Archive of ‘Motherhood’ category

On My First Mother’s Day

By Natalie

She won’t remember these days but I will.

When the sun begins to rise we pop open the blinds, Felicity in my arms. A ritual we do every morning for our houseplants to get some sunlight. Sometimes we squint our eyes and I talk about how bright it is. Sometimes it’s cloudy and I tell her it looks like it’ll rain today.

I set her down in her walker. She presses the music button as I kiss her head. My hand runs through the hair on the back of her head and I think to myself how much I love her. She straightens her legs out, confidently running across the kitchen.

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An Open Letter to Baby & Co.

By Natalie

Dear Baby and Co,
I’m devastated by the news of your closing.
On July 3, 2018 I labored at home for nine hours, then walked through the doors of the Charlotte center, my belly swollen and round. Women I came to know over the past several months greeted me excitedly. I didn’t think I could do it. In that moment I thought laboring in a birth center was certainly my worst idea yet. (more…)

Baby Fried Rice

By Natalie

I had to share this easy 3 ingredient recipe I came up with for the babe. Fried rice is a staple in our household. It’s one of Brandon’s favorite meals to make. He usually fries it up with chicken, but it’s easily converted to vegetarian. In this recipe I subbed rice for cauliflower rice and I suppose it’s not technically fried but it looks like fried rice! Felicity loves each of these veggies on their own so much that I decided to combine them all and call it baby fried rice! (more…)

Life Lately

By Natalie

Felicity is still battling some separation anxiety when it comes to leaving her at church. But that’s to be expected with both Brandon and I being home with her. We’re still trying! It doesn’t bother me too much. I’ve recently taken some wisdom from a mother of eight and a mother of six, who I met in the nursing moms room. They make my new mom woes seem piddly in comparison. They both told me to give myself grace. Felicity’s all proud of herself in this photo because we were so happy she made it through a whole service!

God bless those volunteers. I’ve been in their shoes and fussy babies are a handful. (more…)

It’s Ok to Have Bad Days

By Natalie

This isn’t your typical holiday cheery post. I wanted to warn you in case that’s what you were hoping for. I’ve been having a hard time lately. Just being honest. I’ve been refraining from writing about it because that would make it all real. But this is where I’m at right now and my hope is that six months from now I can refer back and say, look at how far I’ve come. Felicity is five months old now and ever changing. I have some great days full of baby snuggles, gift wrapping and Christmas music playing throughout our home. Nights where we’re all giggling over Felicity splashing in the tub, when I can’t believe someone so sweet came from me. She goes to bed without a fight and Brandon and I share a bowl of popcorn while we catch up on a show. (more…)

10 Things to Say to Your New Mom Friend

By Natalie

As a new mom I received both positive and negative comments as per usual during a time like this. Even as a former nanny I simply had no idea just how involved motherhood and postpartum was until I was living it out for the very first time. I wanted to compile a list of positive things to say to your new mom friend for all those who are at a loss of how to help.  (more…)

On Growth

By Natalie

Look who’s three months old!

Felicity has learned how to grasp things now. Anything from a rattle, to her pacifier, her bib, or my hair. She laughs but you have to work real hard to get one out of her. She gives out smiles often if you make a silly enough face. She’s most talkative in the evenings after a bath. We babble about our day as I massage lotion on her. I can only imagine she is explaining everything she saw and did that day so I take the time to rest my elbows on the changing pad and listen.

She wears mostly hand me downs from her older cousins which is just fine in my book because I still wear hand me downs from my sister. She loves to sit up and stand up. Everyone always comments on all of her hair. The poor girl has my curls and cowlicks. Headbands make them worse I promise you. She’s curious about this world outside the womb and I love watching her explore. In the afternoon light we catch the shadows dancing on her dresser. When she’s getting restless we throw a ball for Bing. She loves watching him run past. She also loves flying around the house with Brandon. (more…)

Today I Bought a Lotion

By Natalie

To you it’s just a lotion but to me it’s so much more. I’m finding that happiness in parenthood can come from indulging in the simplest pleasures. No we’re not taking any big trips in the near future but that doesn’t mean we can’t buy a whole pack of Biscoff cookies for our morning coffee. It makes me feel like we’re adventuring. Like we’re on a plane and the stewardess has just asked me if I’d like a pillow. Biscotti works too. We’ve been crazy about coffee lately. And anything that goes with coffee. You know, like coffee and coffee and pour me another cup of coffee already please. Our espresso machine is on the fritz. We’re dabbling with the idea of investing in a heavy duty one. One that can handle these first few years of our parenthood.

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Two Months Later

By Natalie

Some days I have it all together and some days I’m not out of my pajamas until a little before noon. Felicity and I have been getting out more which has been great but the more I try to do the more my mom brain gets the best of me. Frankly I always found it ridiculous when people talked about pregnancy brain or mom brain. It always sounded like a sorry excuse for forgetfulness to me. That was until I went to the store recently to buy a vacuum and realized I left my wallet in my purse at home. I forgot to toss it in the diaper bag for this trip. I turned the cart around, put Felicity in the car and cried. Normal.

We ran back home to grab my wallet and back out to get the vacuum. But you didn’t come here to listen to me ramble about my new vacuum. You came here for Felicity updates didn’t you? It’s ok you can be honest. (more…)

First Family Trip

By Natalie

“You’ll blink and she’ll be grown.”

That’s what the woman at the washing station said to us just outside our hotel. I rinsed the sand off of my feet under the water spout.

“I know, it’s flying by.” I told her. Felicity was wrapped up close to my chest riding around in the ring sling. I held her new sun hat down on her head, a gift from my sister, perfect for our spontaneous beach trip. Felicity was asleep but sure to wake up any moment ready to eat.

We made it out to Folly Beach, SC this past weekend. Felicity is 8 weeks old and we appear to have a perfect little angel on our hands. She’s been sleeping for 8-9 hours through the night consistently for the past couple of weeks. Which has kept us feeling much more capable to handle the day to day.  (more…)

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