We spent the holiday at my parents home in the warm sunshine, with our Sunshine girl. Here are some photos from Sunny’s first Thanksgiving Day. Her shirt reads: Everyone is thankful for me! Ain’t that the truth.

Sunny loved Thanksgiving and so did everyone else. There was a moment about 1 hour after or feast where everyone was asleep in a different room of the house.

The next day was BLACK FRIDAY!!!!! A family favorite. We met in the kitchen at 4am!

When I took this picture my Mothers exact words were, this better NOT show up on that blog.

Next year I’m having t-shirts made in neon yellow or orange so we can actually find each other in the stores. I wish I had pictures of my brother chewing an Airborne, without water or my Dad waiting in the Target line with two flat screen tv’s for over an hour. We hit up Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Saks of 5th ( we love clothes), JCrew, and a store called Belks.  Don’t tell Sunny but I think I saw Santa buying all of her Christmas gifts early

Then later…much later….family photos on the beach! (You might have seen a preview in my last post) I have just a few pictures to share from that but will post the professional ones soon, promise!

On Saturday Nana and Papa threw Sunny a 1st birthday party! Nana even found another baby named Harper to join in  on the festivities.  My parents friends are wonderful people. They showered Sunny with gift and hugs and love and we are so thankful that they came to wish our girl a very happy first birthday.

Chris and JC gave Sunny a rockin Mickey Mouse. Have you guys seen this? Sunny’s Guncles are up on all the latest must have toys and Mickey is it! They had to search high and low and Mickey came special delivery to Nana and Papa’s house. He sings, he dances, and he plays games. Sunny loves her Mickey.

It was truly special to share our baby with our family. Nana and Papa can’t be here everyday for every feeding or every first. But the time we do spend together is so special to us and of course we captured every moment so that we’ll never forget.

We are so grateful to our family for pouring there love into our love. We miss them so very much!

Before I get to my Thanksgiving wrap up post, a new issue has arisen in our household.

My (almost) one year old has decided that sleep is overrated. She still wakes up once or twice a night, yes that’s right STILL as in she has NEVER slept through the night consistently…ever…in almost 365 days.

The past few nights when she has awaken she calls for Da-Da and has to be rocked, bottled, and held before she can finally drift back off to sleep. I know that I am always the first to say that I don’t want Sunny to grow up but I am more than ready for her to sleep through the night.

Last night at my parents it was just Sunny and me; she slept  two thick doors away from me and I could still hear her wails at 4am. So I, being alone and exhausted, brought her into the bed with me where she slept like an angel for until 7am. See photo below that I snapped in a odd moment somewhere between my thoughts of this must stop and she won’t always want to snuggle with me.

Tonight, as I write this post she is screaming at the top of her lungs after having spent the last 45 minutes in our bed reading books. 10 minutes has passed and she is asleep. 6 hours will pass and she will be up looking for one of us to come and rock her back into sleepdom, another 365 days will pass and I assure you I will still be writing post about my daughters lack of sleep.

In other news, my friend Andrea sent me this Christmas suggestion via her friend Colleen.

Her name is Taryn and she will soon be Sunny’s new BFF.  It says ages 3 and up but Sunny is advanced ( for a one year old) and I am in love so therefore I really think she should have one! Get one for your little one here.

I’ll be back in the am with a Thanksgiving wrap up. Sweet dreams to those of you who have children with no sleep problems.

This week marked more than Sunny’s first Thanksgiving it was also Sunny’s first professional photo shoot.

I don’t have the photos just yet but I have screened them and I do love them and I am so excited to share them with each of you. For now we’ll have to settle for a picture JC snapped while we were posing.

I LOVE family photos. You can chalk it up to all things memory related..hence this website and my chosen profession. We booked our shoot on the beach way back in August. Our next photos will be shot by my friend Mary (visit her here ). I know capturing the now will be very important to me later and so we FILM & PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING!

I can’t wait to send out our Christmas card, and no Matt and I will not be featured on it. Christmas cards in my opinion are for the babies and the adults who look at the babies and say Ahhhhh. All I need is someone to view my Christmas card and think…what in the hell happened to her? This is the nice thing about a blog, you see the picture and you move on. If I send it to your house you have too much time to look at it and analyse it.

Sunny and I head home tomorrow.  Remind me to share footage and photos from  Sunny’s first birthday party, thrown by her Grandparents. It’s been an amazing trip and we will miss the south, as we head back north to the chill and cold. Oh, retirement how beautiful you are.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year what I am thankful for is simple.

My family & the health of my family.

My friends & the growth of their families.

That’s it. Here’s to hoping your Thanksgiving is special, warm, and full of love.

Did anyone watch the American Music Awards Sunday night?

*Note: If you are new to Little Love Stories please note the following I LOVE TV and watch way to much of it, but it’s justified because I’m a tv producer.*

I fell in love with Kid Rock. Click on the link below….

watch?v=WasmZyQ6ZIs&feature=email\”Times Like These\”

Also why do rock star ladies never wear clothes? Is it me? Am I just too old and don’t get it? Where the hell were your clothes Rihanna?? I mean look at the center photo…what happened? I love her music, think she is a doll, just don’t understand were her clothes went to…

Yep-I just re-read my words and I do in fact sound like the oldest woman in the world. I on’t care though because if Sunny ever dressed like that I would come up on stage and beat her down.

In other new, I’m STILL WAITING on pictures from my Brothers weekend birthdya bash but I did receive this little picture of his birthday cake.

Yep that’s Christopher and his IDOL Janet Jackson. Do you see JC lurking in the background? Can you read Christopher’s T-shirt? I’ll translate, it says, Chris-Miss you much on your birthday. Xoxo, Janet

My brother adores/loves/obsesses over Janet Jackson. This cake is an instant classic. JC gets him a Janet cake every year, and every year they get more amazing and more hilarious. We’re thinking he might actually get Janet to jump out of the cake for his birthday. Stay tuned for 3 more years and we’ll see if that comes true.

Tomorrow I will be spending my entire day cooking. My Mother has prepped everything and is a crazy person so I will be acting as her maid/cook/helper/butler/ store runner tomorrow. Last year I had the excuse I’m pregnant, this year I have the baby and no mercy has been shown thus far. That woman could run a marathon, I swear to God she never sits down. She makes me tired just watching her; can’t wait for Thanksgiving day. Many of you will be leaving work early, fly safe, drive safe, and leave before any insults penetrate.

Read More...

Sunny and I traveled down to the dirty south in pursuit of  good food and good times with Nana and PopPop.

During our few hours here today Sunny has learned whose who and the lay of the land. PopPop is the guy who gets on the floor and plays with her even if that play involves a fair amount of  pulling over all non baby proofed items, Nana is the lady who makes all of the food and snacks and desserts, and Dallas is the little doggie (or da-hee) who steals food from your hand and chews the beak off of your rubber ducky.

Sunny has also taken to the phrase, I did it! She says I did it whenver she does anything that seems challenging or wrong. I did it! ( I knocked over Nana’s wine, shattering glass all over the floor). I did it! ( I climbed under the glass coffee  table into the giant game basket and now I’m stuck).

It’s very important that she learn to lie because I can tell you right now, I did it, is only cute because she’s little.

In other news some really awesome volunteers came over the weekend and painted a beautiful mural on Matt’s schools wall…

Isn’t that so clever and artsy and beautiful? They should call Oprah and see if they can be invited to the Favorite Things episode and then they too can get a brand new car, cruise, or diamond watch! Did anyone see that episode today? Because if you missed it  Oprah went on to say how the entire purpose of the Favorite Things episode is for us to believe that surprises come when you least expect them….I have gone my entire life thinking that Oprah and I are friends and that she gets me, and now I feel like she doesn’t know me at all. I don’t know about you but the only surprise I ever received (that was awesome) is Sunny. And not for nothing but she didn’t arrive in a brand new car. In fact she came after 6 hours of pure non-drugged hell and then she went to the NICU and then she had her nights and days mixed up and now its 11 months later and still….. NO CAR.

Moving right along. Thanks to those of you who are now following us on Facebook. Once we have the link between the two sites up I’ll be able to keep you all better informed. This Facebook thing is so crazy right? They offered to let me advertise Little Love Stories on Facebook for a starting price of 10,000.00 a month! That is so generous and kind of them! This must be the surprise Oprah was talking about

Tomorrow Sunny and I will be baking, cooking, sampling, and seeing what other fragile items we can break here at Casa La Nana and PopPop.

“Like”  Little Love Stories on Facebook.

Can’t see the link? It’s okay just type in Little Love Stories in your Facebook search window and give us the thumbs up!

Share us with your friends , we don’t mind! Really, go ahead, press the little blue thumb.

My hairdresser has a daughter named Isabel. She turned 8 years old today. Tonight is her birthday party and today she spent the morning in her mothers hair salon announcing to every person who walked in, that today is her birthday.

To mark the occasion Isabel wore a purple sparkly top, a purple shinny skirt with a giant purple rose gathering the material tightly to her hip, black stockings, and black sparkly high heeled square shaped boots.  She was gifted a pair of gold hoop earrings that spell out “Isabel” in cursive directly in the center ( a la Carrie Bradshaw). As if none of this was enough she added a black and silver sparkle necklace. If you had seen her you would have guessed that today was a special day for this little girl.

When I asked her what it felt like to be 8 she said, “It feels good. I’m more of a woman now.” A thought that frankly made me laugh and well up with tears all at once. She then told me that she’s REALLY REALLY good at Math and that being REALLY REALLY good at math makes her VERY VERY SMART.

I think she’s right. I was never really really good at math, I told her so and she responded, “it doesn’t matter now, because you’re old.” Thankfully she didn’t say REALLY REALLY old. Isabelle is beautiful and funny and sweet. She is also extremely honest and glittery. Looking at her today I thought, maybe it will be okay if Sunny turns 8. I like little girls in sparkles and high heels. I like 8 year olds a lot.
I’m also thinking I’d love to get a pair of gold hooping earrings with my name in the center.

That’s progress right? Also in the name of progress there happens to be a young woman who apparently is feeling my pain of letting my baby grow up. She goes by the name of Taylor Swift. I once produced a video for Taylor Swift ( you guys had no idea I’m kind of a big deal right? lol) but now I wish I was producing the video for this song….

Never Grow Up

Yeah, sorry for the link, there’s no video yet. But guess what I’m making one for Sunny’s birthday, I’ll share that later. My friend Nora sent me that song. She literally  gifted me a song. Has anyone ever done this for you? You can apparently buy a song and send it to your  slightly depressed friend who is sad that her baby will no longer be a baby in just 23 days. Thank you very much Nora, it really made my day.

I have a little brother, who is not so little anymore. And after this weekend he will be closer to thirty than he is to twenty, a fact I’m sure he hates.

When we were kids I was awful to him. I would make him run up stairs to retrieve my shoes, gloves, or coat. I would claim to be timing him as he did it ( when really I was watching tv) and then when he returned. out of breath, I would say you’re the fastest little brother in the whole world! You beat the world record!  Don’t judge me I was 7.

It made him tough though. Now he’s a designer for a major brand, engaged to his partner JC (VP of another major brand), traveling to China at the end of this month for business (all by himself) and the proud new father to a dog named Cubby.

There was a time when he needed me, and now there isn’t a time when I don’t need him and that’s the way life works isn’t it? Sigh. We’ll be celebrating at a dinner and brunch in his honer this weekend. I’m sure it will be first class, as it always is. I’ll take lots of pictures and share them with you guys on Monday.

Happy Birthday to my fabulous little brother, forever 21.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Remember to do your mental push ups as you prepare to spend time with family next week. I don’t know how some of you, who live in the same 100 mile radius of your extended family do it day in and day out. Those of us who moved 900 miles away salute you.

A friend of mine recently asked me to discuss Sunny turning one.

It’s something that I know is coming, but I’m dreading it the way I dreaded giving birth or flossing my teeth nightly.

Sunny is my first baby. Whenever I thought of having a family or children I in-visioned a baby. I rarely saw a one year old, a two year old, a high school aged child. I saw myself with this tiny person, new and innocent, gentle and perfect. Sunny is turning one and as her Mommy I am not afraid to admit that I am scarred. I wonder often how I will disciple her, how I will teach her to be a strong but gentle, loving yet cautious. She will need this next year to learn about the world, about friends and playground rules, life and what it means to be apart of the family Matt and I have created for her. She will also know about Elmo and TV marketing, songs and activities, what it means when I say “night night” or “lets go”.  What I say will have an impact on Sunny, who she is, what she does, and how she does it. 

I am her Mother, her example, her teacher, and her mentor. I myself am still figuring out how to trust my instincts, believe in the unknown, put my faith in God, and stand just left of my comfort zone. I am still learning how to trust, forming my own opinions outside of those of my parents. I am still depending on Matt to remind me that giving is better than receiving, and that life is about love and passion and not money. I want to come to Sunny as a whole person, a complete being, a human who has accepted myself and who stands proudly in front of her, but I’m not there just yet. Me and Sunny will have to grow up together.

I wanted a daughter  because I wanted someone to share my life with who would check on me when I’m old and senile and feels guilty leaving me in a home. How wrong was I not to realize that in truth, having a child ask you to remove the “you” from every equation.

So no, I’m not excited for my Sunshine to turn one year old, although I am very grateful for her continued life. Time is moving quicker than I can keep up with and my heart grows exponentially in her direction. It’s a guarded happiness, a natural fear, a letting go of my baby and accepting my toddler. 

I have 26 days to pull it together. Count. Down. On.