Lessons Learned in Las Vegas

This summer has been WILD with a capital Woah. Here are a few of the fun things I've learned living in the 110 degree weather.

• Shake Shack. It's worthy of all the hype.
• Having your child sleep 10 feet away from you for the first four months of their life is both the best and the worst.
• Hobby Lobby is my happy place.
• It takes approximately 7-8 years for a gallstone to form. I had 20 gallstones. Long story short I no longer have a gallbladder. 
• No gallbladder > 20 gallstones.
• Parks and Rec. Where the heck have I been the past 5 years?!
• If you eat the same cereal every day all summer long you will get sick of it.
• I still cannot get tan. 
• Mom friends save your sanity.
• Emi will never, I repeat, NEVER watch Caillou. 
• If you sleep with the humidifier on and the door shut you will wake up in the rainforest.
• Netflix. I have never loved you more.
• Do not stop in Meadow/Kanosh off the I-15 in Utah. You will die.

Love,

Cami 

Dear Emiline

Dear sweet babycakes sugar muffin Emi girl,

You're in for a wild ride in this adventure called life, but I promise to fill the days with spontaneous dance parties, car karaoke, long walks outside, and chocolate chip cookies.



Love,
Your crazy mom

Being a mom is hard.

My heart is so full today and I needed to share what is on my mind.

Being a mom is hard. After weeks of sleepless nights and frustrated hours spent trying to get my sweet Emiline to eat I am worn down and raw.. I'm tired, and sometimes (more often than I like to admit) I am cranky. Having another person to look after, a person who can't tell me that her tummy hurts or that she just needs to be laid down or she's a little bit cranky too, has been a challenge. Many days I miss when I could run to the store without having to pack up a diaper bag and carry a car seat. Heaven knows I miss the full nights of sleep.

Being a mom is hard.

But, I have this beautiful little girl with big blue eyes and a smile to die for that I love more than I thought possible. Yes, I'm exhausted and I've cried in the shower over spit up in my hair. That's part of Mommy-hood and those things can weigh me down.

There's this other part of being a mom, though, that is beautiful and incredible and unbearably rewarding. It's the first time she smiled at me. It's how even with a scratchy throat and stuffy nose she still manages to give me that big beautiful, full body grin! It's the way she looks at me at three in the morning while I hold her close to feed her and when she smiles at me for no reason and the milk drips out of the side of her mouth making me laugh. When she falls asleep on my shoulder while I'm burping her and her chubby little cheek squishes against me- that's when I feel heaven.

Life isn't an Instagram post. My hair is rarely done and I view makeup as a necessary evil. Everyday isn't rainbows and butterflies. It  would be easy to write just about all the not so fun parts motherhood, but here's the kicker: being a mom is hard, but life without my baby was even harder!

Emiline loves me with no makeup on and the same sticky t-shirt she's spit up on every night this week. She loves me even when I'm grumpy and selfish. She doesn't care if we don't get out of our Jammies until lunchtime and she definitely could care less if she gets a bath today! All she asks is that I love her (and make sure she's fed and  gets her diaper changed at least a few times a day), because she loves me anyway. She loves me anyway! 

Being a mom is hard.


Because most of the time I don't deserve all of that love.


Being a mom is hard


Because loving someone so much changes a person and change isn't easy.

Being a mom is hard. And I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sick baby that I need to let love me. 

Life in the LV

Who's completely and totally ignored her blog for the past few months? This girl! I would feel bad, but honestly, being mom keeps me busy and by being a mom I mean watching Gilmore Girls instead of taking naps and taking care of the sweetest baby in the whole world.

This summer Matt has had an internship in the big LV so we've been living with his family since the beginning of June. Throw in two unexpected surgeries, about a million poopy diapers, spontaneous Target runs and hours spent kissing, talking to and cuddling with my little Emi and you have a snapshot of my summer. Oh yeah, there's also been a little bit of hanging by the pool and making way too many treats. Life is hard, isn't it?

The really crappy part about neglecting my blog for so long is that I never know where to start. While I think on that and embellish, uh...., I mean think of some fun stories to share, I'm going to just leave this right here.