6 Months

 

Dear River,

I cannot believe that you are 6 MONTHS OLD already! Where the heck has the time gone!? In honor of this wonderful milestone, I thought we would take a quick look back over these last 6 months:

Where You Have Been:

Denver, CO

Red Rocks, CO

Las Vegas, NV

Los Angeles, CA

Holidays You Have Celebrated:

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Christmas

New Years

Things You Like To Eat:

Butternut Squash

Winter Squash

Carrots

Peas (...sort of...)

Spinach

Apples

Pears

Mangos

Peaches

Turkey

Chicken

Your Tricks:

Rolling over...and over...and over

You smile and laugh A LOT

You babble and have plenty of conversations

You can sit up (with a little bit of help)

You love to make a motor boat sound with your mouth

You put EVERYTHING in your mouth

Your Favorite Things:

Mom and Dad (obvs)

Pulling Mom's hair

Roary the Lion

Scout the Dog

Your "Command Center"

Books

How You Have Grown:

 You are such a beautiful soul River; so kind hearted and full of light. It is an absolute pleasure and gift to be your parents.

We love you buddy

Love,
Mom and Dad

 

Why Mommy Guilt is like a Drive By Shooting

My son is just a week shy of 6 months.

 And guess what, The Switch has happened. 

The Switch you ask? 

YES! The glorious switch from simply Milk Supply to Mommy. 

I don't know exactly when it happened, but it was right around the time I helped my baby through his very first ear infection, (which consisted of 4 trips to the pediatrician, two different medications, and a full blown body rash due to an allergic reaction.) Freaking wonderful. However, now on the other side of that damned childhood curse, I find that he lights up even brighter when I walk into a room, he reaches for me when I am close enough, he does that cute open mouthed "I'm going to eat your face off" type of kissing babies do, and pretty much loses his mind whenever we play together. 

It. Is. Awesome. 

I. LOVE. it.

Of course don't mistake me, Robert is still his best friend...by a long shot... it's so obvious... but I am MOMMY, which pretty much makes me a superhero. 

 And yet, I have come to discover that if there is one sure fire nemesis to Mommy Superherodom, it is the dreaded "Mommy Guilt." Our very own Kryptonite.

But I have also discovered something else...

"Mommy Guilt" exists because we, as mothers, hurl it on one another. We do the perpetuating.

Like a drive by shooting, we take to the blog world (Hello!), and social media, and do our own drive by guilting, perhaps, without even realizing it. 

And you know what, we are killing ourselves; and killing one another's confidence in the process.

Let's be real, being a parent is HARD ENOUGH on it's own without feeling the pressure of so many opinions on top of it. And the clincher is that it starts before you are even a PARENT!!

"Why don't you have children yet?"

"Don't you feel like that is a little selfish?"

"When are you planning to get pregnant?"

"Natural or Medicated?"

"Vaccines, no vaccines?"

"Breast milk or formula?"

"Cry it out or coddle?"

"Public, Private, or Home School?"

Honestly, I could keep going.

I can remember vividly the first time I experienced that shameful Mommy Guilting. I was pregnant...newly pregnant...and I was asked what type of birth I wanted to have.

Me: "You know...I think I would really like to try giving birth naturally."

Friend: "...Why?"

Me: "Um.. I don't really have a set reason, it's just a preference."

Friend: "Is...it, like, something you need to prove to yourself?"

Me: "No, not at all."

Friend: "Hm."

Annnnnd Shame.

 I am 100% sure that she never, in her wildest dreams, meant to hurt, shame, or offend me, but because it has become such common place to have the "right" to share our opinions, it happened regardless...

 Perhaps it is because I am Doula, or work in the realm of pregnancy in general, but it seems like I am constantly questioned about my pregnancy and parenting preferences and choices, and why I do or don't do certain things, or why I feel or don't feel certain ways. And truthfully, I love giving MY opinions and MY advice, but that is just the thing, they are MINE...opinions and advice that are now ONLY given when asked, and come with the very serious preface that they are free of judgement and that they do not fit every child. 

::gasp!::

See, in my arrogance, prior to becoming a parent, I had an opinion about everything. I swore up and down that I would (or would not) do X,Y, and Z...told women why you should or should not do this or that, and you know what I discovered: Some things sound great in theory, and are terrible in practice. 

And I also discovered, that I lended to the guilting of many a mother in the process.

TRUTH.

Parenthood is about grace upon grace (for YOURSELF) and as much humility as you can muster. It is perfectly ok to have your opinions, and even admirable to have done your research on said opinions...but please remember they are YOURS, and it is ok if others do not agree with you.  

Furthermore, Mothers, can we please refrain from flagrantly flouting our opinions in open forums like facebook, twitter, and other social media sites? It's just...poor practice. We, as mommies, need as much encouragement and confidence as we can get...especially from one another. 

Caring for a HUMAN, nay, being solely responsible for a human, is hard hard work. It is beautiful and crippling all at the same time.

So please, have your opinions, give your perspectives, but please PLEASE do it respectfully.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." 1 Cor. 13:1

Snugs out.  

Halloween 2013

Some of the greatest memories I have from my childhood are wrapped around, and connected to, the different traditions my parent's instilled in our family. Some of those I hope to infuse into my own little family, and others I hope to create myself (along with Robert of course).

This year, Halloween marked the first calendar holiday we had as a family of 3 vs. just a family of 2. It dawned on me...perhaps later than it should have...that now the tradition making portion of life falls heavily on me (and again, Robert of course). Even though River is only 3 months old, I think it is important to start these sort of things even now. Sure, they will probably morph and change over the next few years until we figure out what works best with our tribe, but figuring those things out is part of the fun; part of the adventure.

Last night, we invited a few of our friends, as well as Grammy and Grandpa J, over to our place to enjoy the seminary's annual chili cook-off. It was too...CHILI... (BA DAP BA BAAAA...) for us to care much about casting our vote for "Best Chili," so we just grabbed our grub and ran. Inside the warmth of our apartment, we all enjoyed our feast, as well as some warm apple cider, before the kiddos headed out to Trick-or-Treat. Robert and I hung back to pass out candy because...well...let's face it, taking a 3 month old Trick-or-Treating is basically Robert and I saying "Hey Jack, GIVE. US. YO. CANDY!"

After the kids finished, they returned back to our place to divvy up their loot, enjoy some more cider and cookies, and veg out a bit to "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!"

All in all, super fun night. Will any part of last night turn into an annual tradition? Who knows... but right now it sure is fun figuring it all out.

PS: Yesterday also marked 3 months of life for little River. Here's a video for you son. We LOVE being your parents! Keep growing, keep learning, and keep being awesome.

(Obviously couldn't figure out how to turn the camera off at the end there...)
XO

Snugs

4. I Had a Baby

#4

I Had a BABY

This is perhaps the post I have simultaneously looked forward to writing about the most and the least of all my posts on this blog.

 The most because, HELLO!! 

and the least because I have no idea how to possibly put into tangible words just how ecstatically happy The Man and I are; how hopelessly in love The Man and I are, and how speechless we are that we brought this incredible little human being into this world.

World,

Allow me to introduce you to my SON;

River Daniel

Born 07.31.2013

6lbs,7oz

All boy.

I have yet to decide if I will share my birth story on the blog, but I will say it was one of the most incredible, intense, scary, and empowering things I have ever had the privilege to be allowed to do.

So.

Would I do it again?

absolutely.

"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, a Holy habitation for the Most High."Psalm 46:4

Welcoming Bebe

In April, I was thrown the most thoughtful, beautiful, baby shower a girl could ask for. 

My mom and I decided to make a girl's weekend trip out of it, and flew out to Los Angeles to welcome the little snuglet in in style. Surrounded by many of my most favorite of women, I, along with baby, were showered

(pun-intended)

with love, laughter, awesome food, and super generous gifts. 

At this point, I hadn't shared what The Man and I were expecting, so it was a fun shower game 

(the ONLY shower game mind you! PRAISE!!) 

as my girlies cast their votes on 

A) Boy or Girl? 

and 

B) What his/her name would be.

["Thor" was amongst my favorites.]

Here are some snaps from the day, enjoy!

XO

Snugs

Boy Oh Boy!

Guess what!

We're having a...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scheduled to make his first public appearance August 2013.

The two of us are so flippin' excited we could burst!!

And I know I've been lax in posting some baby bump pictures, so I thought I would try and make up for it today. 

Here you go!

 XO

Snugs

20 Marks 1/2 Way

This week marks Baby Snug's 1/2 way point for his or her journey into this world.

20 Weeks, woo hoo!!

Baby is the size of a  M a n g o

Weight: 10.58oz

Length: 10.08 inches (from crown to rump)

And from baby's rump to my bump...

It has begun

Two things have begun to take place in my life recently.

1. I have begun a baby registry

.....Let me just pause here for a moment.....

Ok.

I thought a wedding registry was bad, but it doesn't even hold a CANDLE to a baby registry! I had no idea that one little being could need so much!

Glass or BPM free bottles? This burp cloth or that burp cloth? A bumbo seat!? Boogie wipes!?

Which leads me to...

2. Decorating a nursery

This for me is actually quite fun. However, it has taken a slightly more difficult turn as of late. 

You see, The Man and I had made the decision to...to...not find out the gender of our bean until it's birth date.

I. KNOW.

But we sort of feel like this is really exciting! Yet, when we made this decision, I grossly underestimated the genericness that is the gender neutral nursery. Surely, there is more I can choose from than beige, grey, yellow, or green...right? RIGHT!?

I have begun to  scour the internet for inspiration, and here is what I have come by so far:

 As of now, The Man and I are fond of the mixing and matching of these various nurseries. There are different aspects of each that we like. We're thinking possibly white and gold with accents of various shades of turquoise.

However, I am indecisive  and that could very well change... tomorrow :)

So, until then...

XO

Snugs