Harper's First Christmas!

:-) "Child of wonder, close your eyes, rest here in my arms tonight. Some day you will save the world, but tonight I'll hold you right here in my arms. Precious miracle of life, child of love. The gift of hope, the gift of light, from the Father above. And you were made, for all mankind, and you will always be mine. Child of love."
I think about this song a lot now. This Christmas season I have thought (more than ever before) about how Mary must have felt and how she dealt with not just being a mother, but being Jesus' mother. Talk about pressure. This song really illustrates in a such a beautiful way how she could have been feeling. I feel like this song illustrates how I feel about Harper. Our first Christmas with Harper was wonderful, all that I could have imagined and more. Not perfect, but it was truly special. I sang this song to her several times throughout the night on Christmas Eve and in the wee hours of Christmas morning. As Jason put it "She was too excited for Santa to sleep". Even teeny newborn Harper slept better than that night. We all survived, a little worse the wear for sleep, and had a lovely Christmas day with Jason's family. The day was cloudy and rainy on and off and it was just beautiful. Typically a rainy day is not beautiful but Jason's folks live on a lake and it was so pretty to see the gray skies against the water. Harper was very interested in all the shiny presents and the rustling paper. She even helped open presents (see pictures). We had a very merry Christmas day, I hope everyone in blog land did too!
PS- We Martins are real...these pictures show our real life. No makeup, snotty noses, fussy models, etc. But this is OUR life and we wouldn't trade it!

Helpless

Suffice it to say...I have felt very helpless as a mother over the past week. I knew Harper would get sick eventually, and most likely from daycare, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly! She got RSV and started feeling pretty crummy about this time last week. It literally broke my heart every time she would cough or sneeze. To see someone, especially your own child, so small and so unable to help themselves- even to the point of not being able to blow their nose- was horrible. Some days we were both crying because it hurt me so bad not to be able to wave my magic mommy wand and make her better (oh, did they forget to give you one of those, too?). I am very thankful for a wonderful support I have in my husband, mom, mother in law, doctor, and her daycare, all of whom helped ease her discomfort and eased my anxiety. I am most thankful to God who gave me HIS promise through his word that he would always be here and never leave me. I am very thankful that all we had to deal with is RSV. While it was scary and heartbreaking, I will never take the lack of severity of it for granted. She is well now and I am thanking God that my sweet, precious, tiny baby is well! What a test of my faith, though...leaving me with lots of questions that I am too superstitious to ask in this blog.

Born to Die by Bebo Norman

Andrew Peterson - Dancing In The Mine Fields

Child of Love

BOTH favorites...

If you know me well enough, you know this is a Brian Regan reference. However, there are more than 'two favorites' so, you will have to forgive the inaccuracy of my reference. These are some of my favorite songs of late, 2 of them Christmas, one of them not. Enjoy!

PS- Couldn't get them in THIS post...so they will follow.
PPS- Had trouble finding 'Child of Love'. Originally done by Sara Groves for 'City on a Hill' Christmas CD. Love it. My favorite Christmas song ever. Especially now that I am a mom. Hard to imagine Mary's emotions and thoughts this time of year...