Ingenue Mom

Age 17 or 12th Grade This was the year I realized that it was okay to be me. I stopped being ashamed of the fact that I love Buffy. I stopped worrying about what everyone thought of my clothes or my hair. This resulted in some pretty fabulous ensembles & pink hair. Yep, pink. My hair has also been black, blonde, brown, red & most other fun colors like that. I had great friends & a lot of fun this year, but I was ready for high school to be over. I didn't go to my Senior Homecoming. I was at my Senior Prom for about 20 minutes - just long enough to see the most fabulous people win for king & queen! You know how normally it's the popular kids that just get picked for all those things & they win every year - yeah that's not what happened my senior prom. It was awesome & I loved it! This was also the year I met my husband. (The picture above is me & a friend, not me & Lewis.) Our anniversary is coming up in October & I've got something

We have a crawler, people!!! She started crawling this weekend & I was there to see it the first time!!! I've been worried that I'll miss big things since starting student teaching, but I'm not missing anything! I saw her crawl across her room & then she crawled all over the living room! She's such a little cutie. And p.s. - I've decided not to write posts on the weekend while I'm doing student teaching. It's just too much. But I'm going to try to keep up with it during the week as best I can! Thanks for still following along!! I seriously love you all!!!

We have been trying to do some baby sign language with Isis, but I've had a hard time figuring out how to get started. Misty Weaver contacted me about doing a guest post on baby sign language & I jumped at the opportunity - if only because it would help me figure out what to do! I spent a lot of time on her site checking out her tips & charts & diagrams & it's really helping me get started! I hope her post helps you a little &  make sure to check out her site for TONS more information!! Are you thinking of giving the gift of Baby Sign Language to your baby or toddler? If so, congratulations! Teaching your baby to sign is one of the greatest things you can do for her! And getting started isn’t as difficult as you might think. Teaching babies to sign is actually easy. It just requires a little bit of patience and a willingness to be a bit repetitive! Before you can teach a sign to your baby, you have to learn the sign. Most parents start really sl

Age 16 or 11th Grade I got my license!!!!!!! This was the year that I really started to feel like I was growing up! I think being able to drive does that to you. This was also when I had close friends & lots of people that I trusted & spent a lot of time with. Me & Diana were hanging out all the time. We carpooled to school together because her vehicle was cooler than mine. My other best friend actually had a baby this year. That was interesting considering we went to a private Christian high school. You can probably imagine that it didn't go over well there, but I look back on that whole time with such admiration & respect for her. She worked so hard in school & at home. We still keep in touch & I actually told her just a couple months ago that I had no idea how she did all of that & made it look so easy because I about fell apart the first few weeks with Isis & I was 25 with a husband! I still think she's amazing. This was the first year I w

Age 15 or 10th Grade Sophomore year will always be important to me for two reasons. One is that I had my first "real" boyfriend (who was NOT the guy in the picture above - he was just a friend) - although real at that point in my life felt a lot different than real did when I started dating Lewis. Immaturity & hormones just don't mix well. I thought I was in love, but really I was just giddy to have a boy that actually really liked me & who I liked back! It didn't last long, but I didn't end up really dating anyone else until later in my Senior year. I was just over it. Not interested. I got really upset when we broke up & I just didn't want to do that again. The other important thing about this year is that it was the year we started my Bible study that lasted through high school & some of college. We called ourselves "Young Women of Virtue" because we were cute like that, but it got shortened to YWV because nobody can say that mou

I normally don't do these things, but Gina tagged me in this one & I love Gina, so I decided to do it! 1. You're wearing a button down blouse and in the middle of a conversation with a man, the top button pops off, bearing your cleavage. What do you do? Just cleavage & no nip or anything? I probably wouldn't do much of anything except fix the button before wearing it again. 2. At a gas station, wearing a really cute skirt, a sudden gust of wind comes up, you're not wearing underpants. You know the men got their eyes full, are you embarrassed or proudly look at them and smile like nothing happened? Now this would probably make me freak out & cry or something. 3. Pretend there is no such thing as bad food, meaning it doesn't contribute to any negative weight gain or health risks. What would you pleasure and delight yourself with the most? Mexican food, pasta, cupcakes, ice cream & Japanese hibachi food! 4. What movie do you remember watching

I started back to "work" (student teaching) at the end of August. I've been there for almost 3 weeks now. Unfortunately, the schedule & pumping has caused me to have a drop in my milk supply. I first noticed a big change when my normal 10:30pm pumping session abruptly stopped one day. Couldn't get a thing. Then I noticed that when I pumped at school during lunch, I got less. So now here I am 3 weeks in & I'm having to adapt to do what is best for me & for Isis. I'm still getting something, so I'm going to continue to pump at school & after school on the days I have to stay late for staff meetings or team planning. I'm not getting enough for full feedings for Isis, though. She eats about 6.5 oz from a bottle if I'm not feeding her & I'm not getting that much. So we are going to start mixing breastmilk with a few oz of formula to get her bottles to 6.5 oz.  This is a little emotional for me because it just seems like the beg

I'm guest posting over at The Mommyhood Memos today! I shared a little about my process of getting ready to go back to work & how to balance everything! It's working pretty well so far! It took a couple weeks to transition, but I'm finally finding the balance! Go to The Mommyhood Memos & check it out!!!

As many of you probably already know, I'm a big believer in educating & supporting pregnant women in their experience. I used a nurse-midwife & because of that, I heard a lot about doulas. I didn't choose to use one this time, but I was informed on what they did and how to find them in my area, but I know that many women don't know what doulas do or what options they have. When Heather Green contacted me about the possibility of doing a guest post about what doulas can offer a new mom, I was happy to have the opportunity to share with all of you what was available from someone much more informed than I! When I found out I was pregnant, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted a doula. Not only for me, but for my husband and my family. These amazing women are basically your guardian angels who guide you through the most difficult and painful time of your life. What most people don't know is that doulas do almost everything! From massage and hypnotherapy to

I have spent the majority of my free time this weekend watching The Vampire Diaries on DVD. I love this show so much!!! I also did some birthday shopping! I needed a dress for a wedding I'm going to in November. I got a gift card to Amazon & Target, so I got 7 new books & some new stuff from Target! How cute is this outfit from Target that I'll be wearing to the wedding... Dress Shoes Tights Hopefully to look something like this ... Yay! Also this week, I'm going to be teaching Science lesson plans in my class everyday! I'm pretty excited about that. I've got 2 guest posts on my blog coming up. One about doulas & one about baby sign language! I'm also going to catch up on my Mommy's Piggy Tales . I've got Sophomore year, Junior year & Senior year of high school to cover! Then I've got to do one (or a couple in my case) on post-high school. But I will do that in future weeks. Isis has been reading a lot! She used to seem really

This is my sweet girl after a long day away from me! Every day it is just my favorite to come home & see her! While I didn't need absence to make me grow fonder of her, it's definitely made those moments we get together that much sweeter! She's growing up so fast! Two weeks ago, she was trying to pull herself up a little, but couldn't move around or crawl at all. Now she can crawl backwards & can get herself where she wants to go in this funny sit, bend & scoot kind of way. I'll have to get a video of that because it's hilarious! I thought I would feel more like I was missing out on a lot, but surprisingly it doesn't feel like that! I know she is loving her babysitter & I'm enjoying student teaching! I get plenty of time with her & I love the weekends just me & her & Lewis! In my class, I helped a few kids one-on-one with math the other day & then today they were doing their homework & they really got it! Their wor

My whole life, my mom had this LL Bean tote bag. She used it to carry teaching stuff back & forth from home to school. I've decided that after I get done with student teaching in December, I'm going to ask for a teacher tote bag for Christmas!! I want an extra large one with long handles & monogramming that says Mrs. C...! How cute!!! I feel like it'll really kick off my teaching career!! I just can't decide if I want the traditional one or the customized one ! What do you think?? Right now, I'm carrying a super cute tote bag that I got as a bridesmaid gift in the wedding I was in this past weekend. It has my initial on it! I love it, but I could already use a bigger one with as much stuff as I'm carrying back & forth. I have a student teaching notebook & then I carry textbooks with lesson ideas & papers to grade & things like that! I feel like a professional

Isis is excited to have new baby friends! There are 5 pregnant ladies in my life right now! And one possibly soon-to-be pregnant one! It is crazy!! That doesn't even include my lovely blog friend Amy , who is also due soon! I absolutely loved being pregnant & while I know that not everyone feels the same - the experience can be so different for all of us - I still think it's just a wonderful thing when I find out friends are expecting! Isis will be so lucky to have more little friends in the world!  I shared my new mom tips last week & then I have 5 blog friends help me out by sharing their new mom tips ! I hope that some of you who are or will soon be new moms found some things helpful! Adriel at The Mommyhood Memos is starting her Moms Who Work series this week! I think it'll be really helpful for any of you who are or will be working moms! I've been staying home the last 8 months, but now am a working mom. It is really hard, but has also been so wonderful

This is a part of a series of guest posts for first time moms that I have put together from a variety of moms with a variety of perspectives. This one is written by Adriel of The Mommyhood Memos . Please stop by her blog to read more of her posts. You can also follow The Mommyhood Memos on Twitter or in her BlogFrog community ! Dear Adriel, You are becoming a mom. Finally, after 32 long years your dream is coming true! And guess what? It’s going to be even better than you imagined. I know that right now it seems like pregnancy will never end… but enjoy these last days. Soon—when he’s not all tucked up safely inside of you—you will have to share that precious boy with the world. Don’t stress about him coming too early or too late. I know you’re concerned about your parents flying in from overseas and being there for Levi’s big debut… But your clever little one will actually be one of the few babies that decide to come on his due date. Isn’t that fun? {What you couldn’t have known

This is a part of a series of guest posts for first time moms that I have put together from a variety of moms with a variety of perspectives. This one is written by Liz of A Belle, A Bean & A Chicago Dog . Please stop by her blog to read more of her posts. You can also follow A Belle, A Bean & A Chicago Dog on Facebook & Twitter . I'm so happy to be here today, taking part in Cameron's New Moms Tips Week!  I'm Liz, a 32 yr old mom of 2 girls, and my tips below are what I learned following the birth of my first daughter, four and a half years ago. I firmly believe in the power of numbers, and the saying, " It takes a village ."  Motherhood is like nothing else imaginable, and surrounding yourself with as many Mommy Friends as possible will be beneficial to you.  This story is mine, just like yours will be uniquely you.  I hope you can take away a thing or two that will help in your New Mom Journey... ****************************** ******