Today I'm Not Listening...

Today I'm not listening to the "experts" who say don't let your baby fall asleep in a swing, she needs to learn to soothe herself to sleep.

I'm not listening to the "expert" who said to let her cry it out. This Momma has had about all the crying she can take in a 24 hour period.




I'm not listening to those who say holding her too much will spoil her. I don't think I could ever get enough of kissing her sweet cheeks and snuggling her close to me.






What I have learned over my 6 and a half years as a Mommy, is they eventually figure it out. She will sleep through the night at some point. She will fall into a nap routine. Yes, I have to foster these things, but seems to me that the older they get and the consistency in their routine, it all kind of falls into place.








I think I am writing this post to remind myself not to sweat Hannah's cat-napping and nighttime waking. We have made it this far. We are doing what works for our family and this Mommy's sanity.






After going to bed last night at 11:00 (right after Hannah's late night feeding) I was up at 1:10, 2:30, 3:30, 4:15, 5:40 and then up for the day at 7:00am. Hayley and Hannah wanted to see me several times last night, so today I am in survival mode.





Today, the swing maybe my very best friend.

From This to This

A friend from college, Jennifer over at Dance Like No One is Watching, wrote the sweetest post about her babies. Her kids being about 10 months apart in age, made me think back to Luke and Hayley as toddlers and how we survived those years. As crazy as they were, it has flown by in the blink of an eye(I know, so cliche) and I miss those babies in diapers. Yes, we have a new baby in diapers and I try to soak in every minute of her babyhood because I know that she too will be coming home from school one day and reading me a book, writing her name, and so on and so on.

So here it is.....

How did we go from this:

To this........

From this.......

To this........

From this:

To this:

From this.....


To this:

From this:

To this:

Snow Days!!!!

Hooray for a snow day (or 4 snow days). We are on day two of school being canceled and not sure about tomorrow. The Hampton Roads area got the most snow they have seen here in about 10 years, or so the local news says. The kids were so excited. This was the first snow that Hayley has ever had the chance to go out and play. We had a big snow in Fredericksburg just before we moved, but she was only 6 months old at the time and we didn't take her out in the cold. They made snow angels, threw snowballs and just had a wonderful time playing. Hannah Beth only got to watch from inside the house, where she was nice and cozy in her swing and didn't seem to mind that I didn't bother her for a trip out in the freezing, cold, white stuff.

This past weekend was also our annual Girls Weekend with three of my favorite girls in the world. Julie, Krista, Lindsay and I have been the best of friends since our days at North GA College (actually Linds and I have know each other since childhood when we took ballet and tap). When we get together it's like a day has not gone by since living in the Freshman dorm. Our weekend is always one of shopping, eating, laughing, eating some more, and just fun times! Well, we did not get to go out shopping due to the snow, but we had such fun just hanging out. I love these girls so much and always look forward to seeing them each year. I think we will be moving our weekend to warmer weather and maybe head to the beach (what do you think, J,K, and L?).