NYE

A big thank you to 2012 for bringing us our sweet little Samantha. Best year ever. Excited to see what 2013 brings us all! Just hanging in tonight watching TV and eating Chinese take out. We went to a fancy wedding last night in Saratoga, so that was sort of our "NYE night out." My Mom and Stepdad watched Sam overnight and I must say I missed her TERRIBLY. May have even shed a tear or two about it at the wedding. I know, I know. I'm pathetic, supposed to be enjoying a night out and all I could think about was my princess :) However, it was very nice getting a full night's sleep! 

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2013! Cheers!

Smilebox

Smilebox is fantastic. So much fun to put together and a cute way to share your photos with family and friends. No, I have not been paid to say that :) I made one for Samantha's 1st Christmas. Check it out below!


http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d7a51344e544d334e7a413d0d0a&blogview=true

Christmas in pictures

We had a lovely Christmas with our baby girl and our families! They were so generous to both Samantha and us! It was really nice spending time with the ones who mean the most to us. We are super blessed. We even got a dusting of snow for Christmas morning! I have to say I am pretty sad that Samantha's First Christmas is over. Every year I get a little bummed when it's over, but this year was so special! I just have to keep reminding myself that there's a whole new year ahead filled with wonderful new moments with our girl :)

Biker chic

Giving a hi-five for a great Christmas!

Snacks for the big guy

I love her so much!

Another letter to my baby girl on Christmas Eve...

Maybe this will become a tradition. Here is last year's letter.

Dear Samantha,


I just read the letter I wrote to you last year when you were still in my belly. I am still in disbelief that you have been here with us for 9+ months. You have brought so much extra love and life into our home. Mommy and Daddy love you so much that it hurts sometimes. You are growing so fast and everyday brings something new. We were so excited to start celebrating your first Christmas that we got your first Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving! Since then you have been sporting many cute Christmas outfits and dresses. Your sweet face was the star of our family Christmas card. And you got to meet Santa! Today is Christmas Eve and Mommy is so very excited. To be honest, these past few weeks have been a dream come true celebrating the season with you. I dreamt about my little Christmas baby for years. Tonight we will put out cookies and milk (and carrots for Santa's reindeer) and read The Night Before Christmas. The very same book that was given to Mommy for her first Christmas. You also have a really cute pair of Christmas jammies to wear to bed tonight. This is just the beginning of many more wonderful Christmases with you. I feel so blessed to be your Mommy.

I think I hear reindeer on the roof...

Merry 1st Christmas baby girl...

Love
Mommy & Daddy

Looking back...

It's midnight here and Samantha was just up to eat and snuggle. Christmas in Washington was playing on the TV. A choir was singing O Holy Night. And I just about lost it.

As I sat near our lit Christmas tree, holding my sleepy baby girl, just me and her, I look down at her and can't stop the tears. The choir on TV singing O Holy Night, triggered a very sad memory for me...

It was 2009, we had just miscarried about two weeks before Christmas. I was devastated. We went to the late Christmas Eve service at my church and I cried through the whole service. Especially, when the church choir sang O Holy Night. I was so heartbroken at this time. I didn't understand why this happened to us. Little did we know, the struggle and heartbreak would last a few more years.

So, as I held my sweet beautiful baby tonight and listened to O Holy Night, I cried. Not sad tears but grateful tears. Grateful for it all. Grateful for the beautiful and most perfect gift that is our Princess. Grateful to God for choosing us to be her parents.

I know my posts have been lacking lately in the inspiration and encouragement department for those of you still in the struggle. I promise I have not forgotten you nor have I forgotten my own struggle and this blog community that carried me through. I guess what I just wanted to say was....

Hang in there. Keep going. Keep the faith. It will happen. Maybe not when you want or how you thought it would happen...but it will happen....

You'll look back on this moment someday and realize how did I possibly survive it all? And you will be me. Holding a sweet baby a few days before Christmas and your tears will no longer be sad tears...

Merry Christmas, blog friends.

I love ya.

Mistletoes

My friend Jill had posted this easy Christmas craft on FB. Her daughter brought it home from preschool. I thought it was wayyyy too cute not to try it with my girl! Glad I did. It is now hanging up as our Mistletoe! Gonna steal some baby kisses under it...

Key for Santa

Friggin' great :)

Some of you may have seen this article floating around FB. But if you haven't read it yet, you should. 

It's friggin' great :) You will feel 20 times better about yourself at the end of it. You're welcome.

Easy Christmas Craft

Rudolph Handprint Craft

Items needed:

Ribbon to hang (if you choose)
Sturdy white paper
Brown paint
Mini hot glue gun/glue sticks
Red pom-pom for nose
Two googly eyes

Christmas Card 2012

Here it is! Samantha's first Christmas card :) Oh, how long I waited to put my very own sweet baby on a Christmas card! Outside of the womb that is :) Last year's was an inside pic...

Sorry, it's not the best quality as I had to take a picture of the card....

Heartbreak

Our entire nation is heartbroken today. 20 sweet innocent children and 6 teachers were killed today.  I am a complete mess. Cried all afternoon. I am just so heartbroken for these families and I can't help but think of what those poor children must have seen/felt in that last moments. They were just babies. How could this have happened? Maybe it's because I am a parent now that this seems to be hitting me extra hard. I just can't imagine the indescribable pain and grief those parents must be feelings. My heart goes out to them and I will be praying for them all....

This has to stop. These senseless acts of violence...

May those babies be forever safe and beautiful and young in God arms.

Ho Ho Ho

Today was a big day! Sam had her follow-up developmental doctor appointment. Last time we saw them was in July I believe. She did great! Is right on track with her adjusted age. Even ahead in some areas (cognitive) and a teeny bit lazy is some areas (motor skills). But overall she is doing great and they have no concerns. They said they think she will start crawling in a month or two probably. One thing that concerned me that I spoke with them about was her eating habits. How she doesn't seem very into sold foods and certain textures she gags on, etc. They weren't surprised because apparently many preemies who were tube fed at some point have some eating issues. Plus, her reflux they said could have taught her that what goes down is probably coming up! So she may be "extra gaggy." They referred us to this food counselor of sorts on tips on how to make the eating experience a better one for her!

Andddd Samantha got to meet Santa today!!!! Love these pictures!! I just love her so much.

She told Santa that she wants a Red Rider BB Gun for Christmas...

Santa told her that she would shoot her eye out!

"Mom, this headband is giving me elf ears. Was that your plan all along? Santa and his elf? Ugh."

Mug Monday

9 Months!!!

Hi!

I'm back and I am 9 months old!! Can you believe it? I'll give you a minute to pick your jaw up off the floor. I know, I know. It's crazy, right?? You blinked and I'm practically off to college tomorrow. Things have been going well in my kingdom. Everyone calls me "princess" so I might as well play along and refer to my little world as a kingdom :)

Here are few big things that have been happening over the last month:

-My chompers. I have 5 teeth so far. Started out with the two bottom. Then my two (fangs/K-9's) came in (which left me looking like a little vampire for awhile!) and now I have a front top tooth coming in. So it's official! All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth people!
-I am sitting up on my own. Completely on my own and loving it! My new favorite thing is to ride in the front of a shopping cart. It's a blast.
-I must grab at every single thing I see and sometimes I must taste it too. But my little hands are quite busy playing with toys and reaching and grabbing everything. Mommy's hair is fun to pull at :) And who needs toys when I can play with Daddy's necklace!
-My exersaucer is the bomb. Seriously, you guys should try it. I have so much fun bouncing up and down and playing with all the gadgets. It's great for chilling out and watching a DVD too.
-Food. I have to say I do not have a big interest in solid foods yet. I will eat jar food, but it's not that exciting to me yet. Mommy has tried mum-mums and puffs and fruit in the mesh thing, but I am not a fan yet. I gag on most stuff.Someday soon probably I will enjoy it, but for now I would much rather play with the highchair straps and anything else I can get my hands on.
-Sleep. What's that? Unfortunately for Mommy I am not much of a sleeper. Naps are here and there and I'm still getting up about twice a night. This is a work in progress. Mommy is hopeful that I am going to sleep through the night as my Christmas gift to her. Last I checked sleeping through the night was "out of stock." So we'll see. No promises :)
-I love to smile and laugh! Still have my fussy moments here and there but for the most part I am a happy baby! It's so fun to hear my own little voice so I am constantly yelling and making noise :)
-I am starting to do better in the car! No more screaming fits! Which my parents are pretty happy about. I usually use the car time now to catch some beauty sleep or listen to Christmas music that Mommy plays over and over.
-I'm still not a big fan of tummy time, but I am putting more effort in now so that I can get my move on soon with a crawl! I have a two month buffer here with my milestones so I am taking my time! But oh boy will it be fun to play "catch me if you can" with Mom and Dad.
-Last time I was at the doctor's I was about 14lbs 4oz. So I bet now I am nearing 15. Still a peanut. Mommy is considering putting me in a custom onesie for outings that reads "Yes, I am cute. Thank you for saying so. How old am I? I am 9 months old. Yes, I am so tiny. I was a preemie." Mom has this convo all the time in stores since people are always shocked at how small I am. I'm thinking of a custom onesie that says "Small but mighty." What do you think??
-My new little cousin Dax was born this past month!
-Did you all hear about the Elmo scandal? Yeah, I don't even want to talk about it. I hope my beloved Elmo lives on. Still enjoy watching Sesame Street though!
-My First Thanksgiving was great. I did a great job sitting like a big girl at the table in my highchair. Mommy tried to feed me some mashed potatoes and I gagged on them.
-No real words yet, but my parents think they've heard me say "Daddadadadadada" but I haven't done anything on purpose yet. I may throw them a curve and have my first word be "Toys R Us" or "Honey Boo Boo" or something. I have some time to think about it.

Things that are coming up:
-Follow up developmental appointment this coming week!
-Getting my picture taken with Santa!
-My First Christmas!
-And my surgery in January :( Booooo.

All in all, it's been a good month and I happy to be a big 9 month old!!! Here are my 9 month pictures that Mommy took of me! She has way too much fun with this stuff. But I have to admit, I kind of love it too :) Mom says she'll post our Christmas card later in the month. Thanks for stopping by!

I wish you all a very merry Christmas...

Love,
Samantha Roselyn

She dressed me up as Rudolph (Santa's 9th reindeer) in honor of my 9 month birthday

I am rockin' this reindeer gig...

The Princess in person...

On this day last year we found out that we were going to be having a princess!!! One of the most exciting days of my life for sure :)

 A year later and we have our princess here in person...

And she has brought me back to life. I love you baby girl xoxo

Mug Monday

How can you not love a mug like this? :)

Snowin'

We woke up to our first real snow today! "Real" as in it coated the ground and cars. Maybe and inch or two. And it continued to snow a little bit all morning long. Which is no big deal in upstate New York, but we were so excited! It was Samantha's first time seeing snow! I stood with her at the window so she could take a look....

And a (sort of blurry) picture in front of the tree wearing a Santa hat!

Do you hear what I hear?

It's the sound of CHRISTMAS and it's coming soon! I have always LOVED Christmas. This year is gonna be like the mother of all Christmases :)

Samantha's first Christmas tree is up! Stockings are hung! And we are getting SO excited for her first Christmas!! I can't believe it after all those heartbreaking holidays of crying over not having a baby in my arms, the time has come!! And my heart is so full.

Here are some pictures of our first family ornament and Samantha's first ornament!!

Happy Birthday to our Guy...

Today is my husband's 32nd birthday!! We had a low key day. He watched football ( the Chiefs didn't even give him a birthday win! Booo!) and I made Reese's dessert bars for him. He is not much of a cake fan, so I thought he would like these. He got the whole pan to himself because I don't like peanut butter and chocolate mixed together. I also made him a funny homemade card and gave him a Starbucks gift card. We love our guy! He is so hardworking and good to us girls, he deserved a day all about him!

Samantha even made him this sign! Wow, she such a genius to be able to write at this age!!! She worked pretty hard on it ;)

Happy Birthday honey! We love you!

Forever Thankful...

"You hat me at giant pom pom."

I double dog dare you not to smile at this hat (and face!) :)

I bought this Baby Gap hat on clearance when I was pregnant. 

It's cuter on my baby that I had imagined it would be.

:)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! We are very busy and very tired! But we are doing well. Samantha's surgery is scheduled for January 24th. Getting super excited for the holidays!!! All the holidays that passed me by, being so sad that I didn't have a baby, those days are over :)
She was worth every year. She was worth every tear.

Please read.

This young girl needs some hope and love right now...


While you're out this weekend picking up the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner, please pick her up a birthday card (or get crafty and make one!) and sent it to NYC. She is battling Leukemia. Her bone marrow transplant is this week and a few days later it's her birthday. Please, take the time do this. Then go hug your kids or someone you love a little tighter....

Good morning Brilievers!! ♥ It is Friday, know what that means? THIS IS THE LAST DAY of total body radiation!! =) Can you tell we are happy? Brianna's 15th birthday is just 5 days after her transplant ... November 28th. I am asking you all to send her a birthday card to help keep her spirits up! We still have not received our permanent transplant room here at the hospital, so please continue to use our address at the Ronald McDonald House.
Brianna Chase
c/o RMH Room 510
405 E 73rd St
NY, NY 10021

I'll tell ya what I'm thankful for this year, my daughter's good health...

Thanks xo

8 Months of Love

Wow, have I been MIA or what?? Sorry 'bout that. Life has been very busy, exhausting and wonderful all at  the same time. Since I'm so tired this is going to be a bullet point style post. Call me lazy. I'm okay with that.

• On the 3rd we took Samantha to Boston to have a specialist look at her Hemangioma. We thought the ride was going to be a rough one, since Sam hates the car. But she surprised us and did pretty well overall. On the way home I did have to sit in the back with her for a bit and play some Elmo DVD's on the portable DVD player. Thank God for that thing. The doc checked her out and his clan (he had a lot of people with him) decided that the best thing to do would be to take it off. Meaning, SURGERY. They think because of it's size that it most likely won't go away completely and would probably leave her looking a bit hunchback. They said at some point it would need to come off, it is very large and deep, and that doing it now while she's little would be best because she would recover quickly. My husband and I expected that's what they would say. But it doesn't mean we aren't slightly freaking out. The thought of my baby going under and having surgery makes me want to sob, but I'm holding it together. They would be doing the surgery in Boston this January. We will probably be there a few days. Ugh, not looking forward to it :( 
• On the 4th, Samantha was Baptized!!! It was such a great day. So many friends and family came out to celebrate with us. It was really special and she looked so beautiful in her dress! The dress she wore was made by my Nana and all of us cousins (as well as a few other people) have worn it. So it's pretty special. There were a few other babies being baptized that day, and Samantha did great! At one point, my husband said to me "How is it all the other babies are crying and ours is not??" Thanks to our parents she had a beautiful reception after. I will post pictures of that soon.
• On the 6th, Sam "voted" in her first election!!! We heart Obama. 
• On the 8th, she turned 8 months old! I can hardly believe it!! She is such a happy/smiley baby now! It's so great! She still has her moments, but she has come a longgggg way! 
• Sleep has still been pretty rough. As in, I am not getting any. She gets up a few times a night. Trying everything, but I think a big part of this is teething. We did get her an amber teething necklace. 
• She has THREE teeth now! TEETH actual TEETH :) And they are sharp! It's so cute because she has the two front bottom ones and then this random one off to the side on top! We call it her "snaggletooth." 
• She loveeess her exersaucer!! 
• One thing that just melts my heart lately, is that when I sing " You are my sunshine" to her now, she gets this big smile on her face! She recognizes the song now :) Turns me into a puddle. 
• I tried those puffs with her the other day, but she is not ready for them yet. Kind of gagged on them and then I felt horrible about it.
• She enjoys hangin' with her baby girlfriends Kaya and Amelia. See pictures of pure cuteness below. 
• Nothing much new with me still on the job search and interviewing. Started a diet on Sam's 8 month birthday. Not going too well! But I am trying! 
• Looking forward to spending the upcoming holidays with my baby girl! Such dream come true. Christmas can't come soon enough :)

Amelia and Sam enjoying each other's company

My little beauty

Hangin' in Amelia's exersaucer

Sam and Kaya at her baptism recpetion (we changed her into a "party dress")

Mini BFF's

Happy girl!

This is the new cheesy smile she gives us! haha

Momma's little turkey

"Check out my cool boots."

So thankful for this girl.

Cutie pie

I can't believe I did this to her :)

Silly girl

So, my little princess is 8 months now. This means in 4 more months, she will be a year old. WHAT???

Halloween Happiness

Samantha's first Halloween!!! Exciting stuff. Although, we didn't do trick or treating, just stopped at my in laws. Next year we will take her out! Today is also my brother's birthday!!! Sam must have been pretty excited about Halloween, because she was up for the day at 3:15 am. Yup, you read that right. I almost cried. She just didn't seem to want to go back down after she ate and I tried everything! But she was smiling and talking and screaming away, I just knew she thought it was rise and shine time. No, sweet girl it wasn't haha But thankfully after awhile, I put her in her swing and turned on her elmo video and I layed on the couch. Eventually she went back out for a bit and I got a short nap in. But I praying history doesn't repeat itself tonight!! Poor girl, I know her teeth are really bothering her lately. She has the two front bottom ones in and this one k-9 tooth (we call it the snaggletooth, haha) that's up on top. It looks so funny. She should have been a Vampire for Halloween :) 

Pretty little ladybug

Matching accessories..bow matches bag...it's a girl thing...

Best trick or treat bag ever! Nana bought it for her off Etsy.

"Hmmm if they won't let me eat any candy, I'm going to eat this  bag."

Little bugger

The pajamas she wore last night :)