Old friends are the best!

One of the great perks of the holiday season is getting together with old friends! :) Saturday morning we had over the Galer's and Swynenburg's for a brunch. We had a wonderful time sharing our lives and also our girls!! How awesome is it that our girls are little stair steps! It is great to see our husbands all interact and enjoy laughs together! Never a dull moment when the 6 (well 9) of us are together!

Thanks girls for coming over! We had a blast!!

Allyson, Sophia, Leslie, Adelynn, Apryl, Olivia

Allyson

Merry Christmas .....

... to all in blogger-world!!

Nate, Sophia, and I wish you all the happiest of holidays as we celebrate the birth of Our Savior and King; Christ Jesus! As Pastor Steve mentioned last night during services, "We must not leave Jesus in the manger. We must receive Him and celebrate fully who He is and what He did ... the manager, the ministry, the miracles, the cross, and the empty tomb!" We rejoice and celebrate these truths!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve .....

"Alright mom, I am ready for church!"

"Hey pops, look at me!"

Merry Christmas from the Long's!!

Allyson

Many lasts ....

Our 2009 Christmas letter was titled "A Year of Many Firsts!" This month is becoming a month of many first, yet many lasts (if 'lasts' is even a word!). I have been quite sentimental this month for various reasons!

After my bittersweet celebration of my last nursing session, I put away all my nursing gear (bras, pump, Medela accessories, boppy, etc). It is weird to think they won't be used for a few more years (as long as we stick to the plan - HaHaHa)! I started packing up more of her 6-9 month clothes that she has outgrown. Wow, we might not ever use these again if we have boy for child #2? Isn't that a weird thought? (Although, I am thinking the girl genes on both sides of the family will be in my favor!) Pretty soon we will be out of the 12 month clothes b/c of her length! This chica has the LONGEST torso ever!! In a week, we will no longer be using bottles!! Something that has been such a crucial part of our daily life -- gone, vanished, in the wink of an eye!! I definitely won't miss the chore of constant bottle washing!

Finally, it was our last day for breastfeeding group! We went one last time to say our Thanks and Good-byes! It was so sad!! I have been going every week for the past 11 months!! What on earth am I going to do on Monday mornings at 11am now?? I am so thankful for everyone that I met! I know I talk an awful lot about this group, but you must understand it has impacted my life forever!!! I will cherish all the memories!! Thank heavens I formed some great

friendships so we can continue our playdates!!

Here is a picture of my dear friend and one of my biggest encourager's: Jan! She always treated Sophia like a princess!! I will miss seeing Jan's face weekly, but am thankful we can keep in touch via Facebook!!

They had to say their final good-byes! Good thing we can go visit after her doctor's appointments!

Sophia was a stinker and didn't want to give a big SMILE!

In other news, one of Nate's closest friends, Eric, came to stay with us this weekend. He lives down in OK, but was visiting Indy. Nate and Eric both love do to music recording. Eric bought some news "music toys" so you better believe Nate played with them all weekend. The boys got to do some music recording! Sophia even helped her daddy to test out the Mesa Boogie Pedal!

That was some crazy sounding music with Sophia controlling the pedal!

"Hummmm .... what should I push next?"

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Looking forward to this week's holiday celebrations!!

Allyson

Struttin' my stuff

Another milestone, check! Yesterday she started walking behind her walker!! It was so fun to watch! My dad, aka Grampie K, was there to witness it!!

Allyson

The dairy barn has officially closed for business!

11 1/2 months .... that is how long this dairy barn lasted!! Wow, that is a REALLY long time!! I often wonder how many gallons of milk I produced!! Ha Ha

My last nursing session this morning was a very special one! Sophia woke up so happy and just cuddled with me (as she usually does in the AM!) I enjoyed that last burst of nursing-induced oxytocin as I looked down at my sweet baby girl and took a journey down memory lane! It was all I could do not to shed a tear!!

As I look back upon my breastfeeding journey, it has been overall a great experience. Granted, I have had my fair share of problems (inadequate supply the whole time, guilt that I couldn't provide enough, taking 12 herbs pills/day, multiple clogged ducts over and over again, supplementation, the nasty side effects of Reglan, pump issues, sleepy baby syndrome); you name it, I had it! All of those problems seem minuscule compared to the joy I felt during each (well, most of them) nursing session; the beautiful bond that only I shared with this precious baby girl! God created such a beautiful thing when he created the ability for a woman to feed her child! I think there are few things on earth that can even compare! Whether you nurse your child for 1 week or 2 years, it is a very memorable experience.

Yesterday at BF'ing group I saw a new mom walk through the door with an oh-so-familiar face -- one that I wore just 11 months ago. The face of guilt, defeat, sadness and my heart just went out to her! I gave her a hug and she shed some tears ... I told her ... "It's going to be alright! I know exactly how you feel b/c your story was my story!" If only I would have had someone to tell me that during those first few weeks! It was definitely one of those God-ordained moments that I will never forget! I hope that I can use my experience to help many more mothers out there! I know there are a few people that really helped me make it through my first few months (Darla, Dixie, Mom, and Jan)! You ladies will never know how much you touched my life!! Thank you!!

Finally, the biggest encourager and support in my life: My ROCKSTAR hubby! Thanks Nate for your unconditional support!

Now that I am done, you may ask, what are you looking forward to most? Wearing a normal bra!! :) (For all you nursing mamas out there, you know what I am talking about!)

Thanks readers for all your encouragement throughout the 11 1/2 months!! It has been a journey to say the least! I sure hope breastfeeding baby #2 is a lot easier, but if it isn't ... I know how to deal!!

Allyson

Sleepy Head

Yesterday morning I went in to wake Sophia up at 7:45am so we could leave for the gym at 8:15am ... this is how I found her! She didn't even wake up when the camera went off! How sweet huh?

Sure would love for the 7:45am wake-up to last!!

Allyson

Guinness and Grapes

Nate and I had a wonderful time celebrating our anniversary last evening! Nate's parents braved the freezing cold weather and came out to watch Sophia! It was so appreciated!!

We headed to Claddaugh Irish Pub for dinner! Nate really enjoyed their Shepherd's Pie, and I had a wonderful Dublin Grilled Chicken Salad!! Yum! Although I learned that a little goat cheese goes a LONG way!! I think next time I will stick with feta or blue cheese! Anyone else share those same feelings? I also tried their Guinness Onion Soup -- wow, that was amazing!! Worth every calorie!!

After dinner we headed down to Chateau Thomas Winery! What a wonderful atmosphere to continue our celebration! We were the only two people in the winery for the wine tasting, so we received "special" treatment! Our "wine" lady (don't know their fancy name) was quite knowledgeable and shared lots of interesting facts with us. She was very gracious in our tasting and made sure to suggest many wines that were big sellers. Nate and I fell in love with a handful of wines!! She also told us a little bit about the Winery itself. Dr. Thomas is a retired OBGYN and he had a love for wine! He travels all over the country and his wine has won many awards!! We had such a nice and relaxing time at Chateau Thomas. We hope to go back again to try different wines!

What a wonderful end to a wonderful evening!! It is always so nice to spend time together, alone without Sophia to rejuvenate our love!

I love you Nate!!

Allyson

Happy Anniversary!

3 years ago today I married my best friend!! It has been a wonderful 3 years!!! Happy Anniversary Nate! I love you!!

Allyson

Squeak Squeak ...

Last week, Nate and I were having a little fun with Sophia before she went to bed!! I caught the tail end of it on camera!! Poor Sophie the giraffe!

Hope you got a good laugh! We sure did!

Happy Tuesday!! Hope we don't get too much snow tomorrow evening/night!

Allyson

A few funnies ...

Working retail = BIG chuckles (at times)!

Today two different people came up to my pharmacy counter to pick up their prescriptions (both antibiotics) and asked, "Why aren't these public? They work so well they should be easier to get!" REALLY? First of all, you don't call them "public," they are called over-the-counter prescriptions! Secondly, antibiotics are already WAY OVER-PRESCRIBED and are losing their efficacy as we speak -- so why would we want people self-diagnosing and taking antibiotics? It isn't like hemorrhoid cream people!! Crazy!! The things people request!

In other funnies (or nasties) is the story of the germ-lady! I was in the bathroom washing my hands and some lady comes up to the sink next to me and (1) touches the faucet with her hands (2) runs her hands under the WATER ONLY for less than 5 seconds. Does she think running her hands under water is going to get rid of all the germs? Yeah, um NO!! Plus, by touching the handle she added about 1000 more germs to her already dirty hands!!! Seriously people, PLEASE wash your hands with soap and water (aren't you supposed to sing happy birthday twice?)

Finally, we were in the middle of a little "rush" and a lady came up to my pick-up window. I immediately greeted her and said, "I will be right with you mam." I checked two rx's and performed a drug interaction check for one of the techs, and started heading down to the out-window when I noticed the lady was walking off. I said, "Mam, did you need something." Her response, "WELL, I WAS TRYING TO PICK UP A PRESCRIPTION, BUT I GUESS I WON'T NOW." To which I said, "I am sorry I was a little tied up, but I told you I would be right with you." Then she totally rolled her eyes and walked off! Ok, seriously lady .... I told you I would be right with you and you had to wait like 2 minutes ... so I thought to myself ... "You have to come back sometime and pick up your script, so are you going to go waste more of your time and make me wait?" 1 hour later she comes up to my out-window to pick up her script and only has 2 cases of pop in her cart. Many thoughts ran through my head (1) You just wasted 1 hour of your time and only picked up 24 cans of pop? (2) Were you trying to get back at me for making you wait? I actually had things to do during that hour window -- I wasn't twiddling my thumbs waiting for you to come back? (3) Really, why did you leave in the first place? It isn't McD's drive-thru? Sometimes you have to wait for quality service!!

So those were the funnies of today!! I imagine I will have many more tomorrow!

Happy Sat night, off to catch some zzzzz's!

Allyson

TGIF!

Thank goodness it is Friday!!!

It has been a long and busy week!! I work this weekend, so I promise a blog update on Monday!!

Here's to a weekend of brain challenges for mommy and fun memories with daddy!

Allyson