Ages & Stages

I was going out of my mind. My son, William – my sweet, loving, adorable son – would not nap in his crib! At 6.5 months old, I was spending hours out of my day holding him while he slept. He would fall asleep nursing and then wake up almost every time I put him down. Occasionally, I was able to gently lay him on our bed or on the couch and he would stay asleep. But that still meant that I needed to hover over him constantly to make sure he didn’t roll off. So I was spending all day playing with him, feeding him, or watching him sleep. While there is nothing I love more than spending time...

I’ve never been a competitive person. It’s actually a running joke in my family that I never really cared if I won a board game, or a softball game. This isn’t to say I didn’t want to do well in school, or in other endeavors, but I was never someone who really compared herself to others. Until I had a baby. When I was pregnant, reading about “What to Expect” and listening to people’s advice, I heard a lot of, “every baby goes at their own pace” and “don’t get caught up in numbers.” But when you are focusing on your baby’s development, there are a lot of numbers: height and weight percentiles, sitting up by this age, crawling by that...

Do not be ashamed. I think we have all done it. We never put that much thought into it. Our children are born and our lives go into survivor mode. We just want to bathe, so we bring the baby in their carrier just to be near us. We are trying to do the simple things, but our baby will only stop crying if they are near mommy. They are getting older. They turn one. We are trying to get ready for the day. We are rushing to put our clothes on and their clothes on, walking around half-dressed. It becomes a habit that we don't even think about. We are just doing what we can, trying to get out...

Every year as I’m burning the midnight oil to put the finishing touches on one of my sons’ birthday parties, I ask myself “Why do you do this to yourself year after year?!” Well, the answer is quite simple, really…it always boils down to “Why not?” I can’t think of a better reason to get together with friends and family than to celebrate the birth of the two most precious gifts God has ever given to me.  It’s an opportunity to bless and serve those who’ve loved on my kids throughout the year and to celebrate the life of the two littles I love the most.  Why would I not go all out on such an occasion? Some might say...

Last month, my husband and I took our baby to the beach for the first time. Almost every summer of my life, my family has spent a week on the Gulf Coast, usually in the Orange Beach/Pensacola area. We rent a condo and spend the week relaxing, swimming, reading, cooking, going out for dinner, and shopping at the outlet mall. It is a week that everyone looks forward to, and this year was particularly exciting because we brought along a new addition: our four month old son, William. I was very, very nervous about taking him. He had never slept anywhere but our house and I didn’t know how he would adjust. He had also been going through a bit...