Catching Up...

So since I'm rebelling against that thing called sleep, I figured I'd at least try and catch up just a little on the last month and a half...

December absolutely FLEW by! There was so much that I would love to document on here, but remembering it all might not happen. However, I'd like to try and document as much as I can. So, I suppose I'll try and do so through pictures (surprised?)...

I started out the month with a couple photo sessions for friends. If interested, you can see them here and here. I had a great time doing them -- I definitely want to do more! I suppose once things calm down (if they ever do!), I can make it a point to get this little business going...

Speaking of photo sessions, on December 10th (The same day that we found out the awful news about Olivia), I had a fun little Christmas-themed photo session with three rainbows -- A Rainbow Christmas if you will. Below are just a few, but you can see the rest here...

Then on the 13th, I hosted our most recent Face2Face gathering. We created ornaments in honor of our angels -- thank you Pinterest for the great idea! Somehow, I failed to get a picture of myself, but you get the idea...

After doing what we could to honor our baby girl on her birthday (see previous blog post), we prepared for our trip to Indianapolis. After a long day on the road, we enjoyed a short visit with my dad's side of the family (unfortunately, I failed to take any pictures!), and then went on to my in-laws' place. It was there that Samuel opened his first Christmas present. Poor Obadiah...he wanted to help unwrap it so badly -- James had to hold him back!

It was a great night to the start of a very busy week "home." The next day started out with Samuel being dedicated at church. We were so thankful that our hometown pastor was able to squeeze it in between services! They typically only do a baby dedication four times a year and it requires a class that the parents attend beforehand. However, upon asking them if they could do one for us while we were home, our pastor said he would be honored to. He, of course, remembered us as he did Olivia's funeral just two years before. Who would've thought that just before one Christmas, he would be doing a funeral for us and then two years later, he would be celebrating our rainbow with us and dedicating him? I'll never forget how after the dedication, he was talking with us and said something along the lines of, "I bet it's felt like Christmas morning every day at the Moore house for the last six months!" Ha. Love it -- so true! Every morning is most definitely an absolute joy since we get to wake up to our little smiling man...

While we'll be receiving professional pictures from that morning compliments of a local photographer there in Indy (he offers his services for all baby dedications at our church), here is one shot taken by my mother-in-law...

The rest of the day was spent with my mom's side of the family and yet again, I failed to take any pictures. Clearly, I wasn't on top of things during this trip! The only picture I have from that day that was actually on my memory card was a picture of Samuel with his Grandpa Grant (my dad)...

Now that I think of it, I think that's the only picture that I have of my parents with Samuel...period. I'm not sure how that happened, but for some reason, the camera never came out when we visited with my parents (which was every night and early morning since we stayed with them!). Crazy. Oh well. Pictures or not, we had quality time with them and that's all that matters...right?

So yeah, back to the run down...

Monday morning was spent with my sisters before Deb went to work and Jen headed back to her home in PA. My goal was to just post a few pictures, but really...who am I kidding?

Sam and his Aunt Deb...

Sam and his Momma -- Taken by Aunt Deb...

Sisters minus two...

Plus Grandma Julie and nephews...

Grandma Julie wanted this one. I'm not even sure where Samuel was while this was taken...

*My mom has a picture of every grandchild on the shelves behind us -- including our angels*

Then after lunch and a few goodbyes, it was on to Oma and Opa's house...

Clearly, Prince Obadiah was being well taken care of...

The poor pup is looking so old these days...

Quality time with Oma...

Later that night, we got together with friends. Yet again, I failed to take pictures. It was nice to see those that we still keep in touch with from our hometown. It's rare that we're home, but when we are, we always try to make it a point to see them. It makes you really appreciate those quality friendships. You can go a year or more without seeing each other and it's as if you saw them yesterday. Very thankful for those relationships...

The next morning was spent with James' Grandma...

And Sam received more Christmas gifts. Someone LOVES his new laptop...

Someone get that kid some pants!

Opa taught him that if he touches/pushes his face, Opa will fall over. Poor Sam didn't understand that this rule only applied to Opa. He tried it on Grandpa Grant and nothing happened, ha.

Love that smile!

While we were there, I noticed a particular set of ornaments that I really liked. Little did I know, I later received the same ones for Christmas...

You tell 'em Sam! Tell 'em just how you feel! Ha...

It was on this night that we celebrated Christmas with James' family. As usual, Obadiah waited patiently in line for his Christmas dinner...

And poor Sam just got to watch...

After dinner, we all opened gifts -- Obadiah included...

Before everyone headed out, we got a group shot. Oh, how different James' family is from mine. If we tried an extended family shot like that with mine, it would be complete chaos with 40+ people...

The next day was spent hitting up our favorite shops in Indy, then we had dinner downtown with one of my sisters and her hubs...

After dinner, we had to take Sam to the circle. For those unfamiliar with Indianapolis, they light up the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument every year as a Christmas tree. I figured Sam would enjoy the lights -- too bad he decided to pass out once we got there...

On our last day in town, we honored Olivia on the anniversary of her funeral/burial. We had visited her grave previously on this trip, but we made it a point to go and bring her flowers on the 22nd. After all, it was that day 2 years ago that we said our final goodbyes. So with some flowers in hand, we headed over and spent some time with her...

I think I posted this shot earlier, but oh well...

Olivia's Oma Carmen always does an amazing job of decorating her grave (always including Jacob and Jordan in the decor), but we had to add to it since we were there. Sweet Olivia...

A cold (and emotional) morning...

Oh, but how could I forget the little man?

Before we left, James wanted a little time on his own with Olivia while I took Sam back to the warm truck. That's something I was able to have while on my visit during James' deployment, but I don't think he's ever gotten. The poor guy came back to the truck with Samuel screaming -- I suppose it was a fitting emotion to the morning.

After our time with Liv, we headed to lunch. It wasn't just any ordinary lunch. No, it was MUCH better than that! It was lunch with a friend that I've connected with since losing Olivia. That's right -- it was with another baby loss mama. Allison and I met through our blogs and later found out that not only did we both go to IU, but we're also both from the westside of Indianapolis. Crazy! Soooo, we made it a point to meet up while we were home for the holidays. It worked out perfectly that our lunch fell on the day that it did, as it helped turned a sad day into one of hope and happiness. I'm so glad that Allison and I were able to introduce our rainbows (and our husbands, too!)...

Here's Genevieve and Samuel. They're 3 weeks apart in age...

It's a shame we don't live closer -- Columbus to/from Little Rock is a bit of a drive. I'm glad that we at least have a good meeting place...Indianapolis. I most definitely want to try and meet up again when we're both in town!

After a very full visit to Indy, we headed back to GA the next morning. With a detour to see a friend on our way out of Indiana and a trip to Costco in northern GA, I would say we made pretty good time. I wouldn't normally say it, but I was kind of glad to be back. After such a busy trip of nonstop action, I was ready to just lay on the couch and do absolutely nothing. And that's exactly what we did for a few days after we got home. In fact, that's part of the reason why I got so behind. I didn't get on the computer once during that time. We just enjoyed our time with Sam, celebrated Christmas with him, and spent time as a family...without any distractions around us. I've come to the conclusion that I want Christmas to always just be us, and visit with family either the week before or the week after. It was so nice to just relax and focus on Samuel -- our little miracle. No chaos, no drama, no nothing. Just us. It was wonderful.

And with that...I'm off to bed. I'll finish this little game of catching up later. That is, the rest of December...

Gute Nacht!