Tamara Shannon

So, I realize I'm a few weeks behind, but better late than never. Like many of my friends, this was my very first Mother's Day as a mom. It was a great one! Brent made me breakfast: eggs, sausage and toast (one of my all time favorites...but lets be honest, there are few breakfast foods that I don't love!). My very sweet and thoughtful daughter, Brynlynn, framed a copy of the picture shown above. She was only a day old in this picture-it was taken laying on the couch in our hospital room. We were lying next to each other sleeping and Brent said we opened our eyes at the same time. What a wonderful thing to wake up to! I am so blessed to call myself a mother. I was raised by a great one! My own mother was and is an amazing example of charity and love. Her selflessness and sincere concern (for practically everyone) is something that I work daily to obtain. Though, it's only been a few months, I can attest to how difficult motherhood can be, but more so how rewar...

As part of my religion ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ) after having a baby (and waiting the appropriate time before bringing her to church-of course) we bless the baby at church. During this sacred ordinance, the child is held (typically) by his/her father and surrounded by other male members who are asked to participate. The father then offers a special blessing, specifically for that child. It is a very sweet and tender moment that allows the father to express his love and desires for the life of his child. The Big Day. The Shannons. Because this was a BIG day for us, we made a weekend of it! We started off the festivities on Saturday..visiting, what we affectionately call, "The Farm" (aka my parents home in Floresville). She was asking, "Does the horse have ears?...does the horse have eyes?...does the horse have a back?" and so on. Cousins. :) Not the black stallion she imagined...but...

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...