Random hugs

Sometimes, Lenore will suddenly stop what she's doing and give me the biggest hug. We were getting ready for bed tonight and she was dinking around doing something. Out of nowhere she stopped doing whatever it was and goes, "Mommy, mommy" and jumped into my arms. She squeezed my neck so tight. Then she pulled away and goes, "Mama. Hi," and continued on with what she was doing before. 

I definitely needed that on a day like today.

Time

I think I have probably said this before, but time flies when you have a child. Everyone tells you that you're going to blink and wonder where the time went, but you cannot grasp that concept until your child is with you. 

The last time I updated the blog was the end of December. Lenore was 5 months old. It's now almost May (only a few days away) and Lenore is 9.5 months old. Like I say every time I post, I haven't forgotten about the blog. I actually think about it quite a bit. But it's hard to find time to update when I'm relishing this special time with Lenore. She is hitting so many milestones right now and I feel like that will begin to slow down at some point. 

I really want to try and set aside at least one day a week to update. The weekend is probably my best option since I'm exhausted when I get home from work and really don't want to do anything except hang out with Jason and Lenore. I'm really, really going to try to get better.

First Christmas

Our little Lenny Lou is 5 months old (23 weeks to be exact). She is the happiest baby in the world. She is always smiling and laughing. No matter how shitty of a day I have had, her smile can turn it all around. One of my favorite parts is how her eyes light up when she smiles. They literally sparkle and it melts me.

Lenore's first Christmas was yesterday and it's safe to say that it was a success. She got so many presents (her favorite being a bouncer from Mommy & Daddy). We decided that one of our Christmas traditions will be to give Lenore a new pair of jammies on Christmas Eve (which we did). We hid her presents from her until Christmas, which I know may sound silly, but I want to feel the Christmas magic with her for as long as I can.

We hosted Christmas dinner at our house and it was a lot of fun. We made a completely gluten free meal and everything turned out pretty well. I made a Christmas Sangria (thanks Pinterest) that was delicious! I'll definitely be using that recipe again. After dinner and presents, we played some LCR and then everyone headed home for the night. Lenore did really well all day which was great. Sometimes she gets over stimulated and that makes her cranky, but she was golden all the way until we put her to bed, which made me happy.

With that, here's lots of pictures from yesterday. Merry Christmas!

10 Things Your Mom Never Told You

I came across this link the other day via Facebook (thanks Jericha!) and it is perfect. Reading it brought me to tears thinking about my sweet Lenore. I wanted to share because it's great. Read "10 Things Your Mom Never Told You" here.

Halloween 2014

I'm a little behind on my Halloween post, but here is a lovely photo dump! I tried to dress Lenore in as many Halloween outfits as I could. It was a bit warmer than expected so, I couldn't put her in a lot of long sleeve stuff. For Halloween, she was a cheetah and I was a lion. Jason had to work so, I had to improvise. We missed Daddy, but next Halloween will be more fun.

On a side note, Lenore will be 4 months old tomorrow. Once again, I can't believe how fast the time is flying.

Flashback Friday

Flashback to July 16, 2014 and our little baby's first photo shoot at one day old. Excuse how Jason and I look. We were exhausted.

October

Fall is here! October is here! This is the first time in probably almost 10 years that I don't have any Halloween decorations up yet. Having a baby makes it hard to do anything, especially find time to decorate my house the way I want to. Since Jason and I have the weekends off together now, I might be able to do it here soon.

Lenore is almost 12 weeks old. My how the time flies. I know I said that in my last semi-lengthy post, but it's crazy how fast she grows. Sometimes I look at her and she looks like a little girl instead of a baby to me. Slow down, time!

I'm looking forward to enjoying the fall festivities with my little family. Jason and I really want to take Lenore to a pumpkin patch. She may be a bit young, but so what. We're also still trying to decide what we're going to be for Halloween. We had it figured out, but then Jason came up with another cute idea so, we're on the fence. Lenore probably has about 15 Halloween outfits (onesies, etc.) and I'm looking forward to being able to have her wear one almost every day in October. Now that it's getting colder, I'm enjoying getting to bundle her up more.

I'm going to try and start updating more often again. Being back at work during the week and then spending time with the family during the weekend doesn't leave me with a ton of opportunities for posting. Poor excuse, I know.

I just realized that I never posted any of Lenore's newborn photos on the blog. I'll do that tonight. I really want to get some 3 month photos taken of her soon. I should probably get on that before I blink and she's 6 months old [insert HUGE sigh here].

Be still my heart

I can literally stare at this beautiful face day long. I love her so much. 

One Month

I can't believe that it's been one month since Lenore was born. The time has flown in a way that I've never experienced. My friends that have children warned me that this would happen. That she would change in a blink of an eye. That time would seem to pass faster, no matter what I did to hold on to it. I am trying to relish every single moment so that I can burn them into my memory. 

She's Here!

Lenore Louise made her debut on Tuesday, July 15 at 5:45pm. She weighed 8 lbs. and measured 19.5 inches.

Jason and I couldn't be happier. She is so beautiful.

I'll update with her birth story soon.