New Year's Resolutions

What's a New Year celebration if I don't include a few resolutions or goals for 2015? This is a very cliché post, for I feel that we should always be striving to be our best selves, but of course the beginning of a new year is a great time to find and keep that killer motivation! Despite its trials, 2014 was a beautiful year for us, but I am very anxious to see what 2015 holds for me and my family.

Here is my list of goals for the new year:

Walk closer with God.
I'm a Christian, so this will never change. Do we ever reach a point where we're satisfied with our relationship with Christ? I don't think so. This is something that I will always be striving to improve.

Spend more time with family.
This year I've grown so much closer with my little brother and older sisters. Being a wife and mother has made my relationship with my parents stronger. When my Nannie passed away last year, I began to realize how quickly we can lose the people we love, so I want to spend more time with the two grandparents I still have, my dad's father and my mom's mother. I also want to spend more time with my cousins and aunts and uncles. Things have been a little hectic in my family this year, and it's important to me that they all know how very much I love them.

90/10
I'm going to strive to maintain my 90/10 healthy diet by eating mostly healthy things while allowing a not-so-nutritious treat every couple of days. I want to drink lots of water too!

Strong not skinny.
For the past fourteen years, I have woken up every January 1st and said to myself, This year I will get skinny! Ha. That is no longer the goal! As far as weight loss goes, I think I should probably stop putting a number to it. I have a goal weight in mind, but my ultimate goal is to be strong and healthy. I hope to keep working out three to four times a week and get some major definition in my legs and arms. Some abs would be nice, but I hear you can't have everything...

No French fries challenge.
One of my friends did this in 2010; she did not eat a single French fry for an entire year. When asked why, she shrugged and said she just thought it'd be a cool challenge. So, I gave it a shot in 2012. I made it all the way to May then devoured a plate of fries after a state testing day when my administration forgot to give the test proctors a lunch break. They finally brought us food in the form of a basket of fries! I am going to repeat this challenge again in 2015. I don't have a French fry weakness or anything; it's just an interesting challenge! I will make it an entire year without a French fry!

To never be "too busy."
I realized just in the last few months that I'm a bit offended when a friend says, "Sorry I've not returned your calls in weeks; I've just been so busy!" Confession: I used to place my worth in how busy I was... When I was in a sorority and writing for the student newspaper at Ole Miss, I bragged about how packed my social schedule was, and I'm sure I looked like an asshole to my friends as I explained to them how difficult it was for me to pencil in lunch dates and movie nights. I have a goal to never apologize to a friend with the excuse that I was "too busy" to return a call for day/weeks at a time. News flash: no one is that busy.

Blogging.
I have no shame in admitting that I absolutely love my blog. When I returned to it earlier this year I thought it would just be a fun hobby I was picking up again, a cool way to track my pregnancy and things going on in my life. But now I'm obsessed with it and I've been extremely fortunate to have had some neat opportunities along the way. I will continue blogging in 2015. I'd like to get more sponsorships and gain more readers across more diverse audiences. I absolutely love my readers too!

Be the best wife and mother I can be.
This never stops. I pray each day that God helps me to love Eric even more than I did the previous day. I pray He molds me into the wife and mother He wants me to be, and I ask for His guidance as the number one woman in both my husband and son's lives. I thought I had it all when I married Eric, but I really got it all when I became a mother. It truly is everything.

 The first of a new year really is a great time to start working on a better you, but remember that it's a constant work in progress. Whatever your goals are, I hope you go after them with passion. I wish you a happy and prosperous 2015!!!

2014: The Year in Review

There's only so much you can post in a status when Facebook does the "year in review" photo slideshow for you. That's why I'm so thankful to have a blog... I can expand a little more on

what 2014 has brought us.

January

I lost nearly 20 pounds and was looking and feeling fabulous. I was smaller than I had been in a while and was working out four to five times a week for an hour and a half, but I noticed around mid-January that I was feeling really sluggish and tired... More sluggish and tired than was normal...

23rd: I finally trusted my instincts and stopped for a few pregnancy tests at the CVS on my way home from a meeting. I couldn't believe the plus signs I saw on both tests, so I bought two more digital ones that night after my workout. My husband and I laughed ourselves to sleep. We had no idea what we were in for.

February

We announced our pregnancy with Valentine's Day cards to our family and close friends. We were so overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support for us, even though we were still a little scared.

March

I had the best spring break; I took my Praxis II test to become certified in Special Education, which I had grown to love. I passed and am now certified! My mom came with me to my second prenatal appointment that week and got to see Vaught flipping and flopping around in my belly. Of course, we still didn't know at that time that he was a boy!

April

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a night at the bed and breakfast we honeymooned at in Oxford. We were just a couple of days away from finding out that...

It's a boy! We found out we were having a boy on April 14th!
I had to keep the gender a secret for a whole week! We were going to reveal with an Easter egg hunt for our families that Sunday.
On Thursday before Easter break, I was called into my principal's office and told that I would not be returning for a third year. As of May, I would be unemployed. I remember this moment like it was yesterday, and it still haunts me. Never in my life had I felt so afraid, so vulnerable. Three times I asked for reasons why I was being asked to resign; three times I was denied an answer, other than "It's just not working out." A pen was placed in my hand and I was forced to sign a sheet of paper stating that I chose to leave my job, to quit. I placed my hand protectively over my belly as I signed my name, shaking so badly I thought I would pass out. I will never forget it. I am still healing; I am better with each day.

Through the fear and pain of such a scary situation, we found a way to have a pleasant Easter with our families. We announced Baby Pace's gender to the delight and surprise of our family and friends. They were so glad to be welcoming a boy to the family for the first time in eight years!

May

I worked with some amazing women. My best friend from work put together an after-school baby shower for me and Vaught. I was so surprised! It will always be one of my favorite memories.

On the last day of school, I left early and cried the whole way home. I loved everyone I worked with and still do to this day. I loved my kids, and I still miss them terribly. Even still, I knew that God was doing something for me, and I knew it was okay that I did not yet understand what it was. To my credit, I did make sure that I had completed all of the work that I had been assigned during those last few weeks. I don't know why, but I still wanted to leave on a good note.

I felt Vaught's first kicks while waiting on a train in Potts Camp... It was Mother's Day.

I was in my first of three weddings at the end of May.

I returned to work at my mother's office, making four years that I have worked as an office assistant for her. I got the official title of Account Manager this year :) I was thankful to wake up each morning and go to a job I absolutely love.

June

SIX months pregnant and finally starting to show!

I was in my second wedding, my baby brother's, on June 28th. I was about to pop out of my dress!

July

I enjoyed a short vacation to Orange Beach, and my husband surprised me by showing up that Wednesday night. We looked at it as the honeymoon we never got to have.

I was in my third and final wedding at the end of the month, Jaymo's. I cried the entire way home, from both exhaustion, happiness for her, and relief that I was done with weddings for the rest of the year.

August

My first official baby shower was on August 3rd, and Vaught Charles got soooo much stuff!!

I finished putting his room together towards the end of the month.

September

I turned 24 and was still pregnant!

But by the 25th, our baby boy was here! Vaught Charles Pace was born at 8:27 that night. Eight pounds, one ounce, twenty and one-half inches of pure perfection!

October

The Ole Miss Rebels beat the Alabama Crimson Tide.

November

I learned that I have even more to be thankful for than I thought. I tried to focus on being more thankful throughout the entire month.

We had an enjoyable first Thanksgiving with Vaught. He wore a gown on Thanksgiving Day, and it nearly caused a divorce.

The Golden Egg returned to its rightful place at The University of Mississippi. I got too shambly at that football game.

December

My blog earned more sponsors!

I returned to work while Vaught went to daycare; the two of us have done really well with this arrangement. I've been surprised at my ease with daycare and am so glad to see how well he's doing with it too!

Vaught had his first Christmas! It was so sweet to spend the holidays with our precious baby boy. He is our entire world!

 What a year! Bring on 2015!

Come back tomorrow for my post on New Year's Resolutions :)

It. Is. Everything.

It's 1:57 in the morning. I've got to get up in a few hours, possibly sooner if that's what my three-month-old son wants to do. He's sleeping like an angel in his pack-n-play at the foot of our bed. Lola, our beloved adopted pit bull, is curled up on the loveseat beside him, keeping a close watch as usual. In the room down the hall (Vaught's room), Eric's grandparents from Meridian are snoozing after a long drive to come see their new great-grandson and spend some time with us over the holidays. Eric's sister is asleep on the living room couch and will leave from the Memphis airport in mere hours to catch her flight back to Virginia. Where's Eric? Snoring like a grizzly bear beside me. I have no idea how Vaught has not been woken up by his dad's snoring. I've been awake for a while now and have had to punch/shove/shake him several times just to get the snoring to the status of "low rumble." I had a shower sometime in the late afternoon, but I stink again from a spilled bottle of formula combined with sweat from the workout I had earlier tonight at 9. My husband just let out the biggest yawn right in my face, and I'm pretty sure something has crawled down his throat and died (morning breath is the absolute, most disgusting thing in the world to me).

It is now 2:08. Being a mother is everything.

Do you have any idea how selfish I was before becoming a mom? Without me having to go into detail, just trust me--I was. It was all about me. Sure, I was considerate of my husband, and I do love him more than I love myself, but I also often thought about myself and my wants and needs a lot more than I thought about his. Vain, I know. A chubby little boy has changed all of that though.

Do you have any idea what it's like to get to pick up and hold and cuddle and rock and soothe and feed and clothe a physical piece of your heart? How about a piece of the person you love more than anything? Vaught is half of me and half of Eric; he is the two of us rolled into one perfectly chunky little ball of light. Do you know how beautiful that is?

Do you know how delightfully, painfully overwhelming it is to look at a tiny person and see your entire world looking back at you? Just blinking up at you, so sweet and so innocent. So unaffected by the harshness of this world and what's to come. My heart aches at the thought of what he might have to endure some day. And at the same time, I know I shouldn't worry.

Being a mother is everything.

It is hard, and it's the easiest, most natural job I have ever had. It is tough and yucky, but it's more fun than I can ever explain. It is giggles and smiles and worry and fear. It is spit-up and poop and boogers and "Babe, would you come look at this?" It is bath time and lavender-scented lotion. It is soft skin and chubby fingers. It is a toothless grin and a fuzzy head.

Being a mother is everything.

I never had the desire to become one. I didn't like kids, said I was never having them. I was going to live my life with my husband the way I wanted to--child and worry-free! No commitments (besides the one we made to each other), no dirty diapers to change, no whining to listen to, no car seats to lug around.

Being a mother is everything.

He doesn't cry much, but when he does it's the sweetest sound in the world. It tells me that he's alive and well. If I wasn't tired at the end of the day, I could stay up all night looking at him and have done so a couple of times. I'm sure I'm tired during the day sometimes, but I don't really notice. I didn't know how to change diapers until he was born, but I learned quickly and am a pro now. I can give him a bath in under three minutes and can swaddle with the best of them!

Being a mother is everything.

It's everything you wanted that you didn't know you wanted until you got it. It's what makes you wonder who you were before you became one. It makes you not really even care to know. You know those single, twenty-somethings who say things like, I'm so glad I'm not a twenty-five-year-old parent! They think you envy their undemanding lifestyle, but you don't. 1). You're too busy changing dirty diapers and mixing bottles to notice what they're doing. 2). You know they could never handle a love this big. Well, not yet at least. Not until it happens to them.

Being a mother is everything.

It is love and it is life. It's terrifying and wonderful all at once. It is a blessing, and I have no idea how I lived up until September 25th, 2014. It is liberating and humbling. It is difficult and oh-so-second-nature.

Being a mother is everything. Do you hear me?

It. Is. Everything.

 

Christmas with the Paces

We swore that this year we really were going to keep our Christmas travels simple; we'd pick just one or two things to go to and send our well wishes to all the others while we sit at home and just enjoy the holidays. Well, when you have a three-month-old that so many family members still have not met, that's nearly impossible. We've been travelling all over North Mississippi since Sunday!

 

December 21st

On Sunday we were in Etta at my Grandmother Eva's annual Christmas dinner. This is the gathering for my mother's side of the family. We had dinner around 1PM then lazed around for the rest of the afternoon. Vaught took an awesome nap on this day, and I laid down with him and snoozed too!

 

December 23rd

Tuesday night was the Hancock Christmas in Tupelo. If you've ever travelled down West Main Street in Tupelo and seen the blue signs in memory of S.A. Junior Hancock, he was my great uncle, my Nannie's brother. He died in 2005, but my Aunt Vernel still has her annual Christmas party at their home. This is always on the 23rd of December and is always my favorite Christmas gathering! There's just something about her home that I've always loved... Perhaps it's because she lives so close to the Tupelo airport, and I'm obsessed with airplanes! I always have to drive by and look at the planes when I go to Tupelo.

with Aunt Audrana

Christmas Eve

Eric had to work on Christmas Eve, but when he got home around four, we headed to New Albany for his dad and stepmother's Christmas. His sister made dinner for us then we opened gifts. Vaught got some sweet things from Pop and Kack, Mimi, and Aunt Erin!

Our little guy was knocked out by the time we left!

Christmas Day

Vaught is three months old today!

If there's one thing I say I could never stand to miss (but will probably have to eventually), it's my mother's Christmas Day Brunch in Potts Camp. We have everything from fried bacon and tenderloin to strawberry pretzel salad and monkey bread! As much as I love the family time, I have to admit that the food is one of the most appealing parts about this day!

I worked out late night on Christmas Eve just so I could enjoy this! Ya gotta live a little!

Since my parents' four children are now married (three with children), it's almost impossible to get us all in the same place at the same time. Because of this, we all open presents with my mom and dad at different times on Christmas Day. We did not do Santa at our house, but he definitely showed out at Bebe and Pawpaw's!

 

Eric, Vaught, and I got lots of goodies from my parents, much of it Ole Miss stuff! We even got a signed copy of The Chucky Mullins Effect! Such a sweet gift, it brought tears to my eyes!

 

Around 2:30, I made "lumps of coal" cookies with my niece. She later gave some to my husband and told him it was for being bad this year. Little does she know, she's not entirely incorrect :)

They taste MUCH better than they look!

Some really sweet memories were made today too. I am "mad for plaid," so I got my mother and two sisters a plaid shirt from Old Navy for their Christmas present. We all wore them for pictures then took some good family photos, which we've not done in so long! I will cherish these forever!

 

By seven everyone was hungry again and since most of the food had been devoured, I made grilled cheese sandwiches for our remaining company. Vaught began to get a little fussy after that, so we headed home and put little guy to bed. I know he's so ready for a little less travelling for the next few days!

 

The last thing I did on such a lovely Christmas Day, besides type up this little blog post, was go to the gym for a very quick workout. I knew I wanted to work out on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and I'm glad I did.

No shame here in admitting that I ate a lot today and drank lots of coffee. But I told myself it was perfectly okay as long as I get back on track tomorrow! I try to eat 90% healthy, but today was definitely a 10% day. Even still, it was filled with fun memories with my family that I'll always remember. Vaught's first Christmas was definitely a success!!

Three Months Old

Merry Christmas to you and happy three month birthday to Vaught Charles! We've had a wonderful three months and a quaint little Christmas as a family of three (plus two pups)! I can't believe it's been three months since we met our baby boy... He is our entire world, and our lives are changed for the better. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be dressing a cuddly little one in a reindeer sleeper on Christmas morning, I probably would have told you you were crazy. Being a mother really is everything, though. I love our little guy so so much.

 

 

Weight: 15 pounds, 2 ounces

Length: 24 inches

Food: He drinks 6-8 ounces about every three hours. When he was about two and a half months old, we began to implement some baby food. We skipped right over rice cereal or oatmeal and tried apples, bananas, and sweet potatoes. Vaught loves them! He will eat rice cereal, but it's not his favorite.

Sleep: 9-11 hours a night. He's had his first cold and we found out a few days ago that it's actually bronchiolitis, basically bronchitis in infants. It's very common, and the only "cure" is for him to just cough all the mucus out of his lungs. No fever or anything, just coughing and wheezing a little, so he's gotten up a few times in the night due to that. Sometimes I'll need to give him a bottle and rock him back to sleep, but most of the time he'll babble and drift off again. Last night he slept THIRTEEN hours! My grandmother gave us a humidifier, and that's already helping out with Vaught's cold.

Diapers: He now wears size 2, and I'm testing all the store brands. Walmart's Parent's Choice and Walgreen's Well Beginnings are both awesome!

Clothes: He can still wear some 0-3, but mostly 3-6 months. These still have some growing room too. I've begun buying size nine month when I shop for him because he does not have many options after six months!

Developments: He's holding up his head and chest very well, and he can roll onto his side from his back. He'll be rolling over before too long! He's also getting some hand-eye coordination; when I hold a toy in front of his face, he's begun reaching for it. When his name is called, he looks around to find out who the voice belongs to. He's babbling, cooing, and giggling constantly, as well as grabbing onto his bottle.

Daycare: Am I crazy for not crying the first day I dropped him off? He loves it! He's been going to daycare at the private school near my work for three weeks now and has yet to cry when I drop him off or pick him up. When I pick him up in the afternoons, he's usually being cuddled by one of the caretakers or sleeping! He's also got a curly-headed blonde girlfriend who's three! I really thought that daycare would be hard, but I'm so thankful that it hasn't been. The women there who take care of him are amazing!

The Dogs: lots of people have asked how are pups are handling the baby. Lola is like his second mother... She's very protective of him and can calm him down  when he cries. She's the best big sister! Ginger, on the other hand, couldn't really care less for him. She wasn't on the Pace Christmas card because she won't be near him. But I think Vaught and Lola are going to be BFF :)

Likes:
Sitting up
His Bumbo
His swing
The Christmas tree
TV (bright lights, basically)
Rattle toys
His squeaky cow toy
Lola
Bath time
Carseat, riding, strolling
Baby food
Tummy time
Sucking on thumbs/hands

Dislikes:
Sitting at stoplights or standing still; he likes his carseat as long as he's moving!
Being taken out of the bath
Laying back; unless he's being fed, he likes to sit up

Pictures

The morning of his first day at daycare

He usually sleeps until it's time for me to wake him up and get him ready, but this was one morning when he woke up early. He then went down for a nap while I got ready for work!

Sweet potatoes for breakfast!

Christmas at Pop & Kack's last night!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!