One year ago today

How has it already been a year?  People always said that time flies when you have a kid.  I now know what they mean!  I always looked at a one year old and thought that was so far away from Nathan's age.  Now here we are.  Even as he is wailing in his crib, now fighting his nap, after a big breakfast date with his daddy, I think about what we were doing this time last year.
After waiting for two extra weeks to make his debut, Nathan was finally born via an emergency c-section at 4:38 am after what seemed like an eternal labor.   About now I was drugged up on pain meds, my parents were excitedly whispering and fussing over Nathan as I drifted in and out of sleep, David was being amazing making sure Nathan and I were doing well, even though he hadn't slept in 24 hours either.  We spent the rest of the day just recovering and snuggling with our new precious, healthy, beautiful baby boy.

Nathan, buddy, we have loved every second of this year with you.  We have loved watching you grow and explore.  You are so curious, and oh so busy!  I love watching the little wheels turning in your head as you figure out the world around you.  You were in a hurry to roll and scoot, and then stand and furniture surf, and crawl, but only just yesterday took your first steps!  You are all about efficiency and how quickly you can get somewhere to check out something that piques your interest.  We are always so amazed at your adorable smile and how quick you are to smile at everyone.  You are such a happy little boy.  We praise God for this daily!  Even on days where I am struggling with impatience or with figuring out this whole "mom" thing, you look at me, smile your huge smile, and suddenly, my day gets a whole lot brighter.  We pray, buddy, that you never lose your joyful spirit but that as you get older you find the source of your joy in Christ.  We pray you never lose your love for others but that your first love is your Savior.
Other things you love are pushing things.  Anything!  Especially strollers, but really, anything that can physically move.  Banging, toys, pushing buttons, playing with anything electronic when Mama and Daddy aren't watching, pulling everything out of the kitchen drawers, playing in the driver's seat of the car with Daddy, and above all, playing outside (ideally at the beach or pool) and pushing your walker along the sidewalks.  These are some of your favorite things right now.  You've lived in two states so far in your little life and visited 11 states.  Such a little traveler!
We are so grateful for God's blessing to us by giving us you.  You made this day the best day of our lives a year ago and every day since.  We were overwhelmed with emotion when we heard your first cry in the operating room and with love when we first set eyes on you and snuggled for the first time there on the operating table.

We love you fiercely, little man, and we always will.  But Jesus loves you even more than Mama or Daddy, if you can believe that!  He tells you that in Isaiah 43:4 "...you are precious and honored in my sight...and I love you."  We pray that you will never know a time that you don't know Him and abide in His love and that you will seek His face always.  You have changed our lives forever, sweet boy, and we wouldn't trade it for anything.  Happy birthday!!

Summer 2014 Part 1

I can't believe it's already September, and even though I'm I have all the fans on and Nathan is still running around in just a diaper because it's so hot, technically, summer is over.  I won't rehash my wishes of having kept up with my blogging this summer (see my previous post), so I'll just try to give a few highlights of what we have been up to!
April:
    We celebrated Easter together just as a family of three this year!  It was much different than being home and we missed everyone and all the traditions a lot!  However, it was fun to give Nathan a little Easter basket and go to church and have a relaxing day at the beach with just us!  We have never celebrated a holiday just us before.  When we got back from the beach, our apt complex offered a little petting zoo for the kids.  We thought Nathan wouldn't care, but we thought it would make for a cute picture if nothing else.  He was hilarious.  He LOVED it!  He was so over stimulated but just died laughing the whole time and couldn't get enough!  (Don't worry, Dad G, we washed his hands thoroughly after the experience) :-)

    The very end of April/beginning of May, Mary Kathryn found an impromptu cheap flight from Florida and kicked off our summer of visitors!  She was so gracious as I figured out how to balance keeping Nathan on some form of a schedule while at the same time showing her a good time. I didn't do very well and went a little overboard with trying to keep him on a schedule.  However, we still had so much fun and I promised her a much more fun (and less crazy version of me) visit next time she comes.  We loved going to the San Diego Zoo with her, hiking up in La Jolla, going on a few runs together, and having some much needed girl time.  We haven't gotten one on one time in years and years, and I treasured the time with her so much.  She is pretty amazing!!  I'm so proud of her!  Here are a few pics of our time with her!

We love her!!

(Ok obviously not a pic of my sister but it was nice getting a family shot that wasn't us trying to take a "selfie!")

Our hike in La Jolla

Exploring Seaport Village

May:

Christina came to visit!!  She graduated from college the week before she came.  We were SO so sad that we couldn't make the trip to be there, but instead promised to give her some CA treatment.  She nicely obliged and came for about two weeks.  I had gotten slightly better about my flexibility since Mary Kathryn came, but it wasn't until about halfway through our summer visitors that I finally figured out a little morefile:///Users/dguthmann/Desktop/IMG_7894.JPG a balance.  Despite my floundering through motherhood, we still managed to have so much fun.  We explored the beach, relaxed at the pool, went to the Safari Park for the first time, ate lots of yummy food, and stayed up late.  We even braved the scary roaches outside to run to the hot tub late one night while David stayed home with Nathan.  We were sad to see her go!!  

Out for an early morning walk

OB Pier

Our trip up to Newport!  It was so nice to get another family photo!

They're adorable

Rockin some shades on our picnic on Mount Soledad

We got a date night!  Both my sisters watched Nathan one night so we could go out!  

At the Strawberry Festival

Oops!  Nathan is up from his nap...stay tuned for the rest of our summer antics!  

About Time...

Well, I can definitely say that there are some things in the past 6 months I have done well...however, staying current with blogging, unfortunately, has not been one of them!  You know when you were single and you made those Pinterest boards that you called "Some day..." or "Things I'll Do When I Have Baby" or "I'm Going to Be the World's Most Amazing Mom?"  You know those boards?  Spoiler alert - you probably won't actually do any of them.  A little depressing?  Yea, I know.  But guess what?  You might not have you whole house organized into learning centers, or dress your child in bow ties and fedoras, or have a beautiful, perfect, constantly updated baby book, BUT you'll do some other pretty amazing things...like keep your baby alive, and wake up at night and make him feel loved and cared for, and feed him, and help him make friends, and discipline him, and let him explore and grow, and pray with him, and pray for him, and keep him clean and safe, and oh yea, sacrifice a whole lot.  So, guess what?  You are the world's most amazing mom, even if you don't have a pinterest board labeled "Crafty Amazing Creative Unique Over Achiever My-Kid-Is-Going-To-Harvard-Before-They're-2 Things I've Already Done As a Mom and My Kid is Only 9 Months" boards.
So can you tell that I'm preaching to myself a little bit over here?  Things are finally calm here after a busy summer of visitors and a 2.5 week vacation to Charlotte to visit family.  It was so wonderful but oh so busy.  Now that I'm home and things are totally calm, I'm finding myself itching to do something amazing.  Something challenging.  Something different.  I spent the morning looking at job postings...even though it would be completely impractical and impossible right now.  I have so many friends and family members beginning new "chapters" and we are praying a lot about our future plans as well.  It's interesting how I can so easily look at everyone and everything around me and instantly feel discontent.  I have so many things that I could be doing and a giant to-do list and instead I want to do anything but those things.  This morning, my prayer has been that God will show me words that I need to hear for where my heart is right now...and here are a few things that I found.
Joshua 24:14,15b,  
"Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness...then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
Ruth 3:11b
"All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character."
Psalm 37:7a
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him."
and then this quote from Corrie Ten Boom
"Lord Jesus, I give my 'if onlies' to you.  Make me a faithful laborer here and now."

Faithfulness, contentment, stillness.  Lord, help me to instead pursue these things and be known as a woman of noble character instead of the mom who "has it all together."                                                                                

Introducing..Hopeful Tide Designs!

     We have had such an amazing time this last week.  My sister, Mary Kathryn came out to visit us!  I don't want to sell short the time we had with her, so a post on that is yet to come!
     I wanted to do a quick post though to introduce you to my new page, Hopeful Tide Designs!  We have been working hard over here to get Nathan into a nap time routine and because of that, I am starting to have a little bit more time to work on projects! This page is a work in progress, but I want to share it anyway.  It includes a few of the projects, chiefly embroidery, that I have been working on over the past few months.  I've had a lot of fun creating these different projects for friends and family, and now I want to share them with you, too!
      I've enjoyed making lots of different types of projects from baby and kids to adult clothing items and accessories, but if you have an idea of something specific that you would like me to embroider or create, let me know!  So, happy browsing! If you like what you see, shoot me a message. I'd love to help you out with your embroidery/sewing needs: personalized baby shower gifts, summer accessories, monogrammed presents for the new Mr and Mrs, or even the occasional "just because" splurge for yourself!

Here is my link.  Please "like" it when you visit!

https://www.facebook.com/hopefultide

Oh and don't worry, shipping items in flat rate shipping envelopes don't cost much!

Nathan is 6 months!

     Whenever I was pregnant with Nathan, everyone told me that time would fly and that babies grow up so fast.  This statement was usually followed up by them telling me how old their "baby" was.  Usually, their "baby" was in their 20s or 30s.  By the time I was over 41 weeks pregnant and gigantic, I remember thinking that based on how slowly time was passing at that point, that saying that "time flies" must just be a cliche thing that you say, but isn't necessarily true.  Well, as I peek in on my sleeping 6 month old and I think about all that has happened in our lives in the past 6 months, I realize that all of those well-wishers and advice-givers, were right.  Time flies.

     In 6 months, our lives have completely changed.  While we loved Nathan overwhelmingly from the first moment we heard his wail behind that big blue sheet and held him in the OR,

I have found that I love him more and more every single day.  As he grows and changes, and he interacts more with us and with his environment, I find myself thinking often that is so much fun being his mom.  Yes, we have many challenging days of no naps and some nights of waking up all the time, and days of me thinking "what in the world am I doing?  I have no idea how to be a mom!" Those moments almost always are followed by a sweet smile from Nathan, or a precious snuggle, or an exciting milestone moment for him, and I realize again how that God's grace is bigger than my uncertainty of how to parent, and that I am incredibly blessed and grateful to have this sweet, joyful baby in our lives.
    Nathan is changing every since day it seems!  We are just loving watching and cheering on all of these changes.  While we were in DC last week, we were playing with him on the bed and couldn't believe it when that little guy was laying on his stomach and pushed up on his hands, got up on his toes, rocked a few times and lunged forward.  Since then, he has loved further discovering this new skill.  Gone are the days of laying him on the floor in his room with some toys and hopping in the shower.  I figured that out yesterday when I laid him down with a mound of toys, and after a few minutes or not hearing him (never a good sign) I found him scooting his way out of his room.

He is also continuing to be more solid at sitting.  We have the occasional crash but he is getting much better at balancing and grabbing for toys.

He loves music, riding in the jogger how without the carseat, chewing and grabbing anything and everything,

and most of all, people watching!  He is such a curious baby and thrives on being out and about and discovering new things.  He also has two teeth now and just started solids!  Some of these are out of focus, but they are so funny, I had to add them.

He can't decide if he loves them or hates them.  He opens his mouth wide when we offer them and then shudders, gags, and blows raspberries until his food is everywhere.  At least he is enjoying himself, I suppose!
     We can hardly believe it's been half a year already and are so excited to experience many other  changes with Nathan as he continues to grow up.  We continue to be overwhelmed by the blessing of this little boy in our lives.  Being a parent is by far the most challenging and the most rewarding thing we have experienced thus far and know that those feelings will only grow as life moves forward.    

 
     Nathan, buddy, we are so thankful for you and the joy your beautiful smile brings to our lives.  We continue to pray that you will grow up to be a man of God that loves Him above all else, that you will never know a time when you don't know Him, that your joyful spirit will never fade, and that God will give us grace as we learn to parent you.  Happy half-birthday, my little love!