Lankford Love

This is from a month ago. But I can't believe I forgot to post! So funny!

It occurred to me recently that I sure do spend a whole lot of time being fearful. I had never noticed it either. It's something my counselor pointed out to me - leave it to those counselors! But at times, I'm struck with paralysis. I want to say something to a loved one about how an event or statement affected me, about my feelings, but I stop myself. If I say that to that person, they might feel {insert emotion}. I have this problem of taking on other people's emotions. AKA codependency. If I say something and someone feels a certain way in response to what I said, I feel immediately at fault. But something I'm learning - I am not responsible for the way someone else feels. Period. Another scenario: Something I know to be wrong is unfolding right before my eyes and I sit there dumbstruck, thinking, What do I do? It'd be too awkward to {insert action or words here}. That should be cue. >Fear alert!< Back away from that thought and strongly consider sayi...

Because after 6 months, I STILL could not wear my wedding ring, Brendon got me this pretty ring to wear in the meantime! I LOVE it! I love that it's simple yet has a wedding ring feel to it. I wore it proudly for five whole days... until yesterday, when my new ring started to feel a little loose. I know what you're thinking, "You must be joking, right?" Nope. Not kidding. Funny that after 6 months, my wedding ring now fits. And overnight too. Is it bad that I am wishing I could fit into my new ring, rather than my actual wedding ring? Hmm... At least I'm prepared for pregnancy (and post-pregnancy) #2...

You may have noticed the new photos around my blog. That's because we had a photo shoot this past weekend! Brendon gave this photo shoot to me as my Mother's Day gift. And some of our friends, Steve and Kristen Gee, took the photos for us. I think they did an awesome job! Here are some of the photos. Can't wait to order prints and frame a few... Love, love, love these photos! If you're in the Dallas area and want photos taken, check out the Gees' website, Good Afternoon Photography .

We were privileged to have both of our dads in town for the day today! They flew up just for a few hours - came to church with us, went to lunch, and then hung out, before heading back to the airport for Houston to spend time with our siblings. To our dads - Thanks so much for coming up! We love you both and are so blessed to have you in our lives! And to my hubby - Happy first Father's Day! I'm so thankful to be married to you and to now have embarked on this parenting adventure with you! Thank you for being so supportive. Lil is lucky to have you as a father. I know you will be just as sweet, caring, and patient with her as you are with me. We are two lucky ladies!

I forgot to share photos for Lil going swimming! She's been a couple times now. She doesn't seem to mind the water, but she doesn't splash around in it either. Still warming up! We are starting swim lessons on Tuesday. Of course, they aren't really swim lessons at this age. They're more just to help her become comfortable in the water and learn to float on her back! How cool is that? Lastly...   Fat baby in a little swim shirt... Okay but really, this shirt is supposedly 12.5-18 lbs. She's 14 lbs. I'm thinking this brand runs seriously small.

Sunday night Hubs and I did this. This is what was left. Five empty wine bottles. I'm tired of alcohol ruining the lives of wonderful, well-meaning people. Of believers even. I'm tired of it ruining their families' lives too. On Sunday night, my husband and I decided we had enough. I boxed up our wine glasses. Then we took the rest of our wine stash and dumped it. I'm sure our friends would have loved to have these bottles, but for this one night, I didn't care about "being resourceful, not wasteful." I just wanted to take a stand against alcohol. Our house is now a dry house. This doesn't mean we won't have a drink at a wedding or family event. It just means that we will no longer keep alcohol in our home. After what I have seen with my brother and good friends, I don't want my family, my child, or even myself to be around alcohol. I don't want our friends to have access to it when they come over. We're through.

The first post of Mommy Lessons that I did got such a good response that I thought I'd do another! So here it is - from the first four months! Babies progressively drool more and more as they get closer to getting their teeth in! Around 2 months, Lil started drooling. At 3 months, I'd say she drooled a lot. Last week I said she drooled much more than at 3 months. Today she has drooled much more than last week. Her shirt is soaked. It's our 3rd outfit. No idea when those teeth will appear - could be tomorrow, could be two months. Who knows. Bibs are a must. Like I said, drool-central. Spit up and drool are directly related. As drooling increases and teething approaches, spit up also increases! That's my experience at least. While we're talking about teething, let me mention this: teething diaper rash . Apparently not every baby gets it. It might be because she's drooling so much. It might be because her hands are constantly in her mouth and she's touch...

I've been asked about our swing to crib naptime transition. I wish I could say more, but here's what I got. First of all, I really think this was all just good timing . Lilleigh was totally ready for the transition. Around 2 months, I tried to transition her from her swing to crib, and that was a major failure. I had it set in my mind for some reason that she needed to be in her crib, that I was setting myself up for doom if I let her nap in her swing. There was really no logic in that thought. Finally I posted a plea for help on the transition on Facebook and a mom friend commented that she let her babies nap in their swings too and eventually they transitioned themselves to their cribs for nap. She said it was just no big deal. So since Lilleigh was napping well, I gave it a rest. It was silly for me to even try at two months because for the first three months of her life Lilleigh would take three hour long naps in her swing. Sometimes four. No, I'm not kidding. But s...

Okay so that statement isn't exactly true. There are bottles here. Lots of bottles. More than we know what to do with. I have tried essentially every type of bottle that claimed to be the "miracle bottle." My baby girl doesn't want any of them. I have tried them all multiple times. Multiple times in a day. Many days a week. I've had my husband try without me in the house. My moms and mother-in-law have all tried. My neighbors and friends have tried. Lilleigh doesn't want anything to do with a bottle. Lilleigh didn't always do this. She DID take a bottle. We began giving her a bottle right around 4 weeks, when the lactation consultants suggest you introduce it. I thought we were doing everything right. She took it, which was awesome. But we weren't consistent. We didn't realize we weren't consistent though because I'd leave and leave a bottle with the person watching her. I guess I didn't realize that many of these times she didn'...

Lilleigh is 4 months! And as of 4 months, Lilleigh... Has been on 8 airplanes and been to 4 different states - Texas (duh!), Colorado, Arizona (airport - brief layover), and California. And she's done really well on every plane ride, being careful not to disturb the other passengers. This was her intent I'm sure... Laughs A LOT! She loves it when I give her lots of kisses! She also likes it when I pretend to eat her hands. Rolled over... once. I prop her arms up underneath her to help her lift herself up and give her the idea that being on her tummy isn't so bad. And one time she actually held herself up for a couple second and then rolled over. She hasn't done it since, but once is enough! Grown lots of hair! You may not see it. But I see it! After she lost her hair, I was so distraught. I'm thrilled that she's getting hair back! It's pretty light (dirty blonde, I'd say), so it's sometimes hard to see. But it's there! Gone back and forth be...

My update isn't exactly about my "weight loss." Since I did my happy dance two weeks ago, I have not lost any weight. Not according to the scale anyway. I still have 12 lbs to go. Buuuut.... I can now wear my pre-pregnancy jeans! It's been almost exactly 4 months since having Lilleigh (4 month update to come), and I admit that I was starting to think this moment would never come. But it did! Just like people said it would. I actually had just recently decided I was going to return the Gap 1969 jeans that I got for free in the fall . I figured I'd get a pair of in-between jeans. So I tried them on before going to the mall - just to give myself a ballpark size that I should start trying jeans on in. And voila! They fit over my thighs... and then my butt... and then they zipped! I couldn't believe it! So no, I have not lost any more weight. But my old jeans magically fit again! Yea! Those 12 lbs will come off. I'm not worried. I'm just thrilled to ...

I know what you're thinking... Traveling AGAIN! What are they thinking doing so much traveling with an infant? I had this same thought last Thursday morning before we boarded our plane - well, planeS - to San Diego. We've done more traveling in the last month than we've done in the past year... maybe two! Lilleigh is only four months only, but she has been on EIGHT planes! The occasion for such insanity? One of my good friends from college got married! In Irvine. That's reason enough to go. But it helps that Hubby's aunt and uncle also live in San Diego. Plus we had air miles my dad had gifted us a couple Christmases ago. ...All the signs were pointing to GO! So we went. And we had a blast! After the lack of naps (and thus, down time for Mommy) on our last trip, I was a little worried for this one. So in preparation for California, and after learning from our Colorado trip, I gave Lilleigh plenty of practice napping in her crib! She's been used to napping i...