A Few Confessions

My sweet daughter,

I have a few confessions to make. Sadly, it has been several months since my last post--so much has happened! I confess--I became discouraged with the blog. I felt as if it was difficult to "keep up." I put too much pressure on myself to make this perfect for you--to post every single day or to write an entire page each time. Once I didn't meet my unreasonable expectations, I just gave up. Silly I know. Yesterday I was bored before bed. Your dad was asleep and I couldn't fall asleep for some reason. I was thinking about you and the fun day we had, so I decided to Google your name. Random, I know. When I "googled" your name, two main links came up. The first link was from the photographer would took your newborn pictures--the link was full of your adorable pictures. The second link was to this blog, so I clicked on it. I began looking through the blog. Several emotions ran through me. First, it made me feel "warm and fuzzy" to relive the days I described in the blog. Second, it made me sad/mad that I did not follow through with the blog. Third, it made me feel determined and encouraged to try the blog again. Sure, I am sad that I missed documenting many things about your first year, but I realized that although your first year was unforgettable and precious, you have many more years ahead of you that I would love to document! So, in an effort to make it up to you, I am going to do one HUGE/GIANT "catch up" blog containing all the highlights from your first year. :) Now, I would like to also confess something right now. I am not going to set myself up for failure again. I am going to do my absolute best to blog as often as possible. I will blog about our days together, the happenings of our family, lessons I learned, or just little things I want to tell you. This blog is for you! This is something that I know we will both treasure. At this point, I am not sure when I am going to reveal the blog to you--16th birthday? 18th birthday? wedding day? when you discover you will be a mommy? I am not sure. But, I am looking for to documenting and sharing everything I can with you. I love you baby girl. Now, on to my HUGE post!


Love,
Mom

February 14th: First Valentine's Day

February 7th: First Pediatrician Appointment

February 4th: First Bath

March 6th

I am starting to realize that my full days at home with you are coming to an end. Pretty soon, I will be back to student teaching at Gorman, and you will be babysat by your Grandma DeDe. And, I would like to try to get you on some sort of eating and sleeping schedule before I am gone from you most of the day. So, I woke up determined to try forming a schedule today. I can tell it will be a process because you pretty much already have a schedule of your own where you like to sleep numerous hours during the day, and wake up at night. :) After we both got out of bed, I fed you and we played together on the couch. I curled up my legs and sat you up on them so we were eye level. I played with your hands, and you practiced following objects with your eyes. I also took pictures of you, and sent one to the grandparents. They love it when I do that. Here is one of my favorite photos that I took:

About 10:30 I tried to lay you down for a nap in your crib. I figure this will help you get used to sleeping in your crib, and it will help me slowly transition you into it. It helped that we have an awesome video monitor. Not only can I hear you, but I can also see you. And, the video monitor automatically comes back on if it detects any movement. Pretty cool, huh? I can only imagine what you will have once you become a mom. You slept for about 20 minutes before you woke up. But, hey, it is a start! Then you were up for quite a while. Dad came home and played with you while I fixed us lunch. I actually breastfed you and ate at the same time. Pretty impressive, huh? :) You have definitely taught me the finer skills in multi-tasking!

After lunch we headed into town to run a few errands. You got to see Tah for a short time while we were in town. She commented on how long your eyelashes are getting. You fell asleep in your car seat as soon as we got into the car. I'm convinced this is your favorite place to sleep. Your dad swears we should just put you in that at night and you will sleep the entire night. The weather was incredibly windy and somewhat chilly today. If we went on a walk we would literally get blown away! I was sad because I love our walks together. But, we went to the fitness center at the golf course and I did a short workout. You watched and were my motivation. I want to be a healthy and active mom for you! Once we got home I made a dessert for my friend, Christina's, surprise birthday party later that night.I made sopapilla cheesecake. This is one of your dad's favorite desserts, and I am sure it will be one of yours too. At about 5:30, we headed into town for her party. We met all of our usual friends there. Christina was so surprised. We had a blast hanging out with all of our friends. I fed you a bottle right when we got there, and that put you asleep for the majority of the time. As usual, you were loved on by our friends, and "oooed" and "awwed" by many passersby of the restaurant.  Here are the wonderful ladies I call my friends. They all consider themselves your aunts, as do I. They are very special to me, and they love you very much.

Me, Lesley, Christina, Codye

 Once we got home, the three of us snuggled while I fed you on the couch to watch one of our favorite TV shows.

Funny story of the day: During our TV watching time, you began to stink pretty badly. You had bad gas (stinky gas!) all day, so it was nothing new to me, but your dad was convinced you had a dirty diaper so he took you into your room to change it. And, oh let me tell you, it was dirty! It was so dirty that your dad literally could not change it. I tried the tough love technique and told him to suck it up and change it, but the man literally began to gag. So, of course, I came to relieve him. He immediately left the room and began gagging. I thought he was going to throw up. It was hilarious. We both laughed after the fact. Fun memories for the three of us. :)

Love,
Mom

March 5th--Five Weeks Old

Dear Adilynn,

I cannot believe you are five weeks old today! You are getting so big. Each of your grandparents comment on how much you have changed since the last time they saw you. This morning we met Codye and Ellye in town for a walk. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed visiting with Codye while you slept the entire time. I am realizing the importance of friendships. When you have your first child, I pray you have close friends that you can just meet for a morning stroll and talk about anything and everything. It is such an uplifting stress reliever. After our walk, the four of us went to visit Christina. She was working on Lyla's nursery, so we all congregated back in her room. We all sat there and talked about pregnancy, labor, and what it is like to have a little one at home. I love that I can offer advice to a friend. After we finished our conversations, we all had lunch at Ramonas.We all had a lot of fun. You were "oooed" and "awwed" over by many people in the restaurant. We had a "girls' morning," I guess you could say. I am very thankful for my friends. And, I would just like to advise you to treasure your friendships. It is not about how many friends you have, but it is about the quality of the relationships. These last few years, I did not have the opportunity to make very many close friends, but the few I have, I know they would do anything for me. And, I would do anything for them in return. Once we got home, dad was here eating lunch after his morning in Waco for a work meeting. We decided to go visit with your PahPah at his office at the course because he is leaving for a mission trip to Peru tomorrow. Your PahPah knew your dad was coming, but he did not know we were. You were such a fun surprise for him. We stayed and visited long enough for him to feed you a bottle. He loved it.

After that, we went home. Your dad went to play raquetball with some of his buddies while you and I stayed home. We snuggled, you ate, and then we fixed dinner. Well, actually I fixed dinner, but you were a big help as you watched! :) We had a nice evening together, and we all went to bed pretty early. You still sleep in your moses basket next to us. It will be hard to move you to your crib. I'm quite fond of waking up in the middle of the night to look at you. :)


Love,
Mom

March 4th

Dear Adilynn,

You were the sweetest thing this morning! You must've sensed that your dad and I needed sleep. You woke up at 5:30 this morning, so I picked you up and snuggled you next to me in hopes you would stop crying. You stopped crying instantly and fell back asleep. The three of us slept through the alarm, and missed the early church service. So, we woke up and got ready for church. We went to Sunday School and the later service. During Sunday School and through most of the church service you were awake. You are starting to stay awake more hours of the day. I do have a funny story to tell you. During church you started to get hungry, so your dad proudly fed you. You were very content and enjoyed your bottle. When he propped you up on his shoulder to burp you, you let out one of your loudest burps to date! I have friends that say they heard it on the other side of church! And, the bad part was, your burp was during a quiet period of the preacher's sermon, so everyone heard it! It was really cute and funny to me. Everyone just smiled at us.

After your bottle in church you fell right to sleep. You slept for a good three hours. After you got up around 4:00, the three of us headed out to the golf course. You and I walked while dad played 9 holes. I love being outside with you, and I especially being outside as a family.

At the course as we cheer on dad!

From the course, we went straight to the Briscoe's house, where we participate in a Bible study with some of our close friends. It was great. We talked about the importance of prayer, and the difference between urgent and important things. How, as humans, we often put off the important things to do the urgent (in the moment) things. I pray we are able to teach you the importance of putting the important things (family and friends) before urgent (pressing things of the world--like deadlines) things. And, I promise, as your mother, to know you are important and to always put you above any urgent, of this world, thing. After we finished the bible study, we just visited with our close friends. You were passed around and loved on. Christina especially wanted to hold you. Lyla will be here soon, and she likes to practice with you! :) Now we are home, and as I am writing this to you, we are getting ready for bed listening to your dad sing his lungs out in the shower. Even though you can't physically tell me, I know we are both enjoying listening to him together. :) Love you baby girl.

Love,
Mom