My Little Nugget is ONE!

Today Evan is 365 days old and I am one proud mama, let me tell you! How can I sum up Evan’s first year? I think pictures say it best!

From this...


To this (5 months later)...


TO THIS!



He is a beautiful human being.

I love you Evan! xoxo

Birthday Extravaganza!

Following in his mother’s footsteps, Evan has started celebrating his birthday a week and a half early. I have been practicing the birth week, instead of the birthday, for years now. In fact, since hitting my 30’s I celebrate birth month! Why not?

We started E’s birthday celebrations with a photo shoot. Thank you Christine Tripp for taking brilliant photographs of our little guy! And for making him his first ever birthday cake! As soon as we put it in front of Evan he went for it. We had to blow out the candle quickly because he attacked that cake as if he had never eaten chocolate a day in his life. Wait, that’s the truth! He started with his hands, he soaked them in icing and started licking them like lollipops. I have to be honest, I was a bit nervous watching him chow down, thinking about what chocolate was going to do to him, but I let him have his fun. Next thing we knew Evan face planted right into the cake. See for yourself...


When he sat up he had icing so far up his nostrils he couldn’t use his nose to breathe. We got him all cleaned up, but chocolate icing was coming out of his nose for days.

Evan’s actual 1st birthday is on Thursday. It’s a milestone and a celebration for John and I as much as Evan. We’re celebrating the fact that we've kept Evan healthy and happy for an entire 12 months! Considering we didn’t know what we were doing when we had him, this is quite the accomplishment. He has become the light in our lives. When I see John look at him it absolutely melts my heart. This little guy of ours is a miracle, there is no other way to describe it. A miraculous, cake eating, smiley, curious, rambunctious, loyal, handsome, affectionate little guy… who is now officially walking by the way! Walking, just in time for his first birthday.

Never A Day Off

In the last week it has really hit me like a ton of bricks. You don’t get a day off from being a mom. An obvious statement, but knowing something is true and actually experiencing it for oneself are two different things. So what is it that’s happened in the last week that has made me truly realize that I am a full-time, 24-7, for eternity mom? I’m pretty sure Evan’s energy brought on this revelation. He’s been sick for a week. He’s had a bad cold, yet his energy has not really been affected. When I’m sick with a cold I’m usually lethargic. Not Evan. Evan just takes his cold on the go, slobbering and snotting all over the place. Snotting, yes, new word! Use it!

I was tired this last week. I was fighting off some nasty germs myself, and all I wanted to do was lie on the couch, read a magazine and sip on some tea, but that is not an option for me anymore. Not with a very active son. I have never worked so hard in my life. I put in a full day at work, then I come home and mother my butt off, then I do house work, and if I’m lucky I get that hour before I have to put myself to bed when I can watch something funny on TV or read a book… The “me time” is the hour I’m cramming into my day. Before Evan it was “me time” pretty much all the time. Good thing I took advantage of it for all those years. Luckily, in many ways, I feel very positive about how I maximize the hours in a day. I can’t believe how much I do, and my sleeping has improved. I hit that pillow and its lights out! There are those moments though when I fantasize about Mary Poppins knocking on my door offering to take Evan for a few hours so I can do whatever I want. I’m fortunate that I have family and friends to watch Evan, but you know, those are always planned “babysitting” type scenarios. It’s not very often where, as a mother, you have someone show up in a random moment of need to give you a break.

Okay, so now I’m tempted to gush about how much I love Evan and how it’s all so worth it. That’s true. My heart absolutely aches with love for him, but that doesn’t change the fact that being a mom is exhausting sometimes and that sometimes I just want a day off and knowing that it is not an option makes me even more exhausted. I’m not going to spoon full of sugar it. That’s the truth!