to be honest...

I find that the bloggers I love reading daily are the ones that bare it all. Bloggers that are uncensored and brutally honest. For whatever reason, it is hard for me to lay it all on the table and tell it like it really is. A lot of it has to do with my need to remain as private as possible about certain issues that pertain to Molly Grace and her lack of the other parent, and I'll just leave it at that. It is unfortunate and sad, but I do not want to make my blog private and only have invited guests. I have to choose what I think is the reasonable amount of information I can relay to the wide world of the internet, in order to protect Molly Grace and myself.

With that being said, I have a confession to make. It is no where near as dramatic as the previous paragraph sets it up to be, but it is something I fear of sharing with friends, family, random strangers, etc. Being a parent is so amazing. One thing that comes with being a parent that is not always the most fun is the amount of advice and information you get from other people about how to be parent. I feel like it really depends on who is giving the advice as to how I will react to the parenting advice. This one little confession I have is something I hear constantly about from everyone and that is the subject of co-sleeping.

When I was a pregnant, I SWORE I would never let Molly Grace sleep with me. I mean, I pronounced it to everyone that we would NOT sleep in the same bed, under any circumstances. Boy, am I eating those words now. I breastfed Molly Grace for 6 months and had to stop because my work schedule did not allow me to pump as regularly as I needed to to be able to keep my supply up to Molly Grace's demand. Because I was breastfeeding her as a newborn, for several weeks after we got home from the hospital, she slept with me because of the amount of sleep we were NOT getting and it was just easy to have her right there when she was hungry. This was wonderful at the time and created this amazing bond between us and as she grew older I just wanted to have her near me as much as possible, even if I wasn't awake. I love her so much and I just wanted her close. Also, as a single mother, I didn't have anyone telling me, "that baby needs to be in her own bed". At about 3 months, she started sleeping on her own and she did well with it. Then one day, I don't exactly remember when, I decided I wanted her to sleep with me and we've been doing it ever since. She can sleep anywhere, so it's not her that has to be in the bed with mommy, it's me that wants to be close to her.

Just recently, I have been thinking that she really needs to be in her own bed. She has a wonderful bed, beautiful (in my opinion) bedding, and her baby to sleep with and it would be nice to have all of the space in my queen size bed, instead of my corner that I get. Somehow 29 inches long and 20 pounds can take up a lot of room!

Today solidified my confirmation that it is time to stop this habit. I was watching Teen Mom, (one of my guilty pleasures) and all of these teen moms put there babies down in their own beds and I'm sitting there thinking, if these teen moms can do it, I can too. Now, I personally don't care how other parents choose to let their babies sleep. It is every parent's decision and none of my business. The only reason I am making this move now is because I need better sleep. I'm exhausted all the time with neck cramps and pulled muscles from sleeping around Miss Molly Grace who is a mover and a shaker, even when she is fast asleep.

So tonight, MG is in her crib, in her brand new pajamas with her baby and sleeping like a rock. There's my confession. I'm Mary Beth and I shared a bed with my one year old for pretty much the past year. I can't make any promises that she will never again sleep with me, but I needed to share. I made the step tonight and I am proud.

Here's to a good night's rest.

Babyland...the story of the 1st birthday

To say I am late to write this post is an understatement....The little bear girl turned ONE a month and a few days ago.

I log into blogger everyday hoping to have both the creativity and the energy to post, but somehow the days pass and another post is not written. When I don't update, I feel like I have a constant cloud that lingers until I finally do. So buh-bye cloud, I'm back.

Like I said a few posts ago (aka 1 month ago), Molly Grace and I have been busy, busy, busy and just recently sick, sick, sick. Molly Grace has been under the weather with her 1st official sickness, an ear infection, acute bronchitis and the croup. Sounds fun, huh? We are on the tail end of the sickness and the "busy-ness", so I am making it a point to catch y'all up on what's been going on.

First things first, for Molly Grace's 1st birthday I wanted to do something special, even though she will not remember it. There are few events from my childhood that I remember vividly, one of those being a trip to Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, GA with my sisters, cousins, aunts, and grandmother. I hold the memory of that trip close to my heart, so when I was deciding what to do for MG's 1st birthday, I knew exactly where we had to go. Babyland General is the home to Cabbage Patch Kids. It is where they are born, loved on, and adopted. Given Molly Grace's recent obsession with dolls, I knew this was the perfect place to take her and give her the opportunity to adopt her very own baby.

So that's what she did. We had such a great time. It was so great watching her take in the babies and she loved pulling all the newborn CP babies out of their cabbages. She even picked out her own baby. We witnessed two Cabbage Patch babies being born. Every little girl should get to experience Babyland General. I hope to make it a yearly birthday tradition to go!

I could detail our trip in words, but I think the pictures will A) tell the story by themselves and B) will be more entertaining than anything I could write!

*I originally planned to post the pictures directly to the blog post, but opted for the ever entertaining movie! The song on the slideshow is one of my childhood favorites, I used to jam out to this song as an 8 year old and found it the most appropriate for this slideshow out of all the other songs listed in my itunes at the moment, if you hate it, there is always the option to mute the music and just enjoy MG's pretty face!*

(click on the video to view it!)

Sneak Peek

Jason Wilkes of OHSNAP!shot Photography shared a few of the pictures from MG's 12 month photo shoot today and I am so excited for you guys to see them! I love them so much! Check them out here! I can't wait to see the rest of them!

Let me know what you think!

12 month update!

I'm still waiting for her 12 month pictures which were taken by the ever talented, Jason Wilkes. His wife, Chelsey, is my sister Megan's best friend from high school. Jason and Chelsey just became parents to a sweet baby girl, Linely Jae, in March. Linley is just the sweetest, most laid back baby! Jason, Chelsey and Linely Jae are wonderful friends and I am so glad they had a little girl so that I have a girl to pass down clothes, shoes, and toys to! Also, Jason just started his photography business and he is really good and Chelsey is a hair stylist and is awesome! I credit my amazing hair cut to her! If you live in or near Woodstock, Georgia you should check them out! Check out Jason and OH SNAPshot Photography here and here on Facebook! But I digress, while we wait for them to be finished, I will update you on the little bear girl and how she is and what she has been doing!

We went to MG's 12 month well check-up on July 9th. They used the big girl scale to weigh her! (Again, growing up so fast!) She is now 20.5 ounces and 29 1/2 inches long, 25-50th percentile for weight and 50-75th for height! She is as fit as a fiddle (gotta love old school expressions like that) and is doing really well. She had to have her foot pricked and 4 shots. Hate that part, but she did good! Here are the two pictures I took at the appointment. I always hope for more than 2 but it is hard to take pictures of her when I am constantly following her (chasing her!)!
I am so excited to announce the next two things. These two things are steps I have been looking forward to make for a while now.

1) NO MORE FORMULA!!! NO MORE $20 A WEEK!

I loved breastfeeding for many different reasons and I am so glad that I was able to breatsfeed her for 6 months, but one of the wonderful thing about breast feeding is not having to pay for it! It sucks that it was my job that hindered me from being able to continue longer, but she is healthy and that is all that matters! Ever since she swtitched from breast milk to formula, it has been EXPENSIVE. I will be happy to keep that money in the bank now. Now if I could get her off the "ba ba". I am giving her whole milk most of the time in a sippy cup, but sometimes she demands her "ba ba".

2) FRONT FACING BIG GIRL CAR SEAT!

MG has moved up to a new car seat! My wonderful father and MG's papa got the car seat for her birthday and I am loving that she can now see what is going on! She is growing up too fast, but how cute is she?? I need to take the top head rest off because with it on, she looks way to small to be in that big seat, but I will do that soon! (tonight) Until then, look at that sweet face! Love it!

Are you guys seeing the same trend in these pictures? Will this picture help?

That's right, she is OBSESSED with her dolls. The funny thing is we didn't have a single doll in our house a month ago. MG started attending a day care in June and that is when she fell in love. I bought her a small one from Target a little early for her birthday because when I would have to take away the day care baby doll in the afternoon when I picked her up, she would lose it everytime. Since her birthday, she has acquired 3 more dolls! The only time she puts them down is when it is time to eat! I think it is adorable and while I wanted her "special" friend to be the bunny I made her at build a bear the day before she was born that I stuffed with love, I'll settle for her "baby"! She is so loving to them, giving the babies kisses and rocking them. I'd like to think she knows how to because of the love I have given her, my "baby"!

Other loves: SWEETS! The girl can spot a lollipop, cupcake, ice cream, etc. from miles away. Since her birthday party was the weekend after her actual birthday, I bought her a "birthday cupcake from Publix on her birthday. I had planned on making them from scratch, but really, I don't have time to do that and I'm not what I would like to call a baker, so Publix is was. I don't think she cared whether I made it or it dropped from Heaven, she would have loved it either way!

She speaks!

She can now say: baby, mama, uh-oh, bubble, bye bye, hey, and ball!

She has learned how to dance to music and her favorite (or maybe Mommy's?!) is the Justin Bieber song "Baby"! Watching her dance and hearing her laugh are two of the greatest things I have ever seen/heard!

It just feels like she went from infant to toddler overnight, but I am so thankful and blessed to have a healthy, happy, beautiful girl, who will always be my baby!

Whew.

I feel like we've been in a whirlwind of busy.

Maybe because we have been!

July has definitely been the best month of 2010 so far.

Things I swear (!) I will update on sooner rather than later:

1) MG's 1st Birthday trip to Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, GA! (Babies everywhere, MG's Heaven on Earth!)

2) MG's 1st Carousel Ride!

3)MG's 1st Birthday Party!! (A HUGE success thanks to my amazing family and friends!

4) MG's 1st flight and our trip to CHICAGO for my bff Anna Bryant's birthday!

So stay tuned!!

Until then, please please please take a moment a visit the wonderful Kelsey's blog, Green's Anatomy, here, because she made MG the most amazing 1st birthday slideshow! It's 13 videos so you have plenty of MG to catch up on while I work diligently to start posting pictures from the past couple of weeks!

Don't give up on me! I promise to update again soon!

It's here! SHE'S ONE!

Happy 1st Birthday to my little girl!

Molly Grace,

It's your 1st birthday today!! I cannot believe it has already been a year since you were born. On July 6, 2009 at 7:58 am, 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 20 inches changed my life forever, for the better. You are hands down the best thing that has ever happened to me. I have watched you develop from a newborn, to a crawler, and now a walker and you're well on your way to talking. You bring so much joy to everyone around you. Your smile and laughter are contagious. I love that you give love. When you "give Mommy kisses" it melts my heart. You love to give everyone kisses, your Mia and Papa, and your aunts Meg and Amy, and Uncle Dusty and all of your wonderful family, and even the dogs! Our family spoils you rotten with sweets and sweet tea and they love you so very much. You love your baby doll and I've never heard anything sweeter than the words "mama". You love waving goodbye and saying bye bye and you are so entertaining playing with your big pink ball. Days are never dull when you are around, you are always trying to find the next thing to get your hands on. My hope for you on your 1st birthday is that you always know how much you are loved and always have been. I hope that I can show you God's love for you and that you will know that He has amazing plans for your life, plans that are far better than either you or I could imagine for you. I pray all His blessings over your life. I hope that you know that I will always be here for you. I pray that even when hard times come you will look to Him for strength and guidance. I know He has something wonderful in store for you and I am so excited to see His plans unfold in your life. Mommy loves you Molly Grace. You are beautiful and silly, strong-willed and sweet, loving and entertaining. I am so happy that God chose me to be your Mommy!

I opted for a slide show instead of just pictures because the first time I heard this song I knew the lyrics described perfectly the hope I have for Molly Grace and her life!

So, Happy Birthday MG, here's to many more!!

last year...and random thoughts

On July 2, 2010, I was two days from moving into a new house and 4 days away from the best day of my life.

I can't believe that it's almost been a year since I welcomed the little bear girl into my life.

It's been a year, for sure. Ups and downs, love, growth, change, hope, stress,hard times, good times.

I never expected to be a mother at 24 but oh am I so happy that I am.

_____________________________________________________________________________

ION: It's summertime! We are spending as much time as we can fit into our weeks at the pool or on the lake. MG is loving exploring everything and her little feet are getting quite the workout these days. She has become obsessed with baby dolls. She just started going to a day care for the first time and she (and I) are adjusting. It is at daycare though that she has found her new love for "baby" as we have coined her doll that goes wherever she goes now. She is the perfect mix of girly and tomboy, she is a princess but loves to play in the dirt and is not afraid to get her hands (or her whole body!) dirty!

In 4 days, she will be ONE.
In 8 days, we will all celebrate her 1ST birthday!!

I am taking a half day off on her birthday and my mom and I are going to take her to Babyland General in Cleveland! I am so excited. I still vividly remember going there as a kid and picking out my very own Cabbage Patch doll!

I have been loving this song lately. I will leave you with it.
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