Happy Halloween!

First outfit I bought Addie. The pumpkin shoes were from her Pawpaw. And clearly a 3-month-old needs a treat bag.

 

This was my first Halloween costume, made by my mom. It still looks brand new, almost 30 years later!

Putting a baby in a pumpkin

I first got this idea from my cousin Rebecca, who put her daughter, Lila, in a pumpkin when she was just about Addie's age. At the time, I seriously thought, "I need to have a kid so I can put it in a pumpkin, too."

First, there is the unsuspecting baby

Then the dad starts the carving

And the cleaning

Then a trash bag is placed in the pumpkin, and next in is the baby

She looks surprisingly calm

And you finish by adding to your holiday decor

Things I read about/thought about/researched but wasn't prepared for about MOTHERHOOD

Well, pretty much everything ... being a mom is the hardest and best thing I've ever done. I don't think you can ever be prepared for the difficulty of becoming a parent, or the pure joy, love and happiness it adds to life. Here are just a few things I've discovered ...

1. The complete loss of dignity and pride that comes with going through childbirth. And how little I cared.
2. How little sleep I can actually exist, and even function, on. Way less than I thought. And, by the same token, how much I need coffee.
3. How amazing it is to sleep for more than three hours at a time.
4. The complete lack of control over my schedule, my body ... pretty much my entire life. And that with a type A personality and need to control absolutely everything, I'm mostly completely OK with it.
5. Her sweet, sweet smile.
6. Colic.
7. Explosive poop diapers. OMG. And that apparently she can go like a week without pooping. OMG again. And that all Jordan and I ever seem to talk about is her pooping habits. Really, really OMG.
8. How helpless I feel when I can't figure out, or fix, whatever's wrong. And how satisfying it is when I can.
9. Booger suckers, or whatever you want to call those blue bulb thingies that you clean a baby's nose with, are NOT easy to use. Especially in the middle of the night. Although I do now know how to make saline solution.
10. My incessant need to bake. Already. She can't even eat what I'm making, and yet I feel like since I'm a mom, I should bake.
11. How many things such a tiny person needs for even a 30 minute jaunt to the grocery store. Yes, she does need her blue octopus at all times. And 12 diapers. And multiple blankets.
12. How much I seriously don't care that I have baby schmutz all over me, all the time.
13. The number of diapers we go through in a day. Wow.
14. How fast I can actually get ready.
15. Her vulnerability.
16. That, yes, we actually do need a swing, a bouncy seat, a nap nanny, a pack and play ... and all the rest of the gear. And that most of the time, my arms are preferred over all the rest.
17. The number of hours I can just sit and watch her ... sleep, play, smile - whatever she is doing is fascinating. And that I, who previously needed to be doing something productive pretty much all the time, can actually sit still for hours.
18. How very loud such a tiny person can be when she is mad or unhappy.
19. How much I miss her when I'm not with her, even when I was convinced I needed an hour or two break.
20. Trying to cut her fingernails. Seriously scary. I tried once and then forever turned that job over to Jordan.
21. How much I love and appreciate my husband. And what a completely amazing dad he is.
22. I am not bothered in the least by having to breastfeed in public (with a cover - c'mon people). If my baby is hungry, I don't care where we are or who we are with - she's eating.
23. You'd like me to go have some drinks with a super fun group of adults? Nah, think I'd rather stay home and rock my baby to sleep.
24. That I would become *that* girl on Facebook who relentlessly posts pictures of her gorgeous baby. I can't stop myself.
25. How uncontrollably, unconditionally, unabashedly I love her.

On the bandwagon

So I'm on the bandwagon. I have a blog. I've wanted to start one for a while but wasn't sure exactly what I'd write about. Or if it would be interesting. So I'm not promising that it will be interesting or entertaining or funny ... but it will be grammatically correct. I'll blog a lot about my personal life, mostly about my adorable three-month-old daughter and my husband, also adorable; my journey into motherhood; my love of food and wine (which is on a bit of a hiatus right now ... but soon, I'll get back to that); my faith; and maybe even football, since my Pokes are No. 3 in the country right now ... and some about my professional life and career as a PR practitioner.This blog is for my close friends and family who might find my day-to-day life and thoughts exciting, or at least worth reading about, and for me to chronicle a time in my life when I can hardly remember what I ate two hours ago. A new baby will do that to you.

So here's to my leap into the blogosphere ... welcome to the world One Page at a Time.