After the Holidays...

The Holidays have passed and we have been able to relax and settle back into normalcy. I feel that the Holidays went well. It was hard not waking up with my daughter on Christmas morning but we were able to celebrate on Christmas Eve and Christmas afternoon and night. We had a great time with Brandon's family and my family. I feel so blessed that Brandon's family have taken to Lily so well. She is so lucky. She gets to celebrate with so many people who love her. I am so grateful for the fact that we are able to work together in raising and loving Lily. I am grateful for Lily's father and our mended relationship. I know that sometimes he still thinks I am controlling and over bearing but in the end we are able to do what is best for OUR DAAUGHTER. I just love it!

The Holidays....

It is easy to get excited about the Holidays. All of the food, family, friends, drinks, laughs, stories, and memories...it is like happiness crammed into a month. I love the holidays. I love making new memories, keeping traditions, creating traditions, and being among family and friends. The only difficult thing about the holidays...is having a child that you have to share. You want your child to be involved in every holiday tradition. You want them to wake up with you on Christmas and eat with your family on Thanksgiving. As my daughter has gotten older (3 this year) she is becoming more involved and aware about what the holidays mean. She is thrilled that she got to help decorate the tree, that she has an Elf on the Shelf, that we get to go to Christmas parties, that we get to visit with friends that we barely get to see, and that we have an Advent Calendar. I have tried very hard to make the transition days easy. This is all she has ever really known. Her father and I split up when she was a year old. We never lived together so we never really had to make a big change. The biggest change was that she started to stay at his house over night. We do what is best for her and we make the transitions easy. We let her have extra hugs and kisses if she wants them and if she wants to take a special item with her to the other parents house we allow that with no problems or questions asked. As Christmas approaches I am left to wonder if it is fair for her to have to wake up one year here with me and then another year at her dad's. It gets more complicated because here she has a baby brother and as he gets older he isn't going to want to "wait" for his sister to get home to open his presents. I am at a loss as to how I am going to "fix" this issue. Do we open presents on Christmas Eve on the year that she wakes up at her dad's...so that the siblings are able to open them at the same time? I just don't know. When I was growing up we opened one present on Christmas Eve and then we woke up early and rushed down to our stockings. We were able to empty our stockings but we had to wait to open presents. We waited until our parents woke up. I just want a tradition that doesn't have to change every year.

Together for a purpose!

I am very proud to say that our daughter had a "performance" for her stretch and grow camp and we SAT TOGETHER. I know of many parents that are raising their kids separately and they can't manage to sit together at functions for their child. I am very grateful that we are able to sit with one another with nothing but smiles and pride beaming for our sweet little girl. We are attending her Vacation Bible School closing night together this evening and I am very happy to announce that not only will he and I sit together but so will my significant other (of 2 years). We have a little boy together and he will be there too to cheer on his BIG SISTER! He is only 8 months old but she will be so happy to see us all sitting there TOGETHER for HER!