Skip to main content

Happy Birthday Eisley!

By
Happy Birthday baby girl! A year ago today I was sitting at my desk, preparing to leave for a press conference and noticing tiny contractions. I'd had my membranes stripped around 9 a.m. and I didn't think it would work to start my labor--but it did! I wasn't totally prepared for you to come but at the same time I was so anxious to meet you. So I stood at the press conference and parked far away and did all I could to encourage you to come.
That evening we went to eat at Smashburger and I ate a TON even though I was clearly contracting by then.
Five hours later I held you in my arms. It was a super quick, super easy labor. Just three pushes. You began breastfeeding right away like a champ and you've always been a great sleeper too.

At a year old you're still smily and funny. You get cuter every day as you grow into your big blue eyes. Your eyes are bluer than Kaybree's, closer to your dad's color, but I feel like the rest of you is more me. You're still perfectly chubby, just the right size.
You love screaming. I don't mean angry screaming (though you excel at that too when necessary) but I mean happy screaming. You scream out loud when you're excited and it's so funny. If someone copies your happy scream it gives you a great big smile and you'll go back and forth with quick little screams as long as that person keeps doing it back.
You have the cutest deep belly laugh. Tickling you gets the best laugh out of you and your dad is the best tickler ever.
You don't say too many words yet but you're good at copying sounds. You say "dada" really well and you get very excited to say it whenever you see your Daddy. You know he loves to hear it! you also say "Hi" really well and you love when people say hi back. You say "mama" when you're a little cranky and want me but you don't say it with the same excitement that you do dada. On Sunday you also said "Stryker" when you saw him so that was kind of funny.
I'm your all-time favorite person but you love others too. Lexis is probably next in line followed closely by all your Grandmas. All of them. You love Grandmas. Brittany and Shaunelle are also favorites. Brittany swears you're getting close to saying her name. I haven't heard it yet! You love playing with Daddy and if I'm out of the room you two have a blast but if I'm in the room I MUST hold you.
You drive me crazy because you refuse to pull yourself up on anything or even crawl like a normal baby. You're comfortable with your army crawl and you enjoy being held everywhere you go. You stand perfectly fine in my lap so I know it's not that you're not strong enough but every time I try to get you to hold onto just my hands and walk or the side of some furniture you SCREAM like it's killing you. Guess you just plan on taking your time!

We had a party for you on Saturday. Just pizza and donuts at the park. It was simple but the kids had fun playing together. I never held you during the party because you were constantly being passed around. You are so loved!











Playing peek-a-boo with Stetson.




Everyone was pretty jealous of the birthday girl's doughnut. Strawberry glaze, sprinkles and marshmallows.





Bently got to come to the party too!




Kaybree quickly stole the pink doughnut. Brendon was so mad I let her have it (he wanted it) and all she did was eat the frosting off the top!




Telling Stryker to back up!









You really just ate the marshmallows off the top. You weren't very hungry.











Lexis came walking by!

















I love you little Eisley girl! You're a little ball of sunshine and I love being your mama! Happy birthday!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My biggest challenge

By
I’m a writer by trade. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I love to put my feelings into words. Yet, in the last month, I’ve been having a very difficult time vocalizing what’s happening in my life. It’s not because it’s been sad or difficult or anything like that. It’s mostly because there is someone new in my life who I care very deeply for who I feel this deep need to protect. I want to protect his identity, his story, his life. I don’t want to overstep any boundaries or crush any trust. I recognize the life he has lived has not been easy and so I tread lightly on this relationship we’ve built. But honestly—it’s a fantastic relationship. He’s an amazing kid. I’ve been asked to write a blog post for an organization that helps recruit foster parents about the first few weeks of being a foster parent. I’m having difficulty deciding what to write. I feel like anything I write about my case probably won’t apply to their case so it’s not very helpful. I keep writing drafts and then...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer time

By
This summer is flying by! I've been taking Kaybree to the same sitter every day since 10 weeks old when I went back to work, Shaunelle Eyestone. You are their 5th kid. But with four kids of her own home all summer and a new baby coming along Shaunelle asked to go to part time this summer. Luckily we have awesome family near by willing to help me out and watch you girls! Grandma Bonnie has been taking you two days a week and says it's the best part of her week. She loves it! She's a substitute teacher during the school year so she has the summer off. She's so sweet to watch you both for free. It's also giving you a chance to get to know John better as Bonnie asks him to help out each day. He's learning more about babies and you're opening up to him more. It's sweet to see. Fridays Aunt Brittany takes the two of you for free. Her kids basically just spoil you both all day. They argue over whose turn it is to hold Eisley and Kaybree basically becomes th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jumping to conclusions

By
I think we, as a society, are always prepared to jump to the worst conclusions about kids like J. That includes me.  We recently found out he accepted cigarettes from a friend. Knowing just that, we assumed he smoked them. He swears he didn't smoke them but asked for them so he could give them to another friend--to get him to stop smoking weed. As dumb as that sounds, I believe him. Now. But at first, and I think reasonably so, I didn't. We jumped to the conclusion that he was smoking. We got upset that it felt like he was hiding it from us. He has no idea why we would jump to that conclusion. He doesn't understand that he put himself in that situation. He doesn't understand why we would think he is smoking. He got mad at us for assuming the worst. We did the same thing several days earlier when it was getting late and he wasn't home and also wasn't answering his phone. I thought back to everything we had disagreed about. I feared he had run away. I feared h...
Post a Comment
Read more