My First Mother's Day

We had a great weekend visiting with our families and celebrating motherhood (Flickr pics). I did get a mother's day card last year since I already was taking care of our little one while she was camping out in my belly...but this year is extra special! I love being a mommy to this little one!
There are so many things you "know" are true about what it means to be a mom, but there is a whole new depth of appreciation this year in me now that I am experiencing it from this side of things. As I spend the day taking care of Tobi, I find myself thinking so often of my own mom and all that she did for me...all the feeding, changing, caring, loving, singing, crying, laughing, cooking, cleaning, playing, doting, teaching, listening, kissing, hugging, consoling, encouraging, inspiring, modeling, mentoring, praying ( and the list goes on and on....). It is so real..this bond mother to child...so immediate and deep. I am so completely devoted to the well being of this little one...I look at the world differently now. I see the world through the eyes of a mom...how will any of this and all this matter or affect my child? There is hardly a decision I make in my day that she is not a consideration in it...and although there are certain sacrifices to be made because of that, I can't think of anything that I have given up that compares to the joy I receive from her. I am so thankful this day that I too am among those who call themselves moms.

Tobi's Big Girl Shopping Trip

I am eeking every last use out of the car seat/carrier we have. Tobi has her next well-baby check up next week. Last time we were there she was pushing the 20lb. mark and the chair is only supposed to be used up to 22lbs. I'm expecting we may have to graduate to the big girl (well bigger girl at least) chair. I realized that Tobi has only been in the grocery store in the carrier. I figured it was time to prepare for the next phase. (This trip actually happened last week because neither Tobi nor I actually went outside, much less to the grocery store this week...we both had nasty colds!)

Here we are ready to go. Honestly I thought she'd be a little more excited...but she was tolerant...and that was enough :)

She did great (with a little cracker bribe down ever other aisle or so). By the end she was missing her "bucket", as we like to call it. Shopping is exhausting!
She seriously stayed in this position all the way through the last few aisles, checkout and out to the car. As soon as I put her in her seat in the car she snuggled in and fell asleep immediately! Oh the comforts of the familiar...I hear you, girl!

Not Me Monday and Adventures in Laundry

(Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.)

I often go through my day thinking in Facebook status update form, even though I hardly update my status. I never feel like what I'm doing is worthy of an actual update. I just like to keep track in my mind. "Shauna is ...washing the floor" (ok, that does not usually happen..bad example). "Shauna is... sitting on the couch" (hmm...more realistic). "Shauna is ...thinking she should get her butt off the couch and wash the floor." "Shauna is...just going to take a little nap....theeeen wash the floor... "... etc.

Since I have become a MckFamily blog stalker reader...I happened to read a few Not Me! Monday posts and now I find myself very often thinking in Not Me! blog post language during my day even though I have never actually written a Not Me! Monday post. The funny thing is that I "post" in real time as I am "NOT" doing the things I would post about if I ever did. One such example might go something like this... "I am definitely not putting this dirty bib on my child and watching her pick off the old Cheerios and eat them... and if I was, I am not actually glad they are there because she has stopped whining for a moment...that would be gross and...wrong!" Not that that ever happened, of course. And certainly not more than once!

So now that I have become completely entangled in the lives of people I do not know, and because Not Me! Monday is back, AND because I had very Not Me! experience... I think I will now actually post this one for real (as opposed to just composing it in my head).

Well, last week it didn't take me three days to the laundry for our family of 3...especially because I would never have fed our daughter on the newly washed blanket we use to cover our couch, because any one would know that, no matter how careful I am, we have yet to have a spill-free meal and a 9 month old child should always be fed in their high chair. Good thing I didn't do that because I would've had to wash that blanket twice.

I did buy toilet paper last week. I did split up the package...5 rolls for upstairs and 4 for downstairs. I did wonder when I brought the rolls upstairs why I could only locate 4 of the 5 rolls. And I did think perhaps I was very bad at counting and leave it at that.

Back to the laundry...of course I always check all the pockets of every pair of pants I put in the laundry. I wouldn't leave that kind of thing up to chance. Not me! So when I pulled out my black sweat pants I most certainly would not have found tiny pieces of paper all over said pants. Or more paper on my black tank top...and the next article of clothing...and so on. If I had I might have begun to to wonder how big this piece of paper was that someone may or may not have left in their pocket. And it would be downright silly if I had then reached my hand into the washer and pulled out a big wad of paper... I mean a BIG WAD of paper...wet and matted to the side of the washer. But if I had done that it might have explained what happened to that mysteriously absent 5th roll of toilet paper meant for the upstairs bathroom!




Oh and I definitely did not pull this out of the trash just to take a picture for this post...NOT ME!

9 months in...9 months out

So Tobi has officially been around outside as long as I carried her around growing inside of me. She is seriously interested in getting around on her own. She hasn't quite become an official crawler yet...but she is all about getting around by scooting and rolling. I think it's just a matter of days before the baby gates go up and the chasing begins.
She loves her food, her baths, shaking her head, putting everything in her mouth, standing and rocking back and forth, using her entire vocal range and staring people down.
She especially loves her cheese puff snacks:

Easter baby

Easter 2009 was full of fun & family. Tobi got to see all of her grandparents and lots of other relatives and friends, too.
She got her own Easter basket:
She got dressed up in all her Easter best:
All the girl cousins got matching dresses from Grandma B.:
Family pictures on Easter:

But as we were reminded Sunday morning, Easter is so much more than Easter dresses and baskets, and food, and even family. What a joy it was to celebrate the gift of salvation we have received because of our risen Lord.
How blessed we are...how loved we are...how forgiven, how cleansed, how free! He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Now it looks like a nursery!

After many months of searching we finally found a rug for Tobi's room. It was a great deal and it really goes well in the room. It makes the whole room feel so cozy and inviting!




We even had visitors over today. As you can see everyone enjoyed the new rug...Chloe and Tobi and especially Ben in the background!

Outside!

Finally! What a beautiful day! I think this is the first time I have been able to bring Tobi outside without bundling us both up! How freeing! Even though the great outdoors should have been a whole new exciting world for Tobi, she was most interested in the plastic clip of her binky holder. She did try and lick the stone wall a time or two. That's my girl!