My new trick

I can't remember what led to it, but sometime last week Jeremy told me that he thought Seth was ready to try sitting in his bumbo seat. Well, the next day I needed my hands free to get the girls' lunch ready, so I got it out and tried sitting him in it and well, my boy is growing up : ( Ever since that day it has been a pretty regular occurrence for him to sit in it, especially during play time (thanks to my mom for suggesting it since he was getting bored just laying there).

I can't even handle it! He is growing too fast. In fact, this past Sunday was his first week in the nursery since his chatty little self doesn't understand we can't "talk" during church! Sigh* I guess this Mommy needs to get used to all of these firsts that will continue to happen! 

A year ago...

One year ago today our lives changed forever! 

I remember waking up, taking the test and then staring in disbelief! I had convinced myself that I wasn't pregnant to not get my hopes up and I had done a good job of it. 

From that moment on we watched our little bean grow on the inside...

 

 And now we are watching him grow on the outside...

It has been an incredible year and I can't wait to continue watching him grow this next year! 

New living room...

I've been going to the chiropractor for a few weeks now. I started to get increasing hip pain after delivering Seth and it got to be bad enough that I knew I needed to do something about it. After going and having her scan me, I knew it was something that I couldn't ignore. My back and hips look TERRIBLE and I have a feeling I will be going to the chiropractor for the rest of my life. Thanks to my mom, I have been doing a bunch of different things at home to help as well, one of which being not sitting on our couch anymore. It has horrible support, especially while breastfeeding. 

This was our previous setup...

Jeremy always sits in his chair, so I usually sat on the end of the couch next to him. While "my" flower chair is the most comfortable, it was too far away from him and not "centrally" located so it just felt awkward for me to sit in. So, yesterday we did a little rearranging to make things a little more functional for my chair, so that I won't be tempted to sit on the couch anymore! 

Here is our now...

I love it! 

Our weekend

Weekends are pretty special in our family since we get Dada home for a full 48+ hours. Saturday we ventured out with some friends to go experience our new Aldi's! That is the one thing I always missed from NY, such a great grocery store, so when I found out that we were getting one built I was pretty excited. The wife of our friends is also from NY so she knew just what the excitement was all about, so we decided it was something we needed to do together! I think next time the boys will be staying home and we will be going alone : ) We had some cool weather this weekend so Seth experience his first bundling! 

And his little elbow pad sweater for church on Sunday <3 

Dada does have to do some work over the weekends, but Seth is a great helper! 

We have also gotten very good at our new trick. Mommy finds me like this most mornings now (even at 3am sometimes : ) 

Love our time together as a family! 

I can't believe how big our boy is getting! 

Bath time!

Seth has always loved his bath time. That is, after his first one when we tried using a dumb tub. Thank God for Gramma who told us to just use a towel until we ordered one of these bath sponges. So much more comfortable for him and let's him be right in the water which is where he wants to be! Anyways, he has always loved his bath time, but it is even more fun now with him a little bit older. He kicks, he squeals, he plays with his toys. 

Sweet sweets! 

I'm a mom...

 I see articles floating around Facebook often of mom's who are bearing it all. Writing about their fears and weaknesses and well, pure humanness. And I see myself. We are coming up on our one year memory of the day we found out we were expecting. From that day until this day and for every day to come, life has changed. Not only did I have another human being to think about - but so did every other person in this world. Yes, you heard me and you all know what I'm talking about. We all have our opinions and we think everyone wants needs to hear them. I've heard it all during my pregnancy and now motherhood. What I should or shouldn't be doing. But guess what, we are our own worst enemy. I have voices running through my head daily of how to handle Seth, both from people I know and love and people I don't - but none of them are louder than my own. 

Sometimes I rock my sweet boy to sleep and as I stare at his innocent face I actually hear myself think, "You shouldn't have done that. You need to go lay him down. Because look at your messy house and heaven forbid you will spoil him rotten by holding him while he sleeps."

Some days nursing goes horribly and I drag myself to get a bottle out of the basket and defrost a bag of milk. What could I be doing wrong to have caused this?

Some days he doesn't nap the way he is supposed to I think he should. 

He's 3 months old and I feel like I shouldn't look pregnant anymore. But some days I feel like I do.

I know think you are all watching and judging me.

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But the truth is - I'm a mom. I'm a mom who sometimes needs those nap time snuggles just as much as he does. And that's okay. There's always tomorrow. I'm a mom who sometimes has to give my son a bottle instead of fighting through an hour of nursing. And that's okay. There's always tomorrow. I'm a mom who sometimes watches her son take a 2+ hour nap and sometimes take a 30 minute one. And that's okay. There's always tomorrow. I'm a mom who sometimes needs that second third fourth s'more. And that's okay. There's always tomorrow.

I'm a mom who is learning. The Lord has used becoming a Mom to teach me and stretch me and grow me. I can already see a difference in just these 3 months, but I know I have a long way to go as well. Which is kind of scary, but kind of exciting. I know the road won't be easy, but it'll make me the best Mom I can be to this sweet boy.

Living in SC...

Jeremy and I have been here for 3 years now and we were always told of the hurricanes and tornadoes that are a risk in South Carolina. Well, we experienced some of both of these just this month! A couple weeks ago Seth had a fever that landed us in the ER. It thankfully was nothing but a virus, but while we were there the whole ER, our phones and televisions started alerting us of a tornado! We stayed put for a little longer than necessary until it passed and our apartment was safe from any damage, but we've heard stories of houses gone and boats missing not too far from us! How surreal! You watch movies and you hear stories but you never think it would actually happen. We didn't see the tornado - and I don't think I ever need to! 

Then this week Jeremy had 5 days off from work (including the weekend) due to flooding! There was a hurricane off the coast but it actually had nothing to do with the flooding that we got. Thankfully we were safe and didn't get any damage from it, but so many other people did and it is truly heartbreaking. I didn't take any pictures because all we saw was rain and we didn't go anywhere to see flooding or damage, but these are some pictures floating around the internet!

 

 

Thanking the Lord for protecting my little family and praying for the lives that were lost and everyone who has been impacted by this! 

3 Months!

Taking pictures this time was a little different than others! On his actual 3 month birthday he wasn't really feeling getting pictures done and then when we actually did get them done, he wanted nothing more than to have his hands in his mouth. But, that certainly didn't change the cute factor! 

My favorite! 

Thank you Aunt Amanda for suggesting the football each month! 

My other favorite!

And my other! LOL

I've already posted a couple updates previously and we don't go to the Doctor to get his new stats until 4 months, but our boy is certainly growing and changing. We see a lot more of Mommy in him these days, but a lot of the time we don't see either one of us and he is just his own little person <3