Yesterday, guys, I officially became a mom.

And yes – Nathan was born almost five months ago (what??!!) and on that day I became a mother. But yesterday.

Yesterday I was definitely a mom.

So, it began with a trip to Wal-Mart because I hadn’t been there in over a week and I’d started getting notes in my mailbox from the employees wondering if I was even still alive. It was time to go visit. Plus, we were out of a bunch of necessities like eggs and bread and I wanted to look at a few things for Christmas gifts.

I put Nathan in the Moby wrap (which we both love, despite it being fairly complicated and time-consuming to put on in the parking lot while everyone stares at you like, “Hey lady, Halloween already passed”) and I was standing there looking at a potential Christmas gift when I felt it.

Explosion. Down south of Nathan’s border, if you get what I’m saying.

I just started praying that it hadn’t busted out the sides of the diaper, but my prayers got a resounding no because it was already soaking through Nathan’s pants.

SIDE NOTE: Sorry in advance for all of the diaper and diaper-related messes contained in this blog post.

I ran to the closest place I could find, the women’s dressing room, and told the lady guarding the doors that he was exploding and could I just run in there and change him?

She was very nice. I think she actually laughed before she unlocked the dressing room door for me which just proves that she is also a mom, I’m sure. I got out my little changing pad from the diaper bag, pulled Nathan out of the Moby and pulled his pants and diaper off and got him all wiped off.

I reached in my bag for a clean diaper.

And guys…

THERE WAS NONE.

Not one. I could have sworn that I had at least three in there, but as I dug through my entire bag, I did not find anything. “Crap, crap, crap!” I kept whispering.

Which, yes, was the source of this issue. 🙂

I looked down at Nathan, who was, of course, happy as he could be being half-naked in Wal-Mart. I dug through my bag again and came up with a maxi-pad from the days after Nathan was born (you who have had babies know exactly why that was there).

There was only one thing to do.

Y’all. I put a maxi-pad on my son. I buttoned his onesie over it, put on some clean pants, put him back in the Moby wrap and RAN through the rest of the store.

I get to the checkout and the girl cashier looks at Nathan and goes, “Aren’t babies just the sweetest things?”

By the time we got home, he’d peed through the pad and all his clothes. So I did laundry yesterday. And lots of it.

Yes, you guys. Babies are just the sweetest things. 🙂

~~

This has been one of the most fun days ever! I absolutely LOVED getting to talk to all of you throughout the day! 🙂 SO FUN.

I’ll be taking all the orders to the post office Monday, so you should definitely have them all by Christmas!

And it seems like I had another giveaway to do… 😉

Since Nathan is all into grabbing things these days, I decided I’d let him be a part of the fun!

Here he is, getting all ready to draw the name!

Helga-Marie, it’s you! 🙂 Thanks so much for your orders and fun conversation today! I’m so excited! 🙂

Thank you all SO MUCH for making this day such a wonderful day!! I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday! 🙂 Love to you all!

~~

I’m loving chatting with you guys!

Here’s a couple of questions for YOU now!! 🙂

* What has been your favorite character in the Lauren or Maya series? Why?

* What is your favorite hot drink this time of year?

* And lastly, favorite hair styling product? What can I say… I’m in a rut and need some new ideas! 🙂

YAY!! Loved all of your answers! Here’s some new ones:

* What is the best thing you’ve ever received for Christmas? And why?

* What is your favorite winter time snack?

* What is your favorite thing to have around your house?

Too much fun!!

~~

Don’t forget, guys, the Buy Two, Get One Free special ends tonight at 5PM Central time! 🙂 I’ll be drawing the winner of the second giveaway tonight at 5PM too! Any purchase of a complete series enters you to win!

And I still have a few backpacks to giveaway – order a complete series and you get a FREE “I’m Waiting for My Ryan” backpack. But order quick – I’ve only got a few left! 🙂

I’m having so much fun chatting with you guys!! 🙂

~~

Gettting ready to draw the winner!! 🙂 (Don’t you love the coffee cup and the sticky notes? So, while I was writing this and not paying attention, I nearly tried to take a drink from it… Oops…)

And the winner is…

Laura Jackson!! I’ll include the giveaway with your order! Yay! 🙂

Remember, there’s still a chance to win another giveaway! Any order of a complete series qualifies, so if you ordered one this morning, you’ll still get a chance to win! 🙂

And keep those questions coming! This is SO FUN. 🙂

~~

The Bookstore is now open!! Remember, ANY purchase between now and 11AM Central time gives you a shot at one of the giveaways! And if you want to double your chances, order a complete set this hour!

To get the Buy Two, Get One Free offer – add two books of your choice to your cart and then use the drop down menu at the top of the Bookstore to add your free book. Be sure to specify what name you want them signed to. Remember, this is only until 5PM tonight!

Also, I’m live blogging today, so leave comments, questions, whatever you want in the comments section and I’ll respond right then (also in the comments section)!

YAY!!!

P.S. HA! Look how I found the Nater Tot when I went in to get him this morning? How do you turn the wrong way in your crib in a sleep sack?! (A sleep sack is just a wearable blanket! You zip him right into it)

~~

And here it is!! Tons of fabulous stuff! I found the cutest coffee mugs with chalkboards on the outside so you can write little notes (how adorable is that?!), Bath and Body Works shower gel, lotion and perfume, a loofah, a super cute hat from Forever 21 and … of course… a Starbucks gift card! 🙂

I’ve got two of these, so you’ve got two chances to win! Any purchase from my Bookstore between 10-11AM (Central time) qualifies you as well as any purchase of a complete series. If you buy both series, you get your name in the hat four times! And, if you are one of the first ten people to buy a complete series, you also get a “I’m Waiting For My Ryan” backpack totally free. AND, don’t forget about my special, one-day-only price of buy two books, get the third one FREE!

WOW. I so can’t wait for tomorrow! I hope to meet all of you then! Come join in the fun and conversation here! 🙂

Have a happy night!

~~

Yay!!

I’m SO excited about this! I’m hoping that it will really be a chance for all of us to “meet” as best as we can! 🙂 I’ll be live blogging throughout the day, so please leave comments and I’ll respond to questions, thoughts, whatever you have to say! Always wanted to know why Lauren hates alliteration so much? Or why Maya is so fond of sticky notes? Come on over and ask!! 🙂

Here’s the schedule! All times will be in the Central time zone.

10AM – 11AM – Early Bird Special!! ANY orders during this first hour put your names in the hat for a FUN giveaway (I’ll post a picture tonight!)

12PM-5PM – Any order of a complete series (all three books of either the Maya or Lauren series) gives you a shot at yet another fun giveaway! Order BOTH complete series and you get your name put in four times over!

I’m having TONS of great deals as well! Order any two books and get the third one FREE! Also, along with having a shot at a giveaway, the first ten people to order a complete series will receive a FREE “I’m Waiting For My Ryan” backpack.

Every book will be signed by me to the person of your choice!

To my out-of-the-country friends – these deals apply to you as well, but in order to receive your books by Christmas, I’ll need to add a $15 shipping charge to your order. 🙁 I’m sorry!!

I’ll be back later tonight with a sneak peek at the giveaways! I’m SO excited!

Have a great day!

~~

Prepare for tons of pictures.

Christmastime is here! If you’ve been reading my blog for any time at all, you have to know that I spend most of the year looking forward to this time! 🙂 And I am SO excited about spending it with our little Nater-Tot this year – yay!! (Though, based on the above picture, I might be slightly more excited than he is!)

Last Wednesday started Jon’s Thanksgiving vacation from work, so we packed up almost everything we own and moved it all over to my parents’ house for what was supposed to be a two-night stay.

We left Sunday afternoon. 🙂 What can we say? They spoiled us rotten with yummy cinnamon rolls, an amazing Thanksgiving dinner and tons of leftovers. Plus, we had constant help with the Nater Tot (who started laughing at us this past week! He’s been laughing when you tickle him for a couple of weeks, but lately he’s been just dying of giggles when Jon plays with him at night. SO FUN!) and he didn’t want to leave either. Who wants to leave when you’re the center of attention?

We stayed up late playing Mexican train and watching movies and just talking and laughing. My brother Bryant was in town for the whole time we were there and aside from my sister Cayce having to work a few of the days, everyone was home for the whole time. I love my family! We had the best time! I was looking through pictures and somehow we missed getting some of Cayce and Caleb with Nathan. And some of the whole family. 🙁 Guess we’ll have to remedy this soon!!

I found Nathan’s Thanksgiving shirt at Kohls and even though it was a little big, I just thought it was the cutest thing ever!

Have to admit – it was kind of a bummer to wake up Monday morning and find no cinnamon rolls eat, no coffee being made, no newspaper to read… 😉

Yesterday, Jon’s aunt and uncle from Maryland were coming through town and they were SO sweet and took us out to dinner. Nathan just loved them. I think he’s gotten to used to having tons of attention all the time. Now he’s not content to stay home and have it just be us.

Yesterday was also Nathan’s four-month-checkup. He – once again – was rudely awakened from a nap by the nurse, but he did do a lot better with his shots this time around (and so did I).

His current stats are: 26 1/4 in long (95%), 13 pounds 15.5 ounces (25%) and his head was 43 cm around, though I don’t remember what percentile that was. Long, skinny baby! Our doctor said he was doing great – perfectly healthy, despite his constant spitting up. 😉 We are so blessed!

I finally found Nathan’s stocking! Last year, we put one of those little mini stockings up since we didn’t know whether he was a boy or girl. So crazy to realize that at this time last year, I had just announced I was pregnant! I wasn’t showing and was still in the middle of horrible morning sickness. It is SO much more fun this year!

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for my online booksigning this Saturday! I’ll be giving away lots of fun prizes and I’ve also got some GREAT deals on autographed copies of the Lauren Holbrook and Maya Davis series!!

And today… is Jon’s birthday!! 🙂 I am SO thankful to have such an amazing husband and that Nathan has such a wonderful dad. I couldn’t have asked for a better man! I love his heart for God and the way he makes Nathan laugh. I love how protective he is of me and how he goes along with all my crazy ideas (hey, let’s put up Christmas the weekend before Thanksgiving this year!). I love how he is such a huge help around the house (especially now with the Nater-Tot here) and how he supports me in being a mom and in my writing. I love how he provides so well for us and takes such amazing care of his family. It’s my prayer that Nathan turns out like his daddy. 🙂 I love you, honey! Happy birthday!

~~

Jon and I spent last weekend in Colorado Springs visiting our sweet friends, Jen, Greg, Noah, Brian, Becca and Barb. Super fun, because we totally surprised Jen! And I would like to say that I have TONS of adorable pictures of Noah and Nathan.

But I can’t say that because I don’t. Someone forgot to put the camera in the car. And someone didn’t want to go back for it.

That “someone” was me on both accounts. 🙁 We were already running late and I didn’t want to add another twenty plus minutes to our trip.

Especially since it was Nathan’s first road trip and I was dreading a baby screaming in our ears for six hours. But I was SO proud of him! He cried for a total of maybe thirty minutes the ENTIRE twelve hours we were in the car this weekend. He did awesome!

So, I have these few pictures I took with my phone. Jen got some cute pictures that she’ll have to email me. Hint, hint. 😉

Nathan loved playing with all of Noah’s fun toys!

And speaking of Noah, here’s the little cutie with Mimi Barb – he’s got teeth! And he’s walking! I dread Nathan getting older, but seeing Noah makes me realize it’s okay if he gets a little older.

Just a little though.

And, I have FUN news for you guys out there who have blogs: Shutterfly is doing something really cool and offering 50 FREE Christmas cards to bloggers. You need to go to this link here and fill out a form: Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

After that, they’ll email you the info you need to get your Christmas cards! Also, check out their other fun products – they’ve got beautiful calendars and I think these little gift tags are just about the cutest things. 🙂

Don’t y’all just love Christmas cards? This is the time of year when I start getting excited about getting the mail. Not just bills anymore! I think my favorites have always been the photo cards – I love, love, love seeing all my friends and family. I can’t wait to send out pictures of Nathan to everyone – he’s getting so big so quickly! I love the ones with the multiple photos – I’m thinking I might include several pictures from these last few months, instead of just one (one? Seriously, how could I even start to pick?). Here’s my current favorite, but I’m still debating!

Anyway, highly recommend that you participate if you’re a blogger!

Nathan and I ran to Target this afternoon to do some birthday shopping for a certain hunk that lives at my house 😉 (I know, I know. I’ll stop gagging you guys). So fun to be birthday shopping with my boy! We were looking at a few things and I thought, hmm…

Ha! Isn’t he so cute?! He didn’t last more than about ten minutes in there before I started feeling bad that he had to be strapped in like that in order to stay in a sitting-up position, so I pulled him back out. And just so you know, I wiped the daylights out of that cart before I set him in there. You know me! 🙂

My brother Bryant gets back in town tomorrow afternoon for Thanksgiving! Yay!!

Y’all have a great night!

~~