Letters From Me, To You: December 2015

Hey.

I'm sitting in bed next to a post-shots, sleeping baby and husband. She is such a trooper. She only cried for about five minutes, and she recovered without even eating. She just took her silky pillowcase and snuggled Mom and Dad and was fine. She's such a big girl.

As I sit here on this gloomy Friday afternoon I'm thinking I can't believe it's this early in the afternoon because it looks like the day is almost over.

But I'm also thinking about how thankful I am, and how I meant to push out a reflective Thanksgiving letter over "break." (Who am I kidding- what break? I'm retired.)

However, even stay-at-home-moms need breaks, right? And what a lovely one we had. It's refreshing to go from Mom, woman of the house (gosh, that sounds weird) to Aim, oldest kid of the Eric Rude household. To have my mom there to worry about meals, offering to put the baby to sleep for me, changing every Illinois diaper. (I realized this weekend she pronounces it "El-inois.") Where Dad picks up your favorite ice cream so we can have milkshakes every night.

It's so wonderful to have someone ask what kind of eggs I want for breakfast instead of heading to the same box of cereal again. Or to have someone play with Evie so she doesn't get bored and fussy while I workout and shower. To actually take a nap while Grandpa Herb and Grandma Beth watch the little girl for me. To watch Evelyn play and interact more with all of her extended family and get loved on so well.

Thanksgiving "break" is one of my favorite times because it's such a wonderful time to reflect and to welcome in the rest of the holiday season.

We have so much to be thankful for this year! It is so wild to think about how last year at this time (well-Thanksgiving time) we were telling everyone that little J was on the way, and now we have a busy, babbling Boz that has stolen our hearts. Our sweet girl is happy and healthy and so, so loved. We've received such wonderful help and encouragement in the last six months. I will be forever grateful that my mom and Jered's mom were both able to spend about a week with us right after Evelyn was born. It was such a blessing to have the extra hands and wisdom there during those first days with a new baby. And-oh my goodness- the fact that I am able to stay home! I can't imagine life any other way right now. The fact that Jered got into Nurse Practitioner school is great too, and not just because it allowed for me to stay home with our girl.

And there is so much more, but to avoid writing a small book, let us move on toward the Christmas season!

It's filled up with my favorite things. With warm, hearty food, and spiced drinks, and staying cozy throughout the day, and crackling fires, and family we haven't seen in months, and laughter, and games, and stories, and real hugs, and lazy mornings spent talking over flavored coffee, and Christmas music streaming through the house, and twinkly lights, and favorite ornaments (even if Katie took them for her tree- I saw you Miss Bianca and Bernard!), and finding the perfect gift wrap, and old Christmas Golden Books, and popcorn and movies, and alllll of it.

I had planned to weave the week's photos in nicely with what I had to say, but you know how that ends. So here they are, plopped at the end.