Sweet & Slobbery

Mother's Day was on Sunday! My first "official" Mother's Day. I say "official" because last year I didn't get anything...not even a box of chocolates. According to my wonderful husband (who really is amazing) I was not officially a "mother" yet...even though I was 8 months pregnant with his child. Who, by the way, loved to kick me...punch me...and never let me sleep.

That was a mistake that he 1) recovered from quite nicely this year and 2) will never forget. Dads just an FYI...even a first time pregnant women is a mother, buy the girl a box of chocolates!

This year, I was able to celebrate all weekend long! On Saturday, I helped organize and run the momstown Mommy & Me Spa Day. Samantha was SO very well behaved, as I ran around making sure that everyone was happy and being pampered! She played with the other kids, played with her toys and after almost 5 hours of being there, without a morning nap, barely made a fuss. I truly am blessed to have such an amazing and well behaved baby...when she wants to be that is.

At our Spa Day, I even had enough time at the end to get pampered myself! I had a makeover (though the brows were a little darker than I would have done), had a massage and even a mini photoshoot with Samantha! There are so many pictures of Samantha on her own and with Josh, that I was so happy to have a session dedicated to just us! I can't wait to get the pictures and share them with you all!

Best of all, ok the massage was best of all, but we were invited to our friends for dinner that night! So no cleaning, cooking ro dishes for me!

Sunday morning, I got to sleep in, as I hope every mother got to do! And after nap time got to spend the day with my family at the mall! We played on the "dollar" rides and bought new shoes and clothes for everyone! Then went out for dinner where I got a free dessert! (insert huge smiley face here)

It really was an amazing weekend and I am so lucky to have a family that loves me the way they do! But the best part and the best gift I got came from Samantha! She gave me her first kiss - All open mouthed and slobbery...but sweet and precious none the less!

A Mother's Rose

A Mother’s Rose

A mother’s rose will never die,

For it is strong and firm and able.

It must protect and never shy

From that which could be evil.

A mother’s rose has many a thorn,

One for each of her battles.

They begin to grow the day she is born,

And every sleepless night after.

A mother’s rose is silky and smooth,

As tender as its petals.

 With a fragrance that is there to soothe,

And comfort here and after.

A mother’s rose will grow and grow,

And never stop believing.

Some of you may never know

Just how large her rose will go.

A mother’s rose will never die,

For it is strong and firm and able.

It must protect and never shy,

From that which could be evil.

Dedication and Persistance

Well, thankfully, the voting portion of the contest to be on the cover of Today's Parent Magazine came to a close last night and now it's time for the judges to decide who the final four will be! Glad I'm not in their seats, it's going to be a hard decision!

This contest certainly brought out the competitive side of me as well as the proud mommy side. Together those two sides made for one interesting month! 

I have to first say a HUGE thank you to all of my friends and family who voted, tried to vote and even helped to spread the word on the contest. There is no way I could have gotten 220 votes on my own. I am so thankful and grateful to have you folks in our lives. Even if Samantha doesn't make final four, I am so humbled to know that so many people cared enough to take time out of their own lives to vote!

As any crazy-mother, like myself, would, I did everything in my power to conjure as many votes as I could! I "spammed" every single person I knew on Facebook and Twitter...at least 3 times. In fact, Facebook actually thought I was a robot because I was private messaging so many people! I told complete strangers about the contest and I even reached out to every personal and business network that would listen. 

Curiously enough, other moms that I know, actually became upset with me asking for votes, since their child was also in the competition, yet would not speak to me about it...not even a simple message. Instead, they complained about their issue to others I know. I hope that they can understand that I was simply doing the same thing they were, reaching out to friends, family and acquaintances in hopes of getting a few more votes. And I really hope that this does not influence our friendship.

With my dedication and persistence, Samantha ended the voting period 23 out of 9779 entries! Maybe, I was wrong in asking everyone to vote, but that was the basis of the contest. I will not apologize for that. I do apologize, however, to those people who I literally asked every week to vote and hope that they understand that this is just one of those occasions where a mother would do anything for her child. 

Thankfully, I can return to normal mommy-mode and resume normal Facebook, Twitter and 99 Days of Laughter updates! Such as Samantha playing "peek-a-boo" with me this morning, which I have generously uploaded below for your enjoyment and laughter! 

*We now return to our regular scheduled programming* 

Final Days

I must say, I have never been so determined in my entire life! OK, I was pretty darned determined while in labour with Samantha, but that's a completely different type of determination. The determination I'm talking about is the "crazy-momma" determination. That drive inside every mom that will make you do things you would never do, except for your kid.

When I first heard about the Today's Parent Cover Contest, I was SO excited! Everyone thought that her custom cover I designed a few months ago was the real deal and that they were going to see her little smile on news stands across the country! So, I just knew I would be able to get the support I didn't to get her to be a finalist!

Well, we are into the final days of the contest and I am so nervous and so excited and so worried and so proud and so just everything!

I am nervous that I didn't get enough votes to get her on the so-called "short-list" of the competition and have the judges at least see her smile. I am excited to think that maybe, just maybe, she does have enough votes and that she will have a chance to be a finalist! I am worried that I may have irritated too many of my friends with the constant "Samantha's in a contest please vote" updates and private messages. But, I am proud of myself!

I am proud of myself for asking. And not just those people I talk to on a regular basis, I asked the people I hadn't spoken to in months, in years. Heck, I told random strangers in the grocery store (but only after the commented on how adorable Samantha was - 3 times).

Needless to say, I'm over the moon with the support that my friends and family have shown for Samantha! Thank you SO much to everyone and keep your fingers and your toes crossed that we are closer than I think and the judges are looking into her big brown eyes and loving that infectious grin of hers! Only time will tell...and so will my blog!

**Haven't voted yet? It's SO super easy!
Register your email here: http://todaysparent.upickem.net/engine/Registration.aspx?contestid=82902Confirm your email and then vote here: http://todaysparent.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=82902&s=32083603&i=1&sort=VOTES_DESC#SD

Day 102: Oops...

So, as I've quickly learned time has flown by with Samantha. I had this amazing day 99 post already written in my head, only to miss the day! Opps...

Well, that's certainly not going to stop me! This entire blog process has been absolutely amazing and I cannot wait for the day Samantha has a child of her own and I can pass my letters and stories and now this blog down to her. That being said, I can certainly wait quite awhile for that to happen and just live in the moment with her now.

Looking back, these last 102 days have shown me and taught me so much. Day 1 was all about trying to get Samantha to laugh every single day. Just the sound of her giggles could brighten even the most frustrating day. And trust me, as many of you know, there were many-a-frustrating days!

Next week, Samantha will be 10 months old and she has already taught me more in those short months, than in my entire life! She has taught me to laugh at life, to see the details in life and that time flies! But, the I think the most important thing I learned was that to laugh, you have to find the laughter in life! As simple as that sounds, it was hard to learn.

Looking back on all those hard, sleepless nights...I'm happy I got to cuddle my baby girl back to sleep. Funniest part, I'm sure that's all she wanted too.

Watching the videos of her laughing...I can see how something as simple as gravity and magnets can be absolutely hysterical.

And how a human face can be so amazing. With the smallest muscle movement, a facial expression comes to life and so do her giggles!

For those of you who have been following, and there more of you than I could have ever imagined, I hope that you have laughed along the way too and learned how to find the laughter in life! As for 99 Days of Laughter, well it does not stop here! Look for a post every week and watch Samantha and I discover the laughter in life!

Day 91: One Smart Cookie

The last few days have been so much fun with Samantha! We have been laughing and playing and exploring everything we can!

OH...did I mention she finally cut her first tooth! It's been about a week now, and that pearly white is sharp! My fingers have been bit a few times now...thankfully nothing else has been though. Certainly not looking forward to if when that happens!

For all the times I blamed teething for her not sleeping, being cranky and not smiling or laughing...she really did not fuss much at all as it came up. She became a little more clingy and a bit harder to get to sleep, but she still napped well and is still sleeping through the night!

Back to the fun though, Samantha has been babbling up a storm and after cruising with Cookie Grama's walker, has learned that everything is movable. She has been moving her activity table, her stroller, her high chair! If she's strong enough to move it...then it will move. It's so funny watching her do it though. She just doesn't look like she's big enough to be doing that yet. But what's new, she surprises me with something new everyday!

Today, while having fun at Nana's, she looked straight at her and said "Hhhh Nunu"! (Hi Nana) We figure "baba" means baby. She has Mum down pat and now we're working on Dada. She's such a smart cookie! Now we need to try and keep her from helping reorganize all the cupboards...

I'm also super excited to announce that Samantha is in a contest to be on the cover of Today's Parent magazine! You may remember our adventure with the modelling agency and how sketchy it was. I am so happy that this is a legitimate way to share her smile with the world! (cough cough...vote for her here...cough cough)

I also like that the contest is based on votes and judging. So, even if an entry has 300 votes, it doesn't necessarily mean they win the contest. It makes it seem a lot more fair to those of us stay-at-home moms that don't work in a huge corporate office with multiple email addresses.

Either way, I'm super excited to say that Samantha is #23 out of over 9700 entries! I think that gives us a pretty good shot! However, if you want to help increase our chances feel free to VOTE HERE (wink, wink). I'll keep you all posted on the contest status over the next month!

Day 87: Hoppy Easter

I love holidays! I love them even more now that I have my own family to share them with and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. I have a daughter who loves me and needs me, but is so independent and has her own amazing little personality. I have a husband who loves me and would do anything for his family.

This holiday particularly hit home with me. Maybe it's because we were surrounded by our friends and family all weekend. But I think it is because Samantha is a little bit older than she was at Christmas (my all time favorite holiday) and we were really able to have fun with her this weekend. There was the Easter Party, we did a Harlem Shake video (video to come!), Desiree turned 3 and we enjoyed 3 meals with our family!

The best part though, was watching Samantha show off her new found skills to everyone! She was crawling everywhere, teaching Cookie Grama (93 years young) how to use her walker, babbling up a storm and completely showing off her new found skills to anyone who would watch.

I just love this girl and can't wait to watch her become the amazing woman I know she will be! Happy Easter Samantha, Mommy loves you SO much!