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Merry Presents Christmas

Create Christmas cards for the 2011 holiday season.

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Day 8: A Birthday Celebration

I turned 28 this year and celebrated by getting my nails done with some wonderful friends and family :)  Afterward, we ate lunch at Barney's Beanery and then took ridiculous pictures outside the restaurant next to an oddly photogenic brick wall. 28 feels a lot like...27.

Day 7: Something You Use Everyday

How did we ever survive without smart phones?!  I literally use this thing ALL THE TIME!  It can do everything I need it to; make phone calls, send messages, check and upload to facebook, give me directions, you name it.  I can even do online shopping with my amazon app (maybe that's not such a great thing). It's really kind of scary, because when my phone is misplaced or dead, I feel very...disconnected.  We don't even have a land line at home because we rely so much on our phones.  And don't even get me started on Angry Birds and Words With Friends....

Day 6: A Favorite Memory

This is a fairly recent memory, but one that I absolutely love.  On the day pictured, Leo and I were visiting his new baby cousin Adeline and his Auntie Erin.  Leo loves that little girl, it's obvious.  We had just laid the two of them down on Adeline's boppy, just to see how Leo would react.  Next thing you know, he puts his arm around her, just a like a big brother cuddling his little sister!  As Erin and I were swooning over that, he puts his little hand on her little belly and then...wait for it, wait for it...he gives her a kiss on her tummy!!  Erin and I had our camera phones out SO FAST!

It was the cutest thing I've ever seen.  When we picked Adeline up, Leo stayed in the boppy and gave us a very displeased look.  Then he patted the empty space next to him as if to say, "Uh, excuse me, please put her back.  We're not done cuddling".  This memory is so precious to me because it gives me a little glimpse into the future, when Leo and Adeline are the best of friends, wreaking all kinds of havoc together...

Day 5: Your Day

So, there are lots of things that comprise my day, but my main focus is obviously Leo.  The video above basically illustrates what I do all day - I try to keep him from killing himself!!  He is such a handful, always on the go, screaming, yelling, sticking his fingers in the dog's eyes, using his step-stool to climb up to "naughty places"...you name it, he's trying it.  The funny thing is, I just love it!  That is, when my heart isn't beating a million miles a minute because of it :)

Day 4: An Experience That Made You Who You Are Today

Not surprisingly, the most life changing experience of my life was the birth of Leo.  It was life changing in so many ways.  The most obvious is that before his birth I was just me, and immediately afterward I became mommy.  I became wholly responsible for another person's care and happiness, which is an incredible privilege and responsibility.  I am loving (almost) every minute of it and am very excited (hopefully!!) to do it again in November!

In addition to that, going through labor and giving birth naturally (no IV, no meds, nothing) helped me to realize just what my body is capable of.  I have always thought of myself as weak and possessing a low threshold for pain.  Turns out, that's not the case.  Yes, it hurt.  Yes, I screamed and cried and said I didn't want to do it anymore.  But - I made it and I am still incredibly proud of myself and my body's abilities.  I have my mother to thank for always making childbirth seem like a natural thing and for encouraging me to do it naturally, just as she did with all three of us!

Day 3: Your Favorite Show

Well, I couldn't pick just one, so I picked two: one of my current favorites and one that ended but I really loved.

Grey's Anatomy: Great story line, great acting, a fun way to kill an hour (or forty minutes if you have tivo!)

The Tudors: This was a series on HBO, very risque but I loved it!  I am a huge fan of world history and historical fiction, so this kind of show is right up my alley.  I wish we still had the movie channels so that I could watch the new series coming up, The Borgias.  It looks soooo good!!

Why the heck are these pictures so small?!