Alivia's 6 Month Pictures!!

Did I just type that she is 6 months old.  HOLY COW....more on that later. 

As part of our holiday time we took a trip back to Sidney and had pictures taken while we were there. I have a lot of posting to catch up from the holiday but that will have to happen later. For now I want to share the link to Alivia’s 6 month pictures. You can view the proofs as many times as you wish until Jan. 20th.  Enjoy!!


http://www.kellyhighbyphotography.com/slideshows/
Password - ahern

Kelly posted a blog post about our session as well.  Check it out here...
http://kellyhighby.typepad.com/kelly_highby_photography_/2010/01/alivia-at-6-months.html

All I want for Christmas.....

So like most people around here, our Christmas plans have completely changed.  If we had our way things would go as planned we would be getting ready to head the Charlie and Vicki's for Christmas Eve dinner around 4:30, going to 9:00 PM service which I would be leading/singing, coming home to get gifts ready, headed for Firth bright and early to spend Christmas day with my side of the family and then coming back to spend the day after Christmas with Tom's side.  BUT instead, Tom will be doing snow removal, we will not be heading to Charlie and Vicki's, we will not be attending 9:00 service (it was cancelled), we will not be going to Firth or seeing my family for Christmas (for the first time ever).  We are praying hard that we will get to go to Jamie and Darren's for Christmas morning in hopes to spend at least some of Christmas with family.  We knew we wanted Alivia's first Christmas to be one to remember but this isn't exactly what we had in mind. 

Although Alivia is too young to really understand this is what she thinks!!

Regardless, we will be spending this Christmas feeling extremely blessed.  We had a very exciting 2009 and can only hope 2010 will be just as great!!

Merry Christmas To All........

Just wanted to share our Christmas Card from this year!!

Front

Back

Good Things Come in Small Packages.......

5 months old!!

WOW...Time flies. Alivia is 5 months old!! She is doing great and we couldn't be happier! I just can't help but think how lucky and blessed we are to have her in our lives. She is such a joy!

I wanna win a computer!!

Oh, what I would do for another computer!!

Oh, what I could do with another computer!!

Well, maybe I'll win one!!

Check out this post by MckMama - HP Touchsmart Giveaway!!

See the resemblance?

Do you see it?  Can you guess who this is?

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you guessed it!!

granMasue and Livi Lulu!!

Playing Catch Up....

I have had this post started, erased and restarted a number of times.  I seem to not have enough hours in the day to work, do household chores, have quality family time, attend church activities, work on designs, etc. So needless to say the blog seems to fall to the bottom of the list.  Life has been a little crazy for the last month trying to settle into a normal routine.  It seems just as we find some sort of normal balance something comes up.  Here is a short recap...

I went back to work 4 days a week.  It seems to work out really well.  About the time I start to wish I didn't have to work it is Thursday so I only have to make it through the day to be able to spend 3 days with her before having to work again.  Daly's has been really great in that if I have to be at home with Alivia for any given reason I can usually make up my hours from home.  I have a work laptop and the ability to connect to our network allowing me to easily work on my project from home. 

A few weeks back Tom had to have surgery on his wrist.  It has been bothering him for quite some time so he finally got it checked out to find that he had broken it years back.  We are talking when he was a senior in high school.  Over the years it healed incorrectly damaging nerves, causing the growth of bone spurs and arthritis.  He had surgery to remove the nerves, bone spurs and arthritis that will help with the pain for the time being but he will have to have a second surgery in a few years to correct the original break site.  The second surgery will take his mobility down quite a bit so he thought it best to hold off until he isn't doing as much on job sites. 

Here is Alivia waiting patiently for Daddy to get out of surgery!

Tom has also been busy with a few other fun things as well.  I will share more on this when it comes closer to the time.  It's pretty exciting though...stay tuned!

Thanksgiving was great!!  We had so much to be thankful for this year!!  It is amazing the turn of events we have been through over the last couple years.  We have defeated major conflicts, strengthened many wonderful relationships especially our marriage, developed new interests and hobbies, but our biggest accomplishment this year was the birth of our sweet baby girl. 

I mean who wouldn't be thankful for these cheeks!!

We were able to spend time with both our families over this Thanksgiving Holiday.  My mom came in on Wednesday night and stayed with us until Sunday.  We spent Turkey day with Tom's immediate and extended family, my mom, and Tom's sister's in-laws.  We had a feast!!  The best part...I got to partake!!  Alivia's pediatrician said that at 4 months we could do a dairy test where I didn't restrict dairy from my diet for a meal.  Well of course I chose to use Thanksgiving as my test day.  I mean who wants to look at all that amazing food only to not be able to eat any of it.  I am happy to announce it seems to have been ok (knock on wood).  I am slowly re-introducing dairy into both our diets.  Friday, my mom and I got up early for some Black Friday shopping.  5am at Wal-mart will never happen again for me.  The holiday spirit seemed to have been expressed in the form of selfishness and greed.  We did get one of the two items we tried to buy but for the amount of money we saved, I think the sleep would have been worth more.  That evening we traveled down to Lincoln to meet Beth, Randy and Ethan for dinner.  It was really good to all be together!  Ethan is getting to be such a big boy!  He just adores his cousin Alivia!  After dinner we ventured over to the mall to see Santa!!  Well - Alivia sat and smiled at Santa but Ethan on the other hand wanted nothing to do with him.

Alivia's first Santa experience!

(Probably the last good one for a couple years)

 

We were also able to get together with some of Tom's friends over the Holiday. There were almost as many kiddos as there were adults. This is the daddy's and their babies.  Alivia is 4 months, Gianna is 5 months, and Jaden is 11 months.  Bella, Gianna's big sister was there as well.  She is 3 and one of the most polite little girls I have ever met!!  We had so much fun with everyone.  Too bad we can't get all together more often.  We just need to get Jason and Eric to move back to Omaha!

We started cereal last week too.  We had heard many different opinions as to the best time to start but with the recommendation of our pediatrician and the developmental milestones she was meeting we decided to give it a try.  The verdict is in and Alivia loves it!!  She gets so excited when we put her in the high chair with the bib because she knows what's coming.

Do I have something on my face?

MMmmmm it's CEREAL!!

AHHH...this was a long post!!  I will make a mad attempt to update sooner next time!

a week of Gratitude....

I'm stealing this idea from a friend who stole it from another friend.

I LOVE Thanksgiving. It comes with great food and great family time!! It is time that we actually speak what we are thankful for, but should it be the only time?

I take part in a Gratitude email group where we take time each day and email each other what we are grateful for that day. It helps me start the day positive or start the day over when things go differently than I would like. I am however guilty of forgetting to do my list some days or forgetting what I included on my list earlier in the day.

So……..

What would it look like if I ONLY spoke words of gratitude the entire week of Thanksgiving? If when looking at the mess that currently resides in our home, dreading the mass amount of cleaning that is yet to be done, and instead think and speak out loud, “God, thank you for this home that provides us shelter and comfort.” When my daughter cries in discontent, I respond saying “God, thank you that she has a voice to let me know that something is wrong or that she wants her mama.” If while in conversation I thank that person for the things they bring to my life, always finding a reason to be grateful for them as a person no matter how challenging.

So, starting this Monday morning and going through this Sunday evening, I'm challenging myself to live an entire week full of thanksgiving.

Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:4 ESV)

Anytime I'm tempted to think/say/do something negative (filthy, foolish, crude or otherwise unthankfull), I will instead choose, in that very moment, to give thanks to God for His blessing in my life. If you'd like to join me, please leave a comment saying so AND repost this (in our own words, if you'd like...no need to link me) on your blog, twitter, facebook, etc. and challenge your friends to do the same. Even if you're not reading this until after Monday morning, it's never too late to take up a good challenge. And, keep in mind that nobody who takes this challenge is going to make it an entire week without missing the mark...so, when that happens to you, just pick yourself back up and start again!

Thanks!
Sabrina

Jump Jump

Jump Jump

The Mac Dad will make you Jump Jump

The Daddy Mac will make you Jump Jump

Fisher Price will make you Jump Jump

uh huh uh huh Jump Jump

The Mac Dad will make you Jump Jump

The Daddy Mac will make you Jump Jump

Fisher Price will make you Jump Jump

Not Me Monday........

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.



It’s Monday……and time to check off the list of things I wouldn’t admit to doing.

I did not religiously check http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ and MckMama’s twittering last week to follow their latest SVT episode. And I most definitely did not sob tears of joy to read that they had their homerun miracle!! But I will admit that we were PRAYING HARD and OFTEN for Stellan, MckMama and their entire family.

I won’t have considered throwing a tantrum like a 5 year-old because there is an issue with my licensing of my design programs on my personal computer. I can’t imagine allowing myself to continue that tantrum a day later when I was forced to use older versions of the same software on our desktop computer.

Because Tom had surgery on his wrist Friday and can’t help out with as much right now, I definitely did not hand my daughter to one of his friends visiting to occupy her while I tried to cook and mash the potatoes that I won’t have committed to making for our LifeGroup Thanksgiving dinner. I would have considered how impossible making 10lbs of mashed potatoes would be with a 4-month old and a husband recovering from surgery.

I most definitely did not almost hit Tom’s truck, while not speeding out of the driveway, when I wasn’t attempting to use my car as a means of calming my sweet baby girl.

And lastly…… I didn’t receive the 30% Gap Friends and Family coupon multiple times from multiple people (who all know how much I love Baby Gap) along with the one I was emailed from Gap. And, I wouldn’t have been so excited about my 30% coupon that I planned out what I was going to purchase for Christmas presents to keep me from overspending. And then I most definitely wouldn’t currently be wearing a sweater that I didn’t buy with the reasoning that it was 30% off!! I would never consider buying a sweater that I could ask for as a Christmas gift.

Trick or Treat

Alivia the Duck

Foofa (aka Ayla), Livi Duck, and Conductor Caleb

Pep Talk

Mmmm......Candy is so good!!

(Don't worry she didn't eat it!)