Nap Time

Jackson is 14 months old, so he still takes 2 two hour naps a day. My little monkey is an avid climber and constantly curious about the world around him, so he is very ready for sleep come nap time.  

Since weaning him, occasionally I miss those sweet, still moments that nursing brought. Those moments where I'm simply sitting or rocking my baby boy while he snuggles close and nurses.  Now that he is past the phase of nursing, life has changed dramatically as I see less and less of my baby boy, and more and more of an adorable active toddler.  I love the new discoveries that accompany each day for him. He's such a little sponge and so quick to investigate all things new.  But those moments where I'm NOT multi-tasking, planning dinner, running errands, cleaning the house, or working on church work, while simultaneously playing and caring for my little man are fewer and farther apart. 

That is, until nap time. 

Josh and I have never practiced a "self soothing" method of parenting with Jackson. I've never understood that idea well. Because, whenever I, myself are upset about something or have had a bad day, I do not self soothe. I talk about it with Josh or get on the phone with my mother-in-law. I'm 27 and still find myself reaching for people I love when needing comforting.  So teaching my infant to self soothe never seemed to make much sense to me.  So our nap time routine with Jackson has never been the typical "lay the baby down awake." Jackson is a passionate child. That would never fly with him. lol.  Instead, when nap time arrives, I take him to his room and turn on his rain noise maker and projector light that casts shapes and characters on his ceiling. I lay down with him in his twin bed and we watch the shapes float and change across the ceiling.  He snuggles close to me as he twirls my hair, sucks his pacifier, and I watch his eyes begin to close.  In the space of 10 minutes, my little man is soundly sleeping. I watch his little chest rise slower and quieter as his breathing adjusts to deep sleep. His little eyes begin to flutter as dreams fill his head. His sweet little hand that held an iron like grip on my hair as he twirled it, loosens and lets go.  I look at my little man and I don't see the independent active toddler anymore. I see my baby boy that needed his mama to snuggle to sleep. In that moment, I'm not multi-tasking, planning dinner, running errands, cleaning the house, or working on church work. In that moment, I'm simply a mama. No tasks. No distractions. Just peace and awe at the gift I've been given. 

I breathe a prayer of gratitude that my boy feels safe, loved, comforted. And I slip out of his room while he continues to sleep. I  step back into the busyness of tasks and put all my hats back on as I tackle whatever projects are needed to be accomplished for the day. 

But for just a moment, twice a day, during nap time; I'm simply mama.  :-)

We're having a.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This time last year....

This time last year, I was 6 days past my due date, excitedly waiting for my little man to make his appearance.  I had no clue I'd be waiting 5 days longer to hold my sweet son.  The moment he was born is so permanently and beautifully etched in my mind, it was the most magical moment of my entire life.  Jackson is turning 1yr in 5 days! Its hard to believe this 1st year has gone so quickly.  Some days I miss his newborn snuggles so much! But this new season of him walking, climbing, playing peekaboo,  chasing the dogs, and hearing the words Mama and Dada fill our days with such joy.  I can't believe my little baby is swiftly leaving babyhood, but the adventure each day brings makes me so excited to watch him grow up.

Sometimes I'm still so much in awe that I'm a mama.  We wanted Jackson for so long, but aside from the 13 months it took trying to get pregnant with him, I feel like my whole life prior was steps leading me to this very season. Since I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a wife and mother.  I was the child, playing with dolls, creating barbie families, and constantly babysitting.  I dreamed of my own family someday often, and I'm thankful that the reality of those dreams is even better than I had imagined.

This time last year, I was waiting to meet my son.  Today, as he approaches his 1st birthday, I find myself playing the waiting game again.  In less than 2 weeks we'll be finding out what the gender of our bouncing baby #2.  Baby#2 is already such a real part of the family to Josh and I, but once finding out the gender, baby#2 will take on a name, James or Nora, little brother or little sister, son or daughter. The anticipation of planning Jackson's birthday party and also waiting to find out gender has had me giddy with excitement for weeks.  August is such a milestone for our family this year! :-)

Dear Jackson, 

My sweet boy! We made it through your 1st year! How did it fly by so fast? I remember the 1st time I saw your face, the 1st time we heard you laugh, the 1st time you reached for me, and the 1st time you said Mama, so vividly. You've added a beauty to my life this past year, that I can hardly remember living without. Since the day we found out we were expecting you, you've been your own little man.  You have learned new things and entered new stages at your own pace- lighting fast! You live each day 100%.  Daddy and I are so proud of you and can't wait to see where your passion and determination takes you.  Jesus loves you even more than Daddy and I do, and I'm so thankful to get to watch you grow and see the path God has for you. Right now, you're our little musician in the making! You love music and all instruments.  During worship practice at church, you're typically up on the stage playing with the drums. You soak up everything Daddy shows you and you're quick to want to try it.  Your belly laughs are my favorite.  Your slobbery baby kisses are the best.  Your sweet little hugs melt my heart.  You're my little man, and I love you to the moon and back. 

Happy Birthday Baby, 
Mama

Grace Baby

                                                         Grace Baby #2   10 weeks 6 days

Yesterday we had our 1st ultrasound of our bouncing baby #2! Watching the baby play with its fingers and hear the strong heartbeat are always the best days of pregnancy for Josh and I. Ultrasound days definitely make the rough parts of pregnancy so very worth it.

This pregnancy is very different from my first one with Jackson. I have had morning sickness, but its been no where near as excessive as it was with Jackson. I've not battled getting dehydrated this time which as been a welcome change.  I still feel pretty icky, VERY lightheaded and tired. But I'm thankful its much better than before. Honestly, pregnancy is definitely not easy for me. I don't enjoy it very much, but I LOVE expecting a baby.  Knowing that our family is growing and thriving, that I'm carrying a little life, its an experience like no other and I'm so very thankful for it. 9 months really does go by incredibly fast and before I know it, we'll be introducing Jackson to his new sibling. I really can't wait! We're hoping for 4 children, I told Josh I'd love a set of twins in the mix. A two for one deal sounds great, lol. Guess we'll see how it all happens.  Parenthood has been a wonderful experience. Jackson brings so much joy to both Josh and I. We've loved watching him discover new things and experiences. His little giggle flips my heart every time and even though he's 10 months old, I find myself watching him while he sleeps and I'm still in awe he's here and ours. I can't wait to begin the adventure all over come January when our next little one makes his or her appearance.

This past month we took Jackson to Disney World for the 1st time. It was such a fun day. It was a completely different experience watching it all through his eyes. During one of the parade's the crowd was encouraged to join in, and Jackson, on Josh's shoulders, got to dance with Woody in the parade. Toy Story is his favorite movie so it was really neat that's the character that paid attention to him. I stayed a few steps back as I was video taping it and I ended up tearing up. Watching Jackson laugh and have so much fun, brought such a fullness to my heart that I couldn't help the few tears. I'm sure pregnancy hormones had a bit to do with it as well, lol.  But seeing the day through Jackson's eyes, watching his amazement and delight in everything, it made me so very grateful. This season of walking in the dreams Josh and I always hoped for, is such a surreal and amazing season. I'm constantly in awe of God's design and so very thankful for the paths he's laid out. I can't wait for baby #2 to be here and watch our little family of four grow! :-)

And then there were 4...coming January 2015!

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!

Words don't do justice how excited we are to be expecting our 2nd child! The step into parenthood has been amazing and we're super thankful to get the chance to add to our family.  Jackson is 9 months old and so there will be about a 17 month gap between him and his new sibling.  And so far, I'm NOT sick! Only had one afternoon of morning sickness and felt great ever since. After being horribly sick the entire pregnancy last time, I was a bit wary it might happen again, but so far so good. :-) I am SUPER emotional though this time, lol. Jackson's favorite movies are the toy story movies and even those make me teary, lol. I'm a mess at hallmark commericals, and even teared up hearing a few stories on shark tank, lol. Not sad at all, just intense emotions. So that's pretty different. Didn't have that at all last time. Josh is convinced its a girl this time, we'll see :-)

Yesterday marked our 4th year of marriage and no better way to celebrate than by becoming a family of 4! :-)

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"... "It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

"Winter" is almost over as April gets closer everyday. Our Florida winter has been terribly mild this year, full of weeks with Mondays in the 50's  followed by Friday's in the 70's.  Despite, the lack of winter we've had, I still can't help but get excited about spring time. Strawberries, sunny days, and lots and lots of flowers.  Spring time is always a pretty time in Florida. Fresh and new, before the oppressive heat sure to come with July and August.

This past month, Josh and I undertook a big challenge. In efforts to become less wasteful, more appreciative of what we have, and refocus ourselves and spending habits, we began a fiscal fast. For the entire 31 days of March, the only thing we would use our debit cards for was gas for the car.  No shopping at Target, no ordering on Amazon, no eating out, no impulsive last minute trips to the grocery store. In fact, no stepping foot inside Publix for the entire month.  Since 2011, we've been apart of an organic food co op and get weekly boxes of fresh produce. I found myself throwing away so much food gone bad each week due to poor planning and not getting used.  Grabbing a roasted chicken and potato salad from the grocery deli was so much simpler on crazy busy days when I hadn't planned or prepped dinner. The problem is, most of our days are crazy busy days, so this simple convenience quickly became a habit and we continued to waste both food and monetary resources.  Josh and I are blessed with the ability to not only purchase the items we need, but also the items we want. And our 7 month old son has more toys than his little bedroom can even hold. We found ourselves taking this luxury for granted. So we decided to do something about it. To radically change our focus and be the example we want for our child. We decided to do a 31 one day fiscal fast.

The prep for the fast wasn't very extravagant on purpose. I bought an extra box of diapers than I typically do and an extra gallon of the coconut milk we drink. Everything else was supposed to still fit inside my normal grocery budget that I hadn't been sticking too for months. Our produce is automatically deducted from our account each week so we would continue receiving fresh produce, but not going to the grocery store would force me to get back into the habit of relying on the fresh foods again. So clean eating was jumped back into with both feet.

We are 17 days into our fast, and honestly, it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be.  Its actually created positive pleasant results that we've enjoyed. 1st, our food has been planned, fresh, and energy giving. Our "spare" time has been more focused on quality family time since we haven't been out spending money on a distracting event. Family time has consisted on a lot of playtime with Jack in his bedroom, family walks around neighborhood, and even taking the dogs with us to the lake.  Its been wonderful. I find myself grateful we have more than what we need already. The lack of errands has freed up a bit of time in my weekly schedule which has allowed time for a few other projects I've needed to focus on.  We're also $200 ahead in our budget than we typically are at this point in the month.  We knew we'd save money during the fiscal fast and while its nice, it pales in comparison to the other positive changes we've seen. We've decided that its going to be something we do every March, in order to remind ourselves to stay focused on what's important and as a way to raise thankful kids. After our fast, going out to eat will be a 1x a month special event. More thought will go into frivolous spending and family time will remain slow paced, full of conversations and laughter.

Its been an great 17 days thus far, we'll see how the next 14 days go!  :-)

6 months! Where has my newborn gone? :-)

I can't believe that Jack is 6 months old! It still feels like it was last week that he was born. The memories of him kicking inside my belly, the first time I saw him, the first time I held him in my arms...all seem so fresh still. Its hard to believe that in another short 6 months he will be 1 years old.  Time is flying by!

Little Man is flying through his babyhood. At 2 months he started rolling over, at 3 months he started crawling, at 4 months toys became his joyful focus, at 5 months he realized he loved our dogs, at 6 months he crawls incredibly fast to every part of the house, gets into EVERYTHING, and is trying to walk.  WHERE did my newborn go? :-)  Its been so fun to watch him discover and try new things.  Trying new foods have been particularly fun.  We had decided to skip  jarred baby food puree's and rice cereal since Josh and I try to stay away from overly processed foods as we can in our normal day to day and we wanted to do the same with Jack.  So around 4 months when he started showing curiosity towards food we where eating, we decided to let him try a couple things using the "baby led solids approach".  Since he was trying foods earlier than I had originally planned, I bought a baby mesh feeder that I put pieces of whole banana or avocado in for him to try. The mesh feeder helped him hold it better and taught him to chew up the small bites he would get their the mesh.  He used that about a month before he learned how to grasp tiny objects so I started giving him small cubes of steamed fruits and veggies. He is a curious and enthusiastic eater. So far the only item he doesn't like his peaches. I gave him a slice of a peach and he didn't like it. But avocado and sweet potato's seem to be his favorites, with green beans running a close third. I'm still nursing him for his primary nutrition, but the addition of trying new foods has been a fun process for him so far.

This past month, we had his baby dedication at our church. Josh's dad performed the ceremony. It was sweet and made me so thankful for the family we have and the church family we have. Jack has a lot of people around him to speak life into him and its a precious gift I value greatly.

Last week we went on a week long vacation to Marianna to visit our family up there. Jack got to play with his cousins and loved it.  My nephew Carson is 3 and my niece Julia is 2. Spending time with all 3 of the kids together made me incredibly excited for the large family we hope to have. I loved watching the kids all play together and it made the trip such a joyful one. With all 3 kiddo's so close in age It was loud, busy, chaotic, and I loved every minute of it. We even took the kids to the park one morning and Jack got to play in the sand and swing on the swings for the first time. It was a refreshing week as we soaked up family time.

Besides delighting in our growing little boy, life has continued the same fast pace as we're working hard to get new programs and ministries started at our church this year. The friendships and community we've developed at Genesis Church are such precious relationships and I'm constantly impressed and humbled watching the commitment, determination, and love the people in our congregation show towards others. I'm so happy to be apart of it.