12 Weeks: Only the Beginning

Twelve weeks is such a pivotal baby landmark in my mind.

Lyla turning 12 weeks old stands out vividly, as it brings up a heap of emotions. It was that moment when I walked into her room and suddenly realized I no longer had a newborn. She had graduated from newbie to baby overnight.

The fourth trimester, as difficult as it was, was over in an instant.

That, and my maternity leave of course.

Oh to go back and read my thoughts from my last day of maternity leave two years ago. What a painful moment in time.

And now I'm experiencing some of those same emotions with Adaline. How is it that we brought our sweet baby girl into the world 12 weeks ago already?

Time is cruel and has a heart of ice.

However. This time around, I'm no longer looking at it as saying goodbye to my most-favorite-of-all-time newborn phase. Instead, I'm excited to be welcoming the next phase. The babbling, the endless smiles, and the eagerness to soak in the world. Oh the joy that comes with entering each phase!

The past twelve weeks have been some of the most high-quality, beautiful, and heart-expanding of my life.

And like that precious time with Lyla, my sweet "maternity leave" with Adaline is now complete. It is time to move onto the next phase. And I am ready. I welcome it with open arms, lots of excitement-nerves, and plenty of coffee to compensate for the late nights. {and now an annoying cold, that I somehow managed to avoid until this point}.

But I am abundantly thankful. Because this time, as I say goodbye to maternity leave, I do not have to say goodbye to my babies. I get to be home with them. And live up and savor these years that pass too quickly.

So dear friends, here I am... entering the realm of entrepreneurship. That's right, I'm a mamapreneur.

I am fast and furiously working away to prepare for the launch of a new resource for our community: Wichita Moms Blog!

I am incredibly excited to be part of a larger network and bring this resource to Wichita. I'm currently in the process of taking in all the information I can, while figuring out behind-the-scenes technology stuff {where I am horribly illiterate}, while networking, while building my site, while searching for other mamas to contribute as writers for the blog. 

It's a smidgen overwhelming, but also THRILLING.

I look forward to seeing where this journey takes me, and my hope is that I'm still able to find time to hang out in this little corner of the internet to document life and post plenty of pictures of my babes. For me. For my girls. 

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So, Miss Adaline Mae. Happy twelve weeks, my darling. Although I'm a bit sad this chapter of ours is coming to an end, there are no tears this time. Because I still get to pursue dreams and show you what it's like to work hard for those dreams, all with you swaddled right next to me.