My little brother gets hitched!

My little brother is the best. He is such a catch and of course it didn't take him long to get snatched up! He found the most darling girl on the planet and they really are a perfect match. We had such a great time celebrating with them. But lets start from the beginning...
We decided to drive to UT thinking "Hey, babies like to sleep in the car. The motion and the sound are soothing." What were we thinking? Our baby screamed pretty much the entire way. Nightmare! So we split it up and stayed in Vegas with one of my girlfriends which was such a nice break. That poor boy.

Once we were in Utah, we had a wonderful time.

My sister was able to come out from CT with her little family, so the Macks were all together for the first time in a long while. This year is the year of babies for us Mack girls and since Kendra was due June 1st, we decided to throw her a shower while we were there. It was so fun to get together and to meet some of her friends.

We also had the chance to have lunch with Madison, our sister in law to be. Since Jes and I hadn't met her before that weekend it was really fun to get to know her better.

The wedding was beautiful and they could not have looked happier. Such a great day.

That night was their reception and it was so much fun.

The reception hall was gorgeous and the food was so delicious. I ate my weight in crepes and loved catching up with friends and family. Such a great night.

The highlight of the weekend, aside from the wedding of course, was getting to meet Jes' little boy Otto and for my family to meet Phoenix. There was a lot of babies being juggled and passed around.

Love my family!

Mother's Day

My very first Mother's Day as a mother and the hubby spoiled me rotten. Aside from roses and a gorgeous new watch, he took the babe and I got to sleep the whole night! He really is the best.

I am so grateful for this sweet boy who made me a mother. I have always been a mother, but little Phoenix made it official.

He really is the center of my world and I could not be more in love with this little boy.

Baby Blessing

So this is super late...but we blessed our baby on Cinco de Mayo! Some of Mason's family was able to come out from Arizona and it was great to spend the weekend with them.

 We spent Saturday afternoon at the Long Beach Aquarium.

Phoenix slept through most of it, but he woke up just in time to get plenty of snuggles from his Uncle Whit! 

Sunday was the baby blessing and we felt so blessed to be surrounded by friends and family. (Wishing I got pictures of everyone, but here are just a few!)

This kid was so awesome the whole day. Seriously the sweetest little baby on the planet. 

Mason Turns 30!

This guy had a big birthday this month! 30, say what?

That's right, my main squeeze turned 30 and while he was busy running around trying to stay on top of our business (since I have drastically cut back on my hours), I decided at the last minute to throw a little surprise party for him. He has the best friends ever, who all rallied and made it happen with less than a weeks notice. I rented out the K1 Speed track I was trying so hard to be super sneaky and pull up and have him be surprised that all his friends were there, but I just couldn't work it out with his schedule and restaurant choice and our kid's bedtime, sooooo I had to spill the beans at his birthday dinner and send him on his way.

I received several reports from the attendees that those boys had the time of their lives racing, crashing and laughing.

I bought a bunch of cupcakes from the most amazing cupcake shop in Long Beach and sent them with Mase for a little treat after all the fun, and those went over like gang busters too!

I am learning that it is hard to find a balance of giving my hubby the attention he needs now that Phoenix rules my life, so I was very glad for him to be able to have a night that was all about him.

Then, as an added bonus we were able to go out to AZ the weekend after his birthday to spend some time with his family. We got to see one of our favorite bands Postal Service in Phoenix on Thursday night, and it was amazing!

Then Friday we went to the mall with his sisters and did a little birthday shopping. Phoenix tagged along so Mason rocked the baby bjorn. So awesome to see this guy as a dad : )

That night, his family organized a party, complete with Mason's faves: Barros Pizza and white texas sheet cake!

We had so much fun hanging out with Mason's family and they were loving on our little Phoenix. An entire car ride full of smiles & laughs thanks to his aunties.

At church, the girls literally fought over who could hold him. He has the best cousins!

I had to snap a picture of this little man after church in his tie that I made for him. He looks so grown up! 

We also got to meet up with our good friends for lunch at Joe's Farm Grill for some seriously good cheeseburgers. Loved getting to catch up with this cute family!

It was our first experience road tripping with this kid and he did better on the way out, than on the way home. Pretty much the only way he would sleep was if he was holding my hand/finger. Just about the sweetest thing in the entire world. I really love being a mom. The end.

Newborn Photoshoot

So...this post is a little out of order since his newborn photos were taken at 4 weeks old, but they are so darling I had to share! Taylor Jones, the sweetest girl from our ward is a photography student and offered to take some photos of this kid. It was her first time shooting a newborn, but she was an absolute pro!

Motherhood

It is crazy how quickly time goes by. My son is now 2 months old. Life has been a complete blur. This sweet little man has me completely smitten. I have never been so exhausted, overwhelmed and overjoyed all at the same time.

It is hard to put into words how it feels to be a new mom, but here goes. It is a crazy mixture of emotions. After carrying this life inside me for 9 months and then bringing him into this world, I have never felt more empowered as a woman.  Then on the flip side,  I am now responsible for this tiny, perfect little person and suddenly I feel completely inadequate about how to be his mother and how to care for him.  I don't know how to make sense of everything that I am feeling other than I am just feeling A LOT. Way too many feelings. As I am now fully recovered from giving birth and at the tail end of a gnarly case of thrush (and by gnarly, I mean 6 weeks of the most intense pain I have ever experienced. Nightmare.) I am finally starting to feel more stable. I can feed my kid without crying and my emotions are leveling out and I am really starting to be able to enjoy being a mom.

I am also becoming more confident in my ability to keep him alive and happy and knowing that really that is all that matters. After reading tons of books ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other, ultimately I have had to let go of trying to get my baby to fit some mold that I was feeling like he should fit into. I am a worrier by nature and when I would read something that spelled out how my baby should be eating, sleeping, etc and he wasn't following that,  I would feel stressed out. A good friend of mine told me that the first 3 months you are in the trenches and anything goes. You do what you need to in order to survive and try get enough sleep to function and not worry everything else. This helped me to adjust my thinking and use those books as resources to get ideas to help me, rather than stress me out. It also helps that now Little Phoenix is starting to smile and laugh and there is nothing more rewarding or reassuring than your child smiling at you and melting your heart.

 I mean are you kidding me with how cute this kid is? Already looking so grown up.