Theo at one year | Happy Birthday!

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Theo at one year | Happy Birthday!

Mr. Theophilus is one year old today!

Hold me.

He is fearless, sassy, loving, and joyful. I’m not going to lie. When I found out I was pregnant with Theo, I was completely overwhelmed at the thought of three (!!!) children. But now that he has been earth side for this past year, I am convinced that he was always meant to be ours. He is a balm to my anxious heart. And I am completely in love with this boy.

Our Theo has four teeth, is a walking champion, loves to eat, and dances to any and all music.

He loves to play with Emma and Henry and always wants to be part of the action. He takes excellent naps but we are still working on the through the night sleeping. He will be starting at the same pre-school/daycare that Henry is at now in a week and we’ll be saying goodbye to our phenomenal nanny. But I am looking forward to only one morning drop-off for the boys.

Never did I picture myself with three children. I always knew I wanted children, but my love of dentistry was so deeply ingrained that I never pictured the family life sides of things. And now that I am over five years into parenthood, I know that this is what I’ve been put on this earth to do.

To love my husband, to raise these children, and try to get us all to heaven.

I am grateful that I was entrusted to raise them. Emma, Henry, and Theophilus are my heart walking around outside my body. And on this day of celebration, I am reminded again of how deeply I love them and how much I’ve been gifted in motherhood.

God bless you sweet Theophilus Sebastian on your first birthday. We love you!

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Big things and small things

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Big things and small things

IT’S RETREAT WEEK.

In case you did not sense it, I am very excited to go on my retreat this weekend. I will be flying to see my beautiful friends as we get some much needed rest and spiritual renewal. IT’S RETREAT WEEK! A;JSDLKJF!

Any who, last week was full of big things and small things. It’s funny, something seemingly small like a kiddo getting dressed by himself or a baby signing “more” or a proud kindergartner showing off her desk are actually huge. My children are growing and thriving before my eyes and I could not be more grateful to be their mother. At the same time, as they grow, it seems like I’m being stretched in more directions. They all need me, all the time, even when they don’t think they do. It’s the conundrum of motherhood.

I felt a sense of peace wash over me the past week. I feel like I managed all the ups and downs of the week with my sanity (and a little grace) intact. I am grateful.

So today - I am grateful. And I just wanted to share that.

But on to the juicy stuff. Or the mundane stuff, depending on how you look at it. My gauge of what is interesting is limited to what’s the latest in the dental journal and what is going on with my kids sleeping patterns, ha!

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Smile!

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Smile!

I have realized that my weekly planner posts have somewhat turned into weekly updates/seven quick takes. Although, you know me, nothing I write is quick as I can be quite wordy. But, mama is stuck in her over-use of adjectives adverbs way.

On to it!

1) Last Monday was Labor Day and Paul and I both had work off. We spent the day lounging and playing then we slipped away to dinner. We went to this mall that is about 30 minutes away from us just for a change of scenery and they had a lego store AND a Nordstrom . You know what that means…

…we made some purchases at the lego store and Nordstrom. I’m nothing if not predictable. I used to go to Nordstrom a lot in college and dental school and oh how I’ve missed it. But my wallet has not.

2) Any who, we had another busy week even though it was a short one. I went up a level in my adult ballet class, I am now officially in the beginner class and not the introduction class. I feel myself becoming stronger and more graceful. It is one of the highlights of my week for sure.

3) Emma started her pre-ballet class for five year-olds Saturday. She was so excited to start and I am excited that her tights, leotard, and ballet slippers still fit because she definitely had a growth spurt this summer. Emma also started faith formation for the first time today and she was nervous but I am grateful for our parish’s faith formation program. I cannot wait for the kids to know the Lord and the church more fully as they grow.

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Theo at eleven months

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Theo at eleven months

Theophilus is eleven months old!

Theo turned eleven months old a couple of days ago and that made me realize I HAVE LESS THAN A MONTH TO PLAN HIS BIRTHDAY PARTY…

…which will mostly consist of costco foods and drinks and people over at the house. I know, we are party animals.

Well, this was an eventful month. Theo has discovered that if he screams, he can get what he wants. He found that out before we did because we kept responding with hugs and kisses and ARE YOU OKAYs, but we’ve got his number. We’ve figured him out. Sneaky little thing.

Actually, he is not so little. He is a giant by baby standards. Well by my standards. He has huge feet and I am going to need to buy him SIZE 5 shoes soon. He is also fully into 12 month clothing and even then, the tee shirts are like crop tops.

He is also adventurous and truthfully, fearless. He’s going to make me nervous than the other two combined, and they are pretty wild too. He’s the play in the toilet, eat rocks, try to escape the house kind of kid.

He cut a couple more teeth this week and that means we didn’t sleep much this week. I think we’re going to try to transition him to one long nap per day instead of two, so wish us luck. Well, wish our amazing luck.

Theo is always on the move, always has a huge smile, and will always find ways to get into trouble. Happy eleven months baby boy.

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Hi September!

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Hi September!

Happy September the first, I hope your trunks are packed as you head to the Hogwarts express. Or if you’re not en route to Hogwarts, happy regular first day of September. But today is fun because I’m going to show you my Sept monthly spread and last week’s and this week’s spreads and here are some seven “quick” takes.

1) Okay listen, last Sunday, I was typing out a very lengthy seven quick takes/planner week 35 post and DUH DUH DUH something happened with my computer and/or the inter webs and I lost the post. I was so frustrated that I slammed the lid of my laptop shut and sulked like a giant baby.

I’m over it. Clearly.

But as there is no use crying over spilled milk (regular milk, not breast milk because you should cry over that) and no use in crying over lost blog posts, here I am with a new post that will hopefully get to your eyeballs.

(I’ll just periodically save this post just in case.)

2) Last week was insanely busy, in fact, I had a seven day work-week. (Lest you think, I’m a big whiner… dentists typically/traditionally have a four day or fewer work-week because of the high burnout potential. It’s a very physical profession. If you didn’t know that, maybe I’ll punch out a day in the life of a public health dentist post soon. Would anyone want to read that? But, I took an all-day continuing education course last Sunday, had my normal five days, which in and of itself is a lot, then had to go into work yesterday because a doctor called in sick last minute and all of my other doctors were not available.)

WHEW. But I’m going to try to relax today. That is after I corral my kids during mass which truthfully is a work out let me tell ya. And now you probably think all I do is complain so let’s get to the good stuff!

3) I have been looking forward to September since last September because this month is the Blessed Is She writer’s retreat! It’s one of my fav weekends of my year. It’s insanely restorative and life-giving and I just love my girls and Jesus. Last year I was a million weeks pregnant and apparently, you’re not allowed to fly if you have a baby near crowning so I missed the retreat and was super bummed about it. I have high FOMO.

But I am gearing up to travel to the writer’s retreat and I’m going to be giving so many hugs.

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