Motherhood: 31 Lessons Learned in Year One

1. Being pregnant is a lllllloooonnnnngggg process, especially if your babe is late. As soon as your baby is born BAM life is on fast forward.
2. Newborns smell really good like the sweetest smell ever
3. You celebrate every milestone like your baby just won an Olympic gold medal and then proceed to tell everyone and their mother, cousin and uncle. Their reaction will most likely not match your excitement.
4. There is no such thing as sleeping like a baby, unless you mean they sleep and you don't, often.
5. Carters and Babies R' Us are dangerous stores, just walk away!
6. Baby toes are by far the cutest thing ever
7. Your camera roll will consist of thousands of pictures of your babe and you will have a hard time deleting pictures even though about 10 of them look exactly the same
8. You'll become a pro at changing diapers in the dark and in record speed
9. Current events are going to be foreign to you but you will be up to date on on the latest baby gadgets and safety regulations
10. Bad days make you appreciate the good ones you have often
11. Leaving the house can feel daunting in the beginning. The amount of preparation involved in crazy. I mean you nearly take everything with you and being late takes on a whole new meaning in those first few months
12. Your social life gets put on hold. Friendships will get unintentionally neglected and it hurts you emotionally.
13. Hearing your baby say mama for the first time will bring tears to your eyes, hearing them say it and know it's you will make you cry
14. Speaking of crying you will do a lot of that, some days more than your little
15. Teething will become your worst enemy and you will buy every teether from every store
16. At some point the phrase 'it takes a village' will make sense to you and you will love your village!!
18. You are going to do several things you said you would never do because keeping your babe happy  is so much more important
19. You will have a love hate relationship with Google, mostly hate. REALLY! Save yourself and don't Google symptoms you will freak yourself out, just don't do it!
20. Mothers intuition is real, you'll learn to trust yourself.
21. There is no way to prepare yourself for motherhood prior to having a baby. Books and words of wisdom don't compare to actually having a baby.
22. Your babe is unique. Sleep patterns, eating habits, personality, preferences, don't compare them to another.
23. Trust your husband. You probably won't do things the same, in fact it will seem like he is doing it all wrong. You both have your babes best interest at heart and his way of doing things is pretty amazing.
24. Enjoy the newborn days, savor every snuggle because one day (very soon) you will be playing the ultimate game of tag with your toddler and your are always it :)
25. The whole worlds stops when your baby isn't feeling well. You literally want to bear the burden of their sickness so they are well again.
26. Go to a mom's group, it is so encouraging talking to others who are going through the same teething or sleep battle your family is in.
27. You know your baby best, don't doubt yourself
28. Take time for yourself. You, baby and even daddy will benefit immensely from your rejuvenation!
29. You have never know a love like the love you have for your child
30. Baby giggles make everything better
31. Being a mother is the most amazing, humbling and best thing that has ever happened in my life!

5 on Friday

It's been a few weeks since my last post and oh my were they busy!! What better way to play catch up than a 5 on Friday.

| one | M turned ONE! I am no longer in denial or moping that he is growing up. As sad as it is to me that these days, weeks, months and now year fly by I really love watching him learn and grow everyday.

| two | Last weekend we had M's pirate birthday party. [I am not cut out for the party planning business. I am relieved that it is behind us, lots and lots of planning and preparation.] He loved it, mission accomplished! Usually he is my sidekick and clings to me when lots of people are around not on his party. I barely held him and everyone else got to enjoy spending some time with the birthday boy.

| three | After all the festivities, literally that night, little man got sick :( He was down for 4 days with cold and lingering fever. Thankfully he was all better by his birthday!

| four | Little People toys are amazing! I am so impressed by them and M approves. He has a tiny village of them in the making.

| five | I started reading the Divergent series and when I say that I mean I am almost done with book 3. I love this series. I am super excited to go see the move sometime this month or early next month with my sister in law!! Any suggestions for a new series or a great book?

Baby boy is up from him nap so this is a primarily photo-less post. But I can't go another day without posting!!

Happy Friday have a beautiful weekend :)

The Little Things

Today is my first day linking up with Ashley and Jess. I read Tiffany's post last week and loved the idea but my day got super busy and I missed out, that is not the case today :) I love happy and uplifting posts, sharing about those little things in your life that make you smile. I couldn't decide on just one thing though, this week has been full of smiles so here are 4 little things.

My husband returned home from his business trip :) We missed him a lot! It just wasn't the same with  out him. I realized that I have a hard time sleeping alone, so much tossing and turning.

I am loving this pre-toddler age. M is almost one (cue the waterworks from mommy) and he has such a big personality packed in that tiny body. He is exploring everything and he is standing. Say what?! STANDING!! He doesn't put much pressure on me anymore standing supported and often times just lets go for up to 10 seconds. Once he falls he gets back up and does it all over again. He is so proud of himself I just can't help but smile this big huge goofy smile.

We are working on animal sounds and it is pretty hilarious. We get one of two responses for 5 animals. M loves our dog, in fact when he wakes up in the morning the first thing he says is dog. Naturally I thought teaching him what a dog says would thrill him. He doesn't get the concept yet and repeats dog, not only for what a dog says but for what a cow, cat, duck and sometimes monkey. Now the other response for those said animals is "ahhh" for monkey I'm assuming.

I got Photoshop elements for Christmas last year and have been self teaching myself how to use it. Yesterday I figured out how to make a shape with no fill and add a border. Sounds super simple but it wasn't and I am thrilled!!! I finally made the food labels that I've ben putting off for M's party.