The Span of 83 Years

Last week my sweet grandmother, affectionately called "Gampi" by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, passed away. At 83 years old, she had lived quite a life. 5 children, 8 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. She moved 10+ times as a Naval Captain's wife (his true "commander"!), hosted countless parties, holidays, and dinners, was Cotton Queen (she hailed from Memphis, so of course!), and taught her legacy countless life lessons.

She taught us how to ice skate

She taught us how to set a proper table

How to make the best martini ever

She taught us how to accessorize...we loved playing dress up

Speak softly but carry a big stick

How to polish silver in record time

She taught us how to speak English properly...and reminded us over and over

How to drive stick...on her huge truck of a diesel Mercedes no less

She taught us how to lose gracefully...while planning your next attack

All the "yes m'am" and "no sir's" you could imagine

She taught me how to knit. All I know is how to knit a scarf, but it's something!

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all

She taught us how to enjoy Big Band; I still have my radio set to one of these stations


While our family is extremely heart broken by the loss of such a small, strong, woman, she left us with thousands of great memories:


Crabbing off their boat on the Chesapeake

Going to dinner theaters and musicals

Paddle boating on the water at Sandy Point park

Making sure the "breakfast fairies" left us breakfast whenever we spent the night. I later learned this was so we could feed ourselves so we wouldn't wake her up in the morning - smart lady!

Swimming in their pool and then relaxing afterwards on the porch hammock eating watermelon

Researching our family genealogy and hearing stories and seeing pictures of all our ancestors

Baking cookies - snickerdoodles were our favorites!

Going to Navy football games at the Academy

Christmas mornings and her white frosted Christmas tree

There are so many more that they would take another lifetime to re-live. I hope she is looking down on us now and smiling proudly at those she left behind and I hope to make her proud each and every day until I can see her again.

My First Full Year of Motherhood

Throughout 2013 our family obviously was very busy with the new addition to our household! We started off the year celebrating and loving on our new little guy and then I went back to work in the beginning of February. Four months of being with Conrad 24/7 and then all of a sudden handing him over to someone else for 10 hours a day?! Rude awakening. As I've mentioned before, this is the worst part about being a working mom. But hey, the baby's gotta eat! Here's some things I wish I knew before but learned well in 2013:

1. I can survive on >6 hours of sleep per night OR sleep/wake/sleep/wake off and on for 8+ hours. The husband, however, tends to be a bit more grouchy when forced to do this. I realize there are reasons why women are moms as men can't handle the lack of sleep too well.

At least he got some sleep!

2. Breastfeeding is HARD. And you know what? If you end up not following through for the whole recommended year, it's OK. Your baby will survive. Just like those that breastfeed their child until they're 18 don't like to be judged, neither do moms who only do it for 3 months.

3. Anything you read in baby books you can find on the internet. I have about 5 different sleep method books and 3 different baby first year books and used none of them. And guess what?! Conrad slept through the night after 8 months without some sort of crazy rigid method. He eats well without some sort of crazy eat this first then that. Do what works for you and whats healthy for your baby.

4. Doctors don't always have the answers and YOU are your child's advocate. If you think something's wrong or not right, keep pushing on Momma!

5. Think your lifestyle was different than your single friends before? Hey, at least you could still join them for happy hour. Get ready to host wine night at your house instead and pray they don't mind toys all over the place and you wearing two-day old yoga clothes covered in spit up. Hey, at least you have wine.

6. Speaking of wine, it's my new best friend. Mama can always use more wine when she gets a lot of "whine" from the baby. HA, see what I did there?

Looks like C-Rad would like some wine too!

7. You will be judged for anything and everything you do. You learn not to care.

8. If you don't believe in yourself, you'll drown in self-doubt and worry. But you know what? There are worse parents out there than you (read: Britney Spears? entire cast of 16 and pregnant?) so try your hardest to do right by your child and the rest doesn't matter - the matching clothes, perfect nursery, and right on target schedule are all meaningless as long as your baby is healthy and happy.

9. Schedule? What schedule?! Let go.

10. Don't compare yourself and your child to others. Do what works for you and your family; you'll drive yourself crazy trying to keep up with everyone else!

11. The dishes can wait. So can the laundry, vacuuming, and bed-making. Oh, and the baking, organizing, and polishing silver?! Forget about it. What can't wait are the moments your baby laughs, walks, and talks. What can't wait are the cuddles, book-reading, and block building. These are important.

12. I used to think I wanted to work up that corporate ladder right away - time was money. But now, time is time and you can't get it back. "I wish I had spent more hours in the office" - said no one ever.

13. Never underestimate the power of a good cry. Or muffled scream while hiding in your bathroom. Hey, whatever relieves your stress.

14. Take care of yourself! Don't be afraid to ask the husband, friend, neighbor, grandparent to watch the baby while you get a mani, go to the gym, drive to Starbucks and veg for an hour. You deserve it and shouldn't feel guilty.

15. Guilt! Oh the guilt! When your brain is telling you that you aren't doing enough, tell it to back the bus up and take a look at the beautiful child you carried for 9+ months and brought into the world. Did you feed him, clothe him, cuddle, kiss, and play with him today? It's enough.

16. Remember who your partner is when raising a child and learn to trust in them. Sean is an amazing father and I don't doubt his abilities for a second and appreciate all that he does and should probably thank him more as there are Dads out there that do absolutely nothing.

17. Take pictures, lots and lots of pictures! Every day if possible.

Oh, the outfits! Not enough days for them all...

18. Frozen foods, crock pot meals, and take out or delivery were the best things invented. EVER.

19. Now that Conrad is older, I try to make time in the morning before he wakes up to shower, do my hair, and makeup. After all, I'm still a real person and feel better when I'm put together (even if I'm overwhelmed on the inside, hey, at least I look great!) even if I'm at home by myself.

20. In order to do the above it's best to go to bed early. Sure, I'd love to stay up late and read or catch up on shows but at this point...who cares if Emily Thorne ever gets her Revenge on the Grayson family, she doesn't have a 14 month old to take care of.

21. If you don't have time to see friends and family as often as you'd like, still text and call or email them to keep up with their lives. Technology is great so take advantage of it!

22. There's always tomorrow. Or later today. If you didn't get it right at this moment, your child won't break or be scarred for life.

23. It's ok to want to run away sometimes. You know you're not really going to do it so imagining you're on a tropical beach without the baby and hubby can be a nice vay-cay for the brain.

24. Even when your little one is screaming and crying or throwing a tantrum, cherish him, love him. Before you know it, he'll be out of the house and on his own. Take advantage of every second.

Attempting to keep it together 24/7,

Elizabeth

2014...This Year

This year...

A bad habit I'm going to break:

Going to bed too late!

A new skill I'd like to learn:

Bake a gluten-free pie. 

A person I'd hope to be more like:

I have a friend who is a real "go-getter" and always advocates for her family and child no matter what...I want to be less of a push-over!

A good deed I'm going to do:

Visit my grandparents/keep in touch with them more often.

A place I'd like to visit:

Anywhere with my girlfriends! A best friend and I have been trying to take a girls trip for over a year and it just hasn't happened.

A book I'd like to read:

Ok...nerd alert...I'd like to re-read the Harry Potter books

A letter I'm going to write:

To my aunts in SC, just telling them I miss them

A new food I'd like to try:

Indian! I've eaten it before but there's a place near my house I'd like to try 

I'm going to be better at:

Learning to say "no"



What about YOUR 2014? Lets make it OUR year!

New Years Resolutions

Can you believe it's almost 2014? Good Lord, when did that happen?! Like everyone else on this half of the planet Earth, I too usually make the standard NY resolutions:

1. Lose weight (lose last 10 baby lbs to be exact)
2. Get organized (this is never ending for me though seeing as I'm so...ahem...particular about things)
3. Learn not to procrastinate (at work, home, with difficult situations...)
4. Spend more time with family and friends
5. Save money -  in all seriousness, I did not realize having a baby was going to be so EXPENSIVE and therefore this resolution truly needs to happen. Like ASAP. Like, I have serious spending problems that are spiraling out of control (Starbucks every morning, say what?!)
6. Manage my stress in a more healthy way

Etc, etc, etc. You know the drill. 

Rather than subject myself to the above resolutions that are so broad and unobtainable (hey, just being honest here) I have broken these down and added some more easily managed ones:

1. Go to bed by 9:30 pm at least two nights a week
2. Don't bring work home...weeeeelllll, don't bring work home two nights a week
3. Starbucks only once a week (GASP-my local barista just had a heart attack)
4. Sign up for one race a month. Ok, I love running. But I don't make time for it. My boss had this resolution last year and said it worked well for her and forced her to make time to run (hey, at least once a month!) and she's the busiest person I know. If she can do it, I can do it. Hell, you pay to race - don't want to waste money!
5. Sit down with Sean and come up with a budget. Baby steps, right? We've never really had a budget before so this should be interesting.
6. Be to work on time at least 3 days a week *** Cue the laughter*** So for 2012 the big joke among my friends was that I made the resolution to be on time to work at least once a week. I'm chronically late. I just am. In 2013 it was to be on time to work 2 days a week. Now I'm moving on up. I figure by 2015 I'll be on time every single day. Again, baby steps, people.
7. Take more pictures! Life passes by so fast with Conrad that I want to be able to savor every moment (if I get brave I may add "upload all pictures" to this list..but lets not go overboard here).

And I think for now, that's certainly enough. I'll see how January goes and then perhaps move on from there.

What are your thoughts on New Years resolutions?

Friday Five

Linking up this week with Darci & friends for this Friday's Five!

1.   Christmas of course! We had a cute little Santa’s helper on our hands. While Conrad didn’t understand the whole Jesus’s birthday, Santa brings presents, we all eat and drink a lot thing, he sure did like the lights, paper and bows, and Santa figurines. And we liked how cute our little elf was running around saying “Danta, Danta, Danta!”

2.   We finally got over a double ear infection so now our once fussy, crabby baby is now a happy little guy…as long as he’s fed! He must be going through a growth spurt or something because he wants to “eat eat” all the time.

3.   We had our first…poop in the tub incident. We thought we may have escaped it after going 14 months without one and BAM…there it was. Disgusting! I’ll spare you the details but it was no small feat in cleaning up and I hope to not ever have to do that again.

4.   Christmas pictures with my family. Since I did not get much time off for Christmas this week, we spent the weekend before with my family and then Sean’s family came to our house for Christmas Eve and Day. When we went to my parent’s house we had Christmas pictures taken with my parents…and this, by far, is my favorite one:

Santa?! I KNOW him!

Cousin cuties!

5.   New Years is almost here! We are spending NYE with some of our best friends; they are bringing over their two year old boy and after the kiddos go to bed we are feasting on yummy food and champagne. We’ve spent a lot of crazy New Years with this couple in the past and I have a feeling that this year will be much more low key since we are now…ahem…over 30 and have kids.

Thankful Thursday

This Christmas week I'm most thankful for our Lord God, Jesus Christ! His unconditional love, forgiveness, and sacrifice are qualities that all, regardless of faith, should strive to have and I'm so blessed to know and be known by Him.

Especially now that I have my own little guy, I wonder how Jesus was as a baby and little boy. He was, after all, human! And I sometimes think about how Mary was as a mom...did she struggle with the same things we all did? I remember last year at this time, Conrad was only two and a half months old and I thought I would  go insane with all his fussiness and crying. I posted the following quote on Facebook and got about a billion "likes" and comments from all my fellow moms out there:

"I wonder if baby Jesus ever made Mary want to down an entire bottle of Pinot at 12 noon?"

HA! She was human as well and I'm sure had to deal with poopy diapers, breastfeeding, and sleepless nights! I mean, I know the song says "The little Lord Jesus no crying He makes" but hey, a baby's a baby.

All jokes aside, this Christmas was an amazing one and I'm so thankful for such a special birthday. I can't wait to someday tell Conrad the real Christmas story and have him understand what a precious gift we've all been given.

Merry Christmas!

 From our family to yours...