The cost of our insecurities

I read this blog post, and it nearly brought me to tears. How completely true, and convicting! For those of us with kids who may always have a few extra pounds to lose, this is worth reading!!!

http://myfriendteresablog.com/so-youre-feeling-too-fat-to-be-photographed/

Date Night

Zak and I decided we were well overdo for a date night so we called the grandparents to see if they were available. Originally, we had planned to go have a nice dinner and walk around Chapel Hill for a change of scenery but because the weather was going to be terrible, we quickly moved to plan B.

We called one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Luna and made reservations for 6:00pm. We were dropping Will off at Mom and Dad's at 3:30 so we definitely had some time to kill. The convention center just happened to be having some home show expo so we thought, hey that can't be so bad. Oh were we wrong. It was the equivalent of meeting all the vendors of Home Depot: roofers, siding guys, hot tubs and decks. Booooring! We were in and out within 10 minutes and decided to venture around the Marriott that connects to the new convention center.

We picked up some Starbucks (peppermint hot chocolate and caramel apple sider seeing as we are NOT coffee drinkers) and sat and talked and laughed....uninterrupted by a toddler!

It. Was. Heaven.

We took some goofy pictures with our phones and then headed to a delicious dinner with no interruptions! It was that night we decided we would make date night once a month a priority and we would alternate planning what we would do.

In the hustle and bustle of parenthood it is so easy to lose sight of the importance of connecting with nights like these. So from me to you, go ahead, pick up the phone and get a date night on the calendar! You'll be so thankful you did!

...and then there was Ellie!

Ellie Anne Stokes, 7lbs 11oz

Yesterday morning, I woke up to Will and Zak overhead with Zak saying "I've got some news." I shot out of bed and said "No! I missed it?" and he said, "well I thought I would let you sleep in since its been a rough few nights with Will" (because of his painful double ear infection). I couldn't be too mad, because the night before I had left my phone downstairs thinking we had all the time in the world. But no sir ree, Ellie had arrived.

I quickly took a shower and headed to the hospital to meet my beautiful new niece  Ellie Anne Stokes! Ellie was born without the need for a C-section. Kelley and I both had had prior C-section that we felt could have been avoided and both wanted to try with our seconds for successful VBAC's! (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean  As soon as I got there I found out that Kelley had arrived at the hospital 9.5 cm dilated and ready to push. They actually thought she was going to deliver in the car!!! Yikes! The whole process only took 2 1/2 hours and she was out! No time for epidurals or pain meds. They injected morphine in her leg and within minutes Ellie had arrived. As silly as it sounds not only was my whole family praying that Kelley would be able to have a VBAC but so was our small group and my parents small group as well! It meant so much to Kelley so we were all thrilled!

Miss Lucy finally got to meet her baby sister yesterday afternoon after her nap. She was a little unsure about seeing Mommy in a hospital bed holding another child! Totally understandable!

We couldn't be any happier that you have arrived Miss Ellie, welcome to the family!

Saying Pop!

Well we are three down and one to go for calling the grandparents their name. Will has been saying Nana and Cee Cee for a long time now, still no Grandpa but this week he just started saying Pop!

Will's 1st Haircut...

To say my little monkey was past due for a haircut is the understatement of the month. (much to the disagreement of both sets of grandparents) See exhibit A. After planning a day, Zak and I decided to take Will several Saturday mornings back to the Holly Springs Barbour shop (after strong recommendations of our friends) for Will's first haircut. As silly as it is, I was really excited! Excited to document one of a thousand firsts in our little boys life. 

Ever since I was a little girl, I LOVED going to get my hair cut. I would always sit really still and feel just like a little princess. All to say, I had high hopes for my little man. I knew we would have to hold him down and I knew he might be slightly uncomfortable, but I had NO idea the disaster of an experience we were about to live out.

After arriving, we saw there was only one hair stylist working. We waited for probably 15-20 minutes for it to be our turn and Will enjoyed playing in the nicely laid out kids room. The Asian woman finally called us up and I promptly let her know that this was Will's very first haircut and asked her what we should do. She frowned a bit and said " hmm You sit here and hold him!" (to Zak) Much of this story is very difficult to tell without hearing it but I'll do my best....

...from there, everything went down hill. After draping both Will and Zak she immediately took out the scissors and demanded that Zak pin Will's chest and head down. Will was TERRIFIED! He immediately started sweating and screaming. The woman DID NOT CARE. While he was screaming she kept saying "Oh boo hoo hoo, boo hoo hoo, poor baby poor baby" in this mocking voice. It was then that I felt my blood pressure rising and I promptly put the camera down. Hind sight I should have snatched Will up and marched all of us right out of there. It was unbelievable. Both Zak and I felt like it was border line abusive as she had both of us firmly pinning his head down as he was screaming helplessly....

That was the first of what I am sure will be many occasions where I felt like the worst mom in all the world. We left with Will in tears, followed by me in tears. Never again. Did we leave with special clippings of his first hair cut or fond memories? NO! We left with great resolve that we would never ever let that happen again!

Just last night Zak and I decided that we would tackle the hair cutting on our own and I have to say I did a darn good job. We put on some Elmo, strapped him in his portable high chair, gave him a sucker and Viola success with NO TEARS!!! Praise Jesus. 

I snapped a few quick pictures this morning after cutting his hair last night!