Peyton with Santa for her first Christmas, but it is chaos at the mall. I can't tell you how many times people almost walked right into her in the stroller.

I told Joy that I planned to take Peyton to the movies next week. I think I may try and take her to see that movie about the princess who ends up in New York. The weather has been so great here that we will probably go to the park and play some ball or something. I have a whole list of great stuff we are going to do next week. It is going to be so great to be able to spend so much time with my daughter.

-arnold

Charlie Brown

Of course I had to put a picture of the baby on here!


We decorated a gingerbread house last night. Yummy!

Last night as I was flipping through the channels, I landed on Charlie Brown Christmas Story. I decided to watch it since it had really been years since I had seen a Charlie Brown tv special. One of my favorite parts is to see the characters dancing in preparation for the Christmas play. They dance the same way I do. :) Anyway, Charlie Brown brings his Christmas tree back to the school where they are practicing for the play and presents it to everyone. Of course they all make fun of him for picking out a goofy, pitiful tree. Charlie Brown becomes frustrated as all the kids are laughing at him, exclaiming, "What is the meaning of Christmas?! Can anybody tell me?!" Linus then appears and begans reciting the story of Jesus' birth from the gospels. For Linus understands that the true meaning of Christmas is not in all the commercialism but in the celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. "This is what Christmas is all about," says Linus.

This Christmas has been very busy for me as I take care of a new little baby. My time is extremely limited because little babies demand quite a bit of attention. It's in my nature to want to go, go, go, and do, do, do, especially at Christmas. But I was reminded again last night, through a little cartoon character, what Christmas is really all about. So with the little time I have this year, it's my goal to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas. "and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger..." Luke 2:7

Random Bits

Go LSU! We're happy LSU is in the national championship game! (Of course deep down I'm really still a Tigers fan...that is the Clemson Tigers).

For those of you who may be wondering and whom I haven't talked to in a few weeks.....we are, at this point, planning to come to South Carolina for Christmas sometime around the 21st. This normally 10 hour trip is probably going to take us 13 or so. And I'm not even sure how we're going to pack everything in our Honda. But I really want to come, and I know there are a lot of family members who want to see Peyton.

Friday was Peyton's shots. She did pretty good all things considered. I mean, she only bit the doctor once. Just kidding. She weighed 10 lbs. 7 oz. and is 22 inches long. She's growing like a weed!