I've been had...and love it!

Who am I kidding? Despite my greatest efforts to stand strong and resist conforming to social demands for material things, I realized this morning that I've been had in so many ways. Marketing works, so does peer pressure. And let's face it, I'm all about convenience these days.

While sitting in my living room this morning, my newborn snoozing away the minutes until his next meal, learning how to use my new iPhone (more to come on this brilliant piece of technology) I paused to ponder how quickly ones life and home can change when one lets down their guard. It only took a few weeks, days really, to turn my cozy living room into a marketer's dream. Every corner is now filled with some sort of baby "must have" from swings to bouncy chairs to blankets and burp cloths. While all have proven to be life savers at one time or another (including my iPhone), so far the baby fave is the one item not marketed for babies...the exercise ball (of course). Somehow though, it all makes me smile and feel content. My joy is not because of the newly acquired "stuff" that surrounds me, but what it represents - my life.

I realized how truly blessed I am to have such wonderful family and friends. All have shaped my life in one way or another and for that I thank each of you. These past 6 weeks have been so incredibly amazing, exhausting, overwhelming and exciting. Steve and I appreciate all of the love, support, friendship, kindness and time people have given us since Peyton was born. The old saying, "It takes a village to raise a child" is true. We couldn't have made it to this point in our lives without you. Thank you!

So again, looking around my home now filled with stuff I think to myself, "I've been had...and I love it"!