Update on Summer Goals

As I was stuck in the hospital recovering from my gall bladder surgery I wrote this post about some summer goals I wanted to complete.
Here is a little update! 

I have one more color to pick up and a frame to paint and then I will be hanging them on the wall and doing a full blog post to explain.
I have to say though, I am loving this project already. I took the idea I saw on pinterest of the fun colored frames and made it my own.
Can't wait to show you the finished look! 

Happy Summer.
Oh, and as far as the making memories goal... 

I'm doing my best to hold on to every moment.

2 months 5 days

 I was late posting his 1 month update so why not keep with tradition.
:)

Here we go, its time for me to talk brag about my handsome little boy.
Tanner is 2 months old and life has continued to be an adventure since my surgery.
Last weekend my brother got married to the most beautiful girl in the world and Tanner gained an aunt. A very special girl who loves this little boy so much. It was pretty emotional watching my brother marry the girl of his dreams and I know I have never seen him so happy.
I'm so happy for Lucas and Elizet and I can't wait for all the memories we will make together, and for the memories you will make with T. 

 Tanner has continued to change every aspect of our lives and Kevin and I still can't believe we get to keep him. We laugh at ourselves because after K comes home from work the three of us just lay on the floor and make crazy noises and talk and sing horribly so we can watch him smile.

 He continues to be a happy, filled with joy little boy. He cries when he is hungry, tired, or has a dirty diaper and that is about it. He rarely fusses for no reason unless he's in his car seat. We were hoping the older he got the more he would like it but nope, Tanner loves almost all things but that seat. He cries at almost ever car ride which can make most simple trips to the store a little stressful.
We are working at it though and he is getting a little better.

Tanner loves his tongue and makes me belly laugh through out the day with that thing. He plays with it a lot and is always doing the craziest things. My favorite is in the middle of the night after he nurses and is falling back into a deep sleep, he sticks his tongue out and licks his lips, gives a big sigh and then snuggles into my chest. No matter how tired I am after he does that I have the hardest time setting him back in his crib. 

 

If he is not sleeping he is alert and always has to know whats going on. He loves to be perked up on your chest so he can see, see, see! He is definitely turning out to be a little social bug, which of course I have no idea where he gets that from.
:) 

Yesterday at his 2 month appointment he weighed 11lbs 15 oz and was 24inches long. Looks like he might be tall and skinny like his daddy..and half of the rest of his family members.

 My little man nurses about every 3 hours give or take a little and is such an easy going baby.
A friend picked up a play mat for him and that is his favorite thing to do. He loves to lay on his back and he will play under that with his favorite little toy who I named Gus, for usually 20 minutes or so.
Today, he has been throwing his hands around like crazy and grabbing Gus while he plays.

Watching Tanner learn new things every day is one of the coolest things about being a parent.

 He sleeps in 3-5 hour stretches and is such a good boy about going back to sleep after he eats. Last night he was up every 3 hours and was a little fussy but normally I can lay him back down in his crib and he will go to sleep.

This last picture has become one of my favorites and it will be on my wall soon.
I just can't say enough about being a mom and feel so blessed to have this little boy in my life.
And with that, its time to do my favorite daily activity of rocking my sweet boy before bed.

baby boy

 I will never get these moments back.

 So through surgeries and exhaustion I will continue to hold on to these sweet moments with my boy.

I just love him so much.

Staying distracted.

 Even before I started having health problems and landed myself in the hospital all weekend I was working on this post. However with a great need to keep my mind distracted I decided to finish this post. I think that if I blog about a few goals I have for the summer it will help keep me accountable to then blog about them and prove I actually completed them.
Right now I am currently on a few pain meds and feeling a little crummy so if at the end of this post nothing makes sense, that is why.
:) 

Summer Goal list

Work on Projects:

I'm a sucker for fun DIY projects but the biggest procrastinator and also have no crafting ability. So even though I see things which I love and would love to do, I rarely ever complete a project. So, this brings me to goal #1 for my summer. Finish a project.
With the help of some friends and of course Pinterest here are a few things I would like to do.

 I would very much like to try some of these for my kitchen table. I just love bright and fun colors so I will probably pick a few of my own colors to match my kitchen, yellow of course being one of them and add a little excitement to the place.

 Next on the list are these really fun frames that I want to hang in our bedroom and or possible on a blank wall by our stairs. I haven't decided exactly on colors or placement yet but I am very excited to see what I can come up with. 

 Next will be these extremely fun DIY colorblock tees. I am extra excited about this because one of my best friends has already completed this project and has promised to help me with it. Head over to 1508 Grace to see Bethany's post! She is fabulous at getting things done and being organized. So if I had to bet that any of these projects will get done it will be this one, because I know Bethany will help keep me accountable to do it.
:)

Cook More, eat better

Even before my gall bladder landed me in the ER this weekend I had plans to become better this summer/fall about menu planning and cooking more for my family. I do love to cook, but again am just not very good at being organized and trying new things. Honesty..new recipes scare me, there is just so much that could go wrong and then you are stuck with eating something you hate. My wonderful hubby will eat anything..and never complains about a single thing I fix for him but who wants to waste money on food that won't taste good. I wanted to eat healthier anyways, so now my gall bladder ( or in a few hours the lack there of) will be good motivation to get my act together and take care of myself and my sweet family.

Of course I also have to work on my baking skills as well. I am not a fan of baking and that scares me even more than cooking does. So who do I use as my inspiration on this?
My sweet friend Beth. Let me tell you, this girl can bake. She has made me some of the most delicious desserts. One of my favorites? Her Maple Walnut Granola. Please do yourself a favor and head over to Beth's Blue Plate and look at all her yummy food.

Make Memories

This may seem like a silly goal or even like common sense but with Tanner now in our life Kevin and I want to be very intentional about making memories with him this summer. Even though he is small. 

Another one of my sweetest friends Emily, is always so good about being intentional with her life. She is very good about not wanting this life to pass her by without making the most of it.

At our last Bible study (which included all of the friends above) Emily and her husband introduced the idea of making a Family Mission Statement characterized around your family. They went on to explain that it could be anything you and your family decided but encouraged each couple to type it up and somehow hang it in your home so it is a constant reminder everyday.
Kevin and I have many ideas and have been trying to come up with something. We know that making memories will be included. We want Tanner and any future children to grow up knowing that we loved spending time with them. This is important to both of us. You should probably stop over at Emily's blog to see how cute her family is. I should warn you though, if you take one look at her precious daughter you will never be the same.

Hopefully you will be seeing blog posts throughout the summer/fall with completed goals and fun pictures to prove it.

1 Month

So I realize I'm a few days late but better that than never, right?1? 

Our tiny, squishy little baby is 1 month old. What? I can hardly believe it.

Weight:10. 2oz (As of Monday)

Height: 21"

  All in all, I think Tanner is doing really well. He is still getting up every 2 to 3 hours to eat but thankfully at night he goes right back to sleep after he nurses. Usually I am up with him 40 minutes max before setting him back in his crib. During the day is a different story, he has been spending more and more time being awake but still takes at least one short nap after each feeding. I was hoping he would start going longer between feedings at night but I guess he is a hungry boy!

Things we want to remember from month 1:

This boy smiles all day long. 

From the time I get him in the morning till the time I lay him down at night he gives us the biggest grins.
It is by far one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

He loves the fan.
 As in Kevin and I take turns standing underneath it just so he can tilt his head back and stare, and stare and stare..really people, he loves it.

He is completely outgrown all newborn clothes and is in size 1 diapers.
He is growing so fast.

His belly button is STILL not healed, this kid has seen the doctor more in his 1 month than I think I did through my whole pregnancy.
Thankfully the surgeon thinks it is almost healed and we are praying he won't need surgery! 

He is very hot blooded, if you swaddle him too tight or try to contain his arms he gets very angry.
Being in a onsie and a light blanket is his favorite. 

He had his first bottle on Mother's Day, it is nice to know that other people can feed him too.

His favorite way to be snuggled is right up on your chest.

 

He loves to look at everything.

 He is so alert and always wants to know what is going on.

Since we had to make the icky trip to Madison to visit the surgeon we decided to celebrate his 1 month birthday by picking up Aunt Ellen and going to the zoo. As you can see he wasn't impressed.

Tanner  has changed our life. 

Kevin and I can't imagine what we ever did without him and we both feel so honored to be his parents. 

This last month has been one of the hardest and exhausting of my entire life, but it has also been filled with more joy than I can write in words. 

Watching our families fall in love with him has been so fun, this little boy is blessed far more than he knows!

the one who made me a mother

this beautiful, squishy, almost always alert boy has captured a piece of my heart, God chose to give me this baby at this time.

Tanner has made me a mother.

You always hear other moms saying "watch out, it all goes so fast."

So when my sweet friend Kayla and I were planning his newborn shoot my only request was

 "I want to remember him just as he is"

 That way when he is a grown man but still my baby I will remember the perfect features of his face and the way I felt these first few weeks. 

I want to remember it all.

I know I will forget, I know he will continue to grow faster then I can keep up and soon these sweet memories of his tiny body and long nights will just be a memory. 

This is why I love photos. Because they capture the things that sometimes the mind forgets. Though I'm certain my heart will always hold on to these precious memories I know that these photos will be such a treasure when this tiny baby is no longer tiny.

 they will help me to never forget what it felt like to be a new momma. 

These photos will help me remember what it took to soothe him after changing his diaper nearly wrecked his universe

they will help me remember sitting in his room at all hours of the night watching him drift into sleep.

they will help me remember what it felt like to bond and fall completely in love with my little boy

I am so thankful I have these precious photos because even though they are just pictures, they are memories I will treasure forever. 

This baby has turned me into one big pile of mush.

being a mama..

I knew things would be different once our sweet boy was born.

I knew I would be changed forever.

I knew that I loved him from the start.

But I had no idea how much joy I would feel the instant they placed him on my chest. 

Right now Tanner Vincent is currently snuggled up with his Daddy and this is the first time I've been on an actual computer since he was born. Even with him being such a good and easy baby this new adjustment is quite the whirlwind. Trying to find time to do anything but take care of him or try to catch a snooze is pretty hard. I'm so thankful for a husband who has been more of a servant to me and Tanner than I could ever express. I would not have survived this last week without Kevin. We have also had tons of help from our family and friends and I am so thankful to them as well. Basically, Tanner has no clue how loved he is and how blessed he is by the greatest support group ever. 

He was born Saturday, April 13th at 9:28 pm. He came into the world wide awake and alert. He loves to be awake and look around and its so fun to see how alert he is.
I really wanted to blog my whole birth story, and I have started to journal it so I don't forget but the more I look at my son the more I realize how he got here really doesn't matter to me. Though I didn't plan to be induced, I didn't plan to get an epidural, and I didn't plan to push for over 2 hours, the journey of that day brought me one of the greatest gifts of my life. The moment they laid that 8lb 2.7oz baby boy on my chest will be a moment I will never forget. Kevin and I were instantly amazed at how our world was turned upside down and being parents has been such a joy.
It's hard, and so exhausting but I've never been more happy to be tired. 

So for now we are just taking one day at a time, getting lots of advice and enjoying every little snuggle we get. I'm not sure I've ever been more amazed at the glory of our God and am so thankful to Him for this incredible blessing. I can't even believe that the little guy on my husbands lap was the one who was growing in my belly for over 41 weeks. 

Thank you for all the well wishes and support, we are so blessed by all of you!