2 Years

Our anniversary is coming up on Monday and it’s had me thinking about how different things are just 2 years later. And thinking about where we were and what we doing this time 2 years ago. 

It’s 2021 and there are only a few days until our wedding. I’ve finished sub plans for the school days I’ll be missing. We’ve been trying to get packed for the long weekend, not wanting to forget a thing. This involves a lot of me wandering around the house talking to myself. 

“Is my rehearsal dinner dress here? Or did I leave that at mom’s?” 

“Did I end up ordering the cake topper from Etsy?”

“Where did I stash my wedding shoes?” 

“Let me go get our marriage license out before I forget”

I’m doing my best to make sure Allan remembers all the pieces to his tux, especially socks, don’t forget socks. And the groomsmen gifts, and the wedding rings, and the information for the hotel and let’s not forget about the dogs! Loading up the car to make the trek from PA to SC. 

The months, weeks, days and moments leading up to a wedding are so full of fluttering chaos. The type of busy where you just flit from one thing to the next, giving a little bit of time here, a little focus there hoping that everything will turn out just right. 

But those days are also filled with the most beautiful kinds of anticipation and joy. The kind that rises up inside you till you’re about to burst. The kind that radiates in a glow on your face, through the giant smiles that seem plastered on in their permanence when talking about your fiancé. The kind of anticipation that brings butterflies to your stomach in the best sort of way. Feelings that you want to hold onto forever. 

And I think your wedding day is there to do just that. To anchor you and your husband to that joy. As we move through life and through the early years of marriage, we realize that our anniversary is just a day. An important day for sure. But it’s just a day. Our wedding is only one snapshot in the bigger picture of our marriage. And while it’s significant as the starting point of our forever, I’d like to go back and tell myself that it won’t be the peak of the anticipation, butterflies, smiles or the glow. That the coming days, while they may be less glamorous, will be full of these types of moments. 

The smile that radiates with pride when hearing about an accomplishment at work. 

The growing anticipation of a positive pregnancy test. 

The abundant glow that radiates for days as we share the news of our growing family. 

The flit and fluttering as we check off to dos on our moving list. 

The joy at an ultrasound.

The sweet smiles shared over coffee and the news on a Sunday morning in a new home.

The familiar comfort of your favorite person next to you on the couch watching jeopardy. 

The overwhelm at holding our son in our arms. 

The reassuring word while we figure out the parenting thing. 

A kiss on the way out the door.

A phone call from the road when he’s traveling. 

Date night in our own kitchen while the baby sleeps. 

It’s those same feelings from our wedding day, just reshaped to meet us in our everyday life. But always reminding us of the commitment we made, the love we share and the promises we’re keeping. I couldn’t have predicted what our life would like today when we said “I do” 2 years ago. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Cheers to 2 years with my best friend, and forever more to go! 

Christmas Magic

Christmas with a little one is extra special and we jam packed as much of it into our season as we could. We had plans to travel for the week of Christmas and so we decided before leaving that we’d do our own little family Christmas at home just the three of us. No need to lug all the bigger gifts with us and it also gave us a time to enjoy the holiday season as our own little family outside of the craziness. 

We stuffed James’ stocking and he wore Christmas jammies to bed and we brought him downstairs in the light of the Christmas tree to see what Santa and mommy and daddy had brought him. He also got to open some family gifts and hubby and I opened our gifts from one another as well. Our main gift to little man was this super sweet radio flyer push wagon. Eventually he’ll be using it as he learns to walk and as he gets older to cart around his favorite things but for now we’ll pull him around in it while he laughs and adorably holds onto the sides. 

He was of course a big fan of all the wrapping and mostly wanted to play with the paper and bows. So we enjoyed a slow and sweet “Christmas” morning watching him crinkle paper and chew on his new toys and loved every minute! 

The next stop on our Christmas tour was my in-laws. We headed there mid week before Christmas to spend a few days. There were more gifts, more wrapping to crinkle, old friends to visit and an aunt and uncle to finally meet!  Hubby’s parents had also refinished his rocking horse from his own childhood for JB and that was a special present. He enjoyed it for a few brief moments before the tears started but we know it will be well loved as he gets older. 

The final stop was my parents’ house where we spent a few days with them as well as my sister’s family. This included plenty of cousin time! We got to finally meet the newest member of the family who is the sweetest little thing and I am so excited for JB to have a. Cousin so close in age to grow up with. He also thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with his older cousins who he finds positively hilarious and the best entertainment. 

I took exactly one picture of JB on Christmas morning…mom fail. But I was too busy enjoying the morning, and keeping him from eating the wrapping paper. 

It was extra special to have my nephews there because Christmas is more fun with little ones who believe in all the magic. My mom did snap this photo of my sister and I with our kiddos on Christmas Eve in their matching jammies and it makes my heart so happy! 

This year will always be one of the sweetest Christmases for us and I’m glad we were able to stretch it out and make it last! 

2023 Thoughts

I still need to recap Christmas but that feels like a lot. So for today I am sharing some of my (rambling) thoughts on the new year. I love a new year! Fresh start, clean slate, the refreshed desire to organize, declutter and be more efficient. I have always been one to set a resolution and prefer an actual resolution as opposed to choosing a word for the year or something in that vein. But in the past, I’ve often made large sweeping resolutions that, like many people’s, get tossed to the wayside by mid February (or earlier). 

In 2021, my resolution was to read through the Bible in a year and I did! I loved the feeling of having actually accomplished something that I set my mind to 365 days prior. There were bumps and hiccups and days (more than a few) I had to play catch up but I made it. And I think part of the reason is because it was a very actionable goal. It wasn’t abstract or a focused on something too general. There was a specific goal, a specific number of pages to read and a plan for how to do it. I am sure I also set a goal last year but honestly can’t remember what it was, which tells me I probably didn’t stick to it. But hey, I birthed a human so I feel confident I grew exponentially in 2022 whether I stuck to my resolution or not. 

In thinking about this years goal though, I wanted to get back to something actionable. A friend of mine who is an author, shares a weekly newsletter that shows up in my inbox on Monday mornings. (I highly recommend you check her out- she’s a phenomenal writer!) A couple of weeks ago she shared her own thoughts on resolutions. She talked about focusing on something small that could still make change in your life. She shared her pervious year’s goal (get dressed every day- like more than yoga pants) and her plans for this year (switch to decaf after her morning coffee) and while they were things that many would consider small/ordinary/insignificant, I could really see how these small changes could impact your day to day as a whole. Allowing her to feel more prepared for the day and less jittery throughout. So I tired to think of something in this same wavelength. And I landed on…wash my face. 

Now you might read that and be concerned…”Maggie, you don’t already wash your face?” and rest assured, I do wash my face. But not always as consistently as they tell you to. I know I should wash it first thing in the morning and before I go to bed. But in all honestly, it mostly just gets washed in the shower (where I now keep my face wash because I’ve accepted that’s who I am). I don’t wear makeup or other products regularly so I’ve never felt super guilty about skipping the evening cleanse and thankfully I have also been blessed with pretty good skin that doesn’t suffer many breakouts or other ailments. However, I am in my 30s now and I want to take care of myself and my skin. So this year, I’m going to try to be better. I will most likely still wash my face in the shower in the morning, a habit I don’t see the point in changing. But I am going to consistently wash my face each night before bed. It feels small, but I think my skin will thank me for it in the long run! I also am hoping that beginning to set up some more consistent morning and evening routines will help me day feel bookended with order and calm as opposed to rush or exhaustion. 

And while that is my one resolution- wash my face everyday- the thing I will look back on and say yes I did it, there are other things in my life that I want to tend this year too. Not things I am making specific measurable resolutions for, but things I want to be mindful of in 2023. 

One of the biggest of these is the time I spend on my phone- both the quantity and quality. In general, I want to spend less time on my phone. I know I’m on it too much, I know I need to be on it less. Having JB around helps with this goal partly because I just can’t be on my phone as much when I’m hanging with him and also because he’s a big motivator for why I don’t want to be on it all the time. I don’t want him to ever think I’d rather be doing something on my phone than enjoying time with him. Also, he wants to chew on it all the time and well I’m sure that is super germy so there’s another reason. I’m not setting a number of minutes/hours I can be on it, I just know in my head I want to be more conscious of how much I’m on it and be more purposeful about when those times are. I also want to be more mindful of the quality of my phone use- so less social media and mindless candy crush and more kindle app, audiobooks/podcasts, blogs etc. 

I also hope to continue working on decluttering. Hubby and I have done a few sweeps of the house to declutter and donate some of what we don’t use but I still find myself wanting less. So I’m hoping throughout the year we can continue really considering the things we own and deciding what works for us in our life and what could we give away to allow for more space and room to live life as a family. 

And as always, I think I say it every year, I want to read and write more frequently. Hopefully the less phone time will help with this one but I want to meet (or exceed) my goodreads goal this year and do my best to blog more consistently. I give myself plenty of grace with the blogging because there just isn’t always time (or motivation) but I enjoy the art of writing and want to push myself to keep that muscle strong! 

This was long and wordy and mostly a giant brain dump of what I’ve been thinking about over the last few days but I do find that having your goals out in the world helps motivate you to reach for them. Cheers to 2023, 2022 will be tough to beat but I can’t wait to see what it holds! 

A NYE Letter to My Baby Boy

I do some blogging for a baby boutique called Caden Lane. It has been a fun way to work on my writing craft and give me an outlet for adulting while I’m at home with the little man. Most of my articles are more “technical” if you will- how-tos, tips and tricks, product reviews etc. But I wrote this article for New Years that is full of all the feels. 

If you’d like to read my letter, head over here! 

This year has been so special and yet somehow still I know the best is yet to come with our little man. I have loved 2022, full of sweet baby snuggles, plenty of worries, and yet so, so much joy! I can’t wait to see what 2023 has for us. 

I’m so appreciative to those of you that read along with me here. I write mostly so these days don’t ever escape my memory but I love having you right alongside me! Happy new year everyone! 

6 Months

I’m behind on these pretty much every month but this month takes the cake! JB turned 6 months…10 days ago! As I said, I’m behind. But I think we all understand that, given the craziness of the holiday season. Trying to get everything ready for baby’s first Christmas, preparing for traveling, wrapping gifts and all the baking of course- it keeps you busy! 

6 Month Stats

Weight: So interestingly enough, he was 18lbs 8oz. This surprised me since he weighed more than that when we went in the month before for his ear infection. But I guess the fact that he’d been weighed with clothes (and apparently a full diaper) must have thrown things off at that appointment. Even still, being 18lbs 8oz does put him in the 70% for weight so he’s still growing, growing, growing! 

Height: His height curve isn’t moving on as steep of an incline and he measured in at 25.5 in putting him int he 35% for height. 

Likes

He loves his activity center and getting to sit up on the floor to play. He likes to chew on anything and everything he can get his hands on. He loves to watch Bo play and chase toys and is all around enamored with anything Bo does. (Bo is still undecided about him, but I think he’ll come around). He likes his toys that make noise and play music. He likes to drink water out of his special cup but really would like to drink out of whatever anyone else is drinking . He loves when his daddy gets home from work and getting to go out on walks. He’s enjoying trying solid food and so far loves hummus and broccoli best but he also loves puréed prunes! And as always…he still loves bath time!

Dislikes

He is still a pretty happy guy for the most part but we have discovered, with the introduction of food, that he does NOT like having his face wiped and his belly isn’t so sure about the change in food but we’re figuring it out. He has also started trying to crawl and is not a fan of the fact that he hasn’t actually figured it out yet. He gets pretty frustrated when trying to move and he doesn’t go anywhere. 

Sleeping, Eating and Playing

His sleep has been up and down lately. He’s had some good streaks of sleeping through the night but he’s also recently gone back to waking up around 1:30 and then being up for the day pretty early around 5:30 so we’re working on figuring that out. But he naps pretty well during the day which is great! He usually takes 3 naps- 1 a pretty long one and the other two around 45 minutes a piece. He usually up for the day by 6:30 at the latest and is usually down for the night by 7:30. Now that he’s older his feeding and sleeping schedules have spread out so it isn’t always sleep, eat, play, repeat. He tends to eat closer to 3-4 hours (but sometimes till more often). And when he isn’t sleeping or eating, he’s playing. He is usually awake for anywhere from 2-3 hours between naps- usually closer to 2 in the morning and closer to the 3 later in the day. 

Favorite Moments:

I think my favorite moment would be taking him to see Santa! I wrote a post all about that with some darling photos to go with it. But aside from or Santa excitement, getting to start on solid food has been exciting! It’s fun to see him trying new things and being excited about food. He takes after his daddy and loves red meat! His first thanksgiving was also this month! I’m also loving that he is sitting independently, it makes it so fun to play with him! And while I don’t know that I would say it was a favorite moment for me (it may have been for hubby) it definitely seems like a noteworthy moment, he spent his first night away from me this month. He had a boys weekend with daddy while I went to see a friend for one night. He loved the extra time with daddy! 

One half of a whole year feels monumental. It seems like he just arrived but also like he’s been here forever. I want to slow time down, but I also can’t wait for what’s coming. I love every minute with this sweet boy! 

Christmas Magic

A few weeks ago, we got to take JB to see Santa for the first time. Obviously he is completely unaware of all things Christas but I love getting to experience all of these firsts with him. Hubby and I often comment that even though he won’t remember this, we will. And that’s just as important. So I booked a 5 minute time slot at a local boutique that was doing Santa photos. And let me tell you, I think this man may well be the real Santa because he was a good one! 

We put him in a red sweater onesie and he looked like a very cozy Christmas baby. As we were headed in, they let us know that they find with the little ones it’s actually best to bring them in backwards so they don’t see Santa before they’re on his lap. Supposedly it keeps them from crying on the spot and at least means you’ll get one or two tear free photos. It definitely made me giggle as we reversed JB onto Santa’s lap but it turned out to be pretty good advice! 

We managed to get a few darling shots of him being extra curious about Santa’s fluffy sleeves and looking up  at hubby and I. 

Things started taking a turn when he looked behind him and realized who was holding him and he was none too sure about him. We did have some brief tears. Which honestly, he’s still adorable even when a bit upset.

He made a pretty good recovery though with his dad making silly faces and noises at him for some distraction. So overall I would say it was a huge success! 

We’ve had a delightful time putting up all the Christmas decorations, getting presents under the tree and showing JB all of the Christmas magic. 

 

Nothing makes me happier than my sweet little guy in his Christmas pjs (a hand me down from his older cousins) sitting (his favorite new skill) in the beautiful Christmas tree morning light! 

5 Months

I had several posts I was hoping to write between 4 months and 5. I had hoped to share a little bit more about JB’s baptism and also about Halloween and our recent trip to Charleston. I am still hoping to get to them (we’ll see!) but for now, it seems time has flown and it’s already time to share 5 month stats. The way time flies blows my mind. Some of the days (or a lot of them) feel long but when I get to one of these posts it’s like I can’t figure out where the days have gone! 

Five Month Stats

Weight: 18lbs 14 oz…Now he was fully dressed during this weight check since it was for a sick visit (more on that later). Usually he gets weighed in nothing so it may be a little skewed but either way I think we can agree he isn’t missing any calories! 

Height: No height this month since he hasn’t been measured at the doctor and I wasn’t able to find the measuring tape at home. So stay tuned for next month! 

Show me a happier baby! 

Likes:

He still loves being outside! Which with the weather turning is starting to become a little trickier. But he is so happy out there so we’re bundling up and going out there anyways! He also has started using his activity center and he’s a big fan of the little piano on there. He still loves his mat but is definitely enjoying more belly time than last month. He is enjoying going for walks more and is also starting to be more interested in books which is extra exciting for this book loving mama. A few of his current favorites are Goodnight Moon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and If I Were a Dinosaur. 

Something else to add to his list of likes is chewing on everything and anything in sight!

Dislikes:

He is still a genuinely happy baby with few dislikes. However a slightly unfortunate change we’re noticing is he isn’t as happy in the car as he used to be. Because he’s awake for much longer stretches now that also means he doesn’t just go to sleep as soon as we hit the road. And he is a busy boy so he seems to get bored during any longer car rides. He’s still good just out and about town but we took a few longer drives this past month and did have to deal with a few bouts of a very unhappy baby. He is also not a fan of antibiotics. Poor buddy had an ear infection and giving him his medicine was a bit like wrestling a mini alligator. 

Sleeping, Eating and Playing:

We are moving into a more predictable routine and I don’t want to jinx myself but it is very exciting! He is able to stay awake for much longer stretches so he’s awake anywhere from 2-3 hours in between naps- usually a little closer to 2 hours in the morning and right before bed but longer in the middle of the day. Right now (as in the last few days) he is taking 3 naps a day. He is getting up around 6-6:30 (a literal answered prayer after weeks and weeks of 5-5:30 wake ups). He takes his first nap anywhere between 8-9 and this is usually his longest nap but that’s not a guarantee. Once he’s up it’s eating and playtime and a lot of times this is when I like to get out for the day for errands and such. He will also take an afternoon nap somewhere around 12-1 followed by more eating and playtime and then one more nap (usually a short one) around 4-4:30. Bedtime is still somewhere between 7-8 depending on where that last nap fell. Then he will usually sleep well for the night with typically only one wake-up to eat sometime around 4ish usually. Then he’ll do his last little stretch before waking for the day. During playtime we do a lot of mat time both on his back and his belly. And woohoo he is finally rolling! So we’re practicing that skill as much as we can! We’ll head outside when we can, or go for a walk. We run errands, play in his activity center, sit in his high chair for practice while I make lunch, read books, FaceTime his cousins and anything else I can think of to keep him entertained! 

Favorite Moments:

This was an easy one this month! We went to Charleston for homecoming at The Citadel and we got to take JB to the beach for his first time. He got to see the ocean and put his feet in the cold ocean water. He got to squish his toes around in the sand and hear the delightfully peaceful sounds of the waves and I loved getting to show him! It was also a particularly special and meaningful trip in my own heart because the last time we were there was 3 years ago. It was also for homecoming and it was the start of mine and hubby’s relationship. And it was so sweet to me, to be back there 3 years later married with our baby boy. It had me looking back over the last few years in awe at God’s goodness in my life. 

Next month is going to be a big one…his first Thanksgiving is coming up! And his first food is most likely going to be thrown in there anytime now so I can’t wait for the excitement that is coming!