31 Days of Infant Photos and Musings: Joke’s On Her

31Day4

The day I was born was…well, it was traumatic. First I was all warm and cozy, then –

BAM!

BRIGHT LIGHTS!

NOISE!

COLD!

WHY ARE YOU POKING ME?!

I started to panic, which is apparently cause for concern because my handlers were all, “Her breathing is elevated! We need to slow it down!”

Then they laid me on mom-lady’s chest and I was all, “HAPPY PLACE! HAPPY PLACE!”

So the handlers told mom-lady that she needed to hold me tight on her chest as much as possible for the first few weeks to make sure my breathing stays regulated.

Because apparently it’s wrong to give newborns Xanax.

Mom-lady keeps forgetting their strict instructions, though, and she tries to lay me down. Despite the fact that I am clearly in a deep and peaceful sleep in her arms, she seems to think that laying me down is appropriate because she has “things to do.”

Are those things more important than making sure I don’t have a panic attack?!

Joke’s on her, though, because every time she lays me down, I just cry and she picks me back up. Just between you and me, the bed she’s laying me in is rather cozy. I kind of like it, actually. But she doesn’t need to know that, because I like sleeping on her chest better.

I’m winning this fight.

Hehehehe…

31DaysmdJoin me as I take The Nester’s  31 Day challenge and chronicle the newborn haze of sleepless nights, endless nursing, and squeezing in life in twenty minute increments throughout the day. If you want to receive the posts directly in your email inbox, just leave your email address in the box on the sidebar, and subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

I’ll share photos every day, some of them good, and some of them mediocre, because baby leaves me little time to worry about taking and editing the perfect photos.

I’ll also be sharing my daughter’s thoughts, as dictated to me telepathically while she nurses, because she has informed me that she is a mind ninja, and I am merely her portal to the outside world.

Her words, not mine.

*wink*

31 Days: Brangelina

Day2

On my third morning in this place they call home, mom-lady told dad that she had a dream. A couple named Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie came to visit because, apparently, they wanted to meet me.

Mom-lady told dad that Angelina, or “Angie,” held me and coo’ed (people do that when they hold me) while she spoke with Brad about a movie called Romeo and Juliette, and whether or not some guy name Leonardo DiCaprio is a good actor.

Whatever the heck that means.

Dad picked me up and held me out in front of him. “I wonder if Brad and Angie wanted to adopt you,” he said, and they both laughed.

Frankly, I didn’t find that funny at all.

My parents are weird.

31DaysmdJoin me in this 31 Day series as I survive the newborn haze of sleepless nights, endless nursing, and squeezing in life in twenty minute increments throughout the day. If you want to receive the posts directly in your email inbox, just leave your email address in the box on the sidebar, and subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

I’ll share photos every day, some of them good, and some of them mediocre, because baby leaves me little time to worry about taking and editing the perfect photos.

I’ll also be sharing my daughter’s thoughts, as dictated to me telepathically while she nurses, because she has informed me that she is a mind ninja, and I am merely her portal to the outside world.

Her words, not mine.

*wink*

31 Days of Infant Photos and Musings

Day1

Hi all.

Annika here.

I’m dictating my thoughts on life to the mom-lady telepathically while I nurse.

THAT’S RIGHT. I AM THAT GIFTED!

This is how I usually look when I’m giving the mom-lady the 4-1-1 on this thing called living:

Day1.2

To the untrained eye, I look like any other sleeping baby, but really I am a ninja of the mind. This is just my disguise.

Incidentally, I’m also hungry all the time, which means mom-lady and I are basically attached to one another. This gives me ample amounts of time to let her know all about how life is rolling along as I see it.

This mom-lady is actually handy to have around because all I have to do is let out a short wail and she’s at my beck and call. It’s awesome. So far it’s the best thing about living on the outside.

Eight days ago, I was wrapped tight in a  cocoon. It was quiet and safe. No one poked me or stuck thermometer in my rear end (that was…different), or expected me to sleep for hours on end without nourishment.

Life on earth is scary.

But mom-lady is nice. So’s the guy they call “dad.” I like how he smells, but he doesn’t give me food, so he’s not my number one favorite. I have a feeling, though, that someday he will be super fun to hang around.

There are also three other people in this house with us. And a dog, but the dog ignores me, which is fine by me because from my vantage point she is just a giant hairy monster waiting to eat my face off.

I think I’m going to like the other three people, too. They kiss on me a lot, which is nice. Everybody likes to be kissed, right?

So for the next 31 Days, I’m going to be sharing what life looks like from my viewpoint. And mom-lady will be sharing pictures, because from what I can deduce, one of her hands has a built in camera attached to it.

My mom might be a robot…

31DaysmdJoin me in this 31 Day series as I survive the newborn haze of sleepless nights, endless nursing, and squeezing in life in twenty minute increments throughout the day. If you want to receive the posts directly in your email inbox, just leave your email address in the box on the sidebar, and subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

I’ll share photos every day, some of them good, and some of them mediocre, because baby leaves me little time to worry about taking and editing the perfect photos.

I’ll also be sharing my daughter’s thoughts, as dictated to me telepathically while she nurses, because she has informed me that she is a mind ninja, and I am merely her portal to the outside world.

Her words, not mine.

*wink*

Day Two: Brangelina

Day Three: Joke’s on Her

Day Four: Swaddling 

Day Five: Kissable Lips

Day Six: Road Trips

Day Seven: Bath Time

Day Eight: Biggest Brother

Day Nine: Big Sister

Day Ten: Little Big Brother

Day Eleven: Expelling Waste

Day Twelve: Swimming

Day Thirteen: Infancy is Exhausting

Day Fourteen: Not Cool

Day Fifteen: I didn’t post today BECAUSE I’M A BABY, PEOPLE! STOP PRESSURING ME!

Day Sixteen: Party in the USA

Day Seventeen: Help Me

Day Eighteen: No, I didn’t blog again today. I had to watch my brothers play soccer, then go to my sister’s gymnastics meet. Baby life is exhausting. WHO HAS TIME TO BLOG EVERY DAY???!!!

Day Nineteen: The Bird

Day Twenty: Nope – Didn’t blog. I am done feeling guilty about this…

Day Twenty-One: The Magical Beach

Day Twenty-Two: Leaving on a Jet Plane

Day Twenty-Three: All About That Bass

Day Twenty-Four: Sorry, no post today. I was too busy hobnobbing with the blogger ladies of Allume

Day Twenty-Five: The Pros and Cons of Allume

Day Twenty-six: Nothing. Nothing at all

Day Twenty-Seven: Sorry. Playing catch up on my sleep after traveling yesterday. Need my beauty sleep.

Day Twenty-Eight: Photo Session. 

Day Twenty-Nine: To Target and Back

Day Thirty: Baby of the Year

How 30 Days Changed the Course

30 Days to Becoming a Writer

Last October, I participated in The Nester’s 31 Day Challenge: Pick a topic, and dive deep into that topic for 31 days.  I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide what topic I could focus on for 31 days. How could I come up with a post every day for a month on one particular subject?

This became an exercise in discipline for me, as well as a personal challenge I  wanted to complete. After a lot of back and forth, I decided to write about the one thing I felt I knew best:

Writing

I was so very nervous to dive into that series of posts, but there was something deep inside that wanted to prove that I did know this profession into which I’ve chosen to pour myself. A lack of confidence held me back for far too long, so it was time to embrace with confidence that which I knew.

I managed to pull off 30 posts in those 31 days, and with each post I wrote, I felt an increasing sense of confidence in who God made me to be. I remembered the dark nights as a child, pouring my heart into journal after journal. I remembered the poems and songs I scratched out on notebook paper, the stories and devotionals I penned when I had a little time to myself.

30 Days to Becoming a Writer

I remembered the day a professor pulled me aside in college and told me that he had submitted an essay I’d written into a local competition and it won. “Why are you a theater major?” he asked. “You should be a writing major.”

I remembered and I embraced, and those 30 posts changed the entire course of where I was headed.

30 Days to Becoming a Writer 

I knew it was time to move on from my blog. As much as I loved that space, and the fun that I had there, it was time to expand. Those 30 days gave me the confidence to take the next steps toward launching this current site.

I wrote that series of blog posts for myself, but something happened that I did not plan.

The posts were read, and read again, then shared and read some more. Every day I received notification from Pinterest that these posts were being pinned, and a thought struck me:

Maybe I have information that would benefit others. Maybe I actually do know what I’m talking about.

For the past three months, I have work feverishly to pull those posts together and combine them in a more concise and comprehensive manner. I added to the information I originally shared, shaped up what I’d previously written, and pulled together enough material to put it together in one easy-to-read guide.

30 Days to Becoming a Writer

Today, 30 Days to Becoming a Writer officially hits the Amazon marketplace. Putting this together and publishing it as an e-book only added to my growth and learning as a writer. This was my first official experience with self-publication and, as expected, I made a few mistakes. I learned as I went, though, and I am now so proud of how the book has turned out.

30 Days to Becoming a Writer is a book for people like me – people who love to write, but are unsure if they have what it takes to turn their hobby into a career. This is a book meant to give confidence. If you have the words inside you, and the the desire to see them shared, then my prayer is you’ll find the tools you need in this e-book to make your dream a reality.

I’m here to be your cheerleader. You can do this. You have everything it takes to call yourself a writer and, ultimately, an author.

To join me on this journey of growing as a writer and expanding in our craft, please head over to Amazon today and download your copy of 30 Days to Becoming a Writer.

If you’re interested in helping me promote the book and get the word out, please feel free to share it with your social media channels. You can help by sharing the images in this post, or this one. You can also share any or all of these images on Pinterest, by posting to Facebook and Twitter, or, if you feel led, by posting to your blog.

Follow me on Facebook for information on the release of the book.

Thank you to so many of you who have cheered me on in this journey. Without my tribe of people rallying behind me, I never would have gotten this finished.

Blessings to you all this beautiful Monday morning, and Happy Writing!

Subscribe to receive a FREE excerpt from the award winning Like A River From Its Course!

You have Successfully Subscribed!