Encouragement

We have been lucky as parents to have had a pretty smooth first year with Hannah. However, there are still a lot of decisions and choices we make on how to care for her. We try to choose what is best for her AND for us as a family, but no matter how many books you read or people you talk to you, there's always this feeling for me as a mom, saying "have I done enough?", "am I doing this the RIGHT way?" . As a people pleaser by nature, which I am slowly letting go of, I want others to see me or us as parents and say "they are doing a good job". I want our decisions to agree with others, but that's just not how it works. What works for our family doesn't necessarily work for the family across the street. It doesn't mean either of us are wrong, it just means we're different. So with that being said, I have realized the importance for encouragement. Instead of feeling threatened by someone doing something a different way, I should say hey you're doing a great job as a mother and not compare. Yes, we put Hannnah to bed at 7 most nights, we have a daily routine, we limit her sugar, and we don't buy her lots of toys, but that is our preference and 95% percent of the time she has a happy and content temperament and we are happy as a family and that's what matters. So the next time someone compliments us as parents at church or in public, I plan to take those words to heart instead of focusing on the other things that may come our way. I will see the good in other moms although they may do things differently, and give them a sweet word of encouragement. What it comes down to, is we're all trying to do the best for our child and family, and if our intentions are good then that's all that matters.

The reason I brought all this up is after spending last weekend with mom and dad, mom sent me a sweet detailed email saying how happy she sees that Hannah is with Matt and I and that we are doing a great job as parents. I've heard her say it many times before, but to read those words just meant so much when I was having a day of doubts. So the next time you see a mom, whether you know her or not, whether she seems to have it together or not, just offer a simple word of encouragement. I'm sure it will mean the world to her!

Here are two posts I also read last week that go along with this same idea. I hope you mamas can find encouragement in this!

http://www.chattingatthesky.com/2010/06/21/dear-me-in-20-years/




http://myblessedlife.net/2010/06/what-i-needed-to-know-when-my-son-was-one.html

Hannah at 1 year

Hannah playing with Matt and her Birthday Balloon




Sleeping with dolly



We just got back from Hannah's 1 year check up, she is snoozing away. She shared her toys with the Dr. and watched a bit of a movie in the waiting room, and cried when she got her shots but that was to be expected.

She is right under 20lbs. and she's 27 inches long. That is all normal since Matt and I are not tall people, however, the Dr. says her feet (still size 2) and hands are noticeably small so she's going to look into it, just for information purposes, not like we could really do anything about that. It may explain her not walking on her own right now, but nothing to worry about.

Here are some random facts about our little Hannah:

She loves loves music. Anytime music comes on she will wiggle or rock or bob her head, it's so cute!

She loves to open and shut doors over and over.

She loves to press buttons, literally and figuratively. Apparently I wasn't watching her close enough with my cell phone and there was an added download this month, which I'm pretty sure is from her. She will press buttons on the TV remote, and she's figured out to play the music on her swing which is by her crib. I woke up to the sounds of loud mozart music coming through the monitor tuesday morning. I ran in her room and she was standing there playing with the buttons on her swing which is right by her crib. I flipped on the light and she fell to the crib and laid her head down and then smiled at me. It was hilarious.

She's learning to roll the ball but she gets easily distracted with other things around the room.

She likes being in the pool so far and doesn't seem to have any fear of the water or of anything for that matter.

She points at every light and says something...not "light" but she mumbles something.

She likes to flip through the pages in a book but not long enough for me to read each page so we elaborate.

This Sunday was the first time I had to go get her from the nursery, there was a man working in there that week and it really bothered her for some reason. She was fine once I took her with me.

Our days are a little different every day. We have a routine but somedays we play longer or she takes a longer nap (still taking 2 a day). She goes to bed around 7 and wakes up around 7, which is nice for Matt and I so we have some down time together after she goes to bed. I won't comment on how she sleeps because anytime I do she proves me wrong.

That's about it, she's just full of energy and we pretty much have to keep our eye on her all the time, unless she's in her room which we have baby proofed. We're having a lot of fun though.


This past weekend mom and dad came up and it was nice to celebrate Father's Day with both of the dads in my life. That's another thing, Hannah LOVES matt. She claps when he walks in the door after work. We spend the weekend eating, finishing up our patio, trying to save a deer, went to a few garage sales (I had my first encounter with an actual hoarder and it was seriously sad), and just hanging out. It was fun and Hannah always loves to have the extra attention :)

One year ago...

5:45 am...we had just been admitted into the hospital. I was still 4cm at 9:00am and starting "active labor" but had been laboring since 9:00 the night before. Little did I know I had 12 more hours to go.

The night before, we took a long walk around the neighborhood counting the time between contractions. We were excited and anxious at the same time, and neighbors were looking at us funny. We came home, called our families to give them a heads up and finished packing our bags. We watched some late nite TV of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and tried to sleep, but I kept timing my contractions. When they were 5 minutes apart I called the midwife and she said to wait until they were stronger. Well I never really slept and neither did Matt, and I didn't know what to compare the pain to and was afraid I would give birth to Hannah at home, the hospital is 30 minutes away. So I loaded the dishwasher, of course, tidied up the house, took a shower, and we hopped in the car to get to the hospital. The drive to the hospital was really quiet, we held hands and listened to music and was able to see the sun coming up.

When we got to the hospital and realized I was not about the give birth (silly me), I tried walking around the hospital to speed things along, but it was still slowly progressing. At 11am I had moved to 6cm. I was doing fine for the most part, I stayed on the birthing ball most of that time and was able to have family come in and chat . We watched golf and the food network (all the nurses thought I was crazy to watch food since I couldn't eat but it didn't bother me). It was actually relaxing. Then at 1:30 my midwife broke my water to speed things along. WOW! That made a difference as far as the contractions go. I could feel Hannah's little head moving down my spine with every contraction, no more cushion from the water. Matt held my hand through every contraction, and my doula, Violet would massage and put warm compresses on my lower back, and give me orange popsicles. :) It really didn't speed up my labor too much, it took another 4 hours to move from 6cm to 7cm and I was completely exhausted, I had been awake for over 36 hours and laboring for 19 hours. I literally could not control my body. I saw no end in sight and they wanted to give me pitocin to speed things up, so after a lot of deliberation between Matt and I, I decided to get an epidural. They gave me and epidural and I definitely had some relief, but I could not feel a thing. I could only see the contractions on the monitor. It made me feel disconnected from everything that was going on. It took another 4 hours to get to 10cm and then it was time to push! 19 minutes later, baby Hannah was in the world! 7 pounds even, blessed to be perfectly healthy. It was pure joy! I was able to hold her right away and then I remember watching them clean her up, and I drank like 3 cartons of orange juice back to back.

After that our families, who had drove from TN to wait in the waiting room all day (sorry guys), were able to come in and meet Hannah. I felt so much joy and love than I ever thought I would. Seriously I did not imagine It would be that amazing, but it was and it still is. Our labor experience is something I will always cherish because Matt and I grew closer during those intense moments. The encouragement from the doula and our nurses was awesome and I'm so thankful I had those ladies surrounding us to make our experience a good one. There are several things I will try to do differently next time because I would like to give birth naturally, if there is a next time. Like I will stay at home longer than last time, try to let my water break naturally, and try to sleep!

All in all everything worked out perfectly. Hannah was healthy during and after labor and that is the most important thing. The reason I can remember all the details is, thankfully, Violet, my doula, wrote down everything for me. I was not in the mind set to do so. I can remember other random things, but the times and dilations were not fresh on my mind.

I have lots more to say this week so stay tuned for more posts and pictures of our one year old...

A Rice Krispies moment

I've been on a Rice Krispies kick the last week or so. I started bring the box to the table so Hannah could look at it and I could read the labels to her. Then I grabbed the camera. You know those sweet, heart felt, black and white, Rice Krispies commercial that make you cry? I wasn't trying to recreate one of them, but it looks that way minus mommy in the pictures. Now you probably just think I"m weird....SNAP CRACKLE POP!

The beginning of independence...

So I grabbed the camera this morning to tape Hannah while she was playing on the steps, and then she surprised me by pulling up onto her feet for the first time! If you have it loud enough you can hear a little gasp from me. It was excitement at first, but then I realized she really is growing up and lately it's going faster than I would like. I'm really trying to savor each moment and take it in, so that I won't look back one day and wish I had enjoyed these simple days to the fullest. So here is a clip of Hannah beginning her new independence, next comes walking and talking.

Untitled from Lindsay Bledsoe on Vimeo.

*since this video was taken this morning she's been trying to pull up on EVERYTHING, so I'm having to keep a close watch on her and get this place fully baby proofed!

Other things going on here:

It is getting HOT, we have to take our walks early in the morning so we don't melt away. The evenings are still really nice so that's still a good time to hang out outside.

Hannah has been having a really hard time sleeping through the night and going to sleep initially the past few days. I don't see any signs of a tooth, but I read that at this age separation anxiety is an issue so I may start letting her have some alone play time during the day so she isn't so dependent on me. I also read that their sleep cycle changes at 12 months and they have to relearn to soothe themselves to sleep AND they don't really sleep consistently through the night until 3. Has this been any issue for any of you mamas? I was shocked and discouraged to read that. I thought we were in the clear until she left for college...jk but seriously I thought it was easy peasy for the most part from here on out. I think I might just be optimistic. ;)

Hannah has been surprising us by blurting out random word sounding sounds lately. I can't make out what she is saying but it always sounds Japanese. I thought I was teaching her English? She says mamama and dada and no no no. I'm not really sure which to consider her first word. I think "no no no" is really the only one she ALWAYS understands and means to say at the right time. Mom said "no" was my first word. Kind of funny.

She said "hi"

Here is a short clip from Hannah's birthday. Emmy is 3, and she was helping me with Hannah's presents. Watch Hannah and Emmy in the clip. It's so cute!

She said "Hi" from Lindsay Bledsoe on Vimeo.

Diaper Deals

So I've been meaning to start posting some diaper deals for a while now. We stick to Pampers because they are the best on Hannah's little toosh. I was ordering them from Diapers.com and getting them in bulk the same price as Sam's Club, plus delivered to your door for free! Lately, I've been getting them at the drugstores and Kroger because I've been getting an even cheaper price. So when I see a good deal I will be posting for those mama's or soon to be mama's that want to start stocking up.
Saving money on diapers is a huge deal because you go through so many. I had almost decided to go with cloth but then changed my mind once Hannah was born and pooping all the time. haha silly me. I think I could handle cloth diapers now, but we've ended up spending almost half of what I thought we would on diapers this year, so I'm sticking with the disposables for now.

Here is a good price guideline to go by


One more thing that I just learned several months ago. Those crazy little codes on the inside of the diapers and wipes are not tracking devices for your baby, they are Gifts to Grow points. In just 3 months I had enough to get Hannah's 1st birthday invitations for Free! So If I had started earlier I could have bought a small car...jk Just go to the Gifts to Grow website and enter those silly codes to get free stuff.

If you do decide to order from Diapers.com enter this code: Linzy01 and you get $10 off your first order and I get $5 off my next order. :)


Happy Diapering!!

Weekend visitors

Matt's dad and sister came to visit us this past weekend. Jim helped Matt put in a patio, which looks great. (I hope to have some before and after pictures in the next week or so) and I tried to help a little. Leslie is almost 5 months pregnant, with a baby girl, :) so she played with Hannah while we worked.

It was a really nice weekend weather wise so we took Hannah to the pool. She was almost unresponsive for the first 10 minutes, it was so funny. She just was in awe I guess. I was a little worried about all the other kids getting too crazy, but everyone was well behaved :) and Hannah loved watching the other kids playing in the pool the most. (I couldn't see when I was taking pictures so I accidently cut Leslie out of the picture...sorry Leslie)




Hannah acted like she had never seen curly hair before and started playing with Leslie's hair. So funny!

More pictures from the weekend

The day after the party we just relaxed at the house, went on a little walk and enjoyed some downtime with mom and dad. Hannah was happy to have less attention and just do her thing. She played ball with daddy, went outside with poppy, chased Kasper around the living room, and got spoiled by mimi. Just the usual. :)

Hannah's first, 1st birthday

We didn't disappear, we've just been out and about. Last week I had a cold and was trying to help mom get this party pulled together from a distance. Thankfully mom and dad did pretty much everything. Matt and I just showed up with the birthday girl, a few decorations, and the cakes. The party was so fun! Hannah was a little overwhelmed with all the attention, we had almost 40 people there, mostly family and a few of my girlfriends from high school, that happened to also be in town, stopped by :)

I made Hannah a no sugar carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and she liked the sample I gave her last week, but when it came time to dig in at the party she turned up her nose to it and the candle wouldn't light. So I was a little disappointed about that, but everyone else enjoyed some "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake and homemade ice cream that was to die for! The older kids played corn hole and had a water balloon fight, I was told. I was so preoccupied with making sure Hannah was happy and visiting with everyone that I barely noticed what was going on. It was kind of crazy, but I'm so glad we had a big bash to at least get everyone together at the same time, except Stefan, who is in Italy romancing the Italian women ;)

I have some video and more pictures from the rest of the weekend coming up. We're going to see Matt's family on the 4th of July weekend for Hannah's other 1st birthday party. I may try a different cake recipe to see if she'll tear into that one.