Welcoming Christmas

I am SO excited about Adrian's first Christmas.  I know he won't care later on, but I am having so much fun dancing with him to Christmas music, hanging ornaments, lighting Christmas candles all day long (the pine smelling ones are my favorite, oh my goodness).  I already wish he was older for just this season so that I could drive him around to look at Christmas lights. Yep, I love it this much.

I am also reaaaaly excited about starting our very own "Nick and Abi Fasciano" family traditions.  As a spin off of what my Grammy did for my siblings and I, I've decided to give Adrian a different ornament every year so he will have a whole bunch of different ones when he leaves home. This year, I bought him a lion ornament made of paper at World Market (one of the coolest stores I've ever been in). It's really interesting and unique.

I would also like to research Advent and other things/traditions like it to give our kids something to look forward to that magnifies Christ, educates them on the reason we celebrate, and gives them something fun to look forward to every year. Thankfully, I was raised in a home where we had LOTS of traditions, so I'm having fun stemming off of those and coming up with ones that will be unique to our own family unit.

At one time this year, I had planned on sending out a Christmas card. Whether I will next year or not, I'm not going to. I'm going to write a nice newsletter on here and post it to facebook for all of you. In the mean time though, here are some pictures of Adrian I took as possibilities for our card:

 

I think they turned out pretty cute :)

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Thanksgiving 2011

We traveled to Georgia to celebrate Adrian's first thanksgiving with my family. It was a fun, excitement-filled, exhausting time! All his aunts and uncles showered him with unbridled love and affection the whole time we were there. It was special to me that all three of his great-grandparents were there, and I tried to take lots of pictures to remember the time together.

Road trips are a little more difficult now that Adrian is older and mobile. He had such a hard time understanding why he had to be strapped down for so long! Poor baby! 

Here are some pictures of our time in GA:

Sleeping on the trip down there.

Adrian looooves his little cousin, Levi! Can't wait for them to be buds!

Four Generations!

Adrian and his great-grandma Apon. He looks like goliath baby in this picture.

Gramsie and her first grandbabies.

We love Aunt Lori!

And then of course, here's some silly videos for some random fun:

We have so much to be thankful for! Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving as well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, the last two days have been a little crazy, so suffice it to say I only made it to 22 days of thanksgiving, but to catch up....I'm thankful yesterday was traffic free and went as smoothly as possible. Adrian did pretty well for being strapped down in the car seat for such a long time (10 hours).

Today I'm thankful for being able to hang out with friends and family and eat good food and play games and take TWO, yes two, naps. Hmmm.

More on our thanksgiving trip to GA later.

Love, me.

24 Days of Thankfulness

Day 22

Today I'm thankful for being pretty well caught up on all my Christmas stuff so that traveling tomorrow will be easy.

I have stocking stuffers set aside, gifts wrapped for Nick and Adrian, and all presents organized for whether they stay here, go to Pittsburgh, or go to Georgia. That's pretty good for this organization-challenged girl.

Yesterday I hung two loads of laundry out on the clothes line and today I'll start packing so all we have to do is load it all in the car in the morning. I wish it didn't take so long to get to GA, but we're praying for a smooth trip!  This will be a fun little week.

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 21

Day 21

Today I'm thankful that I have a lot to look forward to in the future.  I'm looking forward to where we might live, putting roots down somewhere, making a house a home, celebrating little one's birthdays, welcoming new babies into the family, hopefully fostering to hopefully adopt, meeting new sisters and brothers in law, meeting new little nieces and nephews, and just being excited about everything else the Lord has in store for us. It really makes my heart happy when I start thinking about how much I have to look forward to! So thankful to have so much hope in my life. God is sooo good.

1 Peter 1:3
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead".

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 20

Day 20

Today I'm thankful that I've been able to stay on top of all the cleaning and laundry. It may not be a lot to be thankful for, but I haven't let myself get behind at all in cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc. for a while. It's SO much easier to clean and keep up with things like this when it's nice outside.  When Adrian goes down for his naps, I can be really productive. I'm thankful for that and I'm thankful for how homey my house is becoming :)

    

"Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!"

Psalm 106:1        

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 19

Day 19

Today I'm thankful for my husband's jobs - and Nick's good attitude while he works them.
Most of you know that for most of my pregnancy, our only income was Nick's part-time job at Tar Landing. God really used a lot of amazing people to carry us through it (which led to us giving Adrian the middle name of Samuel), but when we finally came through that season, we were even more thankful for Nick's job at GMAC and eventually Domino's Pizza...so I could stay at home with the baby. 

It's sometimes stressful and our life is not "easy" but I thank God for the precious man I have, and for how God has provided for us. In an economy where there are still a lot of people without jobs, and a lot of mamas who wish they could stay at home, I'm really really thankful for Nick and for his jobs.

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 18

Day 18

Today I'm thankful that my baby boy is 8 months old!

Can you even believe it?

This past month has been a busy one for little Adrian, as we've welcomed his first tooth (with lots of celebration), praised his going from laying down to sitting up, and of course crawling. My days have gotten busier as I can no longer lay a blanket down and watch Adrian play with a few toys for a long time - he is everywhere and into everything. It didn't take him long to master being mobile! I have become busier during his nap times, trying to catch up with the cleaning and laundry even more so now that I am less able to do it when he's awake. This week he started cruising along the furniture - we are all imagining that he'll be walking by Christmas.

With this milestone comes a new level of sweetness. Now Adrian crawls to us when we open our arms and we call his name, willingly gives sloppy kisses when we ask for them (we always cheer and clap and yell, "thaaaaaaank you for the kisses") and he loves to scream after it with us, as if he's done the greatest thing ever. He says "mama" and "dada" even more clearly - calling for me (mamamamamamamamaaaaa) when he's sad, and talking about his daddy when Nick's at work. It's just precious.  As he's getting bigger, I'm finding myself wanting to hold and snuggle him even more and he is more than willing to comply. 

Daily, Nick and I just shake our heads and wonder how God gave us the sweetest, craziest, funniest, most loving little boy in the world. We are sooo blessed - and we LOVE being parents. I love being a parent WITH Nick...it's better than I imagined to be a part of that sort of team.

I'm just shaking my head, hardly believing that it's been 8 months already since the midwife placed him in my arms on March 18th. I really just wish time would slow down a bit, because I'm loving this way too much.

Dear Adrian, You have made me realize that my heart can hold much, much more love than I thought. You are precious to us. I love laughing with you, snuggling with you, tickling you and playing with you. You have made me a mother, and that is one of the main reasons I thank God daily for His faithfulness and goodness - He gave us YOU and our life is rich! Happy 8 months, baby bear, we can't wait for the rest of every single day with you :) We love love love love you.

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 17

Day 17

Today I'm thankful that we live next to the ocean. I have always loved the beach and it is so nice to be able to literally go to it whenever I want (except it's really hard to go with a baby).

I love all the beachy things in my town, I love the smell, I love the touristy things to do, I love it all!

What a fun place to live.

"Who builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth— the Lord is his name."

Amos 9:6

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 16

Day 15

Today I'm thankful for PINTEREST!

If you don't know what it is, please, child, message me and get in on the magic (how have you lived until now?)

http://pinterest.com/abi_fasciano/

When I first heard about it, I didn't really get it. I didn't understand the wonder.  Basically, for you who aren't in the loop, pinterest is a virtual "pinboard" that is like a combination of google images and amazon. Every picture is a link to an image, an idea, a recipe, cleaning solution, decorating idea, DIY, Craft, etc.

I have just loved it this holiday season. We really don't have the money to buy our family nice gifts this year, but Nick and I both LOVE giving gifts, so it was just so sad to imagine not being able to give. Thanks to Pinterest, I have been able to put hours of time into gifts intead of lots of money. They are turning out nicely and I feel so thankful for pinterest.  It's literally the poor artsy person's dream.

Here are some ideas that I've pinned for my future dream house. LOVE it!

Psalm 104:10-14 “He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate-bringing forth food from the earth.”

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 15

Day 15

Today I'm thankful for our new church, Kellum Baptist Church.

God has answered our prayers in more than a few ways - we're really excited about getting involved!

"When life is more than you can stand, kneel".

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 14

Day 14

For some reason, there is nothing that puts me in a better mood (well, almost nothing) or gives me more perspective on life than rain. Rain calms me down, makes me feel peaceful, soothes my soul, and makes me want to sit and pray. Seriously, I love the rain...and sometimes, I feel like it's God's gift just for me. I love, love, love it.

Rain is peaceful, melodic, serious. It is calming and beautiful. I'm thankful for rain because it's like my "pause" button in life. It helps to slow down and be reminded of what God is done.

Maybe that's why God created it.

14 Days into this thankfulness thing and I'm already thinking how I will be able to narrow my list down to only ten more things. Thankfulness is funny like that.

^"Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit."

James 5:18

24 Days of Thankfulness - Day 13

Day 13

I feel like I became a mom on July 5th 2010. That's the day I found out we were expecting Adrian. Of course, my real "motherly" duties didn't start until his birthday on March 18th, but being a mom starts long before the actual labor and delivery.

Today I'm thankful I can be a stay at home mom. I've been a little surprised at some of the negativity I've seen surrounding our decision for me to stay at home with the baby, but I've also been so encouraged by those who support our decision to guard the importance of having a mother in the home. Technically, financially, it would be better if I could work, but it's just not possible in our situation and so I'm thankful that everything has worked out to where I'm at home all day.

I'm thankful that I haven't missed any milestones, I'm thankful that I can relax and play with Adrian...dancing and singing and swinging and consoling all day. I still don't feel like I'm "good" at it, and of course that will take time, but I'm learning that a day is not wasted if I spent most of it snuggling my teething son and the laundry didn't get completely put away.

Still, being a stay at home mom is a really hard job! And I only have one child to take care of right now! I'm thankful for the women in my life who have gone before me and excelled, such as my mom and others. I have wonderful examples of grace and servant hood in my life.

I am blessed.

On another note, I practiced my mommy skills on Nick this morning for breakfast and made these:

Thanks, Pinterest, for the idea!

Tip: Spray the inside of the cookie cutters with pam before pouring the batter in for easier removal of the pancakes.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Ephesians 2:10