The Princess and The Frog

This year has been an exciting Halloween.  It is Jagger's first Halloween and Malone's first year of telling me what she wants to dress up as!  I can't believe Malone is already old enough to really know what she wants and decides what to be for Halloween.  This year she wanted to be a princess, which is a pretty obvious choice for Malone.  She thinks she is a princess in real life already, so why not dress up as one?! :)  She even had to pick out her own princess dress and it HAD to be a long dress.  We found several dresses online and Malone chose this beautiful pink dress and it was exactly what she wanted.

 I thought for Jagger's first Halloween I would try to coordinate him with Malone's costume, so I decided to make him a frog: The Princess and The Frog.  Malone keeps saying that she can kiss him and make him a prince.  Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever heard?!  Jagger's frog costume even had a little crown on top.  He was the absolute cutest frog I have ever seen!!!!! 



Malone made a beautiful princess and Jagger made the sweetest frog ever!  What a priviledge to be a Mommy to these two precious gifts from God. 

Today was also the day Jagger is 7 months old!  Wow!  Where did that time go to?  I'm still in shock that he is that old.  He is becoming so interactive!  He loves to clap his hands and bang on things.  He LOVES to eat.  He is a bottomless pit.  I'm just now starting the 2nd foods with him, which are bigger containers of food, and he eats every last bite of them.  He is a little chunk and is getting so heavy.  I love him so much!  Look at the difference from 1 month old to 7 months old.  Wow!  It doesn't even look like the same baby! 

Mommy Guilt

Lately I have had a lot of Mommy guilt.  I feel as if I never get to spend any quality, 1 on 1 time with Malone.  Don't get me wrong, I spend a lot of time with her, but usually accompanied by Jagger or other people.  Recently, on the days I work and I go pick her up she runs to me and won't let me put her down.  This just seems to be another example of how she is missing her alone Mommy time.  And I miss my alone Malone time! 

Jagger is a baby and requires everything to be done for him (obviously).  This takes up so much of my attention and Malone is noticing this.  She does not seem to get mad or upset (usually), but does become much more clingy than her normal self.  I also get alot of alone Jagger time while Malone is at school or when she stays the night with her Nana or Meme.  I know this is not a new problem faced by mothers, and I know there are other mothers out there who have had to deal with this exact situation, but Malone is my special first baby who I was so used to spending all of my attention on, and now the situation is drastically different.  I think it has gotten more noticeable lately because Jagger has become more playful and interactive with me and Malone sees this too!  She is naturally, and understandably, jealous.

This weekend I am going to have a special Mommy and Malone girl day.  I am so excited about this.  My heart hurts that Malone is missing my time, and I am so excited to give her my undivided attention.  We are going to get our nails done, have lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and according to Malone, get a toy and Starbucks too!  I know this seems like spoiling her, but they are only babies once and I will never get this time back again.  I am going to spoil her and cherish her all I want!!  :)  I hope to have many more girl days with Malone in the future so she always knows how special and precious she is to me!!!

I am a...

Worrier!  I worry about everything.  I'm not sure why I'm like that, but I have always been one to worry about things.  Even as a child, I worried to the point that I made myself sick.  I now try to find the humor in this trait I have, but even finding humor doesn't stop the worrying. 

I worry about my kids, health issues (I find a way to worry about getting sick when I'm not actually sick), what people think, work, and I even worry about worrying. But when I find myself worrying about something (which is almost all the time) I find myself reflecting and praying over these Bible verses:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6: 25-27

Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7

It is not always easy to stop worrying, but I know that the Lord loves me and cares about my worries.  I know I can go to him with my worries and that they matter to him!  How comforting that is during times when I am consumed with worry.  I also know that I have to stop worrying so much and trust in the Lord.  He WILL take care of me regardless of if I worry or not, so why worry?!  :)