Parenting comes with no instruction manual. There are a million ways to parent! There are tons of things that will work for your child and tons of things that don’t. I planned on nursing Avery until she was a year at least but I didn’t expect that the only way she would be able to fall asleep would be me nursing her. She doesn’t like blankets, bottles, pacifiers or special stuffed animals so the thing that would almost always put her to sleep would be me nursing her. Sometimes she will fall asleep in her car seat, the stroller or on an airplane watching a show but if we are at home I can’t just lay her in her bed and tell her to go to sleep. I have never been the parent that lets Avery cry it out because that doesn’t work for us. She just ends up getting more and more upset and then she is wide awake. I love nursing Avery but I want to get to a point where I can put her to bed without nursing. I also want her to be able to sleep through the night without waking up to nurse multiple times. She used to sleep through the night great but the past couple weeks she will wake up many times and continue to say “momma momma momma” until I nurse her. It will benefit Josh, Avery and myself if sleeping through the night becomes a regular thing for her. But I was scared to start weaning her because I didn’t know how she was going to react to it. I didn’t want to lose that special bond I have with her or her decide after she stops nursing she no longer wants or needs my cuddles. The other day I told myself that was the day that I would start weaning Avery to be able to fall asleep on her own. I couldn’t keep being scared and putting it off. So that afternoon I took her on a long walk and after 45 minutes of walking she fell asleep. All I could think was Victory! Thank you God! I didn’t want to dare moving her from the stroller so the stroller sat in our entryway until Avery woke up an hour later. Then the night came. I did nurse her to sleep because if I didn’t I would explode! And She went to sleep great! But then a little while later when I was going to bed Avery woke back up and wanted to nurse. I stayed strong and after an hour of cuddles, songs, rocking, massages, and watching the fan go around and around she finally went back to bed. 2 hours later she was up again but the good news was after some cuddles and massages she was right back to bed. Then at 3am Avery was up again! I tried massaging her and quietly talking to her but I could tell that my milk needed to go somewhere because Avery normally was nursing all these times at night so I nursed her. After I nursed her she still wasn’t asleep so I massaged her some more and finally she went back to bed. I am starting to understand why I have bags every morning! When I woke up the next morning with her at 7:45 I was ready to go back to bed! But as a mommy when you are tired you just get over it and go downstairs to make your baby some breakfast. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to calm Avery down without nursing but that night it went better than I expected. I absolutely love nursing but I’ll also be glad to comfort Avery to bed in other ways besides it. I will always want and need Avery’s loves and I found that even without nursing Avery wants and needs my loves too. Wish us luck as we continue on this path to good sleep and growing up!

Avery is in her independent stage right now. She wants to do everything herself and what’s to show us all that she can do. The toddler age is for sure my favorite age so far! I now see Avery as her own person instead of this little baby that depended on us for everything, even to hold her head up. She is so mature and grown up. She has opinions, she knows what to do and what not to do, she is a huge helper and she is more lovey than ever. She absolutely loves going to daddy and mommy and giving us kisses and hugs. I never knew a toddler could be so good at hugs! The happiness she gives us I don’t think she will ever fully understand until she has kids herself. I am soaking up every minute of this age she is in right now because I know she is going to just keep growing! When her first birthday was approaching I was getting so sad to think that soon I will no longer have a baby. I didn’t want Josh to even talk about her growing up because I still wanted her to be little. Little did I know that her being a toddler would be way more fun! She loves shopping with me, helping me around the house and playing games! She shows me every day that she’s not a baby but a growing toddler that has opinions. She loves choosing which outfit to wear each day. It takes her a couple minutes to pick because she keeps changing her mind between the two but I let her do her thing because she is getting to be a big girl. She even has her own sense of humor. She likes to put clothes on her head run around and laugh at herself. And whenever she sings a song and it’s a part where they are singing at a higher pitch she squints her eyes and try’s to copy them. She makes us laugh so much!! My little girl may be Miss Independent right now but I absolutely love this stage in her childhood! Don’t forget to cherish your kiddos at whatever stage they are at every day!

“Teen Mom”. Saying those 2 words brings up so many stereotypes. There are many misconceptions that come with the phrase teen mom. Yes I am an 18 year old mother so I am a teen mom but I hate the negativity that often comes along with that. I love my daughter just as much as any other mom no matter the age. I work hard for Avery and even though I am a teen mom I don’t feel like one. I don’t feel like a teenager. I am a mother and a wife. My life is 100% devoted to Josh and Avery and I love that! Sometimes I feel like when people think of teen moms they don’t think of them like they would other moms. It doesn’t matter if we became a mother at 17 or 30. A mother is a mother. Age doesn’t define the quality of a mother you are. Continue reading →

As a mom you have moments that you wonder what should I do? Am I doing this right? What could I do better? This was me today! Today Avery had been crying off and on and being fussy since the moment she woke up. I have no clue why that is and I hate not being able to understand her. I just wish that she could talk and tell me exactly what she needs. But as a mom I have to do my best to figure it out and tend to her. I have to figure out if she’s hot, emotional, cranky, tired, hungry, hurt, sick or if she doesn’t even know what is wrong. Most of the time I know exactly what is wrong with her and how to fix it but today I felt defeated because I had no clue. Continue reading →

I love writing letters to Avery! I love pouring my heart out to her in a letter and knowing that later on in life she will be able to read them. I also love writing down everything that she is doing at that time so that I never forget the little things that made up her childhood. I wrote Avery a letter for being 1 1/2 years old and I wanted to share it with all of you so that you can better know our sweet little Avery.

Dear Avery Gracie, Continue reading →