Tag Archives: Mom

Brooklyn’s Birth Story

Posted in Motherhood, Uncategorized by

On Wednesday morning Avery woke up unusually early. When I went into her room to ask her what she was doing up so early (she’s not a morning person) she told me she just wasn’t tired. I kept wondering if today was the day Brooklyn was going to be born. Continue reading →

Where did my 24 hours go??

Posted in Marriage, Motherhood, Uncategorized by

I know for a fact I am not alone when I ask this question! 24 hours seems like so much time but it feels like some days it goes by in an instant and then its 9pm at night and I’m trying to figure out what in the world I accomplished that day. There are days I feel on top of the world and get a whole bunch done but that for sure doesn’t happen all the time. I work part-time at home and between that, the house stuff, being a wife, being a mother and trying to get a little bit of time for myself to work on projects I am busy a lot! I know I could be busier so I treasure the relaxing time I do get. Like right now I am in bed cuddling Avery while I write this blog and it’s so nice! I also think it’s a little bit of my fault that I’m so busy because I hate sitting down and doing nothing so I always have the next thing I want to do or a project I want to start in my head. I have actually been working on taking a little bit of time for myself everyday and either doing a podcast devotion, watching a show, or doodling floor plans for fun haha. This gives me energy to accomplish more in the day. I sometimes can get myself stressed out in my head just by thinking about all I need to do and fixing that is a work in progress. I guess it’s hard for me to see that my daily stuff (working out, 3 meals for everyone, tidying up, school with Avery, practicing ballet with Avery, going for a walk, working from home, laundry, and spending quality time with Josh and Avery) will take up most of my day and if I don’t have time to get other things done in a day that’s okay. I make a daily list and I used to get stressed out if I didn’t accomplish it all by the end of the day but now whatever doesn’t get finished I just move to the next day. That’s an exciting overcome for me haha. It’s easy for me to sometimes feel like at the end of the day I didn’t do enough as a wife and mother but then I remember that Avery and Josh both feel loved and cared for and it’s just in my head that I didn’t do enough for them. Being a mom and being a wife is who I am. I am beyond thankful that I get to be a wife and a mother every day and the love I get back from them is so rewarding! So even though I wish I could function off of less sleep or have the days be longer I am grateful for every second that I have. Being God’s daughter, Josh’s wife, and Avery’s mother come first over everything else and whatever else I have time to accomplish in my 24 hours will  just be a bonus. Here’s to a relaxing Saturday, hope you liked reading this blog!

Avery’s Favorites and Sayings

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Avery has a very special personality! She is sweet, timid, obedient, confident, silly, smart, and loud all in one! Lately her favorite things have been changing and some of the things she says and the way she says them are so cute and funny I have to share. I wanted to write this blog to give you guys more of an insight as to the person Avery is and so that I can always remember her at this age. So here are some of her favorites.

  1. Favorite breakfast- yogurt and waffles
  2. Favorite snack- goldfish
  3. Favorite food- pizza
  4. Favorite fruit- strawberries
  5. Favorite treats- chocolate, ice cream and gum (she’s a sweets girl!)
  6. Favorite place in the house- her ruff ruff chair by the fireplace
  7. Favorite person- daddy!
  8. Favorite toys- doctor kit, barbies, and princesses
  9. Favorite shows- Doc Mcstuffins or Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood
  10. Favorite things to do- play toys, play doh and play with her friends outside
  11. Favorite color- blue (it’s been blue for as long as she’s been talking)
  12. Favorite thing to say- “Play with me! Play with me!”

Some of the things she has said lately that make us smile or laugh are:

  1. We say I love you and then she says “Love you more” and we say love you more and she says “not a possible!”
  2. “Fineeee mama”
  3. “I’m not tired, I’m HAPPY (with a huge smile) see?! I don’t need a nap!”
  4. I ask how her how her nap was and she says “I slept just fine mama”
  5. If we aren’t listening she grabs our faces and says “look at me”
  6. “I need to check your heartbeat with my tep-a-cope (stethoscope)”
  7. If I tell her an idea of something to do and she likes it she says “oh that’s a really good idea mama!”
  8. Anytime I ask Avery where did you learn to be so cute? where did you learn to be so funny? where did you learn to be so smart? The answer is always “I got it from daddy”
  9. “Of course!!”
  10. If she wants someone to chase her she will say “oh no run!”
  11. “I’m so excited to see you!”
  12. “You’re my girl” 🙂
  13. And this isn’t exactly one thing she says but whenever she plays with her toys she always changes the voice for each person and has the best imagination coming up with the things she has them say.

I know she says plenty more cute things in a day but on the top of my head that’s all I can think of. She really has the cutest personality I’ve ever seen! I hope this blog gave you a little bit more insight to the little girl that Avery is. We truly cherish every day with her and think the absolute highest about her! We are so grateful that God gave us this perfect daughter!

Things I’m passionate about/love

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I always want whoever is reading my blog to know me, who I am, and what I believe. I thought what better way to get to know me better than telling all of you what I’m passionate about/ what I love!

  1. My family! Josh and Avery are LITERALLY my everything! I wake up and go to bed thinking about them and what I can be doing for them. I find so much happiness in seeing them happy! I can’t imagine not having Josh as my husband or not having Avery as my daughter! I know I talk about them both a lot but it’s not nearly as much as I want to. The things Avery says to me and Josh does for me warms my heart! Last night Avery wanted me to cuddle her and hold her hand so she could fall asleep. Right before she fell asleep she told me “I really love you” and instantly happy tears streamed down my cheeks. Avery is the most thoughtful person I’ve ever met and the fact that out of everyone God picked me to be her mommy just amazes me!
  1. God! God always comes first in my life and that’s the way I like it. He has given me so much to be thankful for! His plans are so much greater than mine (sometimes I need to remind myself of this) and I love having God as my Heavenly Father! Josh and I do our best to raise Avery up how God wants us to and love teaching her more about him. Yesterday at church Avery took communion for the first time and I explained it to her the best I could to a toddler and after it was done she said she wanted more bread dipped in juice haha. The responsibility of teaching our kids about God is very important to us!
  1. Country music! By far my favorite genre of music! Give me some country music and sweet tea and I’m set! My favorite artists are Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, and Luke Bryan. My 10 favorite country songs right now are “She’s in love with a boy”, “Real men love Jesus”, “Make you miss me”, “From the ground up”, “John Cougar, John Deer, John 3:16”, “This”, “Making memories of us”, “Burnin it down”, “Then”, and “I met a girl”. Something about hearing a country song just puts me in a good mood! So living in the state of country music suits me well!

Continue reading →

20 Summertime Activities

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Summertime is so much fun! There are so many fun things to do with your kids during this time. Here in Tennessee the weather is MUCH different than in Washington which is where Josh and I both grew up and lived until about a year ago. Adjusting to the weather was at first hard but I think we are starting to get the hang of it. The humidity and heat don’t make us instantly sweat like it did last summer. Here it feels like winter time is really from the end of December until February, spring is from March until May, summer is from June until September and fall is from October until December. This isn’t correct school wise because summer for kids in school is all of June until the beginning of August. Summertime is also when the biggest thunderstorms happen. When it rains in the summer is a hard rain but doesn’t last too long. There can be weeks when there is a thunderstorm every day for like an hour though. So when planning our summer activities I have to make sure there are things for being outdoors in the morning when it’s not too hot, being outdoors when it’s really hot, and being indoors when a storm is happening. I have listed below some of my favorite things to do with Avery in the summer so hopefully this inspires you because we most likely only have 18 summers with our kids and that’s nothing!

  1. Finger painting outside. (Get a roll of paper and go crazy!)
  2.  Camping in the backyard. (We tried doing this Fourth of July weekend thinking it would be fun but in Tennessee July is way too hot to sleep outside but Avery still loved watching a movie in the tent and getting it all set up)
  3. Farmers market. (You can’t ever go wrong with some fresh produce and baked treats!)
  4. Painting pottery. (On those stormy days)
  5. Go to an arcade. (Avery LOVED this! She got the most tickets at the end of it all on her own!)
  6. Go to the Fair. (Rides and treats! Yum!)
  7. Find a free kids class at Home Depot, Lowes, Michael’s, etc.
  8. Photoshoot. (Find a cool location and play dress up!)
  9. Go to a bookstore and read every book your kiddo finds!
  10. Build a fort and sleep in it. (Letting go of our sleep routine every once in awhile is fun!)
  11. Go to swimming pool or splash pad. (In the South this is a must!)
  12. Make a hand print stone and letting your kids decorate it.
  13. Lemonade stand. (We build our own for Avery and she loves it! She uses it for pretend store all the time too)
  14. Go to a baseball game. (We are taking Avery to her first MLB game in a couple weeks!)
  15. Make a pouring station. (It’s so fun for kids to play with water and pour it in all sorts of containers)
  16. Berry picking (messy but fun!)
  17. Drive-in movie (this has to happen at least once a summer!)
  18. Make yummy recipes. (Avery’s favorite is homemade banana pudding!)
  19. Go outside! (Anything outside is Avery’s cup of tea! Going on a walk, getting the pool out, read outside, play barbies outside, rock on the rocking chairs, ect. ANYTHING outside!)
  20. Crafts! (We love doing crafts in our house. We make our own binoculars, paint rocks, paint wooden things, make windmills, make paper and popsicle stick butterflies, make sensory jars, etc.)

And that’s 20 things we love to do in the summer time!!

Growing Up

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These past couple weeks I feel like Avery has grown up so much! She started potty training, chewing gum on a regular basis, swimming and floating great (with our assistance of course), knows letters A-J, can count to 12, and we just moved her bed into her own room!

I feel like I woke up the other morning and my baby was no longer a baby. She’s so grown up and knows exactly what she wants and how she feels.

We got her a little princess seat that goes on top of the toilet and she loves it. I don’t know what she loves more; getting a piece of gum after she goes potty on the big girl potty or wearing doc mcstuffins pull ups! When she chews gum it’s so cute because sometimes she forgets to swallow her spit because she is trying to make sure she doesn’t swallow her gum that her salvia just drips out of her mouth. She loves mint gum and juicy fruit! She carries those little tubs of juicy fruit everywhere!

Swimming lessons were a big deal to us because I want Avery to be safe but not be scared of the water. When it comes to swimming I love it but I’m not the first one to dive deep down or jump off something really high into the water. That is Josh for sure!! Josh told me to not baby Avery as much in the water and that she will be ok and he was right! As soon as I stopped babying her she wanted to go all the way under like her toys did and she trusted me enough to help her float on her back.

Another thing she has done lately that’s shown me what a big girl she is has been during our learning time. Each day we go to her art table and have learning time. She picks things up so fast it’s crazy! She loves being able to point out A-J and does so even when we are out and about. And she can count to 12 which comes in really handy when she is getting impatient for something. If I tell her to count to 12 and then I’ll be done doing whatever I’m doing she counts to 12 as fast as she can but if it’s to do something I’ve asked her to do that counting to 12 can drag on awhile! Girl is smart!

By far the biggest milestone and change these past weeks has been moving Avery’s bed into her room. Before Josh and I got married Avery slept with me in my bed every night. I loved that extra time with her especially because I didn’t have a husband to cuddle next to yet. And then when Josh and I got married Avery still slept with us and then one day decided she wanted to sleep in her own bed. I was very excited because as crazy as it sounds I was on the edge of the bed some nights in a king bed with only Josh and Avery in there with me! Her bed was only a few feet from ours and she occasionally slept with us but besides that she loved sleeping in her bed. It worked for us because she would still wake up some nights and I was able to be right there for her. And then after adding a cute flower wall lamp from IKEA in Avery’s room I thought I would bring her mattress in just for fun. That night she ended up sleeping on her mattress in her room for the first time and loved it! I was sleeping on the ground by her closet but I was happy she loved her room! We then brought her bed frame in there too and she loved it even more. We decided instead of slowly inch by inch moving Avery into her room I would just inch by inch move out of her room. I slept next to her for a few nights and then tried sleeping in Josh’s game room/our second guest room with both doors wide open and it worked. When she woke up I was right across the hall and I was able to sleep in a real bed. Once she doesn’t wake up at night anymore Josh and I will go back to sleeping in our bed and have the doors open with a baby monitor on her all night. This may sound ridiculous to some people but this is progress for me! I am happy with what we are doing and the way we are going about things.

I feel like pretty much all big changes that have happened to Avery she has told or shown us she was ready. She wanted to be a big girl and go potty like the big girls. She told us she was ok with going under water at swimming lessons. And after we put a new flower wall lamp in her room she loved the idea of moving her bed in there. I love that these big changes and milestones happen when SHE is ready. Josh and I are aware of Avery’s feelings and we want her to feel comfortable with things. We are very much hands on parents and out parenting works really well for us. Our daughter is growing up so fast and we are soaking up every moment of her childhood!

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