The Christmas Novel - 2012

In years past, I always felt the holiday season sneaking up on me. I LOVE the holidays, but never feel quite ready until the day of Christmas; then it is pretty much over. This year has been no different except there wasn’t a chance for any sneaking. I turned around and there was a tree in our living room.  The tree wasn’t surrounded by gifts because I hadn’t wrapped any.  Well, let’s be honest, I hadn’t even purchased any yet.  Really?  Already?  Christmas?  Excitement and fun here we come, ready or not!  Who doesn’t love driving around looking at houses outlined in lights, sharing cookies with friends, going to parties, dusting off the craft boxes to make gifts, wrapping presents late at night, and snuggling up on the couch by the fire? An amazing year full of blessings it has been, a year full of fun, a year full of learning experiences, a year with a few challenges, a year as a family, and most importantly, a year of spiritual growth.  What better way to end our year than to share our experiences with you in the form of Christmas letter.   Now, if I could just get my memory to work, I might be able to recall the exciting events from 2012. 

I started in our new house with my family here to celebrate the holiday season with us.  I was 7 months pregnant and starting to count down the days until the arrival of our baby.  The house was looking good with a few pictures on the walls and closets filling up.  Our family and friends were so helpful in getting everything set up so quickly. The nursery was ready right away as I had already made all the decorations.  Steven and I enjoyed dinner together after work looking out the back windows at the sky line speckled with city lights from a nearby town.  We would watch a movie one or two nights a week to relax.  Bailey loved running around the new property and thought it fun to have her new pal, Sampson, show her the cool spots to chase animals. I brought my cat, Addison, from my mom’s house and our little farm was started. We had 5 chickens and started getting 3-4 eggs a day by the beginning of February.  We met all the neighbors and felt like this was (and still is) the perfect place for us.

Olen Ray joined us on February 25^th, a few weeks early, weighing 7 lbs 11 ozs and measuring 20 inches long. It was love at first sight with our little baby boy and that hasn’t changed a bit.  God answered our prayers with a healthy happy baby; we are truly blessed.  It feels like our family is complete (for now) and we enjoy every moment with our “doodle bug”.  Our days quickly changed with the new focus being on the baby.  He is a champ when it comes to nursing and playing; sleeping, well, let’s not go there.  Truthfully though, he does well sleeping at night and napping during the day MOST of the time.  Every few weeks it seems that something upsets his schedule and it takes us a while to get back on track.  In case you didn’t know, sleep is just as precious for the mommy as it is for the baby.  Every day and every moment have been amazing with little Olen Ray.  Steven and I have developed a little routine for evenings so he gets to spend some time with Olen Ray after his long work days. It gives me a few minutes to clean up the house a little and walk around without a baby attached to by leg, hip, or back.  The routine has changed over the months as Olen Ray has grown, but a few things have stayed the same: dinner, bath time, meet daddy at the end of the driveway, play time, and then bed.  Let’s just say dinner together doesn’t happen much this time of the year with Steven’s work schedule, and movies, what are those?

I might as well share a little about Olen Ray now, for those of you that don’t stalk our blog. Yes, I know, I haven’t done a great job of keeping it updated, but I promise it will be updated before he turns 18.  Olen Ray has many nicknames that describe some of his personality traits: doodle bug, bubbe, sweetness, cuteness, and the list goes on.  Right now he loves to find things to crawl under or between, including areas he doesn’t quite fit through. He will pull up on anything in sight; a table, your pants, the glass door, Bailey.  Eating is easy for him as he enjoys table food three times a day and still nurses 4-5 times as well.  He drinks water from a straw cup and feeds himself finger foods.  His smile will melt your heart; it gets me a million times a day.  He loves to laugh at his daddy making silly faces, the balls on the pool table rolling by him, Bailey chasing the toy outside, and crazy games I create to entertain him.  Playing chase is a new favorite for him.  He will start to crawl away, look back at you, then crawl again. As soon as you crawl or walk towards him, he starts laughing and cackling and crawling as fast as he can!  The boy loves to take a bath and stands up on the outside of the tub shaking his naked little bum waiting for the water to flow so he can splash away. I think I should just bring a bar of soap in for me right now because I get just as wet as he does and I am not even in the bathtub.  He is still in cloth diapers and I really do love them.  I have started a collection of wraps and carriers to “wear” all 23 lbs of his sweetness.  Oh, I could go on and on about this little baby God blessed us with. He truly is the highlight of our lives and we love every moment with him.  He has such a joyous heart and sweet spirit; I pray daily that God gives us wisdom as his parents to nourish these qualities.  For now, he just shares a little bit of that joy with everyone he meets.  You will just have to read the blog for more specific details so I can share a little about the other events and topics of our year.

Steven is back at work at Middling Cotton and right now is the busy season. They will gin over 50,000 bales of cotton this year. For those of you that don’t know much about farming, that is a lot of white fluffy stuff to put through a machine.  The season will be long, that we know for sure.  He took a break from the cotton over the summer to try another job. He worked for a small grading and clearing company for a few months. The work was exactly what he loves, but the environment wasn’t ideal.  It did give Steven a taste of something else and hopefully some inspiration to find a job he will find rewarding (and one that pays the bills) day after day.

Goodbye Rehab Center and oh how I miss those girls there.  I turned in my resignation there as my maternity leave came to an end in May.  It was a wonderful place to work with amazing therapists; I just wanted to be home with Olen Ray.  I have continued to run my business, Kid Connections, with four speech pathologists working for me now.  Each therapist is amazing and a great addition to our team.  Two days a week, I take Olen Ray to an in-home daycare to treat a few patients and get paperwork done. He loves going to see Mrs. Patty and watch the big boys play all day. It really is a nice fit for our schedule and a good balance for me as a mom right now.  Working with other kids is very rewarding and I love the families I get to spend time week after week.  It reminds me to cherish the time I get to spend with Olen Ray.

I still try to capture many of life’s moments on film and spend a lot of time doing “mini-sessions” with Olen Ray.  One day I was taking pictures of him when he was a few weeks old and Steven said “you like having your own little model available for photos at any time, don’t you?.”  I love freezing many of his developmental moments and silly faces with my camera.  Holiday sessions still filled my weekends this fall for other families.  It has been fun to watch some of these kids grow up over the past few years and to be a part of their holiday traditions.  I think I ended up doing about 20 sessions, 4 of those with Olen Ray in an Ergo on my back. He was actually quite the little helper making silly faces at the kids and getting them to laugh.  Next year?  Not quite sure what I will do with him as a toddler when trying to work with my camera in hand.

Our big vacation this year was a trip to Washington to visit our Stehekin family and attend a close friend’s wedding. It was so much fun for them to meet Olen Ray. He did amazing on the plane and on the boat on the way up lake.  He was almost 6 months old when we traveled so he was still able to nurse a little and fall asleep in my arms with the sound of the airplane engine roaring outside the window.  We were on six different flights and he only fussed on one of them. I was very proud of him and I must brag a little to say other people on the airplane were impressed as well.  We even made some pretty tight connecting flights with baby in hand!  Our time there was a little different as we tried to work around nap schedules and meals.  We visited with so many friends and took a lot of walks to show Olen Ray some of the familiar sites in the valley. I doubt he will remember sleeping in the stroller beside Rainbow Falls, walking past the bears in the school yard, or dipping his toes in Rainbow Creek, but we will cherish those moments.

Our families are doing well.  Steven’s mom continues to work at the local school and Sharon is back to work as a school nurse.  Drake, Jesse, and Cameron are enjoying public school now and the afterschool activities that are available.  Sharon and Michael take turns playing taxi driver, at least for another year before Drake get’s his license.  My mom still works at ECU as a professor and a lawyer with Guardian Ad Litem.  Is she every going to slow down? Probably not!  “Mimi” and “Grandpa Steve” spend every extra minute with the grandchildren, even if it means a five hour car ride to our house.  Heather and Kip welcomed their third baby in October; Norah Elise.  She was born at home and Heather says someone in the house is always holding her.  She is a precious little one and we were happy to meet her during Thanksgiving.  Kyson and Sayla are growing up way too fast; it is fun to watch their little personalities develop.

Every year I always wonder if I am going to have enough to write about for our mini-novel.  Just looked at the print preview and I am on page three….HA!  I guess that means it is time to wrap this letter up so I can go wrap some gifts while Olen Ray is taking his afternoon nap.  I am watching him on the monitor with his bottom up in the air and one blankie under each arm.  He really is the cutest, sweetest, happiest (not so little) baby.  We pray for happiness, grace, and spiritual growth for each one of you this year.  Remember to slow down and enjoy moments with your family, as life is too short to be in a hurry all the time.  May God bless you this Holiday Season and may you remember to thank God for all your blessings in the New Year.

Love,       Steven, Heidi, and Olen Ray Bozard
www.heidibozard.blogspot.com