I finally got a haircut!

I've been growing my hair out for 2 years in anticipation of my wedding day, I wanted long flowy hair. I get a trim every 6 weeks so it didn't get as long as it could have, but I never had split ends! Anyway, I do not like long hair on me. It looks ok if it's styled, but if it's not it just looks raggedy and blah. I've always preferred my hair on the shorter side, so I knew that as soon as the wedding was over I was going to chop it off, so on Saturday I did! I'm so happy with it. I didn't want a "mom bob" but I didn't want it too crazy where I'd have to style it every day. I think it looks pretty good, a lot more chic and grown up. And the best part is that now Belle can't yank on it!

little luxuries

I'm not the most fashionable person on the planet. Usually, when I find a piece of clothing I like, I'll buy it in 10 colors, and it's usually a solid color and I'll usually wear it with jeans or yoga pants. I know what's in style and I do follow fashion, I just don't live it. But there's one little thing that I'm obsessed with that I never skimp on and that is nail polish. I can't afford manicures every week, but I try to go once a month. If I don't have polish on my nails, I feel naked. I probably change the color a couple times a week, so of course I need a well stocked polish supply. Luckily for me, I have an aunt that owns a beauty salon (she's also my hair stylist), and she gets me OPI nail polish for next to nothing (she literally charges me nothing most of the time when I ask her for new colors). I have amassed a collection of 37 bottles of the stuff, I am addicted. On Friday, after lunch with a friend, we wandered over to ULTA and I couldn't help snagging a couple more bottles. I am currently obsessing over this new color "No Room For the Blues"...

Here's a picture of my entire OPI collection.

*Don't mind the husband, glass of wine and new issue of US Weekly in the background.

yay!

My best friend Michelle is having a baby! She found shortly after my wedding, so I've known for a little while, but she's finally telling people and I am so excited. I'm finally going to have someone to have mommy/baby playdates with :)

new name

If you haven't noticed, the title and header on my blog is a little different. That's because I'm officially "Adrienne O'Brien Gomer". My last name is not hyphenated, I just changed my middle name to "O'Brien". I'm pretty sure you'd do the same if your birth given middle name was "Krystle". What am I a stripper from the 80's? And to make things worse, I was given the middle name "Krystle" after "Krystle Carrington" from the oh-so-critically-acclaimed TV show, "Dynasty". (My mom also wanted to name my brother Brandon after Brandon Walsh from 90210 in the '90's. Thank God my dad kiboshed that idea - not that there's anything wrong with the name Brandon, but to name both of your kids after Soap Opera characters is a little odd). Sorry mom!

Anyway, I never wanted to change my last name. O'Brien is a solid Irish name (I'm 50% Irish, 50% German. 2nd generation on the German side, 3rd on the Irish side). And I would have kept my last name if it wasn't for Belle. I don't like the idea of having a different name from the rest of my family and hyphenating her last name just seemed wrong to me. What if she wanted to do the same? Then her kids would have to be O'Brien-Gomer-(fill in the blank). No thanks.

So now I'm a Gomer. Let the Gomer Pyle jokes ensue.

PS - the URL is still the same, I didn't feel like changing it.

being "mommy"

My whole life I have always wanted to be a mom. I love children; their energy, their innocence, their ability to love without judgement. There's just something about kids that always puts a smile on my face. I haven't always been the most patient caregiver. I used to nanny in college and I remember having many days where I thought "I just want to go home and be left alone".

When Justin and I found out that we were having a baby, I was terrified. I'm not going to lie and say it was the happiest day of my life. I knew that I wanted kids young and Justin and I had talked for years about having a family, but it caught us off guard. We wanted to wait at least a couple more years until Justin was farther along with school before we had children. After digesting the realization of it all, we began to plan and get excited. When I found out that I was having a girl, that was it for me. I knew my life would never be the same, but I knew it would never ever be sweeter. If you've known me at all in the past year, you'd know that pregnancy was very difficult for me. It was very disheartening because I want a big family, but by the end of my pregnancy I was questioning if I even wanted two. Now looking back on Belle's first 8 months of life, I can honestly say that I do still want that big family (although we aren't planning on expanding any time soon).

I always thought I knew what kind of mom I wanted to be. I thought "I could never be a stay-at-home mom, that job is too hard", "I'm going to be tough, let her cry it out, strict schedules, etc." I have learned through this entire crazy experience of being a parent that you should never say never. I am the exact opposite of what I thought I would be. I don't ever want to leave home, being at home all day with Belle is by far the best and most rewarding job I've ever had. I used to dread waking up in the mornings and now I wake up with a smile on my face. Plus, I get to wear yoga pants and t-shirts every day (I am not a dress up kind of girl). I thought that staying home would get boring and mudane. I planned on going out on weekends just to have alone time for myself. Life is not at all like that. The days go by too fast. When Belle is in bed, I wish she was up. On weekends, I just want to spend time with my little family, I don't want to be by myself.

I know this post sounds so cheesy and if you've read this far, then I applaud your tolerance. I read all of these books about moms who just want to lock themselves in closets and tell their kids to shut up and feel like their lives are falling apart. Although I most definitely sympathize with these women, I cannot relate. I feel like I've finally found myself. My patience has increased exponentially in the last 8 months. Although, I do only have one child and I haven't been a mom for that long. Belle's not even old enough to talk back. Maybe I should wait a few years (or 13) and see if I feel the same way. But for now, I know where my heart is and I have never been happier. I have the most perfect loving husband (who cooks!) and a daughter who makes me laugh on a regular basis.

Life could not be better.

official wedding pictures!

We got our official wedding pictures today! I wanted to post just a few of my favorites, but I couldn't narrow it down, so here are a lot of my favorites...