Merry Christmas!

I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone already. Since I've been mostly quarantined at home for the past few weeks, I feel like I never really got into the "Christmas spirit." After several weeks of adjusting to life with a newborn, the holiday just sort of snuck up on me. However, it all came together and it was a fun day. Santa was much too generous to Annalise. After opening all her gifts, she was overwhelmed and just wandered around the room playing with an old flashlight. Oh well! Today (12/26) she was able to "take in" her gifts and has been playing with them more.

After a morning of opening gifts here at our house, we went to my parents' house for our family Christmas. The whole Patch crew was there and it was lots of fun! Gift giving was total chaos, as always. We start out saying "Let's open them one at a time so we can see who got what" and the next thing you know, there's wrapping paper, tissue, and bows being ripped apart and tossed into the air in total gift-opening madness. I may have no idea what anyone received, but everyone seemed pretty happy afterwards, so I guess all the gifts were a hit! More important than gifts, of course, was just being with the family. I am very blessed to have so many people in my life to love and laugh with. I have been given so many gifts that can't be wrapped, and for those I am so grateful.

Some pics from the day:

Baby Ryan has arrived!

We are proud to announce that our little boy, Ryan Holcombe, arrived on Monday, November 26th at 12:14 p.m. He was 7 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long. The delivery, which was via c-section, couldn't have gone better. I was smiling and chatting with the doctors during it -- quite a change from our last experience!

Ryan is such a sweet little guy! (Unless he's hungry or having his diaper changed, of course!) Annalise adores her little brother, but is definitely having trouble adjusting to "sharing" her mommy. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing around here before too long! :)

Here are some photos of our new family of four!

Family Fun Day - Bowling!

Today is our last Friday as a family of three! We took Annalise bowling for the first time and she loved it! A couple of times she insisted on doing it herself without our help. She did pretty well, but she made the mistake that all bowlers have made - she crossed the line and wiped out (a few times). And luckily I caught it on video! Enjoy the clip below -- and even with the fall, she got 7 pins on that turn! We had a lot of fun, and Annalise didn't even mind getting some gutter balls (which happened even with bumpers) OR the times her ball just stalled before even reaching any pins at all! She'd just say "Oops!" Haha...

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Trick or Treat!

Annalise had a blast on Halloween! She's been very excited about being a kitty cat. She dressed up at school and again that evening when we went trick-or-treating with her cousins, Lindsay & Caitlin. She had a great time!

My mom joined us, as is the tradition, and she and Caitlin were both dressed as witches. Lindsay was a cheerleader. They all looked so cute!

We're now doing the daily candy battle, as Annalise wants to hit the candy bucket every morning when she wakes up. Oh well, it was a fun day!

I Love My Girls!

This weekend I had a slumber party with my best friends from college! Yes, I'm 32 and pregnant and I went to a slumber party. So what? : ) I had requested to the BFF (no, that's NOT "best friends forever") to have a slumber party before the baby comes. So, this past Saturday we all invaded Mitzi's condo. It was a BLAST. I laughed for about six hours straight. And they surprised me with a little shower! I was spoiled with one of Mitzi's world-famous diaper cakes stuffed with onesies, PJs, pants, & toys, a Snap n Go, a monogrammed pillow, a bunch of monogrammed burpies and bibs that Les & Julie made, and a monogrammed diaper bag. They are the best. As I always say, "Friends are the family you choose for yourself." These girls really are my family. I love them all!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Annalise, I can't believe you are three today. Time has flown by, and I really wish I could re-live a lot of your moments over these past three years. It seems like yesterday that we were all excited about you sitting up by yourself or crawling, and now you are running around, dancing, singing, playing, and chatting away. Where did my baby go? I asked you that last night and you said, "I'm not a baby anymore. Ryan is a baby." You are right, I suppose. But, you are still, and always will be, my sweet baby girl! Thanks for all of the laughs and loving moments over these past three years, Annalise. You have been our little comedienne and the light of our lives. What a wonderful gift we received three years ago today. We can't imagine our lives without you. Enjoy your birthday today, Pumpkin. And, like you and Daddy say "Party like a rock star!"

A Fun Day in Dahlonega

This weekend Annalise and I joined my parents (Annalise's "Nee and Papa") for a day in Dahlonega. Having gone to North Georgia College, I never miss a chance to go there because I love it so much. We had a great time!

Annalise loved the General Store, which, as I said to my dad, offers an amazing assortment of "crap" -- coonskin caps, asian table linens, trinkets of all shapes and sizes, metal Jack Daniels signs, coconuts carved into weird faces, etc . She loved buying marbles (or, as she calls them, "mar-balls"), watching the player piano, rocking in the rocking chairs, and selecting candy. We browsed through different stores (mom & I spent way too long in a children's boutique), had lunch, played on the drill field at NGC, and finished the day with ice cream. The weather was absolutely perfect. I get so jealous every time I'm on the NGC campus. I see the students and I want to go back in time and take their place. I love looking around and remembering different moments from college, both good and bad.

On the way home, we were all exhausted. Or, all except for Annalise. She said, "Nee, wanna play hide and seek at my house?" My mom, wno was totally wiped out, kind of laughed and said, "Annalise how old do you think I am?" Annalise said, "Nee, you three." We cracked up and mom said, "How old is Papa?" Annalise said, "Papa not three, Papa's ooooooollldd" We all died laughing, of course. Poor Papa!