It's been several months since we took our family trip to the other side of Tennessee. I just haven't gotten around to sharing about it! In the fall, we drove to Pigeon Forge and spent a few days having all kinds of fun. There is so much to do there, but we made the most of the little time we had. Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg Activities Ripley's Aquarium We loved this aquarium! I didn't think it would be that neat -- I mean a bunch of fish, who cares? But it was probably our favorite part of the whole trip! They had tons of fish and sea life to look at, not to mention penguins! My favorite part Continue Reading
Archives for March 2018
Raylee’s First Birthday — Baby Update
My little spunky chick just turned one! Can you believe it? I am so glad that each month I remembered to take a photo and include all the milestones she hit. Gosh, they change so much so fast! If you want to see photos from her first six months of life -- check out this post. I used blankets that we received from people for each photo. Thank you to everyone who gave us a beautiful blanket, especially to those of you who made one! On the evening she turned seven months, Raylee started crawling! She had already been scooting like crazy and getting into a crawling position, but she finally Continue Reading
Sleep Training: Round 2 (The Ferber Method)
You may remember that I wrote a post about five months ago called What I Learned Through Sleep Training. In that post, I talk about how sleep training didn't work for us. At the time, that was true. I worked hard at it for weeks and weeks, and eventually I gave up because it was causing way too much stress for me. I found myself becoming depressed, so we stopped sleep training. But about three months later, Raylee was still waking several times a night, and although I wasn't depressed, I was definitely sleep deprived. We just couldn't take it anymore. We knew something had to change. That's Continue Reading
How I Survived the First Year of Motherhood
As I'm writing this, Raylee is around two weeks away from being a one-year-old. It seems like we were just getting the hang of life with a newborn, and now -- bam -- she's almost a toddler! The first year really went so fast. And it's got me reflecting a lot lately. I always thought it was a little silly to throw a big party for a one-year-old. It's not like they have any clue what's going on, and they won't remember the cake, presents, or decorations. What's the point? Well, can I tell you a secret? The birthday party I'm throwing for Raylee in a couple weeks is more of a party for me. It's Continue Reading