Wordless{ish} Wednesday

Excited to have you all along for this journey!!


LAST DAY!!:

 

Zion's Triumphant Entry

Hey Friends!  Zion's birth story is featured over at SpearmintBaby today!  If you haven't read it yet, stop over there and discover whether or not I still want 7 kids!

 

18 Months & Happy Half-Birthday Giveaway

On Tuesday, my little baby girl once again reminded me of the numbering of days.  18 months.  EIGHTEEN months!  That is 1.5 years old!  That is HALFWAY to TWO!  And Zion, how I have enjoyed watching you grow up so far.  It is so hard to look back at pictures of you and see how much you really have changed, especially when at times it is hard to remember you any way different than you are now.

You are high-spirited, beautiful, inquisitive, thirsty for adventure and filled to the brim with giggles and silliness.  You love: bananas, (still), toast with butter, shoes and sock-socks, Elmo and Diego.   You adore your daddy and look forward to weekend playtime with him, while cherishing the short time you have with him each morning before he leaves for work.  Each day you greet us with a huge "HIIIII" and plenty of hugs and cuddles.

You love reading and get excited any time a new book is added to your library.  Every morning you demand (pleasantly) that daddy read with you.  You have a sweet sweet innocent understanding of God and proudly say "Aye-men" after your prayers.  Often you will be singing a song, typically the ABC's or Elmo's theme song.  You especially love acting out the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider.

You still love coloring and stickers.  You don't know what to think about play dough.  You thrive on every opportunity to help mama…and have become the chief recycler in our home.  :)  Yesterday you helped me make a batch of brownies from start to finish.  I sure hope you will grow a love of baking and cooking like I have.

You've begun to further explore your independence, testing boundaries, climbing new heights and practicing new skills.  You can climb up onto the couch all by yourself.  You love practicing buckling your high chair straps together.  You try to put your clothes, socks and shoes on.  You often try to take them off, resulting in getting stuck with an arm strapped tightly to your head or falling over sideways with a booby trapped pair of pants twisted around your feet.

Despite the day to day challenges of looking out for you, disciplining you and teaching you healthy boundaries, I find my heart overwhelmed with your innocence, still wishing I could freeze time and not endure the slow unraveling of your dependence on me…but then I catch glimpses of who God has created you to be…and I open my hand and heart recognizing that you are a gift and not a possession…one that I will cherish for all the days to come.

I love you my little cutie-patootie-pie.
Mama

P.S.  To celebrate Zion's half-birthday I am giving away FEATURED AD SPACE in December 2012!  Enter using Rafflecopter below!! XO XO XO





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Someone should slap that Murphy guy who came up with that law...

Hey Friends!  It has been an exceptionally challenging week!  Remember how Zion was JUST sick?  Right as she was nearing 100% (99.99% to be exact) she caught another cold!  For all of you that utilize daycare and have to deal with plague after plague of cootie-sharing, let me just tell you, the endless string of viral replication isn't limited to kids in daycare…Zion is with me full time, but here she is sick yet again.  Thankfully she is on the mend (again) but it has been a draining week.

I've been going a little nuts because I actually took the time to schedule my writing this week.  I thought out my posts in advance, had a plan…you know…the perfect ingredients for Murphy's law to wreak havoc.  So here I am, (not going to apologize) way behind schedule on posts this week.  I've had a lot of exciting things happening which have actually, for the first time in my writing career, caused me stress!  I believe a little bit of stress, handled appropriately, is good for a person, but it is still stress and I am in need of a long hot soothing bubble bath, or maybe a weekend staycation where I can swipe up the laptop and high-tail it to a place of solitude for a writing intensive?

I'm not likely to get either as the big feast quickly approaches and I will be preparing my first ever Thanksgiving dinner for our family with a bunch of new recipes.  Thank God for Martha Stewart online because I will be following her every instruction.  There’s no time for online cooking classes! I'm terrified of shopping for this holiday…and then figuring out some sort of timing grid so I can keep track of all of the dishes.

This morning I am counting down the minutes until nap time so I can get some work done, did I mention that I have a mom's Bible study coming to my place tonight?  Or that next Tuesday I have to have all of my backpacks and supplies together for the MacDella Cooper Academy in Liberia, Africa?  Or the fact that I totally got confused about the Tumblr Parents meet-up being on Friday Saturday? And while that is in Brooklyn I have a 1st Birthday to attend the same day immediately after on the UWS?  I'm thinking back to this fun little graph once posted on Mammalingo's blog…and it is the story of my life at present.

I'm exploding with exciting stuff to share…Zion's first trip to the Zoo, Weekly Wrap Up, Top 5 Software to get NOW with BONUS Top 5 Apps, Zion's 18 month update, Pinning Wk. 2!, Recipes from Mama B's Kitchen, A review of an AWESOME new baby monitor, and TOMORROW…a special chance to win featured ad space in December on Life with the Baxtrons!  Wheeeew!  Just writing all that is overwhelming!  Get ready!

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Breaking Bad

Let me just say that I LOVE my daughter…with all of my heart.  The past couple of days have been so trying with her though.  She is quickly approaching the 18 month mark and already we are dealing with extreme boundary testing…she doesn't have to wait for two…she is already there.

I almost had a breakdown myself this morning after the 4th time-out for the same reason, all within 10 minutes time.  I couldn't help feeling like a failure as a parent.  I know what the "professionals" say about disciplining your child, how to cope with tantrums, etc., but when you are doing those things and your precious and obedient daughter has seemingly transformed into one that thrives on trouble, its incredibly discouraging.

Luckily, after praying, I did what every parent in this situation does…poured myself a shot of whiskey called my older sister for guidance.  Thankfully, she picked up the call, and gave me encouragement, reminding me to hold firm to the boundaries we've established and continue to reinforce them.  She reminded me to stay stoic during discipline because any kind of emotional reaction on my part will reinforce the behavior, and lastly, she reminded me that this too shall pass.

I took a deep breath and decided she was right.  Then I put Zion down for her nap, began my daily reading of blogs I follow and came across this post here, which led me to read this blog.  Immediate perspective gained.  As I sat, crying my eyes out, I realized how small these troubles of mine actually are.  I realized that tantrums or not, I am blessed to have this day with my daughter.

God is so faithful to show up and remind me, during the difficulties of every day life, that things could be worse and my focus should always be on the blessing each day brings, with very little time focused on the momentary troubles.





Linking up here today:






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Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Giggle Monster

Playtime with Daddy from Courtney Baxtron on Vimeo.

Let's Connect! XO, Courtney

       

{17} Months

I don't want to start with the usual…"OMG where has the time gone?"…line.  Nope, not going to reflect right now on how fast the last 17 months have zipped by.  I don't want to think about how in just a month you will be 1 & 1/2 or how just 6 months ago you devoured your first cupcake as family and friends celebrated your very first birthday, nope, not going to think on those things.  Instead, I just want to thank you, Zion, for teaching me how to live each moment in the present.

Here you are, my precious, beautiful, funny little girl, making each day more bright, more joyous and more adventurous than I could have ever imagined possible.  There are so many things that you have both Mama & Dada in awe about you: your ever increasing vocabulary, your depth, your spirited nature, your infectious giggle, your determination and will…I can go on and on, and I do.  You are just simply a wonder of creation, in our eyes and in your heavenly Father's eyes as well. 

We are blessed to have been chosen by God to be stewards over your young life, you are our little cupcake treasure.  

Love,

Mama

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Our Little Chatterbox

Zion, our sweet little girl.  You have discovered your voice.  And we could not be happier.  We are so thoroughly impressed by your level of understanding and your ambition in developing your vocabulary.  Each day we are surprised by your many new concepts and words grasped.  We know you are a gifted young lady, already surpassing our highest expectations of your brilliance.  Keep doing your thing little girl, Mama and Dada are so very proud!

As of today (only 16 months old!) you can say the following words (*and signs):

Amen

Apple

Banana

Baby*

Backpack

Ball*

Bath
Belly Button
Boat

Book

Bike

Bye-Bye*

Boo-Boo

Bible

Car
Choo-Choo

Coffee (Okay, so you still say Ca-Ca but I think it counts)
Cookie

Dada

Dog

Duck

Down*

God

Happy
Hi*

Help*

Icky (Which sounds like "y tu?")

Key

Love (which is more like Vah)

Mama

Map
Me

Meow
Mine

Moo

More*

Milk*

Nana

No (Which I have to stop encouraging, but you say it SOOOO cute while scrunching your little nose, lol.)

Oh
One

Owie
Pig

Poo-poo

Please

Pray*

Pretty

Shoes

Socks

Thank you
Three
Truck
Train

Turtle
Two

Up*

Violet

Water

Word

World

Woah!

Wow

You also count to 3!!

We are incredibly impressed and feel so blessed to be your Mommy & Daddy.  God has richly blessed you, daughter, both inside and out!  We love you!

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Deep Breath In, Deep Breath Out

What a day I've just had!  Seriously, today was full of challenges, crazy temptations, and emotions.  Before I plunge you into the madness, let me just say that, I have really changed.  Not like, "Oh you hit your 30's"maturity boom, but more, "Wow, God is really changing me from the inside out" kind of change.

I've always been sort of a "hard" person - extremely tough on the outside, stoic, unshakable even.  Not. Any. More.  Lately, I have been repeatedly blindsided by my emotions, the outward display of them as well as the intensity.  I'm not on any hormones.  I am not a wimp.  I am just easily moved to deep feelings over things that I used to appear numb to.

Don't get me wrong...this post is not a complaint at all, more of a revelation or an "ah-ha."  I used to think that my inability to display emotion was a permanent part of my personality, but I've come to realize, over a lot of grueling soul searching over the last decade, that it was actually a self-defense measure I acquired in childhood.  I am realizing how it made me seem phony, and callus to many people who I genuinely care about and longed to connect with.  I fear I may have even lost out on friendships because people took my lack of emotion as indifference or contempt.  Brutal introspect aside, and as uncomfortable as my newly flowing emotions are making me, there is so much joy in knowing that the huge wall that kept me so reserved, is now down.  I feel, ALIVE!

I am vulnerable and it feels great.  There, I said it.  So, about today, already...