Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Decoration-less for Xmas

I love the holidays, but this year it seems to be passing by in a big blur.  With the little one and now the anticipation of returing to work, I've barely had time to acknowledge the fact that Christmas is only a few weeks away.

Cluttered rooms make me feel claustrophobic, and I've always liked minimal, simple decorations for the holidays.  With our small living room already filled with furniture and miscellaneous baby items, getting a tree is out of the question.  However, I still want the house to feel a little festive and this picture from Ohdeedoh would be great for our space.  Unfortunately, we have a big flatscreen TV above our mantle, but the stockings, twinkle lights, and knicknacks might work. 

I love the chalk-drawn fire in the fireplace!  So cute...

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

2 month update

At the beginning of the year, one of my resolutions was to be more consistent at writing blogs.  I've failed somewhat miserably at this.  Though I tried justifiying this because of the pregnancy and being a first-time mom, they aren't the best excuses because I see lots of pregnant and/or FTMs that somehow find the time to update their blogs.  These women must either have clones of themselves or not sleep more than 2 hours a day. 

Every year around this time, I say the same thing - "I can't believe the year's almost over!"  What's really scary is that time seems to go faster on a daily basis.  I clearly remember writing my first blog post  back in September 2009 while traveling for recruiting trips, and now it's already been over a year since then.  Ever seen the episode of "Twilight Zone" where a man finds a stopwatch that stops time?  I need one of those.

November has flown by and Aaron's grown tremendously.  He's almost double his birthweight - currently at 10 lbs. 11 oz.  Granted, he was a tiny baby...but still!  I'm a little sad that he's no longer the wee little newborn swimming in his baby clothes.  My eyes got a little watery as I put away some of the clothes that no longer fit him because he's outgrown them. 

I'm returing to work in less than 2 weeks, and each day my heart aches a little more thinking about it.  The first few weeks of motherhood, I was itching to get back to my old life and return to work, craving that sense of normalcy and the "good old days" because I was so tired and overwhelmed.  I missed the silence of our house pre-baby, and the prospect of a solid 8 (or more) hours of sleep after a long day of work.  How things have changed...how I've changed!  I don't mind getting up at 3AM to the sounds of Aaron's cries for food.  Squeezing in a shower during naptime and wearing the same spit-up stained clothes for days on end isn't so bad either.  Hanging out at home amusing Aaron with faces and babytalk isn't boring - the smiles they bring forth are worth it. 

I've always feared that I was born without a maternal bone in my body, and the first month of motherhood almost made me feel like this was confirmed.  It took a while to bond with little Aaron, and now I can't imagine life without him.  Gladly, I give up sleeping in, drinking alcohol, and my overall independence for him.  Being a mother is the hardest thing I've done, but the rewards are totally worth it!