Erin Akin Carroll

It’s a little hectic around our house as we prepare for Christmas this weekend. My parents are getting into town, but my brother can’t come this year. So we’re all making sure we do things to make sure he feels loved even though he’s a couple (or a few) thousand miles away. But Hudson is still battling this little sickness, so we’re also at a stand-still because it’s obviously more important to stay home with him rather than run all over town finishing up last minute items.

We did get out to see Santa last week. Hudson has been saying “ho ho ho” every time he sees a picture of Santa and he was really excited about seeing him. We got to the mall in the middle of a weekday, so there wasn’t a line. Hudson was saying “Santa” over and over again and doing his “ho ho ho” routine. I was thinking he’d be excited about sitting on Santa’s lap. After all, this is what he looked like last year!

And this is what my brave little toddler looked like last week. Poor thing was trying so hard to be brave and he never cried, but boy, did he want to!

He still isn’t feeling great, though. Last night he woke up in the night and that’s just not like Hudson. Even when he’s super sick we know he’s going to sleep through the night. So when he woke up, I knew I had to go in to check on him. I picked him up and he laid his on my shoulder while we rocked for about 20 minutes under a blanket. I could see his eyes opening and closing, so I looked closely at him to see if he was asleep.

And he looked back at me and said, “Elmo?”

My body was probably shaking because I was trying so hard not to laugh at him and get him all excited. But I just whispered, “No, it’s Mommy.”

We rocked for a bit longer and I laid him back down. He slept great, but woke up this morning with a little bit of a fever and his congestion sounded worse than ever. He wasn’t having super sweet dreams about Elmo, I guess.

I decided I better take him in to see his doctor before the week goes on and it gets harder to even see a doctor. I know pediatricians want to spend their Christmas with their children, too! So we went on in.

Our pediatrician let me know that Hudson has a double ear infection. Such a bummer for the week of Christmas, but hopefully it will be gone by Friday night! He’s still in pretty good spirits, but I just want him to feel good.

I hope you’re all enjoying the beginning of Christmas week and aren’t stressing. Just take some time to enjoy this week with your family and friends and be intentional as you reflect on the season.

I have to let y’all in on a little secret that I’ve been slightly ashamed to even talk about. Are you ready?

This pregnancy (and I) are completely different than my last pregnancy!

There. I said it. I’m not talking about cravings and sickness and all that fun stuff. I’m talking about my life, my expectations, and my preparation.

When I found out I was pregnant with Hudson, everything was “baby, baby, baby.” We went shopping for sweet gowns long before we knew the gender. We bought books to read to the baby. I spent countless hours looking at websites for nursery inspiration. We brainstormed names and talked about possible grandparent names. Our whole life revolved around the planning for this firstborn baby.

Even though I was working very long hours every day, I would let my mind wander to thoughts of holding and rocking my sweet baby. And I’d wonder who he or she would look like.

Now, when I found out I was pregnant with this baby, I was so excited. We had planned for this pregnancy and I was so happy to get a positive test. But after that, I wasn’t really sure what to do. My life went on. My daily life of chasing Hudson, feeding Hudson, entertaining Hudson, caring for our dogs, and managing our household just went right along. Because, honestly, there was no time for it to slow down.

We decided as soon as we found out that I was pregnant, that boy or girl, we wouldn’t be doing another nursery. The nursery would remain as is. So a huge part of the nesting and planning process was not even on the “to do list” for this baby.

I didn’t go out to buy sweet baby gowns and blankets because I wanted to wait to find out the gender. If we were going to have another boy, I really didn’t need to buy a single thing for the baby to wear. And if the baby was a girl, she’d probably wear the same gowns and sleepers that Hudson wore. So the only thing that changed for me in my day-to-day life was my eating habits and my energy level.

If I start to day dream about this baby, I’m not thinking about nurseries and grandparent names. I’m mostly thinking about my boys and how much they’ll love playing together and what crazy shenanigans they’ll get into. I think about how much they’ll love having a best friend for their whole lives.

Hudson is at an age when he’s very demanding of my time. He wants to do so much, but can’t do everything alone. He takes up about 90% of my thoughts and my time.

Just last week I started to feel a little bit sad that we weren’t planning a new nursery for this baby boy and I felt sorry for myself that I was missing out on that process this time.

And then… I felt him move. It took a while to finally feel him move. But at 18 weeks I felt it and I thought, “that will make me slow down and day dream about this baby.” Every time he moves I think about his little hands and feet and how much hair he’ll have. And how he’ll probably be a super wild child and will be giving Hudson a run for his money.

The pregnancy is different. My life is different. The planning process is 100% different this time around. But it’s not any less special or significant. And I absolutely can’t wait to meet this little fella. (Who, by the way, has a name, but we would like to see his face before announcing it.)

Guess what I finished this week! I addressed all of our Christmas cards (we still haven’t sealed them and mailed them because neither one of us wants to be the sealer) and decorated my tree and my house for the most part.

TC and I were both kind of dragging last night, but we decided it had to be done and we started decorating our tree. His big job is always putting the “filler” ornaments on the tree near the trunk of the tree. Then I go in and place the other ones in their very strategic places so they can be showcased.

This is Hudson’s train set that his RC and PC (Todd’s parents) started as a collection for him last Christmas. He’ll get a train car every Christmas from them. We put it out for the first time the other day and he absolutely loves it. It’s kind of cramped in this particular spot, but we’ll figure out something else for next year.

These are some of my favorite ornaments. Most of the tree is jewel-tone ornaments, but we pick up ornaments on vacations or when we see them if they’re representative of a hobby or a pet. I love the little Golden Retriever with the Santa hat.

Our stockings are from Pottery Barn Kids. I got five of them the year I was pregnant with Hudson because I wanted to make sure our future kids could have matching stockings. Much to my surprise, PBKids still has these very stockings for sale every year. But we have two more in storage for future Carrolls– and Baby Boy Carroll #2 will get his name put on his very soon!

The wreath for the front door that my mom made me. I just LOVE it! It matches my tree and the peacock feather are adorable.

I got this angel holding the votive at a wonderful local shop a couple of years ago and love bringing it out at Christmas time. It sits on our entry table now.

And just because I love these guys, I had to show what Hudson and Boudreaux were up to yesterday. Hudson is absolutely smitten with Boudreaux and Boudreaux is just tolerant and patient.

And please smile with me over the change in my sweet son from last Christmas! A friend of ours sent us that baby Santa suit as a gift for Hudson and we surprised the grandparents with it on Christmas morning. It was absolutely ridiculous and completely adorable! I can’t believe how much he changed in a year.

We had a fantastic weekend full of Singing Christmas Tree performances. We had one performance on Friday night, two on Saturday, and two on Sunday. Each performance blessed me in a different way and I would find myself nearly forgetting to sing as I got caught up in the drama or the dancing. I’m already excited about doing it next year, but will definitely enjoy the break from standing so high up in the air on a tiny little step.

I stood on the end of the fourth row from the top. I was so lucky to be on the end- especially during dress rehearsal when I felt light-headed and dizzy. There were medical and fire personnel underneath the tree with fans keeping us cool and coming to our rescue if anyone went down.

But the music, the drama, the dancing, and the voices were absolutely amazing. And the lighting on that tree. I still don’t fully understand how it was done, but it was perfectly timed to the music and the colors were just incredible. The experience blessed me in so many ways this year, but the best part was definitely getting to know so many wonderful people better. When you spend that much time together, having fun is a big bonus and we did have a lot of fun.

Today I’m addressing Christmas cards, wrapping presents for Hudson, doing a little bit of decorating on my tree, and baking something sweet for our ornament exchange tonight. A little girl time will be a great way to unwind tonight. I may even sneak Hudson to the party with me!

I think I’m going to make Snickerdoodles from the River Road Recipes cookbook. (River Road Recipes is the Junior League of Baton Rouge’s cookbook)

1 cup soft shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups sifted flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Set oven at 400 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar and eggs together thoroughly. Sift flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt together and add to above mixture. Chill dough. Roll into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Place about two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned, but still soft. (These cookies puff up at first then flatten out with crinkled tops.) Makes about five dozen 2-inch cookies.

Don’t forget you can order any of the Junior League cookbooks (and many other selections) from The Cookbook Marketplace for 50% off until the end of December. These books make the best gifts because they have the absolute best recipes that have been tried by the best cooks over the years.

Just visit The Cookbook Marketplace and enter the code BEB-Holiday at checkout.