What I've Learned

Being a mother has completely changed my life in so many ways. Here's just a few of those ways.

1.Waking up at 6:30am now seems like a luxury.

2. A day full of stress can instantly be cured with 2 minutes of cuddling with my girl.

3. I'm so proud of my body and am probably less self conscious now than I was 25 pounds ago.

4. I can no longer watch scary movies where people are tortured or killed. Although they are characters and not real people, it makes me cringe thinking that stuff like that can happen to other people's children. And watching the news....forget about it.

5. I now understand the necessity of sometimes having to breastfeed in public. (I've only done this once but I now realize that you can't always time the feedings and when your child is hungry and you don't have a bottle, you do what's best for your child).

6. One last kiss is never enough.

7. I never knew watching another human being sleep could be so therapeutic.

8. Never leave home without an extra outfit (for you and baby). I should have learned my lesson after this incident but I obviously didn't and had to borrow a shirt from my mother-in-law last week after Blakely pooped all over me right before I had to be at work.

9. Making her wait until she's 35 to start dating is not unreasonable. And I guarantee that Kevin will at least have a gun visible when the first guy comes to pick her up (if not in his hands).

10. I have WAY more patience now as a teacher than I did before. When my 6th graders are acting crazy and I want to raise my voice, I remember that each one of them is someone's child. I always want Blakely's teachers to speak to her with kind words and with a patient attitude.

3 Months Old!!

My my, how time flies! My girl is 3 months old today. She is becoming more and more alert everyday and is getting to be a lot of fun now. She still sleeps a good bit of the time, especially in the car, but is beginning to interact and talk (coo) a lot now. She loves it when I sing to her and we have long conversations everyday after I get off work. Sometimes I tell her how beautiful she is, sometimes I let her tell me about her day with Nana, and other times we talk about what she might like to be when she grows up. Of course the conversation is usually one sided but I love talking to her and hearing her coo back to me. I just make up in my mind what she might be saying!

To celebrate her 3 month birthday, my mom (Grammy) came to visit and they had a wonderful time together. Grammy hasn't seen her since she was 2 weeks old so of course they had a lot to catch up on.

Yesterday, we went to the beach and Blakely got to put her toes in the sand for the first time. It was really hot so we only stayed for about 40 minutes but it was nice to at least visit for a little while and of course see Blakely in her bathing suit.

We got creative with her shade. But hey, whatever works!

Tomorrow we have to say good-bye to Grammy as she heads back to South Dakota but we're already counting down the days until Christmas. It's difficult to live so far apart from each other but it makes the times that we're together so special and memorable.

Can't get enough of mommy's kisses!

Three month highlights

• She is a champ at sleeping. On a good night, she'll go 9 hours. The least she ever sleeps is 7 1/2 hours. 
• She had major tummy troubles but we finally got her on some medicine. She is definitely a much happier baby now!

• She smiles and coos a lot now! It's so much fun watching and hearing her find her voice.

• She loves playing on her mat and swatting at toys that dangle. She doesn't grasp them yet but loves touching them and observing all the colors.

• She loves being outside and the warm air instantly soothes her when she gets fussy. Sometimes when she's really cranky, I'll set her in her car seat and put it on the front porch while I sit with her. She'll usually drift right off to sleep or at least get really peaceful. I can then bring her back inside and get some things done at home.

I love you so much my sweet angel!! Happy 3 months old!

Thirty-One Gifts Online Kick-Off Party

I am so excited to announce that I have decided to start selling Thirty-One Gifts. I absolutely LOVE their products and am so excited to share this business with others. I went to my first Thirty-One party last fall and normally don't buy a lot of products at home shows for businesses like this. However, within the first moments of looking at the catalog, I wanted to buy everything in it. Everything was so cute and very reasonably priced.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with their products, they have all sorts of wonderful bags, purses, lunch totes, stationary, and other great items to help you organize your life and look cute doing it!! Their products are so reasonably priced and they are constantly running monthly specials so you can get the products at an even lower rate.


Thirty-One Gifts make wonderful presents for Christmas, birthdays, and baby showers. The best part is, you can personalize many of the products so they make really unique gifts for the people you love or even yourself.
As I kick-off this business, I'm having an online party where people can look at the products and shop online. 

1. Go to www.mythirtyone.com/LoriStidham.
2. Click on My Events.
3. Go to Lori's Thirty-One Kickoff Party and click Shop Now.

All the products come in various patterns so to see the different options, click View Our Catalog at the top of the page. Then go to pages 46-47 to see the patterns. It is a little fuzzy so you can also click through the online catalog to see the patterns on the products.

You can shop anytime between now and Friday, September 16. If you have any questions, please contact me at lastrick@gmail.com.