Crazy Socks & Writer's Block

My mom found all of us matching flannel shirts at Old Navy. She had to ask them to take one off of a mannequin to accomplish it, but she did. Aaron and I wore ours to church one Sunday and we were dying from the cuteness! After church he wanted out of those pants and was walking around like this like a cutie.

Sammy is a true hero. One night he changed Aaron's diaper a good ten minutes before it was bath time, so he decided to let him crawl around naked for a bit, something Aaron loves. I was in a different room and I heard him scream. He'd seen Aaron start pooping, ran to a completely different room to get a diaper, and got back in time to catch it before it hit the ground. I call that truly heroic. I couldn't stop laughing while being impressed that he got the diaper in time.  Then, while Sammy was filling up the bath tub, Aaron crawled over to me in the kitchen where I was refilling my water bottle and peed in front of the fridge. Sammy cleaned that up too. 😂 We learned our lesson on letting Aaron crawl around naked, that's for sure. 

This is the story of the time I almost died in the middle of Michael's. I was there getting something for my birthday and Michael's was having a huge sale. I've been wanting a bulletin board for Aaron's room for awhile so I wanted to see if they had one for a good deal so I could do something like this This is a bulletin board I already had in my house for my jewelry I walked onto an aisle and it was made completely of bulletin boards, and they were pretty. I stopped to look at one with a golden border that said it was 60% off. I pulled it out to look for the price, but the one next to it on the bottom shelf started to move. I set the bulletin board against the cart by Aaron's feet while I tried to fix it.  More bulletin boards started to move after that on the bottom shelf and I caught them with my leg, trying to hold them in place while I put them back. Then, the bulletin boards on the top shelf started falling out. I caught them with one arm and t...

Aaron's first birthday party was wonderful.  I wanted to throw a party large enough to invite all of our friends to and all the people who supported us during this first year of his life. But as far as logistics, we couldn't fit all of them in our apartment, so luckily I was able to reserve a picnic area at a church.  At first, Sammy wanted to do a BBQ but I really wanted to do a Dragons Love Tacos party after the children's book. At first I got too scared by the logistics, but then I decided screw it. Life is short. I'm going to do what I want. And so I did.  I'm not going to lie, I stressed a bit about the party. I wanted to make it enjoyable for everyone. I wanted to make awesome food, but on a tight budget. And I kept thinking of all the things that people might be able to insult. The cake wasn't fancy enough, the tablecloths, I didn't have games for everyone, etc.. Now, I'm not going to lie, there was some drama about whether tortillas were...

I've been reading and listening to a bunch of different books and podcasts about parenting. I'm being very selective in my choices so I don't get too, too overwhelmed. There are so many things I wish I'd learned for the first year of Aaron's life before situations came up, so I want to be a little bit more prepared as we move into toddler-dom. I know that this will in no way prepare me for every single situation out there, but it's been so good for Sammy and I to have discussions about our opinions on how we want to approach things. It's been such a relief to see that we're on the same page on a lot of things! Some things I want to remember that I've learned are from the book Nurture Shock- not to give out praise for every little thing so that they don't become praise driven. Kids who are only seeking praise often won't take risks because they're scared of failure.  When I do give praise, give it over something they can control. Do...

This birthday was probably one of the best yet. In the morning I told Aaron that last year for my birthday, he gave me heartburn, so could he give me something better this year? He really came through with the best morning snuggles.  He held onto me so tight and after he finished his bottle he snuggled me for a few minutes, something he rarely does anymore.  Sammy made me chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and took the day off from work to hang out with me.  My mom and Brinley came over and watched Aaron so Sammy and I could go to Top Golf. I've been wanting to go there for a long time and they finally built one near us.  It was so much fun! I actually did pretty good the first game, beating Sammy by twenty points. But holy moly, it's hard to hit golf balls! My back was starting to hurt so bad and then my arms were so tired. I scored 41 points the first game, and by the third game I scored 3 points because I just couldn't do it! Sammy did really good...

Goodbye 25. You were quite the year. My golden year to be exact. It was funny to watch some of my friends have giant surprise birthday parties with golden balloons on their golden birthdays, and to spend mine on the couch watching Jane the Virgin until my mom and sister came to visit me. I had heartburn so bad all I wanted to eat was a ham sandwich from Jimmy Johns but I could barely do that with a ton of Tums. I was pregnant and thought I was going to give birth the day before and wanted that baby out of there. I know I say it every year, but I truly think 25 will be my biggest year of growth in the space of a year. I became a mom that year.  I had to completely rediscover myself. My body changed, my hair changed, my tastes changed. I read mostly adult novels this year and a ton of non fiction. Who even am I?!  I've become okay with not wearing makeup, with taking the shortest showers ever.  I have completely new friends it seems and love looking at other pe...