slowing down...

If there is one thing I've learned about kids, it's that they have a way to always get sick at the inopportune time. Or if there is something you are really looking forward to, your child will probably have a way to put a crimp in your plan. Every single time.

My kid is sick. At Christmas. For the second year in a row. Seriously.

The other night, her Dad and I made plans to pick her up from school early and then take her to the mall for a bit of shopping and then a visit to Santa. Then we were going to let her spend the night at her grandparents while we got some much overdue quiet non-parent time.

Ha.

The mall was packed and BG was riding a sugar high like no other after a day at school involving not one, but two Christmas parties. We were walking through the center of the mall when BG decided she wanted to be carried and turned around to reach for her Dad. Somehow while he was pulling her toward him to pick her up, she decided to jump away from him and twist away and all hell broke loose. Literally.

She was inconsolable. At first we thought she was pissed about being picked up but it was so much worse than that. I took her to the side to see if I could calm her down and noticed she wouldn't even stand up straight. And she was sobbing hysterically. Which BG does not do.

We decided to head back to the car so I carried a bent in half toddler screaming through the mall. Good times. By the time we got to the car, she wasn't moving her arm at all and was so terribly upset that I just knew she had dislocated her shoulder or elbow. It broke my Mama heart watching her in so much pain.

So we ended up in the ER. Where she finally tired herself out enough to sleep on my chest only to be woken up in pain anytime she moved her arm. It was awful.

After about an hour, the doctor came in and told us that he thought she had a radial subluxation
, aka, Nursemaids elbow. To treat it he would just snap it back in place and if that was it, she would be back to normal in about five minutes.

Y'all. Holding her down for that just about did me in. I know there are Mamas out there that daily watch their children go through far worse and my heart goes out to you. My Mama heart could not stand watching my baby go through that. But the doctor was right; not even five minutes later, she was absolutely fine. And could not quit telling the doctor "thank you" because "he made my arm feel so much better".

The next day, we decided to attempt the Santa visit again. Mr. P had some errands to run in town so he left early and then the little and I headed in a bit later. We ran to a couple of shops first and then headed to see Santa. By the time we got there, BG was slowing down a bit and was saying how tired she was. We decided to see the big man and then reevaluate.

She climbed right up there and chatted Santa's ear off but it's obvious in the picture that she just plain out was not feeling well. A quick temperature check when we got home confirmed it; a fever. Fantastic.

Then this morning, an even higher fever causing her and I to miss the Christmas service at church and spend a very quiet day at home.

Today was supposed to be church and then lots of crafts. Yesterday was supposed to be lots of family shopping. Obviously neither day went at all like I had planned. But to be honest, I'm completely okay with it.

Now I'm not okay with my girl feeling so bad and I really, really want her better like ten minutes ago, but it has been kind of nice to spend a couple of days doing absolutely nothing. I usually have us so go go go that it's been nice to just slow it down.

Though two days is enough. I've got things to do. ;)

So that's where we are. We're buckled down and just praying BG keeps her fever down and stays out of the ER. And that we don't get sick. Family is starting to arrive and we've got a trip planned next week and I really need my girl feeling better.

Until then though, you can find me on the couch curled up next to the cutest two year old on the planet. Hope y'all are all enjoying your holidays.

Merry Christmas :)

Christmas Card 2012

I'm a little bit late, but linking up with Faith for her Christmas Card Carousel is one of my favorite link ups so I'm joining in anyway. Better late than never right?

Christmas cards are a total blast to send and no lie, I love racing home this time of year to check the mail. The mailbox is a much happier place during the holidays!

I frame our Christmas card each year and then pull them out during the holidays for decoration. I love seeing how things change from year to year.


I wish I could send one to every one of you guys but this will have to do for now. Someday I'll win that lottery thing.

Ha.

Be sure and link up with Faith so I can see y'alls too! :)

in memory.

12/14

There is this funny thing that happens when you become a Mother. Suddenly, the things that would have made you sad before that child came, now, absolutely break your heart. Things change when you see things through the eyes of a parent.

And Friday, my heart absolutely broke for those affected in Connecticut.

They were children. Babies. Some other Mothers' Ella. And oh my gracious I cannot even imagine. And the adults were still children. And Mothers.

When something like that happens, I think we all take a second and hug our kids a bit tighter. We all get a bit angry and scream things like "gun control" and "where was God?!" (He was there for sure). We get all hot and bothered and demand things like stricter security at schools and harsher laws.

I laid in bed last night just begging my God to spare my child from anything like that. Often I beg Him to keep her safe and to keep her from harm and to keep her well. I never, ever want anything bad to happen to her.

If I could, I would walk beside her every single step for the rest of her life. I'd push away sickness and I'd protect her from anything ever causing her harm.

But I can't.

What I can do is pray for her. And teach her at home things that are good. Teach her to be nice to people, to be kind, to be empathetic to those around her.

I can teach her to love. To accept others who are different from her. To not ostracize people but instead to show them the love that God would. I can do my best to teach her to be a good person.

I wish we lived in a different world but we don't. It's scary and it's awful and it breaks my heart that someday she is going to realize that.

Praying for all those affected by the shooting yesterday. Praying that God surrounds them in comfort and that He holds them tight as they sort through this. Praying that the good of the world will shine again through and around this somehow. Praying for understanding that can only come through Him.


Also, there will be a blog day of silence on Tuesday in honor of these that lost their lives. I pulled the details from Kelly's blog and am posting them below if you'd like to join in.

From Kelly's blog:
On Tuesday, December 18th, there will be a blogger day of silence. We will post the button and that's it. Please try to not post anything else that day if possible.

We are also raising money that will go to an organization in the memory of this tragedy. The organization is called The Newtown Family Youth and Family Services. Here is the official description of the support service we are donating to:

"Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc. is a licensed, non-profit, mental health clinic and youth services bureau dedicated to helping children and families achieve their highest potential. NYFS provides programs, services, activities, counseling, support groups and education throughout the Greater Newtown area.

ANY DONATIONS MADE TO NEWTOWN YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES WILL BE DONATED DIRECTLY TO THOSE EFFECTED BY THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING."


Please visit THIS PAGE to make your donation.

We can't imagine how they must be feeling, especially this close to the holidays. We would love for you to spread the word on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Let's make a difference and use blogging in a positive way. Thank you in advance for participating.

Love,
The Blog World

p.s. If you would like to, copy-paste and repost any part of this, please do. Share on.

the tree.

I grew up in an artificial tree family. Every single year we unpacked the tree from the attic, unfolded the branches, fluffed to our heart's content, and then decorated that sucker Griswold style. And it was awesome.

I loved that tree. I can still remember exactly how you put it together. It was color coded (true story). I guarantee my parents still have it. Those things last forever.

Mr. P also grew up in an artificial tree family. Of the pre-lit variety. You know. But somehow the two of us became a real tree family. And we haven't looked back since.

Lest you think we are of the cut it down ourselves variety, we aren't. I wish we were but we're more of the $30 tree outside of Food Lion variety. Or Lowes. Who has turned into our Christmas tree go to.

Anyways. I also like to drag the whole family out to the tree farm to take lots of family pictures and pretend we went on this big hunt to find the tree, but that didn't happen. A toddler running around Lowes did. We do what we want.

We packed it up one afternoon and hit up Lowes in our Christmas finest to find the perfect tree for our little family. BG is so into Christmas this year and I am flat out loving it. She was all about getting dressed to pick out her tree. She did lose interest after looking at about two but we did manage to reel her back in to finally pick one out.

The next day (Mr. P is a stickler for letting the tree "fall" for 24 hours or some such nonsense), it was finally time to decorate! We pulled out all of the decorations and got to work. BG's favorite decoration by far is this old sucker tree that Mr. P actually made when he was younger. We probably should have put this thing up last. Like on Christmas Day. The kid is obsessed.

Then, it was tree time. Mr. P and I have always jointly put on the first ornament (cue awww..) but lost that right to the little one this year. She was out of her mind excited to decorate. I'd like to paint a pretty picture of family decorating with Christmas music in the background, but that's only half true. This girl was an anxiety ridden mess over my stuff getting broken and constantly yelling "BG! Be careful!". I might have threatened to pack it all back up a couple hundred times and Mr. P might have a running bet going to see if I even make it til Christmas. Still going strong...

Other than that, it was perfect. And nothing was broken. Total win.

When all was said and done, little miss was beyond proud of her tree and I was beyond proud of how it all turned out. Christmas is so fun this year. I am absolutely loving this time with my crazy kid. Cheerleader skirt and all.

a heart so full moment.

Last night one of my nearest and dearest friends was in town for some work stuff. We quickly decided that we were going to make a night of it and have one of our old school sleepovers that we were so fond of in high school.

We did however, skip the all night fashion show we had when we were fifteen. Having to work the next morning will kill that buzz. Oh grown up stuff...

Anyways, after hanging out at the house for a bit, we headed off for a girls' night of good pizza and fantastic beer in town. It was just what the doctor ordered. We had an absolute blast. We caught up on so much and spent the evening in hysterics as we reminisced and swapped stories of our kiddos.

At one point I received a text from Mr. P with a video of the little. As I watched it with one of my oldest friends next to me, my heart was close to bursting with just how fantastic my life is and how lucky I am that I have these people in my life.

We headed home after that where we managed to kill a bottle of wine and stay up a bit too late chatting. But it was totally worth it. Even if I did almost fall asleep at my desk this morning. Oops.

tidbits.

I'm slacking on the blog front lately. My bad.

There is actually a ton going on and a ton I want to write about but for some reason I find myself sitting down and just staring at the computer waiting for words that just won't come. So I get back up and head off to do one of the eight million other things hankering for my attention. This poor space is getting back burnered and I hate it.

But at the same time, my heads in this weird fog so words probably wouldn't make sense anyway. We're going to see. Let the word vomit commence.

I cannot even believe how close to Christmas we are. As I stated earlier, it's a scaled back Christmas over here so lots of the activities that I see being had all over the blog land, are just not happening over here. Which is fine really, but in some weird way I feel like I'm missing part of the Christmas "fun". Which isn't true at all, but like I said, head = weird place.


We have, however, busted out the Christmas clothes and BG loves it. In fact, nine times out of ten she'll pick out Christmas clothes to wear over anything else these days. Good thing she has plenty of options. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if she doesn't even wear them all. That's ridiculous. I know.

While we may be a bit more low key this Christmas, we still managed to venture out to my father-in-law's church last weekend for their Living Christmas Tree program. I pulled a rookie move and somehow decided that BG would totally love all the music and lights and be an angel during the service and decided to take her. Her and her baby who she straight up wore in a sling straight into a super straight laced Baptist church. Fun. I'll let you figure out if we made it through the whole thing.

Hint: we didn't. We ended up in the overflow room where other harried looking Moms hid with their children. To which BG somehow escaped from the death grip I had on her most of the night and scampered off to find the main light switch for the room. Which she promptly switched off. And then on. And then off. And then.... well you get it. Once I found her, she was laughing hysterically and was in no mood to come down from that little high. It was a long night.

Note to self: she does not go to musical productions for at least two more years. Unless the main act is Elmo.

This age is still giving me a run for my money and I find myself praying for the day to end quite a bit. Then, when the house is quiet and the child is sleeping, I find myself aching to hold her and so I sneak into her room. Sometimes I get super brave and try to take her picture. That usually backfires when the flash wakes her and I spend the next thirty minutes trying to get her back to sleep. But the picture is always worth it. She's such an angel when she sleeps.


The other night I was laying in bed perusing the Internet when I saw that the annual Christmas parade back home was coming up. So I quickly texted the bff and a weekend trip was planned.

The morning after the debacle that was the Christmas show, I packed BG and I up and hit the road. It was a relatively easy trip though I made the mistake of telling BG where we were headed when we got in the car. Needless to say I heard "are we at Mrs. Stacy's house yet?" every five minutes the rest of the drive. In fact, I said "almost" so much that BG took to answering herself after a while: "are we at Mrs. Stacy's house yet?! ALMOST!!" followed by a fit of giggles. Good thing she's cute.

Besides her bolting out the door at the rest station and one small accident, we made it to Greenville unscathed. And then proceeded to have the best weekend with our people. You'll hear more later don't you worry.

Life is trucking along over here. I went back to work part time and BG is back in school while I work. It's so, so good for both of us. I feel a lot better and though drop offs have been a nightmare, BG is truly enjoying school and comes home all excited about what she did that day. We're figuring things out.

Life is good. The holidays are coming and though I'm still not sure exactly how they'll look this year, I do know I'll be with my favorite people on the planet which is what matters.

a thanksgiving edition of ww

Thanksgiving was good.

There was tons of good food. Good company. And lots of laughs.

We had dinner with Mr. P's family, but my grandfather and Aunt made the drive up to join us. BG loved being the center of attention of so many she loves, though she chose to stick pretty close to Mr. P's cousin for most of the day.

It was low key and simple. It was good.
Love my people.

Be sure and check out our Facebook page. kthnxbai :)

the spirit of friendship

This time of year makes me all sorts of sentimental. The other night, I had a Facebook conversation going with two of my best friends and I was in hysterics over what was being said. As soon as I signed off, it hit me; that pang of just plain missing someone.

I have amazing friends. AMAZING. We've been through so much together and we've made it to the other side. I've noticed that the older I get, the less amount of true friends I have, but the more genuine those friendships are. And I'll take quality over quantity any day.

There is absolutely nothing better than time spent with good friends. I adore my family, but sometimes I think they see me too much as "Mom" or "wife" and not enough as "Megan". And while I love being wife and Mom, I was Megan for 22 years without being those two titles. That hat, just plain Megan, deserves it's fair share of time too and no one makes me feel like "Megan" better than my girls.

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