5 Things Friday - Mommy Advice

There are a lot of new moms in my life right now.  In honor of that I am going to give you all a little bit of mommy advice from what I have learned over the last 4 years:

1.  You are going to learn a lot about your own mom.  You are going to appreciate everything she ever did for you so much more now that you have somebody to do it all for on your own.  And you are going to see things in a whole new light.  I don't know about you, but I have always firmly believed that my mom knows the answer to any question that I might have.  And I'm sure my mom knows a lot, but I'm also sure she just wings it a lot of the time, and I'm ok with that!  I still call her before I make decisions and I still take whatever she tells me into major consideration.  You are going to look at anything your mom ever did that frustrated you or that you didn't understand WHY she would do that... and now it will all just kind of make sense.  And your mom is going to become a peer on top of your mom and on top of your child's grandma.  You and your mom now get to relate to things concerning being a mom... its fun!  

2.  You are going to fall madly in love - with your HUSBAND.  Yes, you will love the baby too and yes I am sure you already love your husband, that is why you married him.  But after you have your baby and you watch your husband take care of the baby and take care of you....  You will fall harder for him than you ever thought possible.  And it doesn't end after the initial shock wears off.  Its going to surprise you when you least expect it later on.  When you see certain moments between your husband and your child, moments that will seem so ordinary to anyone else, they will make you weak at the knees.  Enjoy it, its one of the best perks of being a mom.  A lot of the time you are the only one who will get to witness those amazing moments.  

3.  You are going to worry - a lot.  And I'm pretty convinced it isn't ever going to stop.  You start worrying about your baby when you are pregnant and then you just keep worrying.  I think the worries make us better people, also crazy people... but its all good.  Just know you aren't alone, we all feel the same way about our kids.  

4.  You are going to need your friends.  I know in the beginning its overwhelming.  Babies take up a lot of time and all the other time is spent catching up on chores and sleep.  But do your best to keep those friendships a priority.  You will need your friends that have kids to remind you that you aren't crazy and to help you out when you have random questions.  But you are also still going to need your friends without kids.  The ones that still go to the bars, the ones that still get to sleep in on the weekends.  Because they are the ones that remind you of who you once were.  And its ok that you have moved into a new phase of your life.  But every once in a while you are going to need a break from being mom and want to go out and have some fun and you need friends to do that with.  Its also really fun to live vicariously through their stories of what they have been up to!

5.  Your life is going to change... drastically.  I know it seems obvious, but you really have no idea.  Until you are a couple years in and you look back and think - wow, I can't believe that my life used to be like that.  I can't believe that I used to sleep/shop/relax/drink/______ all sorts of random things.  I have hopes... high hopes that someday Lyla will be all grown up and I will get back to doing all those things.  But who knows, by then I might not even miss them anymore.  

Heard Around the House #27

Scene:  Me at the Post Office

Me:  I also need two books of stamps.

Post Office Guy:  Would you like Flags or Flowers?

Me:  Flags are fine.

Post Office Guy:  Or I have Harry Potter.

Me: HARRY POTTER!!  Do they cost the same as normal stamps?

Post Office Guy: “laughing” Yes they do.

Me:  Well then I for sure want the Harry Potter ones!  What a fun surprise!  Now I won’t want to mail anything, I will want to keep them!

Post Office Guy: “smiling – seriously loving my Harry Potter enthusiasm”

 

Introducing Angela Joy

I was so excited to meet Angie, then I forgot to share some pictures of her!  Such a sweet little girl, we are all so blessed to have her here!  Becca is a very proud big sister and Lyla just adores her!  I'm sure those two will have all kinds of fun teaching her things as she gets older.

5 Things Friday - Happy New Year!

So its January 31^st…. its officially been 2014 for a month and I just realized I have not done ANY blog posts yet this year! 

I have my reasons.  For starters January is a horrible month.  Its depressing.  Its cold.  There isn’t anything fun going on or anything to look forward to.  Its hard to make any kind of plans because you never know what the weather is going to do.   Bottom line – January is incredibly boring.   But there are a few things we have done in the last month that are worth recapping.  I have only taken a few pictures the whole month, so if I have a picture to accompany my story I will add it!  Here we go:

1.  New Years Eve:

That afternoon we went to visit my friend Sammy and her family.  We wanted to see their new house and since we all have kids and Sammy is pregnant none of us were going out so we had a quiet evening in.  Sammy and I thought it was hilarious that we dressed our girls in the same shirts that day!  We stayed there until about 9:00 then we went home.  Lyla and I went to bed and Gary watched the ball drop on his own.  I told you – January just stinks.

 

2.  Burge Holiday Party:

Our party wasn’t so much of a “party” this year, I would call it more of a “get together”.  We still had a lot of fun though!  Amanda, Justin and Becca came down.  Ashley and Jeremy drove up.  And our neighbors came over.  I made some fun new appetizers.  We ate.  We drank.  We all had a nice night.

3.  Lyla’s First Movie:

Gary and I took Lyla to see her first movie at a movie theater.  We went to see Frozen.  It was fun.  Lyla was a perfect angel and just sat and took in the whole thing.  It was a cute movie, I think Gary liked it the most out of the 3 of us!  He is still talking about it!  He downloaded the soundtrack for Lyla (himself) so the two of them are constantly singing Frozen songs!

4.  Lyla’s First Slumber Party:

Lyla got to have her first friend sleepover.  Her and Becca are so cute together!  They really just adore each other.  I hope they stay friends for a very long time!  I camped out with the two of them in the living room.  They stayed up until 11:30 when they both got in trouble and FINALLY went to sleep, only to wake back up at 5:30 in the morning!  Oh well, we all survived and the girls had fun, that’s all that matters!

 

5.  Amanda Had Her Baby:

In a very bittersweet coincidence, Amanda went in to labor this past Sunday and gave birth to a healthy baby girl – Angela Joy.  Sunday was also the one year anniversary of losing Cassie.  Its very strange how the world works sometimes.  But we are all so happy that Angie is here now!  I have not got to meet her yet.  Lyla has, so I’m a bit jealous of that!  J  We are going to their house tonight to take them dinner and spend some time with the newest addition to their great family!

So those are the highlights – I’m going to just refuse to talk about the “polar vortex” that hung on for 2 weeks and I’m  not going to mention all the snow/ice/slush/crap crap crap all over the place outside.  And I wouldn’t dream of bringing up how terrified I am to get our gas bill……  

Happy 2014!

Christmas 2013

Why not do my Christmas post on New Years Eve?!?!  I feel like the last month has been a complete blur!   But here are some of the things that went on in December:

My mom gave us our stockings that have always stayed at her house to have at our houses this year.  They are so special to me and I loved having them where I could see them every day!  She made mine for my first Christmas (that's why its not as white as the others - I'm old!), then she made Em one.  She made Gary one after we got engaged and Gerald one when they got engaged.  No ring - no stocking!  She made Lyla one in time for her first Christmas!   And we all love how each stocking seems to represent our different personalities perfectly!

I had my work Christmas party on Gary's birthday this year which kind of stunk because I didn't get to have dinner with him and Lyla.  But they had fun celebrating together while I was out celebrating with my work family.

The next day Lyla and I went on what Amanda and I thought was going to be an AWESOME Christmas train ride for the girls.  The adults were a bit disappointed but I think the girls still had a good time!

Trying to get a picture with two 3 year olds and an uncooperative Santa proved to really be quite a challenge!  Oh well, it is what it is.

The Saturday before Christmas we went to Maria's annual Fried Dough party.  This year it was ugly Christmas sweater themed.  We got a couple pictures at the house before we left.

You can't really see my shirt, but it was pretty good with a pretty awful cat on the front!  :) 

Christmas Eve my parents, Em and Gerald came to our house for dinner and presents.  Em and Gerald made an exciting announcement:

We are all ecstatic!

Christmas morning we got up and checked out what Santa left for Miss Lyla! 

 

 



The three of us then spent the rest of the day in our pjs watching movies, eating and playing with our new toys!  It was great!

The Saturday after Christmas we headed to West Virginia to celebrate with Gary's side of the family.