Sippy Cups And Smiles

Planning our baby girl’s first birthday has brought out a whirlwind of emotions in me. I’m so thrilled to be celebrating the beautiful, kind soul of our Allie bug. I’m so used to planning parties for boys, but with a girl-oh my goodness the ideas for a birthday party are endless! It was a no-brainer to pick her party theme of Princess Sofia the First though. Our Allie can’t get enough of this adorably sweet Princess.

As much excitement as her daddy, big brothers, and I have about her first birthday, I can’t help but feel a tinge of bittersweet sadness. Our Allie Sofia has blossomed so much this first year of her life. I can no longer hold her for hours at a time and stare at her just as long like I used to when she was an infant. Now so much curiosity and wonder fill her eyes as she begins exploring her world around her. I know it’s a part of life and as proud as I am to have a brave, fearless girl, I realize that she will only become more and more independent and I will have to cherish memories of her first few months as a precious infant in my arms much more frequently. I want Alessandra to take on her world and soak up every wonderful adventure she can all the while knowing that she always has her faith in God and her family to anchor her whenever she may feel overwhelmed.

Has anyone seen that scene in the Sex and the City 2 movie where Charlotte is in the kitchen baking pretty pink cupcakes for her oldest daughter’s school bake sale? Well, Charlotte is in the midst of a typical parenting situation where her youngest baby is crying at the top of her lungs while her oldest daughter is persistent in getting her mommy’s attention while her mommy is on the phone. Her oldest daughter then places both hands full of finger paint on Charlotte’s uber expensive Valentino dress. The dress was cream by the way. Poor Charlotte has a sudden mommy meltdown and locks herself in her pantry closet to escape from all the chaos. It’s moments like that where only parents can sympathize with what Charlotte’s character is going through. And what’s worse is that every parent tries their hardest to keep it all together and when it feels like we’ve fallen short of that impossible “perfect parenting” pedestal that we’ve shamelessly set a ridiculous high standard for, we begin to feel guilty of not being a good parent. In reality, no parent is perfect. That’s a delusional concept that we all just need to erase from our minds right now because it’s definitely not helping our self-esteem. Parenthood is an enormous maze full of unexpected twists and turns where we have no clue where it will lead. It’s scary as hell. What brings me comfort is knowing that I have God as my guide to help me guide my children on the path that He has destined for them.

I helped create these three beautiful, precious, sweet little darlings that are our children. They’ve blessed my life with never ending love to last infinity and beyond. However, being a parent to these adorable love bugs isn’t quite always rainbows and butterflies if you catch my drift lol. Children’s angelic faces are often used to disguise the other side of parenthood-the side where explosive, sudden temper tantrums erupt or an unexpected outburst in public occurs over the most random, embarrassing topic that you had absolutely no idea your child would ever repeat or even heard you talk about! Or perhaps you are forced to be the referee of a sibling war where you fear for your life that any part of your limbs might be victim to a two year old’s excruciatingly painful bite mark.

This is the chaotic madness of parenting that never runs through your mind when you first find out you are expecting. This side of parenting is absolutely exhausting and your mind hurts sometimes from the constant round the clock watch. It’s the most tiring, frightening, exasperating, wildest adventure of your life but if it was an easy job then everyone would do it.

The best time here in Texas weather-wise is good ‘ol October because it’s our one real perfect month that actually feels like a legit Autumn season- not scorching hot anymore and right before it gets bitterly icy cold. So naturally everyone who is a true Texan gets so overjoyed to start our real “one month only” Fall festivities which pretty much centers around football, pumpkin patches, The State Fair, and finally drinking ourselves into a Starbucks pumpkin spiced latte coma.

Anyone who has little ones, like me, are on a mission to capture those perfect Fall-inspired, candid photographs that fill up our Pinterest boards. Now having two boys and a baby girl, so many adorable images and ideas are running through my head of course, and Chris and I are looking forward to visiting a fun pumpkin patch with the kids and hopefully capturing at least a handful of sweet, photogenic, Pinterest-worthy pictures of our family. Wish us luck because having three kids under age 5 & a half cooperating with the camera is a long shot but one that I’m determined to tackle!

Celebrating Allie’s first Halloween is also an event this month that I’m over the moon about! Entering the girly world of costumes is sooooo much more intense than the usual boy costumes of superheroes. I already bought Miss Allie an adorable costume about three weeks ago, but now I have another idea for a new costume. She has the perfect, dark, curly hair to make a precious Snow White! Having a girl is so much more overwhelming and adrenaline-filled when it comes to the wardrobe department, I need serious restraint!

Stop! Seriously, this man is the male version of Adele!