This is the way Christmas is supposed to be

Today I was in an extra chipper mood on my way home from running a few errands and getting Hudson's flu shot. (boo for shots!). The chipper may have been in part to do with the fact that I was having my first cup of coffee for the day, but no matter how I got there it caused me to stop and reflect.

I have been stressed for the past few days trying to get all the loose ends for Christmas tied up....wrapping presents, stalking UPS' website to get the tracking for the last few packages I'm waiting to be delivered, getting my house picked up, and getting preparations made for a little Christmas Cocktail hour we are hosting tomorrow. And then today I realized all that stress is actually so much to be thankful for! Thankful that I can give my family Christmas presents and see the excitement on their faces when they open them; a home that I can clean and lots of clean clothes to put way; and wonderful friends to fill my home with joy and laughter. That's not stress...its joy! If it doesn't all come together in Martha Stewart fashion, who cares, right??

The other thing that makes me jazzed about Christmas is that I get to spend over a week with my family! (Not to mention the excitement of Hudson's first Christmas) For the past 4 Christmases I've had to rush back to Nashville and rush back to Cincinnati all because of work. I had to take Christmas Eve off because we didn't even get that day off. I felt like so much of the fun of the Holidays were stolen away from me because I had to rush rush rush back to reality...a reality of a job I despised and away from my family that I loved. NOW this year I am SO excited to spend relaxing time with my family! THIS is how Christmas is supposed to be! Enjoying a week relaxing and bonding together. Taking time out of the hectic hubbub of everyday life to be together without an agenda and just breathe.

Can't. Wait.

Hudson is pretty excited. Here are a few pics of him getting ready for Santa!

He's starting to get over it....

Aaaaannd....done.

We got a chance to spend this past weekend in Indianapolis this weekend with Justin's family. We surprised Nonna and Grandpa Gregg and joined Julie, Jamie and Ollie there for the weekend. It was a great time of bonding, hanging out and lots of babies! 

Hudson loved his cousin Ollie. Ollie wasn't so sure how he felt about Hudson's squawking though. :) 

 See the trend here? We had to make sure Ollie wasn't getting clobbered by Hudson's good intentions. He just wanted to love on him. :)

Here's wishing a blessed and wonderful Christmas to you and yours this year. Enjoy the last few days of the season and don't let the stress of the holidays cloud the joy of this season. I am so thankful that God sent His Son to earth so that He could be the ultimate sacrifice for me. The reality of that overwhelms me with gratitude that I can hardly even comprehend.

Merry, merry Christmas.

Ash

Schot your mouth...I made a blog

So...I'm getting a little over Facebook these days. I'm now a mommy to the cutest little muchkin, Hudson David, and I'm quite obsessed with him. Everything he does IS the greatest thing in the world (at least by my books right now). However, I'm not oblivious to the fact that most parents feel this same way about their own. I find myself wanting to use Facebook like Twitter and commentate Hudson's every move--which I find to be hilarious, adorable and headline news worthy....however, there are people that do that on Facebook (we all have at least one on our friend list) and I am smart enough to know that not everyone will find the play by play of my day quite so entertaining. :) Tried Twitter, and call me crazy, but not a super huge fan of it. Drum roll pleeeease....so here I am BLOGGING! Blogging of which will likely be about 98% about my child. (I'm SUCH a mom!) Now I can spout off all of the details of the latest giggle, trick, milestone or meltdown and not be cluttering up your News Feed. You're welcome. However, if you are actually reading this blog chances are you wouldn't mind it cluttering your News Feed, but I digress.

SO...if you are obsessed with my kid, or even just a little intrigued by the daily life of the Schots, tune in. We have a happy, fun and hectic kinda life...and Schot happens everyday. We just roll with the punches because that's who we are...literally. :)

Hudson thinks Justin is the funniest person in the world. His latest thing that he thinks is hilarious is for Daddy to 'scare' him or jump around and he LOVES playing peek-a-boo. Here's a little of their playtime. Yes, Hudson is hanging from the ceiling. We don't have door frames so his jumper hangs from a beam. Genius work by the hubs for that one.

Since it is his first Christmas Santa wanted to give Hudson a present early. This worked out well for Justin and I because we wouldn't have wanted to try and travel back from Nashville with this big ol thing in the car. Plus we were really excited to see how much he loved it! Cozy Coupe never looked so good. Hud looks like a natural behind the wheel....which makes me have heart palpitations thinking about him being 16 years old! It'll be here way too soon.

Ok, Mom, enough with the pictures already!

Hudson with Santa at the Zoo. I talked about how crazy it was to buy these silly pictures. And then they showed us this one. Yes, we spent $20 something on this. So dumb. But it was worth it right??