Bad Friend with a 13 Week Old BABY!

Hi Everyone! It's me! Yes, really! I'm still alive and kickin' out here!

I'm so sorry I've been such a bad blog friend. It was never my intention to have a baby and then drop off the face of the earth...but, as you moms know firsthand, life changes. And I mean, CHANGES. BIG TIME. I have been scrambling just to get every day chores done, and have started saying very mom-isn things like "there just aren't enough hours in the day!" Who am I? But really. Life is crazy. And wonderful and amazing and hectic and beautiful. Crazy crazy crazy, in the best ways possible.

I have to thank Madeline from A Dash of Snark for reaching out to me this morning and checking in. Madeline, you motivated me to write this post! Thanks for being such a good blog friend! You are awesome. :)

I PROMISE I have not forgotten about a single one of you. I pray for you daily and hope you are all doing well. Especially my sisters that are still in the trenches. Your thoughts and intentions are always on my heart. Not a day goes by when I don't call on Mary to cling to your side, hold your hands, ease your pain. I hope she has been doing exactly that, and that your days lately are filled more joy than struggles.

What's new in the Holi hood, you ask?! Well, there's a new big girl in town, that's for sure.

We baptized our sweet Eileen Marie this weekend! It was one of the most spiritually profound and emotional days of my life thus far, except of course for her actual delivery and perhaps my wedding day. I wish I could tell you that all of the pain and sadness melted away at that moment, but instead I found myself thinking about and praying for my other two girls...my girls that I never got to hold, kiss, cuddle, or baptize in Jesus's name. I knew at that moment they were smiling down on us from heaven, but it was difficult not to have them with us. There was a moment in the baptism where they invited the baptized child's siblings to come up and offer a blessing. I couldn't help thinking that Eileen's sisters should've been blessing her and loving her. Although I know they bless her and love her every day, still, it was bittersweet.

But mostly sweet. We were surrounded by so much love and so many loving family members all day, that it wasn't too difficult to wipe my tears and focus on my joy. Here is a picture of us with Deacon John, my parents, T's parents, and the godparents (my sister Molly, who came home from college to be with us, and my brother Joe, who came all the way from his home in LA)!

One of the proudest moments of my life...standing with my husband and my newly baptized baby!

Eileen and my side of the family.

Eileen and T's side of the family (including her cousins Adie and Ike!).

The beautiful cake that my mom lovingly baked and decorated from scratch. You will think I'm lying when I tell you this, but the cake weighed SIXTEEN POUNDS. Sixteen pounds of pure heaven. Fondant, chocolate ganache, a lemon curd layer, a fresh strawberry layer, and on and on and on. Sorry waistline (not really)!

Emily with her loving godparents.

Modeling the Holi family gown, which T also wore as a child! It's over 100 years old! (He wore it with blue ribbons attached, don't worry!)

Modeling my family's gown, which I also wore. It is made from my grandmother's wedding dress, and the bonnet was made by my mom. It was so special seeing her in this gown!

A little backtrack, but this is mommy and E's first Easter together.

Mommy and daddy cheesin' it for the cameras.

Our first decent family photo!

Trying out baby-wearing...I need to build up my neck muscles!

"Mom, where am I?"

Sailin' away...

Imaging how she might look in a few years...(or hopefully not?!)

My beautiful, sweet, amazing girl.

We call her Smileen!

And for your viewing pleasure...enjoy.

Anyway, that's the update for now. We are all doing great, E is growing like a weed (we are guessing she's about 14 lbs. now!), and we are starting to find our "new normal." For all who are curious, she is sleeping in her big girl crib (she was in a bassinet for 10 weeks) all the way through the night now, and cloth diapering is going great! I was so nervous to start after her 8-week birthday, but she's been a champ. We've been at it for 5 weeks now, as she is officially 13 WEEKS OLD TODAY. Somebody pinch me. Is this real life?!

Just to throw another wrench in the mix, as of this week, my new normal now includes freelance writing cover letters/resumes from home! So we'll see how I do with another layer in my day. I'll keep you posted as I'm able to!

Again, forgive my truancy. I hate to be a 'lover and leaver.' I promise to try and get back into a regular routine, and even if I am not commenting, I am checking in! Really! God bless you all, and I hope the beginning of spring has renewed the fire of Christ's love in your hearts!

xo,