anxious

I have committed this verse to memory so I can repeat it throughout my days.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

my best advice

Everyone is full of advice. I love asking other mom's for advice on stages that we are working through. I love talking to other mom's about how we worked through different stages. Once you have been there it is as if you have CONQUERED something grand.





What diapers do I buy? Am I the only one that feels as if my body is no longer my own? How do you give a baby non-pureed food without killing him? Your kiddo eats cauliflower, how did you do that? Will it work on my husband? Can you teach a crawler 'no'? Your baby sleeps, I want that?! How the heck do I expect a 1 year old to sit in time out when he basically doesn't sit down all day? And on and on and on.





What I didn't account for was the fact that I needed a psychology degree in order to raise a toddler. Hopefully my business degrees and some creative thinking from Corey and I will do.





In my 21 months of mothering, I am by no means an expert. I have done things that I wouldn't do next time. I have done things that worked, but probably won't work next time. I will gladly talk with you about introducing food (most of my ideas I stole from my friend Angela), breast feeding, sign language, diapers, sippy cups, sleeping, saving money on baby gear, or just about anything else. But keep in mind that God has this thing called a sense of humor. There are no easy steps to conquer a stage every time. And there is an above average chance that what worked for me, won't work for you. Gotta love that!





So here is the real advice:





Think Positive - Find something positive to appreciate about every stage. The truth is that that stage will pass, and no matter how icky it is, it is nice to have something to cling to that will make you smile. I remember we had some REALLY rough months in the beginning with Lawrence and a friend gave me this advice. Some sleepless nights the only thing I could cling to was that I got to cuddle with my baby and there would be a day that that wouldn't happen.





Parenting Personality - You and your spouse will find that you have a "parenting personality". What do you both need in order to have a fun, peaceful, and healthy home? There are things that are important to us and that work for our home because of our personalities, and guess what, they are going to be different than others. For example, we like to keep things fairly structured and routine. I am happiest this way and (in my opinion) Lawrence is most predictable in this environment. Of course things are adjusted here and there because that's life. But there are other people that this type of order would make them crazy. And their type of chaos would make me crazy! My advice is to find one or two other couples that have a similar "parenting personality" and focus your questions to those couples. There is a greater chance that their ideas will work in your home. And not that the others are wrong or bad, it's just not gonna fly for you! P.S. Embrace your parenting style and love it - don't feel bad or feel like you should be different because others are.





Insanity - There have been times (especially in the beginning when we were sleep deprived) that things obviously weren't working, we were struggling, we kept trying... And then I reminded myself that the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. We were literally going insaine. It is so much harder to stop and rethink what you are doing and try new tactics when you aren't happy with the results you are getting. It usually took Corey throwing out ideas. It is hard to change things up, but if it isn't working anyway then what is there to lose?





Breastfeeding - Ugh. There is nothing natural about this "all natural" way to feed baby. I by no means nailed it. But I worked really hard and was successful. My advice - set (shorter) goals along the way and when you reach them, reevaluate. Find an expert to talk to and don't be afraid to ask dumb questions. And if you have low milk supply - I'm your girl to talk to (it doesn't mean you can't BF).





Shower - Find a time during your daily routine to take a shower. Easier said than done in the beginning! I have done different things at different ages - bouncer in the bathroom, pack and play in the bedroom, naptime, and early morning.





Be Still - As I write I am reminded of a blog post that I wrote while Lawrence was an infant - http://abbybev.blogspot.com/2010/06/lessons-from-seven-pounder.html





I don't know if I should cry or laugh after re-reading that! Yes, it is okay to be still. For one day it won't be an option :)








Today - Thank God for challenging you; whether as a mother or elsewhere.

Happy Hearts Day!

Today will be a simple and special day of love. We will grill steaks tonight. I will make a special cake. Little man humored me by wearing the t-shirt that I made for him. Tell me that he is not a ladies man...

In fact, he got asked out on his first date the other day in Sam's. And it was even by an older lady. He was very polite as he declined.

We even made a special card for dad. Totally "inspired" by Pinterest - meaning I stole the idea, changed it a bit, and made it in my own home so it is legal.

Corey and I also got a babysitter for Thursday night and are going out to dinner. I'm pretty excited for a big kid meal. We are going to Chester's. Ooooooooo. Since we have a gift card. We haven't been there since we were dating. I remember flying in from Denver and we went straight to Chester's from the airport, still in our work clothes. It is quite the treat!

Show someone you love how important they are to you. Life is short.

cReAtIve JuIcEs: baby scrapbook

I have recently completed a scrapbook for our soon to be niece. Corey's sister, Kamie, is not the creative scrapbooky type... so when her first child was born I made him a scrapbook because otherwise the kid wouldn't have one. With number two on the way I wanted to do the same thing. I know what it's like to be the second child and all of a sudden the camera is broken your entire childhood! Or in Kamie's case her baby book has her name and date of birth -- that's it :)

I adapted (the blog term for 'I made a few changes, but really stole this) idea from my dear friend Angela who was so sweet to do this for me! Don't worry, I had copyright permission.

The first page of the book will be the baby's name, a picture, and a stats page (that includes length, weight, eye color, hair, doctor, hospital). Kamie has the stats page and will take it to the hospital with her so the nurses can stamp the baby's footprints on it also.

Then I have an a double page spread for pictures and a double page spread that has a verse and pouch (for hospital bands, etc).

From there I have a layout for each month - February 2012 that she is born through her birthday in February 2013. Each of these pages has a calendar on it so mom can record milestones like when the baby rolled over and when she moves up to sleeping 3 hours at a time.

I have Lawrence's book from his first year and it is humerous to look back at the torture we went through in the first months. Whenever I start to forget how hard the baby stage is, I just pull it out and remind myself of how long it actually was before I got 6 hours of sleep at one time.

These are a few of my favorite layouts. I found that having the layouts already created for me made the task of doing Lawrence's baby book so much less overwhelming. I made my pictures fit with the layout and it looks great. If I would have had to kick in my creative mind, have the time, and do the work then it likely wouldn't be done yet.

I don't know why it rotated my pictures.

I had so much fun getting to use girly stuff like flowers and ribbons!

Of course some face time for the big brother.

I had so much fun making this for Kamie! And I love that it is something that she wouldn't do herself.