a not so serious bedtime

our lack of sleep clearly shows.

Jessie Ann (soon-to-be) James

 next weekend my little sister is getting married.

crazy.

so of course that brings on all the fun festivities: 

showers (above pic), luncheons, pictures, and of course the actual wedding.

but an added bonus: this will be the first time that i'll have all my siblings at home since last summer.

and I get to finally hold my new niece and introduce Myer to his cousins.

but we especially can't wait to see Jessie get married to her sweat-heart 

and welcome in another brother-in-law.

so...

let's party harty all next week.

family is so great.

time flies- one month

Myer has hit the big one month mark. (today)

we love little milestones like this at the morse household.

I was even tempted to go buy a cake to celebrate....

above picture is right after I delivered Myer. 

M&M's big debut (aka newborn pics)

photos by Elegant Images.
Thanks Candace and Bekah!

not sure...

if i'll ever grow my hair back out.

but if i did,

i def want hair like this.

*toss toss*

pics found here

did you know:

 

--that they made Golden Oreos just for nuring mommies?
--the Ellen Degeneres show comes on at 3:00?
--Jake graduates in two weeks?
--I am washing two pairs of pants that baby M spit up on yesterday, both in the span of an hour?
--babies are fussiest between 3-4 weeks and then 6 weeks because of growth spurts?
--that Myer is 3 weeks old.......?
--my sister is getting married May 7th?
--I can start exercising May 8th? (missed it by that much. pictures will be great.)
--what day is Easter? (seriously, i don't know what day...)
--that Jake and I looked at our baby pictures and that only my ears were passed down to our babe?  He is all Jake.  Love it.

we don't really like...

tummy time.

(just had to snap a pic of that face.)

i also said goodbye to these kiddos

My high school ASL classes, level 1 and 2.

I have no idea if I will be able to teach again this fall or even what the fall will bring so this was basically goodbye.  Yes, I cried.  This was another "baby" for me: started with just 50 students, 2 classes, and only level one.  This year: 84 students, 2 classes, level 1 and 2, and they are adding a level 3 next year.  A little hard to step away from something I built and not finish out the year but...I'm a mom now.  I'll take that any day.

Before baby

From January to March I got to be a part of rehearsals for the play, "Children of a Lesser God."  This will go down as one of my most memorable experiences.  I got to work with an amazing director, cast, and volunteers from the Deaf community.  We had a goal in mind, in which I quite frankly didn't know if we could accomplish.  But we succeeded, and I think we changed a lot of hearts and thoughts toward Deaf culture and what it means to be human essentially.  I love being a part of work that values everyone and illustrates the message that everyone has something to offer.

Thanks Shanti and Anna for letting me take part in something that was so dear to each of you.

our weekend

we lounged out while watching General Conference.

no school. no work. just us three.

and it was awesome.

hope your weekend was filled with love, family, and inspiration.

reading

I'm the type of person that has to know everything to prepare for myself for any kind of outcome in all aspects of life.  So of course I've been reading up on this task called Motherhood.  And I have to say, I've found some really helpful stuff (for me).  During pregnancy I read "Brain Rules for Baby."  Some of his stuff on how to raise a smart baby is kinda crazy, (and that's not my ultimate goal) but I love the section on how to raise a happy baby. This is where I am feeling the most pressure as a mom: I want my kids to be happy, nice to others, and known as a friendly person.  I will surely be referring to this book from now until our little boy enters college on how to help him be happy.

I also read this while I was pregnant and it was confusing.  Then I had a baby who decided night was day and day was night.  Now I get this book.  And it makes great companions with the following two books. (and I'm sure once again, we will be looking at this book to help establish sleep routines.)

My pediatrician gave me this book at Myer's first check up.  Holy cow.  It looks daunting, but once I started into it, it is the bestest friend a new mother like me could have.  I would have a question and there is my answer AND IT'S NOT CONFUSING! I myself did not go to med school and this book is super clear for a blonde, tired, paranoid reader.

This is the golden nugget of them all.  I had no idea how intricate nursing is.  How much to feed, how often, duration, night feeding, storing, etc. were all overwhelming me.  I had Jake pick this up and now if I have the slightest worry or doubt, I look to this and I am reassured that I am doing the best I can.  It seriously has all the answers.

Of course I am getting the best help from my family (mom you are a life saver. literally.) and it all helps.  I felt stupid that first day asking my mom, what I thought were questions I should already know, and silly me.  I am learning.  Still, I am asking and reading.  I've only survived about a week but I feel confident so far in what I've been doing.  (Myer still thinks night is day and day is night...but we're working through it).