Lessons Learned

This last year has been FULL of learning experiences.  I mean, that's what motherhood is, right?  A whole bunch of trial and error.  Well, I was thinking back about my thoughts this time last year and kinda had to laugh at myself.  I have learned A LOT and still have A LOT left to learn!!  I am not a perfect mother by any means, but here are some lessons I will never forget:

• Don't feel like you have to invite people over to see the new baby.  You are tired. You need your rest.   There will be PLENTY of time for showing off that sweet bundle in a few weeks :)  When people tell you to "rest now" while you are pregnant.  They mean it.  Those first few weeks of exhaustion are something else!  Also, don't feel like your house has to be clean and perfect for every visitor that does show up.  And, it's okay to still be in your PJs at lunchtime.  I swear, I think I stayed in my pajamas for the first month of Norah Kate's life.
• On a second note, believe it or not you get used to the sleep deprivation.  You can suddenly start to function off of 4 hours of sleep.
• Six hours of consecutive sleep... in your bed... is something great!  And most definitely considered a good night's rest.
• Musical beds is something to get used to.  Mama and Baby fall asleep in the recliner, put the baby to bed, Daddy's on the couch, get Daddy to come to bed with Mama, baby wakes up, Mama and baby go lay on the couch, Daddy wakes up, Mama goes back to bed, Daddy goes to sleep in recliner... Haha!  This happens at least once a week at our house.
• No one, absolutely no one, can prepare you for those post partum hormones... and be prepared... they may last... for months.  I am just now starting to feel normal and my baby is a year old.
• Always carry a change of clothes, for you and the baby.
• Never travel with out snacks.
• Keep toys in every vehicle.  Pack some up and drag them out in a few months.  It will be like having a new toy all over again.
• Let them play in your kitchen cabinets.  Let them drag stuff out.  Let them make racket.  They are learning about their surroundings.
• Rock them to sleep, at least every now and then.
• Snuggle with them when you can.
• Watch them sleep... I swear you can see them grow before your eyes.  Admire their little toes, eary, nose, lips and fingers.
• Don't waste you money on a whole lot of outfits.  They grow too fast.  It's really okay for them to wear the same things twice.
• Grocery shopping does not get any easier the older they get.  Then they just start trying to climb out of the buggy.  I always forget something on my list, but I am proud that I haven't had to leave my shopping cart full of groceries in the store due to a crying fit or a breakdown.  We have had a couple of close calls though.
• A trip to town is no longer the same... I am lucky to make it to one store before we have had enough shopping.
• Let them get messy.  Take a picture of that cookie face.
• Actually, take pictures of everything.  You can't have too many.
• Brag about your kids on Facebook, Twitter, work, church... I would much rather hear someone bragging about their kids then bad mouthing them.
• Find something that is fun for you and baby... bubble baths, jogs, naps, the joey pouch.  Running was my therapy.  It was something both Norah Kate and I enjoyed and I am grateful for that time!
• They can pick up on your stress and tension, so beware of what kind of attitude you are betraying.
• A good day is getting a load of clothes washed, supper cooked, and keeping the house from looking like a hurricane hit it.
• Don't feel guilty for letting someone watch the baby for a Mommy-Daddy date night, or to run errands.
• Parenting books are for the birds.  Each baby is different.  Each parent is different.  Figure out what works best for you and your situation.
• It's okay to cry over them growing up.  You aren't crazy, I promise :)
• They will fall, they will cry, they will get a bump, or a bruise, or a scrape... try not to panic.
• You will find yourself laughing at something they are doing that is bad... at least once.
• Tag Teams with Daddy work great for diaper changes, car seat buckling and medicine giving.  Sometimes just having the moral support or a distraction for baby makes a big difference!
• There is no such thing as a stupid question at the pediatrician's office.  They will not think you are dumb!
• Soak up every minute that you can, every cry, every laugh, every thing because time truly does fly by.
• Enjoy being a mommy! Motherhood is an adventure and an awesome blessing. God picked YOU to raise this child. How amazing is that?
• Every day is a new day. You will have good days and you will have bad days. The good days out weigh the bad though by ten fold!

Twelve months of growing up!

 

As they grow, you will grow as a person.  Let them change you.  Children are sweet blessings.  Never forget that :)



*One Year Old*

We have officially entered toddlerhood!  And it's like my child knows it!  Suddenly we are Miss Independent.  She wants to feed herself. Bath herself. Help change clothes. Walk all by herself.  You get the picture.

Just because everyone should have a crying picture with Santa :)

Girl, you are too big for Bumbo seat!

 

Helping us landscape

Go big girl with your skinny jeans at your one year check up!



Fun Facts

 

-20 lbs 9 oz

 

-30" long

 

-Size 12-18 month clothes

 

-Size 3 diaper

 

-Six teeth with two more breaking surface on the bottom

 

-Whole milk in the morning in a bottle

 

-Watered down juice in a sippy the rest of the day

 

-Running, dancing, walking backwards (looks like you're moon walking :))

 

-She loves the talk on the phone.  She will hold it up to her ear and babble away.

 

-She loves sweet tea.  Straight from the glass!

 

-She is eating everything we eat

.

-She can eat a whole banana by herself.

 

-I have created a cookie monster.  Animal crackers, vanilla wafers, GoldFish Grahams... she loves them!

 

-She weaned herself from nursie the second week in Decemeber.  At first I thought it was a "nursing strike" but after a week of offering and her refusing, I realized she was done.  It broke my heart more than I thought it would!  I couldn't believe she just weaned herself like that.  I officially quit pumping on her first birthday!  YAY for a year of breastfeeding!!!!!

 

-Dad-dy, dog, stop ("top"), and Ma-Ma are her favorite words.

 

-We still have a paci... unfortunately.

 

-She just threw her very first temper tantrum the other night.  Arms flailing, slapping, kicking, and screaming. Mmmmm... not a pretty sight. At all.  I was so shocked I really didn't even know how to react.  I just kinda froze.

 

-She loves her rocking chair.  She drags that thing around everywhere.

 

-She also has a snuggly blanket that she totes around.  I just started letting her sleep with it in her crib since it has been so cold.

 

Norah Kate,
I love you so so much. More than I could ever even try to put into words. I hope your first birthday was a blast. I hope that one day you understand how much I love you baby girl. Your first year of life taught me so much, and I know that this second year is going to be awesome! You are amazingly smart and beautiful! You are so much fun and bring so much joy in to so many lives. You are my little ray of sunshine!

I love you, Sugar!

Love, Mama

 



First Birthday

We celebrated Norah Kate's first birthday this past Saturday, January 5th.  I was working on her actual birthday (Decemeber 29th)... so all celebrations had to be postponed until Mommy could be there!  The joys of a nurse!

Her party turned out PERFECT!  It was just as I imagined!  We had it at our house and the theme was "Our Little Cupcake."

"Ummm... is all this for me?"

Everything was cupcake-themed.  Her little sweater dress had cupcakes on them, I hand painted cupcakes on her pennant banner and high chair banner, cupcake invitations and of course "Decorate Your Own Cupcake" cupcakes from Publix!  She even slept in cupcake PJs the night before :-)

 

Thank you Pinterest for the inspired cupcake liner garland!  It was super easy!

 



My first attempt at sugar cookie cut outs with royal icing.  Not so easy!

I love this little girl so very much!

 

 

 

Mmm... mmm... good :)

 



 

<3

 

She got a ton of cute outfits, a shopping cart, a Push Around Buggy, a Cozy Coupe Car, a xylophone, a book, some stuffed animals, pearl earrings, a pearl bracelet, a tutu, hair bows, and a toy box for all these fun toys to go in to!! She is one loved little girl, that is for sure!

I love my little family!  So blessed!





Merry Christmas

Boy, this Christmas season has been like no other.  Between work, first birthday planning on top of Christmas shopping, all while chasing around an 11 month old and sickness in our household every other week it has been bussssyyyyy.  I haven't done any baking, my house is a wreck and still have presents that aren't wrapped.  That is soooo unlike me.

I started my Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  So I should be done, right?  Not.  I still have to go pick up a few today.  Seriously!  Norah Kate is normally a good shopper, and bless her heart, she has been a trooper.  However, with Christmas shopping she has been quite the little diva.  Now that she has learned to walk, she thinks she is supposed to walk everywhere.  Riding in the buggy is no more fun for her.  She will tolerate the stroller a little better, but still gets ansty.  I am proud of myself because I have finally learned that I don't have to take her everywhere with me.  It's ok to let her baby sitter watch her for a couple of hours on my day off, or let Matt watch her, so that I can run into town.

Norah Kate had a cold, then I got mastitis, then I got her cold, then I got a clogged duct in the other breast, then she got bilateral ear infections.  Oh, then she had an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin they gave her for her ears and had to go BACK to the doctor. Whew.

Now, we are going to stay well until AFTER her first birthday!  I mean it!  I have been a hand sanitizing, Clorox using, germaphobe.

I still haven't finished decorating the outside of my house.  Haha!  Hopefully it will be decorated all nice and pretty for her party on January 5th.  I really underestimated how busy getting ready for both Christmas and a first birthday party would really be.

Regardless of all the hoopla, craziness, and sickness.  Jesus is still the reason for the season.  And I am embarrassed to admit that I had to remind myself of that a time or two.  It is so easy to get wrapped up into the present buying, house decorating, shopping extravaganza of it all.  This is a time we should be spending with family, making memories, and sharing the gospel of Christ.

Just to make mention of somethings I have loved about this Christmas:

 

-Norah Kate's reaction to the Christmas tree.

-Norah Kate pulling the ornaments off my tree and clanging them together.

-Norah Kate "helping" me wrap Christmas presents.

-Norah Kate finding her Christmas present and playing with it unwrapped but still in the box for a month.

-Her smocked Christmas dresses.  I will be sad when she can't wear them.

-Christmas music and fellowship at church

-Norah Kate's reaction to Santa :(

-Norah Kate leaning over to smell the Christmas candles, then trying to grab them from me so she can "taste" them.

-The bountiful blessings we have received this year and the fact that have presents under our tree for our loved ones!

 

I am so excited for Norah Kate's first Christmas and seeing my family that I didn't get to see on Thanksgiving!

Merry CHRISTmas, from our family to yours.  I hope everyone has a blessed and safe holiday!

 

"Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.  For there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you; You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in  a manger."  Luke 2:10-12 NKJV



(Next year I am starting my Christmas shopping and party planning in July ;) )

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Entitlement

Let me just start by saying this is a vent session  and if what I have to say offends you, I'm sorry.  I do not get very involved politically, but I think this needs to be said. I stayed quiet during the election.... but here is my opinion in words.

Each year at Christmas I think we all get into a little bit of the "giving" spirit.  Really, that is the way it should be.  Giving to those less fortunate, spreading the Christmas cheer, educating those about the true meaning of Christmas.

My church always helps with the Toys for Kids for our community.  Each year you can select and "Angel" and buy clothes, toys, etc. for a less-fortunate child.  I have been buying for an angel for the Toy Drive for about 7 years now.  Even when I was in college I would take my part time money from my job and go buy an outfit or two, PJs, underwear, a couple of toys, socks, shoes, a jacket, and maybe a warm hat and mittens.  When it is all said and done, I spend anywhere between $75-100.  For a couple of years I would go and help set up during the week for the handouts.  One year my mom and I helped hand out the gifts the morning of and went and gave the groceries to some of shut-ins in the community.

The Toys for Kids is a wonderful thing that many people in the community plan and prepare for all year long!  Kudos for them for all their hard work! I am just a peon in the event by providing a few hours of community service and shopping for one angel.

Every year it is such a blessing for me and helps get me in the spirit of Christmas.  It always saddens me so much to think about these sweet children who have practically nothing.  I look around my house and in my child's room who has toys beyond toys, nice clothes, plenty of food to eat and a warm place to sleep.  This is something that I plan to make a tradition in my household and I think it will be a good experience for my kids to help with too as they grow.

.................................................................

This is where I ruin it.  This is where those who have been reading this thinking "how sweet" probably get upset with me.

I can't help but get aggravated.  A few years ago when I was helping hand out, there were those families truly grateful.  You could tell that didn't have anything and without the help of Toys for Kids, their kids probably wouldn't receive anything for Christmas.  How sad, right?  It really broke my heart.  I went to some houses where the floor was literally falling through.  Pitiful.  These people really need help.

Then there were those that had the Gucchi handbags and iPhones, smoking cigarettes in line, driving up in their cars with chromed out rims and door handles, grabbing the gifts for their children without a smile, Thank You, or anything.  Entitled.  That's what they were feeling.  That felt that they were entitled for those handouts.  They didn't owe us a thing. Grrrrr.....

What kind of generation are we creating?  This goes far beyond the toy and food drives at Christmas time.  This finger is being pointed at our government.  At our society. 

Maybe the way I am thinking is not very Christian like but I disagree.  When people are truly in need, give them gifts, let them benefit from my hard earned money, let our tax money go towards them.  Provide them insurance, housing, food.  That is fine.  I am really not trying to be a Grinch about it all.

It is hard for me to be crutch for someone that is perfectly capable of getting a job though.

I know that our country is in "hard times."  Jobs are short.  Money is small.  I know.  I think the main problem is that people have just gotten plain lazy though.

The people in this country feel that if The Jones' have a brand new Tahoe, and 2000 square foot house, nice clothes, and new phones that they should have all that too.  They do not take into consideration that "The Jones'"  also have jobs.  The Jones' get up every morning at 5:30 to go to work.  The Jones' have saved and worked hard to have those things.  Nobody just gave The Jones' their nice things.  They WORKED for it.

I can't help but wonder who these people were raised by?  Both my husband and I come from hard working families.  Our parent's raised us to work for what we wanted.  Fortunately I was blessed during childhood.  I always had a roof over my head and food to eat, but sometimes that was because my daddy was working two jobs.

So let me just say, I am proud to be a hard working American.  I am proud to say that I have worked for everything I have. So the next time you swipe your EBT card or talk on your Obama phone just know that I am spending time away from my child, working 12 hour shifts, to provide all that for you, along with providing for my own family and a roof over my own head!

If we aren't careful America, the money is going to run out, and unfortunately we have raised a society that thinks they don't have to work because the Government is going to give them everything that need.  Then what?

*11 Months Old*

I always have to recount the months when I am writing these things because 9, 10, 11 months just never seems right.  I mean, I just brought this baby home yesterday right?

Sweet, sweet Norah Kate: 

My oh my are you keeping us busy.  You have grown so much!  I had a "mommy moment" a week or so ago because I was looking back at pictures from the first few months.  I have packed up your swing, walker, and jumper because now that you are RUNNING you don't want anything to do with them!

She wanted to play with it after months of ignoring it when I was packing it up.

(Please excuse my mess in the background!)

 

I could cry just thinking about it.

If someone would have told me a year ago how crazy I would be about you, or how much I could/would love you... I don't think I could have wrapped my head (or heart) around it.  I was excited to be a mommy, but honestly had no clue.  I still can't put it into words how much joy your bring to my life.

Yes, there are tough days.  Days that I just want to sit in the floor and cry with you.  Or days where I question if I am cut out for this job (because believe me, this is the toughest job ever!).  But overall, when you wrap those little arms around me and pat my back and give me slobbery open mouth kisses... it makes every minute worth it.



What are you up to?

You are such a smart girl.  You can brush your hair, put your arms through your shirt, blow kisses, wave hey and bye.  You love to brush your teeth.  We bought  you a Dora toothbrush and training toothpaste.  You go to town chewing and knawing on that brush!  You have learned to feed Hoss from your highchair and you think it's hilarious.  You know which toys are his and you will shake them at him trying to play.

You love the Christmas tree... a little too much. You have gotten better about only pulling the ornaments off once or twice a day versus every 15 minutes.

You take two 1 hour naps a day, usually around 10am and 3pm.

Bedtime is between 8 and 9pm depending on if Mommy has been at work, and you usually wake up around 7:30am.

Our house hold has pretty well kept a cold for the past 2 months.  We keep swapping the germs back and forth. Despite handwashing, handsanitizer and Clorox wipes we keep getting the crud.

You are still nursing 3 times a day (morning, 2 or 3ish, and bedtime).  I have started introducing a little bit of cow's milk in your sippy cup. Last night you drank a whole sippy cup of cow's milk before bed!  Yay!!  You only take a bottle from Daddy on the mornings I am at work.  Otherwise you drink out of your sippy cup or nurse.  You still refuse nursey in the sippy cup though!

You love all things food!  Your favorite snacks right now are animal crackers, cheese, and yogurt.  You will open the pantry and bring us a yogurt snack and go "mmm mmm."  Haha!  So smart.  About the only food you don't care for too much is corn.  Otherwise you eat everything we eat.  We did find out that chili gives you a tummy ache :(

You are in size 3 diapers and 12-18month size clothes.  Size 4 shoes.

We are in full blown First Christmas and Birthday Party planning mode around here.  Things are very hectic and busy but I love it.





We love  you, Sugar!  We are so excited about this next month!