Life's Little Adventures

My title is a little dramatic, but since today is Daniel's first birthday, it's my theme. I found out I was pregnant on March 20, 2010.  I remember wondering if I would even make it through the pregnancy and deliver a healthy son or daughter.  After a few scares along the way, I delivered a bouncing baby boy on December 1, 2010.   Of course he had to make a dramatic entrance with low heart rate in a room full of strangers because Mommy was under anesthesia and they wouldn't let Daddy in the operating room. (We never do anything in a normal way, lol) The first night of his life, as Stephen slept, I sat awake and wondered how I would raise him for 18 years.  I couldn't even imagine one moment without him, but I was scared to death of what to do with him.  What if he got sick? What if he cried uncontrollably?  What if I didn't know what he wanted or how to take care of him?  Steve and I encountered each of these and guess what? We made it. We survived...

About two weeks ago, I got a little surprise.  I woke up when I could hear Daniel chattering on the baby monitor from his bedroom.  I went to his bedroom to find him standing up in his baby bed checking out everything in his room. When I turned on the light, he looked at me and said "Ma-ma!" with a big ole' smile.  My heart was so full!  He looked at me, recognized that it was me, and called for me! I phoned Steve immediately and told him that I'm sorry that I had won the "first word" category and it would be ok...he would say "Da-da" eventually.  I was very smug with this assumption.  I told everyone. Grandparents, friends, aunts, and uncles would all hear the story.  One proud "Ma-Ma" was me.  The very next day I was in the living room with D and Lucy (the cat) ran into the room.  He looked at her, smiled, reached out his hand to pet her, and said "Ma-Ma!"  I guess I was wrong.

As I put Daniel to bed for the night, my heart was heavy for another mother. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers - " EB"ing a Mommy ".  They also have a Facebook group, " Prayers for Tripp " that you should join.  Tripp is definitely an angel that needs our prayers. Tripp reminds me of the important things in life -  trusting in our Lord, loving those close to you, and living each day to it's fullest.  I think I'm going to go kiss my little guy goodnight again.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. - Ecclesiastes 3:1 Endings are always tough for me.  I have a hard time saying good-bye, and I find that it only gets harder and harder as I get older. As of yesterday, I'm now a stay-at-home mom.  I'm really excited about beginning this journey with Daniel. I will get to see all of his exciting milestones and I'll be the one in charge of raising him.  I will be the one who knows his routine and feeds him his lunch. I'll put him down for naps and plays with him during the day. I feel it's very empowering as a mother and I realize how blessed I am to have this opportunity.  As excited as I am, I'm also really nervous.  I've been part of the working world for 11 years now - it's part of who I am and my identity. What do people do during normal working hours?  Will I become a morning Wal-Mart shopper?  I'm ready for daytime trips to the library, park, and outside pl...

As a mother, I've found myself doing things I would have never thought I would do.  I'm regularly getting a boogie out of a nose, digging in an ear, smelling the booty area for a dirty diaper, etc.  The last one comes in handy sometimes.  The other morning I went to Daniel's bedroom at 7 am because I heard him on the monitor talking and singing to his mobile.  He is usually such a sweet baby in the morning and it's one of my favorite times with him.  We were playing with his toys and I decided to change his wet diaper while I had him distracted.  New diaper? Check.  Wipe? Check.  Cooperating son? Check.  This was going to be easy.  I decided to make a game of it with him.  I pulled off one diaper tab - he laughed.  I pulled off the second diaper tab - he laughed even harder.  With one swift move, I quickly pulled the diaper off of him completely.  It turns out that Daniel had a surprise that he obviously knew about wh...

So I'm thinking I should never go out of town again.   Since the concert, Daniel's sleep patterns have been so off.  Gone are the days of a little boy who goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up at 6:30, with a possible bottle break around 2:00 am.  Daniel wakes up with his dad every morning at 3:30 to play for hours. Sometimes he's just up for the day.  And I've tried to be a cry-it-out mom - I really did. The score was Daniel - 1, Mommy - 0. I didn't make it through one night.  I just decided to be one of those moms that walked around like a zombie for days while dreaming of a nap.  And then one magical morning, I woke up to a snoozing Daniel.  I thought worrying about sleepless nights was only a memory. Oh well...I love my little guy and if he wants to play really early in the morning, we'll play. My coffee pot is about to go into overdrive.

It's hard to believe that I just scheduled Daniel's 6 month photo session for Saturday.  That's right...he's now 6 months old, almost 7 months, actually.  At his latest checkup, he was 29 inches tall and weighed in at 24 pounds. I'm preparing for a future football player and dreading my grocery bill when he's 15.  Daniel is definitely a character.  Before I was a mom, I didn't realize how much I could love one human being and how much one little person could change my life (I also didn't realize I could survive on such little sleep).  He loves to wave at everyone, but only on his own terms. He's a terror to all of the animals when he's in his walker.  He's serious sometimes, and silly sometimes.  He watches TV and gets "TV face" just like his daddy, and riding on the 4 wheeler gets him so excited. An avid fan of food, he will grunt until you give him his next bite of sweet potatoes, peas, or whatever he is having for that ...