The Best Job I've Ever Had.

As many groan worthy and frustrating times that there can be in my days lately, it occurred to me in a particular moment of misery...

(baby melting down in the middle of the commissary with only half of the grocery list checked off - the day after payday - and everyone staring kind of misery)

...that this whole mom thing is unequivocally the best job I have ever had. 

Ever.

Now, I know that I am young, and was just heading out on my "career" and all. And I haven't even held that many jobs. But still, this one is a calling. A game changer. A life changer.

I've had some challenging positions, some independent positions, some positions that I was passionate about and, let's face it, some downright pull-my-hair-out-going-crazy boring positions.

Once upon a time I was a sorority consultant (no, we didn't just 'plan parties'. Ha. If only...).

Then I went to grad school - where I was a student and professional, I worked the best internship job ever in existence for a summer and fell in love with my chosen career path all over again, went back to school and back to my job there until graduating.

I scrambled to find a job in our "new" town and finally found one. I got a "real job" that consisted of some of the most miserable professional and personally trying experiences I had ever had. Ever.

::shudder::

But, regardless of the experiences, I was happy.

A floaty kind of happy that comes to a person who likes, and sometimes even loves, the work that they are doing. 

The kind of happy that comes to a person who is good at what they do, has really always been good at what they do (because I don't play games I'm not good at, or didn't), and revels in the occasional challenge that would come along. 

The light natured happy that accepts the praise that inevitably came from meeting that challenge head on and more often than not, succeeding. Because what other choice do you have?

This job, though. This "job" is challenging in a way that I never knew existed. 

At times it has made me question that I was ever, in fact, good at anything. 

It is challenging almost every minute of every day. 

It is all consuming, often without vocalized praise, and never with monetary gain. 

It is different every day, and yet sometimes maddeningly repetitive.

I have never, ever, struggled to succeed so much in a job before.

And yet, I love it. 

I love it, and I love my kid. 

Can I separate the two? I don't think so. 

I love being a mom in such a deep way, that I now know that I am truly happy in my chosen profession, occupation, career, "job"...whatever you want to call it.

I am just so intrinsically happy - in a crazy, "STFU Parents" kind of way - that fills me to my very core. 

Even in the hard moments.

I have always been happy at home. My friends and family, and most importantly my husband, have always made me feel fulfilled there. 

But now my profession and my home are one in the same. 

And it is amazing, and hard, and awesome.

On Mother's Day, while putting my baby to bed, I held her to me and nursed her.

As I rocked her and I and looked down to caress her light, crazy, fluffy hair and stare at those fluttering eyelids with those impossibly long eyelashes...tears began to roll down my face.

I know that this phase won't last forever, and there will come a day where I will crave heading back into a workplace.

But, for now, I finally know that what I am doing is truly worth all the work, and I find myself fulfilled and grateful and happy.

And I don't know that any other job will ever be able to measure up.




Evelyn Rae is ten months old

...and I also don't think I will ever have a coworker quite like this one.

What you need when...

It gets nice outside, and your baby loves playing out there, but you need something to keep them both contained AND happy so that they don't eat all the weeds grass in your yard...

A swing.

Yup, that swing.

I had only ever seen this in blue, and then I started looking around. You can now buy it in shades of pink, almost anywhere, and Walmart has it in purple.

BUT, the ONLY place you can get it in this happy shade of green is at Target.

You all know how I love me some Target.
And green.
So cute.

(P.S. It is cheaper in the store than online so get thee to an actual store.)

So, we went with that one, and Ev's Daddy risked life and limb climbing a ridiculously high tree in our yard to hang this baby.

I really, really wanted to take pictures, but *someone* didn't think the whole situation was as funny as his wife and daughter may have...

We have been out to visit the swing almost every day since putting it up and baby girl LOVES it.

Evelyn Rae is ten months old

...and next on the playing outside list is a bike for Momma with a seat for my little bug. So excited about that!

Happy Mom's Day!

We had quite a lovely Mother's Day 'round these parts.

A certain baby let us sleep in, which was appreciated from both Mommy and Daddy. Evelyn gave me my Mother's Day gift - a charm for my bracelet with her birthstone on it -and then the three of us headed to breakfast.

My mother in law came over and brought me these beautiful flowers -

After that, we headed to Richmond to see my sister-in-law and her husband with my MIL in tow so that we could all lunch together for the day.

It was a long one, but a good one. The husband snapped these at the end of our long trek to commemorate our day together. Getting a picture where the little lady and I are both smiling is proving to be more difficult the more of a mover and shaker she becomes.

 Yes, our porch desperately needs to be cleaned and painted. Please don't judge. Guess whose job that little task is? Hint - not me.

Skeptical baby.

Blowing raspberries is still a favorite pastime...

And my favorite from the day...

I hope you had a great day too!



Evelyn Rae is ten months old

...and WHAT?! HOW DO I HAVE A TEN MONTH OLD BABY?!

Ten Months

My dear Evelyn,

The first photo I have included in this post is a great summary of the past month. You are officially on the go. You are moving around like crazy. You started crawling, legitimately, this month. Within days, you were not only standing and and holding onto things, as well as climbing over them, but cruising down the furniture. It seems that you can go from laying down happily to sitting, crawling and standing across the room in a flash. You are FAST little girl, which makes taking these photos way more difficult than in the past!

Your reaction to being placed back on your back.

We headed to the doctor this month (for your nine month appointment) which really was more like a ten month appointment. They confirmed what we already knew - you are a long and skinny baby. I have stopped buying clothes in advance of the season because I literally have no idea what size you will be in when. The other day you wore a 12 month shirt with some 3 month leggings. Hrm. 

In other developmental milestones you are blowing em out of the water. I didn't know that many of the things you were doing and learning from our playing even were milestones until we were chatting with the doctor, but I promise I will try to get better about knowing these things.

You love reading, and have now began heading to your bookshelf when I put you down in your room. You will pull off one or two books and sit there contentedly flipping through them which is HILARIOUS to me. Granted, sometimes you need to pull every.single.book off of the shelf too, but more often than not you choose them over your other toys.

You have started getting into some serious mischief lately too. You are a daring baby and need to explore everything. When sitting on the couch with Daddy and I, you love to try and climb up all of the pillows to your puppy' perch to pull on his tail and wave your hands in his face. You still love that dog more than anyone, I think. He is continually warming up to you. You are crawling for all the dangerous things in the house to play with lately, which is pretty typical of crawling babies - oh! You think this house is safe? Hahahaha. Let me show you.

We have started telling you "No." about things with the big eyes and serious faces. You turn and look at us and usually laugh and grin. A grin so freaking full of mischief that I can't even stand it. I don't have a problem telling you no, or helping you to learn that certain things are off limits, because I know that you will be better for it in the future, so that's not hard. But to not smile right back at that impish grin? That, my love, is difficult.

There have been a few times already though where you tern and look at us, smile, and then essentially give me what (I imagine) is the equivalent of a baby language shoulder shrug. You just crawl towards something else that you find interesting.

 I love how contemplative and calm you are when placed in new situations. On Mondays we have play group with 4 kids who are all quite a bit older than you. Your friends Caroline, Charlotte, Eliza and Adam are all walking and talking and running all over the place. I usually plop you down and you pick up a toy or two and then just watch all the activity with big eyes and amazement. True to younger kid form, you have started trailing after their antics by crawling towards the activity wherever it goes, and it makes me chuckle.

 You are very tactile lately as well and have to touch everything. We have been reading some touch and feel books at bedtime and you seem a little disappointed when we read normal books with flat pages. You are constantly looking for the "flap" to show something hidden underneath, the button or flap that makes a noise or the patch of texture to touch.

You still soothe yourself to sleep by playing with your own hair, which is getting quite long, and is as pale as ever. You actually do this sort of "fluffing" thing with your hair which reminds me of your OSL Auntie Shelby and makes me giggle a bit.

You have four teeth in total now with two more (that I can see) about to cut through any day (hopefully). You really do not like the teething process, and I can tell when you don't feel well because you become such a snuggler. Daddy and I love it because you reach your arms up for us and when we pick you up you just hug us so hard around the neck and want to stay there.

You give us open mouth kisses when we say "kiss" (you lean toward our faces with your mouth wide open and plant your mouth on us) and are just such an affectionate little baby when you want to be. You have started doing fishy face lips too which are adorable and hilarious.

You are still eating like a much bigger kiddo than you are, but I cannot cure you of sharing with the puppy. When we go out to eat you have a habit of looking over the edge of your highchair and then glancing up at us with a raised eyebrow as if to say, "Why is there no puppy here to eat this for me when I throw it on the floor?"

You are still nursing, though my supply is beginning to decline because you are so all over the place with feedings. Keeping you still to get in a good long nursing station is nearly impossible these days. I am a little concerned that you will wean yourself early, but I think we will truck through the one year mark without too much fuss. I will be sad when the day of the last feeding comes, but I am letting you lead the way.

The expressions that cross your face and the babbling that comes out of your mouth, at staggeringly loud volume these days, make it easy for us to understand one another most of the time. Your daddy and I still argue about the "words" coming out of your mouth, but they sure make us laugh, especially as you imitate the tone of the people around you.

We love you so much little girl, and I'm not even going to pretend that every single stage and month isn't more exciting than the last. I can hardly believe that we are in the double digit months, but I can't wait for the rest of this summer. Loving on you, playing outside and helping you learn all you need and want to learn is going to be so much fun.

All my love,

Momma


Evelyn Rae is ten months old

...and I really take too many pictures and can't ever choose just a few. Brevity is not a strong suit of mine.