Let’s talk about your child’s bedtime. Bedtime routines were invented to save a mom’s sanity! Not only do moms love them but kids love them as well. It gives them structure and they will always know what to expect at night. I unfortunately didn’t have a bedtime routine for Avery until she was about 11 months old but when I started one it was amazing! I used to have to nurse Avery for at least an hour before she would go to sleep and there were a lot of nights that my patience was tested. I then realized that something needed to change. She wasn’t calming down and didn’t have that routine that she needed. I researched a lot about different bedtime routines to do and then created my own based on what I found. Some moms are able to let their kids cry it out until they fall asleep and that’s great! I am not able to do that so I needed to find another way to get Avery to know it is bedtime and fall asleep at a reasonable time. Every kid is different so our bedtime routine might not work for your baby but you can for sure give it a try or make up your own. This is what Avery’s bed time routine looks like:

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Saying, “time flies” is a phrase that a lot of people know but how often do we actually stop and take in the moments? Enjoying every minute is so important especially as a parent. I never understood how fast a child grows up until I had one of my own. In my head, my daughter, Avery started to roll over just a week ago, when it reality it was a year ago. When Avery grows up and no longer depends on me for everything I will miss the little moments. I will miss when she walks over to me and squeezes me like she hasn’t seen me for a month. I will miss her sweet little kisses and the way she smells when I cuddle her. I will miss holding her in my arms while she is sleeping wishing I could hold her like that forever. A child is the most precious gift from God and we need to make sure we enjoy our little ones every moment of every day. Continue reading →

Some women have that perfect idea in their head of what they want their life to look like. They want to get an education, get married and then have beautiful little babies. My fiancé and I did things a little backwards. We had our daughter Avery when I was 17 and Josh was almost 18. We were not expecting to get pregnant especially since we were so young. We were planning on waiting until we got married before becoming intimate or starting a family. Josh and I struggled with the decision we made of not waiting until we were married. We knew we made a mistake and have worked very hard to live in obedience, making things right with each other and with God. We have now chosen to wait until we are married and are very happy with our decision. Having Avery at the age we did and still working on finishing high school brought a lot of extra work to being a parent but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Continue reading →