Hiiii!

Preslee has perfected the word Hi. She has many different versions of saying it as well. So thats why I am starting out with Hiiii! 

 I am sorry for the lack of post but this month was a long one! The holidays are always exhausting but add in the emotional fatigue and I am just glad I survived. But there are many special memories we made with Preslee this year and I wanted to document them so I remember there were some good days amongst the sad ones. 

We took P to her first Christmas parade! I grew up going to this parade so it was fun to taking her and seeing her enjoy all the sights and sounds. :) 

Then we sent to see SANTA! Obviously she really loved him. And to be honest, I love crying Santa pics. :) 

We have been so blessed by many of our friends coming to visit us. Jennifer and the kids have been down quite a few times and that makes our day! And that day, they just happen to be in Hot Springs so we met them for dinner at CFA! The kids had so much fun playing in the Chick-fil-a play ground!

 During the holidays, it was important to me to be surrounded by my closest family and to pour myself into Preslee and making sure that she had fun! I was really excited for her to get to play with my niece and nephew on Christmas Eve! 

There were many aspects of the holiday season that I could have just skipped this year but I didn't want Preslee to be affected by any of this. I want her to have memories and pictures just like she would have if Matt hadn't died. So... Santa came to see her even though he (she) didn't really feel like it! :) 

Then we headed off to do Christmas with Matt's family. She was so spoiled with all her new toys! :) 

We were at our 3rd Christmas by 1:00 and she didn't miss a beat! :) 

She is a gift to us all! She has become so affectionate and loves giving kisses! It makes everyone feel better! :) 

We ended Christmas night with SNOW!! I took a nap and woke up to inces of whiteness! It was so beautiful! 

 Preslee definitely brought so much joy to all of us during the first holidays without Matt.  Her smile and personality made us laugh instead of cry!

The new year brought on many different emotions. I found myself thinking about the past new year when we had a 4 week old baby and we just were starting a new chapter of our lives. My stomach hurt thinking about 2013 because it was a date that Matt would never be apart of. 

 Then, the week that had been dreaded.  Jan. 8 was Matt's 33rd birthday and Jan. 13 would have been our 6th wedding anniversary. I was really sick with virus that week and I decided that I would move to my new house that week too. I am not really sure what I was thinking but I just about killed myself trying to get things settled I guess I was just trying to keep busy so that I didn't let my thoughts and emotions of the week get me down. 

But that brings me to the fact that Preslee and I are finally in our own house! We love our little place and feel very comfortable and cozy here! I am going to do a whole post of the renovations of the house so you can see the before and after. After 3.5 months of living with family, I am just so thankful to have a place of my own again. My parents and MIL are absolutely wonderful and took such good care of us but it was just time to try to regain my independence and figure out what life looks like now. 

So now that I am somewhat caught up from the past month, here's to hopefully starting to blog more regularly again! Thank you ALL for you constant prayers and thoughts for us. They are so appreciated and I know are helping us get through this day to day! Love you all!