Valentine's Day 2017

It's crazy to think how much has changed in a year.

This time last year we announced on social media we were having a baby.  And now look at her, she is getting SO big!  I don't know what we did in our life before she came along.  I don't know how I filled my days without kissing those chubby cheeks a million times or tickling her chunky belly and listing to her adorable laugh.   

Now we have our little one and she makes everything in our little family feel complete.  Even as little as she is she makes holidays, even little ones, a lot more exciting.

 

Before Keiton, I never really cared about Valentine's Day.  I thought it was a fake holiday and dumb that we had to have a day to tell our loved ones we are thinking about them.  Now that I have my forever valentine, he has changed my mind!

One of the things I love about Keiton is that he is so good at telling me and showing me just how much he loves me every single day.  He is really great about randomly bringing home flowers, making me dinner, leaving notes around the house.  So Valentine's Day still isn't a super big deal, but I still get really excited because any chance I have to go on a date with with my love, I'll take it!  

Because of Keiton and Baby Girl, I have found myself getting a lot more into this "fake holiday." I had so much fun dressing Baby Girl up and taking Valentine's pictures and I even made an Oreo cake and heart shaped pizza. Yep, I have gotten mushy over the years, but we had SO much fun!

 

 It was the perfect night.  I am grateful for this fake holiday because we blew off all the homework we had and just had a fun night together.  Keiton got me flowers, we had dinner together, put Baby Girl to bed early and watched a movie together.  This weekend we are going to dress up fancy and go to dinner.  But I am so grateful that we get to celebrate this love all year, not just on February 14th.

How am I supposed to do this?

Mom life, college life.... I know I talk (maybe even complain) about this a lot but, right now, that's all I know.  I was having one of those days where I was thinking 'how in the world are we going to make it through?!' 

These days tend to creep up when I am running on little sleep or have a big assignment due.  Stress overpowers me and I just jump to the worst case scenarios, I'm going to fail my classes, I won't be able to finish school, or a similar thought pops into mind.

Lucky for me, the very day I felt all this pressure there was a lecture on campus called "How Am I Supposed To Do This, Advice for Moms Trying To Get Through School."
Talk about direct answers to prayers!

The speaker shared many great tips and I feel like all of the advice could be applied to anyone who is overwhelmed.

First, gain a testimony of your path.  When God asks us to do something, it is rarely easy.  That is because there is no growth in our comfort zone.  Seek for confirmation that you are doing what God wants you to do, then go forward and trust those feelings.

Second, manage your expectations.  Basically all of the ideas I have had about being a mom have been thrown out the window.  Baby Girl has slept in our bed, our house is rarely clean, I don't wake up early, we eat out too much, I'm not getting A's in my classes anymore and that's ok. I am guilty of having too high of expectations for myself and it usually just adds way too much stress! I am working on having high but healthy expectations for myself and my role of being a mom.

Third, use your village.  We weren't meant to get through this life alone.  It is ok to ask for help! This is something that I have a hard time remembering.



Fourth, take care of yourself. Find things that energize you and fill your day with you love.  This is hard for me because I feel like every second of every day is packed with so much to do that I can't even check everything off my to do list.  But I have been trying to add little things throughout the day that I look forward to.

Like, since I drive back and forth from Spanish Fork to Orem everyday, I started listening to audiobooks.  This helps to break up my long car rides and when things get intense, I actually look forward to driving.

Also, I actually look forward to feeding Baby Girl in the night, because Keiton and I use this time to watch Person of Interest.  She usually wakes up around 3 hungry, and we start and episode, burp her, put her to sleep and then we usually end up finishing the episode.  So if you have recommendation for a good Netflix show, let us know!!

This life is crazy, but I wouldn't change it for anything! And somehow we are surviving this super busy insane time of our lives and loving it too.