maryland recap: part 2

Part 1 can be found here.

When we got to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, I was none too impressed to see snow on the ground.

Neither was Baby Girl.


Once we got into the fort, Dad, BG, and I spent our time running from one warm indoor room to the next while Mom and Uncle Marine actually did the tourist thing.





I had a big fat Mom fail in that I didn't even take gloves for the little. I don't do well when it's 70 degrees at my house and needing to pack for ice. Poor little one had to wear socks on her hands. Which she wouldn't keep on. Nice.




We didn't get there until later in the day, so we were there when they took the flag down for the day and Mom, Dad, and Uncle Marine got to help. BG and I sat over in the corner and prayed for warmth watched.





Then Uncle Marine got to put up the small flag for the night. There is always a flag flying over Fort McHenry to show that there is someone still there. Good history lesson. You should check it out.

We had to do a bit more playing around before we left...



Me and my girl.

BG didn't complain one bit the whole time we were there. I wish I could claim the same, but I just am not made for cold! We loaded her up, gave her a bottle and headed on over to the mall.

She picked up the habit of wanting to "walk" holding onto people while she was up there. I popped into a kid's shoe store while we were there to have her measured. While I was looking, she was "walking" around with my Mom. When I picked her up for her to look at shoes, she lost it. She did not want to be picked up. She screamed, she went red and stiff, and did everything she could to get down.

I. Was. Mortified.

Everyone was watching. My worst fear. I could not get her to chill out. I was that Mom. The one with the unruly child.

I hightailed it out of there and into the mall where she eventually calmed down and I tried to quit pitting out over the embarrassment. Super fun times.

We finally headed home and she was out before we got out of the parking lot. Lucky girl. She didn't sleep too well that night, so at 3:00 am, she got to come in the bed with me.

Not going to lie, I kind of enjoyed it.

The next morning, we got up early again and headed down for some time with my Dad before everyone else got up. Once they got up we spent a few hours minutes coming up with the days agenda before heading out again.

..to be continued..

Show Us Your Life- Family

I used to hop on Kelly'sot SUYL series a lot, but haven't recently. Then I saw today's topic and had to hop back on.

You guys get to hear about Mr. Perfect and BG a ton every now and then, but you rarely get to hear about my family; the ones who made me who I am today. So today is a little intro into them and who they are.



Both of my parents are military. A lot of the times, one, sometimes both, parent(s) were gone. Whether it was a deployment, a work trip, or just their job. But the little brother and I were always priority number one.


My Dad worked full time. He was gone off and on a good bit thanks to his job. Other times he was a "single parent" when my Mom was off working. My Dad is my rock. He has worked ridiculous hard his entire life. He's my calming force. My Mom and I are a lot alike, including our bad tempers. My Dad is the calm one. I loved just sitting with my Dad talking about any and everything. My Dad is the one that when everyone else gave me a hard time about breaking up with the "perfect" guy in college, he came to me and said "I never liked that kid anyway". My Dad coached most of my sports teams growing up and learned quickly that to deal with girls, you had to let them gossip first. I remember looking over my shoulder during warm ups and seeing him kick around the soccer ball while he gave us time to chat about our day. He knew we wouldn't get anything done til we did. I'm very close to my Dad, he's one of my best pals. He makes me excited to see the relationship budding between Mr. P and BG because I know how special it can be. My Dad expected a lot out of us and even though I made some pretty disappointing choices, he never lost faith that I'd turn out okay. I am so, so proud of my Dad. For his accomplishments in the military, with his family, and in his home. He's amazing. He's also so, so funny and has the exact same dry sense of humor that I have. So many times my Dad and I will be cracking up laughing when no one else has a clue what we're laughing about. I get my love for good music from my Dad, the knowledge that you can make "Roxanne" (the Police) into almost anything ("Meg- ANN"), and my love of reading. My Dad rocks.




My Mom is also in the military (no wonder I went crazy in college..). She stayed home with us though while we were growing up and worked one weekend a month. She also had to go out of town occasionally for jobs as well as deployments. My Mom and I didn't always get along, but with a girl of my own, I'm starting to realize a lot of that is how much alike we were. I wasn't the easiest child (karma much??) My Mom has the biggest heart of anyone you'll meet. She loves so hard and wants to take care of everyone. She adores my brother and I and would do anything for us. My Mom is the person who packed up two days before Christmas and drove 21 hours to Missouri so that Mr. P and I wouldn't have to be along at Christmas after our second miscarriage. She's the type of lady that sends random notes and a little gift just to let you know she's thinking of you. She's the one that my girlfriends and I used to love to laugh with and share funny stories with on weekends home from college. No matter how big I get, she's still the one I want when I'm sick. I can only hope that someday, when I'm all grown up, BG will remember the little things about my big heart the way I do with my Mom.



My brother, Uncle Marine, is two years younger than me and is my closest pal (besides Mr. P duh). Not going to lie.. we didn't always get along so well growing up. We were really close when we were kids but then drifted apart through middle/high school. Fortunately, we became bff's again in college. We lived together, worked together, and partied together right after college. He is the most laid back guy you will ever meet. Kind of ironic he joined the Marine Corps. He is such a sweet soul. He is so genuine and so nice. He loves easy and hard (he's a lot like our Mom). He wears his heart on his sleeve (and he's going to kill me for this). If you're in with him, you're in for life. He's fiercely loyal. He's a blast. He has the exact same taste in music as me and we used to spend hours on the back porch, drinking beer, and playing the guitar and singing after work. He knows how to have a good time, but is also an extremely hard worker. I am so ridiculously proud of his for what he did in the Marines and for the young man he's become. I pray for the day that he meets a good girl (though I've yet to deem one worthy of him!) and starts a family. He will be so good at that.

I adore my family. They can make me crazier than anyone on this planet, but they're awesome. I am so proud that they are where I come from.

11 months.

I think I've handled every month of BG's life very well. They go way too fast, but each month is so fun to watch her learn and grow and become the awesome little person that she's becoming.

However, eleven months might do me in. I cried mixing a bottle this morning. One more month of formula. One more month of mixing bottles.

Gah. I'm crying again.

But this post is about her. So Baby Girl, this is what you've been up to this past month.

You are currently still wearing mainly 12 month clothes, some 18 month. You're wearing 18 month footed jammies. We got your foot measured the other day and you wear a four and a half wide. You have a chunky little foot! You weigh around 24 pounds and about 29.75 inches long(your height was not done correctly at the doctor's last month). You still sleep from 7:30-7:30/8. You take a nap from 10:00-11:30 and then again from about 2:00-4:00. You are an excellent sleeper. You take a bottle (8 oz) in the am and a 6 oz. bottle before bed. You get a sippy of formula with lunch and an afternoon snack.

You really, really like holding onto our hands and walking now. You like it so much that it's pretty much all you want to do. You do not like when we try to make you quit and carry you.

You threw your first fit in public and I almost died of embarrassment. You were walking around Stride Rite and when I picked you up, you lost it. I had to carry you out screaming. That was good times.

You are showing quite the stubborn streak. You clearly understand "no", but sometimes you choose not to listen. At least you turn and look at us, so I know you can hear us!

You cruise from a piece of furniture to another piece now. You still won't walk without holding on to something.

You shake your head "no" and say "no no" now. In fact, I asked you to come to me this afternoon and you looked at me and said "no no" and shook your head. So glad you can do that now.

You've been pointing at items for a while now, but now you'll try to label what you're looking at now. Last week while we were in MD, you pointed at a a flock of geese and said "du!". You're so smart little one!

Current word count: "mama", "dada", "du" (duck), "da" (dog), "ba" (ball), "no", and "book".

If we hold our hand out and ask you for what you're holding, you will give it to us. Then you want it right back. We can also ask for the "blankie", "wubbie", ball, book, and doll and you will get those for us. My smart little girl.

You can stand on your own for about ten seconds or so, but you won't move. You can easily sit down though. You only do it if you get excited and grab for something with both hands, or if we let you go.

This past month, you've started showing a fear of some things. You are freaked out by dogs (except for ours) until you get used to them. You do NOT like it when the come and get in your face (once again, except ours). You also are not a fan of many stuffed animals, but you adore your super scary baby doll. Weird. "Scary Bear" is avoided like the plague in our house.

You give "high five".

You still only have four teeth; top two center and bottom two center.

You learned that if we pick you up and you throw your arms up at the same time, it's really hard to pick you up. You love that trick. It usually leads to a fit since we pick you up anyway...

You get very little baby food now. You want we are having nine times out of ten.

We have yet to find a food you don't like. You LOVE bread, cheese, avacados, sweet potatoes, and bananas. You eat everything though.

You've started dancing and it is beyond adorable.

You started working on drinking out of a regular cup. You don't have it figured out yet, but you give it a good effort.

You and I went on your first picnic.

You are showing so much personality. You are stubborn and hard-headed (you can thank me for that), but you are also so, so sweet. You laugh so much and so hard most of the day. You still don't love reading, but you're getting to where you will sit and let me read a story to you every now and then. You are so adventurous. You want to see EVERYTHING. You are non stop all day and while it wears me out, I love how excited you are about everything. I hope you stay like that.

You learned to climb stairs.

You played in the sandbox for the first time this month. You hated it at first and didn't want to get your hands dirty, but now you are all over that thing.

I say this every single month, but love, you are so, so special to us. You make us laugh so much. Every single day when your Dad gets home from work, you light up and take off crawling for him. You love sitting with me and playing with toys. You love when I brush your hair. Every single morning when I wake you up, you start my day with a big smile and reach up for me and I can't help but laugh. You are still obsessed with phones and remotes and you light up when one of us is talking on the phone.

I can't believe you are eleven months old. It makes me sad because you are quickly becoming a "big girl" and are no longer my baby. The cuddles are few and far between now. Sometimes I go into your room at night and pick you up and hold you. My heart nearly bursts every single time I look down at your face.

Little one, thanks for being the biggest joy in our lives.

(almost) wordless wednesday: first spaghetti night!

BG got her first taste of spaghetti tonight, and we can add it to the list of food she loves.

List of food she loves: too many to count.

Foods she hates: zero.








We stripped down and hosed off for this meal. That's some good eatin'!!

maryland recap: part 1

Last Wednesday, the little brother finished up his time in the Marines. He is a free man again. While I am super, super proud of everything he did while he was in, I am a bit happier that he is done and is home safe and sound. Thank God.

He's already managed to secure a pretty awesome job which (yay!) isn't too far away from us. He did have a few days off before he had to start there, so he headed up to Maryland to visit the parentals. Being as BG and I have a pretty open social calendar, we decided to torture him in the car for 8 hours tag along.

We got up Wednesday morning and headed east to meet up with him. We were lucky enough to have some time to stop and eat lunch with Erin and Hudson on the way. Once again, such a good time. I adore that child. He and BG are such a joy to be around, even if she needs to learn not to eat his toys.

Ahem.

After lunch, we drove the hour to my in-laws house to meet up with Uncle Marine and to let BG spend some time with her Granny and Grandaddy while Uncle and I packed up to head the eight hours to Maryland.

Yes, my MIL is entertaining BG with a cat toy. Cheap thrills people..





I went ahead and got BG ready for bed and in her jammies with the hopes of her sleeping the whole way. We actually got very lucky, because she did just that. Not sure how she slept through us finding videos on YouTube and singing our brains out for hours, but she did.

Every single time we stopped, it got a bit colder outside. I asked him what we were doing leaving the 70 degree weather of SC and heading north when we both loathe the cold. His suggestion was to turn around and head south, but we didn't figure that would float well with the parents.

It was somewhere around the iciness that is Virginia that I realized I hadn't packed a coat. Super awesome. It was also about that time that we both crashed and almost abandoned ship when we realized we still had three hours to drive at midnight.

Good times.

After a quick Subway refueling stop, we hammered out the rest of the trip. I'm proud to say that I stayed awake the entire time (beside the twenty minutes where my eyes sealed shut somehow). I'm usually the worst road tripper because a car ride is my Ambien. I love to sleep in cars.

We finally made it to the parents' house around 3 am. BG thought it was play time but once I got her settled in for the night, she was out. And proceeded to sleep til almost 10 the next morning.

I cannot sing praises loud enough that the child sleeps like me.

That morning, BG and I spent some quiet time with my Dad (which became a morning ritual since the other family members sleep more than I do) and then eventually got the rest of the crew up. BG was everywhere. Thankfully, I think we made it through the entire visit without breaking anything.

Eventually we decided to get dressed and headed into Baltimore for the day. Uncle Marine had never been to Fort McHenry so we headed to check it out.

..to be contined..