Bailey, You have gone from this......
to this....
to this......
I have to say that I did not spend this birthday season thinking back to the days leading up to and the events of and after Bailey's birth. But, rather, I spent this year being thankful for a growing, smart, witty, beautiful, loving, healthy 2 year old. Oh, how my heart aches for that new born we had 2 years ago and that some what of a still a sweet baby we had last year. But this year, we have a life unlike any we could have imagined two years ago. No, I did not dwell on the hurtful beginning we started off with, but instead chose to celebrate what Bailey is to us today and the sweetest that she has brought to our lives. Bailey, your dad and I love you so much. We remind each other daily that you are what true love is all about and we are so thankful for you.
Ok, so I will post birthday pictures from both her parties soon.
For now, I want to journal what we have done this Christmas season and what is to come! Our Christmas break started off on a rather sad note, with the passing of Sid's first cousin's 9 year old daughter. Allison was born with some physical and mental challenges, was not able to feed herself or talk, and eventually taking care of her became more a daily challenge than most parents can handle. Her family made the best decesion they could and decided to place her in a home type facility. Allison lived there for 10 months before she went to be with Jesus. Yes, sweet Allison had challenges here on earth, but this Christmas, she is in Heaven singing Christmas carols for the first time in her life. She pain free and whole. However, she left a whole family on this side of Heaven who are very sad to be here without her. We celebrated her life and life and laid her to rest on Monday, December 20th. The message of her service is one we all need to remember: We cannot bring Allison back, but we can prepare our hearts and our lives to go be with her in Heaven someday.
The weekend before the funeral, we celebrated Bailey's birthday with her Alabama family at Mimi and Poppy T's with a sweet little party put on by them. On Sunday, we went to Beauty and the Beast play in Birmingham with Mimi, Poppy T, Erin, Aunt Maggie and Uncle Bo. Monday, we celebrated the life and death of Allison Paige Grey. On Tuesday, we celebrated Christmas with the Whitehead family (Nene, Jerry, Sid, me, Bailey, Ben, Kylie, Brady and Mason). Once again, the children had a blast, the food was wonderful, and us adults got way too much! That is because we are spoiled rotten. And have great parents! That doesn't hurt too much either now does it?? Wednesday, we had a party here at our house to celebrate Bailey's birthday with her Mississippi family. And finally, here we are on Christmas Eve. We did not go to Alabama like we normally do this year. Sid had to work until after 4 today and it would have just not been worth it to make a less than 24 hour trip over there and back. We had hoped to work something out for me and Bailey to get there earlier and have more time and Sid even said we could go on without him. Needless to say, we are home on Christmas Eve for the first time since being married. We went to the Christmas Eve service at church. And now my little Christmas elf is all snug in her bed and santa has visited. We will go to Jackson in the morning to see Sid's grandmother, which we've not done since we've been married, either. It hurts to not see my part of the family during this time of year, but at the same time, I am so thankful for what I have here and for Sid and Bailey. All that matters to me tonight is that I have the Christ candle buring deep inside my soul, I am thankful for my freedom tonight, and I am so in love with my family that is piled up in this bed next to me, sleeping.
And so, tonight, I leave you with these pictures from today. Christmas 2010. We tried to take some pictures before church, but Bailey spent the day with Nene and didn't get a nap, so she was extra cry'ie, as you can tell.
Do ya'll see Santa up there? Speaking of which, we sure did see Santa after church tonight. I will always remember coming out of chruch from the Christmas Eve service after having lit a candle and sang, looking up at the sky as a child, looking for the star and for Santa. Well, tonight, I don't know what we saw, but you'll have a hard time convincing me it wasn't that Jolly Old Man!
And last but not least, couldn't you just eat this sweet thing up in her new Christmas pj's??? I could!!!
Don't be fooled too much by the sweetness though! She cried for about the whole hour before church and after church. She just thought it was funny at this moment that I took that Buzz Lightyear from her and said "to infinity and beyond'. She was giving it a try!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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