Sunshine

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey,

You'll never know dear

 

 how much I love you...

  

 Please don't take my sunshine away...

Our new normal

Adjusting. That seems to be the best word to describe the last 6 weeks of our lives. You'd think with it being our third that we wouldn't even blink an eye when it comes to sleep deprivation but I think even when it's your 5th or 6th (not that we'll EVER know), it still stings.

But seriously how can you hold it against her?  Especially when you get this greatness and cuteness all wrapped up in one tiny little girl.

Houston, we have smiles and we are loving them. You should see how obnoxious we can be and how high we can both talk to get one of these toothless grins flashed back at us. 

 

 Hi, I'm Andrea and I'm addicted to dressing my baby girl up like she's a doll. Yes, it is an addiction. Yes, I need help. Yes, I will go bankrupt. 

 
 I'm in disbelief how much my boys love this little girl. I know, I know things will change will she starts grabbing their toys but for now, I'm enjoying every single non-fighting loving snuggle moment.

 Campbell calls her "Landry girl" and runs to give her a pacifier (or "piece of fire" as he calls it) or pat her on the head when she's crying. He will not let her fuss.

And everyday day when I pick up Nolan, he asks how Landry's day was. Actually he asks how "Princess Poopy Pants" was. I'm sure she'll love that one when she grows up. 

 Their curiosity of her just melts my heart. Nolan in particular is fascinated with how he looked as a baby. So you know what that means...scrapbooks! For years I've been wondering why I'm doing this to myself trying to keep up with their books. I keep thinking, I just spent three hours on this spread and no one even looks at it and boys could care less about scrapbooks. Some days it's so much fun to scrapbook and other days it seems like torture and I'm just slapping pictures down not even caring, but seeing Nolan study each page intently makes me realize all those hours were worth every second. He even studies Campbell's scrapbooks...

 

I'm glad that Nolan looks at his because Campbell will take a two second peek and then take a break for a good game of bowling. The interest from Campbell hasn't quite gotten there yet...maybe one day.

 

One thing that's coming easy and requires no adjustment is the snuggling. The only adjustment required is the time lost to other things because of all the cuddles and staring. So my laundry is piling up, my scrapbooks are a year behind, and the dust looks like snow falling in my house but I can say that we're soaking it up, baby. 

 

 I look back at Nolan's years when all I had was my little point and shoot camera and I wish I would have taken more pictures. Although the kid has thousand more photos than me, it still doesn't seem like enough to remember how little he was and how fast it goes. So let's just say, that I'm making up for it now. 

 

 In the midst of all the adjustment, we're trying to find time for the normal things we used to do. I almost laugh when I say normal because I can't remember the last time we played outside because it's been so blistering hot this summer. You know it's bad when your oldest says, "I think our playground's feelings are hurt because we never play on it anymore." 

Let's just say that our playground has felt the love lately.

And I'm determined to teach this boy to ride his bike without training wheels. One way or another, it's going to happen. 

 

While I'm at it, I better get Campbell's feet to reach the pedals on this tricycle because my back is going to go out if I keep this up...

 
Some days our new normal seems like a piece of cake and I hardly notice the difference. Other days, I think I need three of myself to get it all done. It's a constant ebb and flow trying to figure out our new life. While there are hair-pulling days, the heart-wearming days far outweigh them.

The girl effect

Embarking on this new journey of motherhood has sparked a lot of emotions. I'm about to experience a newfound relationship with a daughter that I haven't been able to experience with only having boys up until this part in my life. I have so many things that I hope to share in our bond with each other. I have a dream about our relationship that I want so desperately for it to be and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it's a healthy, loving one.

There are so many things that I want her to know and I find myself already making mental notes of these to make sure I tell her through the years.

All photography below beautifully captures Landry at exactly one week old and were taken by the very talented Kim Martin. Kim, I will forever treasure these photographs and they will always have a special place in our home and in our hearts. Thank you for these pieces of art of our family and our beautiful daughter.

Here are some bits of random pieces of advice to Landry I want to share and a thing or two I've learned through the years...

 

1. The happy girls are the prettiest ones.

 
2. Don't be afraid to try something new and take a leap of faith even when you're scared. "You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

3. Expect the best from life and that's what you'll get.



4. Make snow angels, catch lightning bugs and wish on stars and stay up to watch the sunrise because life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

5. Do what you love. And if you want to know where you heart is, look to where your mind wanders.

6. Accept what you can't change, change what you can't accept.

 

7. Know that beauty has everything to do with how you feel about yourself and nothing to do with looks or other people's opinions.

8. God doesn't give us what we can handle, God helps us handle what we are given.

9. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will NEVER forget how you made them feel.

 

10. Happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather recognizing what we do have.

  

11. Golden Rule: Would you like you, if YOU met you?

 

12.  Apologizing does not always mean that you're wrong and the other person is right. It just means you value your relationship more than your ego.

13. Be thankful for what you have and you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.

 

14.  Just because today is a terrible day doesn't mean that tomorrow won't be the best day of your life, you just have to get there.

15. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.  - Dr. Seuss

The journey of being a mom of a girl is exhilarating and frightening all at the same time. There's something about knowing that I'm about to mold this little human and I want so much for her to be happy, self confident and compassionate toward others. Making sure that I have the right "recipe" to mold that human, so to speak, is a lot of pressure. While the pressure may be intense, the love just comes so easily, so I'm hoping that is the main ingredient.

And in honor of celebrating having a daughter, I want to share a video of the power of girls and all that the strength and power they possess. It's for a cause I feel strongly about...The Girl Effect. Just another reason to show that girls really do rock.

First bath

Oh what started out as something boring....

 

sure did wake someone up.

 

In fact, I'd say she got downright mad at us. Let's just say she didn't exactly see it as a spa day.

We saw a little temper side of Miss Laid Back Landry we'd never seen before. 

But luckily the pacifier came into save the day.

***SIDENOTE: we are pacifier challenged in our family. Nolan calls it a "firepasser" and Campbell calls it "a piece of fire" and I'm just in the middle rolling on the floor thinking of all the things we can call this darn thing!

She did get a little miffed again after we took the towel off her.

It was a family affair for sure.

But I'd say some of my favorite memories of my kids are when they are freshly bathed and the snuggle time afterwards. Yep, nothing beats it.

Except for maybe seeing your husband love it as much as you do. Yes, that tiny little finger has a 6'4" man wrapped around it already. Mush, people, I tell you he's putty in her hands. And I find it adorable.

They call me mellow yellow

The first night home from the hospital with a new baby has got to be the most terrifying experience in parenthood....at least for the first one. I distinctly remember thinking I can't believe that they're going to let us take this baby home from the hospital when we have no idea what we're doing when we took our oldest, Nolan, home. That night I remember crying as much as Nolan did because we were literally up all night. Justin's parents were staying with us to help out but I was too proud scared to ask for help the first night home. So we waited til dawn (because technically it's not the first night anymore?!) and then brought Nolan to them in exchange for a few hours of sleep.

For some reason, the first night with Campbell wasn't as memorable but the first week with Campbell was VERY memorable. He had a terrible time the first week latching on during nursing and it was beyond frustrating and exhausting.

I've been cursed lucky enough with all three of my children to endure them having jaundice. While this isn't anything that we couldn't handle, it was enough to make the first week of their lives even harder than normal because they were hooked up to a "tanning bed" that only allowed us to take them within a 5 foot radius. It's my fault really. Apparently, something about my body doesn't produce milk until five days…happened with all three babies.

The Friday after we had Landry we headed to the pediatrician and when you have drawers full of cute clothes that this girl has been given, you get dressed up for the doctor like it's going to church.

 
I had a feeling she was jaundice even when we were in the hospital but they said her bilirubin levels were fine. By Friday though, she was really yellow to me. They scanned her in the office and poked her heel. She was exactly the level where the "tanning bed" is considered. So my dr. left it up to me. I asked her if that made me a horrible mom if we just tried the old fashioned way of putting her in the window and took her for walks. The vitamin D from the sun helps break down the bilirubin. Landry had lost nearly a pound in five days so until my milk came in, we had to supplement with formula to make sure she didn't lose any more weight.

 

So Little Miss Sunshine got her fill of the sun for a few days and luckily my milk came in the very day we took her to the doctor so we only had to supplement for one day.

Good thing she wasn't on lights because we had our first big wave of visitors that included my grandmother and Landry's great-grandmother…better known as Great Grams, all the way from Amarillo.

 

 

 Four generations 

  All of Landry's living mothers and grandmothers (minus Rosie who lives in Kentucky)

After all the visitors left, we had some more time "laying out". Thank goodness the triple digit heat has subsided. Funny how that worked out…never got that break when I was walking around 9 months pregnant. The day I go into labor with Landry? It's 85 degrees and breezy. I just knew that a cold front was coming as soon as I gave birth!

The Catch 22 about jaundice is that it makes babies EXTREMELY lethargic and sleepy but the only way to get them to get over the jaundice is to eat and pee and poop it out but they're too sleepy to even eat. Landry was so sleepy that we were using cold wash rags to wake her up and even that barely made her flinch. One time it even took an ice cube to wake her up!

I felt like such a mean mom using an ice cube but the doctor really stressed how important it was to get her to nurse and eat.

When we took her back to the doctor on Monday, her levels had dropped two points! I was so thrilled and so happy that we were able to do it without being on the lights.

In the meantime, we had lots of sunshine time outside.

 

 And lots and lots of love.