Hello Again!!

Well... I'm totally embarrassed!!  My blogging time totally got pushed to the back burner in 2017.  A sweet and handsome baby boy arrived to our family in July of 2017, almost 2 whole years ago, and life has been quite busy since.  Throughout my whole pregnancy I tried SO hard to give as much focus and attention to the second child growing in my belly as I did to my first born who was playing all around me.  I did weekly blog posts throughout my pregnancy with my second born.  I was sure to schedule maternity pictures so my second born could have those to look at just as my first born had.  We fixed his nursery, bought his baby book, washed and prepped his clothing... all the many things we parents do to prepare for a new baby.

One of my pet peeves has always been against showing favoritism especially in families.  When I taught first grade, I strived to treat and love every child in my classroom as equally as the other.  It did not matter to me if a student was a teacher's kid, the room mom's child, or the one who dressed himself and walked to the school bus alone because his parents selfishly wanted to sleep late.  I wanted them all to know they were equally special to me.

This kind of love and treatment I have always wanted in my own family and with my children.  So it was one of my largest goals to ensure that my second born, Brayden, knew and received as much love and special attention as my first born, Emersyn received.  If you take a look at my blog timeline posts... I stayed pretty "on top of things" during my pregnancy with Brayden but my posts stopped after his first month of life.  Life with a toddler and infant who stayed at home with me all day, every day became much more busy than I ever anticipated, and although I treasure all the blogging I did with Emersyn and deeply wish I could have done that for Brayden, it just was not feasible.  Using my time to pour into them was much more valuable, and the moments to myself were too slim for writing and documenting.

I could let mom guilt overtake me... or I could reflect over these past two years and thank God for the indescribable blessings he has given me in Emersyn and Brayden.  I choose the latter.  I am going to begin blogging again... better late than never because I do want Brayden to have a "memory book" of his first years like Emersyn.  Hopefully he will one day enjoy looking back at the pictures and writings (or maybe his wife will one day haha).  I also love the organization blogging gives to keep track of some of my greatest treasures, pictures of my babies.

My Brayden boy, you are SO LOVED!!!  As your daddy would say, you are even more blessed than your sister was during her first years of life because you received the love of not only a daddy and mama but of a sister too.  Your daddy loves you and thinks you are the best little buddy.  You melt your mama's heart every time you look with those huge brown eyes and give that smirk grin.  Your sister loves taking care of you, playing with you, and seriously thinks of you as her best friend.

Your blog posts will look different from your sisters because honestly my worn brain cannot remember every detail of each month of your first two years of life, but my love for your is just as deep and just as wide.  As your 2nd birthday approaches in a few weeks, it is my goal to fully catch up on blogging the first 24 months of your life as a birthday gift so you can know exactly how very special you are to our family and how very much we love you!!