What's the best way to end the Christmas season? Why with Christmas of course!!

Of course Christmas is a very exciting time no matter what. Every year Adam and I enjoy it a little more as Harper starts to grasp all the traditions, and meanings of the holiday. This year we broke out the "Elf on a Shelf" to help build the anticipation. Our elf, Finnegan, or Finn as Harper called him, would visit us every day and flew back to see Santa every night giving him a report on the actions of the day, good or bad. In the morning he would be in a different place than the night before and it was fun to search the house for our little visitor. This year, of course, was that much more fun with the addition of our little Stratton. Though not all that enthusiastic about it this year, he still made the day a little more special for us.
We had a perfect Christmas eve of Church, then dinner at my parent's house with Adam's mom and Step dad. Then we spent Christmas here with everyone.

I already can't wait 'til next year!!

Harper had a super cute Christmas dress this year thanks to her Auntie Emilee. The dress was adorable from the front...

but the bustle in the back puts it over the top.

Stratton produced quite the buzz at church as well. Quite the dapper little man:)

Though they are cute together, this night was not their night.

The most AMAZINGLY decorated house I've EVER seen!!

Santa DID come!!

This was how Harper emptied her stocking. The type A is shining through!

Didn't even make it past the stockings...novis.

A little striped delight :)

The purple shoes were exciting, but not worth changing the whole outfit for.

Our little princess, and her very own doll to match :)

See you next year :)

Please people, don't rain on my parade!!

We have missed the Raleigh Christmas Parade every year. Usually due to Adam's work schedule. This year we vowed to go to every single Christmas influenced event we could handle.

First came the Raleigh Christmas Parade. It was actually quite impressive. Not that Raleigh's a small town or anything, but I wasn't expecting some of the big floats and giant balloons they had. I also wasn't expecting it to last 2 hours! We headed out there as our new little family of 4. It was approximately 12 degrees that morning but did warm up over the, agian, 2 hours that we were there. Our friend Jay met us there with his little gir,l and Harper's idol, Grace. We got there about an hour before it started and still missed out on the front row. We were lucky enough to camp out right behind a super nice family who squeezed over and let our little ones (and husbands) sit on the curb. The kids had a great time, and as I said before, Raleigh really put on a fantastic show! We even got to see our own "Idol" Scotty.








Now, on to the next event. We all went to the tree lighting up at North Hills. We met a bunch of friends up there and their kids. The tree lighting ceremony was really cute. They had us all singing Christmas carols and then Santa himself made an appearance to help light the tree. Despite being totally starstruck, the highlight of the night was when Santa pointed directly to Harper and waved. With a look of sheer terror, she gave him a half staff, slow motion wave back.






The following week we spent an afternoon in Wake Forest for their own town parade. Again, I was not expecting too much and was very wrong, but we stayed from beginning to end. Harper was just as impressed but much more active during this one. She made sure she didn't miss out on anyone walking by handing out goodies.







And last but not least we rounded out our Holiday event calender with a breakfast with Santa! This was the coolest thing! My parent's country club hosted a breakfast for all the members and their families, that ended with a visit from Santa. It was a fun filled morning where we learned a new trick, decorated gingerbread houses that were displayed in the clubhouse throughout the holidays, and anyone who wanted to got to sit on Santa's lap and profess their every desire. Harper's was for a Princess (not a doll, but the real thing).
We ended the afternoon at a friend's house for a cookie exchange where Stratton got to formally meet his first best friend, James :)

Wrapping up fall with a few forgotten moments

In my true fashion, I have slacked off and jumped the gun at the same time. Granted I have had a lot going on since early fall but that's no excuse for missing such monumental moments in my familes lives (as you will see). I was so excited to post our pictures of Stratton that I skipped all of these little gems from September and October.

Here is Adam's little tribute to the seemingly endless raking he did. Every time we would drive through the neighborhood he would say "we have way more leaves than them" or "our pile is definitely the biggest one!" Seriously...they're leaves!

There were a lot of trips to the playground with dad. Sort of...lets get out of the house before momma explodes retreats.

Sometimes daddy would pick out the clothes. Only in extreme emergencies!

We fed all the babies in the house...the natural way :)

And, we went to the fair. Somebody was loving on their ice cream cone!

The story, the experience...the 411

It was 4:30am, October 18th, one week to the day before my due date. It was still dark out, cold, raining, and my water broke on a routine trip to the bathroom. I must say, I'm a big fan of the water breaking. It happened with Harper too, and it definitely takes the question out of going into labor. Knowing that a week prior, at my last appointment, I was already 4 cm dilated, I grabbed my phone as fast as I could and called the doctor on call. To my extreme jubilation...it was Dr. Zimmerman! He is my absolute favorite doctor in the practice, and the one who delivered Harper!! Another reason I love him is he doesn't jerk you around. He answers the phone "Hey Sarah, it's Zim, great day to have a baby isn't it?" He then tells me "Well, come on in, we'll be expecting you." None of that...wait at home in severe pain, and possibly miss the opportunity to get an epidural crap.

My next phone call was to my parents, and then to Emilee. I figured I would alert them ASAP so while we were getting ready to leave my mom could be on her way and Emilee could be getting her stuff ready. 30 mins from Wake Forest is a long time when you're in labor. By the time I showered (I absolutely HAD to shower) grabbed a banana and some cereal (knowing I wouldn't be eating for a while) and kissed Harper good-bye, my mom was there and ready for duty.

We got to the hospital, they assessed I was actually in labor, and put me in a labor room. Emilee arrived about the time we got to the room and she was also ready for duty. After seeing our birth video of Harper, I couldn't imagine not having one for our little Stratton too. It's one of the most amazing memories I will ever have.

Labor was almost a carbon copy of that with Harper. Contractions started within minutes of my water breaking and were fast and intense. I finally got my epidural around 7:30. Along with it came relief and drops in blood pressure whenever I changed position. I managed to keep my banana down, but definitely had some lightheadedness. They did have to give me a few extra doses along the way as my right side was a little less numb than the left. When the time came to start pushing, everything was numb that was should have been, and it was completely painless. As Stratton emerged (pretty much on his own) Adam had the exciting and wildly anticipated job of announcing the sex. Those words went something like this "IT'S A BOY, OH YES, IT'S A BOY!!!" It was quite a moment. One definitely worth waiting for.

Recovery has been a breeze, and for the most part everything has come back to us. I'm not going to lie, the first few weeks are not fun, and it is definitely a different story with a 2 1/2 year old running around. However, they are just that, a few weeks, and we are almost out of the dark and into the light as that goes.

I can't wait to share with you the slideshow Emilee puts together. I know it will take our breath away like the day itself.

Jumping right to the pictures

I promise to fill everyone in on a detailed (well, not too detailed) birth story for our beautiful little Stratton, but for now, I'm just going to post some of his newborn photos. Actually, since I never posted them, I'm going to post some from our maternity, newborn, and family sessions. Wow, how lucky are we to have a photographer as a best friend :)