We can't complain though. We have such great families, and we are extremely blessed to have so many people that care about us.
Our first stop was at Dennis' grandparents house. To sum it up??? Madness! Fun, but madness! Kids, kids, everywhere!
It was so much fun though. The kids are still at the age where they aren't old enough to say "he just hit me!", or "she just stole my toy!" I'm sure those days are ahead, but it's fun just to sit back and watch them all run around. I don't think Sadie even knew what was happening, because there was so much going on around her. I even think she got a bit scared at times! We all gave Grandma and Grandad a huge picture of all of the grandkids and great-grandkids. They were so surprised, and it was such a special moment. 
It was so much fun though. The kids are still at the age where they aren't old enough to say "he just hit me!", or "she just stole my toy!" I'm sure those days are ahead, but it's fun just to sit back and watch them all run around. I don't think Sadie even knew what was happening, because there was so much going on around her. I even think she got a bit scared at times! We all gave Grandma and Grandad a huge picture of all of the grandkids and great-grandkids. They were so surprised, and it was such a special moment. The next stop was Christmas w/ my dad at our house. It was very laid back. Chance and Emma played w/ Sadie. She loves them to pieces! There were tons of presents. Sadie didn't know what to do. It was a lot of fun.
Next was the trip to Tullahoma to visit Dennis' dad. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that half of us were sick. PawPaw was sick w/ a cold; Rachel was sick w/ a cold; Sadie was sick w/ a cough and cold; I was sick w/ pregnancy nausea (more about that later). But, besides that, we had a great time. Sadie got lots of goodies! 
I was so bummed because PawPaw and Gimmy have the best coffee in the world, and I didn't ever feel up to drinking any. But, Gimmy gave us a pound to bring home, so that when I do get that craving, it's there for the takin'! Both PawPaw and Gimmy AND Daren and Rachel have miniature wiener dogs, and Sadie laughed and laughed at them running around together. They are the cutest little doggies in the world. 
The next stop was Christmas Eve at my mom's house. It was great. Memaw and Pepaw came too. We all ate a yummy dinner and opened presents. Once again, Sadie got lots of fun new toys. But, we had to get home so that Santa Claus could come. I got to bring home a few slices of my mom's famous chocolate pie. Yum!!!! What a great way to end Christmas Eve.
The next stop was our house! Yippee!!! Dennis was so precious. He stayed up late all by himself being "Santa Clause" (I felt like I was going to barf, so I had to bail and go to bed) and putting all of Sadie's new toys together. He fell asleep on the couch, so when I came downstairs to get him in the middle of the night, it literally took my breath away. He had moved furniture and set all of the toys up all over the den, and I promise, even I believed Santa Clause had been there! It was beautiful. The Christmas tree lights were the only lights on, and there were toys scattered everywhere. It was magical. 
Even though Sadie is only 9 months old, I can tell that Dennis will make sure that Christmas for her (and our other kids to come) is always so special. That means the world to me. Christmas morning was about as eventful as we could expect from a 9 month old. We set her on the stairs and wouldn't let her "come down" until we were ready to film/take pictures, etc. She was very patient.
Then, we brought her down and let her see and play with all of her new toys. She seemed pretty interested and excited, despite the fact that she still felt horrible and had a bad runny nose, ear infection and cough. Merry Christmas! 
Our final stop on our "12 Days of Christmas" adventure was Grammy's house. It was so much fun. We ate...again! Then, Grammy Clause and Captain Clause went upstairs and brought down handfuls of toys, toys, and more toys for McHaney and Sadie. It was awesome! They went way overboard. The girls had so much fun playing with everything.
So, thanks to everyone for making Sadie's 1st Christmas so special and so memorable. It was another fun year of madness! And, next year, we'll have a 4 month old to bring along, so that should make the adventure even more fun!!!
So, thanks to everyone for making Sadie's 1st Christmas so special and so memorable. It was another fun year of madness! And, next year, we'll have a 4 month old to bring along, so that should make the adventure even more fun!!!Stay tuned for the "Pregnancy Blog" to begin!!!
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Anyways, her dedication on Sunday was so special. It was a long time coming. It was something that I have looked forward to my whole life. To have my own precious little baby to dedicate to the Lord. Wow. What a feeling! I felt "weepy" (I hate that word, but I don't know how else to put it) all morning. I never did cry, but I felt like just bursting into tears everytime I thought about the event that was about to take place. So many of our friends and family came to support us. We took up about 4 rows at church! What a blessing! Although, we joked that everyone in church probably thought we were the "circus family", because so much was going on, and we were sitting in the very front of the church! Coffee was spilt, which caused some of the family to move seats, which made others have to scoot down and make room; the loud music scared little baby Coleton, so Travis had to take him out immediately; Coleton then proceeded to pee on Travis, so Travis had to come back into the service, explain to Anita what happened, and then they all left. I had to take Sadie out, b/c she was being too loud, and I almost tripped while trying to inconspicuously walk out of the room...and so on. It's all pretty humorous if you think about it. .JPG)
Then, most everyone went to Deb's (Grammy's) to have lunch. There were about 25 people there! She had gone out of her way to make everything extra special, as usual. She had a fire going, tons of food, pictures of Sadie everywhere, etc. It was wonderful! I have the greatest Mother-in-law in the world. A few weeks ago, I was stressed about the dedication, because Dennis and I knew we wanted to get the family together afterwards for lunch, but we just knew we couldn't do it over here, b/c we're trying to sell our house, and we have baby stuff everywhere, which cuts down on room, etc. It's almost like Deb sensed my stress, because when she came to pick me up for a wedding shower a few weeks ago, she just marched in here and said "I've got a plan. We're going to have lunch at my house, and we're going to do soups and sandwiches, and that's that!". What a relief! For a woman who raised 2 boys, she surely knows how to pick up on a girl's intuition.
We also had the opportunity to take a few "4 generation" pictures, which was very special. It's not very often that you get all 4 generations together on both sides of the family, so that was really neat.
Anyways, lunch was wonderful! Everyone had a great time, and laughed and seemed to enjoy just being together and celebrating little Sadie. I felt like such a proud mommy! It's the first time since Sadie was born that it's been "all about her", and I was so proud. People even brought gifts for her, which was completely unexpected! We appreciated it all so much. Dennis said that he even got a little choked up while saying the prayer to bless the food, which I didn't notice, but it blessed my heart to hear that. What a sweet daddy. I think we just both felt so blessed to have been surrounded with people that support us and Sadie so much. You could just look around the kitchen and see the love that people have for her.
I know that this is more common than we think though. I even have a few friends/family whose children have been through the same thing, but as usual, when it's your own child, it seems like the end of the world. But, we are trying to look at the positive side and thank God for how fortunate we have been thus far with Sadie's health. She's been such a healthy baby! This is her first real sickness and she's almost 8 months old. We know it could be so much worse! And, to this day, she still has never had a fever. Thank you Lord!
Going back to my mom's comment though...motherhood, as everyone says, truly has to be the most rewarding job in the world. At times, it's so hard, but the rewards that I reap from being a mom are priceless. Even the not-so-fun days like today bring me so much joy, because I get to be the one person in the world who can make her feel all better. One of my mom's friends at her work asked me one day, "Anna, what in the world did you do before her (Sadie)?". Honestly, I have no idea! I certainly didn't laugh as much. I certainly didn't sing as much. I certainly DID get a lot more sleep though...maybe that's what I spent all of my time doing! But, I do know that my life is now complete. I love, love, love having my own family now. There's nothing like it in the world.