Tamara Shannon

I'm having a Mr. Mom moment (shame on you if you don't know that movie; classic-watch it). My maternity leave is coming to an end soon, so it's time to 'kick it into gear!' I've had my time of laziness, but it can't go on forever. Furthermore, I know I'll be unhappy with low productivity levels. I recognize that my to-do list can't be as extensive as it once was because, I am not entirely responsible for my time these days. I do, however, recognize that I need to manage my time more wisely . Thus, I have decided, it starts tomorrow (though not technically the end of my maternity leave, my OCD requires me to start this at the beginning of the week...if I start mid-week I'm less likely to be successful due to my high levels of rationalization/justification--aka I'm good at BS-ing even with myself--and would talk myself into starting next week). Goal #1: I MUST get back into shape. I've invested way too much money in my jean collection to...

I watched Oprah today (insert stereotypical stay-at-home-mom comment here) the topic was on happiness and determining whether or not you are truly happy. Apparently, there are people that dedicate part (if not all) of their careers to studying happiness. They analyzed several different aspects of ones life, including: whether or not happiness is genetic (?), income, sex and whether or not having children make you happier. Here's my answer to the latter... Today while making dinner-or rather attempting to make dinner-little Brynlynn was not very happy with me. After ensuring that she was neither hungry, wet or haboring a burp, I turned the stereo on (*loud*) to play some music and hopefully distract her long enough to get things done. This worked momentarily, but eventually she was oblivious to the music. I picked her up, snuggled and calmed her down...resting her head on my shoulder. As we danced around the kitchen and living room it made me think of how Brent and I also danc...

Brent's always prided himself in being spontaneous and reluctant to always have something planned. I, on the other hand, enjoy having a schedule and better yet a LIST of said schedule. I am, however, starting to understand why he is not always in favor of having a plan.... Plan: Take a day trip to Fredericksburg on Friday. Reality: We went on Saturday. Plan: Leave by 10am. Reality: Left about 12pm. Plan: Brent in shorts/flip flops; Tamara in a summer dress (not really a plan, but it's how we left the house....the first time). Reality: Both in jeans and closed toed shoes after checking the weather and it was slightly drizzling on our way out. Plan: Feed Brynlynn upon arrival to Fredericksburg, in the car, to give us apprx 2 (maybe 3) hours of time w/o a crying baby. Reality: Screaming infant in the first shop we arrive at (apprx 1-1.5 hrs later). Plan: Change her diaper...problem solved! Reality: Diaper changed in a dressing room-screaming infant with clean diaper. I'm sweat...

Brent seems to be the lucky one these days. He volunteered to change the diaper and moments later I heard, "I need some back-up!" Poor little thing...I'm not sure how the poop manages to travel the upward, defying gravity, but it did. Had we not intervened when we did, she would have had some new, organic hair product. I'm sure any veteran parent would've laughed at our joint effort to change, bathe, and clean this tiny 8lb baby. Here's a visual for you: I held her over the sink while Brent attempted to remove her (brand new) onesie. Dialogue was something like this, "Not over her head! You dont want to pull the poop over her head!" She was, surprisingly, quite patient with us and didn't cry at all. We survived our first blow out; I look forward to solid foods.

I dedicate this blog entry to Brent! Yesterday we celebrated his 33rd birthday with friends and our little family. It wasn't a big ordeal, I'm sure he's had much more eventful birthdays in the past, but we had a good time. We took Brynlynn to the mall to walk around (of course she was carseat/stroller bound). We then enjoyed some time with friends at the Cheesecake Factory, one of Brent's all time favorites, and the Dr. Pepper flowed freely! Brent, though he will humbly deny all of this, is such an amazing husband and dad. I can't adequately express all that he means to me-I mean us. He has more then a full plate right now and gets just as much, if not less, sleep than I do, but never complains. He's up in the early morning hours to snuggle with Brynlynn when she's fussy and never hesitates to take her for a diaper change regardless of the time. He is so loving and gentle with his little girl; constantly showering her with hugs and kisses. He also manages t...

Since her birthday things have been like a roller coaster! Some days/nights go so smoothly, while others I'm struggling to have patience. I've been so blessed though throughout it all and am so aware of the Lord's hand in my life....through the people that He sends to bless/help me. I'm so appreciative of those that think to call, email/message and stop by just to check on me. Despite all the challenges, she's such a blessing and we love her SO much! It also helps that she's so dang cute! On her birthday...she makes me melt. Making silly faces...she does this a lot. We decided to keep her. :)

She's arrived! Brynlynn Olivia Shannon (finally) made her entrance on Feb. 15 at 10:14 am! Here's her story... Her initial due date was 2/13 (though her size indicated 2/06). Thinking I could use my mother as a good reference point for my pregnancy, I suspected she too would come early (I was about 4-5 weeks early and my sister 2-3 weeks). Wrong. Thus, when my 40 week check-up rolled around, still no baby and my cervix was no more prepared to deliver a baby than it was at 6 weeks, the Dr. wanted to discuss inducing labor. Even though I was eager to meet her and have my body to myself again, I was apprehensive about this process...you hear the horror stories of the women that elect to induce have a 35 hour labor that ends with a c-section despite their earlier efforts. We, however, prayed about the process, and knew that my body would likely need a little 'boost' since (as previously mentioned) my cervix didn't get the memo about my due date. The date was set: we...