Morgan Kate

Have you noticed that I've now blogged for 4 straight days? Wowzers. I haven't done that in quite some time. I'd like to say that it's because I've mastered the whole working mom thing, but then I'd be lying. I haven't. Not even close to mastering that. Instead, I'm on Christmas break. And it is oh, so nice. Just today I have had to time to mail important documents, do the laundry, clean our bathroom, vacuum the floors, play with Morgan Kate, wash the dishes, cook a pizza, play some more and begin to wrap presents. And it's only 3:00. I'm quite impressed with myself.


Not only do I have time to actually get a few things done, but my writing mind has become wide open. The past few months, as you can all tell, I have had a serious writer's block. I think it was blocked my my endless to-do lists, lessons to plan, problems to solve and many, many other things. It's amazing what a break can do for your mind and body. 


Speaking of the whole working mom thing. It's hard. A lot harder than I expected it to be. Things are getting somewhat easier and we are slowly figuring out our new routine, but it's still hard. I'm not saying that being a stay at home mom was easy, because it was tough work too. But for me, I had more time at home to actually get things done. I think they are both hard, just in different ways.


Morgan Kate is doing awesome and each day her personality shines more and more. Sometimes that "shine" is accompanied by a tantrum in the middle of the floor. She is just all over the place and right now her favorite thing to do is play pretend. She loves to pretend she's feeding her baby or rocking her baby. She will pretend she's cooking or having a tea party. It is so sweet to watch. She's also really into reading right now. She loves to open a book and read to herself. Such a big girl! Some other favorites include riding her bike, jumping off of the couch playing dress up. She also still adores spending time outside and the cold weather doesn't deter her. She is talking so much and trying her best to tell us exactly what she wants. For the most part we understand her, but there are still some words and phrases we are trying to decipher. She will now say thank you without being prompted. If you do something for her or hand her something she will say, "Thay you". She also recently said, "Mama, luh you" without any prompting. It melted my heart into one big ole' blob. I was sitting on the floor, she came over, touched my shoulder and said, "Mama, luh you". Oh. My. Goodness. 


Travis and I are both just giddy about Christmas. Not just for ourselves, but mostly for Morgan Kate. Every time we are out shopping for gifts, we pick her up another one. It's quite addictive and we both need some serious help. It's just so much fun. Just a few days ago we were talking about how we are both really enjoying this Christmas and how we hadn't felt this way about Christmas in a very long time. Then it occurred to me that the past few Christmases have been quite different and difficult. Christmas of 2007 we were wanting so badly to have a baby, Christmas 2008 we finally had our little miracle, but we were dealing with oxygen and feeding tubes and fear and then Christmas 2009 we found out we were expecting #2, only to find out a short time later that that would not become a reality. This year, though, we are enjoying every single minute and loving everything about the holiday season. We are enjoying one another, our family and friends and just soaking up every moment with our precious baby girl! 

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."