Sophia's First Christmas!

How quickly the holidays come and go and this year was no different.  Hard to believe how fast this past month flew by but it has been nonstop fun and such a joy to see Sophia's reactions to all the holiday traditions and festivities we've been dragging her to.

First tradition - Sophia's first trip to see Santa.  It was so much fun we had to do it twice at two different malls ;)  We first took her to see the Santa at Cumberland Mall in Smyrna.  She did so well and just stared at Santa and even gave us a little smile.  It went way better than I had anticipated.

SANTA #2

But Trey and I thought the Santa at Lenox looked a little better and maybe we'd want to have the same santa to compare for future years so we went there the next day.  That line was a quite a bit longer and while daddy waited in line we went to Macys to do some Christmas shopping.  But after an hour and a half Sophia was not the happy baby we arrived with and she had a bored tired look on her face for those.  We did get some sweet shots of her staring at Santa again, playing with his beard and buttons on his vest.  It was so cute and overall I'd say her Santa visit for her first year was a huge success!!

Next up this month was Sophia's 9 month photo shoot at JCPenney.  My cousin Sabine is a photographer there and she's been dying to take some pictures of Sophia so we finally gave it a whirl.  She got some really cute pictures in the 10 minute window we had.  Apparently that's all you get if you go to take pictures around Christmas because they're so busy but it was long enough.  We didn't have her in her Christmas outfit but because some of the accessories Sabine used were Christmasy we had my brother Ryan photoshop the colors on Sophia's outfit to match Christmas colors.  I love the one with her in the Christmas bucket and we'll have to do another shoot again one day.

This past week has been jammed packed with visits from family on both sides and Sophia has loved all the attention and fun with all of her cousins, grandparents and great grandparents.  My brother David flew in the Thursday before Christmas and we had so much fun hanging out with Asli, Alex and Jon all over Atlanta.  We were sad Kevin, Garrett, Lisa and Jon couldn't join in the fun because Jon had the flu all week :(  and we certainly missed Ryan and Meghan in New York but we enjoyed all the quality time.

On Friday night after work we all met up at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see their Christmas Light Display.  It was really beautiful and amazing to see how many lights they put up and there was such a fun vibe going on there inside the park.  They had drink stands all over with beverages for adults and kiddos and plenty of Christmas music and cheer to go around.  We will definitely have to make that a family tradition because the kids loved it!

Christmas Eve we all went the children's mass at 4 oclock then had dinner at our house followed by several rowdy but hysterical rounds of catch phrase and a game of white elephant.  Everyone was having a blast.

Then came Christmas morning.  I know Sophia won't remember a single thing about the day but we had fun seeing her giggle with delight at opening the gifts... or should I say pulling out and ruffling the tissue paper.  She got her own anywhere chair, a stuffed little monkey, some books, new giraffe lovies and her very own remote control.

We enjoyed the lazy day where we didn't have to rush anywhere and that night we headed back to my parent's house for the Magid Christmas.  Everyone wanted a hand on Sophia and she loved playing with her cousins and receiving all the love from her family.   It was a great Christmas and so much fun with our little baby!

The day after Christmas we headed up to Wilmington to see Mimi and Dadaw.  These past few days we've had a lot of fun visiting with all the family and Sophia's had so much fun playing with Handley, Harper and Hudson.  She's been holding her own with the big kids and her big LOUD voice.  Don't know where she's gotten this screaming phase from but she certainly has some pipes on her and she lets us all know she's there and wants something.

Loving her Uncle Cameron and her new ride!

The kids were all so sweet with Sophia all weekend long

Friday night we all headed to Aunt Erin and Uncle John's house for the annual Musser Christmas and it was more fun and food with the family.  Everyone was eating Sophia up and I don't think she minded the attention - par for the course.

The next day we kept a low key hanging around the house while some of the group went to Memaw's house to pick out some furniture and we all went to visit her at the nursing home.  I know she loved seeing all her great-grandchildren.  

We're heading home today and it's always sad to see the Christmas season end but it's been a great one for Sophia's First and now we're just a few months away from her 1st Birthday!  Gosh, how time flies!  But - always something to look forward to! :)

UGA v. Tech

Today we had so much fun watching the Dawgs play GA Tech in Atlanta.  Trey's cousin, Bryn works for GT and she got us tickets to the game so we headed down there early to tailgate and then took Sophia into the game.

One nice thing about Tech games is you can bring your babies (under 2) in without having to buy them a ticket.  It started to get pretty cold once we got inside but Sophia was such a trooper and we managed to stay the entire time and see an amazing Dawg win.

Don't know how GA pulled that off since they were down by 20 in the first quarter but they did!  I'm honestly surprised we made it to the end with a double overtime too.  Sophia was getting fussy the moment we got into the stadium.  Thankfully she napped for one quarter and then when we thought she'd had it and started to head out in the 4th quarter she calmed down so we stood in the end zone and watched the rest from there.  She hung on and we were so excited to see the win.  Fun game and fun company all day!  Thanks again for the tickets Bryn!!!

hanging out with the Mussers and Poseners.  So glad Sophia got to meet her Great Aunt Missy and Great Uncle Neal!

and look who else we bumped into several times today  Yay!

someone was tired!

right after the win.  We were excited and Sophia was excited to finally be going home!  We managed to snag another ride on the golf cart with the free service they had going that took us down the street.  From the stadium to our car we were gone in 5 minutes!  So convenient.

Reflecting on Life at 30

If you had asked me as a little girl where I thought I may be and what I would be doing when I turned 30 I would have probably answered with a million things so far from where I am now.  At first I wanted to be a teacher.  I would spend hours in my room as a little girl, the only girl of 4 with my circle of dolls and stuffed animals reading to them as a teacher would and showing off all the illustrations before I flipped to the next page.  Then as I grew up I aimed higher.  I thought I’d become a CEO of a company or the first female president of the United States.  I believe the quote from my 8^th grade graduation says “I see myself as the first female president of the United States fighting for issues like women’s rights.” HA! 

But my reality is, I went to UGA as an aspiring broadcaster studying what else, Broadcast Journalism only to land myself in a coveted internship with Fox 5 Atlanta the summer before my senior year to throw my plans to the wind and come up with the ‘brilliant’ idea of heading to law school the next year.  Then, my life plans really shifted.  I spent, undoubtedly the worst/hardest to date 3 years of my life studying a profession that clearly wasn’t meant for me, found myself humbled beyond belief in those years as I persevered to make it through and the few after that as I stumbled to find my way toward where I was meant to be - Thank God I found a job I love now-, in the process put off getting married for a few years longer than I had always thought I would, and as ripple effects go, didn’t start a family until I was 29 years old.  Which means by the time I turn 30, I am way off my original plan of having 4 kids already.

All this leads me to today, the last day of my 20s!  I haven’t had time to really process this huge milestone in the past two weeks since I feel like I’ve been jumping from one doctor appointment to the next – first my severely dry eyes where the dr. had to put plugs in to trap my tears and I’m taking prescription drops to correct the red/pink staining around my cornea.  Then I came down with another spell of stress induced/teeth grinding at night TMJ last week which was only exacerbated by an infected nerve beneath an old cavity that turned into a root canal treatment Tuesday (thank God for narcotics!).  As I told someone this week, if this is was greats me in the 30s, I fear my 40s!

But I digress, as all attorneys and talkers do.  Maybe that profession was really meant for me after all ;)…  but that’s the point of this rambling.  Despite the best laid plans I wouldn’t change a thing!  

I made myself proud finishing law school and passing the bar and learned so many lessons about myself along the way.  Without that education I wouldn't have the job I have today which allows me to have the best of both worlds seeing my daughter grow every day and helping to provide for my family.  I married my best friend and while we have our moments I wouldn’t want to walk this journey with anyone else.  And best of all we’ve started a beautiful family together with a daughter who makes my life so rich and full every day.  I can’t imagine nor would I wish to have it any other way.  It’s funny how God always gives you exactly what you need and can handle in life and I’m a firm believer that with faith and perseverance anything is possible. 

While it’s easy to say, I always thought I’d be here or there by the time I reached X age, you just kind of have to stop and appreciate the ride and where it’s taken you.  I’m not going to lie, saying I’m 20 something sounds way cooler than 30 something ;)  But, with age comes knowledge and experience and hopefully more kids to enrich my life even more.  I feel blessed for a wonderful 30 first years with an amazing family and friends that have helped to shaped me into the person I have become and I hope that the next 30 bring me equal health, happiness and blessings along the way.  So, happy 30th birthday to me! :) 

All the important things in life - family and friends!

Magid Family Ryan's wedding Oct. 2013

Spivey/Posener Beach trip July 2013

friends at our wedding 

UGA homecoming game Nov 9 - our happy little family

Best part of every day!

Sophia Goes to Athens and Kelsey's Baby Shower

Saturday we headed to Athens to watch the Dawgs play and took Sophia with us.  She did great for her first game but she was a handful.  We hadn't been there for even a quarter before she started to get fussy.  I thought I was going to just have to leave and meet Trey later but she fell asleep in my arms and then took a nap on my lap for almost a quarter.  She was just pooped out!  All in all the perfect day for her first trip to Athens.  I think we'll wait until she can walk until we go back with her though ;)

Then, today Maggie and I hosted a baby shower for our best friend Kelsey.  She's having a boy in January and we are so happy for her!  It was so fun getting everything set up all week and the nautical theme turned out so cute!  Everyone seemed to have such a good time and I always love the time I get to spend with these girls.  It's so rare that the 3 of us are in one place at the same time so I'll take any little time I can get.  Can't wait to meet Baby Alexander in a few months!