A day of dance

Andrew had his first recital this weekend. His Mommy and Me friends participated in a Day of Dance. This is a Forrest General Hospital sponsored event to promote heart health in women. Owen and Grandy came to watch Andrew perform. They showed their moves to "Wind the Bobbin Up". We practiced before hand but I didn't have much faith that it would go well. Andrew didn't do the motions, but he didn't cry either. All in all I thought it was a successful event and I am so glad we participated.


Andrew with his friends


Andrew waiting to perform

Loving the Nice Weather

Wednesday Andrew, Ralphie and I took a stroll around the neighborhood. We are so excited the weather is nice so we can enjoy being outside.

Love.

Best Friends. Owen and Me on our date night for Valentines.

Beach Bums

We were beach bums this weekend. Last week was a hectic week b/c Andrew was sick. We had planned to go to the beach with Owen's parents but I was second guessing that decision on Friday b/c I didn't want to mess up our routine and wanted to make sure Andrew truly felt better. Well, we decided to keep with the plan and I am so glad we did. We had an amazing weekend. The weather was unbelievable. Andrew played, crawled and explored on the beach. I feel so refreshed and ready for the week now. I am so glad we had the opportunity to get out of town and enjoy nice weather and good company. I just love happy family weekends.

Enjoy the pictures!


SAND!


Sand doesn't taste good at all!


Playing in the sand with daddy


Exploring with Grandy

Thankful for Grandmoms

I had hoped to write a wonderful loving Valentines Day post about Andrew's 2nd Valentines. We had a Mommy and Me party and a school party...but the day did not go as planned. Andrew started feeling sick Sunday night and I had hoped he would be fine in the Monday morning light. We proceeded with our day but I quickly realized he was still not feeling well. We left Mommy and Me during the party and went straight home. I stayed home with Monday but had to be back at work on Tuesday. Owen took the Tuesday shift and this is when we realized Andrew had pink eye!!! Luckily one of the moms in Andrew's day care sent me a text to check on him. This is when I learned 4 of his classmates had pink eye. We called his pediatrician and the nurse called in drops for him. We also called my mom to see if we could pull out the BIG favor card and have her come to Hattiesburg to stay with Andrew the rest of the week. We didn't want him to go back to school this week so he could fully rest and get over the pink eye. This morning he woke up better. A lot less eye crust. Hopefully he is on the mend and my mom and Andrew can have a fun few days together. I am so THANKFUL for family and for Grandmoms!!

One Year Ago Today

On this day last year...I dropped Andrew off at day care for the first time. I can't believe that was 365 days ago. I still have mixed feelings about it all but we take it one day at a time. He is at a good day care and they love him so that makes it easier. Here is the blog post I wrote a year ago about his first day. Over all the year has gone really well and I am happy with where my family of three is at the moment. I look forward to the future and the new experiences this next year will bring us.

Love Erin

14 Months

Andrew turned 14 months last Thursday. He is blossoming right now. Here are some fun facts about him.

* He can say ball, book, dog, and recognizes bananas and tries to say banana as well
* is pretty good at throwing a ball
* is learning to walk (see video below)
* says Mama when I walk into a room and picks me out of pictures
* points at things he wants
* loves Ralphie
* thankfully has a great appetite and tries new foods easily
* goes to bed around 6:30 pm
* On weekends he takes 2 naps (one in the morning and one in the afternoon)
* At school is takes one nap
* He is wearing 18-24 month clothes
* He likes books and has his favorite books to read before bedtime

Here is a video of Andrew walking to me last night


Pictures of our 14 month old baby boy

What I have learned this past week

I have learned many lessons this past week and to be quite honest I do not look favorably in this post.

Andrew caught a cold virus at the beginning of the week. He had a fever for 4 days and a fever rash for 2 days. Also, Owen's sinus issues have not gone away leaving him under the weather as well. And then there is me. Me, the person who claims to be a nurturer but when it gets tough, I get CRANKY! I can't handle everyone being sick and not being able to console them. I stayed at home with Andrew for 4 days and it was a hard 4 days. Nothing I did put Andrew in a good mood. He didn't want to eat, he didn't want to sleep, he didn't want to play, he didn't want to be held and all of that left a very confused mommy. I questioned all of my mothering skills and I questioned if I could handle being a stay at home mom. How could I not be getting this right? I also had work to worry with. I have missed 8 days of work since January because of Andrew being sick. How was I going to make it to December with already missing 8 days? The anxiety of all of this got to me over and over again. I had melt down after meld down and I am still not sure I am over it. Andrew thankfully is 100% and I am able to be a good mommy again to him. But I felt guilt like I have never felt before this past week. Sure, I feel guilty leaving him every day in the care of someone else. But the guilt, fear, and uneasiness I felt this past week was something I have NEVER experienced before.

I did not like the person I was last week and I don't know how to describe it. Being an Oprah fan, one of her motto's is "Live your best life"...well this past week made me question what my best life is. This little life crisis of mine has come out of the blue and I don't know how to move on from it.

To end on a positive note...enjoy the pictures of my 14 month old.