Finding my way

Taking time for yourself as a mother is a conflicting act. On one hand, to be a balanced person you must find more than one thing to fulfill you. On the other hand, you don't want to miss one minute of your sweet baby's life! What if she does something new, and you missed it!? This is something I used to wrestle with, but now I understand my time away from her helps me appreciate the time I do have with her, and I can focus on my self and my soul. It is perfectly acceptable and encouraged even to have interests outside of your spouse, and your children. So, I've found two things! One is painting pottery, and the other is baking! (Of course, the latter may have to go hand in hand with getting out to the gym three times a week too!)

Here is just one picture of the Cupcake Pops I attempted last night. Trial and error tells me that they need to be a lot smaller, and I needed to leave them in the freezer for at least an hour. (I could not stand waiting any longer than fifteen minutes...blast my impatience!) I will definitely try them again, as they taste DELICIOUS and are so very cute!

Every other Wednesday, my girlfriends and I try to get out and do something girly where we can talk to each other like adults! It's lovely, and I cherish those few hours I get! Of course, on the odd Wednesday the husbands typically will get together and play in a poker tournament.

My latest pottery piece is not done being fired yet, but I will show off the piggy bank my grandma bought me to paint! It turned out so cute, and I'm glad I had a while to think about what I wanted to do before I actually put paint to pottery.

There was one stipulation put on this pig, and it was the fact that she definitely needed a lady bug companion since Emersen is called LadyBug by her Gigi (great grandma).

As always, you can click on the pictures to see their full size. If you notice, this little piggy got into some mud, and now has some dirty playfully smudged on her little feet!

Now, for the pictures that I know you all come here for. Baby pictures!!!

This is proof positive that boredom plus stickers plus a curious baby equal hysterically cute pictures, every single time. We (Nicole, Paul and I) were all laughing so hard because she looked so cute, that she thought it was funny and started laughing uncontrollably too. It was so much fun, I can't wait to blackmail her with it one her first date. Although, that might be when she's thirty if Paul has anything to say about it!

This morning Emersen had somewhere to be! She grabbed her sunglasses and her Elmo purse and walked around the house for the better part of half an hour. The cutest part was when she would pull the sunglasses half off, like sliding them down her nose as if to say "Yes, can I help you?" Oh well, I can't describe it as well as a picture can show you!

Is that not so adorable? I'm also so happy she's walking around for the majority of the time. Why you ask? Because now she can wear dresses again! Crawling babies and dresses just don't mix!

So on another note, Paul (I know, I never write about him!) is getting ready for a couple of work related trips. He will leave Wednesday with his Chaplains and they will travel to Great Lakes, Il to the Naval Training Command. Once there, they will educate the Chaplains stationed there on how to run a Spiritual Fitness Center, like the one they run here. Then, a few days after he gets back, we'll take a trip to Texas, for Paul's family to meet Emersen! Then, just a few days after we get back from Texas, he'll fly to Meridian, MS to partake in some further education for his rating. They call it "F-school" and it's basically leadership training. Teaching him how to teach other Religious Program Specialists how to do their job, and do it well. That trip will take about three weeks, which will put us at the end of February! Phew, 2009 is already flying by!

I hope everyone has a nice holiday off tomorrow, and that the inaguaration goes smoothly on Tuesday! It seems like the whole world has put extreme resposibility on this one man's shoulders. It's a lot to expect of one man, but as long as we can unite as a country I think we'll be just fine.

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