Christmas {In Pictures}

Christmas Eve and Christmas were special days for us. Although I didn't grow up celebrating, I love getting together with family. Here's some pictures that document our holiday.  From our family to yours, Merry Chrismakkah and Happy New Year!

Scenes from Christmas Eve...

Dylan joins his 6 cousins- all boys!

Christmas Day...

My favorite gift...

Merry Holidays! Here's to a happy and healthy 2013!!!

Thanksgiving 2012: Mostly in Pictures

(Thanksgiving- WHAT?!?!? Another post I started weeks ago, figured I better get it up since Christmas is in two days!)

Thanksgiving 2012 was just a wee bit different than past years.

Mainly because of this guy.

I'm beyond thankful for my little man.  I can't imagine my world without him.  He has made us so incredibly happy and has brought so much joy to our life.

Dylan + his 3 Cousins.

Dylan, Xara, Enzo and Dante. Xara is two weeks older than Dylan and the twins are 5 months older.  

It was just so much fun to have al the babies together...

And well the food was pretty delicious as well!

Starting with our brined 20 pound turkey!

Sliced perfectly by Dave!

Another favorite- Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Dried Cranberries and Pomegranates. 

A Delicious Mesculin Green Salad with Feta, Dried Cranberries, Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions and Candied Pecans.

Maple Chicken Sausage Stuffing with Butternut Squash and Dried Cranberries 

Butternut Squash, Kale and Cheddar Bread Pudding

Candied Sweet Potatoes

There was a ton of other food, but I didn't take a picture of everything.  

Maple Gingerbread Cupcakes...

Action dinner shot...

We even had handmade by my cousin's 3 year old Zoe- place-cards.  How precious are these?

My plate of fabulous food...

Another angle...

Special pictures from the day...

My nana with her 5 grandbabies.  All the kids are wearing I LOVE BUBBIE shirts!

My baby, me and my Nana.

It was such a wonderful holiday with such delicious food and fabulous company!  And one of my brothers babies took his first steps.  Couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving.  Looking forward to Christmas and sharing these precious memories with Dylan.

True Meaning of Busy...

I've fallen off the blog-wagon... AGAIN.  I have so many posts in my head and so many things I want to write and no real time to do it.  And when I do have time to actually write something on this blog, all I want to do is crash. Like take a long hot shower.  Get into bed.  Watch the junk on my DVR. Read blogs.

Yep, I'm still reading all your blogs like crazy... but I feel like I don't actually have the time or willpower to write.  Last month I looked into joining the Blogher network and I was about to fill out the application when I saw this:

We're looking for blogs:

• written by women, or with a demonstrated female audience
• with excellent content that engages a community
• that are updated weekly (preferably twice a week, or more)

Yep. See that last part.  Blogs that updated WEEKLY.  It may not seem like a lot to many of you, but for me, getting a weekly post up has been impossible.  Being a full-time-working-mother is hard work.  Adding in an hour + commute each way and it's even tougher. I love spending time with Dylan but I also love my job.  It's been a tough balance because I wanted to go back to work.  I didn't have to.

An older woman in my office said to me when I came back, "You know in my day, we didn't need two salaries so I could easily be a stay-at-home mom."  I found it interesting that she naturally assumed I HAD TO work not that I wanted to work.  And then if you admit you didn't HAVE to work, does it make you sound like a bad mom?

Then on the other end of the spectrum, I work with some women who are all about detachment parenting. Women who would never dare attempt to breastfeed.  Women who don't have to work or want to work but rather women who work because they couldn't imagine taking care of a baby 24/7.

For me, in the situation I'm currently in, I want to work but that doesn't make me love my son any less. I am beyond obsessed with him and think about him all day long everyday. I have an album for every month of his life with an average of 300 pictures in each one.  I look at those photos several times a day.

But, I just often wonder about how busy I USED to think I was.  I didn't know busy until now. One of my best friends Stephanie wrote this post on her blog and I couldn't agree more.  Stef's baby is a month and a half older than Dylan.

the new normal is so much harder than the old normal. what did we use to do with all our time?! how did i not always have a clean house, dinner on the table and perfectly defined abs?! now i have someone else to get dressed and fed in the morning. a dryer full of clean clothes to fold that are not mine. an extra 20 tiny little nails to trim. milk to thaw. bottles to wash, sterilize and fill 5 nights a week. bath time. story time. play time. lots of play time.
last week dane was in a talent show at his day care. there were "performances" by each age group and all the parents were invited. there was food, refreshments and a band playing (i laughed to myself about the band who landed a gig playing at a day care center). i looked around the playground and said out loud, "ALL of these parents work". there was probably a hundred moms there who ALL juggle work and kids. it was good for me to see because i have spent all this time feeling bad for myself.. like what i was doing was so extraordinary. this is the norm. it finally sunk in that this is just the new normal.

What I'm doing everyday, what other working mothers are doing everyday, is just the new normal. I can't imagine the old normal anymore and honestly I wouldn't want to.  Because this new normal is so worth it.

Don't you think?

I'm currently home from work with a sick baby.  I started this post over a month ago and I finally have a second to publish it while Dylan is napping.  I still have other things to post- Thanksgiving and running updates.  Yep, I've been running!