Parenting

I have decided to write out my breastfeeding journey in three parts. That may seem like overkill but really I’m just separating my experiences by my three children. If I wrote about all three experiences it would be novel-length. I really don’t think I would be doing anyone any favors by pretending that breastfeeding has been this amazing, beautiful experience for me. Yes, there have been parts of it that have been amazing and beautiful. But it has taken quite a bit of trial and suffering in order to get there.

I have been terrible about getting my DSLR out to take photos of our girl. With my iPhone always within reach it’s so easy to grab it and take photos with it instead of my nice one. I am so out of practice. But the first year flies by so fast. I knew I had to get it out and start trying to capture some nice photos to remember these early days. I don’t want to forget the little details.

I think everyone who reads this blog or follows me on Facebook and Instagram knew how badly I wanted to go into labor at the end. Once I was considered full-term I immediately started doing all those natural things that are rumored to start up labor. I was ready. So ready for her to come out after being sick for weeks upon weeks. The never-ending cough severely bruised my ribs and it was excruciatingly painful to do much of anything. I finally decided to go out of work early because I could barely drive without crying. The rest was good for me, I think. I felt better but still not 100%.

Sawyer Rebecca has arrived. And she’s absolutely perfect. Six pounds, twelve oz and 19 inches long. Birth story to come. We are so deeply in love and forever grateful.

You are the sunshine of my life That’s why I’ll always be around, You are the apple of my eye, Forever you’ll stay in my heart

I feel like this is the beginning, Though I’ve loved you for a million years, And if I thought our love was ending, I’d find myself drowning in my own tears

I know, I know, it’s November! Why in the world am I talking about baby swimming tips in November? Well, let’s just say we’ve had swimming on our minds. We are planning on taking our first summer vacation to the beach as a family of five (!!!) next summer. By that time our little baby will be nearing six months and I’m sure we’ll have her in the pool (and maybe even a dip in the ocean) wherever we go. So I was happy to read and share these tips about swimming with babies provided to me by www.zoggs.com!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and its client.

Yesterday night I invited my mom over to enjoy a new show on NickMom called Instant Mom with actress Tia Mowry-Hardrict. The kids always go to bed around 8:00 p.m. and I’m left with a couple hours of “me” time. Um, is this girl drop dead gorgeous or what?

You know how I was in an amazing show called Listen to Your Mother? Well, the video of me reading my story is up (has been for months actually, oops). I meant to post it right away but you know, it’s kind of strange watching yourself read something to 250 people. But some of my readers asked to see it so I thought I would put it up in case you want to watch it.

As I said before, we were able to find out very early whether we are having a boy or a girl. First and foremost the test showed that we have a healthy baby baking away in there! That is really the most important thing of all so I was happy to hear that and very relieved. And then we got to find out the BIG news!

Here is a video of the boys finding out! We put either pink slippers for a girl or sneakers for a boy and they opened the bag to find out! They were sooooooooo excited!

We all lined up waiting to walk out on stage. Fourteen of us. All beautiful in our own ways, inside and out. Then we started walking. I held my breath. I wasn’t really nervous. Just excited to finally share my story. One of my favorites I have ever written on this blog.

The Random Placement of People is something I wrote in 2010. Landon was two-years-old and Brigham was five-months-old. It was a challenging time in our lives, which is putting it lightly. Brigham was constantly sick and Landon, well, he was two. You catch my drift, mothers.

Today I’m excited to be over at The Happiest Mom sharing a more in-depth look at Landon’s birth. I’ve written his birth story but this goes into much more detail of how that most important day played out. It certainly wasn’t the birth I pictured but I am thankful every day that Landon is here with us, alive and healthy. His birth shaped who I am as a mother, that day and forever.

I’d like to welcome Erin to my blog today for a New Year Blog Swap! That’s right – we’re swapping blogs today so you can find me over at her place! I’m talking about one important goal I have this year. I hope you enjoy Erin’s post below.

I was so excited to see that Steph from http://agrandelife.net decided to host a New Years Blog Swap. What a great idea to write a post for someone else’s blog and have someone write for mine. I know some of my readers get tired of hearing my stories, so this is a wonderful way to hear someone else’s point of view.  I was glad to be partnered up with Molly from A Day in Mollywood. I had not discovered her blog yet and since we have been partnered up, I have found a new mommy blogger that I adore! I hope you, all of her readers, enjoy my post!

We missed apple picking season last year. So this year I made a vow that we would go early in the season before the trees were picked over. Lucky for us the super hot summer had the apples ripening already. When I saw that Alldredge Orchards was opening up two weeks early we hopped at the chance to go apple picking in August! We were there the first weekend right as the barn doors opened for business! A smiling farm woman greeted us as chickens clucked in the background.