True Life: I Have a Toddler

It's official. I no longer have a baby. I have a toddler.

I truly hoped that since my parents always said what an angel I was as a child, that I wouldn't have to "pay for my raising" with Charlotte. I was wrong. Dead wrong.

My sweet, feminine, baby girl has somehow transformed into a stinky, dirty, loud, fast creature that I have no idea what to do with. Seriously, I feel like my child is a gremlin. In fact, I tell her at least 10 times a day that I am fairly certain that is what she is.

So here is what life is like lately:

Charlotte's new favorite thing is barking. The funny part is that our dog doesn't even bark and we definitely didn't teach her how to do it. She just began barking at the neighbor's dog one day and never stopped. It was cute/funny at first. But now she sits in the yard and barks at cars. And barks at strangers while we are out. Actually, she growled at a man that tried to talk to her in Wal-Mart the other day. That was fun....

Also, now that she can walk, she has is far more capable of getting into things. And she is strong, so she can lift things easily. Bad combo. Case in point, I caught her eating handfuls of sugar that she apparently got out of the pantry (silently). I don't think I need to tell you that she didn't nap that day...

I anticipated that she would have lots of bumps and bruises once she started walking, but I didn't anticipate how many I would have. As I was laying on the bed today, she dive bombed me like a kamikaze pilot with her forehead and busted my lip open. And this is a regular occurrence. Why did no one tell me how dangerous having children would be?! **This is me giving you your fair warning if you don't have kids yet. **

She also discovered new decibels of her voice. Decibels I did not know existed. It sounds like I have a pterodactyl in my house most of the time. And when she is in time out (which is about 10 times a day), I fear my neighbors are going to call the cops because it sounds like she is DYING. I think I may be experiencing mild hearing loss....

And last, but certainly not least, she has learned to throw fits. Apparently fits are just a natural thing children know how to do because she had never seen a child throw a tantrum before she threw her first. She cried, took three steps, threw herself in the floor, and rolled around until she felt the position was best for getting my attention. I ignore her, but she is persistent! Yesterday she had an on and off again fit for an hour because she was out of Easter candy. She would walk over to her Easter basket. sign "more", I would tell her there was no more, she would throw a fit like I just described, I would ignore it, she would stop, and then we would repeat the process every 5-10 minutes. It was awesome (not).

So to all of you out there who think she is a perfect princess, think again. I would like to hope my sweet angel will make a return in the near future, but I'm not holding my breath! *Sigh.... in the meantime, I will enjoy the many hilarious things she does and try to maintain my sanity. 

Our Week in Photos {April 7-13}

Playtime and Parfaits.

Well it has been a big week for Charlotte! After 13 long months she finally learned to walk! And let's just say she is basically already running. "Slow" is not a speed she likes to operate in. She is loving having a whole new perspective of the world from standing on her own 2 tiny feet. Check out this video from her first day of walking. She is very proud of herself!

In addition to walking, she is becoming quite the chatterbox! She's been saying "mama" and "dada" for a while now, but she now says the names of our pets Bella ("Beba") and Scout ("Cow"), banana ("nana"), and all done ("a-da"). She is also working on her sign language and has been signing "more" and "all done". She has definitely left the baby stage and is officially turning into a toddler/little adult.

Hope you all enjoy the newest pictures of our little life!

Enjoying the mud and leaves on a pretty day.

Apparently the mud here is really delicious!

Celebrating our 2nd anniversary!

She decided Bella needed a playmate in her crate ;)

Last but not least, I just had to share our new favorite sweet treat, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. Man, I sure love her recipes! You definitely have to try these parfaits.. fruit, yogurt, vanilla, cream (or milk!), and brown sugar. Yum yum! Check out here recipes HERE!

384 Days.

There are a lot of goals I set aside or don't follow through with.... but one goal I am proud to say I accomplished was breastfeeding my baby for a year! In fact, we successfully breastfed for 384 days.

384 days of giving my child the milk God made for her.

384 days of knowing my body could provide all my child needed.

384 days of watching my child grow and develop primarily from the nutrients I created for her.

I'm not going to tell you it was easy. It wasn't! My doctor told me to quit when she had severe jaundice (I ignored them...) My doctor told me to quit when she wasn't growing as fast as the doctor would have liked (I ignored them again.) I've been frustrated. I've been impatient. I've been bit. I've been in pain. I've been so tired I wanted more than anything to just give her bottle of formula. But I didn't. I stuck to my goal and I succeeded. 

And guess what? My daughter is healthy. She is strong. She is just the right size. She is smart. It is so amazing to know I did the best I could for her. I encourage all of my friends to breastfeed if they can! Even if it is just for a little while. I am so proud of myself for meeting my goal and doing what was best for our family for our child, and I pray that all of you mommies do what is best for your families, whatever that my be!

If any of you ever need a go-to person for breastfeeding, I am always glad to lend my support! Feel free to ask me any advice, vent, or just get informed! 

Sunshine

Thank GOD winter is almost over! Charlotte and I are both so ready to be outside more! We got a little taste of spring at the beginning of the week with highs in the 70s. Charlotte got to wear her new shorts and play on her new swing set! She was a very happy little girl.

Charlotte's New Room

We decided to switch Charlotte to a big girl bed a little earlier than most. Due to lack of space, it only made sense for our full sized bed to go into her room instead of the tiny spare room we had it in. So we decided to make the leap and transition her now. Thankfully, the bed we had is made to not need a box spring, which means that the full height from floor to top of the mattress is only around 20" so we weren't too worried about her injuring herself even if she were to fall.

After her 1st birthday last month, I got inspired by her party decorations. Polka dots, stripes, and lots of color! I decided to keep the decor as a basis for her new "big girl" room. We lucked out and found a great comforter set that went well with the decorations.

My main project was changing the headboard on the bed. The headboard that was on the bed was very hard wood with metal bars. It also had big spaces in it large enough for her to fall through, so I definitely wasn't comfortable with it the way it was! I decided to pad and cover a sheet of plywood and attach it to the frame. I am so pleased with how it turned out!

My other little project was recovering and painting some canvases that matched her old room. Using quilting squares, I recovered them and then decided to paint a sun with "You are my Sunshine" on them. It was my favorite song as a child and I sing it to her often!

Anyways, here is her new room! She loves it and so do I!

Key Lime Cupcakes

Hey friends! Just wanted to share a recipe that I made today! With St. Patty's Day coming up, I wanted to try out a nice, green dessert. I LOVE Key Lime Pie and I also love cupcakes. So I decided to combine the 2 with this Key Lime cupcake! This lime flavored cupcake is topped with a cream cheese frosting to create a perfect dessert when you want something different than your standard chocolate or vanilla.

Sorry for the not so great picture... I used my phone instead of my camera. In real life, the cupcake is more green and the frosting is more cream colored. Anyways... as much as I like making things from scratch, I also like "semi-homemade" things. This is a great example of that! Taking a box mix and turning it into something new. So here is the recipe! Enjoy!

Key Lime Cupcakes:
1 box white cake mix
1 three ounce box of lime Jello
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
Juice from 2 limes

Mix all ingredients and pour into cupcake pan (put liners in first of course!). Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before icing. 

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 box cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
Half stick (1/4 cup) butter (softened to room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Use mixer to blend cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and continue to mix. Then, slowly incorporate powdered sugar until smooth! Easy and delicious!

*Note: If you want a thicker icing, add more powdered sugar. If you want it thinner, add a milk 1 Tbsp. at a time until you reach your desired consistency*

To My Baby on Her Birthday

Dear Charlotte,

A year ago today, my life changed forever. A year ago today, I had you. How on earth has it already been a year since you came into this world wide eyed and wiggling? It’s like time has been on fast-forward! But for now, rewind.

For starters, it is necessary for me to give you a play-by-play of your birth. That’s what your Kiki does for me EVERY YEAR on my birthday, so it is only fair for me to do the same for you. So here it goes.

A year and one day ago on February 11, 2013, the doctors decided it was time for us to speed things up and start the process of bringing you into this world. You see, I had developed pre-eclampsia and it was just getting worse. The longer you stayed in my belly, the more dangerous it was for both of us. So once they saw how high my blood pressure was that day, they said it was time to go. Now.

So off to the hospital we went. Once we got settled into our room, they gave me some medicine to try and make me dilate. It didn’t work though. They hoped all night long that it would help and labor would start, but it didn’t. I was only 1cm dilated. So we went on to Plan B the next morning. At 6am, they started Pitocin. It started giving me a few contractions, but nothing very strong. Over the next 6 hours, they gave me more and more medicine until they couldn’t give me anymore! I thought, “If this is what contractions feel like, there is no way I will need pain medicine! This is easy!”

By noon, I was dilated to 3 cm. And then they broke my water. Almost immediately, my contractions intensified by about 100. They hurt BAD! Within about 30 minutes of those contractions, I started telling the nurses that I was going to eventually want an epidural. They told my doctor who said I couldn’t have it until I was at least 4 cm. The next four hours are a blur. Since the Pitocin was on the maximum dosage, my contractions were literally off the charts. They lasted a couple minutes each, but I only got about 15 seconds between each one. Whoever said you could rest in between obviously had never had my dosage of Pitocin!

Finally at 4pm, they checked me again and said I was 4cm and could have an epidural. I was so relieved to see the anesthesiologist! My sweet nurse held me while they did the epidural (I still don’t know where your father went…but at the time I didn’t care!). As they laid me back down to test the epidural, my whole body started contracting. Not only could I feel my stomach tightening, but my legs, my face, my arms, EVERYTHING was tightening up. I was terrified that the anesthesiologist had hit a nerve and caused some type of horrible damage. As I was telling him what I was feeling, he said that the symptoms were consistent with someone who was close to delivering. The nurse assured him that I was only a four, but she checked me just in case. The look on her face was priceless! “Oh wow…. You are about to have a baby! Don’t push! I have to get the doctor and everything we need!” I went from 4cm to 10cm in the course of about 30 minutes while they did the epidural. Apparently, my contractions were too strong to allow my body to relax enough to let you come down the birth canal. So once the epidural started to kick in, my body let you come right on down!

The next couple minutes were complete chaos! One nurse ran to get your dad, another ran to get the doctor, and another started wheeling all kinds of equipment into the room. Once they were all set up, it was time to push! About ten minutes and several pushes later, and there you were. 4:59pm. Eyes wide open, looking right at me when they laid you on my chest. I never expected your eyes to be open that soon! It was so surreal to finally see the little wiggle worm that had been inhabiting my belly the past nine months!

And you were perfect. They laid you on the warming table and your daddy went to be with you. As soon as you grabbed his finger, he told me he couldn’t come back to my side until you let go. So he let you hold him for almost an hour. Since you came down the birth canal so quickly, you aspirated some fluid, which made you breathe too fast for a while. And breathing too fast made your blood sugar drop a little too much. But finally, everything balanced out and they brought you back to me.

As I looked into your perfect little face, I was amazed. Your daddy and I talked so much about what we hoped you would look like. We hoped you would have his pretty lips and skin. We hoped you would have my bright eyes and face shape. And you did. You were exactly as we hoped you would be. And you were so alert! Immediately looking around, taking everything in.

Even in the womb, you were a mover. And it was the same as soon as you were born! Everyone that held you commented on how wiggly you were! And it never changed.

Over the past year, God has allowed me to watch you grow and transform from that wiggly little baby to an awesome little person. I thought you would be like a little mini-me, but you couldn’t be farther from that. You are strong-willed and outgoing. You know what you want and when you want it and you aren’t afraid to let everyone know it! You are a dare devil and an adventurer. You are fearless. You are loud! You are a troublemaker. You are an attention seeker. You light up every room you are in. You make everyone smile when they see you. You are so full of pure joy.

I pray often that I am able to take all these qualities that God gave you and mold them properly. I pray you take that strong will and use it to stand up for yourself and your beliefs. I pray you take that outgoing personality and use it to reach out to those who need a friend the most. I pray you use that adventurous spirit to go places and try things that others won’t. I pray you use your fearlessness to dare to dream big. I pray you use that loud voice to praise God. I pray you use that troublemaker attitude to go against the grain and dare to be different. I pray you use the attention you receive to spread love and positivity. I pray you never lose your light and joy.

You are something special. God designed you perfectly and gave your daddy and I the job of raising you the best we can. We are going to mess up. We are going to lose our cool. We are going to do things and say things we’ll regret. But we love you more than you could ever imagine. We want nothing but the best life for you. You have given our lives a new purpose and brightened our world in a way I never thought possible. We have learned so much about ourselves and each other the past year, and I can only pray we can teach you half as much as you’ve taught us. I can’t wait to see how your life will unfold, baby girl.

Happy birthday, darling! Mommy loves you!

DIY: Monogrammed Canvas

     So for a while now I have wanted to do a painting project with my daughter. Now that she finally isn't putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, I thought we would give it a try! First off, y'all should all know that I like projects that are inexpensive and easy. And this project definitely fits that description!

So here's what you need:

• A canvas 
• I grabbed a two pack of 16x20 canvases from Walmart for less than $15
• Several colors of paint that will mix well 
• I used red, yellow, and light blue....and I used acrylic paint. I just made sure Charlotte did NOT put any in her mouth and washed it off of her immediately afterward
• Something to keep the floor clean 
• I used a trash bag, but you could use a drop cloth, newspaper, etc.
• A small paintbrush 
• I have no idea what size I used...just one small enough you can trace an outline with!
• A monogram pattern 
• I got mine from For Chic Sake

I cut open my trash bag along one side seam and the bottom seam so I could spread it out. I placed the canvas on it and then just squirted the paints in various lines across it (Sorry I don't have step-by-step pictures! I didn't plan on blogging this!). Then I stripped Charlotte down to her diaper since I knew this would be a messy project. I set her down and just let her explore! Of course, she crawled on top of the canvas first and just sat on it. But after a little redirection, she got her little hands on it and had a blast!

I rotated the canvas as we went so that she spread the paint all over the canvas. In the end, we ended up with a nice peachy canvas.

I put it up on my easel to let it dry and then Charlotte had to have a bath. This is definitely not a clean project, so just turn back now if you don't want a mess!

I let the canvas dry overnight and then had the task of figuring what I wanted to add to it. I honestly had no idea when I had her paint it! After a lot of deliberation, I decided I wanted a monogram of her initials. I'm not crafty enough to draw a cool monogram on my own, so I googled "monogram maker" and sorted through the links until I found the one I listed above. Its a great printable that you could even frame if you wanted! Anyways, just choose a background color for the monogram (It doesn't really matter what color) and then scroll down and enter the initials. It has instructions on the page, so I won't repeat them on here.

So once you've got your monogram, its up to you how you do the next step. I am good at looking at something and being able to copy it free hand. So I simply looked at my monogram and drew it in pencil onto the canvas. Another option would be to print the monogram, cut it out and use it as a stencil. Either way, you'll want to draw it in pencil first.

Once you've got your monogram drawn on, its time for paint! I opted for a contrasting color for the monogram. Since the canvas was a peachy color, I decided to do the monogram in blue.  I used a light blue to fill in the monogram and then decided to use a teal color as an outline. I put a couple coats of the light blue on for full coverage. In the end, I love how it turned out! Can't wait to hang it in her room and keep it for years to come!

Broccoli Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Happy Wednesday friends! I just had to share our delicious dinner tonight. We are trying to incorporate more nutrient dense foods in our diet, and sweet potatoes are becoming a new favorite! Low in calories and packed full of vitamin A (over 300% of your recommended daily intake) they are an awesome addition to our meals. In the past, the only type of baked sweet potato I have had was full of cinnamon, butter, and marshmallows. Delicious? Yes. But I feel like packing them with marshmallows kind of takes away from their nutrition.

Seeing as I've only had sweet potatoes with other sweet toppings, this recipe provided a great new spin since its filled with contrasting salty toppings like cheese and pancetta (bacon would also work just fine if you can't find pancetta). If you are looking for a hearty, flavorful meal, this is it! I thought that they would simply be a side dish, which I why I prepared chicken with them, but they are so packed full of ingredients that they are easily a meal in themselves! Neither my husband nor I was able to finish our plates!

Anyways, click HERE for the recipe! One tip I have is on baking the potatoes. I cooked them at 425 degrees compared the the 365 that the recipe suggests. This will give you a crispier skin. I cooked them for 40 minutes, flipped them, and then cooked them for an additional 20 minutes and they were perfect!

Holy YUM!

Ok, so I may have completely failed at gluten-free biscuits and gravy last week....But I no longer care because I just made the most delicious breakfast this morning! And it was easy!

Sweet Potato Latkes and Eggs

I am all about simple. If I see that any recipe has more than about 10 ingredients I usually don't even try. So to find a super filling breakfast that is delicious, low in calories (less than 300 calories!), and easy, I was stoked! My husband was also VERY impressed! The latkes have a texture somewhere between a traditional potato cake and a pancake. Topped with an over easy egg, the yolk adds a delicious creaminess to them. If you want to try them out, click HERE for the recipe! I cut the recipe in half for me (I shredded half of a sweet potato and used 1 egg to make 3 cakes) and it was more than enough!

*This is a Paleo recipe, which is why the latkes are friend in coconut oil. I'm sure they would be just as delicious cooked in vegetable oil or whatever oil you have on hand!*

Gluten Free Fail.

Due to some auto-immune problems, I recently decided to go gluten free. I know its going to be a process, but it is something I am very excited about! Since making the leap, I have enjoyed several amazing new recipes (which I will share on another post) and am trying out a variety of gluten free products and substitutes.

All that being said, I thought today would be a great day to attempt gluten free biscuits and gravy. You all should know that I LOVE gravy. When we eat breakfast at a restaurant, I always get an extra side of gravy to smother my food with. Biscuits and gravy. Eggs and gravy. Hash browns and gravy. YUM. The bad part about this obsession of mine is that flour is a base ingredient in homemade gravy. Obviously I can't use standard flour on this new diet, so I decided to try out my new gluten free artisan flour blend. As for the biscuits, I tried gluten free Bisquick for the first time.

Ok, here it goes- (be warned that I am going to give you a step-by-step of my first gluten free failure.)

First off, I whipped up the biscuits using the recipe on the box. Nothing fancy. Bisquick, eggs, milk, and butter (it actually called for shortening but I didn't have any. Butter is yummier anyways.) Dropped the dough by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and baked at 400 for 14 minutes. They turned out beautifully! 

While they were baking, I started on the gravy. My mom taught me long ago how to make homemade gravy. No powder mixes for us! And the key to good gravy is grease. Fatty, delicious grease. Anytime I cook bacon, I save the drippings left in the pan specifically for future gravy making. Just pour it in a little bowl and put it in the refrigerator. 

Anyways, I started with my refrigerated bacon grease and my new artisan flour.

Next, I added about half of the grease to my skillet (probably about 3 Tbsp).

Once it completely melted I added 1/3 cup of flour.

I worked the flour into the grease to make a nice roux. (This is about where I realized things didn't look quite like they usually do)

Then the milk went in. Probably about 1/2 cup to start with. When making gravy, always start small and add as needed so you don't have to overcompensate with more flour.

The next stage should have consisted in the rue dissolving into the milk. The spoon wasn't working, so I switched to a spatula, my mom's gravy tool of choice.

Well, the spatula wasn't working too well either. Maybe some more milk? And maybe a whisk...

Ummm... no. This is not what gravy should look like. After lots of stirring/whisking, I realized that sadly this gravy was a lost cause. Tragic, I know. I almost cried. Almost.

So, Charlotte and I had biscuits and jelly instead. Not as good as biscuits and gravy, but still yummy! The texture of the biscuits is a little different than normal, but they were still great!

They are Charlotte-approved! And also cat and dog approved. Both pets cleaned up her crumbs from the floor.

In the end, we had a yummy breakfast. Not what I intended, but good nonetheless. And that's what this journey is all about! Trial and error. Discovering new things that are great and giving up old things that aren't. For now, I will be gravy free. But for the love of God, if any of you know how to make gluten free gravy, HOOK ME UP! :)

-Whitney

Welcome to Mommyhood!

I feel like the past few weeks, I see another new pregnancy announcement in my Facebook news feed every day! Apparently 2014 is going to be a big year for babies! And most of the friends I know who are pregnant are first timers. While I am no expert in pregnancy or parenting, I do feel like I have a lot to share (and so much of it is fresh on my mind since my baby girl is only 10 months old). Highs, lows, joys, frustrations, and things I WISH people would have told me! So here it goes...

1. Don't compare yourself, your body, your labor, or your baby to anybody else's. Some of you will get sick during pregnancy, some won't. Some will start showing early on, some will wait until much later. Some of you will feel like you are big enough to be carrying quadruplets, while some of you will look like you are barely pregnant the day you give birth (although you will still probably feel like a giant...). You might labor for a few hours, you might labor for days! Your baby could be tiny or huge. Your baby may be an over-achiever or might achieve things later than all the books and websites say. But whatever happens, this is YOUR experience. It is PERFECT just the way it is. Enjoy each and every second!

2. You might not "fall in love" with your baby before it is born. Don't get me wrong...the day I found out I was pregnant, I was thrilled! But I never felt really connected to that little being in there. I truly thought there was something wrong with me! Why didn't I have maternal love for this child? It did get better though.The first ultrasound made it more real. Finding out it was a girl made it even MORE real. Seeing her little face in 3D made it even MORE real. But I didn't really love her until the day she was born. So if you already feel a strong love and bond with your unborn child, that's amazing! But if you don't, don't feel bad! It will come.

3. When you first start feeling your baby move, it is weird. Definitely super cool! But also really weird. Feeling something move INSIDE your body is the most bizarre thing you will ever experience. As time goes on, you get used to it though. And it becomes part of your daily life. And even though sometimes it will be painful, you will probably miss the feeling when its gone! 

4. In terms of your birth plan, "Plan A" may not work out. And that's OK! You will probably need a Plan B... or Plan C or D. I had every intention of having a natural, drug-free birth. But high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia made me change my plans. For the health of me and my baby, I needed to be induced. Let me tell you, pitocin induced contractions are NOT pleasant (and I absolutely would not recommend an induction unless medically necessary). After 10 hours of hard labor, I caved and got an epidural. But guess what? Within 10 minutes of getting it, I dilated from a 4 to a 10! It was EXACTLY what my body needed to relax enough to let my baby girl come through the birth canal. 3 pushes later and she was here! None of it was in my plan. But it was a beautiful experience! Don't beat yourself up if "Plan A" doesn't work out. All that matters is a healthy mom and baby in the end.

5. When your milk comes in, it HURTS! Why did nobody tell me this?!?! Whether you breastfeed or not, you're going to get milk. And you will feel like your boobs are going to burst. Seriously, my breasts were so hard and full that they felt like rocks (boulders is more like it...). They are going to leak. Everywhere. And not just a little bit. Your shirt will be saturated in milk. But it will get better in a few days. Your body just needs some time to figure out how much milk it needs to make! 

6. Don't feel like you have to be supermom. If somebody offers you help, TAKE IT! Let your body rest all it can after giving birth. Bond with your baby. Nap with them. Snuggle them. Let somebody else cook and clean if you can! And if you are doing this alone, give yourself some slack on the chores. The house may get a little messy, but that's not what matters. What matters is letting your body heal and getting to know this precious new life you've just brought into the world!

7. Every woman's body bounces back at a different pace. Don't be too hard on yourself! Obviously, do what you can to stay healthy, but don't beat yourself up if you don't get back to your pre-baby weight for awhile. And breastfeeding does NOT always make the weight "just fall right off" like people will tell you. I swear, my body has held onto to every ounce of fat I have just in case it needs it to feed my baby in a time of famine. Almost 11 months later and I am still about 10 pounds away from my pre-baby weight. But you know what? Those extra 10 pounds don't make me less of a mother. Like my stretch marks, they are just a reminder that I was once a vessel for another life. 

8. Listen to your instincts. Just because you are a first time mom, doesn't mean that you don't know what you are doing. You know your baby. Doctors aren't always right. Your friends who have 4 kids aren't always right. The internet is DEFINITELY not always right. You are the mom. YOU do what is right for you and your baby.

9. You are going to get frustrated. REALLY frustrated. There will be times where you almost understand how people shake their babies (I'm sure you all think I am a horrible person for saying that.... but seriously every mom I have ever talked to understands these moments). If there is nobody else there to try their hand in calming baby, then put them in their crib, shut the door, and walk away. Go outside for a few minutes if you need to. Take some deep breaths. Say a prayer. Or a lot of prayers. Think of a nice, quiet moment with your baby and dwell on it. Then, when you feel like you are calmed down, go back, give them a kiss, and try again. Letting them scream for a few minutes is so much better than allowing yourself to reach your breaking point and cause any harm to your baby. 


10. Last but certainly not least, cherish every second. I know every mom will tell you this, but its true. Take thousands of pictures of them. Because you will forget how tiny they are. You'll forget how bald they were. You'll forget how helpless they were. You'll forget how that tiny newborn cry sounds. You'll forget how you ever lived without them. Soak it all up, because no matter how frustrating things are sometimes, you will miss it. 

These next few months are going to be some of the strangest, coolest, and most memorable times of your life. Enjoy the ride!