blessed.
great-grandparents
four generations
On August 31st, Adam gave our baby girl a name and blessing in our church.
We were so grateful to have our family with us and for their love & support of our newest little babe.
(unfortunately we weren't able to get pictures of everyone in attendance)
My mom stayed up late/got up early to finish Anneli's gorgeous blessing dress!
I told her what I envisioned, we looked at patterns and fabrics, and she brought my vision to life.
Hearing my husband bless my babies is one of the sweetest, most loving moments of our marriage.
Adam gave an absolutely beautiful blessing and I was so proud and inspired.
He has a beautiful way with his words and I can feel the Spirit so strongly.
With both Elijah & Anneli, I had a hard time getting used to their names and would second guess our decision all the time.
But both times, when I would hear Adam's sweet blessing, I felt like I knew who my children were and I knew that we chose the perfect names for them.
It's hard to explain I guess.
But to me it testifies that the Spirit will be there guiding me all throughout motherhood.
I'm so grateful for my little family!
I have never felt more happiness, more joy, more love, than being with my family all together.
I'm so grateful for the blessing of eternal families and for the priesthood.
There is no place I'd rather be than here with my babies :)
How We Wore It: Fashion Collaboration
Today, I'm joining up with other awesome bloggers to do a fun "How We Wore It" post.
We were given a picture for inspiration and had to come up with an outfit based on it.
This is the outfit we were given for inspiration:
I must admit, when I first saw this picture I was kind of in a bit of shock.
It's a super cute outfit but one I was pretty sure I could not pull off or replicate in any way.
I don't have any hats or fur or cute bags or a plaid shirt...
But this is what I came up with:
[Sorry for the bad pictures... it was already dark by the time Adam came home]
undershirt: Shade // crochet top: Forever 21 // vest: thrifted // pants: Forever 21 // shoes: Target // necklace: Hearts.com
I decided to base my outfit off the colors of the original outfit and put some of the small details elsewhere.
So the maroon hat translated to my maroon booties.
The plaid shirt was shown in the plaid vest.
The color of the fur vest inspired my crocheted top.
And the stack of gold bracelets was represented by the gold necklace stack.
And the leather pants were just kind of fun because I love them :)
(Or you could say they were inspired by the handbag?)
This was a really fun collaboration to do!
I love being able to stretch my fashion creativity and try new things.
I probably never would have originally thought to put these different items together originally.
It definitely help get me out of my postpartum fashion {and blog!} funk!
Be sure to check out the other ladies' outfits too!
I loved looking at their looks and seeing how we all interpreted it.
HAPPY TUESDAY!
Halloween 2014
[we don't really have pictures of our Halloween cause we're the lamest (see post below). but at our church trunk-or-treat they had a photo booth so we jumped on that bandwagon :)]
Our Halloween was pretty busy but low-key as well.
Elijah was SO excited to be the Red Mega-Force Power Ranger & was practicing all his alien-fighting karate moves for a week ;)
He wanted all of us to dress up but... we were just too lazy.
So although we didn't get pictures of it all, Adam dressed up as a nerd, I was just a crazy Halloween mommy (I wore black and weird make-up), and Anneli wore her pumpkin pajamas.
I know, all the awards.
I kind of felt like the lamest mother ever because we didn't do anything that I had planned.
Last year we had a "13 Days of Halloween" countdown and did lots of fun things every day.
But this year I pulled it out too late and then was just too tired to even do anything.
We barely even carved pumpkins... Adam did all of ours last minute.
Thankfully, Elijah is still young and doesn't quite have high expectations yet.
Plus all the different Halloween parties and trick-or-treating entertained him enough.
Despite my feeling guilty that I didn't do anything fun for my family, Elijah told me every day the week of Halloween,
"THIS IS THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!!"
"THIS IS THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!!"
I'm so grateful for my little boy who finds simple pleasure in the little things.
I'm so grateful he thinks we are awesome and has a fun life even if we didn't do anything Pinterest worthy.
{I'm even more grateful he doesn't know what Pinterest is and to judge my mothering skills by}
And I'm so grateful that this sweet boy teaches me the most important life lessons every day.
He drives me nuts, but man I love that boy!
Elijah-isms
Elijah is definitely still keeping us entertained as usual.
Here are some quality quotes from him as of late :)
He's definitely a child of the modern age.
Anywhere we are or whatever we do he will say, "Take my picture, Mom!"
His favorite subject to take a picture with is Anneli {of course}.
And recently we went to Target and he climbed up on of those balls out in front and he wouldn't get off until I took his picture.
I raised a monster.
I was introducing Elijah to the wonder of "Hook" the other night. He was confused why the kids were yelling while their dad was on the phone. Obviously we've had lots of talks about being quiet while mom is on the phone... No acting like children here!
After watching part of the Hulk one night, Elijah, while showing me pictures on the DVD case, said,
"Okay, Mom. That guy used that green thing to turn to the Hulk. Cause he eats his vegetables. And baby Hulks can't eat you but big Hulks can. But babies won't. So that's why you eat your fruits and vegetables so you can use that green thing to turn to the Hulk."
He makes up songs for Anneli to calm her down and while he's playing describing what he's doing.
I'm obsessed with his little high pitched voice and the way he holds out his notes.
I hope it never changes!
He LOVES talking to Anneli and trying to play with her. If she's awake, he's right by her side tickling her cheek trying to get her to smile. Even if she's not awake, he's right by her side. He also has taken it upon himself to be the only that can bounce her in the bouncer. He gets really mad when we take over. And Anneli loves him back just as much! It's so funny to see those two together.
Any time I mix something in the kitchen or get the blender out, Elijah thinks he needs to wear those noise canceling ear muffs. He will never give those up.
During lunch one day:
"Elijah, the pasta has to cook longer or else it will be too hard to eat."
"But remember? Miss Susan said, 'You can do hard things.' So I can eat it. Just try it."
"Well yeah, you can do hard things but you can't eat hard things."
One day Elijah told me that he needed to exercise and pulled out my yoga mat and dvd and started following the instructor on the TV. He is much better than I am.
Elijah spelling his name: "E-I-L-J-Q-H."
Close enough.
After asking Elijah questions about school he says, "I'm not talking anymore."
"Why not?"
"Cause that's enough talking."
Definitely a boy.
One day he said to me,
"Mom, you gonna have 10 babies and I'm gonna squish them all. Cause I'm a squisher."
And he would too.
That kid is constant entertainment!
being the mom he deserves
The other night I heard Elijah crying long, sad sobs calling my name. I went into his room and he was sitting up in bed, half asleep, tears rolling down his face, crying out for me.
When I asked him what was wrong, he said, "Mommy, I just want you to be happy!"
I think he was sleep talking [just like his dad], but it was heartbreaking all the same.
This weekend was a rough one.
Adam was gone Friday morning-Sunday morning at a dental conference and I went...crazy...
There were a lot of texts to Adam telling him that I didn't what he was going to come home to,
that there might not be three of us here when he gets back,
and I was pretty sure I was going to have a stroke and die.
Most of my struggles was trying to keep up with the energy of a 4-year-old on 3 hours of sleep a night and trying to have the patience to tell him, without yelling, to stop.sitting.on.the.baby!
So obviously tensions were high and a lot of my frustrations were let out on Elijah.
But honestly, that's every day.
My sweet baby boy, who I do love with all my heart, pushes my buttons to no end.
Our personalties clash constantly and I feel like I don't even know how to talk to him without an edge in my voice sometimes.
But then there are these indescribably sweet moments where he becomes my little boy again and melts my heart in a single phrase.
And I realize that I spend so much time stressing over how to parent him and how to get him to listen that I forget to take a step back and remember to appreciate the amazing little kid he is growing up to be. A little kid who wants nothing more than to enjoy life and be loved.
And I really don't want him to look back on his childhood and remember his mom constantly on the verge of a mental breakdown.
I absolutely don't deserve this sweet boy as my son and I constantly feel like there are probably plenty of other mothers out there who could be so much better for him without all my problems.
But when times get hard and I struggle with how to be the best mom to my firstborn, I have to remind myself that he's only a child once and he's a happy child at that.
And there's always another day to try a little better.
love makes good impressions
I'm really excited to be a part of the Blogger Love Dare that Tausha put together based on this book. It has been a really neat experience to be actively participating in daily challenges to help strengthen my marriage. There are 40 bloggers participating for each of the 40 days & 40 dares. You can catch up on the previous days here:
You can also follow on Instagram with #bloggerlovedare
When I first read about my day's Dare, it kind of struck me a little bit how much I probably slack in this area. I realized a couple of weeks ago that Adam & I could go a whole day only kissing maybe once. And it's not when he comes home from school.
We take time to be with one another, we talk & watch Netflix & share ice cream, and we show our love in other ways like serving one another and supporting each other.
But a warm, enthusiastic welcome is not always at the top of the list.
Usually by the time Adam gets home from school I'm so beyond frazzled that I barely utter a hello.
I'm either half-asleep on the couch or bed nursing Anneli or (like today) I'm yelling at Elijah to go to his room because he just disobeyed me for the umpteenth time that day.
So when Adam gets home, my greeting to him is basically passing off whichever kid is the grumpiest at that time and then mindlessly scurrying around to get dinner ready.
And honestly neither of us had any complaints about it all.
Adam shows his love to me by reaching out and taking the kids once he gets home so I can get a mini-break {to make dinner}. And I show my love for him by willingly getting up to make dinner.
Seriously.
I never felt a lack of love or understanding in this arrangement.
But what I did felt was lacking was passion & enthusiasm.
Lately I've been trying to give Adam a kiss or a hug [or really just falling into his arms from exhaustion] once he gets home. It doesn't have to be long, and usually isn't cause we are interrupted by one or both of our children, but it has made a tremendous difference in how the rest of our evening goes and the quality of our interactions.
Through a more affectionate greeting I can show him how much I miss him,
how much I care when he's away & when he comes back,
how much I {quite literally} depend on him,
and how much I truly love him, not just for helpful companionship.
So today's Love Dare challenge is:
Love Makes Good Impressions
I challenge you to try harder to give your spouse a meaningful greeting that really reflects your love.
Honestly, some days it can be harder than it sounds.
Especially when you have kids and are just bone tired that you can harder muster the strength to pucker your lips or move your arms.
But the simple gesture of a sincere, affectionate greeting can make all the difference.
Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog tomorrow for Day 10.
And you can find the rest of this wee's lineup here.
And you can find the rest of this wee's lineup here.
Love Dare: Week 2
I'm really excited to join up with Tausha of Taush.0 this week for The Love Dare challenge!
She asked some bloggers to help out each week with the daily challenges & printables for each dare and I get to help out with Week 2. {You can find the first week's challenges here.}
It has been fun to follow along with each daily dare and help my own relationship strengthen.
I know that when we put our marriages first and consistently work on our relationships, we can be happier and more capable to handle the things life will throw at us.
You can follow along each day with the hashtag #bloggerlovedare.
And be sure to check back tomorrow for my post on Day 9 :)
Day 8: Love is Not Jealous
BLOG // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST
Day 9: Love makes good Impressions
BLOG // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST
Day 10: Love is unconditional
BLOG // YOUTUBE // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM
Day 11: Love Cherishes
BLOG // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST
Day 12: Love lets the other Win
BLOG // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST
Day 13: Love fights Fair
BLOG // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM // PINTEREST
Day 14: Love takes Delight
BLOG // FACEBOOK // TWITTER // INSTAGRAM
And that completes our Week 2 printables line up! Good luck this week! Make sure you stop by each of these amazing girls blogs this upcoming week for a breakdown on each Day's dare. There will be thoughts on marriage, relationships, love & the best thing you can give your marriage: perspective. ALL of us are here with a ready hand and eager ear if you need someone to talk to. Reach out.
Follow #bloggerlovedare on Instagram for a quick & easy way to keep track of what day we are on. We will see you there.
the difference a bump makes
the skirt is so stretchy & fabulous. and I'm so glad I have this flowy oversized shirt. perfect for both stages :)
The whole pregnancy and post-pregnancy body stuff is crazy.
You spend 9 months seeing your body grow & change exponentially and try to come to terms with the fact that there's a good reason why you will probably never fit in jeans again.
And then you get to a point where you accept that your body is doing something pretty crazy even if you gain a billion pounds and then you have your baby...
and all those insecurities about how you don't even recognize your body anymore come flooding back.
I go back and forth between being in awe of my body and what it accomplished
and how much I hate that all my clothes don't quite fit me right anymore and my pooch is setting up permanent camp on my abdomen [with some help of some Oreos].
The frustrations that I had after I had Elijah have made themselves known again.
But I'm trying hard to not go to that dark, unhealthy place again.
And embrace the pooch.
I never thought I'd miss my bump and the reason why it was okay to eat junk without judgement.
Or not have to be self-conscious about hiding bellies & curves.
Bodies are crazy.
They are miraculous and beautiful and frustrating and take up too much time in my thoughts.
They are capable of the impossible and never get enough credit.
So I'm trying to be more grateful for mine.
20+ extra post-partum pounds and all.
And also maybe start running...
life lately...
this girl...
we are obsessed!!
which is a good thing since she doesn't let us {or really just me} get a lot of sleep.
bed by 1am, eat at 3am & 5am & 7am, up at 10am for the day and no naps unless she's constantly held & nursed every 30 minutes to an hour.
yep.
good thing she's super crazy cute and happy and precious.
or I might've returned her by now ;)
Elijah is a great big brother and wants to help any way he can.
he's bounced her to sleep a couple of times and he was pretty dang proud of himself.
he loves her a little too hard but he loves her all the same.
school & studying has taken over Adam's life per usual.
he studies in his office nook until 10 most nights and then we watch Friday Night Lights.
and then I stay up with the baby for a few more hours while he swiftly passes out.
we desperately need a date.
mastitis has reared its ugly head again this weekend and I want to kill all things.
really it's more annoying than anything that I can't do anything and my body wants to die.
the things we do for our kids right??
and that pretty much brings you up to speed on why I'm lazy at blogging. :)
green & stripes
pants: WalMart // top: c/o Belly Dance Maternity // shoes: WalMart
I haven't posted an outfit post in a while
{for pretty obvious reasons... post-partum body woes}
but I couldn't wait anymore to post one of my favorite tops for pregnancy & breastfeeding.
This whole outfit is a perfect maternity and post-pregnancy outfit.
My favorite stretchy pants in green and the most comfy, ruched maternity & nursing top.
I received this awesome maternity & nursing top from Belly Dance Maternity the week before Anneli was born. And the first time I actually got to wear it was on my way to the hospital to give birth to my six pound little beauty.
[This is actually the exact outfit I was wearing on the way to the hospital. I kind of felt pretty cute right before my body was ripped apart. ;)]
I LOVE this top for many reasons.
Usually I hate maternity clothes.
I feel so frumpy and ugly in them and I feel like they make me look 10x bigger than I really am.
So this pregnancy go-round, I really tried to {literally} stretch out my clothes and make them work with my big belly or just buy the next size up in other clothes instead of buy maternity wear.
But the tops from Belly Dance Maternity became my absolute favorite in just a short amount of time and I wished I had ordered them much earlier in my pregnancy.
[and gotten a good belly picture wearing them so you'll just have to imagine a big belly instead ;)]
They really are very flattering for a growing belly and super comfortable!
And then it transitions into a perfect post-partum nursing top!
First of all, it hides my extra flub pretty well and is not clingy or revealing in that way.
And second, the top buttons down a bit and has a little flap for an easy & conspicuous opening for nursing a hungry, chubby babe.
matchy gray stripes :)
I have worn this top at least twice a week since having Anneli because the style & functionality of it is just so wonderful. If you are pregnant or nursing, I highly recommend checking out Belly Dance Maternity for all your fashion needs. They have SO many cute items!
And from now until October 25th, you can use the code robinson for 20% off your purchase.
Happy shopping!
Inspiration: You Never Know
brotherly love
.JPG)
The other night Anneli was having a hard time going to sleep and was pretty cranky.
I took her in her room to rock her and try to get her to relax.
Elijah was postponing bedtime [of course] and busted into the room.
He came in right as I was singing "Whistle Down the Wind" to the baby.
He got kind of mad and said, "That's my song!"
I told him that we can share songs and Anneli likes it when we sing to her too.
I then asked him if he wanted to help me sing it to her.
He was pretty happy about that and sat on the ottoman next to me, rubbed the baby's head, and sang every.single.word along with me.
{and it's kind of a long song. I was impressed!}
As he sat there singing to his baby sister and sharing "his" song with her trying to comfort her, I got pretty emotional over the whole view.
Some of my concerns over how this whole sibling thing was going to be kind of melted away.
Seeing the love Elijah had for his baby sister and how he wanted to take care of her helped put my mind at ease that they will be close and love each other, no matter the age gap.
Going from one to two has been quite a bit more rough than I expected,
[and also not as as rough as I expected... however that works]
but that small moment between these two siblings helped me see that there is some glimmer for hope and peace amidst the exhaustion and tears.
I have two kids!!
Two of the sweetest kids in the world
:)
:)
totally winning at motherhood #sarcasm
Elijah taking some headshots (cause I refuse to say selfies)
This week has been a rough one for the motherhood books.
And it's only Wednesday...
On Sunday Elijah was acting c r a z y
We had even debated about really taking him to church cause he was already out of control.
But we decided to anyways and he was... fine.
After church though it was like all heck broke loose.
He screeeeeaaaammeeed the whole way home in the car and then I put him in his room where he screamed and cried and banged on his door forever.
When he finally calmed down enough to come out, he said his throat and head hurt.
I told him it was just from screaming & crying for so long.
He brought up that his throat hurt a few more times during the day but I just reminded him that that's why we don't scream our heads off when Mom tells you to be quiet.
Then Adam said that he actually feels kind of warm...
So I checked his temperature and yep,
high temp.
Oops...
So we decided to be lazy... for two days in a row.
And last night I was up all night between the two kids.
The baby wouldn't go to sleep til 1am and Elijah was up throughout the night and finally ended up in our bed around 2am. And then was up by 6am.
I'm exhausted.
Today, Elijah seemed to be back to his normal {i.e. crazy} self so I figured he was good to go back to school. When I told him he was going to go to school today he told me he was too sick still.
Knowing that Elijah likes to really milk being sick,
[cause then he gets to watch movies and cuddle all day]
I figured he was just faking it.
Plus, he kind of got in trouble on Friday so he wasn't too keen to go back after that.
I made him go anyways.
He told me on the way to school that his ear hurt when he closed his eyes (?) but I still dropped him off. Later his teacher texted me to let me know that he kept holding his ear and saying it hurt and wanted me to come get him.
When I picked him up, Elijah said,
"Mom, I told you I was too sick for school!"
[laying on the mom guilt pretty thick don't you think, Elijah??]
To the doctor we went and it turns out Elijah has a double ear infection.
I'm 0 for 2 now on this whole sickness thing...
I give up being a mom for the rest of the week.
At least my babies are good cuddlers when we're all feeling worn out.
And they have super kissable cheeks that I can smush to help me feel better :)
{I mean, that's the reason you have babies right??}
#motherhoodisrough
Elijah-isms: new big brother edition
Elijah loves his baby sister Anneli.
{sometimes a little too much!}
He loves to give her kisses and hold her and hug her and get in her face...
Here's some of his most recent funny Elijah-isms now that he is a big brother.
He always goes up to Anneli and says, in a really high-pitched voice,
"Hi!! Good morning!!"
He also constantly wants to "Ugg-Mugga" [from Daniel Tiger] her and give her loud, neck-breaking kisses. He's loving but kind of aggressively loving...
Every now and then he'll remember snippets from the birth and say things like,
"Mom, why were you screaming?"
"Why did the baby come out of your legs?"
I'm hoping not too many traumatic experience surface.
He wants Baby Anneli to be included in everything.
Last night I was singing him his "Baby Elijah" song and there's a part that I sing that goes, "Mommy & Daddy love our Elijah" and he made me add in Baby Anneli too.
It didn't quite go with the tune but I love that he wanted to make sure she was included in our family.
He comes up to me multiple times a day and says,
"The baby is so cute! Mom, why is the baby so cute??"
He gets super close to her face all.the.time. {biggest frustration} and then gets excited and says, "Mom the baby's looking at me!! Why is she looking at me?"
My answer always is, "Because she can't look at anything else!"
Breastfeeding has become a norm around here and I was kind of nervous at first about how Elijah would react. But he's done great and it's funny to hear his observations. He will ask me why I'm feeding the baby with my shoulders. And I'm okay that he believes that for a while.
It's also become so normal that the other day he threw one of my breast pads at me and said,
"Here mom, your milk is leaking."
You're welcome, future daughter-in-law.
Elijah will ask if he can feed the baby or change her diaper and I'll tell him that he can't do that quite yet. He'll get kind of mad and say,
"But I'm the best brother ever!!"
:)
Overall, even though it's a bit stressful and crazy and frustrating at times, Elijah has done a wonderful job with the transition to big brother!
He loves his baby so much and wants nothing else than to be with her and help all the time.
I'm so grateful that he's been doing so well so far and is so loving.
[even though he's a bit too loving at times.]
So proud of my little boy!
newborn pictures
I get a little teary when I look at these beautiful pictures Chrissy from Let Me See You Sparkle Photography took of my pretty girl. They are so sweet and lovely and capture my baby girl perfectly!
I can't even believe that this is my little girl.
And that she's already grown so much since these were taken.
[I cry about it a lot. Maybe it's the baby blues?]
And that I have two kids!
And that I have a precious new babe to love on all day.
It's just all so surreal!
Oh, I love my family so much!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)