My couch and my washing machine.

Two things I never stop to appreciate but which make my life much easier. I had to think about it when I came across a story of a family in Gainesville, just 30 minutes from us, who are selling everything inside their house to provide medical care for their children. My heart aches for them. Giving up all of their furniture and so much more with all of those memories attached must be very hard. I first read about their story here and found the ebay listing here.

Happy Birthday to You!

My baby is ONE. What the heck happened to that year? Oh my gosh, the whole year went by in a week-especially the first three months. Those were just a blur of diaper changes, middle of the night feedings, and crying (mostly mine-the things they don't tell you!) Then the first smile during a 2:00 am diaper change that made it all worth it. And the first laugh . . . that I didn't get to hear. And the second laugh THAT I DIDN'T GET TO HEAR! And the third laugh that was so beautiful. And the first frantic call to the pediatrician about poop, the first projectile spit-up that landed all over the baby and me and the bed and the floor and even on poor Dante, the 100 frantic calls to my mother about ~everything~, the first time she crawled, walked, said "Momma" and "Dada" and finally cut a tooth! Who knew being a parent could make you so emotional, logical, strict, lenient, and crazy at the same time? And only being a parent can make you proudly say, "Yes, my baby has at least one regular bowel movement every day" to the pediatrician like she is the only one who has mastered this impressive skill at this age and the pediatrician, and his nurse, and in fact, the entire staff and the waiting room full of parents should be extremely impressed and in awe of your child. 'Cause, well, they should be.

When I was planning R's birthday party, I knew she had to have a panda cake. Publix makes a 3D bear cake that they decorate all different ways for holidays, baby showers, and baby birthdays, but when I asked for them to turn the solid brown bear into a panda, you would have thought I was speaking a foreign language. And it felt that way, too, when I had to say "just black here and white there, no brown" over and over. But, finally after checking that she had my phone number for the 3rd time "just in case it can't be done," the bakery lady let me go and walked away frowning at her notes. I was not feeling too hopeful at this point and was just wishing I had asked them to draw a panda onto a sheet cake and be done with it. Thankfully, the panda cake was gorgeous and perfect when I went back to pick it up. Then it rode home with me. I am sorry to say that the poor panda suffered the loss of an arm, a leg and possibly a kidney. I had no other option but to call my sister who braved the post-holiday rush at the stores to buy surgical equipment with which to operate on the panda. Being the skilled panda surgeon that she is, AnBa soon had the cake looking as gorgeous as it was before the bad driving accident occurred.
The Princess had a ball at her party. She loved the decorations, eating her smash cake, opening presents and spending time with family.

Here she is with her Great Aunt Helen and Uncle William.

Look, Gampa!

Time for presents!



















That's all for now. I was just trying to get this posted in under a month. Of course, today is exactly one month since her party. Such is my life. To be continued . . .

'Twas the 18th day after Christmas

and Mommy finally updated this blog. For all of you family and friends who helped celebrate R's first Christmas and/or birthday, thank you. You made these 2 special days beautiful for our little family.

The Princess thoroughly enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Here are some pictures of my favorite moments.

Notice the absence of R's Winnie-the Pooh stocking. That's because she refused to let it hang from the mantle and insisted on carrying it around the house like a stuffed animal throughout the holiday season. A big thank you to Lanie (whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting but who I like to think of as R's fairy godmother) for the stocking. It created a very sweet memory. I put a small Winnie-the-Pooh inside her WtP stocking on Christmas morning, so she wouldn't miss him too much.


Only a blue-eyed, blond-haired, beautiful toddler like our princess could charm a teenage boy into reading her a baby book about puppies.

Where is this Christmas fudge I keep hearing about?

Three generations of beautiful females.

She loves the giant rocking Panda that Nana got for her. She walks up to him and either loves on him or looks him in the eyes and talks to him. It's adorable.
Our first "baby." He looks thrilled, doesn't he?
AnBa brought R her very first piano! She's been making music ever since. What is really cute is watching her bend over, hit keys and dance by moving her diaper bottom around. All worn out from opening all 217 presents. Thankfully, Pop-Pop had a nice lap to rest in.

Poor R had a cold and was trying to cut her two top front teeth during the holidays, but she was still an absolute angel. She just giggled around the finger she had in her mouth to chew on and wiped her nose on Mommy's shirt and kept on playing. (These were times when she had just flung down her teething ring or Mommy was carrying her to get a tissue for her nose.)

Thank you, my darling daughter, for giving me the best Christmas gift of all.

Because she loves her panda

If you haven't checked out my sister's blog lately, please do so! Her latest post had me crying and realizing how much I take for granted.

So, here is part of what I'm thankful for. I have a healthy, intelligent, beautiful child who makes my world beautiful. And because I love her so much, I want her world to be beautiful. Her world is very small right now, but a large part of it is her very large panda that goes everywhere she goes and sleeps with her every night. So, after reading my sister's post, I was watching TV and saw a commercial for the World Wildlife Organization. The spokesperson was none other than Noah Wyle (ahhh. He will forever be Dr. Carter to me. sigh.) and he was explaining how polar bears are going to be extinct in our childrens' generation if we don't do something. Where have I been that I didn't know this?@! So, I jumped on the website like Dr. Carter told me to and discovered more endangered animals that need our help that I thought were doing just fine. Of course, the panda is one of the animals but I did know they were not doing so well. The thought of R telling her children what a panda or a polar bear "was" broke my heart. I decided that starting in January, I will either adopt a panda for R, or join the WWF's Wildlife Rescue Team or both if I can talk my husband into it! :-) I urge you to check out the site and then imagine a world with no polar bears, pandas, meerkats, tigers, or orangutans. Please help the animals.

This is how much I love you guys.

I have a BABY and I should be SLEEPING WHILE SHE'S SLEEPING, but instead I'm catching up on my blog because I know some of you out there check it every day for updates on the most beautiful baby on earth. So, would you please do this tired Mommy a favor and leave a comment! I feel like I'm talking to a wall on here.

Ode to Crayola

A cute moment while Darrell and I were playing with Princess R and her crayons.

I read on the Crayola site that the average child in the U.S. wears down 730 crayons by her 10th birthday. That's interesting, but I want to know how many I can expect Miss R to EAT by her 10th birthday.

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees most lovely.

I've been pondering Christmas family traditions now that Darrell and I officially have a family :-) All of my best holiday memories revolve around comforting rituals that I grew to love. The sight of the Christmas boxes coming into the house, Momma's cocoa and fudge, drinking orange juice out of fresh oranges through peppermint sticks, getting to see Tiffany and Lacey on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, desperately trying the find the Beloved Gingerbread Men Ornaments as soon as the ornament box came out and making sure the scent was still there, opening one gift on Christmas Eve, Daddy arriving on Christmas morning wearing a funny hat. I remember being so excited by the time it was finally bedtime on Christmas Eve that I couldn't sleep . . . long after Santa stopped coming down the imaginary chimney.

When is it that we begin to lose the wonder and anticipation of Christmas? I can hardly remember the last time I felt truly excited about the upcoming Christmas. The thought of those lost Christmases saddens me, now. Well, okay, except for last year. This time last year I was too busy willing labor not to start until 2010 to care what day it was.

Now Darrell and I get to create traditions for R to cherish. Of course, being the anal retentive person that I am, I have been busily researching Christmas traditions online, bookmarking sites with great ideas, jotting down recipes for possible treats, and overall stressing out about How I'm Supposed to Choose the Traditions R Will Love 30 Years Down the Road.

This is where my wonderful, easy-going, never in a hurry, drives me crazy with how s l o w l y h e m o v e s husband comes in. He makes one off-hand comment and the perfect Phillips tradition is born. We will cut our own Christmas tree!!!! Because he came up with the brilliant idea, my assignment was to find a place to acquire the tree. This led to an hour of research comparing the three tree farms closest to us, the types of trees each one offered, the fun "extras" at each farm and then a tangent of which tree is best for staying green, dropping fewer needles, holding heavier ornaments, having a better scent . . . you get the idea.

So, we ended up at The Kinsey Family Farm! I can't say enough about this wonderful haven of Christmas bliss. Hundreds and hundreds of gorgeous trees to choose from, free hot cocoa or apple cider, a cute ornament when you purchase a tree, and really great people. We had so much fun and R will have pictures and videos of the very first year we cut our own tree.



After Darrell cut down our tree, we got a tractor ride back to the barn! Our tree tagged along behind us.

The farm is humongous.




I saw this gorgeous scene as I left the farm. It made me glad I never moved to New York.

What I want most to show you in this post, I can't convey by words or pictures. I saw the lights from the tree reflected in R's eyes this morning as she gazed at her ~very first~ Christmas tree. At that moment, I would have found a way to give her the world if she had asked me for it.

My hope for all of us is that we rediscover the childlike innocence and wonder of Christmas.