holiday highlights

Well, we managed to survive Christmas again this year! And despite being up halfway through most nights in December, planning 3 birthday parties, attending countless Christmas parties and family events, trying to accomplish Christmas shopping with a 12-month-old in tow, traveling for four days, catching nasty colds, and squeezing in night shifts among all the chaos- we had a wonderful time.

Of course, last Christmas was technically our first Christmas as a family, but Braden was just a few days old and I literally can't remember Christmas happening last year, so we considered this our first Christmas together. For that reason alone, it was lovely.

Here are a few highlights:


Getting to spend quality time with almost all of our family members this year, including my brother and his wife who were in Kenya last year (above).


Braden & cousins
Great-grandparents

4 generations of Seeleys



Of course, waking Braden up on Christmas morning was a thrill:

Look what Santa brought!



Trying out his gifts


Cookies for breakfast!



We discovered that Braden has an unusual attraction to fireplaces this Christmas, and everywhere we went he wanted to crawl in them:




And, of course, all the presents:




Braden in the push-buggy that Grandmom bought him:




But the best part of this Christmas? The joy on Braden's face, day after day, hour after hour. Christmas brought him so much excitement, he didn't know what to do with himself!







Bill, Braden, and I hope you had a wonderful holiday, and we wish you & your families a very happy and blessed New Year.

King of the Jungle

In my next life, I want to be a children's party planner.

Throwing Braden's 1st birthday party was so much FUN! I am truly considering a career switch now. Braden's party theme was "King of the Jungle"- you know, since he's had that whole lion theme going pretty much since birth. It's a theme I think I've nailed. Between the lion "king of the jungle" plates & napkins & cups & tablecloth & gift bags & the lion-shaped cookie cutouts, even the cheese cut out in miniature lion shapes, I think I got the point across!

But, just to be sure... I put up big stuffed lions around the room and hung the portrait of Braden and his lion above the mantle and put Braden in a cute little lion outfit and had a lion cake to match! You see? I nailed it! I know, I know, it seems like I may have gone a little overboard. Well, yeah, I did. And I loved every minute of it.









The party was on a Sunday afternoon, the week before he actually turned one. I strategically planned it that way so I wouldn't burst into tears and sob my way through "Happy Birthday to You". Instead of getting all emotional, I could just tell myself, "He has a whole week before he is really a one-year-old. This is just for fun..."

We tried to keep the guest list small, about 25 to 30 people were there. Bill made some awesome food and I made some really tasty "adult punch" and we made a slide show of his first year pictures that played on the TV. We had 5 babies total in our house, and we kept them busy playing in a jungle ball pit that we got Braden for his birthday, which is now deflated and useless... Can you tell why?












Yeah, that went straight to the trash can once the party was over...

I had a huge birthday banner made to match the theme, I hung sky blue & chocolate brown balloons pretty much everywhere, I decorated the front door and Braden's high chair with birthday pennants, and had personalized candy bars made for favors to match the tableware and cake. Each baby got a cool pail full of jungle-themed gifts- homemade lion ornaments, a stuffed lion, a lion bouncy ball, animal crackers, the Jungle Book CD, and my favorite- lion rubber duckies!









Each adult/couple or older child had a lion gift bag stuffed with candy bars, birthday boy mints, and a small magnetic frame with Braden's beautiful 1st birthday portraits in them (see below).







Braden had an absolutely wonderful time playing with his buddies, visiting with his family, and opening his wonderful gifts. Sure, I had a few glasses of punch, but it seemed to me that everyone had a really good time, especially the birthday boy.









My personal favorite part of the day, however, was the cake. I will never forget what a great job our bakery did on Braden's first birthday cake. The colors matched perfectly, and the little lion on the cake matched the lion on his outfit! It really couldn't have been any more perfect, and I am still sad to this day that I had to cut it.






As you can see, though, Braden enjoyed every bite and made taking that gorgeous cake apart totally worth it.






I can't wait to do it again next year!

1 year

It's hard to believe.

A year ago this night, I was alone with Braden for the first time. Bill was there, but asleep in the reclining chair next to my hospital bed. Braden was crying that weak newborn cry, and I was trying to change his diaper as fast as I could, (which wasn't very fast). I fumbled through swaddling him, trying to get that tiny hospital-issued blanket just right so it wouldn't fall right back off in 2 seconds. I picked him up, rocked him gently, and shushed him the way I'd seen other moms do it. It seemed to be working pretty well. I was so tired.

Looking at him, I thought there was no way this precious, perfect baby could be mine. There was a real sense in me that I knew I had no clue what I was doing with him. It was like I was telling myself I had really gotten in over my head this time. There was no way I could be in charge of something so perfect, so precious. But when I held that baby and I rocked & shushed him like I'd seen the other moms do, and he calmed down and seemed secure in my arms, I realized that I was all alone, and I was doing it all alone. I was taking care of my baby, and as tired as I was, I wanted to do it more.

It's so strange to think of that night now. That night, I didn't even know Braden. He was a stranger to me. A beautiful stranger. Tonight, I sat with him as he slept in his crib. We listened to the same CD that I was listening to as I gave birth to him. I was overcome with emotion. So overcome that I could not move. I could not leave him.

I finally got up and grabbed a notebook and wrote him a letter. What I wrote him is my birthday gift to him. I don't need to share it. Suffice it to say, it's four pages long and much smudged with tears. But the last paragraph sums up what watching him turn 1 has felt like for me, so I thought I'd write it here as well.


I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined you. You are beyond a dream, beyond a wish, beyond my prayers. God gave me a blessing for which I was extremely unworthy when he gave me you. You are an amazing gift, Braden, a gift I could never truly express my gratitude for. I sat down here with you to tell you how much I love you on your first birthday. But I love you beyond what any words could say. The fact that a year has passed since your birth doesn't really change anything. I'm just thankful that I get to spend every single day trying to show you how loved you are. Because you, my baby boy, are very, very much loved. More today than yesterday, and more tomorrow than today.

Happy Birthday, Braden.