Happy First Birthday Sissy

Sissy's 1st Birthday

One year ago my life was blessed by a precious baby girl! I have no idea where this past year has gone! I swear it feels like yesterday that I was in the hospital giving birth to this precious gem! In honor of her 1st birthday I decided to make a post all about Sissy! Hope you enjoy! 

I was 23 when I decided I wanted to have another baby. Becoming a mother changed not only my life but it changed me! It has made my life feel complete and I know that it was what I was MEANT TO DO! Because I loved my baby boy so much I wanted to add more of that love to our family so we decided to try for a second!

My pregnancy went much smoother the second time around! Although it was still rough, going to the hospital once a week for progesterone shots, we were able to successfully keep baby girl in my tummy for 39 weeks!

We had scheduled an inducement date for 39 weeks. So we sent Buba to his Aunties house and we headed to the hospital at 6 Am! While we were sitting and filling out all the paper work I started to feel some discomfort and was wondering if I was having contractions. By the time they got me all hooked up my doctor came in and said "Did you know you're already in labor?" 

Things went pretty smoothly throughout my labor and our baby girl was born that same day by 12:30 with a full head of beautiful dark hair and weighing a whopping 8 lbs! Being able to hold my baby right after was so amazing and so completely different from my previous labor & delivery! I've sense watched the video and I look so happy and so incredibly shocked! I couldn't believe that she was finally here and that she was really in my arms! Such a magical moment!  

I had an epidural, and had a quick delivery and was very thankful for such a smooth delivery!
Later that day big brother Walker got to come meet his new baby sissy! It was love at first site! He was so impressed and looked so happy!
We had so many visitors come show their love for our baby girl! Everyone, including all the nursery workers and the nurses were in love with her dark curly hair! They put an adorable tiny pink bow in her hair!

We stayed for another day and a half and then ALL THREE OF US WERE ABLE TO HEAD HOME! It was amazing being able to be wheeled out along side our baby! 

We have watched our sweet baby girl grow and blossum over the last year! She is so smart and so funny and loves to make people laugh! She has brought so much love and tenderness to our family and lots and lots of cuddles! 

 Yesterday We had her first birthday party! It was AMAZING! The theme was One in a "Water" Melon! We had a great turn out and everything was adorable!

We love our baby sissy so so very much! She is absolutely beautiful with her sandy brown hair with little baby ringlets and her big piercing blue eyes! We have been told more and more recently that she looks just like mommy (But often get told how much she looks like buba and daddy too) I believe she is going to be a girl after her dads own heart! Its funny how much a 1 year old already reminds me so much of her father. I have never met a baby that is so funny! She loves to be a ham and make people laugh! She seems to have no fear and is always trying to concour things and leaping into things that even her big brother wont do! She obviously has a creative tender soul as she loves music! She is always singing and whenever music comes on she cant help but dance! She has recently started loving baby dolls and rocks them and sings to them and gives them soft kisses! She is a huge mommy's girl and is always clinging to my hip! She loves to make messes and her favorite game is when her daddy helps her chase her brother! She has a laugh that is filled with such wonder and excitement that you cant help but smile . She is crawling everywhere and is all over the place! She is getting really good at pulling herself up and standing and I know that any day now she will be walking! She keeps a fire in our hearts and reminds our family to always show our love. I am so in love with the person she is becoming and I couldn't be more proud to be her mommy! Happy First Birthday My Sweet Baby Girl! Mamma loves you so! 

                         
-The Pajama Mamma

10 Inspirational Thoughts About Marriage

10 Inspirational Thoughts About Marriage 

I am far from an expert on marriage! I am only 24, I've only been married 3 1/2 years, and I wont lie my marriage isn't perfect and we've had our struggles but lets be honest... WHO HASN'T? Anyone who has ever been married knows that marriage is not easy, its not for the faint of heart, its hard its work but it is also so incredibly worth it!





I've said it before, I think one of the GREATEST thing we do as humans, is love. I think love is the most beautiful, pure, exciting thing that we experience here on earth. I think loving someone is the greatest purpose you can have in life. Love comes in many shapes and sizes, there are different kinds of love, you love different people throughout your life, but one of the most obvious ways we think of love is in a romantic relationship. I wanted to share some of the things I believe about marriage and the things I've learned so far. I found these awesome quotes on Pintrest (they are not mine!) that really spoke to me. So Here are 10 thoughts on marriage!

1. Strive for a Marriage worth imitating. 
Now I realize not all married couples have children, but I think this is still a rule we can all live by. Strive for a marriage that other people will see and want to imitate weather it be your children, or friends, or family, or even complete strangers. Strive to radiate love and passion, strive to inspire!

2. Never Stop Falling in Love with Your Spouse.
When we first fall in love we are swept up by feelings and magic. We get caught up in things that aren't really real. We chase after someone we admire, but for some reason when we get married that all stops. You forget the magic feeling that once swept you off your feet. You stop wooing this person that once mattered so much to you that you would do anything to show your affection for them. Getting married shouldn't be the end of you admiring your partner, it should only be the beginning.

3. Know that You're Both Growing & Changing. Grow Together. 
Often we get married as young people. We fall in love with one person, but we forget they wont always be that exact person. You are not only growing old together, you're growing up together. The things you enjoy, the things you do, your priorities, all these things may change as you grow up. Take the opportunity to continue to get to know the one you love, change together, grow together. Don't expect someone to be the exact same at 40 as they were at 20, because that's just unrealistic.

4. A Happy Marriage is Created.
Marriage is HARD WORK! Having a happy marriage isn't something that you can sit back and hope happens to you. You have to work at making yourself happy and your life happy and your marriage happy! You have to create that happiness, it doesn't just happen!

5. Continue to Solidify your Marriage.
I loved this saying! When the roots are deep, there's no reason to fear the wind. When you work at making your marriage strong, when you work on creating that foundation those roots, you wont have to fear the hard times. When you are confident in the depth of your relationship you no longer fear the storms that are bound to come.

6. Forgiveness is Crucial to a Marriage. 
When we fall in love, we have this unrealistic idea of how perfect it will be. We imagine a life where the one we love will never hurt us. This isn't the way real life goes. Marriage I believe takes a lot of things, but one of the biggest things I've learned and one of the biggest things I believe marriage requires is forgiveness. You have to be willing to love someone through all the things life will bring including hurt, including your spouse hurting you. True love, in my opinion, is founded on forgiveness.



7. Choosing to Love You. 
We use the term "Falling In Love" which is exactly what we do. We fall, we get swept off our feet, and get lost in the moment. This is a beautiful thing, but once you enter into every day life with someone there are a lot more ordinary moments. There are a lot more difficult and unpleasant moments. These are the times we must CHOOSE to love, we must continue to consciously decide that we still love this person that we promised to love forever.







8. Give Your Partner Your Best.
I believe we often tend to take the most important people in our life for granted. The people we expect to be there, the people we expect to love us, often end up with the short end of the stick. We end up giving them whatever is left after the rest of the world ate away at us. These are the same people we use to strive to give everything to. Continue to work at giving your partner the best parts of you. Put in the effort, get dressed up when you go on a date. Make the conscious decision to laugh and joke with them at the end of the day. Make the effort to talk to them, to ask them about their day. Give them the best parts of you, because they deserve it the most.
  

9. Marriage is Equal in all ways. 
We often hear that marriage has to be a 50-50 effort. I agree with this quote, marriage cant be 50-50 you both have to give 100% of yourself. You both have to work at making your marriage the best it can be. You must submerse yourself completely and give it everything you have.

10. You Are a Team.
Marriage comes with arguments, it comes with wins, it comes with loss. One of the most important things to remember is they are your team mate. They are supposed to be your partner in all that life offers. It isn't you against them, its you, together, fighting through and fighting for everything in life.



These are just simply some ideas that spoke to me. Like I said, I'm no expert, but I think we can always learn something from another's point of view. We should always be looking for ways to better our relationships.

I'm very thankful that I have been blessed with this man as my husband. I chose him and I continue to chose him as my love, my partner, and my team mate. 

I hope that maybe you found these as inspirational as I did! 

-The Pajama Mamma! 

Fathers Day Gifts

Fathers Day Gifts For Fathers & Fathers-In-Law

We all know that men can be incredibly hard to buy for right? Well here is a couple fun ideas of what to get your Fathers & Fathers-In-Law! These are what we've done the last couple years!

Two Years Ago:

I got this gift idea from my dad! He's always telling people that one of the best gifts they can get for him is some Dr. Pepper & some Chocolate Chip Cookies! He also likes sunglasses a lot and gets so mad when they get scratches, so I figured he could never have enough right? My Father-In-Law is a fan of Diet Pepsi, so we got him the same gift but with his favorite soda! 

One of the best gifts you can give is your time and experiences that you will always cherish! So every year we try to do something fun with our Fathers as well. Its a common tradition that we go out to breakfast with my husbands family. They love breakfast and its always fun to get up early and go out to eat together. Later that night we took my dad to the Drive In, a family Favorite. It was my sons first time to the drive in so it was extra exciting! 

Last Year: 

Last year we had breakfast at my Father-In-Law's house. My Mother-In-Law makes great breakfast! Then we enjoyed the sunshine and my son played in the backyard & then we of course opened presents! Last Year we gave him some gardening hedge clippers. My husband had his eye on a nice pair and decided that it would be a nice gift for his dad as well.

(Pictured is my Father-In-Law, My Son, & My Husband, who all share the same name!)

 

Last year was a little rough because I was so pregnant and was having a hard time getting around! My family had gone bowling that afternoon but that was just a bit too much for a pregnant Mamma! So that evening we went out to eat at a great restaurant called The Oaks. Its lots of fun because you eat outdoors surrounded by tons of greenery! We gave my dad a lawn game that is one of his favorites to play with the family! Lawn games are a fun thing my family likes to do together so this was a hit! 

We hope that you found that perfect gift for the Fathers in your life this year! We are so excited about Fathers Day & Hope that yours is absolutely wonderful! 

-The Pajama Mamma 

Happy Birthday Hubby

All About My Husband 

This weeks blog post is all about my husband in honor of his birthday! I wanted to take the time and write something that is hopefully worthy of how wonderful of a man he is! Happy Birthday Babe! I love you so much! 

I met my husband when he was 27 on a dating website in March 2012. It was kind of crazy circumstances that led us both to the dating website, and it was just truly fate. 

We talked for a while and then finally decided to meet in April 2012. We went on a few bumpy kind of awkward dates before we both knew that this was something special, but it didn't take long before we were whisked up into our whirlwind romance! We hung out as friends for less than a month before we started dating. 

We were only dating a month before we took our first trip together in June 2012. He took me on a camping trip with his family and then we went to help out at my uncles church camp. 

In August 2012 we took our first vacation together, we went to California to celebrate my birthday. 

September 2012 we got our first apartment & moved in together.

  

                       In January 2013 we got engaged while on a family cruise in the Bahamas. 

We Got Married on December 6th 2013. 

Had our First Born on May 20th 2014. 

Took our first big Family Vacation to the Oregon Coast in August 2015.

Bought our First House May 2016. 

Had our Second Child July 2017 

And we have enjoyed so many crazy times together in between. Making memories. Having amazing experiences. And completely enjoying this crazy ride called life! 

My Husband is one of the greatest people I know. He may not believe that I always think so (haha) but it's true. He is a beautiful man, inside and out. His obvious attractiveness is what first caught my eye. I always say that it is funny because when I was a little girl I always wanted the blond hair blue eyed boy barbie to be my "husband" and my sister always liked the one with the dark hair. My heart absolutely skipped a beat when I saw that first picture of him, I can still see it in my mind. His short blonde hair, his piercing blue eyes, and his charming little smile melt my heart every time I look at him. 

The Next thing I probably noticed about him was how kind he was. One of our very first dates he took me and my friends out to eat and he payed for everyone's meal.  My  best friend at the time was a girl I called my little sister. She was much younger than I and seeing him interact with her was so sweet. She pulled me aside after meeting him for the first time and said "This is the guy you're going to marry" and little did I know how right she was! He always has others best interest at heart and doesn't hesitate if he knows there's something he can do to help.

The next thing I fell in love with was how funny and care free he is. I have a memory of us on our way to meet some people to go bowling. He had picked me up and we were driving to the bowling ally in his truck. It was still Early Spring and so it was still a bit cold at night, but he rolled down all the windows, put the heat on full blast so we wouldn't be cold, and turned up the music super loud. He then proceeded to sing as loudly as he could, I joined in and this was a huge stepping stone to me falling in love with him. He brings out a carefree spirit in me that doesn't come easily. He makes me smile and laugh every day and keeps my heart and soul young and carefree. 

He is so very hard working and ambitious. He is very reliable and puts his everything into his work. I truly think my husband is one of the greatest people you could ever have working for you. He is always looking for ways he can do better at his job and ways he can help his company. He is always looking for opportunities to better himself and to challenge himself. He works so incredibly hard to provide a nice and comfortable life for his family and we couldn't be more grateful.  

He is an amazing Father. I knew before we even had children that he was going to be a fantastic father. He was always so good with his nieces who obviously adored him and when he began to meet my nephews and niece he was just as good with them! He was so excited to become a father, and to have a son. When my son decided to come early we spent 2 days in the hospital trying to stop my labor. My husband spent the time entertaining us by documenting the whole process on video, narrating every new development. You can hear the pure joy and excitement in his voice, we ended up being unable to stop my labor and we met my son, and my husband has been in love ever sense. After two years we knew we wanted to have another baby so we got pregnant with our baby girl. The picture of my husband holding our daughter for the first time says it all. She completely melted his heart the first time he laid eyes on her. Our kids jump and squeal and laugh the minute he walks through the door every day. They absolutely love him to pieces! 

My husband is such an amazing person. He is kind, and genuine, and strong he makes every experience we have in life an adventure and I couldn't love him more than I do. 

I hope you have the best of birthdays sweetheart! We love you so very much! 

-The Pajama Mamma