Today marks one year!

I can't believe how fast this past year has gone by! Ali has brought so much joy and love into this world it's absolutely amazing! For me this has been a humbling year on many fronts. First on parenting...before having a child it was so easy for me to place judgements upon other parents. The fact of the matter is, is that you just don't know what parenting is like until you become one yourself. Even then, each child presents different challenges that yours may not and most parents are simply doing the best they can. I give many props to parents in general, especially single moms. The second thing that really humbled me this year was my physical well being. This year has been rough...by far the most difficult year of my life. While pregnant I was sure that 6 weeks after having Ali I would be running 5 miles, working 2 nights a week, and back in my size 6 pants. Boy was I wrong! One year later, I am still "recovering" from delivery. However, I must say that I am doing much better than even 4 months ago. But I am not even close to my size 6 pants and I am working per diem. What I've learned is that somebody, somewhere has much different plans for me...and while I may not have been able to control much of what happened this year with my health I always had control of my attitude. Some days were really, really hard. But again, I had the choice to dwell on the negative or look to the positive. And there were many positives this year. Even though I didn't return to work like I had planned, I got to spend every day of this past year with Ali. I was able to breastfeed her to 12 months and still am. I got to see the first step and hear the first word. I get to rock her to sleep everyday. These things I will never get back, so I am truly grateful that I was able to be there for those moments. I may be biased, but Ali is special and I am so grateful to be able to witness her beautiful life.

and the best item of the year goes to ....

Aden and Anais swaddler blankets. I just bought the dream blanket for Ali's 2nd year. The swaddler blankets are my favorite thing that Ali got this year.