The Luckiest No Matter What!

I am very, super, incredibly into traditions. When I was a kid, I would look forward to the predictability of holiday celebrations, seeing family at certain times of the year, and knowing that at Christmas, my grandma would buy us all the same thing, but just in a different color. I love traditions so much that even when Josh and I first got married, we tried our best to keep up with all the things both our families would do for holidays- we were there for Christmas Eve food yummies and Christmas movie with Josh's family, we would spend the night at my family's house and sleep in the same room as all my siblings just like we did when we were kids. Anything either one of us had always done, we tried to make happen into our adulthood. Even when we first had kids, we shuffled people EVERYWHERE not to miss a single thing. The winter after Nolan and Judah were born, 2013-2014 was a polar vortex. It was snowy and FREEZING! For like the whole thing. With the exception of leaving...

I often feel we are within seconds from a trip to the emergency room on a daily basis. Just in the last several weeks, Carter got his head stuck in a fence at Epcot, Judah tripped over a basket of cars and got a gash on his head as he hit the corner of a door, Nolan bit it on his bike, and Preston, oh dear Preston... because he keeps trying to do things so early, he's falling over constantly.  Thankfully, although bumps and bruises are in high supply over here, we've been able to stay clear of major injuries and major dangers. That is, however, until a couple of weeks ago when I had my biggest scare as a mom.  It was a Friday and we were sitting down for a late dinner as a family. Everyone had had a full day of school and work and we were all happy and excited to be together and connect. As we were sitting down, I began feeding a hungry Preston tiny pieces of naan and Babybel cheese. He was inhaling them, which is typical; he sure does love food. He began to choke a li...

I'm not sure if other parents feel this way, but 9 months has been a huge month for all of my boys. Some firsts always seem to occur here- for Nolan it was pulling himself up to stand, for Judah it was mastering crawling, for Carter it was FINALLY doing some regular sleeping and FINALLY enjoying eating solid foods, and for Preston it is waving, clapping, and standing on his own. I'm wanting to insert the 'face screaming in fear' emoji for all of this. Interestingly enough, also at 9 months, each of my boys went through a stage where they hated baths. Thankfully, so far, Preston's only lasted like a day or two- seriously, this kid is a fish. Thank GOODNESS we selected Huron as his middle name; I feel it suits him. Also at 9 months, each of my boys began to be HORRIBLE to change. Flopping, scooting, flipping, for each and every diaper change. Preston is here too. There must be something about this age where babies are really starting to come into their own- r...