can i?

Can I brag ? We're so close (you and I) that you won't mind that I brag right now and tell you that as of last night it is official: I am now a mama to TWO babies that sleep TWELVE hours a night.

Do you see? Do you see the glory in what I just wrote? This goes beyond huge. This is more in the category of humongous. I think it was their Christmas present to me.

As much as I love the holidays, I'm actually kind of happy that we're moving on to the new year---the explosion of all things Christmas turned my house into a war zone. One I have yet to conquer.

I have the most horrid habit of coming home from trips and leaving my bags packed fo'eva. After a Spring Break trip in college, I left that bag packed until the next Spring Break trip...an entire year later. Worst part is, that doesn't embarrass me at all. When JR gets irritated at my Natalie'isms, I just tell him, that makes me who I am. That irritates him all the more :)

Oh, my point was--as I do my unpacked bags, I would like to do with our Christmas stuff. Just leave my tree up year round and decorate it with seasonal items. Yeah? Leave the nutcrackers up, etc...my husband is strongly against this, so eventually Christmas will come down. I guess.

...and so, because this post was simply to tell of the joy that has filled our home since we turned a new leaf in our levels of sleep--I can tell you that I wake up singing harmonious songs, breakfast is served piping hot every single morning, all of the laundry is done by 5pm, and every night a new recipe is served.

THE LIES!!!!!!!!! I still wake up cursing the rise of the sun, my singing doesn't start until I've spiked myself with a few espresso's, breakfast is oatmeal or eggs (those are your options, Mon-Fri), it takes me a week to do all of our laundry, and the recipe I tried last night was no bueno. Fail.

Either way, I am more pleasant to be around with more sleep behind my eyes. Yes!!! You're welcome.

Lastly, I leave you with the best family picture we got the whole wknd. What a heinous look on my face! It looks like I HATE SANTA. I got made fun of for this snapshot. I'll show it to you, because you're my bffff. I hope your Christmas was good, fantastic, and so many kinds of merry!

our Christmas gift

This year, we've been blessed in an obviously inexplicable way...

As a family of four, this year we celebrate Christmas eternally thankful for not only one healthy, precious, and beautiful baby BUT for TWO healthy, precious, and beautiful babies.

It is us, JR-myself-and our Bear, who have received the greatest gift under the tree.

Daddy got his 'baby girl', I got my princess, and Hudson got his Sissy Belle.

Jingle Joggers?

This is too funny not to share.

Me, running. This is me, not on a stretcher {how JR thought I'd leave the race}.

This actually, is the iPhone evidence of us post-'run'. It was a 5k, a small feat for you...a marathon for me. 3.2 miles for you, is like 26 for me. The only exercise my body has endured in the last three years would be giving birth to my babies, and I was loaded up on some epidural.

I was sans epidural for this run, and by the last of it I thought my lungs were going to explode for it was a frigid Oklahoma tundra out there, the cold air felt like knives in my throat and I'm a giant baby. The elements got to me, yes? I ran with two fellow friends, they actually ran ahead of me. Eventually, I did catch up to Emily and Elizabeth and be it the cold, the prospect of cupcakes waiting for us at the finish line {yes, really---and they were frozen. Fail.} but, we MISSED the finish line and kept going. Only to later realize, we were the only ones doing so. Who does that? Who misses the finish line? Me. Us. Me and my friends.

Our husbands rooted us on during the race, from the car. Lucky ducks.

My New Year's resolution for 2011 is to do a wholelotta 5k's. How stupid of me. I already hate myself for burdening myself with such a task. I failed miserably at this one, because I'm too embarrassed to tell you that it took me an hour to finish the ol' Jingle Jog. You do the math.

Again, E for effort. Can you see the competitive beams of light I radiate? um, no.

december happenings/major catch'n up

The only appropriate way to follow up a Thanksgiving post the week before Christmas is to do a recap December post. Can you tell I'm frantically trying to fill you in? I should get an E for effort.

The day the tree goes up is a big day at our house, officially marking the beginning of Christmas---this year, there was a little extra anticipation for JR and I...as this is the first year to see Hudson notice a Christmas tree for the very first time. His reaction was as magical as I had wished for.

All of the holiday season is infinitely more exciting and wonderful through the eyes of my babies.

It's also the perfect excuse to outfit my babes, in their Christmas gear. Seriously, how fun!

oh! and the most perfect excuse to PARTY! Baby party, that is. We have a few college friends, all of whom have had babies within the last 3 months---so we hosted a college reunion/baby party and called it our 'Show Off Your Baby Party'. Brilliant. We had a slew of food, a slew of babies, adult beverages, more pack n' plays, diapers, and bottles than you ever did see. It was plain awesome. {Tommy holding Belle Monroe, JR & Aspen Sage, Ryan & Reyd Parker, Blake & Camden Russell}

Our Christmas celebrations have been many, with a few more to go. I have no complaints, and neither does Hudson. He was bewildered with the decorations at his Nanny's house. The lights, the toys, the tree...oh my.

We've had the chance to hang out with some friends that we don't often see {what a treat}, and Hudson never minds hanging out with some pretty girls---these red headed beauties, he is quite fond of. We happen to be quite fond of their parents, too :)

No Christmas is complete without the meeting of Santa. This is how ours went this year:

Bear turned 16 months old, and Baby Belle celebrated her 3 month birthday.

We are currently in transition of removing Hudson's 'bopper' {aka, pacifier} as he's learned how to shove the entire thing in his mouth. Hello, scare my pants off. It is not going well. Any recommendations? He thinks it is a part of his anatomy, and I am not sad to see it go as it inhibits us from seeing those big teeth he's got sprouting and hearing the few words he's building in his baby vocabulary. For the record, he calls me 'mama' only in moments of need---but overall, I am referred to as 'gaga' by my baby boy. Yes, yes. Gaga.

I have a tendency to spoil my babies. There is no way I can help it. Their grandparents, too, seem to have the inability to help themselves either when it comes to these babes.

A few early Christmas presents have been opened, and Hudson got his very first Christmas cupcake from his Abuelos. We ended up with chocolate reindeer cupcake, in every room of the house. If there's such a thing as a cute mess, this was it.

These babies have parents, I know you don't see us much. We do exist, and we actually have 7 pictures together from all of 2010. More or less. Here are three of the seven. I'll let you guess which one is the most 'jr & nat'.

BINGO.

It's now Tuesday, the week of Christmas, and I have not one present wrapped. I have high hopes of accomplishing this maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow? I'm kind of obsessed with trying new recipes lately, thus delaying my gift wrapping. Excuses, excuses. I know. Don't hate.

This ain't even it, y'all. There's still all of this week! My new curtains just came in, I'm still working on Belle's room---so stick around'ish, check in on us---so that I can continue sharing what the rest of 2010 bears for us.

sand, surf, turkey {updated)

{I bragged on our stroller find, and never posted the name of it. I would. It is a Baby Jogger City Mini Double, and we love love love and love it.}

It's a cloudy, potentially snowy day in the OK--and I've started my morning quite early with Hudson and my espresso. Belle Monroe is our last to wake up, thanking the starry heavens above for babies that love their sleep.

It's quite early for this level of pep, so I'll seize the moment and give you a mini-recap of our Thanksgiving holiday at the beach. By now, my reader friend, you...you know of our love of Miami and all that comes with. We're big fans, and after looking back thru our pictures it is quite obvious that my babies too, will be even bigger fans I hope.

I find it very important that my tiny's feel the sand in their toes at a very early age, I think it's an essential part of their development :) This is true.

There are few things I have found more precious and cute, than my babies tiny feet in the sand.

Hudson came from the womb, a rather fearless tiny tot, thus turning our relaxing days at the beach into quite the task as we try and keep our Bear from running head first into the blue Miami waters. ohmystars.

Are you still there? Probably not. I thought I'd post a few pictures, but a few is swiftly turning into millions. gah. I'll continue, in hopes, that you too are eyes wide open with your Hudson and your espresso and looking for something to read this morning. eh? yes.

See that double stroller above. I could be the spokesperson for it. I love it as much as I love food. We were at the Miami airport upon arriving, and we saw people like 'us'. I'm like stroller patrol. I'll check you out if your stroller fascinates me. There are so many doubles out there, but some weigh 475 lbs, others are too long, but this one----oh, this one. We asked the nice couple how they liked it, and they more or less told us it was do or die with two babies. Ok, done. We bought one in Miami, and left our now lesser-loved stroller, the Chicco in the great state of Florida.

Every month I get teased by JR, because it is every month that Hudson and Belle turn one month older that I find myself saying, "this is my favorite time with him/her, he's/she's so fun at this age!"...but how can it be? how can every new month with these babies be better than than the one before? I'm baffled I tell you. Baffled by the boundless love and obsession I have with these babies we've made.

I'm derailing off of my original post, but it is now 9:52 pm, well beyond the appropriate time for an espresso. This is how long it really does take me to post in one day.

I often go back to look at my pictures, and when I see the faces of my happy babies I know I've done right. Now, before you think this is a toot-your-own-horn moment---wait, wait, wait. I've done awholelotta things wrong in my days. Oh, eesh. So very many. I'm wildish of sorts. So, I used to wonder if my love and desire to be a mother, would and/or could translate into actually being a good mother.

Now, good in my book does not mean feeding my tiny's all organic, hand-picked vegetables from my very own garden that I've sown from grainy seeds--dress them in the finest of hand pressed linens--sing lullabies to them with my beautiful voice, and read to them only the classiest of tales.

Good in my book means, making sure my babies are nourished, loved, cared for, kissed, hugged and kissed and hugged more than they would even like. That they feel the endless love their daddy and I have for the both of them. I'll pull out some frozen nuggets for dinner, or shovel some peanut butter sandwiches two days in a row...there is no garden I sow, our pup would have already eaten it--there are days, the finest linens we all get dressed in are walmart sweats, and although I do sing and read to my babies everyday, it is with something very far from a beautiful voice. They will know though, one day how much we have enjoyed giving them as wonderous and blessed a life that they could ever hope for.

That being said, when I see my babies smile---I know for all the wrong I've done in my days, them I've done right. Finally. The very best thing I've ever done are the two faces of Hudson Alexander and Belle Monroe.

Every beach trip gets more and more fun with Bear, as he starts to understand more of this world and the fun it offers :) It is a joy to watch him discover more and more of his surroundings. Not much slows him down, ever. Thanksgiving morning though, he woke up with a rash covering his whole entire tiny body so off we went to the ER with our itchy, rashy, sad Bear. This slowed my Hudson down, and covered every little bit of him. Ugh.

Upon arriving home post-ER, we had family in and Mom of course, whipped up a most delicious Thanksgiving dinner---one JR said, was one of the very best he'd ever had. She's quite talented, my Ma.

I never asked JR if I was allowed to post a picture of him in an apron, but he was the official turkey cutter for the family and Mom wasn't going to give him the honors without an apron. So, as his wife and bearer of his children--I get the honor of posting the picture.

I told you...there was sand, surf, and turkey. All in one post.