Late Mother’s Day post

Before I tell you what I got for Mother’s Day, I wanted to share the long awaited first bloom of one of my baby shower gifts. My best long time friend from my childhood sent us Daniel’s birthday (January) flower. A (insert specific name here) carnation. It was a just three small little plants when we received them in the mail. We planted them in October (maybe before?) and they have gotten SO BIG, and have finally bloomed their first flower. They are really beautiful and I cannot wait until the all three are in full bloom! Thank You Lindsey for such a sweet, thoughtful gift for us.

 

Speaking of flowers, Dennis took me to Pine Ridge Nursery and let me pick out any rose bush that I wanted. I picked out a yellow Knockout, and we will plant it at the corner of our deck this Sunday. They stayed bloomed a huge portion of the year.

The only thing I am fearing is lil’ Daniel outside wanting to pick some flowers for his beautiful mom, and getting his little fingers pricked! :(

Oh, well, what else will I have to do at that moment than to kiss his little tears goodbye!

Lunch with my ‘sisters’

 

Jessica, Chelsie, and I got together for a late lunch (and dessert) to celebrate some fun things happening in our lives. Jessica just got married!! Chelsie is so brave and moving to CHINA for a year to teach, and of course, I celebrated the arrival of Daniel, 4 months later.

If you are unsure who these girls are, they are from my group of teachers that I was with while going to Radford. They are like ‘sorority sisters’ if you will, only, we were not actually a sorority, but a co-hort. There was a pretty large group of us. One of our other ‘sisters’ is getting ready to have a baby next week. I hope to take pictures of this new little one Kazia has waited so long for.

Peeking In….

I am up at 1:30 a.m. because I have the worst headache I have ever had, well, at least in a very long time. I laid awake in bed beside Dennis listening to him breathe, while watching an episode or 5 of Roseanne on my iPod until the battery died.

Still painfully awake, I got up and I walked in Daniels room.

Watching him sleep, I was brought to tears. I remember what my life was like one year ago. Without a child. With no real hope of one, and surely no promise of one. At this point, last May, I still had no idea that I was going to be a mother even though our little Daniel was being made deep within, in secret, even without my knowledge. I feared that I would live a life without the experience of carrying a baby in my womb, feeling him/her kick, having the infamous heartburn, getting huge, and eventually experiencing the most painful ordeal that I have yet to encounter, feeling labor pains, and then the pushing out the most precious baby boy I have her laid eyes on.

And yet, one year later, I stand over him, with his eyes closed, unaware of my presence, and I silently and tearfully praise God for this blessing in my life. Motherhood is something I have LONGED for from the deepest part of me for years. And, every day, I get to wake up, and nurse a small baby, cuddle him, love him, sing to him, rock him, shhhsh him, change him, and LOVE him all day long. I am cherishing every single day. I find myself at times rushing his milestones. . “Just sleep through the night..” I think to myself. And then, when he does sleep through one night on a rare occasion, with no real pattern, I find that I missed our sweet time together and wished that I had not wished it away.  One day, we will be busy. He will play, go on play dates, have over nights with friends, do this, do that, etc. And that will be just fine. . . . but…..

right now, while the world spins, and life goes on, I am home. Rocking my baby. And I would not trade that for anything in the world.

16 weeks

 

We think he is worth keeping for awhile.

He made me a mom…

I was able to enjoy my two best guys ALL DAY today. Dennis treated me to a wonderful day. The only thing I didn’t include was my gift, and I will include that when it is ready for pictures.

We went to Famous A’s for breakfast. It was yummy.

then, he took me to get my gift, which I will talk about later.

THEN……… he took me downtown to the Strawberry Festival for a delicious strawberry shortcake.

and for the first time…………………

or BABY boy rode in his stroller WITHOUT the car seat attached up top. SNIFFLE. SNIFFLE.

We walked and stopped to listen to some music and watch all of the people……….

and there were PLENTY of people to watch.

But there was only ONE sweet face that I loved to watch the mostest, and can you guess who he is?!?!?

Yep, you guessed right.

I attempted some pictures of us as a family.

First up,

Daddy & Dennis (Daniel is in the middle of talking to Dennis)

Mommy & Daniel

and then some more attempts…

LOVE the drool!

but I loved the shortcake even more!

We tried to get us THREE in there…………….. but we didn’t quite

get ALL three of us in there. Just a half of #3!

After all of that fun was over, we ended up somehow in Bedford, and it was perfectly timed for dinner.

My Mother’s Day dinner was one of the best Ribeye’s I have ever had, and a baked potato. My favorite meal. (If I ever got the death penalty for anything, I have already decided what my ‘last meal’ would be, and that is it! but let’s hope that does not happen)

………and then more riding……………

Daniel snuck in a nap……….

and we went to Danny & Debbi's house to say hello before heading home.

It was a WONDERFUL day. I am looking forward to sharing my gift with you tomorrow!

Megan’s Senior Photos

 

Making a Plan….

Being a stay at home wife is hard work. It is not an easy job, but it is the most joyful work I have ever been apart of. The truth is, this is my dream. I once walked into a house of a mom with twin girls. Her house was a disaster, her laundry was piled high in more than a few baskets, her dishes were stacked in her sink, and toys (from her oldest child) was all over the place. I envied this woman. I wanted to be her. I wished that apartment was MY mess.

Well,

I have my own share of mess. I cannot say that my house has looked in such desperation as this apartment I am speaking of, BUT, the mess I envied that day is not like the same type of envy I have now. I would give a lot of money to avoid our share of it.

Having a new baby at home,

Yes, this one. . . . leaves me with a desire to cuddle, play, sing, read and well, nap, with him. So, once that is all done, I look around and realize it’s dinner time, and I have not gotten much accomplished in the realm of house keeping.

So, I made a schedule. And just in case there any moms like me out there, this may help you get a thing or two done. Or at least the awareness that something  needs to be done today and you are aware of it before the day is over. I will no more say: “I could have swept today” or “I should have washed the bed sheets, today.”

Monday-

• Do ALL laundry. Wash, dry, fold and put away.
• Clip coupons/find coupons and start a grocery list

Tuesday-

• Iron any clothes that need it
• dust every room in the house
• wash sheets and towels/washcloths, etc.
• gather all trash and replace with clean bags

Wednesday-

• Office work: photography editing, emailing, bill paying, budgeting, etc.
• Vacuum, sweep and mop all floors in the house.

Thursday-

• Clean ALL bathrooms.
• Organize and straighten up any clutter or disorganization in house. (mail, clothes piles, shoes, etc)

Friday-

• Deep clean kitchen
• sweep all floors & final touches for a work free weekend.

This allows me a blue print of the day, a fair share of guilt if it does not happen, and an incentive to be guilt-free Saturday and Sunday to solely do what I want to do. Even if it is to just read and play with my lil guy.