Craving More

I think I can safely say that as humans we are always craving more. I know this is certainly true in my life. I often find myself in the middle of a struggle between being content but also desiring growth and more out of this life I am living. In my nearly 30 years of life, I have definitely experienced various seasons; there have been seasons of plenty and seasons of need. It recently clicked for me that until I stop craving earthly treasures and crave a strong, fresh closeness with God that emptiness will never fully go away. Currently my family is in what I call a time of transition. I can literally feel it. I can feel being in the middle, being squished, unable to breathe at times, and waiting for what's next. Normally I would wait to write down my thoughts until after the transition and until after I've grown and learned some life lessons. I'm not new to this season of transition. I've made it through several in my almost 3 decades of life. I'm choosing to write now because I've learned there is still beauty in the middle and in the struggle. Do I want answers? Yes. Do I want to know the plan and be able to share it with my praying family and friends? Yes. Right now I'm learning that I need to be content in the transition. I need to be alert in the transition. God IS preparing me for something big. He is calling me to trust Him and to be patient. His Word gets me through my daily struggle while I wait for answers. Where do you want us? What do you want us to do? How can we bless others? Only God knows what tomorrow holds. My trust in God grows daily as I'm learning to be content with what we have but continuing to press on toward the prize. I crave closeness with God because He is the only one who can hold me up when I'm at my lowest and worry begins to creep in. In James chapter 4 we read Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lords will, we will live and do this or that." These verses speak so strongly to me in this season of my life. I only want to live Gods plan for my life. In growing closer to Him, He will guide me down the path he prepared for me. "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21. No matter how grand of an amazing life I can imagine for myself God has an even better plan! This brings me so much hope! God does not want us to just settle with what's easy. It's good to work hard and strive for excellence. But balance is required. In striving for excellence we need to check our motives and never allow greed or comparison to be a driving force in life. Craving more out of life begins with craving closeness with our Heavenly Father. He wants to bless us. He wants us to rely on him and trust him. Learning to be content no matter what season of life I am in is crucial to staying positive and hopeful. "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content; I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11-13. So thankful that Gods grace is mighty enough to bring us through every situation imaginable. I truthfully look forward to the next step that God is preparing us for but until that day arrives I will be content and alert during this season of transition. This season of feeling unsettled. I'm reminded of my daughters first year of life and even the beginning of her second year. In the middle of it I was often overwhelmed by everything. I look back now and am thankful for the precious time I had with her. Sure I was often behind on laundry, dishes, and cleaning and money was definitely tight but God always provided and He still provides all we need. Thankfully I was able to truly enjoy multiple moments of simply being in her presence, watching her play and enjoy life. Such simple and yet profound moments with my daughter that I will cherish forever. God is so good and so faithful and I know I can trust in Him always. While I am waiting for answers I am thankful for Gods peace in my life especially when there are so many unknowns. I love Philippians chapter 4. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I challenge you to always guard your hearts and minds no matter what season of life you are in. Don't let Satan steal your joy. I know I am still a work in progress. I also know that the closer I grow to God the closer I am to becoming the person He created me to be. Lord you are the potter and I am the clay. I pray your will Lord will be done in my life. The joy of the Lord truly is my strength.

MKs FIRST Swimming Lesson

Mary Katherine is now 19 months old! Woah! That happened fast! We decided to take advantage of a great opportunity last week! My sister's daughter is taking swim lessons from our Aunt and invited us to come too! We went to Leafmore pool which is where my Mom and Aunt grew up swimming and so did my siblings and I. It was very special bringing her there for her first official swim lesson. My Aunt is a certified swim instructor and she is the Swim Coach for a local high school. I was very impressed with how well MK did! She worked on kicking her legs in the water, blowing bubbles, going under the water without taking in any water, jumping from the ledge, and floating on her back! It was such a fun day!



Vickery Creek Trail and Waterfall

I am so happy that I stepped out of my comfort zone last week and went on so many adventures with my daughter and family and friends. Just last week alone we visited a local botanical garden, waterfall, did swimming lessons, toured a local whiskey distillery, and had a beautiful Sunday in Midtown Atlanta! For my daughter and I our biggest adventure was the hike to see the Vickery Creek Waterfall near Roswell Mill. If you live near the Atlanta area, you should definitely visit this beautiful nature trail, covered bridge, mill ruins, and waterfall! MK and I had a blast with some of our friends! It was about an hour drive to Roswell Mill, but it was so worth it once we arrived!! We hiked about 2 miles down and then 2 miles back. I wore MK for a good bit of the hiking on my back, and she loved it!! We both loved seeing the awesome waterfall, but MKs favorite part was definitely playing in the water of the creek near a little sandy beach part of the hike! I look forward to many more adventures with my little girl by my side!



This is me

I few years ago I took the Meyers Briggs personality test and discovered I'm an INFJ. That stands for introverted intuitive feeling judging. I took this before I became a mommy. I was curious if it had changed at all. For the most part it didn't change. I'm a little more relaxed than I used to be but not as much as I wish I was. That perfectionist tendency still comes out occasionally. I'm sure a second child  would cause me to have to relax much more, but I'm not quite ready for #2! I have my hands full with #1! If you've never taken this little test you should! It's surprisingly accurate!

Idealist
Doer
Dreamer
Vision
Practicality
Concerned about relationships/humanity
Takes disproportionate amount of responsibility
Will suddenly withdraw into self
Gentle
Caring
Complex
Intuitive
Artistic
Creative
Lives in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities
Orderly
Private, difficult to understand
Ignores others opinions
Perfectionist
Believes in constant growth
Sensitive

Some of these are positive and some aren't. They are all still true to some degree. I feel that motherhood can be lonely, but then I think maybe it's my personality that causes this. I've decided this week to step out of my comfort zone for my sake and my daughters sake. I've planned outings for she and I for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This is a huge deal for me. I'm much more comfortable just staying home all day until I go to work in the afternoon. My daughter deserves better. I have no idea how these outings are going to go but I'm hoping for the best!

January 2016

Wow! It's been over 6 months since I last blogged! I really want to blog more this year but I'm not sure if it's going to happen. The end of 2015 was absolutely crazy for so many reasons. The biggest change was our HUGE move from Alabama to Georgia! We are finally starting to get adjusted to the time change and our new living conditions!! Another big change is that I went back to work after our move to Georgia!! I love my new job, but definitely miss my little girl while I am away from her. Thankfully we moved closer to my family and my mom is able to watch her while I am at work!! Speaking of MK she has experienced many milestones and we love watching her grow and her personality blossom! The biggest change or milestone for her was WALKING!!! At 13 months we had a super fast and adventurous walker. She started taking a few steps around 11 months but nothing major until after Thanksgiving. Now she thinks she's miss independent and is in to EVERYTHING!! My whole world suddenly became like a land mine of possible dangers. It has truly been a test of my trust in Jesus to keep her safe when my eyes are not on her. Mary Katherine fills our lives with so much joy and laughter!! I thank God for her everyday!!! I can't believe that as of January 18 she will have been ours for 14 whole months!! Thank you Lord for choosing me to be MKs mommy!! I look forward to all the new adventures that 2016 will bring us!! One of many goals is to really focus on seeking God FIRST!! He has been so good and faithful to me!! I'm working on putting God first, my husband second, my daughter third, and growing spiritually deeper. I am standing on Gods promises for my life and I know 2016 is going to be a GREAT year!! I hope you too are enjoying a great new year!!!

Summer 2015

This summer is flying by! We celebrated you turning 7 months old Mary Katherine and Father's Day all in the same weekend! We are looking forward to your first beach adventure in July! We love watching you play and explore your world around you! Mommy and Daddy love you so much baby girl!

Life Lately

6 Months Old

My beautiful baby girl you are 6 months old! Mommy is having a hard time accepting that you are half a year old 😞 Where does the time go? Mommy and Daddy love watching you grow and learn about the world around you. Your little personality is really starting to shine and it just makes me smile. You act so much like me. I kind of had a feeling this would happen to me one day. God really does have a sense of humor. You are very eager to do things on your own Miss Independent. You can go from being super happy to super angry in about 10 seconds. You are not what I would call laid back or chill. If you are happy, you let us know and likewise if you are not happy. You are very vocal and loud. We love to listen to you 'talk'. We have so many conversations with you 😃 You are very observant. You are also a quick learner. You can roll from front to back and from back to front. You are almost sitting up without support. You love playing with your toys and definitely have your favorites. You have 4 teeth and more will be cutting through soon. You have your front bottom and front top teeth before your 6th month birthday. You LOVE to eat. You have now tried sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, bananas, apples, and pears. Up next you will try peas and then peaches. We bought your high chair the first week in May and you LOVE it! You also still love bath time. This makes Mommy so happy because you HATED baths at first. Baby girl you truly are my sunshine and brighten all my days. Your smile and laugh melt me everytime. You also love giving big slobbery kisses and I adore them! Mary Katherine you bring Mommy and Daddy so much joy. I thank God for you everyday!


You are 16lbs. and 28 in. long


Mommy loves spending her summer with you!

5 months on April 18, 2015

My dear sweet precious beautiful Mary Katherine you will be 5 months old in 6 days. Time is truly flying by. Mommy went back to work on March 2nd and our lives have become a little crazy. Any free time I have I choose to be with you so that means I haven't blogged in a really long time. I want to do a quick update because you have had a big week! Thank goodness it's almost summer!! At your 4 month check up you were 13lbs. and 26in. long!! Here's a wild comparison: Gigi told Mommy that I was 14lbs. at my 12 month check up!! Needless to say you are long and strong like your Daddy! Last week you rolled from back to front and from front to back!! You are also cutting your first two teeth!! Sadly Mommy had to put away all your 3 month clothing last week because you are wearing 6 month clothing now. You are still in size 2 diapers. You mainly need the 6 month clothing because you are so long! You have also had a few nights where you slept 8 hours straight!!! This was wonderful!! Unfortunately teething has upset you many nights. MK we love you so much!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!! You have the sweetest laugh and most beautiful smile! You are truly my greatest blessing from God!!! I am so happy I get to be your Mommy! Happy 5 months!

3 Months Old

My Precious Mary Katherine

Where has the time gone? It is so hard to believe you are already 3 months old.

Actually you were 3 months old on 2/18/15; Mommy is a little behind.

We think you are about 13lbs. but you do not go back to the doctor until the end of March so I am not certain about your height or weight. You are in size 2 diapers. This has been such a great month with you. You are so much happier these days. Your smile melts my heart every time I see it. Mommy was able to get a haircut this month, and she loves it! I go back to work on March 2nd, and I don't even want to think about it. I am going to miss you SO much. Thankfully SUMMER will be here soon. Praying the work days go by quickly. I am just so proud of you my beautiful little girl. You love putting weight on your legs. You love to make all kinds of noises. I think you may end up talking more than Mommy does! You wake up at 6am every day and you are all smiles and ready to play. You are finally beginning to sleep better PRAISE THE LORD! I love watching you learn and grow every day. Mommy and Daddy love you so much sweet girl!


For some strange reason I am not able to upload photos. I will have to try again later.



2 Months Old

My precious Mary Katherine you are now 2 months old. This is quite difficult for me to believe. I feel like you were born just yesterday! These have been the best 2 months of my life. I love you so much and every day with you is truly a gift. We take you to the doctor tomorrow so I don't know your exact measurements. I would guess you are 12lbs and you are very long. You were 21 inches when you were born which is already pretty long. BUT I know that you are even longer now. In your 2nd month you started to lose your hair on top of your head. Now it's starting to grow back. You had a terrible case of baby acne so bad that your worried new mama thought it was a rash and took you to the pediatrician. Your face is finally clearing up and now I can't stop kissing your super soft sweet cheeks. You still love tummy time. In fact you are so strong that you are pushing yourself around your little play mat. We put you down in one spot and you slowly slide to the other side. Your neck and legs are so strong I imagine you will be crawling before long. You are currently napping in your rock n play sleeper. This is amazing because this time last week you were miserable. You weren't eating or sleeping well and I knew something was wrong. I took you to the pediatrician and you were diagnosed with GERD. My poor baby has terrible acid reflux. We put you on medicine and it has finally slowly started working. We have some good days and bad days. Your eating and sleeping is slowly getting better. Your little esophagus is still healing so we are trying to be patient. Mama just wants you better because I hate seeing you in pain. Because of the acid reflux your eating schedule is still not quite established. We have to be flexible and that's ok. We bought you a swing and it helped until the motor stopped working right. Now we have to deal with exchanging it for a swing that works well. During your 2nd month we also had your baby dedication at church. We were a little worried you would cry the whole time, but you did such a great job. You didn't cry at all while we were up front. BUT when we tried to take family pictures after the service you cried non-stop. So needless to say we don't have a bunch of cute pictures, but I will always remember how beautiful you were in your Daddy's arms. Mary Katherine we love you so much and look forward to each new day with you. I truly treasure every moment with you. I had to have an emergency appendectomy last week so tonight your Daddy bathed you for the first time. It was quite an adventure. Your Daddy has been so awesome since I came home from the hospital. I can't lift or carry you and that breaks my heart but I am loving all this sweet precious time you are getting with your Daddy. You smiled at him today and I will forever remember him smiling back at you. The two of you together melts my heart. You two are my whole world. I plan to post an update after your doctor's appointment tomorrow. Mary Katherine Mommy and Daddy love you so much!! You are truly our best adventure yet. Happy 2 months!!!

Such a Wonderful Christmas

This Christmas has truly been so special. I am so thankful for our beautiful daughter. My sweet little family of 3 had a great Christmas. We had brunch on Christmas eve morning with my in-laws. Christmas morning began at our home around 7am with a feeding then we opened presents. We arrived at my in-laws around 11am. It was truly a wonderful first Christmas for our little girl. God really blessed us abundantly. I look forward to next Christmas when Mary Katherine will be 13 months and moving around. We will also be able to travel to my parents for Christmas. This first Christmas was so special. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well. See you in 2015!!!!!

 

Dear Mary Katherine

My Sweet Little Girl,


     You are 1 month old! Well technically you turned 1 month a few days ago, but this whole new Mommy thing has already taught me that my life no longer revolves around me and when I want to do things, so I haven't blogged in a while. In fact I can already see it is going to be very difficult to keep up this blog, but I will try my best. Last night was the most exciting thing you have done this month. You slept in your infant sleeper for 3 whole hours WITHOUT being held AND Mommy and Daddy were able to sleep in their bed! That is BIG news for this sleep deprived Mama. Sweet girl you have completely transformed my world for the better. You make my life so completely wonderful. You were born with the most beautiful strawberry blonde hair. You were lifting your head at 1 day old, and you simply get stronger and stronger everyday. God is so good! You have the longest most gorgeous eyelashes just like your Daddy. Finally long lashes to put mascara on!! Speaking of your Daddy my heart still melts when he holds you and kisses you and talks to you in sweet little whispers. He already bought you your first dress yesterday. He has such great taste. You will be the most beautiful baby at the Country Club Christmas Eve Brunch next week. I love staring into your eyes when you are nursing. You are a very good eater. You absolutely love to be swaddled and you hate to be cold, so you dislike changing of clothes and diapers. You did not like bath time at first, but now you do. I just love the way you smell after bath time. We are still working on getting you on a good routine. It has been a little difficult, but we are not giving up. Your first Christmas is in 5 days and we are all so excited to celebrate with you. I am really looking forward to next year when you will be 13 months and moving all around the place. But for now I want to enjoy these special moments I get to have with you while you are still so tiny. I am not sure how much you weigh because we have not been to the doctor in almost 3 weeks, but at that appointment you were 8lbs. 6oz. I know you have grown, but I can't tell if you are more or less then 10lbs. Mary Katherine Mommy and Daddy love you so much!! We are so blessed that God chose us to be your parents. You are surrounded by so many loving family members, too. Your Gigi has already been down here twice to see you and is planning another visit for next month. You truly are my sunshine. I thank God for you everyday! I love you so very much!

Happy One Month Birthday Mary Katherine!

Her Birth Story

Our beautiful Mary Katherine was 2 weeks old yesterday, and I want to go ahead and document her birth story before I forget anything.
On Monday November 17th, we had just a normal appointment scheduled. Everything seemed to be fine. The doctor stepped out, and then she returned with another doctor. My blood pressure was high again and they had a few other concerns. They wanted us to check in to L & D to be monitored. We had been through this before during my pregnancy and left the hospital without our baby girl. It really didn't occur to me that this could be the day we had been waiting for.

My husband and I settled in and began contacting family to give them the heads up. We still didn't know for sure what was going to happen, but we wanted our parents to be ready. Baby girl and I were monitored and tests were ran. Monday evening my doctor came in and said I had several symptoms of preeclampsia, and that we needed to induce labor. It took me a little while to process that we were about to meet our baby. Every emotion imaginable rushed through me. I am so thankful that Michael was by my side the entire time. He was so awesome, supportive, and encouraging. The next several hours were painful and exhausting. Then it was finally time to push. My doctor knew how much I really wanted to deliver vaginally, so she let me push for several hours but no progress was being made. Something was not right. The doctor suggested a C-Section saying that it would be better to not wait until the baby is in distress and it becomes an emergency situation. My husband and I talked and prayed about it and ultimately agreed that we would do what was necessary to keep her safe. It was not my original plan, but it was all worth it in the end. After my C-Section the doctor told me that she had turned face up and was basically stuck. I am glad we made the decision when we did. Mary Katherine was born

November 18, 2014

10:59pm

8lbs. 1oz. 21 inches long

I will never forget the first moment I saw her. I thought she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. Her Daddy and I love her so much. I could just sit and watch her sweet little face all day. God has certainly abundantly blessed us. I am so thankful for our little girl.

Photo Update

 

This was me at 35 weeks. It seems forever ago as time is now crawling slowly by. Waiting to meet our Mary Katherine is requiring so much patience. I am so ready to hold her in my arms.

These are few maternity photos we had taken at our local botanical gardens. It was the perfect afternoon. It was a crisp, cool day. I especially love that we were able to take these photos where our wedding reception was over 3 years ago. I love this man so much and look forward to our next adventure as new parents. God is so good!