This year has been one of the absolute FASTEST years of my whole life. Maybe because I’ve been chasing this silly around the whole year:

Can you believe this was a year ago tomorrow???

This year has had so much change for us – we went from having a five-month-old who just sat there making silly grins all day to a seventeen-month-old who will NOT sit still for longer than .003 seconds. 😉 We began referring to ourselves in the third person and “Nay-nen” started talking and didn’t ever stop.

Nathan became a seasoned traveler! We met Mickey for the first time and then went back and got incredibly excited at the Lion King musical.

Someone learned how to drive and freaked his mother out about how quickly he really would be driving.

We went to the original Starbucks in Seattle and we swam with the cousins in California.

We welcomed a new friend and played with old friends. 🙂

We had our first Mother’s and Father’s Days.

And one of us turned one.

We remodeled our backyard and took a break from working to go to the State Fair.

And the crazy, wonderful Lunch Bunch came into existence.

We went back out to California to have Thanksgiving with the O’Briens.

And then spent Christmas at home with the Mangum side. What a wonderful, wonderful extended family we have been blessed with!

This year has been the most exhausting, incredible, up-and-down year of my life. I’ve learned that being a mom is hard work. I used to think when Nathan was first born that the hardest time in parenting was going to be those first few weeks when neither of us slept well and both of us were still recovering and getting used to our new life. Looking back, I’m pretty sure those might have been the easiest days of being a mom. 😉

I’ve learned that my house will never be perfect, my writing will never be the single focus in my life it once was, sippy cups have a way of walking off on their own and onesies can be thrown away. I’ve learned that Jesus listens even when I have twenty seconds during the day to read my Bible and God is faithful even when I am not. I’ve learned that a child makes marriage harder but more wonderful at the same time. I’ve learned that the expectations I put on myself as a writer, mom and woman are usually higher than anyone else’s and I’ve learned to let a lot of those go.

I’ve learned that being a mom can be the most lonely job in the world and finding a wonderful group of friends to laugh with can make even the worst days better. I’ve learned that having a supportive and loving family changes everything. I’ve learned that even on days filled with tantrums, diaper rashes, teething and spills that stain the carpet, bedtime always comes eventually. 😉

And I’ve learned that when I think I could never love Jon or Nathan anymore than I do at that moment, the next day I love them even more.

God is so good. I’m so thankful for 2011!

Happy New Year from the O’Brien family! 🙂

This is SO late in coming! We’ve been laying around Mom and Dad’s house all week and Nathan has been totally and completely spoiled rotten. We’ve had the best time!

We went over to my parents’ house on the Thursday night before Christmas Eve because there was talk of a big snowstorm. Bryant’s sweet girlfriend, Michaela, came in town the week of Christmas and I was SO excited to meet her! Nathan adored her – I’m pretty sure he thought she was there for him. 😉

Christmas Eve night, we all got out of our pajamas for our gourmet dinner of prime rib, potatoes rolls and salad and we finished it up with freshly baked Christmas cookies! Even Nathan got to have some – he thought he was about the coolest kid around.

After Caleb’s girlfriend, Ali, got off work that night, we all opened our new Christmas pajamas from Mom and Dad. They all had A Christmas Story quotes on the shirts – best Christmas movie EVER!

Then we all hurried to bed so Santa could come visit and goodness, he did!! 😉

We were all spoiled rotten this Christmas! I’m SO very thankful for my amazing family – God has blessed me far beyond my wildest imaginings. What a wonderful week of hanging out with them!

Nathan has decided that his job is to “help” everyone do everything. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it is not. 😉

Helping Pops with the cinnamon rolls = Good.

Helping Pops clean out the closet?

Um… 😉

He’s also learned the “no” word and yells it at the top of his lungs when he doesn’t want to do something. Joy. Looks like our parenting has moved to a new level. 😉 Praying hard for God to give me patience! He is SO fun, but soooo busy and full of energy! I might have to switch back to my caffeinated coffee. 😉 He talks all. the. time.

Two days ago, my grandmother, Nama, came in town and we have had the BEST time with her so far. We went to the River of Lights, a Christmas light display here in town.

Nathan loved it!

I’m so excited to spend a few more days hanging out with Nama! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! What was your favorite part of the day?

Just in time for Christmas! 🙂

It’s my new e-novella, The Christmas Watch!

Remember, you don’t need a Kindle to read this – you can download a free Kindle app for your computer here (PC and Mac). There’s also a free Kindle app for your smart phone! 🙂

I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

Nathan has had a cough for almost three weeks. It’s off and on and some days are worse than others but it’s mostly at night. I think he just can’t shake it from his last cold, poor kid. 🙁 Last night, we tried putting a pillow in his crib to see if that helped his coughing, which scared the daylights out of me. I kept going in to check on him and make sure it wasn’t on top of his head.

We walked in right before we went to bed and he hadn’t moved since we laid him down, which is very different. He’s usually all over the crib! I thought he looked so sweet!

Today is Jon’s first official day of vacation and we are going to soak up every second!! So, what’s a better way to start Christmas vacation than to go meet Santa? Our favorite Santa is part of a Christmas Corral put on by a place that benefits a troubled kids’ ranch here in town. The Christmas Corral is SUCH a cute place!!

Nathan wasn’t too sure about Santa at first but he warmed up to him after playing around the adorable little Christmas village. Then he noticed that there were Christmas lights behind Santa’s chair and that made him a HUGE fan!

I think this picture is so cute!

My new Christmas e-novella, The Christmas Watch, is coming soon!! So excited for you guys to meet Lindsey, Marcus and Jason!

What’s your favorite Christmastime drink?? Please share the recipe! I got hooked on salted caramel hot chocolates last year and I’ve been itching to try something new! 🙂

There are nine shopping days left until Christmas.

NINE.

I do this every year. I plan on being done by now with everything all wrapped under the tree but as of this moment in time, I think I have one person halfway done.

Oy.

Which is partly why I haven’t written anything on this blog in forever. We have been crazy busy! I’ve got a new Christmas novella coming out (stay tuned!!) and more fun news that I can’t wait to share with you!!

Nathan’s new favorite thing to do??

Hang out under the Christmas tree looking at the lights. Ha!

We have to go under there at least five times a day. He’s such a goof. He points to all the tiny lights and says, “Oooo!”

We also tried letting him feed himself spaghetti out of a bowl this week.

My favorite part of this is that his bib says, “Cute but messy – just like Daddy.” Ha! I think he is a fan of spaghetti.

And maybe not quite ready for a bowl. 😉

Yesterday, I met Gammy and Aunt Cayce at the mall to get some shopping done and Nathan talked Gammy into taking him on the carousel (I don’t think it was very hard to convince her 😉 ). It was so cute. He had a great time!

Can you believe that it’s already been a year since this??

I’m excited to see what he does with Santa this year!

Okay, guys, what’s your all time favorite thing to eat at Christmas???

This last weekend, my mom was in the Las Vegas Rock N’ Roll Marathon. I am SO proud of her!! She did great!! 🙂

We had to send her a few signs just to encourage her along the way. I really wanted to go be there to support her, but staying in Vegas with a 16-month-old just didn’t sound too easy to manage. Particularly a BUSY boy like I’ve got!

Last night, we had our Lunch Bunch girls night and a Christmas gift exchange. Everyone was SO sweet and once again, we were locking up with the people who own the restaurant. 🙂 I love these girls and I love our nights out!!

We had our family pictures taken a little bit ago and we got the pictures back! Here are a few of my favorites. I just love them! Our fabulous photographer, Sarah, has taken all of the pictures from engagement on for me and Jon – she’s become a sweet friend. 🙂

The one below is my absolute favorite! 🙂

And my new favorite activity? Nathan absolutely LOVES to go look at the Nativity scene I’ve got up on our mantle. And he can even say “Baby Jesus”! I love it. Just love it. This is such a fun age!

Gammy came and watched Nathan this morning while I went to one of our local coffeehouses and wrote for several hours. What a HUGE help! I got a ton done and now that it’s nap time, I’m hoping to get more done still! Thank you so much, Mom!

What are your favorite Christmas traditions??

Today, we woke up to several inches of snow! What a fantastic way to wake up!! We ate a quick breakfast and then bundled up to go play.

Last year, Nathan was so little that he just cried the whole time we tried to take snow pictures. Things were a little different this year. 🙂

Ha! He LOVED the snow!

He went absolutely ballistic – he and Kody both. We had such a great time!

And maybe did a couple of snow angels and face plants. Ha! 🙂

It wasn’t great packing snow, so we didn’t get to build too much, but he did love throwing snowballs for Kody to catch. I sound very froggy in the video, but both of us have been feeling a million times better!

Snow! from Erynn Mangum on Vimeo.

Then it was time to come inside, drink some hot chocolate and take a hot bath before nap time. Such a fun day! I love, love, LOVE snow!!

I’m going on five straight days without a steady source of oxygen thanks to a very congested head, so if this sounds grammatically terrible (couldn’t resist), please forgive me.

This is usually the time of year when I have approximately three people on my ever-growing Christmas list shopped for, bought for or even an idea for. And a lot of the time, it’s the idea that shoots me before I even start. What should I get this person? How much should I spend? What is the true meaning of Christmas? What material is Linus’ blanket made out of because my gracious is he ever attached to it and maybe that’s the best Christmas gift for a child?

Anyways.

I present the Friday Favorites Gift Edition. Sort of like my normal (or irregular) Friday Favorites, only this time, I’m going to write down some of the things I’ve seen recently that I thought would make great gifts. And nope, I’m not making any kind of kickbacks or semi-salary or anything off of this. You may or may not agree with me on my picks. Which is why there is a comments section, so you can add YOUR great gift ideas. And may all your Christmases be white.

Puffs Plus Lotion and Simply Orange Juice

I’m only a little bit kidding. Mom brought both of these yesterday over to my house and I would have hugged her had I been less grateful, but as it was, I merely waved a contagious hand and croaked a “thank you”.

E-Z Charge Jump Start System

As a general rule, I am completely, totally, 100,000,000% against anything that looks, acts like, smells similar to or resembles an appliance for a Christmas gift. This, however, is pretty cool. And something that could really come in handy if you have a car who tends who have something of a little Grinchy personality this time of year. No need to raise the hoods? (This saves me an infinite amount of time looking for the hood popper lever dealie thing.) No need to worry about where to hook oversized tweezer looking things? (Again. Infinite amounts of time saved here.) To me, it is a great idea.

Perpetual Kid.com

Let’s say that you are on a plane and you own an iPhone. And you’re thinking, while on the plane, “hey! It would be great to watch a movie on my iPhone.” So, you get a movie going and while you’re sitting there holding your phone, your hand starts to cramp up. And you think, “sheesh! I really need like a mini plunger or something to hold my phone up!”

Well guys. Perpetualkid.com has mini plungers to prop up iPhones. Called iPlunge. And if they have iPlungers, they have a million other things. Honestly, this might be my one-stop shop for my brothers this year. 😉

Cedarmont Kids DVDs

I have talked about these before, but I really have a love/hate relationship with this DVD. On the one hand, it is THE ONLY THING that keeps Nathan completely entertained, as in, he’s not watching it for twenty-six seconds before coming to find me. That means I have actually been able to take complete showers during his awake time while this movie is on. The hate part comes in when you start hearing, “Who built the Ark? NOAH! NOAH!” when the DVD isn’t even playing. I keep telling myself the shower is worth it. And Nathan has started to mimic the kids on the screen. Which just makes me laugh. So, I’m clean and I’m laughing. This would be a great gift for toddlers with parents.

(That did not make very much sense. But I am coughing again and too lazy to go fix it.)

Woodwick Candles

I got a set of these last year for Christmas and guys, they are STILL burning to this day! (Not continuously. I am a responsible candle burner. But I do light them frequently.) If you’ve never seen or heard of Woodwick candles, go find a set. Not only do they keep their scent all the way to the end of the candle, they also make this amazing, ambiance-ish crackling sound like a little mini fire on your mantle. I am all about little mini fires that smell like cinnamon lattes. I have asked for another set this year for Christmas.

Magnetic Nail Polish

I heard about this on the radio before I actual saw it. Which sounds like I was listening to my favorite radio drama and filling out secret decoder spy messages sponsored by Ovaltine, but in all actuality, Jon was listening to a football game in the car and I happened to start paying attention when the commercials came on.

(It is terribly hard to pay attention to a football game on the radio when Nathan is sitting in the backseat holding his hands above his head and yelling “FUTE-BAWL!!” at the top of his voice every .04 seconds.)

But really, this stuff is very cool. And would make a really unique stocking stuffer.

Starbucks Via Ready Brew

DISCLAIMER: I have not actually tried these yet. However, I have it on good authority (my gorgeous barista sister), that these are actually very good and actually taste like freshly brewed coffee compared to normal instant coffee that actually tastes like something that could maybe be a very distant cousin from the coffee bean. And while I’m all about family around the holidays, very distant cousins tend to just cause more confusion than add real flavor to any conversation.

(There was a whole lot of actuallys, similes and awkwardness in that paragraph, but once again, I’m too lazy to fix it.)

Anyway. I could see these being a great way to get a little pick me up when you need a little boost after your child’s nap time is over. And is there really a better gift than coffee the second you want it?

Hallmark Recordable Storybooks

My grandmother did one of these for Nathan last Christmas and then my in-laws made another book for him for his birthday. And let me tell you – he LOVES them! He’s always walking in his room, plopping down on the floor and opening them up to be read to. It can be a little creepy though to be folding laundry in my room and suddenly hear, “HI NATHAN!” over the monitor.

Very creepy. But very cool. Especially if you’ve got family who lives out of town.

Photojojo Camera Mug

We gave this to my sister-in-law last year for Christmas and if her happy gasps and “NO WAY!” were any indication, I think she loved it. This site has a lot of fun, unique ideas for a photographer in your life. Or if you know someone who just likes cameras. Which would be weird if they weren’t a photographer.

Paper Coterie Recipe Book

These can get pricey quick, but if you have some family recipes and you’ve been wanting to find a neat gift idea for your mom or grandma or maybe even a new sister-in-law, I think this would be a really neat present. You can add in all your own pictures, change up all the layouts and the fonts and completely personalize it. And – word of the wise – they frequently offer discounts or great deals to the people who have signed up to receive their emails, so get on their list and get designing!

Roku Player

By this point in the list, you may be saying something like this: “Erynn, there are gifts for clueless drivers, thirsty photographers and bored children, but there isn’t one single idea for my dad!” Well, if your dad is anything like MY dad, he’s extremely hard to shop for.

I have the answer. Unless your dad already has this, in which case, I don’t have the answer. My parents gave us a Roku player a little while ago and since then, we canceled our cable, because we started watching the Roku WAY more than TV. Basically, the Roku can play Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Direct movies, etc. There’s even a Pandora channel, which is wonderful. Couple the Roku with a month of Netflix and you’ve got yourself a great gift. Couple yourself with a sibling or two and it’s even more decently priced. 🙂

Zoo Membership

This might depend on where you live and what your zoo is like, but Nathan and I LOVE our zoo and a few of my friends ask for memberships to it for Christmas. I think an annual membership to our zoo is $60, which to me was very reasonable considering we go there on a bi-weekly – sometimes weekly – basis in the spring, summer and fall. Gotta check up on Nathan’s little monkey friend, you know. 😉 Plus, it’s a great way to get outside and get some exercise while still keeping Nathan contained and entertained.

And I’m all about contained and entertained. This would be a great gift for a mom of young kids on your list.

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Bar

You know how there’s always that neighbor/relative/friend/acquaintance/work friend of your husband’s who comes by around Christmas with a gift and you never have anything to give them back? Well, this year, I discovered my favorite thing in the whole wide world: Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Bars. Jon and I have eaten a very unhealthy number of these over the last eight months since I found them. I plan to keep a stash around just in case someone comes by who I wasn’t necessarily expecting to need a gift for.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

I have talked about this MANY times on this blog and I’ll say it again: BEST children’s story Bible on the market. The VERY best. And I’ve read a lot of them! It doesn’t rhyme, it clearly shows how the Old Testament always pointed straight to Jesus and I think it does the best job of laying out the gospel on every page. I love it, love it, love it. I’ve nearly memorized it, I’ve read it so often to Nathan. But I’ll keep reading it until he can read it himself. 🙂 Get this book. You won’t regret it.

Amazon Gift Card

When all else fails, Amazon has everything you could ever want, need or imagine. Throw in a subscription for a year of a Prime membership (free two-day shipping) and you’ll be the best loved person in the room. Promise. 😉

Okay! Those are my ideas! If I think of anymore, I’ll post them up next week. Til then, happy shopping, watch out for holiday traffic and do take some minutes to sit by the tree with your Bible open while the rest of the house is quiet. 🙂

What are your Christmas gift ideas?

Yesterday was Jon’s birthday and let me tell you – I felt bad for the poor man.

To start, both Nathan and I have bad colds this week. His started a little earlier than mine, so he’s doing okay now, but I’m still all congested, coughing and generally just NOT feeling well.

We are a pitiful mess.

So, Jon got home yesterday to a wife who won’t kiss him because she’s afraid to get him sick and a grouchy kid who didn’t nap well. We did have a few presents for him. Nathan had to help him unwrap. And since we weren’t feeling well, we decided to make dinner at home and go out for a birthday dinner sometime this weekend.

I honestly tried really hard to make it nice. I found a Bertolli frozen dinner that sounded up Jon’s alley so I wouldn’t be breathing all over something homemade, I sauteed asparagus in brown butter and garlic, I made a Pillsbury French bread loaf that I only touched after washing my hands and rubbing Purell all over them. I even had Jon’s favorite red wine and poured us glasses to go with dinner. You know – all fancy and Italian-like.

So, right as our dinner was ready, Jon reached in to get Tuesday night’s pizza box to reheat a slice up for Nathan and knocked the half-filled bottle of red wine all over the kitchen floor, shattering the bottle. It took us about fifteen minutes to get all the wine up and sweep up all the shards, maybe longer because it spilled right by the fridge, so we had to clean under there too. Meanwhile, Nathan was already in his highchair and he reached over (right as we finished cleaning, of course) and grabbed my placemat, sending my glass of wine and my glass of water all over the wall and the floor.

By this time, the bread was on the burned side, the asparagus (asparaguses? asparageese?) were pretty charred and Nathan was screaming.

Happy Birthday, Jon.

So, we finally ate dinner and we decided to do the cake part with Nathan. We (I) sang a croaky Happy Birthday, Jon blew out his candles and then Nathan had a slice of cake before bed. I lost my voice by about 8:30PM.

And I realized this morning that Jon never got a piece of cake.

🙁

Mark this year down as a fail. I’m so sorry, honey. We’ll make it up this weekend by going someplace REALLY nice.

On the plus side, Nathan and I watched Tangled yesterday while Jon was working and I was laying on the couch coughing. It is cute. I recommend it. I don’t recommend keeping red wine anywhere near a 16-month-old, however.