TESSA RAYANNE: December 2013

Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas 2013 Recap:

Sorry I have been gone a while, I was so busy with the holiday and then we went out of town the day after. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones.

Christmas was perfection, we were able to spend time with both sides of our family and extended family. We celebrated Cash's first Christmas starting Christmas Eve by going to a wonderful church service with our families, Cash was an angel and didn't make a peep the entire service, he sat on my lap and watched and listened. We then went to my parents house and celebrated with dinner, opening gifts, and spending time together. Christmas morning I spent with my two boys, cuddling in bed, taking photos to store in our memories, and getting ready to go over to my in laws to spend the morning with them. We went over there around 8:30am after Cash's first nap and had such a wonderful time. We opened gifts while sitting by the fire, drinking coffee, and then headed out for the Armstrong anual Christmas scavenger hunt before brunch. The scavenger hunt is my FAVORITE tradition the Armstrongs do and I cannot wait to carry this on when our children grow older. My in laws give the "first clue" in our stalkings and from there we hop in the car and drive to where the clue hints us towards. The next place we end up is usually one of the family friends homes, we get to say merry christmas and say hello and usually it involves us having to sing or dance with a ridiculous hat on or do something hilarious to get the next clue. The next clue tells us where to go next, until four to five clues later we are told to head back home and there they usually have a big family gift waiting. Its such a fun adventure and great for all of the kids (well, we are all adults now) to spend time together and get a good laugh. This year we are going to Hawaii, what a wonderful and gracious gift from our parents! We are so thankful for their giving hearts and that they appreciate spending time with us. Later in the day we went over to my sisters house where all of our family was. We were exhausted from a fun filled day and decided to head home by 4:00pm so we could rest up and pack for our family trip to Big Bear the following morning. We had such a nice Christmas, I think my favorite part was experiencing having a child and how wonderful it is to give them gifts and create traditions. This year really made me think about how God gave us His only Son so we could have a relationship with Him.. i cant even imagine the pain that He must have gone through to sacrifice His sweet innocent child.. my heart was able ot understand that a little more this year with having my own son. And I am so grateful for that. Im pretty sure Cash's favorite part was opening the presents and playing in the tissue paper ( ;

Happy Birthday Jesus!

My sweet niece Payten patiently waiting to open her gift.

Cash's favorite part of Christmas... the tissue paper

Thankful for these two beautiful souls

Helping my sweet little boy open his first EVER Christmas gift.

Christmas morning lovin.. i couldnt pick which one i liked best.. theyre all delicious..

Look at this little model posing .. he's so hilarious.

These two together makes my heart so happy

Oh Cashy, you are just the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Uncle lovin!

Loving that bubble wrap!

Helping Uncle Hunter open his gifts

The aftermath.. i bet my little boy would love to dive head first into this pile of fun

Beginning the Anual Christmas Scavenger hunt

Aunt Amy flew out from Colorado to spend Christmas with us this year. She is a firecracker and I love love love her! SHe is so fun spirited and absolutely hilarious!

Just one example of the cute little clues to the scavenger hunt

Those little feet, those beautiful blues, that sweet sweet face.. i just cannot get enough!

Christmas morning little photo shoot happening on mamas bed

My sweet parents with little boo at the end of the day on Christmas.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Christmas Eve: Fixing My Eyes On Christ

Oh Christmas Eve, you couldn't have come at a better time..or worse time. There are some difficult things going on in my family right now, things that don't have to do with me but effect me and my little family, things that I have to be careful sharing in order to protect people I care about and their feelings. I try my best to be transparent and want so much for you all to know I'm not perfect, my family and extended family and their families are not either, nor are my friends and their families, and so on and so forth, and that's life. It's so easy to look at someone's life via social media and take one look at pictures and judge them or judge yourself. This isn't fair to them or to you. So I'm here today to share a little of my heart, my pain, and ask for prayer. I'm here today to share that I have struggles and heartbreak sometimes. I'm here to share how much you all mean to me and that your prayers are what I need right now because I believe God hears every single one. And most importantly I'm here to share about my security, my hope, and my faith in Jesus Christ. And that is why today is so special, because although my heart is battling some wounds, it is also preparing itself for what Christmas means to me...so Christmas you have shown up in one of the hardest weeks of this year...and that saddens me for a split moment, I can dwell on how Christmas feels ruined,.. Or I can rise above and focus on what it's really about, Christ, and be thankful God is reminding me that I'm in his grasp and He sent His son to free me of this burden.

Jesus, I praise you for all you have given me, all the love you pour into my heart and my life, all the hope you grace me with, the strength of your hands holding me up, the path you have led me to, the light you shine on my family, and the prayers you listen to over and over always hearing my cry. I pray today that my focus would be on you. Thank you for this community i get to be a part of, thank you for my family and my extended family, my friends and all of my loved ones. I thank you Lord, I thank you!

Pray for me in this season. If you need prayer I would love to know so I can keep you in mine.

xo

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Our Baby Boy Is 5 Months Old!

My happy, sweet, adorable, lovely, darling baby boy is 5 months old! Im going to freak out next month when hes halfway to being 1 year old! I am SO not ready for that. He still seems so tiny and like such a baby to me, Im going to have such a hard time one day when I realize how big hes gotten. For now Im in denial. I am enjoying my "infant" (supposedly they are "infants" until they are 6 months old) cuddling him closely, and soaking up all the love and attention he gives me. I know one day not too far away he will be crawling away and then running! I want to remember all of him, every inch of adorable baby fat, every deliciously chubby wrinkle on his legs, neck, and tummy, the way he smiles at me right after he eats, his soft silky hand brushing against my arm or my chest as he nurses, the energetic happy kicks he does all day long, his squeals, squeaks, yelps, and giggles. The way he looks at me when faced with a big group of people, as though he wants me to rescue him and hold him close. The smell of his hair, his cheeks, and his breath. The softness of his tummy, his buns, and his feet. The splashes he has started to make in the bath. The way he is ticklish now. The flirty faces hes made since he was born, his adorable tummy and hands trying to prop him up as he now SITS, yes, he sits! Ahh! His side profile is just the dreamiest little thing i have ever seen, his hair is a couple inches now on the top and spikes up if we put water in it.. otherwise it lays flat and does a little swoop at the end on his forehead to the side, his tiny little neck and his pointy chin, his delicious lips that are always rosey and so lucious and filled with drool, the way he puckers and sticks out his tongue. The way he wraps his arms around me and holds me in his tiny hands. The sweet sounds he makes to let me know hes awake from his nap or from his long night of sleep. His eyebrows always have such a concerned look on them when hes curious, which is another thing i love.. he is so so observant and curious. He is calm in a crowd and crazy at home. He is so playful, so cuddly, so loving, so gentle, so excited, so so sweet and also lets you know exactly what he wants. I want to remember all of it. I wish I could. I already have forgotten so much, I know its not possible to remember every single detail,.. but i want to so I will journal and remember as much as my mind will allow.

My sweet baby boy, Happy 5 months... now lets freeze time and stay here for a longer moment. . . because im pretty sure this is my favorite stage. Although i've said that every month of your life. [hehe]

This past month (things to save for my memory):

He moved from his bassinet at night into his crib. No complications, he did fine because he was use to it from naps.

He rolls around everywhere, sometimes i find him sideways in his crib or facing the opposite direction

He can sit!

He is going through the 4 months sleep regression (still, going on week 3 now with only some improvement), struggling mostly with naps but a few nights have been rough too.

He can sometimes put his pacifier back into his mouth if its in his hand.. he's working on it.

He finally switched from the baby soothie paci's to a big boy 0-6 month Avent pacifier

Hes wearing 3-6 month clothes or 4-6 month.. His 0-3 months dont fit, most 3 months dont fit anymore.

He has started kicking his legs and splashing around in the bath, he loves it!

He seems to be interested in big people food, but still havent introduced solids (dr makes us wait until 6 months).

I've started to allow him to watch Baby Einstein and age appropriate videos for 20 minutes a day to get him to do more tummy time (he still hates tummy time after 5 or so minutes unless hes distracted. But he holds himself up great and his head doesnt bobble anymore.. hes a big boy!)

His current favorite toy is STILL the piano where he plays it with his feet.

He started using the bouncer last month (with a blanket behind his back since hes still pretty tiny width wise).

Friday, December 20, 2013

For Our Home: EelemenOPillows

Decorative Pillow Covers [Modern.Fresh.Bold]

So here I am giving you last minute Christmas items to add to your list of things to get! I love switching up our couch pillows with different pops of color and mix matched prints! It gives the whole house a whole new look and a fresh vibe! ElemenOPillows has thousands of options, literally 1730 items to choose from to be exact. And they are giving my readers 15% off!!! I love mustard yellow and any shade of gray mixed together so I went with those two colors and did some fun patterns.

The pillows instantly brightened our home. Im in the process of decorating (we moved here mid September and had a 6 week old baby so I am a little behind). But these pillows did just the trick to make me feel at ease in the mean time. I still need to get a rug, curtains, and have been eyeing some reclaimed wood mason jar wall candle holders to go on both sides of our wood clock.

ElemenOPillows is owned by the sweet Karin Larkin, who has shipped to all 50 states and over 80 different countires. Her pillow covers "were featured on the Nate Berkus Show, have been on HGTV's DIY Network and also in Good Housekeeping magazine. They have even been enjoyed by the president during his family's Christmas vacation in Hawaii!".

She is so sweet and kind to work with. The quality of the pillows speak for themselves. She offers all sorts of sizes so you can choose what will look best in your home. I highly recommend checking out her shop.