One Month

My big-blue-eyed beauty being silly!!!

Gracie Ann,

I can't believe that you have been in the world for one whole month!! It seems like just yesterday you were just a dream. I dreamed about how you would look and what you would be like. I worried. I worried about you making it into the world safely and being strong. I wondered. I wondered if God had equipped me with all the tools that I needed to be a great mom to you. I prayed. I prayed that you would have a love of God that would pour out of you onto others and that you would find His distinct purpose for your life.

We have spent the last month learning you. We have studied your face, fingers, and toes. We have breathed you in to memorize your sweet smell. We have listened carefully to every sound and cry to try and figure out what it is you are telling us. I still feel like I have a lot to learn so I apologize if I don't get it just right the first time.

We have quickly discovered your likes and dislikes as we strive to make your world a lovely place. This is what we know about you so far baby girl.
1. You love to listen to the sound of rain and rushing water. You loved this in my belly too and it made you dance in mama's tummy, but now it relaxes you. One of your favorite places to sleep is in your pink Boppy chair in the bathroom with the sun shining on you through the big window while listening to the sound of mama's big bathtub.
2. You are strong willed.
3. You have a big personality!
4. You are a daddy's girl.
5. You like to snuggle up in the crook of mommy's neck and curl your legs up on me like a frog.
6. You are a child of routine.
7. You kick your legs when you are mad.
8. You are a very social baby. You love people and you have never cried in public.
9. You love to soak in the world.
10. You are musical.

I hope you know how much we love you. I hope that you feel safe when you are home. I hope that we can show you how to love others and be your own person. I hope that we can show you what it means to have a love for God that defines who you are so you don't have to go searching. I hope that we can give you a security that allows you to be independent and adventurous later in life. I hope that you can love those who hurt you. I hope that you are strong enough to stand up for what you believe in and not be swayed. I hope that you take the best parts of each of us. I hope that we are everything that you need us to be.

I promise that we will be there to cheer on your every milestone. I promise that we will make you laugh. I promise that when you get your heart broken we will feel it too and love you through it. I promise that we will always be your home.

It is only the beginning sweet baby girl and we are walking this road together. I can't wait to see what is in store for your life. You are already great! I love you!

Love,
Mama

Welcome to the Mom Club...

Well, it's official! I have joined the mom club. How do I know this to be true? Let me list a few of the criteria that I feel have entered me into such a coveted position:

1. I am still wearing the same shorts and t-shirt that I fell asleep in last night. (Today was a rough day.)
2. As soon as Chris' key hit the door today I told him I had to get out of the house for awhile. He said, "Sure, I'll watch Gracie. You go and take your time and do something for yourself." Where was my long-awaited escape to, you might ask? The post office, Sonic to get a tea peach tea, and a trip to Kroger where I made sure to dilly-dally as much as possible. It felt wonderful!!!
3. I have spit up in my hair.
4. I can't remember brushing my teeth today.
5. This list makes me sound like I have personal hygiene issues, but really I just don't have time or I am too delirious to care.
6. I got 6 thank-you cards completed today and I feel I have made a real accomplishment.
7. Everything in my washer at this very moment has poop stains on it.
8. I haven't worn make-up in three days and I am not quite certain what day it is when asked.
9. I have no idea what I am doing.
10. I know I am blessed.

Where is my badge? Then again, if I am walking around town looking like what I described above is it necessary for me to need one? I think not. These are the days of my life.

Good Friends and Hotdogs

We had a picnic on Sunday and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. The weather was amazing and Gracie was a model baby. She graciously let everyone hold her and she loves to be outside...it is one of her favorite things. The best thing about the day was wonderful people. All the people we love who we always tell, "We have to hang out." We are more than blessed to be surrounded with people who love us and who have been there through all the stages of our life as "The Bullards" A quote from Toby Benso about the day, "Can we recreate this exact day on my birthday?"

7 things you don't know about me!! The things you do for friends...

This is one is for you Jamie. Let's get together very soon!

1. I hate odd numbers. They freak me out. I was severely disappointed when they told me Gracie would be induced on the 23rd. It took everything I had in me to swallow back the tears. I didn't have the guts to tell the doctor my fear of odd numbers, but it left a bad feeling in my tummy. Now that Gracie is here it has helped my number fear to subside just a little.

2. I not-so-secretly wanted to be a country singer when I grew up. My parents bought me a pink guitar with daisies on it for my 18th b-day. I also wrote "Nashville" on top of my HS graduation cap. Then I learned two songs and decided I would just marry a singer instead, since I can't really sing in tune;). I live vicariously through Chris.

3. I can get a perfect score on Karaoke Revolution on the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

4. I used to throw up at almost every game I cheered in high school. Cheese Fries Kill.

5. I love to dress up in crazy costumes at random times and sing at the top of my lungs.

6. I used to put on concerts in my college dorm room with the pink guitar mentioned above wearing my Popeye's cowboy hat and a zebra towel wrap.

7. I have to have my house clean of clutter at all times...but my closets, garage, and drawers are a mess.

I tag Erin and Courtney. I know that you both already knew most of these things about me...but are there 7 things I don't know about you??

Bath Time

Gracie Ann is three weeks old today!!! She is growing so quickly! Last Friday when we went to the doctor she had gone from weighing 6.8 lbs. t0 7.6 lbs. I was holding her tonight and I told Chris that I think is at least 8 lbs. by now because she feels a lot heavier! She is eating like crazy...every time she eats she acts like we never feed her:) This week her favorite things to do besides eat are to sit outside in the backyard, listen to music, and play on her tummy. One of her all time favorite things to do is take a bath. No matter how upset she is or what kind of day we have had, the second she sits in that pink tub she is in heaven! Just take a look at these pictures.



We are so blessed to have this baby girl!!!

Chicks Rule!

Here are some pics that I just thought were cute of our little princess!! Isn't she perfect!

Gracie's First Letter

Okay I had to post this, because this picture is priceless! Gracie got her social security card in the mail yesterday and when Chris took her picture with it this is what she did! I can't believe she looked at it and smiled...she cracks me up! I love how her little personality is coming out already! She is two weeks old today. She is changing everyday!

Memory Lane

As I was reading a blog written by another mom who is an amazing writer, I started thinking back on who I was before April 23, 2008. I was a cheerleader who thought our last football game was the most devastating event in the world. I was a college girl with not a care in the world who stayed up all hours of the night running the roads of Ada singing at the top of my lungs. I was the president of my sorority who had to solve very important matters of the sisterhood. I was a newlywed who went on spur of the moment dates and vacations with my husband. Now I ask myself, "Was that really me?"

The night before I had Gracie I told Chris that we should go out for one last night as non-parents. He said, "What do you do with a woman who is nine months pregnant. I think we already are parents." Can you imagine a mom-to-be out on the town like a bride-to-be. One last night of freedom out like a young bachelorette. It makes me laugh just thinking about waddling around about to pop trying to hold onto to my youth with all I've got inside of me.

Now I feel like someone new. I am someone who can sit for hours memorized by the face of a newborn baby. I am a mommy who jumps up at even a slight whimper and whose stomach aches when I am away from her. I get up at all hours of the night to feed, rock, and change this precious baby. I read her books and talk in silly voices. I pray that she she grows strong and loves others with a servant's heart. I sit and think every minute that these are the best days of my life.

I was made to be Gracie's mommy, but that carefree girl is still very much there inside of me. One day when Gracie is old enough to ride down the road and sing at the top of her lungs...I will teach her all about what it means to be young. I will tell her stories that she won't believe about her mommy. I will tell her stories about her daddy sweeping me off my feet. I will show her the world.

Daddy's Gone:(

Chris left to go to L.A. with Carly and the band today. He will be gone until Sunday afternoon. They are shooting a music video. It is crazy that all this started happening for him right before Gracie was going to be born. God really is so faithful. Every year of our marriage He has blessed us more and more. He is enabling Chris to do what he has dreamed of since he was a little boy and provide for his family all at the same time. I am so proud of his determination to achieve his goals as a professional musician.

In the mean time, Mommy has to see if she can handle the late night feedings without Daddy here to help. He is usually the one to get up with her in the night and Gracie loves her time with him. We will have to do our best without him...just us girls. When we got to the airport he told Gracie, "You better get used to this place, you will be here a lot." We miss him terribly already! The good rides to the airport are the rides when we get to pick him up to come home!