wondering where six months has gone...

There is six months of growing right there for you. Goodness! I love each new day with Graeme, but sometimes I wish there was a way I could hold that tiny, just born baby again.

My little 8 pounds, 6 ounces; 20.5 inches newborn has grown into a 19 pounds, 11 ounces; 29 inches(???!!!) six-month-old. 

I know everyone says it (namely, people who are parents):  "It goes by so fast!"

Yeah, it really does.

Graeme is halfway to his first birthday, and he's not slowing down. This kid is ready to move, move, move. He so wishes that he could walk or crawl or something. I don't suppose it will be long before he's really on the move. For now, he rolls to get to where he wants to go. The doctor said he may skip right to cruising next. Oh dear.

What else is new with Graeme this month?

1.  He started eating vegetables.

He's a pretty big fan of the veggies he's had so far. Butternut squash seems to be his favorite currently, but he likes carrots, yellow squash, and green beans too. We're still working on the sweet potatoes. If they are mixed with yellow squash, we can trick him into eating them. He eats vegetables just once a day for now. 

2.  He dropped his dreamfeed.

One night when he was about five and half months, I just decided to see what would happen if we didn't do the dreamfeed. He ended up sleeping until morning, to my delight. A full 12 hours of sleep! For the next few nights, I would give it to him if he woke for it, which he did a couple times. Other than that, we didn't give it to him. After a few nights, he stopped waking up for it. Now, we've had a slight setback in the past week or so, and our nights have been very unpredictable due to teething, stomach issues, and vaccines. I'm praying we will get back to normal soon. The poor kid has had a rough week.

3.  He can sit (pretty well) by himself and loves it.

I feel like this happened in one day where all of a sudden he was really, really good at balancing and sitting. He still needs to be on a soft surface or have his Boppy pillow around him unless we are right there watching him because he topples every once in awhile. But, he's usually good for quite a few minutes on his own. It's opened up this whole new world for him and he loves all of his toys so much now that he can sit there and manipulate them better.

4.  He makes identifiable sounds and is beginning to recognize names.

Graeme can say "Ma-ma," "Ba-ba," and "Pa-pa" these days. Now, I'm not sure he associates these words with things yet, but sometimes I swear he is asking for his "bottle," or he looks at me when he says "Mama," or he is asking for "Penny (pup pup)." I could be crazy. Either way, he says them, and I do think he knows that I am "Mama/Mommy" even if he isn't saying my name knowingly. He also knows Aaron is "Da-da/Daddy" even though he hasn't said that yet. He appears to recognize his own name. And he looks around on the floor when Penny is mentioned. So cute.

5.  He is getting teeth.

One tooth is through and you can feel it. Aaron noticed it Saturday night while we were at dinner. The doctor told us she is pretty sure she could see the one next to it on its way. (You can see white right beneath his gum.) The second one hasn't popped through yet, but the very clingy-more fussy than usual-not sleeping as well baby has me believing it is for sure coming soon. I can't believe he's getting teeth already!

Well, I think those are the major milestones from the past month, although I'm sure there are more I failed to remember. Six months have come and gone so fast! What a joy this little boy is in our home. I cannot imagine life without him.

We love you, Graeme Grayson!

26 weeks later

On Saturday 26 weeks ago (six months ago), I was still looking like this:

The day before that, I wrote in my journal:

We are asking You for a natural start to labor. You know best, and I believe You will fulfill Your plan for Graeme's delivery no matter what!

God answered our prayer, and Graeme decided he was coming out into the world on a Saturday night six months ago.

Even though he is technically six months old on Tuesday, since he was born on a Sunday, tomorrow is pretty significant to me as well. Tomorrow marks 26 weeks, the halfway point of the 52 weeks in a year.

Twenty six Sundays ago, our little hero came into our lives like a speeding bullet. He hardly let me push...he was out in thirty minutes!

He's barely stopped moving since. Anyone who has spent any time with Graeme will tell you:  his legs and arms never stop.

We have enjoyed 26 weeks of his squirming, smiles, snuggles, and sweet sounds.

It's such a wonderful adventure to be a mom. 

Happy 26 weeks, Graeme Grayson! We love you so very much.

a lot of random

Hi.

Here comes random....



--  This morning I made brownies and broccoli all before 9:00am. (The brownies are for dessert tonight because we have a friend coming over. The broccoli is for Graeme to try later this week.) Hello, Mom Life, I guess.

Speaking of Graeme's food, we moved on to green vegetables today. I picked green beans for his first food of this color of the rainbow, but I was a little skeptical about how he would like them. Or how he would like any green vegetable, for that matter. They are all kind of...blech...without butter and salt, in my opinion.

But, to my surprise, he loved the green beans like they were candy or something. Good grief. This leads me to these thoughts:

1.  What will he be like when he has actual candy?
2.  How does he like green beans but not sweet potatoes?
3.  I was really dissing the broccoli while I made it for him, but at the rate we're going with this, he will love it. Broccoli: 1. Me: 0.

Green bean face.

--  I was trying to think of some things that I missed posting about in the past month since we've been back from our trip. This month has flown by so fast. I had to go back through my pictures on my phone to even remember what has happened.

At the beginning of September, my little buddy Keyen turned three. This was almost impossible to believe.

Me and Keyen when he was tiny.

We went to his monkey-themed, adorable birthday party. Graeme was pretty fascinated by the balloons and the party in general.

Keyen, who has mostly kept his distance from Graeme since he met him (which is pretty amusing), even gave him a kiss while we were there. Very super sweet.

Bensen, on the other hand, can't ever seem to get enough of Graeme.

I absolutely love that Bensen and Keyen and their family are still (and will always be) part of our life. 




--  When we were at the beach in July, Graeme and I got on the elevator with these two older ladies one afternoon. Immediately, one of them started saying, "Oh my goodness! He looks just like George!" The other lady agreed and then they said it to me. I thought they meant some George they knew, but no, they said, "He looks just like Prince George!" When I responded, "Oh, thanks...I guess I don't know what Prince George looks like," they were flabbergasted. How had I not seen a recent picture of His Highness?! Anyway, they went on and on about it, and then when Graeme and I got off the elevator they said, "Bye, George!"

What do you think? I don't really see it, I guess. 

Obviously, mine is way cuter.





--  We decided on the Britax stroller and carseat before Graeme was born and were given both of them at one of our baby showers. I have been really happy with them so far, and now, I'm even more happy. Here's why:

I walked outside with Penny and Graeme last week, and when we got just a few houses down, I noticed the handlebar of the stroller felt weird. I looked down, and lo and behold, the foam was torn.

Enter over-dramatic freak out moment.

Obviously, glue was needed immediately. We turned around, and I went in for the super glue. The glue stuck the torn piece back down, but the tear was still there. And noticeable. To me, at least.

Now, I try not to be too crazy about stuff like this. I know it's just a stroller and it will get worn and torn for years to come. But, since it's such a nice stroller and it's fairly new, I emailed Britax just to see what they would say and do.

Well, what do you know, they are sending us a brand new stroller, no questions asked. I love them.

--  Penny got a bath and a haircut on Monday and she's so soft and fluffy. Graeme squeals when he sees her. He loves his puppy. The feeling is quite mutual between them.

"She's so fluffy I want to die!!"

--  Graeme, Penny, and I sat outside on one of the beautiful mornings we had this week. I put my phone in front of Graeme's face (which he now associates with, "Oh! I should smile!") He was being quite the little model for me. These pictures just about kill me with their cuteness...

Have a great weekend!

about making baby food

I wouldn't say I'm very "crafty" or into making too many homemade things. I like to cook, but usually my Betty Crocker cookbook is where I go for inspiration. Every once in awhile I go through a quick phase (Like when I made a mobile for Graeme's room...and no, I did not see the idea on Pinterest. I still do not have a Pinterest and refuse. It's just not for me.) But, I thought making homemade baby food would be something I could get behind.

1. It's cheaper.
2. It seemed pretty easy.
3. It's cheaper. 

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it can be healthier in some ways, but I also know there's plenty of perfectly fine pre-made baby food out there that we will definitely buy sometimes for convenience.

This is another "mom choice" that doesn't have a right answer. For now, making baby food works for us. If it doesn't later on, that's fine too.

I happened upon a "Baby Puree Recipe Book" at the used bookstore one day and picked it up for some inspiration. It has a lot of recipes, and I will probably use it more as Graeme gets a little older. It is also helpful for some basic tips. I'm also loosely following the idea in Babywise to introduce orange and yellow veggies first, followed by green veggies two weeks later, followed by fruit two weeks after that. I always wait at least four days before I give Graeme something new to try to make sure he doesn't have any issues with the new food. It's been two weeks since he started vegetables, and next week, we will move on to green things.

So far I've made:

1.  Carrots.

I guess I thought a one pound bag would make more than this. It did not. I steamed the carrots, put them in a blender (we aren't fancy enough for a food processor), and added water as needed until they were a good consistency. I let them freeze in the ice tray, then popped them out and put them in a freezer bag. Two cubes is usually a good serving for Graeme. He loves carrots so far.

2.  Butternut squash.

I read in the baby puree book that steaming vegetables is the best way to make sure they keep the majority of their nutrients. I'm not sure how true that is, but I took the book for its word. Baking the squash was an option, but I decided to peel the sucker, clean it out, cut it up, and steam it. 

Graeme also loves butternut squash. A whole squash filled up one whole ice cube tray and a little bit of a second one.

First bite of squash.

3.  Sweet potatoes.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but that's a lot of sweet potatoes. Two trays full. I'm still figuring this whole thing out, and three sweet potatoes made a lot more than I thought it would. Then I thought, "Oh well, Graeme will surely love these the most," because what crazy kid wouldn't like sweet potatoes?!

My crazy kid. I don't know if it's the texture or the taste, but after three different tries on different days, Graeme is not a big fan of sweet potatoes. He will take a few bites and then refuse them with a funny look on his face. I won't give up, but we will take a break from them for awhile. I told my friend that I have an overabundance of frozen sweet potatoes, so she is going to take some for her baby. 

4.  Yellow squash.

This is the last orange/yellow vegetable I will add for awhile probably. I love yellow squash, so I was hoping Graeme would too. I cut it up and steamed it like the others. Yellow squash didn't need any water added to it. Two of them filled up one ice tray.

Graeme tried this for the first time today. It was still so runny even without water added to it, so I added just a little bit of his cereal to thicken it up. He loved it. 

Hates sweet potatoes, but whatever. 

I'm not sure what green vegetable we will try first yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.

about our Tennessee trip

I mentioned in my post the other day that Graeme has been on four trips already in his little lifetime. The first three (Atlanta, Florida, Wrightsville Beach) were pretty easy. Well, Atlanta especially didn't phase him at all since he was only five weeks old. Our last trip that we took to Tennessee was probably the hardest on all of us. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time. When we were with family, it was great to have extra help. We all had fun every day. It was just...a little hard. I think it was a combination of things (the age Graeme is at, the fact that we changed locations three times...) that probably caused this trip to be a bit more trying.




We left on a Sunday after church. Graeme had a full tummy, a clean diaper, and he was exhausted. (He always is on Sunday afternoons.)  It was a six hour drive to our first stop at my grandparents', and we were able to drive half of it while he took a long nap. We stopped at a Zaxby's for dinner, got food to-go, and we all ate in the car. We rented an SUV, so Graeme had plenty of room to eat his dinner too.

After this stop, I rode in the back with Graeme and Penny took my seat. Graeme didn't need another nap before bedtime, so it was my job to entertain him for the last three hours of the drive. Thankfully, between toys and music, he was happy the whole way. We did have to pull out the annoying fun light up noisy toys towards the end. I was a little worried about his ears hurting while we were going up the mountains, because mine always hurt really bad. I gave him a pacifier (if you'll remember, we took it away two months ago and only save it for emergencies) just in case. (Spoiler alert:  this wasn't the last time we saw the pacifier this week...many emergencies to come...)

We got to our cabin a little past his bedtime, so he was tired and hungry. After a quick hello to everyone and setting up the pack-n-play, we put him right to bed. Of course, it wasn't that easy. The new surroundings kept him looking around and he is not the biggest fan of the pack-n-play anyway. I try to put him in it for naps sometimes and he plays in it a lot. It's not like he's not familiar with it. But, he is a roller and a mover in his sleep. He spans his whole crib over the course of the night. The pack-n-play is a lot smaller, and he does not enjoy that. 

Anyway, it took him quite awhile to finally fall asleep. Then, enter our first challenge:  every tiny move you made in the cabin made a creak. Every floor board. Every cabinet. The door to the bedroom where we were all sleeping. And the bed right next to the pack-n-play squeaked with the tiniest movement. 

Well, when we went to bed, I knew I was in for a long night. Like I said, Graeme moves SO much in his sleep and makes a bunch of noise. And I guess because of my "mother's intuition" or whatever you call it, I sleep t-e-r-r-i-b-l-y when Graeme is in the same room as us. That's probably why he only lasted about two weeks in our room after he was born before he went straight to his crib. 

Eventually, the squeaks of our bed from us moving in our sleep and him constantly rolling into the side of his pack-n-play woke him up. He ended up in our bed in the middle of the night. And, again, he's a mover and a kicker. Every time I would drift off, I would get a kick in my stomach. Somehow, Aaron slept through all of this madness.

Despite a rocky first night, it was a great day the next day. We went outlet shopping and out to lunch, and then everyone got a good, long nap. Graeme adjusted much better to the cabin the second day, and he went down a lot easier that night.

However, like the night before, his ninja-sleep skills didn't have as much room as they typically do in his roomy crib. He ended up in our bed again. Note the pattern that is occurring.

The next day, we had another fun day. We made a trip to the pool, and you've already read about Graeme meeting all of the cows.

That night, we entered into our second challenge of the trip:  Graeme acquired a terrible stuffed-up nose.

I sucked his nose before bed, but as soon as we laid him down, he sounded awful. He was asleep, but he sounded like he could hardly breathe through his nose at all. This, of course, did wonders for our sleep. 

No.

Graeme woke up three times during the night because of his nose. He doesn't eat in the middle of the night anymore, so I would suck his nose (while he screamed because he hates the snot sucker), and then he would go right back to sleep in our bed. The poor kid didn't feel well at all. At this point, I kind of wished we were going home the next day instead of continuing on. (Not really, but it did cross my mind.)

Wednesday, Graeme was as happy as could be, but his nose was still runny and stuffy. We packed up to head on to Murfreesboro, which was three more hours away. We had to say goodbye to Penny at this point. She stayed behind with my parents and went home with them.

She gets suspicious when we pack suitcases. She was not too happy with us when we left her.

We left in the afternoon at nap time, and Graeme was asleep before we even drove a mile. We couldn't quite make it to our destination without a stop. When we were 45 minutes away from Murfreesboro, we found an exit to pull over. Graeme had slept the whole time so far, thankfully. We stopped for coffee and fed him before we got back in for the last little bit of the drive. He didn't fuss for the rest of the way, but he was not very impressed with any of his toys and seemed to be quite done with the car.

Seriously?

We were invited to stay in the home of the lovely family that hosts the INFUSE retreats. When we arrived, It was about 4:30pm central time. Because we were only going to be there for two nights, we decided to keep Graeme on eastern time. This proved to be a little tricky (mainly because my phone and the retreat schedule said one thing, but my watch and Graeme's schedule said another), but I think it was worth it overall. Since it was 5:30pm to us when we got there that night, we started Graeme's bedtime routine of a bath and pajamas and books.

It was another new surrounding, so I wasn't sure how bedtime would go. 

Well, it went seemingly well right off the bat. Graeme fell asleep during his bottle and laid right down. But, it couldn't be that easy, of course.

He woke up about 30 minutes later with a stuffy nose and then realized he was somewhere strange and in that pesky pack-n-play. It all went downhill from there.

He wouldn't calm down. His breathing still sounded terrible. I wasn't sure if he was also feeling bad with a sore throat or something. I took his temperature to make sure he didn't have a fever. He didn't, but while I was holding the thermometer in there, he peed all over his PJs and the Lovie he was holding. Disaster.

He kept screaming while I changed his PJs and gave him the back-up, identical Lovie. I tried to feed him in case he was still hungry, but that wasn't his trouble. Aaron was in the house (he wasn't neglecting us...he was in the middle of a podcast), and he came to check on us after I had been in there for awhile.

Aaron saw my frantic state and tears and the exhaustion from the previous nights of bad sleep. He sent me to take a break while he held Graeme. He wouldn't let me come back in until I took a shower.

I could hear from the bathroom and Graeme just would not settle down. It was terrible. It was probably the worst bedtime we've had with him.

When I went back in, he was still so upset. I took him from Aaron and he proceeded to spit up all. over. everything. My pajamas. His pajamas. Back-up Lovie. He had worked himself up so much and made himself sick.

Well, now we were just in a real pickle. I changed quickly. I stripped Graeme to a diaper and didn't dare force him into more pajamas. I found a random other little blanket we had  with us that kind of felt like Lovie.

Graeme was basically just crying in his sleep at this point. I laid down with him in the bed, and he finally fell asleep. Aaron made sure I was okay, and then he went back out to work. Graeme and I slept for the rest of the night.

It was an early morning the next day. For some reason, Graeme was up at 6am our time (which was 5am there). He was happy though, so I didn't care. We played in the bedroom with him until it was closer to 7am (6am) and then he ate and we went out to the living room.

He took a great morning nap that day, which I'm sure he needed desperately! I was also able to do a quick load of the laundry that had accumulated the evening before, including Lovies. I'm not sure how we would have survived the rest of the trip without them.

We had a good day and were able to meet up with Aaron and the group for lunch. That night, Aaron had a dinner with everyone at a restaurant. They were going to eat at 5:30pm (so it was 6:30pm for us). Graeme and I, therefore, had to skip out. And that also meant I was up for bedtime duty by myself. Yikes.

Well, it wasn't quite as bad as the night before. There were no bodily fluid mishaps, but he did have a really hard time falling asleep. It didn't help that it was really light outside still, and he's used to his black out curtains. (Oi. We don't do him any favors for when we travel.) This is when, in my desperation, I resorted to the pacifier. He finally stopped crying. He laid there holding Lovie, sucking the paci, and holding my hand until he finally slept. (The sweetness of this entirely made up for everything prior to it.)

He was in our bed again that night, like he had been basically every night of this trip. But, for once, I slept awesome. He did too.

The next day, not much could get me down. It was the day we would start our trip home. I was SO ready. Don't get me wrong, it had been a great trip. But, home definitely sounded sweet.

We went to breakfast with everybody. At this point, it was the last day, and I was all like "Anything goes to make Graeme happy, and we'll deal with whatever the fall out is at home."

Clinging on to his two favorite things and yes, using that pacifier.

We took one last nap in our room at the house, and then packed up the car. The plan was to leave from the restaurant where we were eating dinner that night.

Dinner was great and Graeme had fun "flirting" with all of the ladies across from him. We gave him his bottle and put his pajamas on before we got in the car around 7pm (which was our 8pm...a little past his bedtime, but oh well).

We left Tennessee behind while Graeme drifted off to sleep with no problems. It was a five hour drive to our next stop right outside of Asheville at Ridgecrest Conference Center. The plan was to stop once for gas and that was it.

Thankfully, our plan worked. We stopped for gas after just an hour of driving. Graeme slept through it, and then I took the wheel. I was a bit nervous to drive the freakishly huge Expedition on the curvy mountain roads, but at this point, Graeme had passed Aaron his sickness and Aaron felt awful. The boys slept the rest of the way and I survived the curvy roads.

We rolled into Ridgecrest at 1am and Aaron ran to check us in. Graeme woke up at this point, and he was very quiet and curious as we made our way to our hotel room. Aaron fed him while I took a shower. We didn't even bother with the pack-n-play at this point. Graeme fell right back to sleep in the bed and Aaron and I crashed, finally.

The next morning, we lingered for a bit since it was only another four hours until home. We all took a morning nap, and then left around 11am.

Graeme put up no complaints, but I sure felt bad putting him back in the car.

Here we go, again.

He took an hour nap in the car and then I carefully climbed in the back to play with him until we stopped for lunch. After that, it was the home stretch.

He fell back asleep for his afternoon nap, and we made it home with no other issues.

Home sweet home, indeed.

Graeme's nose persisted for a few more days, but it cleared up and he's great now. Aaron passed the bug along to me, and I'm just now over it. Goodbye sickness.

He didn't have any problems with the pacifier suddenly being gone again, so that was good. It really helped on our trip, and I'm glad I still keep an emergency one in the diaper bag!

I was also nervous about how he would sleep by himself again since he had been in bed with us the whole week, but I think he was just as happy to be back in his crib as we were to have him out of the bed!

For all of the hard parts of the trip, it was still fun. It's crazy how much trips and vacations change once there's a baby to bring along. Of course, it's worth it, but it's almost more difficult to be away from home. I know traveling will get easier and easier as he gets older. Our next big trip is to Disney, so despite whatever hardships it brings, we will be at the happiest place on earth!

to wanna-be moms and gonna-be moms (the first timers)

I definitely recommend this.

I've talked to some future moms lately. Some are already pregnant. Some plan to be one day. The questions I usually get asked first are "What's your favorite thing about being a mom?" or "What's the hardest thing about being a mom?"

Those type of questions are always hard for me to answer. I have a hard time choosing a favorite movie, let alone choosing my favorite part of motherhood. It changes each day.

So does the hardest thing. I don't think being a mom is hard in general, but of course, there are hard moments each day. And they change day to day.

But, I do have some opinions about motherhood (emphasis on opinions...I definitely don't claim to know much!). Here are my thoughts on some things that God has been teaching me since I became pregnant and now as I try to mother my five month old baby boy... 

1.  "Expectation is the root of all heartache."

I found this quote and it is very questionable if anyone famous actually ever said it. 
It is not a William Shakespeare quote, say his adoring fans. I don't know who said it, but I think there is some truth to it. Aaron and I talk about expectations a lot. They are almost always the root cause of our frustrations and disappointments. (example being: I expect him to do such and such a thing even though I may not say it out loud, and when he doesn't do that thing, I'm frustrated with him.)

I do think there is such a thing as a good expectation and I definitely don't think you should go around expecting the worst from everything and everyone just so you're not ever disappointed.

All of that being said, let's get around to what it has to do with having a baby, specifically, labor and delivery:  have reasonable expectations. 

On the one hand, I think you should expect the best. Having a negative expectation of labor won't make it easier. You'll be so worried about it that you will probably be very tense and on edge. It will be easier if you have a healthy expectation that yes, it's not going to be a day at the spa, but it's going to go by fairly quickly, and you'll probably be like "Aw that wasn't too bad let's have another one someday."

Now, on the other hand, I don't think it's wise to go into labor with a very cut and dry expectation of how it will go for you. There are all of these templates out for making your "birth plan." I don't think there's anything wrong with having a plan...in fact, I'm typically all about a plan, and I filled out one of those birth plans for fun. But, with having a baby, I think the best plan is:  Do whatever you need to do to have a healthy baby delivered safely.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with planning on a natural labor. But if that's your expectation and that's your only plan, what happens if it doesn't work out? You shouldn't feel like a failure because you need to have surgery or use some medication. Your baby might need to arrive safely that way.

There's also nothing wrong with a plan to have an epidural. But, if you're like, "Give me an epidural right away! I can't do it without one!" Well, that expectation might not work out the way you want.

So, I'm not saying you shouldn't plan on natural labor or plan on an epidural or whatever else. I'm just saying don't expect it to go that way with no questions asked. It might, and that would be great. But if it doesn't, you might be in for some unnecessary heartache.

Expect the best, have an idea of how you want things to go, but be willing to change your plan if you need to. It will be less stressful for everyone involved.

2.  Have confidence in the decisions you make.

God created you and will help you be the mom your baby needs. You are made just for your baby! There are so many options for how to do things when it comes to having and raising a baby...

Birth at home with a midwife? Birth in a hospital with an OBGYN?
Disposable diapers? Cloth diapers?
Breastfeeding? Formula?
Stay at home? Go back to work?
Co-sleeping? Sleep training?
Demand feeding? Scheduled feeding?


The list goes on.

I am pretty sure that most parents love their babies so much that they would do anything for them. With that kind of love, you're going to do what's best for your baby because you can't help but do what's best for them. And you and your spouse get to decide what's best. Not people's opinions on Facebook. Not a lactation consultant. Not a book. You and your spouse. That's it.

What you decide is best for your baby might seem like the opposite of what is best to someone else. But that's their opinion. And they don't know your baby and your family like you do.

So, do some research. Always keep your baby's health and safety in mind. But when it comes down to it, choose what works for you and don't worry about what others think about it.

People often like to pick a side of the things I listed above and then condemn the other side. Yes, there are some things that we all have to agree on like eating healthy during pregnancy and getting exercise. When the baby comes, we would agree that they need to eat, sleep, and have their basic needs met. 

However, how you do those things is really up to you. There isn't a right answer. If you want to breastfeed, that's awesome. If you can't or choose not to, that's awesome too. Your baby will be loved and healthy either way. And you are an amazing mom either way. This goes for all of the things listed above.

You will figure out what works for your family. Make a decision with your spouse and then be confident in the decision you make.

Remember, God had you in mind for your baby. Seek Him, talk with your spouse, trust your mommy instincts, and then don't worry about anything or anyone else.

3.  Have a schedule/routine, but be flexible.

I think schedules and routines are really good for babies and for their families. They help everyone know what to expect, including the baby. You don't have to rush right into a strict schedule the minute you get home from the hospital. But, eventually, when you are all feeling ready, some kind of daily schedule is very helpful.  Even if it shifts a little each day, it will give you an idea of how to plan things out that you need to get done. And it will help your baby regulate their eating and sleeping.

Now, some days, the schedule goes straight down the drain for various reasons. Moreover, you should never be so strict with your schedule that you aren't giving your baby what they need. If your baby is truly hungry or sleepy "when it's not time" don't deprive them of sleep or food!

And it's okay to not follow your schedule somedays (I'm telling myself this too!) Sometimes, it's okay to run out during nap time. If there's a night every once in awhile that you need to be out past bedtime, everyone will survive. I promise. 




4. Make necessary changes to your lifestyle, but don't let life completely revolve around your baby.

You may have to say no to some things that you could do easily before a baby came along. Those late night movies on a whim are a thing of the past. 

But life doesn't stop forever. It doesn't change totally and completely. After the first couple of weeks (when life really does seem to stop), introduce things from your "old life" back in gradually. Cleaning, errands, exercise, dates. Everything that you used to do is still possible, it just requires extra planning, time, and help. 

Babies require a lot of your emotions, your money, your patience, your time, your laundry room. Yes, it's easy to get overwhelmed.

I've learned that flexibility and prioritizing are so very important, as well as accepting help.  Whether it be from your husband, your parents, your in-laws, or friends. Find some trusted people that love your baby and let them help you. You aren't in this alone.

Most importantly, whatever else you do, find time to ask the One who made you and your baby for his help each day. He will give you strength and wisdom to get through every difficult moment.

Goodness. That's a lot. I don't know if it is helpful to anyone, but if it is, I'm glad. I really just want you girls that are about to be a mom or want to be a mom to know that you are wise and capable and you will love your baby more than you can imagine. And because you love them so much, you will know what's best for them. And as you figure out what works for you and for your baby, you may see something on social media or Facebook that calls the way you're choosing wrong or neglectful or crazy or unhealthy. But most likely, it's not. What's considered "good" or "bad" is always changing. (Your parents probably had totally different "rules" when they had you and their parents before them and so on!) If you are using your common sense and your "mommy sense" and making decisions that work for your family, you are doing an awesome thing. 

You will be an amazing mother. You will make some mistakes, but you will learn from them. You will have a hard day, but you will get a smile from that little face that will make it all better. You will find some things that seemed scary to be not scary at all. You will find things that looked easy to be very difficult.

You can do it though. No doubt. You will be the mom God created just for your baby. And you are enough. Because the Jesus in you is more than enough.

about our little cowboy

Graeme may only be five months old, but he possibly already has a career in the bag.

A cowboy.

Here is the story of his first experience at herding cattle. Will it be his last? Hard to say...


We went to visit my grandparents in Sevierville, Tennessee in the middle of August. They live in the beautiful Smoky Mountains and they happen to be right next to a field that is the home to several cows. The cows don't stay in the field during the day. Their fence allows them to go up the mountain into the trees. However, in the evening, before they go to the barn, they make their way back to the field. 

One evening we were getting ready for dinner, and we noticed that the cows were in the field. They were pretty far off, but we took Graeme over by the fence to see them. He, being a baby with not the greatest vision yet, probably could see nothing of the cows. But, of course, this was our version of him seeing his first cow in person.

This is what it started out like:

Clearly, all cows are pretty far off in the distance.

Graeme, who was happy to be outside, started to make what we call his "baby dinosaur screech." It's a happy scream/squeal/screech noise that he makes, that, well, sounds like a dinosaur.

I turned away for a second and heard my mom say, "Look! There's a cow walking over here!"

Sure, enough, a big, black cow made it's way over to the fence right in front of us.

This was pretty exciting. Graeme could definitely at least see it now. He was still screeching up a storm.

Then, we looked across the field to see even more cows making their way over.

There were two.

Two more were on their way with others in the distance showing interest.

What is even happening?!

Graeme kept screeching and the cows kept coming.

Before long, there were about fifteen cows staring at us just four feet away. And my grandma pointed out that the giant bull was coming over as well.

The pictures don't quite do it justice.

So, if Graeme is ever struggling to make a career choice one day, we can remind him of what his true calling might be.

Giddy up, pardner.