Motherhood is...

Hard.

I feel like I am living two different lives in one. My first life wakes up early. Feeds the baby, changes the baby, plays with the baby, sleeps a little if possible, reads, talks to Dallas and sends him off to work. Then I put the baby down for a nap... my second life begins as my two kids wake up around 8:30. I feed them, dress them and get them ready for wherever it is we need to go that day. Then, when the baby wakes, I combine the two lives into one. The day is crazy though. Because now my two lives are all blended into one: being a mom of a demanding baby and being the mom of two young children. Trying to get things done all at once (with a baby on my hip).... cooking, cleaning, driving, shopping, planning, working out, diaper changing, feeding, showering (if I am lucky), disciplining, organizing, doing laundry, playing with kids, and trying to keep up with all the things I should be doing on top of all the day to day stuff (phone calls, scheduling appointments, reading scriptures, visiting friends, teaching my kids, taking photos of my kids, recording memories, etc.. etc... etc.). My only relief is nap time and bed time. But even then I am not done. I am never done. Because when one life slows down, the other speeds up. It's a vicious cycle.

I hit a point where I can't take it anymore. But I put on a face and pretend that I can. The only person who knows I am falling apart at the seams is Dallas. Poor Dallas... because all the weight that was on my shoulders gets shifted to his.

Being a mom is hard. It's the plain, honest truth. At the end of the day I don't know how else to describe it. But when I wake up in the morning, I do it again. Because it's what I want. Truly it is, I just have to keep reminding myself that it is all worth it. My three crazy, adorable, fun, loving, wonderful children are worth it and I wouldn't have it any other way.

This photo is for my 12 for 2012 project. The theme for May is: Motherhood is... The technique is: self portrait. This really isn't a portrait of myself, but I am in the photo :) It's more of my perspective, my view on things as a mom of young children. I really like how it turned out. I only wish Makiah would have been it the photo... but that's ok, I still love it.

More of Daphne

Sooo... I should have had this photo taken weeks ago and I should have posted it 10 days ago, after Dallas took it for me. But I didn't. I finally got around to editing and organizing my personal photos, so hopefully I'll be posting some more of what has been going on around here. 

I think the main reason I didn't post these right away was because I didn't like them :( We put up two bookshelves along my white wall in my room where I usually take these photos. I could either move the shelves... or find a new spot in my house. Let's just say, I wasn't too happy with the options I had. The light is just different from my room and I want the photos to all look similar. (Also, I needed a hair cut and my hair just doesn't look so good in this shot.) Okay, I am done complaining... I think. I do like these photos though, Daphne is just too cute.

6 months

3 months

Newborn

My girl at 6 months

Six (and a half) months old now...

This is my new favorite photo of Daphne. She is growing like crazy and learning so much. Here are some of the things she has been up to:

Scooting backward, forward and in circles.

Scooting across the room (as of last night!!)

Sitting up when we trick her into it, she doesn't like it much.

Eating rice cereal (only a few bites a day, still getting used to it).

Napping only twice a day.

Sleeps 10 hours during the night.

I thought I'd post more photos from this shoot of Daphne on my photo blog... take a look!

Utah and Birthday

I got to take a last minute trip to Utah last week. My dad had to have two surgeries recently and I wanted to be with him and help my mom out during this time that my dad is recovering from surgery. I flew out with Daphne so she could meet grandpa (finally!).  I was also lucky to be home with my family on my birthday :) It's been a while since I got to celebrate with them.

Here we are on my birthday with my dad. We partied it up at the care center that he is staying at this month...

Mom :)

The crew (and Brandon's precious Dr. Pepper)...

Daphne loved everyone! It was a perfect time to take her to meet everyone. She isn't nervous with new people yet.

My nieces loved Daphne, and Daphne loved having kids play with her. I really think she missed Evan and Makiah while we were gone. We Skyped a couple of times with Dallas, Evan and Makiah. Daphne got SOOO excited to see them. It was so cute.  

Sophie took good care of Daph, she was so sweet to her!

Demi :) I love this girl! She wouldn't come near me last summer... but this year she warmed up to me quick and even ran and gave me a hug on my birthday :)

The kids insisted on celebrating when I got home. They were sweet and had presents, cake and ice cream all ready for me. (Do you like how I have empty frames on my wall? I really need to get some more prints :))

It's good to be home, it was hard being away from my family. Luckily next time I go to Utah they will be coming with me!