I know I’ve talked about re-branding, changing the direction of my blog and having a whole new template, a couple times on my blog. I think I first brought it up about 3 months ago, in this post, On Starting a Business. However, here I sit with the same blog, across all areas. I’m not growing or changing, I’m just staying put. It’s a damn struggle, too!
On Being a Mommy Blogger
I love being a mom. It is the best job I’ve ever had, but I don’t have a passion for writing about it like I did when Emmett was first born. This is the reason that you’ve seen my post frequency getting less and less, I just don’t have the drive to write about it. Yes, I know, I’ve read the posts too, where you just need to force yourself to write and then the routine of it will create the drive. However, this is different. I am not avoiding writing altogether, I’m mentally avoiding writing about the topics that fit the niche of my blog. I just don’t have any interest in writing about them.… Continue Reading
Ever since I can remember, I loved playing house, and pretending I had all the babies. I loved holding them, and nuturing them. It was one of my favorite activities as a child (my other, was playing school, in case you were wondering). So when I found out I was pregnant with Emmett, I was more then excited, my life felt like it would finally have a purpose.
However, when Emmett was first born, things didn’t start out as I had envisioned. I went through some serious Postpartum Depression. 🙁 (More details on this linked at the bottom of the post) Looking back, I wish I had asked for help… I knew I was struggling, I just did nothing to fix myself. So, he and I didn’t get off to the best of starts – I cared for him, breastfed him, did everything I could to keep him safe, but it took a few weeks for the deep love I feel for him now to bloom and blossom.
Anyway, the reason that I mention all of this is because I have now realized how fleeting time with him, this little, is. So, I decided to write a post, with 35 things I never want to forget about Emmett.
35 Things I Never Want to Forget About Toddler Emmett
The way you will stop what you’re doing, to look up at me and say, “I love you SOOO much, momma!” It makes my heart melt every single time.
The way you and I can just look at each other, and start giggling over nothing at all.
The way you curl up close when you’re watching TV.
The way you will lay down with your head on my lap, when you’re tired after school.
The way you look in your winter hats.
The way you look back at me from the back seat of the car. You have a half smile on your face, and a half, “stop looking at me mommy” face.
The way you run to me when I pick you up from day care.
The way you get so sad when I leave the room for even just a few minutes. (Going potty alone? No way!)
The way you hug. You give the tightest, strongest hugs, and they feel so good.
The way just seeing you can wipe a full stressful day right out of my mind.
The way you need to bring a hot wheels car with you almost everywhere we go.
The way you suck on your binkie. I know we’ll need to get you to give it up soon, but you look so sweet when you have it.
The way you always need to have “green nigh-nigh” with you at all times.
The way you want to help and truly interested in everything that I’m doing.
The way you just *need* to wiggle your dupa (butt) before you get into the tubby each night.
The way you forgive. If I snap at you because I’m stressed, and you’re getting into things – a simple apology from me and a hug, makes it all go away.
The way you explore with all of your food. It makes a mess, and can be frustrating, but I never want to forget what it’s like.
The way you mimic me in movements, and sometimes in words (though, I hope you leave the swear words out of it). lol
The way you love your day care teachers. You hug them each morning, I love that you are so happy there!
The way you run to me when you get scared and need comfort.
The way you’ll reach for my hand when you’re walking or going downstairs. I love how fully you trust me!
The way you love your daddy. As much as you love me, you love your father, too. You always want to do things with him, build lego buildings, or help him cook. It warms my heart to see the bond you two have.
The way you look when you’re sleeping – All curled up in your blankets.
The way you love building a “house” out of your blankets and your crib.
The way you are curious about everything.
The way we have to read 4 bed time stories each night.
The way you love stickers. Every time you get new ones, you have to use them all, and stick them all to yourself (or mommy). 🙂
The way you were fearful of the snow at the beginning of winter 2014.
The way you NEVER give-up. You will keep trying over and over again, even if it isn’t working or you can’t figure something out.
The way you need to lay your “green nigh night” on everything – your stool, the table, your little desk, everything.
The way you count. You can get to 20 pretty well, and only stumble if you’re not really paying attention.
The way you know that green means go and read means stop with a traffic light, and will direct me when to go or stop.
The way you were so in love with our Christmas tree, and when we took it to the street, watched for it everyday, until the garbage men took it away.
The way you always want a bite of what I’m eating (doesn’t matter what it is).
The way when you get in trouble at dinner, for playing with your food, or spitting out milk, you start singing this, Mommy and Daddy and Emmett song you made up. It’s adorable, and you have a dance!
He’s the best! Every single thing he does, even when he’s getting into trouble amazes me. I had NO idea how much I could love someone, until I had Emmett. I’m sad that he won’t stay little forever (he’s so much fun right now), but I am so excited to experience life with him.
Looking for a quick, easy and FREE way to get your news? Check-out theSkimm and sign-up for your daily email box delivery of the world’s news, plus if you share your birthday, you get it listed at the bottom of the newsletter on your day. It’s like celebrating with thousands of people!!!!
I’ve mentioned before that I am taking, and fully invested in the Everyday Happy e-course, and in one of our recent classes we were asked to stand in front of a mirror for 10-15 minutes and just look at ourselves. The purpose is to just look, take in our face, body or even things about ourselves that can’t be seen, but while doing all of this, our goal is to keep our personal criticism quiet. When I saw this on the agenda that day, I was both nervous and excited. I know how critical I am of myself in all things, but I was also excited to challenge myself, to see if I really could stand there and stare at myself without judging.
I apologize for the low picture quality, I did my exercise in my room where the lighting is very dim.
I set the timer on my phone for 10 minutes and I stood in front of the mirror. My immediate first thoughts were, how am I going to get through 10 minutes of this without thinking one negative thought. All I could see was every single flaw that I have and I couldn’t get my mind away from it. First my mind jumped to the outward flaws that I saw and then as I fought those off, I jumped into what I think I do wrong as a person.
I kept briefly looking down at the timer and the minutes were ever so slowly ticking away and my mind was still trying to jump to the negative. I was fighting it, every time I’d criticize something, I would stop myself mid-thought and try to come up with something positive. That was hard, so so hard. I’m sure for some of you, this may seem silly but I have always had a very low self-esteem and just looking at myself felt like pure torture in the beginning.
The next time I looked at the timer, 5 minutes had past and my negative thoughts had turned somewhat positive and I was beginning to note things that I did like about myself. Things like my hair, and how I frequently have good hair days or the arch of my eyebrows (which are personally done by me). These were ideas that I normally just pushed aside and allowed the critical comments, fill the empty space in my head. It felt good to finally see some positive features in myself.
Then, I even started thinking about positive attributes about myself. The way I care so deeply for people and how I’m always willing to do everything in my power for a friend in need. Or, how about the fact that my body grew a little human and now I’m raising that little human (with Seamus’ help) to be a thoughtful, caring but strong man? All these things came flooding in around the 3 minutes left mark, it felt good, empowering!
I won’t lie, I still had to wrestle pretty hard with those negative, self-doubt comments that were running through my head, but it was so much easier to see the positive once I’d been looking at myself for awhile. I was so surprised, that what I had originally destined (in my head) to be a completely unfavorable activity, turned into something positive. Something I actually got something out of.
Will I spend time doing self reflections in the future?
Yes, I think I probably will. Maybe I won’t sit in front of a mirror, maybe I’ll just take ten minutes whenever I can get them and try to review the uplifting things about myself, instead of the cynical pessimistic side.
And just because I adore him so SO much…
Your turn!
Have you ever spent 10 minutes just staring at yourself in the mirror? If so, what were your results, share them in the comments below?
If you’ve never done it, I challenge you to take 10 minutes today do some self-reflections exercises.
This has been a tough week! My brain is mush and I don’t think I have the brainpower to write a full post, so instead I’ll share the pictures I mentioned last week. My father-in-law took these and I’m excited to share them with all of you!
Check out these beautiful pictures, my father-in-law has some amazing talent!
I love these with the Buffalo Bisons‘ baseball hat!! My brother and his girlfriend got that for Emmett, he looks like such a stud!
The dads and their babies.
Grandma and Emmett
Is there a single face that he makes, that isn’t purely adorable!?
And of course, a picture of my father-in-law’s baby, Seamus. 😉
In case you’ve forgotten, I still have a giveaway going on! Check it out, here.
We celebrated Emmett’s first birthday party Saturday!
Let me start off by saying that I am not a party planner, never have been, never will be, but I think the party turned out pretty decent. If it weren’t for my mother asking my probing questions about whether I was buying this or that, or whether we’d be serving one food or another, the whole thing would have been a disaster… So, if you’re reading this, THANKS mom !
My parents live about an hour away from us and the party was scheduled to start around 1, because my parents were just hosting the party, not throwing it, Seamus and I needed to get down there early to put it all together. We got down there around 9 and spent a little time just hanging out and visiting with my mom and then we went right to work. My mom had rented a tent and some tables, which required us to set up the tables and chairs, and decorate.
We went with a monkey theme, our thought was that his entire first year of life has been monopolized by monkeys, why would his first birthday party not include them too. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime, seriously! Remember how in the first paragraph I said I wasn’t much of a party planner? I wasn’t kidding! I waited till pretty much the last minute to do everything, but we found these super cute monkey decorations (see below) that had a matching banner, plates, napkins, tablecloths, etc. We didn’t buy all of that, just the hanging decorations, the banner and some cake plates (of which I only bought a pack of 8, for a party of approximately 15). So, yeah, don’t hire me to plan your next party. Ha!
Once the tables and chairs were set up, cleaned and then covered, I had a half hour to sit and chat with my sister. I hadn’t seen her since late May and we had so much to catch up on. I had missed her!
The whole day was a bit of a whirlwind for me because I feel like I was talking to Bridget and then, boom guests were arriving, then food was being served, then presents, cake and clean-up.
Emmett was especially adorable the entire day, thanks to a nap on the ride down and then one at grandma’s house. He was smiley and giggly and was okay with anyone holding him, I think he knew it was a special day.
Emmett also got to play with his cousin for the first time. This meant there were two adorable babies in one location, just take a look and you’ll see what I mean.
This my absolute favorite picture from the day! This was Emmett’s present from his Uncle John and Allison, a Buffalo Bisons hat.
We have a tradition in my family where we put a half dollar, a rosary and a shot glass, in front of the baby turning a year old. The first one they choose is supposed to speak to their future and what direction they’ll head in (it’s all just superstition but it’s fun). The rosary is obviously for religion, shot glass is for drinking and the half dollar is for money. My boy chose the half dollar! Woohoo! He’ll be able to take care of momma and daddy in old age. 😉
And then cake!
We made him his own cake in hopes of a cake smash. No such luck, he just daintily picked at the peanut butter mousse, and then rubbed it all over himself and his hair. We took a splash in grandma’s baby pool after cake.
There are so many more pictures! I’ll try share some periodically throughout the next few posts I make and also on the Baby Doodah! Facebook page.
Question of the day:
How did you celebrate your child’s first birthday?
We had a lot of weekend fun in the Baby Doodah! household this weekend. It was one of those weekends that we’ll all look back on and think, “remember that weekend when…”
Almost every Saturday, after the morning has passed me by, I regret not getting out of bed sooner and getting the day started. I mean, I get out of bed early for work, why wouldn’t I want to get up early so that I can enjoy the day the way that I want to. This Saturday (and Sunday, but we’ll get to that in a second), I did exactly that.
I had a really hard time wrangling myself in from buying all the fruit at the farmer’s market. It all looked so so good, bright, colorful and delicious (I wish I had gotten pictures, bad blogger!). We ended up with plums, peaches, cherries, garlic and dill chevre (from my favorite dairy, First Light Farm & Creamery) and fresh garlic and herb sausage. The plums and peaches are out of this world and you all know how I feel about First Light and their products.
The rest of the afternoon was spent napping, playing and cuddling until dinner time. We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner because Seamus was in the mood for beef and I really didn’t care where we went. Sadly, the meal was pretty disappointing on all fronts. Seamus’ steak was bland, Emmett wasn’t a fan of his mashed potatoes and my salad was nothing fancy (it tasted decent though).
After dinner we spent some time at Party City shopping for party decorations! Emmett’s first birthday party is this coming Saturday, I can’t wait! I’ll share his theme and everything else birthday party related after the party happens. 😉
I worked hard to keep the same attitude about getting up early, as I did on Saturday and it worked. We did spend some time in bed cuddling but not quite as long as normal. Emmett ate breakfast and I showered and we both headed to Wegmans for some groceries. It was one of the most pleasant shopping experiences I’ve ever had. There weren’t many people there and all of the shelves were full and neat. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making this a Sunday morning ritual!
Once home, we unpacked the groceries and let Emmett roam free while we did. He started to act tired so I attempted to put him down for his late morning/early afternoon nap, but it didn’t work. He fought it and started throwing a tantrum so I decided to can the idea, at least for now. Instead, I grabbed Seamus and we started cleaning up our dining room.
Emmett helping momma sweep.
We have decided that we want to turn the dining room into a playroom for Emmett, that way he will have a place where all of his toys can live (I will kind of get my living room back) and it will be a safe place for him to play. At the time we were just using it to store boxes and items that hadn’t yet made it to the basement, but the cleaning needed to be done. I don’t think there are many people who enjoy cleaning or organizing but we sucked it up and went to work. Within about an hour everything was stored and the room was swept, perfect for playing (or rearranging furniture).
Emmett started showing his fatigue again by getting mad at everything, so I knew it was imperative that he get his little bootie to sleep. With just a few snuggles and a bunch of hugs, he fell fast asleep for nearly 3 hours. Woohoo!! Free momma time! I actually used that time to make some updates to the blog, I added some new widgets and plug-ins, so if things are looking different to you, you’re not crazy, a few things have changed.
He woke up in a fantastic mood, which is always a wonderful thing. We got him up and changed and ready to play some more. Seamus and I both wanted to get out of the house but didn’t want to spend a lot of money, we decided a trip to Anderson’s would be perfect. Seriously, could my day get any better!? I wasn’t in the mood for any big ice cream dish so I settled on a vanilla milkshake and it really hit the spot.
A few weeks ago I had purchased Emmett a baby pool but had yet to fill it up, I decided since the day had been so perfect so far, I’d do it before we left for ice cream. Seamus stayed in to make us dinner (I am so lucky!), while E and I went out to play. At first he wasn’t happy about it but once he got used to the water he kept splashing and chasing his toys. I had so much fun watching him and got a great video of him being simply adorable.
I couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful, perfect, special, lovely day!
