Because she's mine, she walks the line...

I don't think I ever officially announced it, but Phoebe is walking! She took her first tentative steps the day before Thanksgiving (at 9 months!) and now, at 10.5 months, she is a grade-A certified walker. Here she is on Christmas Eve, walking to her mama :) And yes, we are battening down our hatches.

Phoebe's baptism

We had Phoebe officially baptized on Dec. 28. I say "officially" because I baptized her myself at the Vatican in September. Being only three days after Christmas, we kept the celebration fairly low-key...as in, I served Christmas leftovers and no one seemed to mind. Phoebe looked gorgeous (as always) and was a good girl during the ceremony, though she was more content to crawl around the alter and attempt to walk in her long dress (impossible!) than to stay in my arms. I guess that's what I get for waiting over 10 months to baptize my "new" baby!

Here's our girl on her big day:

{this is with her boyfriend jake, who is totally and utterly in love with her...we will display this photo at their wedding for sure}

Although I kept the food low-key, I did re-decorate the dining room for the celebration. I just have this thing lately about not wanting to see Christmas stuff after Christmas. So I changed it to a "winter bird" theme and I was very happy with the results...

Santa was here...

We had an eventful Christmas this year, full of family visits, smiling children, food, wine, coffee (thank heaven for coffee!), music...the list goes on.

Christmas Eve started with some goofy fun at home:

{yes, she IS mine, i remember birthing her very clearly...all 45 minutes of labor}

{upside-down pheeber-deeber-doobers}

{lulu and her popi}

We got dressed up to go to the pageant at church at 3:00. It was great...all the kids were so cute in their little costumes and Lucy was fascinated by the whole thing. She told us in the car ride home that she wants to be an angel in the pageant next year. We'll see. A prerequisite for participation is the ability to sit still for a length of time and let's just say that we need the coming year to work on that skill!

Two highlights from the pageant:
(1) When the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she was going to have Baby Jesus, Lucy asked, out loud, "But where's the daddy?" I was not prepared to give her an entire lesson on the heart of Christianity right then and there, so I told her, "Ummm, he's at work..." Nice one, Mommy. Look, technically, I was right. God's always at work, right? :)
(2) When Mary & Joseph couldn't get a room at the inn, Lucy wanted to know what was going on. So I told her that they couldn't find a hotel room, so they had to sleep in a barn. That made perfect sense to her, and it's the truth. But for the rest of the day, she went around telling everyone that "Mary couldn't get a hotel room" as if she had been trying to check in to a Marriott Courtyard.

{jeff and santa baby, ready to go to the pageant}

{with grammy}

{wow, a somewhat decent family photo!}

After church, we decorated the tree. We went with a live tree this year so that we can plant it in our yard in the spring. I am picturing having a whole row of trees someday in graduated heights, and being able to point to each one and say "That was 2008, 2009, 2010..."

{phoebe helping with her "baby's first christmas" ornament}

{lucy doing some decorating}

{pine cone ornaments that lucy made with nonni on cape cod}

Later that night, Santa arrived and left presents for the girls...

...while they were nestled all snug in their beds, visions of candy canes dancing in their heads:

{lanz christmas jam-jams, butt high in the air}

{new christmas nightgown}

The next morning, they were raring and ready to go:

{waiting for daddy to check to see if santa came}

{did he come?}

{cookie crumbs...he must have been here!}

{santa brought a train table for lucy}

{phoebe likes it, too!}

{phoebe got a little red piano that she adores}

{ariel nightgown = big hit}

{mommy still likes to play with barbie, apparently}

{uncle kevin is almost as fun as barbie}

{the next britney spears...oh, i hope so!}

{phoebe in her "daddy present" -- a beautiful hanna andersson outfit}

{lucy in the snow}

{phoebe in some new winter finery}

{hats don't always last too long on phoebe's head}

{ma and pa in the kitchen}

Merry Christmas!

I'll post more photos tomorrow or over the weekend...for now, here's the best one...happy holidays to all!

Isn't she lovely...

Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute (ok, three years) old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love

Ta-da

*UPDATE* My mom reminded me that I forgot to mention the acclaimed artist who did the paintings above the fireplace...none other than the talented Miss Lucy Elise!

As promised before, I painted my mantle and brick (sorry, Nana, I did paint the brick!). I'm thrilled with the result. And because everyone likes a good before and after, here goes:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The mantle is the same color as my kitchen, Benjamin Moore Semolina (matte finish Aura paint). The brick is done in Benjamin Moore's floor & patio paint in Light Gray. It covered the brick really nicely and I didn't need to use a special masonry primer. Now let's see how durable it is! Next step...re-decorating for Christmas so that Santa doesn't pass us by, thinking that we worship the gods of home design rather than Baby Jesus :)

Lulu.

You could've knocked me over with a wet noodle

Tonight, I told Lucy to go draw on her easel in the playroom for a little while so that I could feed Phoebe and get dinner ready. I poked my head in a few minutes later and she told me she was "drawing Lucy." She's been very interested in letters and words lately -- which letter a word starts with, etc. -- so I thought maybe I'd see a bunch of lines that she thought were the letters in her name. Nope, I was wrong. She was, literally, drawing a picture of herself. And it had a round face, eyes (with pupils!), a red mouth, hair, ears, and legs. Shiver me timbers...I am totally blown away. What will she do next? Oh and to top it off, she did a second drawing that had Phoebe in it as well.

{drawing #1...i mean, c'mon...i had NO idea that she was anywhere close to doing something like this}

{lucy, on the bottom, and phoebe, top right. they look like little aliens...adorable little aliens.}

Santa 2008

Hmmmmm, where was Lucy? Oh right, hiding and covering her eyes. Maybe next year...