long time, no post!

hi everyone! i know i haven't posted in a long while. since my last entry, where anna jae took her first steps, a lot has happened. first, work has gotten quite busy for me. i launched my new website, released a new line of ready-to-order wedding invitations, and have been getting in new custom orders. yay! i also work after anna jae goes to bed at night, so i have little extra time for posting to any of my blogs.

but of course, the biggest time-taker has been anna jae. she is a full-on little girl now. we can hardly get over how much she has grown. she is learning about a word a day now, though not all very clearly yet, and has opinions on EVERYTHING. she loves to draw and even has her own art desk now, right next to mommy's desk. we have taken her to sesame place, she will start swim classes in a couple of weeks, and she is quite boy-crazy. every day is new and exciting for her, and it's so much fun to hang out with her now.

we have had a few rough patches, of course, as you would with any toddler. her 15th month was particularly difficult -- she had a lot of behavior issues, and acted out specifically toward me. plus, she really wasn't saying much yet, which was starting to worry me, especially since she had always been a babbler. after a weekend upstate with her daddy and her nana, she came home to me happy to see me and our relationship was back to normal. clearly i needed a break, and she needed to be reminded of how good she has it. =)

on mother's day, the words really started to flow. first she pointed out a window and said, "tree!", completely unexpectedly. then after dinner, she pointed to my name written on a bag and said, "C!" so she knew tree, AND the letter c! the best mother's day ever. =) and ever since, the words come quite easily. we're anxiously awaiting her first sentence.

there was an intense round of separation anxiety that popped up a few weeks ago, that thankfully ended fairly quickly. but there's a bit of attachment leftover. she's quite jealous of my desk and constantly tries to take me away from it.

i will share new pics as soon as i get the chance. and i will try to be back here more often. got to keep a record of our girl!

first 2 steps!!

ok, i know i'm in trouble for not posting more... but i just wanted to tell all of you anna jae fans that she TOOK HER FIRST TWO STEPS today!!! very excited! walking is just around the corner. and we can't wait. =D

almost one! and today, it's all about the mommy. =)

wow. as of tomorrow, a year will have flown by faster than i ever could have imagined. anna jae will be one year old at 8:20 in the morning tomorrow. she was 6lbs, 13oz. when she was born, and 19.5" long. now she is 22lbs. (we think), and i have no idea how tall because she just went through a big growth spurt. she's crawling everywhere, *this close* to walking, babbling a mile a minute, telling people she's one year old with her finger. she is funny, opinionated, strong-willed, adorable, loving, independent... hmmmm... sounds like someone else i know very well. =)

my birthday was last week. and to be honest, the thing i thought of most was that my birthday marked almost a year of the best and most challenging year of my life. i'm so proud of this year. i'm proud of the job we've both done as parents, and i'm very proud of the job i've done as anna jae's mommy. i breastfed for the year! i keep her on a steady and successful schedule! i've made it through with very few emotional breakdowns (relatively speaking), with my marriage in tact, with my career still going, and most importantly with a smart, happy, healthy, giggly, ridiculously wonderful child. ::patting myself on the back::

every mom should give herself a pat on the back for a job well done. this is, by far, the HARDEST job in the entire world. we sacrifice our sleep, our privacy, our alone time, our whole body if we are breastfeeding, even our mental and physical health. we sacrifice the ability to take a walk by ourselves, holding just a purse and a bottle of water, to go to the store or do window shopping (shout out to my fellow mommies!). we sacrifice our social lives. but you know, we do it knowing not only that we must, but we should, and that we and our children will be better off for it. in the end, we do it willingly and, sometimes, happily.

i'm happier in most ways than i've ever been in my entire life. i'm fulfilled in ways that i could not have been before. it may not be glamorous, it may not be easy. but it's so incredibly worth it.

tomorrow i'll celebrate anna jae's first year of life on this earth. today, i'm going to celebrate my first year of life as a mommy. a good mommy. go me. go mommies everywhere (and that most especially includes my mom).