Honest Scrap Award

Thank you to Ashely of My Acronyms Give Me Character, for giving me the Honest Scrap award earlier this month (yes, I’ve been slack!)!! Go check her out! It's always nice to have people give you a blog award. I like keeping the blog for myself, but it's nice to know that others enjoy reading as well!

Rules for the award:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and list their blog and link it.
2. Share "10 Honest things" about yourself.
3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
4. Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.

My “10 Honest Things”:
1. I really miss cheerleading in high school—especially the competition squad. We might have fought sometimes, but I had so much fun with that group of girls!
2. If I could go back, I would not have majored in Accounting in college. I don’t have the time, money or desire to go back to school now. If this whole opening my own business thing doesn’t work out, I just may go back!
3. I have worked out a grand total of 4 days since I had the baby. That will be changing…starting 1/1/10! lol!
4. I have no desire to be pregnant again. I didn’t enjoy it. BUT, I would do it again in a heartbeat! (And I hope I get to!)
5. I’m not on birth control. I REALLY hope that we get a surprise and don’t have to do treatments for our next baby.
6. The idea of having another baby also scares the crap out of me!
7. I wish I could sing. But I can’t. Not even a little. I still do, though!
8. I really, really hate when people fish for compliments. If someone wants to compliment you, they will.
9. I have a long list of wants for our next house. I can’t wait to start looking. (This will not be happening in the near future, though.) Jordan laughs at me...then he says, "Don't forget we want ____!")
10. People who complain on face book everyday are hidden or removed from my friends list. I can’t stand it. If you have a bad day, a little complaint here or there isn’t terrible. I mean, I do it so I have no room to talk. But every. single. day. just gets kind of depressing! Try to find the positive stuff in life, people!!

I have awarded these 7 lovely ladies:
Hillary from Making Me Mom
Jennifer from Blonde Ambition
theworms from Inconceivable?!
Bluebird from Little Bluebirds Fly
t.bird from look at the birds...
jwhite from Life in the White House
K from Not How I Planned

Christmas Time!

Christmas this year was--dare I say it?--pretty close to perfection. Why wouldn't it be? We had our sweet baby that we have spent the past 3 Christmases longing for in our arms! It was so much fun to spend the holidays with a baby around. Our little monkey is quite the social butterfly.

We started the week off with dinner and presents at Jordan's parents' house. They were heading to TN for Christmas, so we wanted to make sure they got to see Hampton before they left town. Wednesday, we headed down to south GA to see my grandparents and uncle. We (dad, mom, my brother & sister, Hampton, Jordan and myself) all piled into my dad's Yukon and hit the road. It was crowded, but we had a good time. We're quite the group!! Thursday we had our Christmas Eve service at church. Jordan and I looked at each other before going in and said no sharing the baby tonight. This is our time to celebrate the gift of Jesus and the gift of our handsome son. And no one fought us on that. He snuggled right into his daddy's chest and slept the whole time. We decided to haul all the gifts over to mom and dad's that night so that we could wake up there on Christmas morning. It was great! Boy oh boy did Hampton get some goodies! I can't wait for him to actually care about his new toys! We got to visit with my other grandparents that afternoon and my uncles and 2 cousins stopped by yesterday.

And today, we rest. The cleaning and putting away of stuff can wait.

From our family to yours

Have a very Merry Christmas!!

3 Months!

Another month has come and gone! Hampton is smiling and laughing and "talking" so much these days. I can't get enough!! Tummy time and activity time are getting more bearable, and Hampton is starting to be happy for a good 10-15 minutes playing on his activity mat or chilling out in the swing. And sleeping--well, it's a whole new world! He naps in his crib most of the time, and he is now in his nursery full time at night (unless he just refuses to go back to sleep and mommy is too tired to fight it...then he winds up on my chest, asleep in minutes). I don't have him on any real schedule, but his schedule is becoming more predictable. I'm usually pretty quick to pick up his cues and know when he's done playing, hungry, wants to move around or be held, or when it's just about time to go to sleep. He has rolled over once, but I'm pretty sure it was more of an accident--we put him down in the pack n play on his tummy, and he woke up and didn't want to be there and kicked and cried and wound up on his back. Other than that, we have no rolling over success. My little monkey is changing everyday, it seems!

Busy, Busy (and a little lazy)

My blogging has been scarce recently, and I fully plan on fixing that! Like everyone else, I'm going, going, going this time of year, and when I have the chance to sit down, I'm too lazy to do anything else. I want to get back in the habit of regularly posting to not only keep you readers updated but to be able to remember this time because it is FLYING!

I also got an Honest Scrap Award from a blog friend, and I plan to post that really soon! (I promise I haven't just ignored you, Ashely!)

For now, how about a picture of my sweet baby? :)

Breastfeeding

Oh, breastfeeding--what mixed feelings I have for you! I'm not one of those hard core breast-is-best kind of people, but I did want to bf my baby for atleast the first 3 months. Why 3 months? I have no idea; it was the lucky number I pulled out of the sky.

At first it was terribly difficult, but after a few weeks, we both got the hang of it. The toe-curling pain that came along with each latch has finally gone away...most of the time. So many people told me what a bonding time bf would be, and I agree for the most part. I mean, I'm with him all day, every day, so I am bonding with him while rocking him to sleep, cuddling with him, or playing. I do love having this time with him when we've been around others all day. It's my chance to snatch him away from whomever and sneak away to be by ourselves for a little while.

I don't love breastfeeding, though.

Although the pain during feedings has gotten much better, the pain after is making me want to pull my hair out. It is so uncomfortable to put a bra on. I don't know if it's the milk coming back in after feedings, or what, but the sensation after each feeding is enough to make me double over in pain sometimes. And, Hampton takes forever to eat. I'm talking 45 minutes to an hour each feeding. Then he eats again 3-4 hours later. I feel like a prisoner to my house and couch! (Yes, I know I could feed him wherever, but I don't feel comfortable with breastfeeding in public.)

So, I'm starting to seriously consider weaning. I struggle with this b/c I know that breastmilk is what's best for him, but I think it will be better for me physically and emotionally. I hate to give up when so many other women have such struggles trying to bf. Next week will be 3 months. That was my goal. I just don't know...

On that note... baby's awake. Time to eat!

Birth Announcement

My sister, the artist of the family, made our birth announcements for us, and they came out SO CUTE!! I was a little nervous at first b/c I just wasn't sure how the whole thing was going to turn out, but I couldn't have been happier! Thanks again, Ash!

Too good to be true

The past couple of nights, Hampton has done really well sleeping. Tuesday he slept from about 12-7 and Wednesday from 12 to almost 8! Both nights he spent a good chunk sleeping on his own in the pack n play, too! Exciting, huh? But alas, here I sit feeding at 5 am after trying to get him to take the paci for a solid 30 minutes. So, was this whole "sleeping through the night" thing just a fluke? Or could his cold/congestion play a role in not sleeping so well? I guess only time will tell, but I hope it turns out to be that it wasn't just a 1 or 2-time thing. It's amazing what a 7 hour stretch of sleep can do for a very, VERY tired mommy!!