The Ten-Year Difference

This morning, I was sitting on the couch, rubbing Aiden's back to try to help him through a coughing fit & watching the news segments about New Year's Eve celebrations. Somehow, my mind wandered to New Year's Eve 1999, an evening when my mood was just horrible. I was a junior at Ohio State and had come home to spend the holiday with my family; we'd had the typical filet mignon & delicious spread prepared by my folks. Truth be told, I had a great time--until I headed up to bed before the ball dropped. Then I was alone with my thoughts, about how much I hated being single and had no clue about the direction of my life. I'm pretty sure I then rung in the new millenium by crying myself to sleep.
Flashforward ten years, and I can't believe the difference. I'm almost ashamed of how silly & naive I was back then. If only I could go back and tell myself to hang in there, that things were definitely going to improve; that in ten years, I'd be sitting on the couch in my own home, with a loving husband, a cute-as-a-button son, a good job, and plans to spend New Year's Eve 2009 at my bestest bud's house. (Oh, and that OSU was gonna win a National Championship the next year, so I should start saving IMMEDIATELY so I could head out to Tempe and witness it!)
It's scary that I'm at the point where I can think back on my life in ten-year increments. But I welcome retrospection, since it allows me to appreciate all that I've done to get where I am. Here's to looking forward to the next ten years, and all the mememories they will bring! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

One Lucky Christmas

My new blog design really reflects how I felt this year as we celebrated Christmas--LUCKY.

We were lucky enough to get to see all of our parents, brothers and sisters and nephews, both on my side and Mike's side. For me, nothing tops family. :)

We were lucky to have a portrait session with the Cotter clan from which the photos are JUST awesome.

We were lucky to spend the holidays without a sickness, despite the warning from Aiden's daycare that there was both pinkeye and--GASP!--head lice roaming about (needless to say I had him out of there within an hour of receiving that e-mail notification).

We were lucky that the weather cooperated (which truth be told is always my biggest stresser).

We were lucky that our little Aiden started to "get" Christmas; he loved opening gifts & eating cookies, but could do without sitting in Santa's lap.

We were lucky to see my Aunt Kitty for the third time in as many months! That's a record!

We were lucky that my sister Heidi likes to make iced cut-out cookies, because we ate enough of them to last us until next Christmas.

We were lucky that despite Aiden waking up at 5 AM on Christmas morning, the only person he woke up was Mommy.

We were lucky that Aunt Angie brought Miss Rachel over for a visit, and she & Aiden were finally interacting on the level we talked about since we were pregnant.

And finally, we're lucky that we have another new year to look forward to! See you in 2010!!!

CHECK IT OUT!!!

So, whaddya think? Is my blog design AWESOME, or what? HUGE thanks go out to Krizzy Designs. I’ve been a reader of Krystyn’s blog for quite some time, and I have always wanted her to redesign my meager blog. With some extra Christmas cash for myself this year, that’s exactly what I’ve done, and I couldn’t be more THRILLED with how it turned out! And Krystyn couldn't be more fun to work with! So don’t just sit there—grab my button! 

To You and Yours...

Moving past it

So the past week at work was a bit rough on me. Apparently, I can count on it being that way for awhile, too. However, in the spirit of the season, and especially since it's less than a week before the BIG holiday, I'm trying to put it all behind me and take things a bit more in stride. Focus on the positive. All that sugary stuff. To that end, let me tell you how absolutely THRILLED I am to be typing this on our brand new computer! We were definitely due--our laptop is nearly 6 years old--and Mike & I both agreed that we'd rather have a desktop. I'm loving the big screen, and so far Windows 7 isn't giving me any issues (kind of a breeze to use, actually). So there. I'm happy. :)
Another reason to be happy? My in-laws are in town! It's always fun to visit with Jeff & Sara, and now that Christopher's walking, it's hilarious to watch him & Aiden interact. Looking at the two, it's hard to believe there's 8 months between them; they're almost the exact same size! We're looking forward to family pictures tomorrow and then the gift exchange on Monday night. Then later this week, it will be up to Lexington to spend Christmas with my side of the family--and two more cousins for Aiden to play with! It's gonna be a great week! :)

Just because I love that smile...

Checkin' Out the Tree

Sorry for the poor picture quality, but I wanted to make sure the tree lights could be seen, and hence no flash. We actually bought a new camera (a Canon Rebel T1i--SWEET!), but I've been having problems downloading the photos. Hopefully it's a computer problem (which is okay, because we bought a new computer, too, and are just waiting for it to get here) and not a camera problem.

ANYWAYS, here's Aiden with the tree. :)