My first Mother's Day

Motherhood.  What a strong word.  I never in my life could have predicted what it would be like to be a mother until I actually became one.  While it is definitely the hardest job in the world, it's also the most rewarding.  The smiles I get from my precious daughter on a daily basis makes my heart leap for joy and can bring me to tears (in a happy way of course) all at the same time. 

On top of being the hardest job, motherhood is also the scariest.  I mean, mothers (along with fathers) are entirely responsible for making sure our children are being brought up in the best possible ways to ensure their physical, emotional, and spiritual growth that will shape them into the people God meant them to be.  And of course we all want our children to grow up and be successful whether you define success as a monetary/career thing or an internal happiness thing.  Or both.  Their lives are being molded by our every word, move, action and non-action.  That's a scary thing!  How could God trust me enough to raise such a precious gift?  I am not worthy of such things.  I am not, nor do I claim to be, the perfect Christian.  But I do, however, know that I want to raise my children in Christ's love and also by example.  Even though this is a tough, scary job, I am going to do my absolute best to give my daughter the best life possible. 

Enough about the hard, scary part of motherhood.  Most importantly motherhood is SUCH a blessing!  God loves me and trusts me enough to put a human life in my hands to take care of, love and guide through her life.  WOW!  How awesome is that?  After eight months of being a mom, I  can say whole-heartidly that I have never been happier, more full of joy, and more thankful for my many blessings than I am now.  Millie is a pure reflection of my love for my husband and my Lord. 

That being said, I got to share in a GREAT day yesterday with my two favorite people; I got to spend my first Mother's day with my daughter and my husband.  And it was a perfect day!

We went to Landa Park (on the hottest day of the year thus far) and we braved the paddle boat...

We went out on the river for all of five minutes and then Millie decided she had ENOUGH!  But it was a great five minutes.  After the paddle boat we walked over to the other side of the river and fed the ducks.  Millie loves the ducks. 

Trevor and Millie relaxing by the river watching the ducks.

I got a card from Millie, one from Trevor, and one from Ellie and Max.  The dogs were so sweet to get me a card! I also got some beautiful pink roses and a brand new chopping knife that I needed BADLY!  Cooking without a sharp knife makes it very difficult!  And to my surprise, Trevor also got me a pink sapphire necklace (sapphire is Millie's birthstone).  I was very surprised and very touched. 

The rest of the day was very low key.  We just stayed at home and enjoyed each other.  I love any time that all three of us can spend together.  Even if we are doing nothing at home.

I had the greatest first Mother's Day and I am so happy.  Now we have to shift our focus to...

FATHER'S DAY! 

Get ready Trevor, Millie's got an exciting day planned...

8 Months Old!

At eight months old, Millie:

• is starting to say her consonants (babababa)  and we are working on Mama!
• is rolling all over the place but still shows no interest in crawling.
• loves Peek a Boo.
• is FINALLY sleeping through the night!
• Has extreme seperation anxiety.  She will not let me put her down without screaming.  The is a new thing.  It's been happening for about a week and I'm ready for this stage to be over.  However, I realize that there will come a day when I wish she would want to be with me all the time so I am trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel...
• likes toys that she can open and close (instead of hitting the buttons on her Learning Laptop, she likes to open and close the screen.  Love it.)
• sometimes will wave at people.  She's slowly starting to get it.
• still has only two teeth.
• puts everything in her mouth.

Uncle Dan

I don't really know how to properly begin this post so I guess I'll just write as things come.  I found out yesterday morning that my Great Uncle Dan passed away in the middle of the night.  He had esophageal cancer (among others) and after fighting for three years, lost his battle.  He was such a wonderful man who loved his family more than anything in the world.  Many of my childhood memories involve my Uncle Dan.  Especially Christmas time.  We are all going to miss him so much.  My sister, Millie and I are heading to Houston tomorrow for his funeral.  Thank you everyone for your prayers and kind words.  We are so blessed to have you all in our lives.

Ecclesiastes 3:1- 

For everything there is a season,
      a time for every activity under heaven.
 A time to be born and a time to die.
      A time to plant and a time to harvest.
 A time to kill and a time to heal.
      A time to tear down and a time to build up.
 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
      A time to grieve and a time to dance.
 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
      A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
 A time to search and a time to quit searching.
      A time to keep and a time to throw away.
 A time to tear and a time to mend.
      A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
 A time to love and a time to hate.
      A time for war and a time for peace.

Daniel Layne Craig, After a wonderful life and a heroic three-year fight against esophageal and kidney cancer, Daniel Layne Craig, 65, passed away Monday, May 2, 2011 with his loving wife Barbara Craig at his side. Dan was born March 2, 1946 in the Panhandle Texas town of Lark to the late E.S. "Buddy" and Lona Craig. Survivors include his wife, Barbara Craig; big brother Bob Craig and wife, Carole; his daughter Cristl Craig Hogg and husband Chad; and his son, Jason Allen Craig and wife Berenice. He is also survived by his loving stepchildren, Shane Henry, Chris Colvert, and Merideth Geisselbrecht and husband Brandon. "Dano" will also be greatly missed by his numerous grandchildren including Michaela, Alex, Tucker, Walker, Jack, Kathryn, Emma and Chris.
After earning the nickname "The Golden God of Groom" through his many high school accolades and academic achievements including multiple letters in Varsity sports, achieving many show awards in livestock, being named his high school valedictorian, and achieving an uncannily high SAT score, Dan left the small farming community of Groom to attend Texas Tech University for one year followed shortly by The University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with the designation of summa cum laude. From there he took his big brothers advice and continued his education at the Harvard Business School where he earned his MBA.
As the small town boy was enjoying a new career in finance at Texas Commerce Bank in Houston, the mother of his children, Laura tragically fell victim to breast cancer. Although a struggle, Dan refused to quit. He remarried his wonderful present wife Barbara together with her loving children. The house was a full and fun one, a new family, six children living under one roof. Throughout the following years Dan continued to enjoy an exciting career working with such companies as McKinsey & Co. and A.T. Kearney, traveling the world as Director of Business Administration. Finally, Dan settled down to give back to the community by pursuing one of his passions as he taught mathematics to high school students in the Spring Branch School District.
Dan was also preceded in death by his sister Dede Rea and her husband Jim and stepdaughter Cheryl Henry. Dan will be dearly missed by his wife, children, brother, grandchildren and many other family and friends. A Memorial Service celebrating Dan's life will take place beginning with a welcoming at 5:30pm followed by service at 6:30pm on Thursday, May 5, 2011, at the Memorial Oaks Funeral Home Chapel, 13001 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77079. Pastor Mikelson will officiate. In lieu of flowers, donations made to American Cancer Society for Esophageal or Kidney Cancer would be greatly appreciated.
 I love you Uncle Dan!

What Will it BEE?

Well by now most everyone knows that my little sister Adriane is pregnant.  She is due on August 18 and she is the cutest little prego chick out there.  She is now 22 weeks (I think) along and doing well.  She hasn't had the "easiest" pregnancy though.  She is one out of 400 pregnant women to get the Pupp rash.  For those who aren't familiar, it's an awful rash some pregnant women get that cannot be cured.  The only cure is to deliver the baby.  Poor girl has been itching like crazy for weeks now.  Luckily it hasn't spread to her face but it is everywhere else.  I can't imagine having to deal with that for months.  But, she is a trooper!  Much stronger than I am that's for sure.

Anyhoo, I had been planning on throwing Adriane a gender reveal party since the day I found out she was pregnant.  I went along with her and Smitty (her bf) to her ultrasound appointment and had the technitian write down the sex of the baby and seal it in an envelope.  It was tough not to bust it open on the way home but I didn't want to ruin the surprise so I managed to keep the secret concealed.  Last Saturday was the big reveal party and I must say, it was soo much fun for everyone to find out the sex of the baby together and to see Adriane and Smitty's reaction.  We had our parents and Smitty's parents there (they came in all the way from Kansas) along with Smitty's brother and tons of friends to help celebrate. 

I had a baker bake a cake and dye the inside of the cake either pink or blue that way when Adriane and Smitty both cut into the cake, that would be how they discover the news.  It was so exciting and wonderful.  Here are a couple of pictures of the cake and then after it was cut.



It was a Bee theme....get it?



Smitty and Adriane ready to cut the cake and find out what they are having!

ITS A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness a GIRL!!  Most eryone in my family was convinced it was a boy.  Why?  Becasue we have TONS of girls in our family and we thought surely, this time, it would be a boy.  Nope! lol I'm so excited that Millie will have yet another girl cousin just around her age to grow up with and be forever friends.  I think that brings our total up to seven girl cousins all within one year of age of each other.  WOW!  And guess the precious name they chose for her?  Charlee Sue Smith.  Sue is Smitty's mother's name.  I absolutely love it.  Millie + Charlee = BFF!

I had all of our guests come to the party dressed in either pink or blue to represent what they thought Adriane and Smitty were having.  Here's a picture of all the people in pink and all the losers in blue.  Millie and I both wore blue while Trevor wore pink.  I wonder how he knew?

The winners

The losers

I'm so excited for this next chapter in my sister's life.  I can't wait for her to become a mommy because I know that will bring us even closer together than we already are.  And I know that she will be an amazing mother.  We both have a great role model.  I love you sister!  I can't wait to meet my precious niece.

Daddy and Daughter

Millie helping Trevor water the plants in the back yard.  :)

A post for mommies

I have a question for you moms out there. 

WARNING:  it relates to breastfeeding so if you were thinking about reading this and seeing something sweet and cute, you were mistaken.  No need to read any further.

My precious Millie has turned into a biter.  Yes, she bit me five times while I tried nursing her before her bedtime tonight.  She bit, I freaked out and pulled her off, she cried out of fear, I tried to nurse again, repeat.  OUCH!!  She has bitten me a couple of times before this but never this many times at once! 

So my question to you breastfeeding mothers is: 

Did your baby bite you?  If so, did you continue to breastfeed?

I'm so stressed out over this because I'm not ready to give up yet; however, I don't think I can live with my baby biting me everytime I try to nurse either.  I don't want this beautiful, special bonding time with my daughter to turn into something I dread.  I've made it seven months but my goal was one year or at the very least eight months.  I know I can continue to pump and feed her that way for a while but it will only be a matter of time before that becomes too time consuming and I am an extremely impatient person; not to mention so is Millie.... like mother like daughter!

Any advice you have on what I should do will be greatly appreciated.  

Seven Months

Today Millie turned seven months old.  She is such a joy and makes me laugh until I cry.  It's so thrilling to watch her reach different milestones every month.  At seven months old, Millie:

• can sit up on her own
• can drink from her Nuby sippy cup
• will reach for different objects and twirl them in her hands
• switches objects from one hand to the other
• belly laughs when I tickle her and kiss her (sweetest sound I've ever heard)
• feeds herself from a spoon (well, more like make a mess with a spoon)
• is starting to move her legs while on her tummy as if she wants to get up on all fours.  She hasn't quite figured it out.
• wants to put EVERYTHING into her mouth
• grabs any and everything in sight
• absolutely loves her walker.  I spend a good chunk of my day chasing her around the house in that thing!
• loves her swing outside on the front porch
• loves to chase Max around the house in the walker
• just completely lights up when her daddy walks through the door
• is sooo close to sleeping through the night.  I only get up once around 3:00.
• probably weighs around 20 pounds
• makes a very high pitched squeal that sounds like she is trying to sing.  And actually does it a lot when music is playing.
• is so interactive in our Kindermusik class.  She loves it.
• can play by herself in her crib for a long time and can put herself to sleep
• is almost at the age where she can reach for me.  She lifts her arms up as if to say "pick me up" but hasn't quite reached out.
• is awesome

I can't get enough of her.  I love her so much.