What motherhood looks like right now

Hey.

The last time I shared what motherhood was looking like, she was practically brand new still.  What a great excuse for me to show you a ridiculous number of photos of her!

Gosh- I just looked back at the first motherhood post, and while many of the emotions are the same, our life has changed significantly in the last six months.  (And mothers everywhere are saying, "duh.")

This is how it looks now, with an eight month old:

Still taking loads of pictures.  (Obviously)

Still checking to see if she's breathing from time to time.  (I can't help myself.)

Still going to Target, but now it's just a way for us to get out of the house and we don't worry about the time of day- turns out Target is very nursing friendly.

Still cracking up at her faces, her sounds, her personality.  She is truly a delight.

Laughing as she talks to herself in mirrors.

Realizing that soon I will probably not be able to eat whenever I want in front of her.  I actually said these words out loud the other day, "No, Evelyn.  You already had lunch- this is for Mom. Go away."  (Just being protective of my food, guys- it's not that I didn't want her around!)  Also- she has her begging face dooooooown.

Feeling little hands pull their way up my legs.  She has pulled my sweats off twice this way.  Activities done with the following view include, but are not limited to: doing dishes, cooking, and bathroom breaks.

Longing for nap time so I can get things done or have some "me" time, but missing her by the time she wakes up.

 

Speaking of naps- only two a day now.  We started regulating them a bit, and now she typically has one morning and one afternoon nap.  And now that she puts herself to sleep on her own for them, we snuggle for a bedtime story, and then I smile while I listen to her babble to herself until she falls asleep.  It's the sweetest.  (Oh let's be real- everything she does is the sweetest.)

Sleeping through the night again!  Boy, she really spoiled us at the start.  She didn't start waking up during the night until about three months in, and it just got worse and worse until last month.  Then we started letting her cry it out and regulating naps.  Now she sleeps all night, we start our day at a more reasonable time, and are generally happier all around. 

Holding my breath and deciding whether I should step in at moments.  I mentioned this before, but I don't want to coddle her too much.  I want her to be strong, but know that Mom is right there if she needs her.

Looking forward to bath times.  She has always enjoyed them, but it's much less troublesome to me now that she can steadily sit on her own.  She's figuring out she can splash and play, so I caved and grabbed a couple bath toys at the store the other day, but she still prefers conditioner tubes or cups.  Go figure.

Loving our reading time.  I've really been trying to spice up my characters' voices.  Go big or go home, right?  She really is attentive to the stories and pulls herself up to get a closer look at the pictures much of the time.

A lot less sitting.  At least peaceful sitting.  Since she's started crawling and standing, my day sounds like this: "We don't play with cords.  That's not for baby Evelyns.  We don't climb on the fish tank.  We don't want to chew that basket.  Where are you going?  Does that seem like a good thing to climb on?"  

Whispering our way through closing the blinds and curtains, and then standing beside her crib, telling her how much I love her as she rests her head on my shoulder, winding down for sleep.

Marveling at how simple nursing seems now.  I cannot stress enough how much it has changed.  I had heard people talk about how painful it was, but I did. not. understand. until I bawled for an hour after a brief run-in with my bath towel.  One day, just- poof.  It stopped.  And now I can't get over how convenient it is.

But of course, now I get to laugh, or try not to laugh, while I feed her baby food.  I laugh because she growls at almost every spoonful and flails her arms.  I try not to laugh because she gets so excited that she blows the food out half of the time.

Giving her sips of water and every once in a while a taste of an orange.

Cheering as she starts to stand on her own or takes steps holding our hands.  And being baffled at how she is old and big enough to do this already.  

Rearranging the bookcase, TV stand, and anything else that may be within her grasp so that she won't cause major destruction.

Dancing around the kitchen, singing in silly voices and throwing out jazz hands and kicks to get her to laugh.  (She was just really focused on chewing her doll's arm- she really is entertained by me.)

Wishing warm weather would head our way soon because cabin fever.

Getting the biggest kick out of watching her play with her dad.  Her giggles are the. best.

Well, that's just a quick peek at how things are now.  We are just loving it, and motherhood is shaping up to be way cooler than I thought it would be,

Talk to you later.

Aim

Strength

Here we go again.

Guys, I've had lotsa thoughts swirling and pushing each other around in my head, and someday I'd like to talk with you about them.

Ideally, I'd like to start that today.  I don't know that I've pinned any of them down enough to where they would be lucid though.  I think I'll make another list, so that I can write said thoughts in a comprehensible manner sometime soon.

I did find my last blog topics list!  Did I tell you that?

I think one of them can be wrapped up fairly succinctly, so I'll use that for today.

If you haven't noticed from my obnoxious amount of Evelyn posts on social media, let me tell you that the girly is crawling, sitting up, and pulling herself up to standing now.  (She started crawling the week before Christmas, sitting up the week after, and pulling up to standing right after the first of the year.)

She is getting braver every day.  She not only follows us from room to room without seeing us, but will now also leave the room we are in to explore a different one on her own.  Yay.

As you may expect, this new exploring, daredevilish Evelyn falls down every once in a while.  She gets a little cocky and thinks she doesn't need any hands to hold her upright by that couch or table.  She thinks it might be a good idea to stand next to that bookshelf corner.  She enjoys playing with her walker toys from the outside of the walker.  Sometimes she just plain loses her balance or leans too far and bonks her head.

I would love to scoop her up in my arms each time and coddle her and kiss her and hold her.  But she doesn't need that.  Ok, sometimes she does.  But want to know what happens in the first five seconds after 95% of her spills?  She has a cry or a whine, and then she is perfectly alright and goes about her business of playing.

Each time I am on the edge of my seat, ready to scoop her up if need be, but if it is part of the 95%, I try my best to let her calm herself because it only takes seconds, and I want her to be tough.

Well, a few months ago I read You and Me Forever by Francis and Lisa Chan.  He said that he prayed for his kids to go through trials.

And I was all, "Whaaaaaaaaa??"

Because when I look at my sweet, little baby girl I want her life to be all unicorns and rainbows and butterflies and not a hint of pain or heartbreak.  The very thought of her experiencing real physical or emotional pain just cuts me to the core.  (Ask my mom about the night we thought Evelyn's teeth were really bothering her-- I. broke. down.)

It makes sense to me that we don't want to do everything for her or give her every single thing her heart desires because we don't want a spoiled, entitled, enabled brat.  I get that.  Easy-peasy.  But to pray for her to experience trials?!  Ugh!  Why?  Letting her pick herself up from a small topple is one thing, but real life struggles?

Well, wouldn't you know- he makes valid points on the subject.

"We need a generation of parents who care far more about the strength of their children than their comfort, wealth, health, and love for their parents."

"If trials are the channel through which strength comes, wouldn't we want some trials?"

"Easy circumstances do not cultivate strong children."

And do I want my girl to be strong?

...yes...

Do I think I'm ready to start praying for her to face trials?  Oo.  That may take more prayers for strength for myself first.

Well, she is requiring some attention right now, so I'm done aside from some photos from the second half of our Christmas break!

 

 

 
[the village trying to get a photo out of the girls... and finally got a pic of Aunt Mol with Ev!]

 

[playing the annual "Newlywed" game... we don't want to talk about it.]

[Right after Justin accidentally tried breastmilk to 

show Evelyn how easy it is to drink out of a bottle.]

[Meeting Great-Grandma Klatt for the first time]

[checking out Spike]

[Grandma Beth and her girls]

[Watching an intense game of Charades]

[Jeremy's turn is always a crowd pleaser.]

[just figured out sitting on her own]

[trying to act out 327 Chevy engine!]

Alright, later!

Aim

Apartment Fever

Hey.

It's been awhile, huh?

The Christmas season has come and gone, along with the beginning of a new year.  Both are such great times of reflection, but I was keeping pretty busy.  I do have, like, a bazillion photos of our break that you're probably going to have to suffer through for the next several letters.  So, be forewarned.

Like this one where Evelyn MASTERED Katie's frown.  Oh my word.  Aunt Katie was trying to show her how to take a good selfie, I guess.

So here we are, two weeks into 2016.  The babe and I are hibernating in our coziest of cozies on this brisk, sub-zero day and not feeling the cabin fever one bit.  Except that we aaaaaare.  What we would give for just twenty more degrees of warmth so that we could at least venture to Target or HyVee.

At least I can say that Evelyn has put herself to sleep for two naps today without making one peep.  A few days of letting her cry it out for naps and bedtime, and I think/hope/pray that we've gotten to where she will self soothe.

On the up side of this being stuck inside- I've gotten to dig into my colored pencils to try out some new things, so that's fun.  Hoping to stretch myself and get the creative juices flowing a bit more this year.

Speaking of hopes for the year, I've created a list of goals for 2016.  Not resolutions per se, but a few things to keep me on track and challenge me to get outside of my comfort zone.  I'm thinking that my word for the year might need to be something along the lines of productive.  That's not the most exciting word choice though, so I'm going to think on it a little longer.

Last year's word was peace, and I feel like I was able to hold onto that pretty well.  I mean, we had some fairly huge changes in our life, and I never felt too overwhelmed.  (Minus a few weeks of thinking I was going to die from nursing baby girl.)  To make the understatement of the year, it was a good year.

Well, I have about four loads of laundry that I'd like to get going while Bozzie is sleeping, so I'm going to wrap up with a good ole photo dump!

[how she felt about rice cereal]

[her reaction to Jered's arrival in Canton]

[Christmas Eve story time with Dad and Uncle Chadd]

[Dad in his matching family Christmas PJs]

[annual Christmas morning shot]

[Squash and carrots are much preferred!]

Whew!  And those were just some of my favorites from the first part of break.  You'll just have to wait until next time for the rest of my faves!  Muahaha.

Ta-ta!

Aim