it started out as a dreary, cold, rainy morning. bummer. hc and i wanted to go to downtown hinsdale, stroll around, and shop. we drove there and got coffee at the starbucks {first things first!}. we decided to grab some grub and to wait out the icky weather. we stopped into a little mom and pop restaurant called page’s. it was cramped, old, and not the cleanest but hc really wanted to eat there. he can’t pass up a greasy joint evah!
[olive and i struggling to get a goodie photo in…um, fail?]
so, we plopped down and ordered some greasy food. we actually ordered a lot…but in the end, it just disappeared! how did that happen?? hee. i got eggs over easy, hash browns, bacon, and pancakes. yum. olive got lots and lots of cereal puffs. we ate, olive giggled and screamed, and we filled our empty bellies up.
after breakfast, we walked back outside and it was raining. boo. we were super bummed because the weather was just not cooperating. it was cold, dreary, and rainy. a bad combo for wanting to walk outside. so, we decided to head on over to oakbrook. there, they have awnings and it’s more protected and easier to shop around. of course, on our way there, the day took a turn and the weather had become super sunny and warm! natch.
we spent the rest of the afternoon there and had a great shopping day! hc got some new things and we browsed around for olive. baby girl needed a new fall wardrobe {new, cozy fall clothes on the horizon}! we had a lovely time walking around and checking out some new, fun stuff.
lately, i’ve noticed how big olive has gotten {watch out…total mom stuff coming}. i mean, she’s less a baby and more a little girl. oh, it makes me a wee bit sad. very bittersweet. i’ve enjoyed so much of her baby stage but now she is starting to show her independence. i like that she likes to entertain herself and can be on her own, but at the same time it makes me miss her totally dependent baby moments. i love her so much right now. we have such a bond and i’m amazed at how lovey she is. i love her hugs, kisses, and laughter. she is so freakin’ quirky and cute.
for example, the photos below…she was being so cute and funny. she kept swinging her legs back and forth and making funny faces. kids, they are so innocent and sweet. they totally live in the moment with such joy.
our day ended up being fun {well of course it did}, rainy day or not, we will always have a swell time together! cheers to olive’s cuteness!
we were super excited to have a date with kim and brady! olive had a fun playdate with mr. jett recently and now she’s on her second date with mr. brady!
it was definitely long overdue. the last time we saw brady and kim, was when brady was 5 months old! so, we were looking forward to having a fun day with the both of them.
we packed ourselves up {after a long morning with olive…she went down for a late nap and boom! we were behind schedule} and headed on the road. it was a long ways to get to kim’s house. her and mikey just bought a house way up north {about 43 miles from our home}! i was super excited for them…we know the gleeful, satisfied, wonderful feeling of owning your own home, so we couldn’t wait to see it!
we pulled up to the beautiful brick front home and i pulled olive out of the car, walked up to the door, and rang the bell. i was greeted by bruster, kim, and cutie brady! yay! i pulled olive out of her car seat and she immediately started to explore her new surroundings. it was total cuteness overload! as olive crawled around, brady followed. they were curious about each other, although olive seemed more curious and intrigued by all the fun toys!
[housewarming gift & brady’s birthday present]
[helloooo…we haven’t seen each other since i was two mo. old and you were five mo. old!]
[brady was so cute…he’d walk to his chair and plop down like a little cool dude]
[such a little sweetheart]
brady was soooo sweet. he would give me hugs and kisses. i was in love! too adorbs. he’d walk up, just fall into my arms, and give me smooches. it was beyond presh. moments likes these are to die for! these babes are soooo stinkin’ cute.
kim had ordered and picked up lunch for us {at a place down the street from her}! so kind! we immediately started chatting up a storm. oh, there was so much to catch up on. our houses, our kids, the days of our lives 😉 brady and olive were having a swell time playing together. olive was so fascinated by all of brady’s toys! baby girl only has 1/10th of what brady has! so she was in play heaven!
we gabbed for quite a bit when i realized we had ordered food and hadn’t eaten yet! so kim and i ‘sat down’ to eat. i had ordered the breaded portobello mushroom sandwich and fries. it was delicious but a bit hard to eat with olive in my arms and i’m feeding her cereal puffs! so i forked the mushroom apart, left the bun, and gobbled on the fries. yum.
[breaded mushroom sandwich and fries]
[my cheeky babes]
[the beautiful momma and the handsome babes]
[brady gets so mesmerized by the tele!]
[we couldn’t get a proper pic of brady because he was glued to the movie! so adorbs // pic by kim]
[pic by kim]
[pic by kim]
[pic by kim]
[we both so wanted a pic with the two babes sitting in the chair together…this is all we got!]
[mommy selfie!]
we hung out with them all afternoon {and could have hung out longer, but i’m always on a schedule with olive, and i like to coordinate her naps with car rides 😉 }. we had such a fun, relaxing time. we talked, we chilled, and reveled in all of life’s happenings. it was pretty awesome to be able to just chill in her new house and have our kids running amuck with no worries!
i love kim! just like jodi, our lives are so parallel in major milestones. dating, engagements, marriage, and children! we have been able to connect with so many wonderful events in our lives throughout the years of knowing one another. we feel blessed to have them in our lives!
well, it was another successful date! olive and brady had a grand ‘ol time playing together! i’m hoping it’s not as long of a time in-between before we see each other again! as soon as olive and i drove off into the sunset, baby girl passed out in her car seat and took a good, long nap 🙂
oh em gee. it’s getting so close to her birthday, birthday! wow, time is surely flying by! this past month has brought us so much joy! her personality, her quirks, her sweetness…all coming into fruition, forming her cute little self. this past month, i’ve found myself thinking, “oh my gosh, she’s becoming a little girl”. sniff, sniff.
she is still standing on her own. baby girl is no where near walking though. she, well, i wouldn’t say she’s lazy {not as ambitious?} because she does stand. she contemplates taking a step but would rather sit down and crawl because that seems easier and faster! i’m excited at the prospect of her walking but i always say, i love having her as is. don’t grow up too fast! i know once she starts walking, it’s going to be a constant chase. so, slow it down baby girl!
she loves to snuggle. oh, it’s the best! after her feedings in the mornings, she loves to roll around in bed with me. it’s intensified since her nine month mark. she loves to give me hugs and kisses. she loves to cuddle and snuggle. she loves to wrap her arms around me and just lie there, skin to skin. it’s the best feeling in the world. her sweet actions just makes my heart melt. she turns to me and kisses my lips or face. she will rest her head on my side, my leg, my arm, wherever she lies down. she loves it when i caress her cheeks. there are times when we are sitting on the floor together and she will crawl up to me, stand up, and wrap her arms around me and gives me a long hug. *sigh* those moments make life so beautiful.
eating food is her favorite activity. she loves to eat. she loves it when we feed her…she gets so excited! she is still eating solids three times a day with snacks in-between. we’ve graduated into non pureed foods. the next thing i’m about to write might gross some people out but it’s so inherent for me to do. so, yes, if you like, you can call me alicia silverstone. i actually will put food in my mouth, chew it up, and feed olive. ok, not like chew, chew, chew with my molars but i will break it down with my front incisors and then give it to olive. it helps break down the texture and it’s easier for her to eat. we love to eat like that together and it lets me feed her such things as fruit and meats, certain items that might be a little tougher for her to break down with just her gums {since she only has one tooth!}. so, overall she is still a hungry, hungry hippo!
her sleeping patterns are such a blessing. we are so lucky she’s been such an amazing sleeper since her fourth week {let me tell ya, those first four weeks were hellish, let’s just say we never slept those first weeks}.she goes down around 9:30pm and she is up around 7 or 8am. the latest she has ever slept was until 9am! the only thing that is bothering her of late are her teething episodes. but that hasn’t really stopped her from sleeping through the night! she might cry out for a minute or two but she always falls back asleep. she is just a little bit more fussy in the morning or fussy with her naps. but otherwise, she is sound asleep all night long.
exploring her surroundings has been her new thing. it’s too cute. she will crawl around the house and explore all of her surroundings. she can entertain herself for quite awhile when she is doing this. she will look inside all the rooms. she will pull things off the shelves {mostly toys in grace’s room} or just sit in a room and stare around. she loves to touch everything and look inside boxes and bags that are sitting around {like a curious cat!}. she just recently started to try to step up on the stairs or the hearth by the fireplace. that’s only been the most alarming action so far {time to buy a gate!} and it’s something we must keep our eye on at all times now!
she hasn’t yet spoken a solid word. we are waiting. so excitedly waiting. she mumbles a lot of different things and she has said mama and dada but hasn’t yet used it in a way that has it’s true meaning. like, she hasn’t cried and called out to me, addressing me as mama. so, i’m anxiously waiting!
this past month, she has been loving the act of throwing herself back onto the bed. oh, she thinks it’s soooo funny. what a clown. i will place her down on the bed and she will give me a sly smile and then throw herself back onto the bed. she then giggles and rolls back around to do it again. she also loves it when i take her and throw her [face first} onto our bed of pillows, she pushes herself off, and then gleefully throws herself backwards onto the bed! she will smile ear to ear and waits for me to do it all over again! what a funny gal!
well, those are olive’s ten month milestones, quirks, and memories. she has been such joy for us. we love, love watching her grow. we love listening to her giggle and ‘talk’. we love how much she brightens up our lives. we can’t wait to share olive’s eleven month fun! happy monthly birthday to our little love!
another fun activity crossed off our summer to do list!
well, we did do this awhile ago, but i’m finally getting around to posting it. life is just so busy sometimes and getting a blog post published can take up so much time and it’s harder since i have the little one! i used to go, go, go but now {ok, now some people might say i’m still like that} but now i slow down and put things to the side because i’d rather have a little more snuggle time with olive, more one on one time with her, and more cuddly moments. the truth is…i know these moments don’t last forever and i am doing my best to cherish her little baby moments.
ok, so this was fantastic! i was so excited for olive and couldn’t wait to see her reaction. after a lovely brunch with my friend andrea and her friends and family, we headed to the hotel {palomar}, that they were staying at, to hang out at the pool.
i, unwillingly, changed into my swimsuit {um, having a baby does cray things to your body and i just ate lunch, hello!} and i dressed olive in her minnie mouse swimsuit {a present from gramma jane!}. we excitedly scurried to the pool, i couldn’t wait to get her into the water! i wasn’t worried she wouldn’t like it, i was sure she would love it! she loves bath time and has become so fascinated by the water.
so there i went, gingerly stepping into the pool {it was cold!}, my feet hit the ground and in olive went. she immediately loved it! yaaay! it was too presh. she cooed, mumbled, and splashed her way all around the pool. she was having the best time evah! annddd so was her momma! i loved watching her and i was super happy to see her love it so much!
[here we go!]
[she’s loving it! or am i loving it more?!]
[look at that face!]
[in the water!]
[honestly, olive really did have a blast, although it looks like i am having more fun]
we actually stayed in the pool for quite some time. maybe 45 minutes? the only reason we got out was because i needed to head home. it was time for another nap for the little one and a car ride home would suffice. so, we got our raisin hands and toes out of the water, changed our clothes, and went on our merry way. baby girl zonked, i mean zonked out in the car! out like a light once we started moving on the road.
it was so fabulous to have experienced olive’s first time in the pool. we both had a blast! we can’t wait for future pool dates together!
we introduced puffy cereal to little o right after her eight month mark. i was a little nervous {like any new mom!} that she would choke on it but was encouraged to know that it would help her fine motor skills; plus any baby that could sit up and hold up their own head can eat solids just fine. and fine she did with eating the cereal puffs! she loves, loves, loves them. i just adore watching her grab each puff and messily aim for her mouth. at first she was a bit clumsy with it but now she’s a pro. this baby girl loves to eat!
oh, where do i start with this? she loves this piano {future rock star?}! this is, honestly, the best buy evah! she loves playing with it and it totally entertains her. she will bang on the keys, then look up at me in-between her banging with that sweet face, and giggle and smile…it melts my heart! it’s a mini size piano and it’s perfect for little o. it’s cute, it’s tiny, and i absolutely love the red color. it perfectly matches her room. so bonus points all around!
this sippy cup is fantastic. my parents started giving olive water in a bottle a few months ago, then i started giving her water in this sippy cup. at first, she wasn’t very keen on it. the nozzle was different and she wasn’t quite sure about it all but i kept on introducing it to her at every meal. she eventually caught on and totally loves drinking from it! at first, she didn’t hold the bottle {lazy girl or spoiled girl??} and she didn’t know that she needed to tip the bottle up to get the liquid to go through the nozzle. but nowwwww, she guzzles it and drools all over herself! she hasn’t quite mastered the idea of every time you sip, you swallow…so she sips and sips and then maybe swallows, therefor she dribbles and drools all over herself! we love this sippy cup!
during the month of august, the mosquitos were in full force. oh my goodness, they were like an army that battled their way through anything just to get a little nip on you! we love honest products and we love their honest bug spray. it’s not made with deet and is perfectly safe for you and the babes. the spray smells citrusy and totally repelled those little blood suckers! ha ha mosquitos! take that, touché!
olive loves this book! it was a gift from our friends kevin and lisa {so thoughtful!}. i have a bunch of books that sit on olive’s play mat and when she crawls over to them, she always grabs this book! she opens it up, flips through the pages, mumbles like she’s reading, and is mesmerized by the colors and pictures. plus, she loves it even more when i read her the book and make all the fun animal noises. she just grins ear to ear when i do that, which in turn melts me into a puddle of mush. so, therefor, this is our new favorite book!
well, baby girl is still in the infant car seat {she’s still a wee one} but that time has passed where we are able to leave her in the car seat, attached to the stroller. this past month, she was not having it. she didn’t want to be in the car seat {the halfway, lay down position} while we walked around with her, she was too curious and wanted to sit up so she could see everything. so, she graduated into the seat part of the stroller! now, she has the best time when we walk around with her in it. she can sit up, lay back, kick up her little legs, and twist her big noggin all around to see all the fun things whizzing by!
there you go! olive’s nine month loves. we had an amazing time this past month learning together, playing together, and laughing together. we look forward to sharing olive’s ten month loves soon! yay!
there was so much going on {ya know, life!} between me and jodi, we were lucky to finally set up a brunch date together!
my morning started off swell but the rain really, really put a damper on my start out the house! ugh, yucky rain…when it does rain, oh my, it slows everyone down on the road {more on that later}.
first off, i thought it was going to be warm out. nope. i walked outside and turned around to change my outfit, again. it was chilly! so that slowed me down. i was constantly forgetting something of olive. oy vey. whether it was her toy, her snacks, or her {just kidding!}, that slowed me down. well then, i was already having a late start out the house and i needed to do a few errands before i met up with jodi. no bueno already.
i knew i was going to be late, so i text jod to give her the heads up. of course, traffic was sloooooooww. everyone drives like there is ice on the streets! hello. it wasn’t even raining anymore but the trouble it causes! so, as i made my way into the city, inner city traffic was just as bad. i needed to hit river north to stop by my salon to pick something up. then i needed to make my way into lincoln park to pick something up from boka. that. took. forever. i finally made it to the restaurant, wishbone, just a few minutes after jodi and jett showed up!
then the cuteness began! they were soooo adorbs together. jett kept saying ‘baby! baby!’. then he wanted to hold her hand. *sigh* you just wanted to melt looking and listening to these two babes. cutie jett wanted to give olive all his food…which of course, olive would take in a heart beat but she wasn’t allowed to eat it. i’m going to wait a bit before i feed olive tortilla chips 😉
[they were just toooooo adorbs together!!]
[scrunchy face]
jodi and i immediately started to catch up on all the latest news. i was super duper excited for her and matt, they had just bought a house! our lives have been almost mirror images of one another, just months apart in succession. she got engaged, then i got engaged, she got married, then i got married, she got pregnant, then i got pregnant, i bought a house, then she bought a house. we love sharing our experiences together and celebrating the good bits and working out the tough ones.
[our two cuties!]
we made sure we perused the menu and decided on our orders before we dove deep into our conversations. i chose the yankee scramble…it was soooo delish! and the bacon was amaze {amaze}. there was so much food, i couldn’t finish it all or rather, you shouldn’t eat this much food?!
[sooooo good]
after eating and talking for an hour or so, we packed up our things and headed out. jodi and jett had a commitment to attend to in the ‘burbs and i had olive’s doctor’s appointment down the street.
it was too cute, jett really wanted to push the stroller so push he did! we were in stitches on how stinkin’ cute it was to see him push olive down the street. he couldn’t see, he had no idea where he was going with that stroller, but he sure did a great job getting that stroller down the street!
oh, it was such a cute afternoon {despite the crazy road rage to get there!} and i was super happy to have met up with jodi and cutie jett. i love these two, the little bugger is so darling!
it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and olive and i enjoyed our sunny walk to her doctor’s appointment. i love walks, i love sunny days, and i love being with my little olive. oh happy day.
we finally put the final touches on miss olive’s room! oooohhhhhh yay!
her room is perfect. i love everything about it. it’s light, whimsical, and fun. all things a baby’s room should be!
if you have been following my blog, you might have seen this post and this post from the past about olive’s room {also, we have already completed grace’s room in the new house here}. it explains the compilation of her room, when we were living in chicago, and olive’s nursery was as big as a closet {that was quite a challenge but we made it work!}! now she has a lot of space and we absolutely love spending our time in there.
if you click on the links above, you will see where most of the decor comes from.
olive’s room was inspired by the land of nod, blog sites, pinterest, my love for anything whimsy, soft colors, modern and clean lines. i was the anti-theme soon to be momma. i did not want anything ‘themed’. it’s so not my style. no monkeys, no winnie the pooh, no caterpillars, no nothing. a lot of people asked me what my theme was going to be for the baby’s room and i would say nothing {which was true…i mean, what was i suppose to say? it’s going to be the coolest, chicest, baby’s room ever done?? okaaayyyy, i did say that a few times :)} and i would get a blank stare in return {gasp! no theme?!}. i would say something like, “it’s going to be a cool room but no theme” but peeps still didn’t understand.
anyhoo, when we were decorating olive’s room in the city, we knew it wasn’t going to be permanent. we knew that we were going to be in a house soon {at the time, how soon? we weren’t sure}, so we didn’t want to go all out in her room {i still had a few tricks up my sleeve with the decor}.
so, once we bought our house, olive’s room was number one priority! i couldn’t wait to finish it. hc worked very hard on it and worked hard on getting it done. since we had so much more room, we purchased a few more pieces of furniture to complete her nursery.
[olive’s room pre-makeover]
olive’s room was painted this awful blue color and had lots of nails and holes in the walls. like i’ve said before, the whole house is trimmed in this oakey wood color. every door, every window is in this blah color {just not our style}. hc patched up everything, repainted, and replaced all the wood base boards. he fixed up the closet {new shelf, bar, and paint}, he replaced the closet doors, replaced the knobs with an antique rubbed bronze color, and cleaned and redid the window and window frame. that set it up for a clean slate and ready to decorate!
olive’s old room in the city had just a small window. so we only had one silk panel and it was perfect. when we moved into the new house, we needed to buy another panel. it was actually hard to track down! nevertheless, we purchased another matching panel…phew! we also had to put money into altering it! the panels were too long and we purchased the shortest length they had. oh my. it cost almost as much as one panel to do the alterations…holy cow!
originally, we only had one little sloane leaning bookcase. basically, that was all we could fit {actually the bookcase barely fit!}! once we put the bookcase into the new room, we knew we needed another one. now it’s perfectly balanced and we have more storage space for olive’s toys.
i love how her dresser drawer turned out. hc replaced and painted the drawer fronts and i purchased the prettiest pink glass knobs from anthro to personalize and perfect her dresser. it’s perfect for the changer {we draped a waterproof sheet saver over her changer to catch any accidents!} and her diaper caddy, from land of nod, is the perfect size. it houses all her essentials: lots of huggies diapers, butt paste, mustela body lotion, gold bond powder, babyganics sunscreen, and organic apricot oil {for cradle cap}.
i love pottery barn kids for their cute personalized pieces. her olive hamper is perfectly sized. it houses all her dirty garments and looks super cute while doing so!
we love the ceramic giraffe but we knew it wouldn’t be so safe once she started crawling. with great surprise, she doesn’t touch it! she might pet it but that is about it! amazing. she really has no interest in it…so far 😉
we love her little cloud shelves. such a perfect fit in her room and perfectly placed above her changing table. she can’t reach it and it houses all her cute, fun books and toys. don’t you love the ‘olive you’ print?? it was a gift from olivia and aaron. so cute.
well, that is olive’s room! we hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoy living in it! we are so happy with the updates and how her room was transformed. thank you so much to hc for working so hard on it and together we have made it a cozy, cute, cuddly little room for the babes. it’s now full of fuzzy toys, comfy blankies, and filled with love.
oh baby olive, you are at a month, pre-having a baby, where i thought this was the cutest month a baby could be! you get cuter and cuter each month! we are enjoying every moment with you…it’s one new thing to another we look forward to!
she will no longer sit still {leading into the next paragraph}, so trying to catch a good pic of her is so difficult! and that hair!!! i had the hardest time taming her do…she woke up with the crazy hairstyle, so crazy hair pics is what I got! too sweet.
you are on the move! a mover and a shaker, you are! you crawl with speed and curiosity. you are so adorable and troublesome at the same time! oy. i love watching you explore. you crawl around the house with a sly look. you coyly smile and pucker those lips with mischievous eyes as you peek from room to room. you pull yourself up on the furniture with such pride and you gleefully pull everything off the table with a smirk! it’s such a game! once you have pulled everything off one table, you smoothly and gingerly move your little footsies, one baby step at at time, and scoot over to the next table to do the same. you are on your way to trouble!
i love that you shake your head when i say “shake your head!”. i love it when you hear the song, ‘if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands’ and you clap your hands! i love that when i say “goodbye” you wave your hand! i love it when someone says cheese, you scrunch your face. i love it when i say “high five”, you put your hand in the air and don’t leave me hangin’!
you have become so snuggly. in the mornings, after your breakfast, you love to lie around and snuggle. you love hugs, you love back scratches, and you love to put your head in my lap and lay there {as long as i am rubbing your back!}. you like to sit on the couch with us, when you get tired, and relax by our side. oh it’s soooo adorbs. i love being cheek to cheek with you and having you wrapped up in my arms. i am cherishing these sweet, tender moments with you. ’cause i know these precious moments won’t last long!
holy moley…your first tooth has come in! your bottom left incisor! oh, you were a grumpy one {and still will be…we gotta a lot of teeth to go!}, you were fussy going to bed. fussy getting up. fussy overall. i felt so bad for my little girl, there is only so much i can do to relieve your sore gums 🙁 all i could do was console my teary eyed babes. at first we didn’t know what was wrong with your fussy bedtimes {and random moments} but once i ran my finger over those gums…i felt your little tooth right at the surface! and it all made sense!
food is your best friend. you love to eat. you eat solids three times a day and gobble down every meal. you are still nursing six times a day as well! you love chicken, onions, spinach, peas, carrots, apples, mango, and so forth. there isn’t a food you don’t consume. we are now at a point where you eat cereal puffs and cut up pieces of soft, squishy fruit. it’s so fun and lovely to watch you pick up your foods and feed yourself {and it’s a total mess too!}.
sleep is still great. you go down at your usual time, 9pm ish, and wake up at 6,7, or lately, 8am! you sometimes cry out at night for a few seconds {or a few minutes…bad dream??} but you always go back into a slumber. in the mornings, you sometimes wake up and babble, or you let us know right away to come get you by shrieking! i love walking into your room in the morning, it’s the most adorable moment…you have the craziest bed hair and i love greeting you with “good morning”s! i get the biggest smiles and hugs!
i can’t believe you are nine months old! it’s been such a fun ride already. you are so sweet, fickle, smiley, lovey, coy, curious, and beautiful. we love you to bits and can’t wait to see what the next month hold for us!
i have noticed that when i wear any necklaces, miss olive will always go after it. she will want to play with it, chew on it, and drool on it. i had heard about jewelry out in the market, made for momma and the baby, that blended in fashion and function. which any mom could use or need, right?!
i researched a few brands out there and kept coming back to this. it’s an etsy seller called beadee baby. i know it’s a little on the pricey side, i did find a few sellers that were less expensive but i loved the aesthetics of this necklace. the make, the shape of the beads, the color totally drew me in. i would and could find other necklaces but i kept coming back to this one.
so, i was quite excited when the package arrived in the mail {woo hoo!}. i tore it open and was delighted with the product inside! i immediately put it on just to test run it. hc was intrigued by it, the shape, the colors, and the idea too!
olive loves playing with it! she always reaches for it and gnaws on the fun, colorful beads.
i now love throwing this necklace on with any outfit. it’s the perfect length, i love that the colors go with any outfit, and i love that olive can play with it without me worrying about anything! it was definitely a great find and worth it.
i love finding fun things like this for little miss olive!
sometimes i wonder about the world of motherhood. i think about how it was a world i had no clue about. i was on the other side. i didn’t get it. i looked at people with children and wondered, ‘are they really happy?”. i didn’t know. it didn’t seem like joy, the way my friends complained how they never slept. how their lives where no longer theirs. how they never shopped for themselves anymore {what?!} and spent all their money on their kids. they said they never had time to themselves and it was go, go, go until it was bedtime. i mean, how could that possibly be great?!!
i was a bit scared to have kids. it didn’t sound appealing. i loved me time. a. lot. i enjoyed my hour long showers 😉 . i loved taking forever putting on my make up or doing whatever maintenance i need to do. i liked just spending time with hc and not have a care in the world.
the world was my oyster and i was quite happy in it.
then it happened. yes. i got pregnant.
hc and i, obviously, discussed having kids before we were married. i knew it was going to happen but i was afraid. most people fear the unknown, right?!
from the moment i found out i was pregnant…it was nothing but joy. i loved being pregnant. i loved feeling our little baby girl grow inside my belly. i loved feeling her kick and punch and hiccup inside me. but nothing prepared me for the overwhelming joy and love i would feel when she came into our world. wow. seriously, amaze. you just don’t know until you have kids. literally.
i came over to the flip side. i once had a very wise women tell me that she felt sorry for those who chose to not have children, because it is truly a joy and a beautiful blessing. those who choose to not have children will never know the fulfillment. it can never be explained nor can the emotional satisfaction ever be transferred. you can only experience it to know how utterly amazing it is.
i concur. i am amazed by olive. i love her soooooo much. i love everything about her. i love getting up early to see her cute smile and crazy bed hair. i love spending time with her. i love watching her grow. i love spending my energy on her. i love hugging her. i love hearing her heartbeat. i love her giggles. i love my life, my marriage with olive in it. i don’t want the life i had before because it was not as fulfilling as it is now.
i’ll trade in my alone time for olive time anytime! now, hc and i still need our time…our relationship is just as important! don’t get me wrong now, but this is about olive 😉
i could go on and on about the wonders of having children but you will never really know until you have one of your own. before you do, it’s just all words that bounce around at you, words that don’t really resonate with you until you have your own child and then it’s liiiike, ahhhh, now i understand.
