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34 Things I’ve Learned Since Becoming a Mom

January 12, 2018 by Amber Ford in Birth, Personal blog, Honesty, Mom blogger, Life, Pregnancy, Personal story, Brutally honest, Native in Nashville

As I have told you guys before, when I found out I was pregnant, I thought I was going to die.  I always liked the thought of being a mom,because kids are so damn cute, but when it hit me that I was actually going to be one, I realized I had no freaking clue what in the heck to do with a baby.  To be honest with you, the first time I changed Denver's diaper in the hospital, I had no clue how to even do that.  I will be sharing a very funny, embarrassing video on my Instagram that my son's father took as I was nearly finishing up changing his first diaper.  Pee went all over me, poop went everywhere.  He pooped 3x while I was changing the diaper y'all... plus with a boy, you gotta be careful about where that pee goes.  I actually can't even believe I am going to share the video, because I look disgusting, I'm cussing, I had literally just delivered my son about 12 hours before it was taken and may have had 2 hours of sleep in 72 hours, and at the time, was still on the prescribed pain medicine.  I am pretty sure I was also wearing those amazingly sexy mesh underwear they give you.  Lol. If you haven't seen it before you got to this point, and you want to laugh, you should go watch. ( @nativeinnashville)

Anyways moral of the story, I WAS CLUELESS on how to actually be a mom.  I have learned SOOO much these last 5 months and thought I would share a few, or 30 some of them with you guys.  I am sure some of you can relate, and some may find it a little informative.  I had to learn some of these the hard way for sure!

1. You don’t have to use 17 wipes to Change a poopy diaper.  And yes I literally used a minimum of 17 the first diaper change, then went to probably 7 the following weeks.  Now I can do it with my eyes closed.

2. I can do this! I never believed in myself before, but I am doing just fine. You can do it too, if I can, I promise you can.  You got this!

3. Babies are expensive ! Outside of formula, diapers and childcare, I buy him every toy, every cute piece of clothing, every kid related thing I see really.  I always dressed ratchet my whole life, and I want him to have better things than I did, even though he stays in little sleepers 98% of the time.

4. I used to say “I’ll never be one of those annoying moms who post pics of their kids each day, we know what they look like", now I’m the worst one of all. Not sorry! 

5. You will be proud of EVERY LITTLE THING your child does.  I repeat, everything. Something so simple, is seriously the biggest accomplishment when they are learning. Last night Denver sat up on his own for he first time, and you would have thought, by the way I was screaming and cheering, that he was winning a Gold medal in the Olympics.  

6. Have someone teach you how to use your car seat and stroller BEFORE it’s time to use it on actual child.

7. Cutting a baby’s nails is the scariest thing ever, next to childbirth, and you have to do it every 3 days.  How in the heck m son's nails grow this fast, I will never know. 

8. Everyone has an opinion about what you should do with your child, ignore them.  You will burn a lot of calories rolling your eyes. If you ask for the opinions of advice, that’s a different story.  

9. You will get sleep!  Maybe I am just lucky with my son, but I feel like I get more sleep now, than I did before I had him.  He does wake me up, but I'm obsessed with him so I don't even mind it.

10. Mom guilt is a real thing.  Anytime I go anywhere without my son, I feel terrible about it,  like he's going to be mad at me and forget who I am or something.  Sometimes you may need a little break though. 

11. Mom brain is also a VERY REAL THING.  I now seem to forget EVERYTHING. Trust me YOU WILL TOO!

12. You will never know a love like this !  It's literally indescribable how much love you can feel.  

13. Everyone will want to kiss All over your kid, NO , just no.

14. The greatest compliment you can ever receive will no longer have anything to do with your hair, makeup, or your outfit, as it might have used to when life was all about you( for me anyways ), it will be that you’re a good mom!!  Best feeling ever is someone telling you this or assuring you that you are doing a good job!

15. Nothing is cuter than seeing a baby stretch right when they wake up, ok except maybe their little laugh.

16. Put them in their cutest clothes, QUICK.  I’ve bought so many things and “wanted to save them” and it became too late! They grow & grow out of them QUICK!  

17. You won’t use half the big stuff you buy them. I've literally never used my bassinet, my rocker glider chair, and numerous other expensive things that my mom brain won't let me currently remember. 

18. Not everyone is going to like your child’s name, and that’s ok! Not everyone has good taste ;) 

19.  If people want to help you, let them !! Especially when the nurses ask if you want them to take your baby for the night while you're still in the hospital.  Just do it!

20. The epidural is not bad AT ALL! I heard countless horror stories but i didn’t even feel it! 

21. Speaking of... Get the epidural !! There is no prize or Medal of Honor for not getting it.  Trust me on this !  I am really not even trying to offend anyone by this one either, but me personally, I don't see why anyone could not get it.  Mine was mostly warn off by the time I was delivering him, but I couldn't have made it through the day feeling those contractions more than I already did.

22. Your whole world will revolve around your kid !!  Every single decision you make,

23.  If Facebook on this day and time hop didn’t remind you of your old life you would never remember what life was like before having a child. 

24.  When you go out with your friends to eat the only thing you guys all talk about is your kids and how cool you used to be.

25.  When you’re feeding your baby make sure to wipe their neck after you are done, if ANY milk drips down there!  trust me you do not want to find out their neck is dirty the hard way,  it can be the worst smell you have ever smelled in your life  !

26.  Getting yourself & your child ready can be the ultimate task! I was already late to everything before having a kid. I give myself an extra hour of time every day to get ready. I still usually look like crap, and use it doing stuff for my son, but I NEED that extra hour.

27.  Your life is no longer about you it is 150% about them. They always come first.  

28. Taking a shower can feel like a vacation! No, seriously...moms am I right? 

 29. Triple check you have your diaper bag before leaving the house !! I had to learn this the hard way.  Also make sure you always have an extra change of clothes in there.

30.  Running to Target is no longer a simple task.  Nothing really is, for me yet anyways.  Running to Target, baby free also feels like a vacation though.  Lets be honest, some of us would rather be at Target, than an ACTUAL vacation. 

31. Your kid gets cooler by the minute.  It's literally miraculous, and you will look at them with amazement, and in disbelief that you created such a magical person.  I still can't believe I created a person y'all! 

32. They say babies don’t smile until a certain age and when they are, that it's just gas... i call BS! My son has been smiling since he was a week old.  Swear on my hair.

33.  Don't spend time away from your child, for temporary people.  TRUST ME ON THIS! You cannot get that time you spent away from them back.  If you don't know for 100% sure they are going to be in your life for the long run, don't waste your time.  This is going to be tough for me, as a single mom, who is terrified to ever date again, but unless I KNOW, or my son is with his father, I refuse to take time away from Denver.

34. Moms are the shit! Until I became one myself, I never knew how much work they put into taking care of their kids.  When they say it's a full-time job, it most certainly is.  It's so much work, and hard sometimes, but beyond worth every single second.  Most days I legit feel like Superwoman! I am SO PROUD to be a mom!!

There are probably at least 75 more things I could add to this list right now, but I will save them for later.  I literally learn something  new every day.  I already know that this will be a learning process, daily, for the rest of my life. I can only hope and strive to wake up every day and be a better mom than the day before, and the best mom I can be!  What are some things you guys have learned since becoming mamas?  Let me know in the comments.  Thank you for reading!! 

XO- Amber

January 12, 2018 /Amber Ford
Mom Life, Nashville, motherhood, Mom Blogger, Mom to Be
Birth, Personal blog, Honesty, Mom blogger, Life, Pregnancy, Personal story, Brutally honest, Native in Nashville
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Celebrating Baby Denver: A Fiesta Inspired Baby Shower

July 08, 2017 by Amber Ford in Baby Shower Ideas, Native in Nashville, Life

A couple weeks ago, I had one of the most beautiful parties I could have imagined to celebrate my baby boy coming soon.  I wanted to share as many details as I can remember about our special day with you guys!  Some things may be a little foggy because this pregnancy brain is a real thing and should probably draw you some type of disability check.  I can never remember anything these days and I am praying it goes away after Denver enters this world.  Anyways, I hope you guys love the shower as much as I did. I am also sharing a few fun ideas for you to use in the future.

THEME

First things first,  choosing the theme!!  I am obsessed with any and everything cactus, plus tribal and bright colors, so that is where the inspo for the shower came from.  I felt it would also save me money down the road because I also wanted to decorate for him in this theme and figured I could just use some of the items from the shower for that.  Mission accomplished for sure.  I also really love Mexican food so this all really worked out well.  There were pops of cactus, color, and Mexican vibes everywhere!! 

REGISTERING

 I want to be able to tell y'all how much fun it was registering for gifts, but you know I'm always honest with you guys.  It may have been one of the most stressful things I've ever had to do.  I chose to register at Target & BabyList.  BabyList was pretty cool because you can literally choose anything from any website and add it to your registry.  I really appreciated that concept.  Target is a given, because who doesn't need another excuse to go there?  I loved walking around scanning everything, that part was kind of fun.  The problem was that I had NO idea what in the heck I needed to register for.  I made a Facebook status asking everyone for their opinions of what I must have, because let's face it, it's faster than asking Google these days, and my people really came through for me with answers.  I clearly post way too much because when I went to look back for all the suggestions, I couldn't even find the post.  I took matters into my own hands and went and prayed that I ran into one of my mom friends, and thankfully I did!   Before I saw her I was completely clueless, and looked like a lost puppy.   She went down each aisle with me and showed me thing things I was really going to use and what I wasn't.  I'm going to be doing a completely separate blog post on the things I got and what I find I can't live without before my son gets here.  

INVITATIONS & LOCATION:

I was looking for somewhere with open space, with lots of white to have my shower.  I found THE most perfect place for it.  A brand new VRBO in East Nashville.  This was a 4 story (including the rooftop) brand new house.  If you are looking for somewhere to stay during your visit in Nashville, you will definitely want to check this out.  I have included the link here where you can see all the pictures of the house and here to book on VRBO,  I heard at least 12 people that attended tell me they wanted to just move in.  I highly recommend it. 

Margaret Rivas with Oak Street Design Studio helped me recreate these invitations!  Love.

I also made these fun little inserts, which was a really sweet way to get some great books for my son.  I also loved the fact that people wrote little messages in the front or backs of the books.

FOOD

No fiesta would be complete without a taco or nacho bar.  We had catering from Moe's which was delicious, the cutest vegetable tray made by my mom with the best ranch dip of all time, & chips, salsa & queso.  The girls had the best & cutest idea to serve the chips in a sombrero.  Everything was perfect.  

The cake and cookies were made by Nashville Sweets.  You guys have got to check out their Instagram @nashvillesweetsshop or their website here to see all of their amazing and delicious desserts.  They are located in East Nashville as well.  They even incorporated the V from my Native in Nashville logo into my son's name on the cake and cookies.  SOOOO dang cute.  Everything was almost too pretty to eat.   I highly recommend using them for your custom cakes and cookies.

GAMES... OR SHOULD I SAY ACTIVITIES

I have never been a big fan of baby shower games, but over my many years of attending showers & events, I had to have some of the things I have seen that stuck with me.

Guess the baby's arrival date, Advice for Mommy & More:

One of my favorite shower activities has always been printing off a calendar and having everyone guess what day baby will actually make his arrival.  I particularly like this one, because the last shower I went to that had this, I was the one who guessed correctly (lol).  This is something I am going to put in a frame and hang up.  We also had everyone write down words of encouragement and advice, which I am not ashamed to say that I so greatly need.  One other thing that I love and will keep forever, is the frame that people signed all around his ultrasound picture, with little notes to him.  On this little table we also had people fill out an envelope with their addresses so that it makes life a little easier on me when I send out thank you cards.  

Snapchat Geotag Filter.  One of my favorite hobbies & apps ever is Snapchat.  I couldn't go without having a filter for Denver's shower.  I found one I liked on Etsy by SnappyDaysCo and had the shop owner customize it for me.  If you need a snapchat filter for any occasion, I highly recommend using Alexandra.  You can click here to go straight to her shop.  It was a hit and I definitely reminded everyone at the shower, every time I saw them snapping to use it.  This is the one we used at the shower.  It only costs about $20 some dollars total including the fee I paid to Snapchat and the customization fee.  She was great at communicating and her directions on how to get it submitted and approved through Snapchat were very user friendly.  

We also had a photo booth type area on the rooftop of the house!! :)

PARTY FAVORS

 I might be a little biased but these party favors were awesome.  They turned out to be a bit pricey because I made 50 of them and you guys know that EOS lip balm is good stuff and a little over $3 each.  I also had to buy cardstock and a big hole punch to make them, as well as the image from Etsy.  The link for these is here.  I had her customize them a bit from the sample but she was easy to work with and they turned out exactly as I hoped. I probably spent about $200 total for these but they were so worth it.  I'm all about making people laugh and/or smile, and these were a definite hit, plus practical long after the shower !! 

I am so thankful for my amazing friends who hosted my shower, my sister-in-law, Laura, best friends Tamina and Kalahn.  My friend Kelly also helped out so much with bringing decorations, Amy helped with food and Cody of Jennifer Cody Weddings ( @jennifercodyweddings ) made the delicious punch and took lots of pictures,  which you guys have seen above and will see more below.  Kalahn's mom also helped a lot with helping set up.  I know how much time and effort went into making the shower special, even from myself.  Everyone coming to spend part of their day celebrating my sweet boy, and all the great gifts we received meant so much to me.  So thank you all!  One last detail that many people have asked me about.  My dress is from Fillyboo Maternity.  They have the most magical handmade boho style dresses. 

For the full gallery from the shower click here.  Just as an update my due date is 4.5 weeks from today!!  I can't believe he is almost here.  Thank you guys for reading and following along with me through my pregnancy journey. 

XO,

Amber

July 08, 2017 /Amber Ford
creative shower, Baby Shower Theme, Fillyboo Maternity, Nashville Eats, Maternity, baby, Etsy, Baby Shower Ideas, motherhood, Nashville Sweets, Baby Blogger, Fiesta, Baby Shower, Motherhood, Mexican, Native in Nashville, Fiesta Inspired Baby Shower
Baby Shower Ideas, Native in Nashville, Life
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