2014 Year in Review: The Year of Jackson!

Happy New Year's Eve, y'all!

I thought last year was fast. No. No, that was not fast at all compared to this year. Noooo way. Ha! :) Maybe it has something to so with being crazy busy with a baby! Let's get to the year in review, shall we? Ready.... Set... Go!

January

2014 began with quite a scare. I was 22 weeks pregnant with Baby Jackson, and on January 1st, I had terrible shortness of breath, and could not even lay down I was so uncomfortable. What I thought was the flu or bronchitis was actually a blood clot in my left lung. I had to give myself Lovenox shots twice a day from January til May because of it. It made me realize that I would do absolutely anything for my baby boy and how much I could face my fear of shots. The Lord gave me such strength daily for this! Thank you, God!

On to a much better highlight, we also registered for baby goodies this month! Oh, what fun it was!

February 

Baby love! Russell and I enjoyed Valentine's Day and took this picture before we went to dinner that night.

Russell also put together Jackson's crib!

March

We celebrated Jackson's upcoming arrival lots this month with baby showers!

It was wonderful to see many family members and friends at the showers. 

April

Our lives changed completely on April 21st as Jackson Randolph Price entered the world! It seemed like forever until I finally got to hold him, but it was like nothing else when Mommy met son. Best moment ever!

May

I celebrated my 1st Mother's Day. So special.

Our special friends, Kim and Emily, came to meet Jackson for the first time! We had so much fun!

June

We enjoyed spending time with lots of family this month! Jackson visited Camden and Magnolia for the first time.

Sweet baby bear. Oh my!

July

Sweet little chubby cheeks enjoyed his 1st 4th of July!

Jackson even met Elsa and Anna! :)

August

Jackson wore his cute little swim trunks and rash guard and went swimming for the first time. :) He wasn't too fond of it. Next year will be more fun.

August is my bday month and it was the best birthday ever!

September

We were so excited to celebrate the beginning of fall.

J also tried green beans for the first time. He likes them now!

October

Our lil punkin grew and grew so fast this month.

He was a sweet lil lion for Halloween!

November

Oh, I know I am very partial, but I think he just gets sweeter and cuter every day!

Jackson's 1st Thanksgiving! 

December

Jackson's 1st Christmas! I will post about it soon!

I cannot believe 2014 is pretty much over! Make every day a memorable one! I love y'all so much and I hope you have a fabulous, prosperous, healthy, and blessed 2015! Make memories! 

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16

Lessons on Motherhood So Far

Motherhood has taught me so much in just five and a half months. I thought I would share what I have learned so far about being a mommy. So here are a few things in random order.

On delivering baby:

It's always good to be prepared, but if you have your hopes set high to deliver naturally and end up having a C-section, remember it's OKAY. I wish I had more knowledge about the C-section beforehand, but I didn't. Basically, my advice is, it may not be EXACTLY what you planned.

On feeding baby:

It's not the end of the world if you don't nurse or physically cannot nurse.

I tried to nurse Jackson for about a week before I finally decided to bottle feed. It was definitely a challenge and the most emotional thing. The more I thought about the pros and cons about it all, we resulted to the bottle. It's definitely personal preference. For us, it was so much easier to mix that Similac in bottles, warm it and that's it. :) Jackson is happy and we are happy. That's our goal.

On changing diapers:

Change the diaper QUICK, because the baby will definitely pee on you. Many times. HA! I've learned from experience. Secondly, it has to be said. Blowouts WILL happen! Just laugh it off after baby is changed. HA!

Also, changing Jackson's diaper is good bonding time for us because he looks up at me while I sing songs, recite "five little monkeys" or "five little pumpkins," and make him laugh.

On baby clothes:

Babies grow. Fast. Of course it's a necessity and need to have clothes for newborns, but once Jackson hit three months old, he has been growing like a weed.

All brands vary in sizes. Carter's brand fits different from Little Me, Gerber, etc.

On baby's schedule:

I totally recommend BABY WISE!!! I didn't follow BabyWise until Jackson was a little over two months. He slept in the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play in our bedroom. He really loved it, but then he kept waking up several times a night, I realized he was eventually going to grow out of it, and we definitely wanted Jackson to get good use out of the crib. He sleeps through the night, which I think every parent rejoices when that happens for the first time. Can I get a "Hallelujah!"

On traveling with baby:

It's obvious that you need plenty of diapers, wipes, and formula for the road. I guess my main advice for traveling is to not rush getting to your destination. Jackson is a very good traveler as far as I know. We have taken him on a few road trips and he has been very happy and sleepy during the trip. I like to pack plastic sacks and plastic Ziploc bags in case we need them.

I will try to update this every few months on my own "lessons on motherhood," but I will say it has been the most joyous five and a half months of my life as a wife and mom. There have been crazy moments, and there have been hard moments, but most of all, it's all been wonderful, special, and so memorable. I never knew how much I would love Jackson until I met him and held him for the very first time. I try to make the most out of every day and that's a big key. Give everything to God and He will help you for sure! :) Happy days!
 

So...that's it for now, Mamas! :) Most of this info was a helpful reminder for myself, but I hope I helped a little bit. Sometimes it's easy to forget the "obvious" things about having a baby. It's good to be reminded about these things. :)

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5



Sweet Nursery Theme

I am excited to share with y'all the nursery theme! I thought about this long and hard because I am somewhat picky, not very trendy, and love classic traditional things. Yes, even for a baby boy. :)

As you have probably figured out already, the theme is Peter Rabbit!! 

Russell and I are so excited about baby Jackson coming in May and we are having lots of fun planning and preparing for his arrival.

Even his bedding will be Peter Rabbit. We will most likely get a cherry wood crib and matching or coordinating furniture for the sweet nursery. Ohhh, I am too tickled to talk about it! I am so excited!

The baby book came to my doorstep today, too! I love, love, love it so much!

The detail is so sweet, too, I think!

We still have a lot to do before our sweet son comes, but I am confident that we will get it done!

Have y'all seen all the baby stuff? Even picking out a pack n play is not as easy as it seems. HA! Why? Because they now have about 10 different ones to choose from! Oh, well. It's fun, right? :)

Thank you so much for the continued prayers. I am continuing to feel much better by the day and I know it will be SO worth it when I have Jackson Randolph in my arms for the first time. 

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe, high and strong. Proverbs 18:10

November Tidbits

Thanksgiving is only a few days away! I don't know about y'all, but I am looking forward to turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green bundles, chocolate pecan pie, and MORE! Baby Price will love it, too. HA! Most of all, seeing family is the BEST! I decided to do a little "November catch-up" post today since it was pretty eventful. I just wanted to document it, of course!

It has been raining babies in our Sunday school class. There are not one, not two, but FIVE expectant mothers! That means baby showers, of course!

My dear friend, Mandy, is expecting a baby boy any day now. We threw her a shower earlier this month. We are looking forward to meeting Ezra soon!

 She got some cute things for him. It was fun to be together.

 That Saturday, we had another baby shower! Kelsey is expecting her little girl in February. She is also one of my dear friends. Love her lots! Look at this huge cake!

 Yes, here are all FIVE of us! I'm due in May, Rhyanne is due in March, Nicole is due in February and Kelsey is due in February also. Mandy is due in December! Kelsey and I are both expecting our first babies. SO exciting for everyone!

 Kelsey had a photographer take pics of the shower. Here's one of all of us who attended. Love this picture lots!

I usually update about Operation Christmas Child every year. This year, we bought things for a little girl. We kept finding cute "Hello Kitty" things at the store, so it turned into the theme for this year's box.

 Will all this fit in a shoebox?

 Yes! We got it to fit! We hope this little girl enjoys all the goodies, but most of all we pray that she knows the love of Christ and follows Him.

 I admit it. I have been slowly adding to Baby Price's collection of goodies. And family has also given us sweet goodies, so we added that to the collection. We are finding out gender in about two weeks, and can hardly wait!

 

Stephen Curtis Chapman was in Bentonville! We had to see that awesome concert at our church. I did not get many good pictures, but did get a few.

Laura Story was on tour with him. She always travels with her sweet little girl. I love Laura Story so much because she has such a wonderful and heartfelt testimony. Her husband, Martin, had a brain tumor about 7 years ago, early in their marriage. Laura wrote several songs about their trials, but mostly, how the Lord pulled them through. Now they have a two year old little girl! Amazing!

 We are having a Christmas theme gender reveal at our house next weekend, so we have been decorating for Christmas. Yes, we actually decorated some before Thanksgiving. Shocker, I know. Hey, y'all, Thanksgiving is late this year, so it's okay. :) And yes, I am somewhat addicted to Christmas Tree Spode. On to the next subject!

 Last night, Bentonville held their annual lighting of the square. We usually go every year. IT WAS FREEZING outside!!!!  I think next year we may go after the official lighting because we don't want our baby to freeze. Ha!

We love our town so much!

So there y'all have it. November in a nutshell. Well, most of November, anyway. :)

Happy early Thanksgiving!

I must end this post with a cute children's poem I learned from my sister.

 

Dinner's ready, don't be late,

Mr. Turkey on my plate!

Dinner's ready, don't be late,

Mashed Potatoes on my plate!

Dinner's ready, don't be late,

dressing is on my plate!

(Just keep naming the foods you eat on Turkey day.)

 

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 2 Corinthians 9:12

Kellye's Baby Shower

 If y'all don't know already, I love wedding showers and baby showers and things like that. But more than that, I love seeing people I love while I'm there, too! Thursday, I attended a baby shower for my friend, Kellye. She is having a baby girl due at the end of this month! So exciting!

 Pretty table with favors

 Playing a game at the shower!

 Me and Kellye! She is going to be a great mom to Gabrielle!

Another thing I love about going to showers is meeting new people and making new friends! Erin, on the left, is such a sweetheart! It was a fun night.

Every good and perfect gift is from above... James 1:17