Happy 4th of July!

We had a great 4th of July this year! We had Daniel of course and it was fun to celebrate his first real holiday but we also had my family come up to Spartanburg for the weekend. We started the day by going to the church for breakfast and games and it was a lot of fun. We ate some amazing food and Mike and Josh played tug of war.

After the church we went home and played games and went for a nice walk and then we ate some more awesome food! We decided to do the big meal for lunch because we knew that our evening was going to be really busy.

This how Dan spent his afternoon :)

 For Mike and I (but especially Mike) it just isn't Independence Day without fireworks. So rather than just doing some lame ones here, I tried to find a show that we could go see. I found out that Greenville just a festival with games, rides, concerts and a fireworks show at the end.

Daniel spent his evening with Grandma. He was cuddled and protected from the crowds. He was such a trooper the whole night. He was awake a lot but was a happy boy. Then once the fireworks started he fell asleep..silly boy :) The rest of us really enjoyed the atmosphere and had fun listening to the music and just being out of the house. The fireworks show was a little shorter than we're used to but it was really good. All in all it was a great July 4th filled with good food, good company and lots of fun :) It was a great way to celebrate this wonderful country that we're blessed to live in and the freedoms that we enjoy. 

Playing "house"

When I was a little one of my favorite games was "house". I know I played with stuffed animals, a doll house, barbies, school and lots of other games with my friends but I loved to play house. Not only did I love to play house but I had to be the mom. My friends and I were very elaborate in our games of house. We built and designed houses and made up story lines before we started to play. We would each have a role to play and I was the mom. I loved being the mom. From a young age being a mom was the job that I wanted and the role I wanted to play.

Once I was a teenager, I started to babysit for lots of people at church and in our neighborhood. I loved each of the kids I babysat for. I loved playing with them and teaching them the little things I could while I was there. Many times if I was having a bad day I would go to my neighbors house and play with her kids because really I couldn't be sad or angry with those sweet faces asking me to play with them. I was not the babysitter who sat on the couch and watched TV and ignored the kids. I wanted to play with them. I wanted to run and teach them to play games. We would play hide and seek, tag, have dance and singing contests, go to the park and play outside. I loved when I could put them to bed and sing to them and cuddle them. Babysitting was a job that only confirmed that I wanted to be a mom someday. I loved those kids that I took care of and I couldn't imagine how much I would love my own children if I loved other peoples that much.

Then when I was a senior in high school I decided I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I loved teaching and watching kids learn. I also by this time knew that I would likely have problems having children so I figured this would give me an opportunity to still be around children if I wasn't able to have my own. I also enjoyed teaching and discovering ways to help children learn. However, I also knew without a doubt that the job I wanted more than being a teacher was to be a mother.

I then went to BYU-I and earned a teaching degree. I loved teaching and each classroom I worked in was a wonderful experience. I also got to teach primary at church with Mike and I loved that too. Once I got married, I had a lot of people asking when I would have kids but I also had people ask me if I would be teaching. I made it clear to anyone who asked that I would love to be a teacher but my ultimate goal was to be a mother. If I couldn't have my own children then I would be happy in the classroom with "my kids" but that wasn't the job I wanted but that doesn't mean I didn't love what I was doing.

I will admit that when we were going through our fertility experience, working in the classrooms with the kids really helped me and gave me the strength to keep going. I put them first and focused on what the students needed instead of myself.  I loved being in the classroom and getting the opportunity to teach and practice selflessness and patience and plenty of other qualities that I needed to work on.

For now though, I have a new job and its the one I've been wanting and working towards for years. All of the babysitting and school and teaching has prepared me for the job I have now. Those experiences taught me patience, love, selflessness, multi tasking, how to think creatively and diversely, that every child is different and unique and has an endless capacity to learn. I learned forgiveness and how to answer tough questions and that sometimes I won't know the answer but that its ok to admit you don't know everything.

Now I have a new job and its a pretty great one so far. I definitely don't know everything and I have a lot to learn but I also have a lot of help. The best part is that I am still a teacher. I get to work one on one with my favorite student everyday and for now its pretty great. I'm grateful for my degree and it was definitely worth it. Who knows, maybe someday I'll go back and teach in the classroom when my kids go to school. For now though, I just want to enjoy learning to be the mom in this real life version of "house" :)

One Month!

Happy one month to our pooh bear!

 I can't believe my baby boy is already a month old! Time goes by so fast! Its been a crazy month but we are loving having Dan in our family! He is such a good baby. Sure he has his moments (don't we all) but overall he is wonderful and so sweet. 

- He is a little squeaker. He squeaks when he eats which is adorable but loud and quite distracting.

- He gets the hiccups a lot. He got the hiccups a lot when I was pregnant and he still does. Its slowly getting better but I can't wait til he doesn't get them quite as frequently. 

- He LOVES his rock n play! I think the rock n play is the best investment we made because he naps in it all the time and its a great way to calm him down. I can't wait til we can try the bouncer once he can hold his head up.

- Dan loves the car (as far as we can tell). We've taken him on a few short road trips and he has done amazing. He doesn't seem to mind his car seat and is completely out once the car is moving. 

- Dan also enjoys bath time. We've only done a few baths so far in the 2 weeks since his cord fell off but he's loved them all. Its one of my favorite things to do with him too. I just love how good he smells after a bath  and how happy he is too :)

- He is usually pretty happy. He is a gassy boy so that is when he is the most upset. Generally is extremely upset moments are connected to that last burp or to a poopy diaper that's coming just as soon as he can get it out. Otherwise though he is a happy and content little boy.

- He is a great sleeper and eater. He is eating a ton at feedings and during the day will nap for 3 to 4 hours and at night will go 4 to 6 hours which mom and dad are loving.

We love you Daniel! You are our little pooh bear and even though we are tired and sleep deprived, the snuggles and cuddles and happy times make it all worth it :) We can't wait to see how much you grow in the next month!

A Day with Grandma

For the last three weeks we have been blessed to have Mike's mom here with us to help us with Daniel. Mike and I are so grateful for all of the help and we're especially happy that Daniel got to spend so much time with his grandma. Most of the time she was here was spent at home but on our last day together we wanted to go out and do something fun and different.

We started our day by going to strawberry hill. This is a farm here in spartanburg that has a market to buy lots of food related to the current crops. Right now since peaches are in season we got to try lots of peach flavored things and also some peaches. It was fun to taste everything. We also got some strawberry bread which is amazing and had some strawberry and peach cider (so yummy...wish we had gotten some to take home).

After we fed and changed little Dan and he was back asleep, we headed for Greenville. We decided to go visit Peace Park. Its a beautiful park with waterfalls and lots of trails and little stores and restaurants but sadly I didn't take any pictures. It was fun to walk around though and enjoy being outside.

After the park we went shopping and then to Olive Garden for dinner which was delicious and got Coldstone for dessert. It was a great day! Daniel was an absolute angel all day. He slept most of the time unless he was hungry or needed to be changed. It made being out all day so much easier. It was also a wonderful way to spend our last day with Grandma Kate. We're going to miss having her here to talk to and spend time with and we'll definitely miss all the help she's given us. We miss you Grandma and we're sure Daniel misses you too.

Baby Bump Shoot

A few days before our baby boy was born we had our friend Stephanie take some pictures of Mike and I.  We spent two evenings taking pictures and it was so much fun. At the time I was extremely stressed at the thought of being induced and struggling to decide if we should so doing these pictures was very relaxing and enjoyable. Stephanie did such a great job! All of the pictures were wonderful and I had a very hard time choosing which ones to share.

Here are a few of my favorites: (I was 37 weeks and 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant in these pictures)

These are the second day:

A Spartanburg Shower

So I know this post is super late since Daniel is almost a month old now but in my defense he was born 2 weeks early and I also just got these pictures recently so I had to wait to share. A couple weeks before Daniel was born I was lucky enough to have a second baby shower thrown for me in Spartanburg. It was so much fun to relax and get advice on mommy hood :) Christine also did a great job on the food. I'm not sure how she knew how much I love strawberries but we had strawberry shortcake and it was delicious! Thank you Christine! It was beautiful and so much fun :)

 We played a couple of games too. First we had the poopy diaper game which was so much fun to watch and listen to some of the conversations that come up when playing a game with diapers and melted chocolate bars. Then Christine also had a basket of newborn diapers and people could decorate them or write funny sayings on them. They were so cute! I wish I had taken a picture but sadly they're all gone now.

Our little boy was also blessed with some more wonderful gifts. Thank you to everyone who came. It was wonderful to celebrate baby Epperson's impending arrival with all of you!

Recent Happenings

A couple weeks ago I got a text from Katie who is one of my best friends and she told me that she and her husband wanted to come see us. I was so excited! I wanted to see her of course but I also really wanted her to meet Daniel. So we got it worked out that they could come and even though we would only get to spend a few hours with them, I was still really excited.

Our little peanut snuggling with Auntie Katie :)

Katie got to feed him and hear the cute little squeaks he makes when he eats 

Play time with Aunt Katie :) He was really happy to talk to her.

 

 

 We're so happy Katie and Ben got to come visit. It was fun to talk to you guys and go out to Chick fil a for dinner. I'm so happy you got to meet Daniel as well and that he was happy but next time you can change the diaper Katie :) Now we just need to plan a trip up to DC to visit them!