I failed to have our hardwood floors installed by Christmas like I had planned. In case you need reminding, we had a flooding issue back in July and have been living with a huge chunk of our living room carpet missing since then. Mama Bear is ready for some new floors.
Despite our limited space, we were determined to bring some Christmas jolly to the room regardless. We moved our regular Christmas tree spot from our living room to our kitchen. It wasn't the most convenient of places, but it worked. We turned up the Christmas jams and began decorating, reflecting on this year's ornaments of special travel memories and moments.
The perfect ornament for my pregnancy thus far
New App ornament because why not?
Our memory of our visit to Pearl Harbor.
Our visit to Joshua Tree National Park is one we won't forget! Spontaneous and well worth the trip.
Mele Kalikimaka! Our ATV ride at Kualoa Ranch was our favorite visit when in Hawaii.
From our whale watching adventure in San Diego this March.
Our baby, Apollo. Love him so much.
Our visit to the San Diego Zoo!
I will never forget visiting the Dole Plantation in Hawaii. The pineapple soft serve was AMAZING!
San Diego momento
Our first Hawaiian adventure was turtle sighting around the island.
This is from our island hop to Hilo at the Big Island. Made of Hawaiian straw and shells.
ALOHA! We can't forget how our most memorable tour guide said this so often.
We won't forget the time we saw Pele brewing at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Christmas Eve quickly approached as Jeremy and I prepped for a meal fit for kings and queens. We made a bragging rights meal of ribs, collards, mac and cheese, and sweet potato casserole that filled our bellies as we watched the last home game of the season, Panthers vs. Falcons. We opened gifts with Jeremy's family and headed to church where we were reminded that Jesus is the reason for the season!
Sleep came easy and Christmas Day was finally here. We celebrated quietly, just the two of us, as I'm sure next year will be a little more hectic with a little one.
Later that afternoon, we headed to my sister's house with my parents, presents and more food in tow. Keegan had a blast opening his gifts and playing football with Jeremy as we enjoyed a surprise visit from my aunts and uncles for Christmas dinner.
We are both stuffed, happy and grateful for the blessings given to us this year. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
For basically 2 months (because the Christmas stuff starts popping up right after Halloween), we get to have a joyous feeling while fighting traffic, searching for parking spaces, spending time with family and friends, having "Thanksgiving numero dos," getting a break from work/school, and most importantly - sing Christmas songs!
'Tis the season of giving, so with that I'm giving you my Top 5 Christmas Songs of ALL TIME!
**Disclaimer**
Couple things before we get into this:
1. Notice that I said this is MY top 5 list. Mine. Not yours. Not universal. Mine.
2. This is a top 5... which means there are only 5. There will be songs left off because... 5.
3. I don't mind you disagreeing, you probably will. But don't say it's wrong because this is mine. :)
Songs will be listed from 5-1. Ok, let's get this party started.
5. "Christmas in Hollis" - Run DMC
You probably didn't see that choice coming. I love this song, and you should too! First and foremost, the music is spectacular. The 30 second intro gets you going and you just can't help but nod your head to the beat. Many reasons why this song is awesome, but my 2 main reasons are:
It's relatable: I know nothing of white Christmases or chestnuts roasting (nor do I really care). But I DO know all about "mom's cooking chicken and collard greens. Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese, Santa put gifts under Christmas trees!"
It's for the culture: This isn't a song just re-done by an artist. This song was written by one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time. For the sake of lumping together all hip-hop/black people - they look like us, talk like us, and gave us a hip hop Christmas song, something we never really had. They were still able to talk about Santa (finding Santa's wallet filled with $1 million), cold weather, etc. but used sick rhymes over a nice beat. Word to Mrs. Claus.
4. "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey
Does anyone not like this song? Seriously... I think most of us have lip synced to it a few times. I also think this song quickly became a Christmas standard. Pretty sure I hear it at least twice on any car ride longer than 15 minutes. And speaking of riding in the car and lip syncing...
This song is peak Mariah Carey too. She gives us everything - incredible tone, runs, high notes, really really high notes - the music video is basically shot as a home video... with SANTA! Who has a home video with Santa? Divalicious Mariah Carey, that's who.
3. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
Rudolph = the ultimate underdog. The little guy all the "normal" folks pick on because he's slightly different. Turns out he's the most important piece to Santa's somewhat inefficient and very magical means of transportation. See kids, you're all special in your own way. Even if your nose literally lights up red. This song is also an example of how quickly people change their minds, especially if something/someone is suddenly cool. Plus, the "underground" version has great ad libs. ("you'll go down in history [like George Washington!]")
2. "Jingle Bells"
I call this song the "Intro to Christmas Songs" song. It's one of the first Christmas songs you learn to sing as a toddler or play on an instrument. Everyone knows this song. It's also easily remix-able. As I said, everyone know this song - they also know the parody "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. The Batmobile lost a wheel and The Joker got away!" It's one of these most classic Christmas songs but only #2 on this list because #1 is...
1. "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" - Andy Williams
I tried very, very hard to not make this a "Jeremy's top 5 favorite Christmas songs" list. I really did. However, this is my favorite Christmas song. It speaks about everything we love about Christmas. From kids jingle belling, holiday greetings and gay happy meetings, parties, caroling, roasting marshmallows - this time of the year is awesome! Even Scrooge AND the Grinch all ended up loving this time of year. You can't help but feel pretty merry during this time of year and my man Andy Williams just reminds us that yes, indeed, this is the most wonderful time of the year.
So there you have it. My top 5 Christmas songs of all time! Honorable mentions that just missed the cut: Silent Night, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas, plus a few more. There are lots of great ones out there but this is my Mount Rushmore of Christmas songs and I'm stickin' to it. Merry Christmas, everybody! Hope you all enjoy the most wonderful time of the year!
Second trimester has come and gone, bringing on the tears like no other. That's right. I was an emotional, hot mess the entire time.
I'm not one to cry or get heated quickly but boy have my emotions changed. If anyone did something I did not agree with, was rude to me or made me angry in general, I let them know. And by that, I mean I didn't shy away with it and brush it off like I usually do. I fired back with words or gestures which usually resulted in tears shortly after. The ugly cry club welcomed me with sobs and tantrums I never knew could come out of my system. It's been real fun! (Not).
Although second trimester was a waterworks factory, there were some great milestone moments where I've been pretty happy for the majority of my pregnancy. I didn't have morning sickness but the one time I got sick, I threw up on Apollo's head (14 weeks). We traveled to Boone, NC (16 weeks) and Chattanooga, TN (26 weeks) making pit stops along the way of course. We found out we were having a BOY (18 weeks) and prepped shortly after by taking my first maternity class, intro to breastfeeding (19 weeks) and painting the nursery gray (20 weeks). At week 19, Jeremy found me crying in the automobile section at Target of all places, go figure. At 21 weeks, Jeremy was able to feel Elijah kick for the first time after patiently waiting for the big reveal. Things started getting real at 22 weeks when we bought a crib and were officially overwhelmed after taking a childcare tour where Elijah will go once I go back to work. Week 23 brought on major tears when we laid Apollo to rest and I said goodbye to my first baby (love you, big guy). We were overwhelmed again at week 25, meeting pediatricians and getting insights on future doctor visits.
Towards the end of my second trimester, I failed my glucose test requiring me to take the dreaded 3-hour re-test. It really wasn't that bad and I passed the second test with flying colors. It was the last week of 2nd trimester when I noticed fatigue starting to creep back in and slightly swollen feet and hands come into existence. I also got good practice of staying up all night while taking care of my mom who was in the hospital for 3 days. You do anything for the ones you love, that's for sure.
I'm sure I'm super behind on all things baby but I'm taking it one week at a time, trying to cross things off this major check-list of bringing a baby into the world. I have no clue how my emotions will be as we enter this last trimester of pregnancy, but I will try to let sweet, little Asha come out more than the Mama Bear that made her appearance here and there.
Sometimes God gives you little things that, for whatever reason just sticks with you. A song, a moment, or a name.
Since high school, I had always loved a certain name. It was a name that, to me, just represented strength and greatness. It was the name of a great prophet in the Old Testament. And it even matched well with my last name. So I held on to it... and kept holding onto it. Until the time had finally come.
Baby Singleton's name is...
Elijah James Singleton
Elijah was the name I've always loved and knew I would name my son one day.
Elijah - meaning (Hebrew) "Jehovah is God" or "my God is Yahweh." Elijah was the name of the great prophet of Israel in the Old Testament. Elijah was so gangsta too.
2 Kings 1:11-12
(11) Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, "O man of God, this is the king's order, 'Come down quickly!'" (12) But Elijah answered them, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.
That's the kind of relationship I need with God.
And maybe the best part of it all. At the end of his life, this great prophet went out in the most gangsta way possible - he was carried STRAIGHT to HEAVEN in a CHARIOT OF FIRE.
A chariot.
Of. Fire.
Like... c'mon, son.
So there it is. We absolutely can not wait until March when Elijah finally enters the world.
Asha and Jeremy met in 2004 at Appalachian State University. What started out as friendship soon led to love and they were off to the alter to get hitched in 2011. This is our story.
