ONE YEAR!!

I can hardly believe that one year ago today, I married my best friend, the man of my dreams, and the father of my children! We had an amazing wedding surrounded by family and friends. The next day, Brian and I both said that it was a "perfect" day and that we wouldn't change a thing. After all of my planning and hard work, it all came together. I was remarkably calm knowing that no matter what happened that day, Brian and I would be married at the end of the day, and that is all that mattered! The last year has been very eventful. Here is a recap:

• On January 2nd, we headed to St. Lucia for our honeymoon. We ate yummy food, drank to our hearts content, and met awesome people! I ate fire and Brian learned to sail! We had a minor setback when our room was raided and several belongings were stolen, including our camera with all of our pictures, but overall it was a great trip and we look forward to going back someday!


• On February 13th, we found out that we were expecting our first child. This news came a bit sooner than expected, but we were thrilled nonetheless. Most of our year was spent preparing our lives and our home for the birth of our little girl.


• On October 13th, our lives were forever changed as we welcomed Macie Lu Mitchell into the world. She has brought so much joy and meaning to our lives!

Happy Anniversary Brian! Here's to many more happy years!!!

This isn't my favorite picture, but it is the only one I have on the computer!

Secrets from Abbie's Kitchen

People are always asking me for my recipes, so I decided to create another blog just for them. That way, everyone will have access to them. My recipes are not all original, but instead a compilation from cookbooks and friends. If there is a recipe of mine that you are wanting, just leave me a comment letting me know and I will add it. I started out with a few that people asked me for over the holiday season. Click on Abbie's Kitchen under my blog list to get there. Enjoy!!

Macie's Baptism

Macie was baptized today at Holy Spirit Church. It was also the Feast of the Holy Family, so it was a perfect day! Afterwards, we had about 20 people over for chili and potato soup. Brian got many compliments on his food...yummy! Look at my little angel!!

Macie didn't even cry!
The proud parents!

Macie was wiped out and slept thru almost the whole Mass!

Macie's godparents....Aunt Annie and Uncle John

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, we put a lot of miles on the Escape! We started out going to Brian's parent's house to exchange gifts and eat breakfast. Next, we headed to Madisonville where we went to both Brian's mom's and dad's family gatherings. Last, we headed back our way to Boonville where we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family. I was so happy that Macie was awake and happy for a portion of time at each stop so everyone was able to see her smile and her beautiful blue eyes! By the end of the day, our bellies were full, the Escape was stuffed and we were exhausted!!!

Pops had to get in his quality time with Macie!
Aunt Katie holding her favorite niece!

Mommy and Macie

Macie got her cousin, Kaylee, a chef's outfit. Wouldn't you eat something made by this adorable chef?

Macie was tired of being held, so we laid her on the floor to kick and play. Kaylee went and found some toys and had Macie smiling and cooing at her. It was so cute! Kaylee insisted that Macie bring that frog home since she was too big for it now.

6 Places, 4 Cities, 2 Days!!

Yes, you read the title correctly....our Christmas is so packed and crazy! Most people can't believe how much traveling we do, but somehow we survive it every year! Macie must have been a very good girl this year because she got so many wonderful gifts! Macie thanks everyone who gave her lots of new books and toys to play with along with all of the cute clothes to wear!!

On Christmas Eve, Brian worked until 2. When he got off work, the first stop was my parent's house to exchange gifts with my immediate family. Then, we headed to my grandma's house (my mom's mom). This is the biggest get-together by far! Picture this...up to 80 people all in a duplex (she has both sides). It is cramped and cozy, but we wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Look at that hairdo!
A family picture...

My cousin's daughter, Olivia, is absolutely precious. She is just 4 weeks older than Macie.

Before Allie went to Iraq, she told me that she wanted everyone to do tequila shots with her when she was back for good. She made me promise I would make this happen. Well, I told my uncle about it and they put together a kit for her for Christmas...Don Julio, lemons, salt, and shot glasses! We all took shots with her...there were several rounds and I think that she ended up taking 6 or 7 by the time the night was over. I only took one and that was plenty!!

Introducing Hannah Kate

Hannah Kate Klassen, Mary's baby, was born on Monday, December 22nd at 11:29 pm. She weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. She is absolutely precious! She looks a lot like her mommy and has black hair. They will get to go home tomorrow morning. That has to be one of the best Christmas gifts!!

I am so glad that Macie has another cousin to play with and grow up with!

Check-up

This morning, Macie and I braved the ice and cold to see Dr. Voyles for her 2 month check-up. Here is the breakdown:

• Weight: 11 pounds 2 ounces (she is growing like a weed!) 7oth percentile
• Length: 22 inches, 50th percentile
• Head Circumference: 39 centimeters (They assured me that this was within the normal range, despite our scare when she was in the womb)

Macie had her first round of immunizations....I think I was more nervous about this than anything! I have a huge fear of needles, but everything turned out to be fine! Dr. Voyles said that she is absolutely perfect:) I would have to agree!

Our First Family Christmas

Today, Brian, Macie and I celebrated our first family Christmas. Santa came to our house early because Brian works both jobs on Monday and Tuesday and as soon as he gets off on Wednesday, we are starting the Christmas madness. It was really nice to do it today and to start some family traditions of our own. First, Brian made breakfast for us and we used the Christmas dishes that my Grandma Wolf gave us last year. Next, Brian read the Christmas story from the Bible out loud to us. Then, it was time to open the gifts!

Rusty and Max got their present first....a bag of rawhide treats!

Macie stayed awake the whole time. This is her first present from Santa...new socks! She also got a purse, some books, bath toys, and pattern balls! Mommy and Daddy opened a savings account for her.

Macie got Daddy the "New Dad" Willow Tree Angel. She got Mommy a necklace with her picture on it. I love it!!
Brian loved the gift from me. I made a photo book on Snapfish. He was complaining just the other day that I had never finished our scrapbook. Brian got me a digital picture frame...something I have been wanting for a long time!!

As soon as we were done opening gifts, Macie started crying. We picked her up and soon realized she had exploded in her diaper! Here is the before...

and here is the after....nice and clean!!

Christmas Movie Night

Tonight, we went to my mom and dad's house for the first annual Christmas movie night. We watched White Christmas, Call me Claus, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was nice to spend time with my whole family because Annie was home from Purdue and Allie is home all the time now.

There is my sweet angel!
Look at this spread! We all made different finger foods! Yummy...my favorite!

Macie was so zonked out at the end of the night that she fell asleep sitting up!

A Fuller Family Visit

Tonight, Nathaniel, Jordan, and the boys came over for chili. It was so nice to see them because we haven't had many chances to spend time with them in the last year or so. Jordan will be keeping Macie on Thursdays, so we are excited about seeing them every week!

Jordan is already in love with our little girl, so I know that she will take great care of her! She also has gotten back into scrapbooking, so we have something else we can talk about and do together!
2 year old Brodey wanted to hold Macie, too!

NEW JOB!!!

Last Friday, Brian was offered a new job at Ron Collin's Aviation Electronics. He will be sort of like the office manager. We are very excited about this! He will finally get to use his degree in accounting and he is going to start out making more at this one job than both jobs combined (ARC Bowling Lanes and Integra). His last day at the bank will be the day after Christmas, and he will start the new job on Monday, December 29th. He will have to drive to the Henderson airport (yes there is such a thing), but we think the drive is worth it. He is going to stay on at ARC for a while to catch us up and, dare I say it, try to get us ahead. Finally, something is working out for us!!

A Sweet Surprise

When I woke up at 2:00am for Macie's pumping/feeding session, I discovered a vase full of flowers and some mini candy bars that Brian left for me. I have been on an extreme chocolate kick since my third trimester. I was very pleasantly surprised! My husband does love me!!

Brian also left one flower in Macie's room. She is definitely a Daddy's girl!

Go Colts!!

For Christmas, I surprised Brian with tickets to a Colt's game. He was super shocked and pumped because he didn't think that we would get to go to the new stadium for a while because of high ticket prices and Macie coming during the season this year. We took Macie to Indy with us, but she stayed at Circle Center Mall and went shopping with Aunt Annie while we were at the game.

The new stadium is much bigger than the RCA Dome and a lot nicer, but at first Brian thought that it didn't have the same "feel". Then, the crowd got into the game and it felt like the old stadium.

We were the second row from the top, but we still had a great view and an awesome time!

A Baby Divided

Today was the big IU/UK basketball game. This game is a big deal in our house because I am a big IU fan and Brian is a big UK fan. The funny thing is, our teams seem to take turns winning. The last four years it has been, IU, UK, IU, and unfortunately this year UK won again. Macie was dressed for the occasion in a UK onesie underneath her IU sleeper.

This is the first picture that we have of her smiling at me. I got so excited I almost started crying! A little over the top I know, but it's the little things in life that matter people!!
Of course the boys had to sport their gear as well. This is the best we could do to get all three in the same picture!

The Christmas presents have already started coming!

We are lucky enough to have been asked to be Godparents for Reagan and Leland, so we got them gifts for Christmas. Earlier this week, we had Brandi and the kids over for dinner. They also brought Macie a cute outfit. Today, we had my parents, Wendy, Jeremy, and Leland over for lunch and they also brought her an adorable outfit! A week and a half until Christmas and she already has two gifts! I have a feeling she is going to be spoiled rotten this year!!Reagan started crawling at our house! It was the first time she had crawled for her Mommy!
We couldn't leave Bailey out, so we got him a train puzzle. He worked it about 20 times before leaving that night!

Macie got ahold of Grandpa's beard! Ouch!

We got Leland a Little Einstein 4-1 learning game. He loved it and wanted to start playing it right away!

2 Months Old!!

Macie is 2 months old today! I can hardly believe it. Here are some highlights from the last month:

• She has started to smile at us intentionally. It melts my heart!
• Macie has rolled over from her belly to her back several times. She always looks so shocked once she rolls over.
• As of Monday, she weighed 9 pounds 15 ounces, so I am sure that she is well over 10 pounds by now!
• Daddy has kept Macie all by himself a couple of times now and even took her shopping in all of the holiday craziness!
• Macie grabs on to everything. Brian learned very quickly not to hold her with his shirt off...ouch!!
• Macie finally got to meet her Aunt Allie for the first time and she has been having a lot of fun with her since both Mommy and Allie aren't working right now.
  

Happy Birthday Keelin!

On Sunday, we went to Keelin's birthday party. The theme of the party was Tinkerbell and we got Keelin a Tinkerbell backpack and some coloring posters with markers. Every gift that she opened she said "out, out". It was so cute!

Brian and Macie spent a lot of time on the couch watching the Colt's game.
Keelin looked adorable wearing her backpack.

She started putting her other gifts in her backpack.

Keelin loves Macie. When it was time for us to leave, Keelin got all of the stuff out of Macie's car seat and opened up the straps so that Macie could get in. She is a great helper!

Happy St. Nick's Day!

Growing up, it was a family tradition for St. Nick to visit every December 6th and fill our stockings with goodies. Brian and I have kept up that tradition and today we looked in our stockings. St. Nick brought me a pink Colt's watch. I thought it was really ironic because St. Nick brought Brian tickets to the Colt's game next weekend (it was really his Christmas present, but it had to come early because the game is next week!). We were both really excited. St. Nick brought Macie some goodies too, of course. Every year he is going to bring her an ornament and this year he also brought her a large snuggle bear! You can put your hands inside of him to keep them warm! She doesn't understand yet, but it is important to me to start these traditions now.

Snuggling with Pops

Brian's parents came by this morning to see Macie and me. Macie was a little fussy after Grammie gave her a bath, but Grammie and Pops were able to settle her down. Then, she snuggled up with Pops and it was the cutest thing because it looked like she was sitting on his lap. She always loves snuggling with Pops!

A Week of Firsts

I know that Macie will have many "firsts" throughout her life and especially in her first year of life, but everyone seems like a tiny miracle to me. This week she hit two big milestones. She smiled at me...not just those half asleep or I passed gas kind of smiles...but the kind where she looks you straight in the eye and grins from ear to ear. I cried of course!
Then today, she rolled over from her belly to her back! We are still working on going from her back to her belly, but that will come before long because she is getting stronger and stronger every day! Once again, I cried!
These are moments that I am so glad that I have gotten to witness and it makes missing a few weeks of pay so that I could stay home the full 12 weeks all worth it!

O Christmas Tree

On Wednesday, we went to pick out Macie's first Christmas tree at a tree farm that is run by some of my family. It was very cold out, so Macie was all bundled up, but I had to take a picture of her by her first tree. We haven't gotten it yet, but as soon as it is all decorated, I will post a picture where you can actually see her!