Catch-up, Photodump, Hi, remember me?

Well the colic hasn't broke, but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. (As I write this, he is screaming his head off with Jon in the other room...) I had always wanted to take photos for our Christmas card this year but was worried about his colic and being able to get the shots we needed. Above is the money shot. That's what we paid for, basically. 7 weeks old and looking oh-so-cute. Because in between every decent shot he was screaming and we were bouncing him or blasting a radio or trying to show him toys in hopes of getting one or two good shots. It was a hectic and a kinda stressful afternoon, but I'm glad we did it.

Thanksgiving. Hey, at least his sweater is cute.

 We started him on probiotics (BioGaia) and I really have seen some improvements since day 3 of starting them. He is actually happy in the morning after he wakes up and we have been playing. I even heard his first laugh the other day! So much fun. And now he smiles all the time and we can get him to smile for us, before it was sort of random. Nothing better than seeing his smiling face.

As tempting as it was to get a cheap tree from Costco...babies first Christmas, blah blah blah. We bought an overpriced one from the tree farm. He slept the whole time in the Ergo. Family of 3, yo!

Holding his head up like a big boy. We are playing catch up on tummy time, since he wasn't a fan in the early months. He wasn't a fan of anything, actually. So in his few happy moments we weren't going to ruin it by putting him on his stomach. Trying to squeeze lots of TT in now.

We are loving baby clothes from American Apparel and Old Navy! Don't let his face fool you.

I miss this space. I miss all of you! I hope to not let so much time pass before another post. 

Our Thanksgiving

Are you sick of hearing about Thanksgiving? We move on so quickly from this holiday, me included. I am sitting here, listening to Christmas music and surrounded by gobs of Christmas decor. Thanksgiving was at my brother and sister in law's house this year.

I made Shutterbean's herbed ricotta brushetta. So amazing. Worth taking some Lactaid pills for.

Stuffed mushrooms and homemade rolls from my parents.

Adorable name napkin holders I got from Heart of Light.

SMART baby alert!

My nephew said "you're hurting it" while my brother was carving the turkey. Ha. Here he is in a "pilgrim hat" but kept calling it a witch hat. It was neither. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks

The older you get, the longer your list of 'what you're thankful for' becomes. I probably wasn't thankful for my health in years past, but after seeing two people my age diagnosed with cancer this year, it's at the top of my list. I joked on Twitter that this year I'm thankful I'm not planning a wedding (true true TRUE) but what I'm most thankful for is a 'who' not a 'what'. As I continue to navigate through life, the 'who' becomes very clear.

{friends}

 {family}

{newly acquired family}

{my love}

Wedding photos by Kate Harrison Photography.

Thanksgiving Scenes (You knew it was coming)

Every year Jon and I trade off whose family we go with and this year it was with Jon's family to their cabin in the mountains. Word is it was the most snow the area had seen in a November in 20 years!

 Hello snow! Also just realized I'm wearing head to toe Gap.

Morning walk in a almost-winter wonderland. Nearly froze my little ears off. 

Thanksgiving morning.

Still a kid at heart. Totally bit off a few icicle tips. 

Shoveling snow, we did a bit of this. Such a workout!
{P.S. I get to marry him.}

What's Thanksgiving without green beans? 

We added bacon, shallots and sliced almonds.

The following day, some of us wine tasted in Murphy's,

 while some of us got our shop on in the Spice Store! 

Aaaaand it's only Saturday! Woohoo.

Thanksgiving Table

I opted for the persimmons instead of the pears at the last minute! And as you can see, ran out of time to make actual name cards. Once food hit the table and people arrived, the pictures were blurry and 99% of my nephew. But I sure am proud of how the table turned out! Have a great weekend everyone.

Table stuff

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We picked up one of these baby pears for each Thanksgiving attendee last night at Whole Foods.  I plan to place each one in the middle of the plate with a tag attached to the stem by string. Hopefully I will have time to stamp out the names on the tags, or maybe just initials, depending on how big the tags are. It will be a cute placeholder and then of course, a sweet treat to munch on.

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I also asked my Dad to save me the Birch wood branches he recently trimmed back from his yard in hopes of creating a centerpiece.  Turns out they are much thinner than I thought. I had hoped to cut out rounds of varying heights to stack pillar candles on top of, but now I think only votives will fit on top. I may hack them up a bit and circle them around a pillar inside a hurricane.

No goofy cornucopias to be seen anywhere. Anyone have any tips for a more organic modern approach to Thanksgiving decor?