"me and my best friend."

This past weekend while we were in Savannah for this trip, we snuck in a bit of time before we left to go over to KK's house for a belated Christmas with our bffs.

We actually had enough time to just sit around the house and let the girls play for a while while K, Mr. P, and I chatted and caught up on life a bit. It was perfection. The girls had a blast and I caught myself choking up as I watched them ride motorized cars around the house knowing all too soon those cars won't be motorized. They are just so fun at this age. Gah, some days I just want to bottle this up.

But enough chatter, pictures?
Mr. P watching tv with the scariest doll ever.
I'm so thankful for this friendship. For friends that grow through life with you. For friends who love your kid like you do and spoil her with her first Barbie doll ever.

I'm especially thankful for a friendship that never skips a beat. That every time we get together with these girls, it's easy and comfortable. I'm so thankful for best friends like that.

so what?

So what if I haven't linked up with Shannon in forever? I missed it and there's no time like the present to jump right back in right? This weed I'm saying "so what if.."

- I sent my kid to school today just so that I'd have 8 uninterrupted hours to get stuff done. But not important stuff, computer stuff. As in I'm sitting here at 3:30 pm still unshowered and haven't moved all day. But I'm almost caught up editing and posting pictures and knocking out a few blog posts. So yay.

- I just ordered BG's one year photo book. She'll be three in 2 months. Yea.

- I have lost all motivation to run again. The problem is that I can't just hop out my front door and start going. It kills me that I have to get in the car and drive somewhere to run. I can talk myself out of going way too easily knowing I have to get in the car.

- I still have Christmas gifts that need to be sent out. Oops.

- I am already ridiculously excited for St. Patrick's Day. KP and I ordered the girls' outfits yesterday and I am out of mind excited for this years festivities. It's almost March right?!

- I can't quit eating chocolate frosting. Add that to the not running and it's just not pretty. What is wrong with me?!

- I'm headed to Charlotte in a couple of weeks for a week and I am ready to go like now. So looking forward to a week of fun (and work, but whatever).

- I'm kind of ready to go get my kid and head to the park even though I'm not completely done with my to-do list. Must. Stay. Focused.

family time in the s.a.v.

While we went home for my Papa's 80th birthday celebration, we were also lucky enough to have the luxury to spend the weekend with family that we don't get to see very often.

I'll be honest, it's only been in the last few years that I absolutely cherish family time. I'm a bit of a private person (says the girl who blogs on the Internet) so I really like my space, but I'm starting to find that a few days surrounded by the people I love most, are always good for my soul.

We're spread out all over the country now and it is really, really rare for us all to be together at one time, so this weekend was even more special. We had almost two whole days of family fun. We had the party one day (obvs), followed by an early breakfast, some park play time, and even a trip out to the cemetery to check on my Grandma's grave.

There was a lot of laughter, a lot of old stories told, and a lot of hugs and love and a bit of sadness at the goodbyes. I adore my family. I wish I could see them more, although it does make the visits that much sweeter.

Enough of all that, how about some pictures.
My kid loves a swing. She would do this all day if we let her.
A wasn't so much into the hugging thing but BG was bound and determined she was going to get her good bye hug. And she did.
Loving her game of catch and one on one time with her Pops.
It's been long enough. I'm ready for another visit. Stat.

an 80th birthday.

There is one thing that I hope for in this life.

I honestly don't care about nice clothes (they're nice, but not a priority), nice cars (have you seen mine???), or a huge house (mine is about 1200 square feet if we're being generous). Material things have never really mattered to me. Now I like nice stuff and I like to dress my kid nice, but really, I get that at the end of the day; that's not what matters.

Family, friends, the good works you do in this life? those are what matter.

I spent a great deal of time growing up envisioning these big 'ol families in my head. I wrote out their stories and I made up their names and when it was quiet, I put myself in them; imagining sisters and cousins and the kind of big family I didn't have.

I've always wanted a big family (says the girl now with a single child). I like the idea of them; of loud noisy holidays and children running through the halls. I spent a lot of time "living" in the big families in my head growing up thinking I was missing out on something because my family was so small.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my family, but it's small. It always has been.

Until now.

We celebrated my Papa this past weekend at his 80th birthday celebration. Eighty years.

Wow.

I watched my Dad and his sisters proudly circulate the room swapping stories of their Dad with friends that have been around for decades. I watched my Mom and my Uncle who married into this family, giggle and laugh with their grandchildren. I watched as my brother got to introduce his daughter to the people who watched him grow up. I watched my husband and sister in law crack jokes together (probably at our expense!).

I watched my daughter and my niece giggle together as they crawled around the floor. I watched as Baby Girl and her other cousin played peek a boo for hours under a table.

There were friends that my Papa has had since he was a teen in that room. There were people that have known me since I was a newborn there. There was so much love in that room that you could feel it.

As my Dad gave the toast to his Dad, I had to swallow tears at just how proud I was in that moment. Because that family I dreamed of when I was a kid? I have it. And it's kind of awesome.

Someday I hope my kids will celebrate me at eighty. That I can sit in a room surrounded by loads of family (BG better reproduce!!) and friends and know that my days have been spent surrounded in love. That no matter the size of my bank account, I can know I've done something right because they all took the time to come spend that special day with me. That's what matters.

The night was crazy and loud and involved BG having an accident in the middle of the room, but the night was perfect. It honestly couldn't have gone better.

I adore my Papa. I hope that he can look upon the rest of us and be proud. Be proud of the family he's raised. Be proud of the legacy he's given us. Because I'm pretty dang proud of him.

Here's to 80 Papa. Can't wait for the next one.

wordless wednesday

The lighting in our bathroom is terrible awful and BG can't sit still for the life of her lending a less than stellar quality to some of the pictures I snapped last night. But I don't care. I love these. This girl makes me smile so hard.

an update.

A bit of what's been going on lately.

I mentioned that right before Christmas, we spent an evening in the ER with Nursemaid's Elbow and then a couple of days later, noticed BG was rocking a fever. Well that kept up, so on Christmas Eve, we headed back up to the ER where she was diagnosed with the flu and pneumonia. Good times.

So she was one sick kiddo on Christmas. Mr. P ended up catching either the flu or some 24 hour thing, because he was also down for the count on Christmas. Fortunately he bounced back pretty quick, but BG has been "off" since.

We've battled breathing issues with her for a while now. We've been told numerous times that she has Reactive Airway Disease and she's been doing treatments for that for about two years now. I'm assuming the pneumonia triggered her RAD because she's been getting progressively worse for weeks now.

On Saturday, Mr. P and BG took a long walk through the woods and she stopped him numerous times and told him that she "needed to breathe Daddy". He ended up carrying her home and through the day Saturday, her cough flared up again and she got progressively worse.

By Sunday morning, she couldn't catch her breath she was coughing so hard and she just plain looked awful. So we aborted our trip to church and instead headed to Urgent care where she was diagnosed as having a full on asthma attack.

According to the doctor at Urgent Care, these frequent coughing fits she has have probably all been asthma attacks. I had no clue. I too have asthma problems, but an attack for me leaves me gasping for air and feeling like I can't breathe at all; not coughing. I felt awful for not getting this.

So we're following up with her doctor and treating her as if she does asthma. We're trying to figure out her triggers (anyone want a cat?? we think he may be one :(), we're trying new meds to see which ones might keep an attack at bay, and we're adding in fast acting inhalers for her to take to school and such. This bums me out big time as I don't want this to be a limitation on her.

Moms of toddlers/children with asthma: how did you figure out their "triggers"? We also think physical activity is one because after ten minutes of hard core play yesterday, she was in another full blown attack. But how do you keep a toddler calm?! This is so frustrating.

I can't wait for summer. Please let this sickness end.

Other than the asthma thing, BG is doing really well. She is growing way too fast and every single day I see less toddler and more little girl. I'll do an update on her soon.
I've been pretty blah lately and I really feel like I've been having some food issues. I've been working to cut out some items as I tend to have migraines and wake up feeling "hungover" if I eat certain things. Chinese food almost did me in the other night. Pretzels seem to be pretty hard on me and the dumplings Mr. P made the other night made my eye feel like it was about to explode.

I've convinced myself that it's time to go to the doctor and get a full work up done. Turning 30 as well as some other factors have me convinced I'm not as young as I once was. I constantly feel like I'm in a fog (only way I can describe it) and I've noticed some circulation issues. So it's off to the doctor I go. Once I make the appointment that is.

I've got some pretty big changes on the job front but I'm not blogging about that yet as I haven't gotten up the courage to make a few necessary steps. I should work on that.

We are settling in quite nicely in Florence and have even started thinking about looking for houses here. Now if we decide to buy instead of rent, well... I'm not sure we are quite there yet, but it wouldn't break our hearts to stay a while.

Things are good. Everyone is happy and (mostly) healthy. I guess that's about all we can ask for right? :)

back to good

The last couple of years have been rough. Really rough.

As I see posts flying around the blog world with "words of the year" listed, I can't help but think about what exactly my word would be.

To be honest, for the longest time I had no idea. Content would be a good one, but I don't think strong enough for what I hope for in 2013. Secure would actually fit because with all the upheavals of the past two years, I absolutely would love to have a feeling of security for just a few seconds.

But nothing fit.

My blog has been pretty silent lately and one would think that would be because there's nothing to say, but that's far from the truth. The truth would be that my insides and my thoughts have been in turmoil for a very long time and I have yet to find the way to spit that out on this screen.

Back to my word.

In 2013 I wish for one thing; peace.

I wish for decisions made in God's will that bring us peace. I wish for financial decisions to be made that can finally bring us peace in our financial situation. I wish for a sense of peace on where our family is headed next.

It's not really fair to say that things have been bad the last couple of years because that would imply that I'm not happy. And I am happy. So freaking happy. But things have been rough. They've been bumpy and rocky and turbulent and honestly, I'm tired. I just need some peace and quiet.

In 2013 I need resolution. Resolution to open ended issues that have been around for years. Resolution on big decisions.

Resolution will bring peace.

I just want things to get back to good. I want a few less stress induced headaches. I want a few less sleepless night. I want a few less open ended issues hanging around.

I want peace.

maryland: the trip's end.

You can read about the rest of our trip here, here, and here.

After our crazy New Years Eve, the parents of the little ones were dragging (to say the least) on New Years Day. So it was low key. And that's putting it mildly. My parents' neighbors came over for a little while to visit and attempt a family photo for us, but a certain toddler wasn't having it so that didn't go so well. Uncle M, the SIL, and I finally felt human enough that evening to go do a bit of shopping but even that wore me out.

Thirty is not so kind in some ways no?

The next day was our last day in Maryland. We spent the morning lazing around and just soaking in the last few moments of everyone being together. Unfortunately a certain toddler was once again, not having it, so her mood in the pictures is pretty evident. Toddlers are weird.

We had been telling BG about the beach just down from my parent's house the whole trip but had yet to make it down there, so we decided to hit it on the way out. It was bitter cold. BITTER, but I still attempted a family shot for grins and giggles.

And because I'm insane.

I asked my brother to try and get a good picture of me and the little while we were out there. That didn't happen. This next sequence can be called "Bipolar Toddler". She refused a picture and wiggled her way to the ground, but the second I attempted to walk away, she wanted to be picked up. I'll say it again; toddlers are SO weird.

All too soon it was time to be trapped in the backseat with two cranky kiddos for 8 hours the drive home, so we packed it up and headed back to Carolina. We were all spent, including the girls, so the trip seemed to take even longer to get home than it was to get up there. But we made it. I made the little brother get back in the back for a bit while I drove, but that lasted about five minutes. Both girls were hollering while he played on his phone and I tried to shush them from the drivers seat. Men are special.....

The trip was a blast. It was so much fun to have almost everyone together in one place. Next time though, I'm not getting stuck in the backseat with both kiddos on both trips.

maryland: day 4- nye

You can read about days 1 & 2 here and day 3 here.

After the shenanigans that was touring DC the day before, we decided that New Year's Eve should be spent at home just vegging out.

Well also, we are all some kinds of lazy and by the time we decided to make plans to go anywhere, it was late, and they weren't happening.

But sometimes the best days are when you're just hanging out around the house. And we are really good at just hanging around the house.

I pulled out my inner crafter (she's teeny, but she's there), and got the stuff together to make salt dough ornaments with the girls. I did this BG's first Christmas and I love having that little memento so I knew my SIL would love having one from AK's first Christmas. So we got the stuff together and did it.

BG absolutely loved it. AK was pretty neutral but her Mom loved it so I call it a win. Not a shabby way to spend a morning.

While those were baking (for 3 + hours for the love), we lazed around and played with the girls. My child, who won't play by herself to save her soul at home, quickly wandered off to play by herself with her blocks for a while. Sure, she plays by herself with there are tons of people to entertain her. Why wouldn't she?

My brother, SIL, and I were give the go ahead by my parents to actually head out that night for a bit of "adult fun". Clearly we took it and ran. I haven't been out on NYE since, I can't even remember, and the other two hadn't been out since before baby, so we were stoked for a night out. Actually, stoked doesn't even cover it. We were "pre-gaming" before we could even drag ourselves upstairs to get dressed.

After my bro and SIL left a lengthy list of do's and don'ts and I hollered out a "just keep her in one piece, love you, bye!", we were on our way out the door. Bring it on NYE.

While we were gone, my parents and the girls had a blast. There was movie watching and cookie baking. There was cookie eating and late bed times. I actually don't even want to know what time they went to bed. Some things are better kept secret...

Uncle M, Kiki, and I headed down the road for dinner and drinks which did not disappoint. The restaurant we picked was supposed to have a live band and dancing that night but our waitress let us in on a bit more "happening" of a place right down the road, so we packed up and headed there.

We had a blast. An absolute blast. Too soon though, the new Dad was falling asleep at the table so Kiki and I made the decision to call my Dad to come get us so we could all be home in time for the ball to drop.

Then, while waiting on my Dad (thanks Dad!), Kiki and I found the dance floor. And it was on.

Now this girl can't dance; but after a few drinks, I think I can. And I'll shake my money maker like nobody's business. Yea. That happened.

We were a bit sad that we gave in to UM's yawns too soon as were had to tear ourselves away to head home. Where we still missed the ball drop and I quickly rewound it and tricked everyone into thinking we did see it.

Sneaky.

Other than the fact that I badly missed my other half, it was a perfect New Year's Eve. Though this girl will be good to spend the next one curled up on a couch. I'm way too old for those shenanigans.

maryland- day 3

You can read about Days 1 & 2 here.

Our 3rd day in Maryland, we decided to get up early and head into town to check out a few of the sights. My SIL had actually never been into DC before so we were all pretty excited about showing her around.

However, it was a straight up cluster downtown. It took us a sweet forever to find a parking place and an even longer time for my parents to find one. Had we been thinking, we would have just parked outside of the city and rode the Metro in, but we clearly weren't thinking.

As soon as we got out of the car, we decided it was beyond too cold to do any of the outside monuments so we scurried on into the Natural History Museum.

My poor Dad had to drive around the city for the longest time looking for parking while the rest of us explored a bit. Then my Mom had to take over for him (before he LOST it) so he got to tour around with us a bit. There are no pictures of all of us together. Stupid city parking.

After getting inside, we quickly mapped out the things we wanted to see. BG is obsessed with animals and such like that, so we headed straight for that display first. She was in hog heaven. Her day was made when she found a pangolin, a creature that most toddlers wouldn't know a thing about, but my child is obsessed with. Blame her Aunt Kiki and her weird book.

A couple hours after we got there, we decided to check out a butterfly exhibit that they had going on. Unfortunately I had to go move the car before that exhibit. So I missed the whole freaking thing.

I'm not bitter at all.

Once I trekked all the way across DC in the cold, by myself, I finally found the group again only to find out that I'd missed my kid's favorite part of the whole day. She LOVED the butterfly house. They got to fly all around them and the lady even got one of the butterflies to land on Baby Hippo. Pretty sure my child thought she was in Heaven.

We decided to leave after the butterfly exhibit. The crowd was out of control and the members of my family that don't do well with crowds (ahem... my brother), were getting a bit antsy to get the heck out of dodge. So we did.

Despite the below freezing (okay, maybe not quite that cold...) temps, BG locked her eyes on the carousel across the mall and had to ride it. So as a treat for how well she did in the museum, we headed on over.

Because she's quick and small, she managed to snag the first spot in line and let us get on and off the ride quickly. It was so, so cold. And unfortunately, we had a VERY long walk back to the car. Blah.

After stopping for dinner on the way back out of the city, we headed on home to call it a night. The museum is definitely a must see, but we'll be picking a non-holiday time of year before we attempt it again.