Our Weekend Fun

I've been wanting to post a little peek into a Saturday in the Staten home. So here it goes.

This past Saturday Liam woke us up at about 7:15. He's definitely a morning person and smiles, laughs, talks, kicks, and plays all morning. We got ready and headed out as a family to pick up an ExerSaucer for him. Oh my goodness, he loves it! He sits in it and plays with one toy at a time, moving in a circle and making sure to put every toy in his mouth before moving on to the next. It is so stinking cute.

We then went wandering through the Halloween store, but nothing caught our attention. We headed to West Ashley to go to the grand opening of The Teeny Turtle! Beth is so sweet and has finally opened her brick and mortar cloth diaper store. We got a couple of things including a Baltic Amber teething necklace. It looks so cute on him and I am really optimistic about it helping him!

Next on our agenda was a play date with our friends Miranda and Joel. Joel is just about 2 months older than Liam and they are so fun to watch. They still aren't interested in playing together, but they are becoming much more aware of each other and it's so sweet.

Poor Boogie Man was so tired after his playdate and took a little snooze on his mommy. :)

Liam has also figured out a new trick: eating his toes. The kid loves it. The second his diaper comes off the toes go into his mouth. It's really cute!

Yum, right?!?!?

Little Mister got a bath and lots of cuddles before bed:

So there you go, a day in the life as an update for all the family/friends that can't be here. :)

Happy Monday!

Long time, no blog. ;)

First things first: I won a giveaway! I won a book called "Sewing for Boys" from Dana at made. You should definitely go check her out (if you haven't already), she's brilliant and has some of the easiest to follow (awesome) patterns and tutorials! I am so excited to get started with more sewing! I'll post final results here, so be on the lookout.

Second: I love co-sleeping. No, really, I do. I have had so many people tell me that I should just let him cry so he'll sleep in his own bed or give me a pitying look when I tell them that Liam doesn't sleep through the night. However, I truly feel blessed to have him wake up and want to be next to me. I love that I can calm him and that I can fulfill all of his needs. Last night, Adam and I were headed to bed and Liam started to whimper. Adam went to him and brought him to our bed. He immediately latched on and filled his belly. Then my sweet boy rolled to his back and fell asleep...holding Daddy's hand and being cuddled by Mommy. I fell asleep so incredibly grateful for my boys.

I really want to post about my attachment parenting beliefs...but that will have to wait for another day. I just wanted to address that since I have received so many negative comments with regards to sleep. The way I see it is this: we both get more sleep with him in my bed, so why not? :)

Work is going well. I enjoy working at a credit union, despite missing being a stay at home mom. I am really working towards my goals of nursing school and am hoping to get my pre-reqs done this spring.

I guess that's all for now. One of these days I'll get some new pictures uploaded and maybe even post more regularly! For now, though, most of my free time goes to my boys. :) Good night, ya'll!

{Mostly} Wordless Wednesday

I told Adam that I wanted more pictures of Liam and me together...I'm normally the photographer. He started taking some and this is one of my favorites:

Sleepy Baby Love

August 12, 2011

Milestone Weekend

This weekend has been so neat! On Saturday, my sweet boy rolled over all by himself! Ok, I know that sounds silly...but when you're a mom...oh my goodness is it exciting! He's getting so strong and I'm so proud of him! He also laughed. Good night, what a fun time this is! I didn't catch any of the good laughter on video, but here's roll #3:

Isn't that so cool? :)

I think he might be teething a little bit. He's been drooly and a little fussy. Hopefully he gets some good rest tonight.

I have really enjoyed this 3 day weekend. I spent most of it at the house with my boys watching movies and cuddling...I couldn't think of anything I'd rather be doing, though! I'm sad to be headed back to work tomorrow, but we're going to make the best of it. I hope that you have had a refreshing weekend! Good night!

Being a Working Mom

So yesterday I finished my first full work week since last October. I used to love working. It gave me purpose, got me out of the house, and allowed me to contribute to our bank account. Now, though? Working still gets me out of the house and allows me to contribute to our family's funds (albeit not nearly as much as it used to when you factor in daycare costs), but I feel like it takes away from my purpose. My son's growth and development, health, and well-being are all I can focus on and it's beyond frustrating to feel as if I'm being taken away from that.

He has finally started accepting bottles, though, and I know he likes his daycare provider. I'm no longer having breakdowns (at least not most days!). We are adjusting like everyone said that we would. Now, dinner and laundry?? I'm way behind. I just can't bring myself to use my hour and a half of baby time to cook. I guess I need to figure that part out. I'm really looking forward to the time that training is over and I can go to part time hours...that means an extra 2 hours each day with my munchkin.

For now, I'm off to enjoy my 3-day weekend. Not sure what the plan is, but you can bet I'll be spending lots of time cuddling and playing with this guy (who is 4 months old now, by the way!):

Do you have plans for the holiday weekend?? 

Vision

Alright, ya'll. {I really want this southern "ya'll" thing to work for me! ;)} I'm sorry. I'm a bad blogger. I've always been a bad journaler...I guess this is the same. I'm working on it, though.

Adam graduated from Airman Leadership School last night! Woohoo! Five weeks of non-stop school and homework sucked, but it was well worth it. He has now been trained to be a supervisor and I'm sure will do an excellent job. At the graduation there was a guest speaker who talked about vision and it really struck a chord with me. He said that there are 4 points to vision:

1. How you see yourself
2. How you see others
3. How others see you
4. How you see the future

I loved what he said about point #2. He summarized it by saying that if you see your teenager as a dirtbag then he'll be a dirtbag, but if you see him as a shining star then he'll be a shining star. I think there's a lot of truth to that. I think that our kids need to see that we think they are great, that they have endless potential, and that they are incredibly and powerfully loved. If we expect their best, they will give it to us. If we set them up to fail...they will. I want to be the parent (and the spouse, friend, daughter, etc) that believes in my kids (or spouse, friend, etc...) and sets them up for success. I want them to know that I support them and love them and believe in them. I want to exude positivity and build up the people around me, especially my children. 

His words really made sense to me and I hope that Adam and I can be very intentional about seeing the best in our children and each other. It does a lot for your self worth when someone else shows you how much they believe in you.

I'm a little emotional...

Anxious.

I looked up it's definition to make sure that it was the perfect word to describe my feelings:

Experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome

I feel like sometimes the word is used with a happy connotation, for instance "anxious to see the new movie coming out", etc. But I don't feel that sort of excitement or eagerness. I think the definition above fits my emotions to a tee right now.

Don't get me wrong. I want to get a job. I want to go to school. However, I don't want to leave my baby. I'm super attached to him. I have so many fears. What if this ruins our breastfeeding relationship? What if he won't take a bottle? What if he decides he prefers the bottle? What if he cries the entire time he's gone? What if he doesn't? What if I cry the entire time we're apart? Will he feel abandoned? Will I feel like a terrible mother just for doing what I think I need to do for our family and for my sanity? Will I be able to give my best to a job and school and my family?

I'm really stressing about making the right decision.

Someone tell me that this feeling goes away. Please.