Author / Bethe

by Bethe

On why 4-6-month-old babies are the absolute best

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I’ve figured it out. My mom used to tell me that if childbirth was that bad, everybody would just have one kid. Meaning, it’s not that bad and that’s why people keep having babies.

But I know the secret. The reason people keep having babies is because one day they wake up and their baby turns four months old and they become SO MUCH FUN that they want to have 10 more.

I knew being a mom would be a blessing, but I had no idea just how fun it would be. To all of my friends with newborns who are dealing with sleepless nights, and heaven forbid, colic, I have encouragement for you. Four-month-old babies are God’s reward for all of the stresses of having a newborn. When they’re four to six months old, they are like Christmas and your birthday rolled into one, every single day.

Wrenn is almost six months old , and here’s some of the things I absolutely love right now:

She talks. All the time. She coos and grunts and makes a tooting noise with her mouth that she finds to be hilarious. Maybe it’s because I do it back to her and next thing I know we’re making funny sounds at each other and we’re having our own conversation in our secret language. I think we’re going to have a big talker on her hands (takes after her parents).

She laughs. I waited forever to hear that precious little laugh, the one that sounds just like mine, and I will do anything – and I mean ANYTHING – to make that baby laugh. It’s the best part of motherhood.

Except for the kisses. Baby girl loves to give open-mouthed, slobbery, wet kisses. I didn’t think there could be anything better than hearing her laugh, but getting a big, slobbery kiss on the mouth or cheek from her is the best feeling in the whole world. She’ll plant a few kisses on me, then hug me and nuzzle her head into my shoulder, then sit back up and give a few more kisses, then cuddle again. Oh my goodness, I want to have a dozen more babies if it means more of this.

She has discovered her hands. And she stares at them, turning them over, moving her fingers as she studies them and then smiles in delight at these strange things attached to her body. The only thing more interesting than those hands… is her feet. Which she can now put in her mouth. If only I was half as flexible as she is. I love watching her play with her hands and her feet.

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Actually, I love watching her discover things. First it was her hands and feet, now it’s the whole world. She studies people intently. She looks for the dog. She is fascinated with textures – I recently took her grocery shopping and I let her touch every item as I put it in the basket. She sits in her exersaucer and plays with all the toys and you’d think she was conducting some elaborate science experiment. Watching her learn about her world and the endless possibilities it contains is one of my great joys.

The only thing better is to see the way she looks at her daddy. When Mr. Right walks in the room, everything else stops and she gets a big grin and can’t take her eyes off him. She makes eyes at him, smiles at him, talks to him. If I’m feeding her, she stops every minute or so to look to see if he’s still there. If she hears him rustling around in another room, she has to search him out to see if it’s him. She looks at him like he hung the moon. She has no idea how much he loves her yet. I don’t know that she’ll ever fully comprehend it.

Yep, four to six months is the best stage. I don’t know how it could possibly get any better than this. (Winking, because I’m pretty sure things are about to get even better.)

Mamas, what age is your favorite so far?

by Bethe

How do you know when it’s time to stop nursing?

photo (8)I’ve made it through six months of this whole nursing thing. That was my goal, and I did it. It may have been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done – I tell people it’s a lot like when I trained for my half marathon. Every single day you wake up and you have to do it, whether you want to or not. Whether you’re in the mood or not. Whether or not you have time. Even if it means sleeping less, missing something important. You just DO it every. single. day.

Part of me loves it. Like LOVES it. There’s something so wonderful about being able to feed your baby in a way that nobody else can. To bond with her, to hold her close, to have those moments in the still parts of the night when everyone else is sleeping and it’s just you and that beautiful, chubby-cheeked baby cuddled together.

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Mr. Right and I have been talking about weaning lately. My goal had been six months, and then I said I’d reevaluate. My new goal is to make it nine, (basically until the end of cold/flu season) then throw in the towel, you know, before she gets any teeth. But there are moments when nursing (or pumping, really… this working mama does a LOT of pumping) is starting to infringe on my sanity. Most days I’m fine, and then there’s a day where it feels like I HAVE DONE NOTHING ALL DAY EXCEPT FOR PUMP/FEED/PUMP/FEED/STORE MILK/THINK ABOUT PUMPING/CLEANING PUMP PARTS/DOING MATH IN MY HEAD TO FIGURE OUT WHEN I HAVE TO PUMP NEXT and there is no time for things like showering, eating, getting to church on time, actually leaving the house at all. It’s hard.

I’d quit, but once I do, there’s no going back. I see the health benefits (like three weeks ago when she had RSV – I really believe her case was milder because I was nursing her). I see the bonding benefits. And there’s a small part of me that knows that this may be my only time to ever get to do this. We want to adopt other kiddos, so this may be my only chance to experience this part of motherhood.

Quitting is just, so… final.

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And then there’s the allergy meds. I fantasize about the day I can take just ONE Advil Cold & Sinus. Or one of those amazing Claritin Ds that you can only buy behind the counter. They keep the good stuff behind the counter, the stuff I’m not allowed to have.  And because of that I haven’t been able to breathe through my noses since I got pregnant. I kind of miss that.

I just can’t decide, and so while I wait, I nurse. I may end up being one of those mamas who nurses her kiddo until she goes off to college with a stuffy nose as red as Rudolph’s.

Fellow mamas, what about you? How did you know when it was time to throw in the towel and ween? And no judgement here, whether you went one day or one year. We’re all on the same team. Only loving and encouraging comments please.

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by Bethe

My New Year’s Resolutions & A Dream BIG Moment

I try to avoid New Year’s Resolutions. I’m one of those Type A, first-born children who excels at heaping stress on herself. I have enough stress in my life without worrying about whether or not my bed is made every morning (it’s not… don’t tell my mother).

So most years I resolve to rest more, worry less, and make no resolutions.My Summer Bucket List doesn’t count because it’s strictly for fun and adventure. It doesn’t involve anything, you know, responsible.

But this year we’re going for it. Mr. Right and I have decided to split up our resolutions into one-month chunks. You can do anything for one month, right? Including, I hope, making some good habits. So onward, resolutions, it’s time to have some fun!

My January Goals:

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1. Run or walk one mile every single day. That’s 31 days, a minimum of 31 miles. So far, on January 2, I’m two for two. (I’ve found it helps if you wear crazy leggings… it gives a girl confidence.)

PS – I hate running. HATE IT. Until I do it a lot and get in good shape and run a race and then I LOVE running. Most of the time I prefer the idea of running, and the cute clothes that come with it. And the extra calories I can eat. And the carb loading. And those muscles you get in your calves. And casually mentioning to someone, “On my run this morning…” and sounding like some sort of athlete.

The parts I don’t like include the sweating, having to take a shower afterward, being hot, being cold, fitting it into my daily schedule, MESSING UP MY HAIR, making sure I nursed right before, finding my sports bra buried in my dirty clothes bin in the laundry room, the way my body aches during/after/at the mere thought of running, and being sore the next day.

So yeah, 31 days. I’ve totally got this.

2. No eating out in January. Well, except for a little anniversary getaway we have planned very soon. I mean, you can’t NOT eat out when you’re staying in a hotel. So we may have happened to have made reservations at one of the most famous establishments in the trendy part of town, with plans for brunch at another. But, except for that one weekend, no eating out. None. Nada. Zilch. Twenty-nine days of eating home-made meals.

Y’all, that’s going to be hard, because we eat out a LOT. And because I’m going to be too busy walking/running every day to go to the grocery store. First world problems, I know.

Enough kidding though, I really am excited about our January challenges. It’s fun to try something new. It’s just for 31 days…

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Speaking of my 2014 theme of dreaming BIG, I have a big dream to share with you. Last year my little blog grew so much – I was blessed to have some wonderful friends and readers (and readers who became friends) who followed along with our story. I decided that in 2014 my goal was to get to 50,000 hits on this little blog. That number is totally reachable at this current pace. It’s a safe goal.

But this year isn’t about safe goals – it’s about BIG goals. My dream is to grow this little blog into something bigger. To use it as a platform to do some excited things, to laugh a little, to encourage people and to remind folks that no matter what they’re going through, they’re not alone.  And so I took my reachable goal and decided to double it. My new goal is to reach 100,000 hits by the end of the year. I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but I have a few ideas. Thanks to all my dear friends who have already helped me spread the word about yesterday’s free download. There are more of those coming soon.

Now pardon me while I go eat a bread stick. I earned it, you know, with that little 1-mile walk I did tonight. I bet the last of that baby weight is just going to melt riiiiggghhht off.

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by Bethe

I want to dream BIG in 2014

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Free download from Texas Lovely

My goal for 2014 is to dream big. The past few years my goal has been to rest, to pace myself, to slow down, to not overdo. And in those seasons that was what I needed because my life was filled with work and stress and growing a baby and then having a baby and learning how to be a new mom.

It was an amazing season in my life. And now it’s time for a new season. In this season I want to get back to doing something I feel like I haven’t done in a few years.

I want to DREAM.

I want to think and plan, not just for this week or this month or this year, but for the future. I want to try things I’ve never done before, to experience thrills, to conquer fears. To live with reckless abandon. To do things BIG.

To worry less about failing.

To worry less about what others think.

One of those things I want to do is to grow my little blog. Would you help me? I’m offering this print as a free download – would you tell your friends, pin it on Pinterest, and help share the love? You would make this girl very, very happy.

Keep dreaming, my friends.

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Other places you can find Texas Lovely:
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On Instagram: texas_lovely
On Etsy

by Bethe

Christmas 2013

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I have always loved Christmas, but there’s just something about having a child at Christmas that makes it 100 times better. The wonderment. The memory making. The squeals of delight.

Oh, and Wrenn liked it too.

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I made a list of things I wanted to do this Christmas and Mr. Right kindly helped me cross every last one off my list. Put Christmas lights up on the house? Check. Visit the tree in downtown Fort Worth? Check. Drive around and look at Christmas lights while drinking hot cocoa and listening to Christmas music? Check. Take Wrenn to see Santa? Check. Watch Christmas movies? Check. Do some Christmas baking? Check and check and CHECK.

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It was one of those wonderful holiday seasons that was just… easy. We did all of our shopping before December so there wasn’t any stress associated with that. Everybody was healthy, if you don’t count that week that Wrenn and I caught RSV… but we were sick during a huge ice storm so we couldn’t have gone anywhere anyway – we just watched Christmas movies and did lots of cuddling.

We spent a lot of time with family. We managed to keep a pace that was fun but still allowed time to rest. We didn’t overdo.

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Wrenn had no idea it was Christmas, and slept through just about all the present opening, but she loved the lights and the tree and Santa. And she looked crazy cute in her hand-me-down Christmas dresses. I’ll save more Wrenn stories for another post, but she was 5.5 months this Christmas, and I’ve decided that this is the very best age for babies. She is just so much fun – she’s suddenly very aware of her surroundings, and loves people, and constantly smiles and shrieks and makes the funniest noises. And she cuddles (oh, the cuddles).

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We figured out a way to stretch Christmas into four days filled with big meals and a lot of family time. Little Wrenn was spoiled by grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and great aunts and uncles. And of course, her mom and dad.photo (6)

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I spent the month being overwhelmed with thankfulness. Thankful for the gift of my Savior. Thankful for the gift of my husband and my daughter, for the extended family that traveled many miles (including two from England and one from Nigeria) to see us. Thankful for a new job for me and a booming business for Mr. Right. Thankful for a home and friends and a church we love. Life can be hard some time, but we are so, so blessed. And we know it.

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To you, all of my blog friends, I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and a 2014 filled with blessings and adventures.

by Bethe

Has she disappeared?

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Y’all, I don’t think I’ve ever neglected my little blog for this long before. It is so precious to me, chronicling the stories of my life for me to go back and enjoy later. I’ve been doing it for almost eight years now (since way before blogging was cool) and there are few things more precious to me than this little corner of the world.

But one of the great lies of our age is that as women, we can be good at everything. The perfect mother who never gets overwhelmed from the crying (oh, the crying!), or fears her baby’s first fever or every once in awhile thinks that if she doesn’t just get ONE uninterrupted night of sleep she might lose her mind forever. The perfect homemaker, who bakes everything from scratch and has a hand-made wreath on her door and a gorgeous table setting in her dining room. A woman who entertains regularly in her frilly apron and pearls, who never gets frazzled or tired or stressed. Whose baseboards have never seen dust and whose drawers have never seen clutter. Oh, and throw in being an employee who beautifully balances everything while wearing the newest (thrifted) Pinterest-inspired outfit (with a scarf – there is always a scarf) and has nary a drop of spit up anywhere on her person. And, of course, she is a perfect wife who is always patient with her husband, looks just as polished when he comes home from work as when he left, who cooks him dinner every night using the groceries she bought with coupons and keeps his closet continuously stocked with freshly ironed shirts. And every night they go to bed together on freshly ironed sheets and dream of the adventures that tomorrow will bring.

presentY’all, that ain’t me. I ironed my sheets once after we got married and then realized that it was a colossal waste of my time considering after one night they were a rumpled mess. Now I’m just happy if they’re clean. And I used coupons once, but then lost interest and now have a drawer full of ones that expired in 2011. And sometimes I have a Pinterest-inspired outfit, but honestly they never do look quite the same as they do on the 5’10” 110 pound fashion blogger. I made a wreath once, two years ago, and that same wreath still hangs on my front door, faded and covered in dust and looking a bit ready to retire. And at any given moment there is very high likelihood that there is both spit-up in my hair and on my clothes. Oh, and the last time we entertained guests, well, we ordered pizza.

Being able to do it all, to have it all, TO BE ALL, that’s a myth. And that’s the main reason why I have neglected this blog. Because at this very moment in my life, in this season, my priorities are being a mama, being a wife, and being a good employee. That’s all I can handle right now. There have been many evenings where I intended to write something, but there was a baby to snuggle, and then feed and put to bed, and then a husband to snuggle, and then let’s face it, it’s time for bed because we’re both sleep deprived and an early bedtime is one of the most necessary parts of being a parent.

And so the minute I wrap up work each evening, the first thing I do is put the laptop away and shift my focus to my family. It’s what I’ve got at this very moment, and if I can only do a few things well, then I want to do wife and mama well. There are small pockets of time to craft and bake and entertain and write, but I’m trying so very hard to keep my top priorities my top priorities.

And you want to know a little secret? I am absolutely loving this quieter, slower pace of life. My tendency is to live life as a sprint, and I feel like, much of the time (not all the time, mind you), instead these days I’m sort of meandering through this season of life, and it is so, so refreshing.

So stick with me, friends. I have big plans and blog ideas swimming around in this head of mine (of course I have extra time to think since I’m usually up at least once or twice a night feeding that wide-eyed baby of mine), and hopefully they’ll find their way onto my computer page so that I can continue to make memories for later. Thanks for waiting it out with me. It’s just a season.

by Bethe

One year ago today…

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It was exactly one year ago today that I found out I was pregnant. It wasn’t nearly as romantic as it seems – the same day I took my positive pregnancy test we ended up in the ER because it looked like I was having a miscarriage. But my Little One was a fighter, and God had big plans for her. There were several points over the next few weeks where it looked like I might lose her, and I spent most of that first trimester on my knees in prayer. It was scary and humbling.

One year later? I have the cutest, snuggliest, most beautiful baby I could ever imagine. I can’t believe I get to be her mama – she is my answer to prayer.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

by Bethe

You know you’re a mama if…

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-You can nurse a baby while curling your hair, answering email on your phone, drinking a cup of coffee and listening to the radio.

-You open up your closet and realize you have nothing to wear. Not because you’re picky, but because everything is covered in spit-up and needs to be washed.

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-Your baby is better dressed than you are.

-Sleeping through the night until 5:30 a.m. feels like you’re back in college sleeping ’til noon.

-You feel a twinge of guilt for accidentally falling asleep with your baby monitor on mute, but MY GOODNESS IT WAS THE GREATEST NIGHT OF SLEEP IN YOUR LIFE. And everybody survived.

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-There is a pair of baby bloomers  and one tiny baby sock in your purse. Extra points if there’s also a bottle of breast milk and a nose plunger in there.

-You go into a meeting, look down, and find dried spit-up, dried milk, or dried  (fill in the blank – the possibilities are endless) on your pants.

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-You find that clothing with “just a little” spit up is perfectly wearable. However, when there’s so much spit-up that it drips down and fills your pockets, well, it’s time to change clothes.

-You’re juggling two bags and a baby carrier and you feel like your load is light.

-You’ve passed some sort of sickness back and forth between yourself and your baby. Bonus points if it was something too embarrassing to admit in public.

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-You bring a breast pump on a date. Bonus points if you’ve used a breast pump in the restroom of a major sporting event during half time and then had to carry the bottle of milk in your jacket pocket the rest of the game.

-You define a good day by the number of naps your baby took.

-You can fold a stroller with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back.
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-You are juicing more than Alex Rodriguez or Lance Armstrong, only your drugs of choice happen to be lactation supplements.

-You will do anything – and I mean ANYTHING – to make your baby smile. Including performing strange interpretive dances, singing off-key, making up words to songs you can’t remember, or making funny noises with your mouth.554180_10151702431416120_164531768_n

-You feel like it’s a personal victory if a poopy diaper stays contained inside the diaper. And if it’s not, you’re an expert stain removing ninja.

-You have that one place on the side of baby’s neck where you love to bury your nose and snuggle her close.

-When ordering at a restaurant, you choose foods that can be eaten one-handed while you tend to baby with the other one. Extra points if you order something that will taste good after sitting out 30 minutes, since the chances of you eating a hot meal are slim to none.

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-You realize that the milk you’re drinking has been expired for a week, and you go ahead and drink it for one more day because you REALLY need something to put in your coffee.

-You see the irony that it is possible to be out of milk, even though you spend every waking moment producing, pumping, storing, measuring, warming, and serving milk.

-The thought of wasting or spilling milk is almost as bad as the thought of missing Christmas. Which you did back when you were pregnant and down with morning sickness, but that’s another story.

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-You know every wrinkle, dimple, and freckle on those tiny legs and feet, and you get a little sad, and a little excited, every time you notice they’ve grown.

-You are willing to go in for a big, sloppy wet kiss, even though your baby is covered in drool.

-You continue to lift your baby up over your head like Super Man because it makes her squeal with delight, even thought you know there’s a 99 percent chance that spit up or slobber will come raining down on your face. It’s still worth it.

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-You know what it’s like to desperately need a few hours to yourself – ALONE – without the baby, and yet once you get out of the house – ALONE – you desperately miss your baby and can’t wait to get home to see her.

-Someone asks you what you want for your birthday, and you reply, “A nap.”

by Bethe

I’m her mama

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My baby girl was  sick for the first time in her life this week. What a blessing that she’s been healthy for four whole months – I don’t take it for granted. But these were a rough couple of days for my little one – a good fever, sore throat, trouble eating, trouble sleeping. No fun.

And I won’t lie – I was exhausted. She woke up four times the first night and five times the next two nights. Every time my head hit the pillow, she would begin to cry and I would go back to try to soothe her once again. I was quickly brought back to her newborn days of living on the edge of delirium. It’s not easy.

But you know what? As I fed and rocked my baby over and over and over the past few days, I was overwhelmed with what a huge privilege it is to be her mama. When I was a little girl, I wanted my mama to hold me and comfort me and make everything better. And now, I’m the mama. I’m the one she looks to for comfort and that feeling of safety.

Little one, I am the one who is blessed. You are more than I deserve.

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PS- Today she is finally back to her normal feisty, hungry, chatty, bubble-blowing self.

by Bethe

Christmas Bunting – In the shop!

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I’ve got brand-new Christmas bunting in the shop, and I’m offering free shipping for the next few days. It features some of my favorite Christmas fabrics without being TOO Christmas-y. I mean, nothing says Merry Christmas like a little gray zebra print, right?

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This makes me so excited to decorate for Christmas. When do you start your decorating? I like to have mine up by the weekend before Thanksgiving, because that way I can enjoy Thanksgiving and my time off work and not run around working on things. I realize there’s those “nothing ’til after Thanksgiving” purists, but I’m not one of them. My biggest goal is to be able to relax and enjoy being at home with my family.

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I keep thinking back to last year’s Thanksgiving. I found out I was pregnant the Tuesday before Thanksgiving – Nov. 20 – which was also just two days before my birthday. That week was so special (and stressful – I was high risk and in the ER the day we found out I was pregnant), and I keep reliving those moments over and over while staring at my beautiful baby girl. I knew all along she would be amazing, but really, I had no idea.

So this year as I decorate for Christmas, I’m going to be extra thankful, and joyful. My little family has been so blessed.