We had a relaxing New Years Eve with our friends Erin and Billy.  They have a busy 2-year-old and the four of us had trouble even staying up until midnight.  We reminisced about the days we were total rock stars as we waited for Snooki to get into the ball.

This morning we woke up slowly and made our way from the bedroom to the couch.  I fed Charlotte.  She spit-up a little and then Ginger gave us a little glimpse of potential incidents we could encounter in 2011.  Before we could stop her she came over and LICKED THE SPIT-UP OFF THE BABY!!!!  At least she didn’t eat baby poop, although I’m sure she’ll be tempted sometime this year.  

Oh, and we totally posed our baby with an open bottle of champagne.  Here’s to new year of ridiculous blog posts.  Happy New Year from us!

I’m sitting at my house staring at the loot my 8-week-old racked up for her first Christmas.  If this is a sign of things to come, I’ll have to open up the floorboards in her closet to store the barrage of stuffed animals and light-up infant toys that require AA batteries.  She loves her Fisher-Price Seahorse and the play mat Santa brought.  Frankly, she deserved it all because she’s been a really good girl this year.  As a fetus she made my pregnancy very easy.  As a newborn she’s been wonderful.

Charlotte and I on Christmas Eve in her little rocking chair from Grandaddy.  (I’m not sure why my Dad has two of those air purifiers.)  Anyway, some of our best gifts this year were sewn.  Take a look…  

One of my favorite gifts was this pillow from my Dad.  He had a local artisan stitch the cover of Charlotte’s Web onto a pillow.  I absolutely love it!

My Sister-In-Law Alison made this beautiful cross-stitch for us.  I think I’m going to hang it in our room.  But I got a little teary when I received this…

My Grandma gave me this pillow.  My Mom made it for her in 1979, two years before I was born.  She said it was time to pass it to me since I was a new mother.  

Oh my God!  Seriously.  After all that?  Ugggghhh!  (Read about my baby name agony and the ultimate decision.)  After all the agonizing over the not-too-popular name I read this article in the Charlotte Observer.  Great.  Well, Emma, Isabella, and Ava can move over for Charlotte.  {sigh} I guess that’s what I get for over analyzing.  I’m holding out hope that it was only the most searched name, not the name everyone went with.  We’ll find out when the Social Security Administration release their 2010 list. (See link above.) At least it’s not a weird name.  I still love it, and it’s not like I can do anything about it now.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/12/29/1941537/charlotte-youre-popular.html##ixzz19WoQd6Zs

My whole life I’ve listened to this Christmas song and never thought a thing about it.  I don’t know that I ever REALLY listened to the words until now.  When I was a kid my parents had the Barbra Steisand Christmas Album.  (Yes, an actual record.)  It’s really good.  I love it.  Greyson makes fun of me for this.  Joking he says, “Yentil has no business singing Christmas songs.”  I called him an anti-Semite and told him not to ruin my song.

This is my Christmas song this year.  It’s the Christmas song for all new mothers.  Merry Christmas.