eight.

Eight years ago I married my best friend.

Never could I have imagined what would come after that day.

In eight years babe, we've experienced some of the highest highs and some of the darkest lows. It hasn't always been easy or sunshiney but we made it. And there's no one else I would have rather had by my side.

Eight years ago I had no idea that our life would include multiple job changes, homes in 3 different states, a struggle to start a family, and a beautiful daughter who has completed our lives.

I couldn't have planned this life if I tried. It's better than anything I could have ever asked for. You made it that way.

Babe I love you more today than yesterday. You are still the funniest person I know. You still know how to push my buttons better than anyone else. And you still give me butterflies.

I love you. Happy Anniversary babe.

love day.

I was actually out of town the week of V-Day. If you know me at all, you know I have slight control freak tendencies. I can't help it. It just is the way it is. When I realized that my work trip and Valentine's Day were the same week, I might have freaked out a little. I might have even considered switching around my trip. I didn't; but I considered it.

I did leave Mr. P with strict instructions for the week. I was bummed that I wouldn't have time to make homemade Valentine's for BG's class, but let's be honest, the Tinkerbell ones probably made her happier any way. I did manage to buy everything she would need for her class party and just left Mr. P the list of things to do.

When I told him he might have to take something, he told me he'd be telling her teacher "her Moms out of town. We'll catch you on the next one", so the red velvet cupcakes I bought never got made. Oh well.

Other than that, he stuck to the plan. The two of them sat down together one night and made her Valentines for her class and he even managed to text me a few pictures.

BG had quite the week at school. She and her grandparents attended the Grandparents' Lunch on Valentine's Day and she had a class party the next day. Don't worry, I laid out perfectly heart related clothes for each event.

Because I wasn't here, there are no pictures of those events, but word on the street is she had a blast. She usually does.

I came home Valentine's Day night so I was home for the big event on Friday night; the Father/Daughter dance.

Y'all. There are no words.

BG was so excited about getting to do this with her Daddy. She was excited about dressing up, excited about dancing, and just plain excited for one on one time with her favorite guy. She almost didn't get to go, but I am so, so glad they went. I think it was good for both of them.

They didn't stay long and BG spent more time chasing a balloon than dancing with her Daddy but they both had a blast. It was written all over their faces when they got home.

Of course that could have been the ice-cream from their ice-cream stop on the way home. Whatever.

I couldn't have picked a better way to spend Heart Day. I have two amazing Valentines.

2012: a look back

So I took a bit of a break in December. And that's quite the understatement.

To tell you the truth, I'm still not quite sure that my heart is in the right place for blogging. And I have no idea why.

But I started blogging over four years ago with the intention of telling our family story and even though blogging has changed a lot since I started, deep down, I still really want to share our story. I haven't decided how much or with whom I will keep sharing but right now, I haven't felt that definite call to say "stop" so I'm going to keep going.

What better way than with a little look back over the past year? I love reading these posts from everyone else and my past ones are still so fun for me to look back on so I'm doing it again, with the hopes that this post just might recharge my blogging juices.

Oddly enough, this year ends a bit like 2011 with still so much up in the air and so few answers. 2012 kind of sucked over all and I'm truly hoping and praying that 2013 brings a bit more good news and a bit less bad news than the past two. Please? And thanks?

January:
We started the year quietly at home and it was awesome. BG started the year (and ended the year oddly enough) sick. We battled RSV and ear infections for months and finally she got tubes this month. My sweet, sweet Grandma lost her battle with cancer but got to go home to her Heavenly Father. We buried my Grandma, my brother got engaged, and we found out I was getting a niece in a whirlwind of a week. I battled some serious issues with saying good-bye to one of my favorite people. We traveled to Myrtle Beach for Christmas with my soon to be sister-in-laws family. We lost a dear family friend. We took a little trip back down to the SAV to spend some time with my Papa. BG's hearing impressed dramatically after tubes.

February:
I shared my heart on being a working Mom. Mr. P's grandfather passed away. My best friend came up to SC to visit. BG hit 22 months and her personality absolutely took off. Mr. P and I got to celebrate Valentine's Day with lunch just the two of us (!) while BG took the crafts I made (!) to school for her school party. I waxed poetic about my "glory days". BG and I traveled back to Savannah to see a good friend get married and spend some time with our best pals.
March:
This month started off bad for me as I continued to deal with my thoughts on my Grandma's death, BG got sick (again), and I dealt with a bit of depression (thank you winter). We discovered a new park not far from our house that would become one of our favorite places to frequent. We ventured down to Savannah for yet another amazing St Patrick's Day. Baby Girl got sick; again. The toddler-tude showed up big time. A little person's speech absolutely took off. BG had a blast at her friend T's birthday party.
April:
BG started her birthday month off right with a party at school. BG turned two. We traveled down to Atlanta to take BG to the aquarium for her second birthday. We celebrated Easter. We had a "Very Fairy Birthday" party to celebrate our sweet girl's birthday. BG rocked her two year well visit. The little and I participated in the March of Dimes walk in town. I painted BG's toenails for the very first time!
May:
BG and I traveled with friends down to Columbia for a sweet friend's birthday party. My little brother got married. We had a little vacation in Myrtle Beach in which BG had her first real "beach day" and she didn't love it (sads). Mr. P and I celebrated our SEVENTH anniversary. I celebrated my third Mother's Day with my girl. We began (sort of) potty training (again). BG had "water day" at school and absolutely loved every second. Mr. P turned thirty five. Aunt Ashley came down for Memorial Day and we had a blast of a weekend. We traveled down to Charleston and BG got to play on the beach with a new friend and she loved it this time.
June:
Mr. P was a groomsman in his best friend's wedding down in Charleston. My brother became a Dad and I became an Aunt (!). BG got to meet her cousin for the first time and my heart almost exploded. I shared my heart on how motherhood is not super easy for me. We showed Mr. P all kinds of love on his third Father's Day and made a weekend out of family fun. BG's love for all things baby exploded. The little one was diagnosed with a lazy eye and began rocking a fierce patch. BG wore diapers for the very last time..
July:
BG went out in public for the first time in "big girl pants"! We went to our church's Fourth of July fireworks display. We celebrated the Fourth of July in absolutely no red, white, and blue. I wrote down my wishes to my girl. Mr. P and I got to see ZZ Top in concert. We traveled down to Savannah for a weekend with most of the family, including the newest addition. We got almost the whole crew back together in Savannah for dinner one night. We began frequenting the local water park with our bffs. I realized just how good our days around here are. I joined a running club in town. I let BG play hooky from school one day and we went to see her first movie.
August:
Mr. P had a big time job change and we found out we would be moving; again. We spent a day out on the boat with our dear friends. My Mom came to visit. We decided to cram in as much fun as possible in our little town before the big move. BG started pre-school. I tried to deal with my feelings on leaving the place I called "home". BG fell in love with a baby squirrel. I ran my second 5k with a dear friend after weeks of running together. BG and Zo had their first spend the night party.
September:
We went and said good-bye to "Miss Bitme" and met Mary Kate. We went to the park with Zo for the last time. We said good-bye to our best friends. :( We spent our last night in our house in Anderson. We moved to the country. I turned thirty. BG and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out our new roles together. I wrote (again) about how special my love for my daughter is.
October:
BG and I had our first park playdate with some new friends. BG is now 2 1/2 and just seems so grown. The little and I traveled down to Savannah to see my best friend get married. The three of us went to the fair with Uncle Marine, Aunt Kiki, and the baby. Mr. P spent the better part of six weeks training in Columbia but finally came home for good this month. I took some time off work between moves to just spend time with BG and it was awesome. We took the Wubbie away and the child quit napping (sad). I admitted that I am weak. I shared my heart on the responsibility I feel being a "girl mom". We traveled to the pumpkin patch with some new friends. We drug Daddy out to another pumpkin patch. We took family pictures. We met Uncle Marine and his crew at the pumpkin patch for yet one more pumpkin adventure. My girl was the prettiest princess you ever did see on Halloween.
November:
We drove back to Anderson for a day visit. BG and I wrapped up our days of 24/7 togetherness. We voted. I went back to work. Thanksgiving happened. I shared my story.
December:
We picked out our Christmas tree. BG and I went back to Anderson for a visit. We attempted the Living Christmas Tree at church. The three of us went to a live Nativity here in town and BG loved it. One of my best friend's came to town resulting in a much needed girl's night. We went to Myrtle Beach to check out Christmas lights with Uncle M's crew. BG had her Christmas program at school. WE ended up in the ER twice in one weekend; once with a nursemaid's elbow, once with the flu and pneumonia. We saw Santa in between ER visits. BG was sick as all get out on Christmas Eve and Day. My Aunt and Papa came down for Christmas. BG and I travled with Uncle Marine and his crew to Maryland for a few days. Uncle Marine, Aunt Kiki and I partied for the first time in a long time on New Years Eve but still made it home for the ball drop.

2012 was a doozy but it was full of so many heart so full moments. I kind of can't wait to see what 2013 is going to bring. I've got amazing family, the best friends, and so much laughter in my life that I just know it's going to be epic.

Or at least it better be. ;)

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.

our anderson christmas

This past weekend, BG and I went down to Anderson for a weekend with our best friends.

Other than almost losing her at a rest station and the endless "are we there yet??" questions, the trip down was actually pretty uneventful. We met up with Stacy and Zo at the mall in Greenville to just look around some before heading on down to Anderson.

BG and I got there first and perused the kids' clothing section for a bit while we waited on the girls. We also avoided the Santa hanging out in the department like the plague. That was fun.

When they showed up and the two littles locked eyes, it was over. They both gave each other shy smiles and then it was like no time had even passed. They giggled, they chased each other, they wrestled around the mall play place. It was fantastic.

We had to separate them for the drive back to Anderson and I basically had to swear on my life to BG that they would be back together soon. They were not okay with being apart again. Thank goodness we had a weekend of fun planned for them.

S and her husband planned a little cookout for that night so we got to see a few more old friends and have a few laughs over drinks and football before we girls decided to pack up the kiddos and head into town to check out the Lights of Hope. We drove through twice as the kiddos "oohed" and "aahed" over every single light and we girls managed to continue to catch up over the squeals of joy and the sounds of Christmas music on the radio. It was fantastic.

After the second loop through the lights, we decided to park and check out Santa's Village. Based on the girls' reaction to Santa at the mall earlier that day (they were fine to wave from afar but there would be NO lap sitting apparently), I was a bit nervous to see how this Santa trip would go. I needn't have worried.

Zo wanted zero to do with him, but BG? BG loved him. And even though she had an accident in my perfectly planned out Christmas outfit before even leaving the house, leaving her in a less than "Christmasey" outfit, I had to oblige her getting to sit with him. And then I had to oblige my "Mom needs every picture ever" and had to buy one. Because duh. And also because that smile. Duh.

After letting the kids run out a bit of their rambunctiousness in Santa's Village, we packed it back up and headed home. S and I did everything we could to get the girls calm and ready for bed, but it was all for naught. They weren't having it. They were too, too excited to be together.

They wanted to sleep together, but that was a hot mess of disaster that we finally had to split up when Zo's crying was frustrating BG so bad that she tried to make it stop with a pillow. True story. They got separated.

Finally, they hit the hay and S and I got some much needed catch up time over a couple of bottles of wine. It was good for my soul. I so miss my friend.

Way too few hours later, the girls were up. And raring to go. S and Zo spoiled us and BG had a few presents to open that morning. Ms. Stacy knows my girl. You can't fake that kind of smile.

That afternoon, we all packed up and headed downtown for the annual Christmas parade. BG and I have been to this parade every year she's been alive and I was so thrilled we were able to make it this year. This year was also the best one yet as most of BG's favorite people (family not included) were there. She was literally giddy with excitement when she laid eyes on "Miss Bitme" and MK.

The parade was amazing. BG and Zo danced and clapped and had an absolute blast. They managed to climb into Britt's lap for a good portion of the show leaving her almost immobile with a lap full of babies, but they weren't stepping more than two inches from her. They sure do love that lady.

We had an absolute blast. I was so sad when the parade was over.

But Britt had another surprise in store. She took us to one of the town's spas that was holding an "afterparty" of sorts full of cupcakes and face painting and yep, even Santa! MK and BG climbed up their together, but once again, Zo was not having it. No Santa picture for that girl this year!

After cupcakes, we made our way to the face painting where B managed to convince BG that she needed a reindeer on her face. Since my child pretty much adores Britt, that didn't take too much convincing. So she climbed right on up. Only the lady didn't do a tiny, little reindeer on her cheek like we were expecting. Oh no. The lady painted my sweet girl's entire face into a reindeer (or a Cats cast member, you be the judge), and while we adults were absolutely crying with laughter, my sweet girl sat as still as a stone while she got her face painted for "Miss Bitme".

Seriously. Sometimes this child is so sweet I can literally feel my heart aching.

When it was done, she took off to go show Britt how it looked. She was a little proud I would say.

I'm telling you, if you manage to find friends that love your children as you do, you are beyond blessed. Mr. P and I? we are beyond blessed in that department.

All too soon, it was time to wrap it up. The last thing I wanted to do was get in that car and drive away from that town. From these people.

Coming home to Mr. P was amazing, but I'd be lying if a little piece of my heart isn't back with these people in Anderson.

And clearly so is BG's. When I picked her up from school the next day, I asked her how her day was and if she liked her class.

She responded "yep" to which I said "Oh good! So you want to go back to school tomorrow?".

To which she responded "I'll go back to school tomorrow. But it's going to be Miss Bitme's school".

Ouch. Sigh.

Guess we'll be putting another trip on the calendar soon.

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.

2.5

I remember before I had kids that when someone would say their little one was two and a half, it just seemed so old.
Like not a baby anymore at all and pretty much into full on preschool age, bratty kid.

Somehow I am now the one answering "oh she's two and a half" and I still have no idea how we got here so fast.

While 2.5 still does feel a bit older, it's nowhere near as old as pre-Mama Megan thought. While BG is clearly 2.5, she is also still clearly my sweet, tiny baby. Though she tends to disagree and seems to think she is my eighteen year old.

Ahem.

I have to admit, while this stage is ridiculously hard (holy independent toddler battles) it is also such a blast. Because she's so entertaining and says the funniest things and has such a wide array of things that she does on any given day. She comes up with something new every single day and I love it.
She's changing so much. She picks out her own clothes a lot, picks her own shoes, and can even put on her own shoes, including on the right feet. She doesn't prefer to get her hair done, but will occasionally let me if I remind her she can see so much better with it out of her face. She still prefers dresses to pants and would wear her cheap flip flops every single day if I let her.

She loves to read and be read too. She picks the same books over and over and knows where all of her favorite parts are and gets so excited when those come up. She likes to draw a lot and play with her flashcards. She knows so many animal names and it still throws me off when she can recognize things like newts, elks, and howler monkeys.

She can recognize a lot of numbers and letters. She doesn't like to sit still and practice them though, and getting her to do an alphabet puzzle is akin to me getting a root canal. Not happening. She likes to randomly sing her ABC's though and has recently started counting things when she sees multiples. She can count to 20 and up to 10 in Spanish. She knows her basic colors in English and Spanish.
The Spanish is a newer thing but I sort of love it. She picked up most of it from Dora (hangs head in shame), but after I realized she was actually talking to us in Spanish (actually yelling in the car for us to drive faster in Spanish...) I decided to go with it and we've been working on it. She loves it. She calls it "Boots' language" (the Dora monkey).

She talks all day every day. It makes me laugh when she gets around people and they make the comment "wow, she really talks a lot". I'm like, told you. The words and phrases she comes up with are a riot. This week she figured out very as an adjective and has been saying things like "it's very, very cold Mommy" or "that's very, very yellow". She likes to ask us "why?" over and over and over. She'll ask you "what's that song about?" to every song that comes on, and while it is a tad annoying, I love how her mind works.
She loves her some Dora but Diego is her new go to. Bubble Guppies have made their way back into our home. She loves her Elmo toy now and can be found in her room singing with him if she ever goes missing. She is still a huge fan of dolls and loves dressing and undressing them over and over.

She is a little Mama. She loves babies. She is better with little babies than kids her own age. She's just good with them. She gets all giddy and giggly around them and starts rubbing their heads and talking sweet as can be. She's going to be an amazing Mama one day.
She also loves animals. She cannot for the life of her figure out why they don't care for her as much as she cares for them. We try to explain it's because she pulls their tails and randomly wacks them on the heads with wooden hotdogs, but she's not getting it so far. She adores Lacy and Cash. They are her little buddies and she constantly wants to walk them and feed them and basically do whatever they need.

She's my best little sidekick. She adores going to the store (only Target though because they serve Icee's), and she's always up for a car ride with Mom. She recently decided she likes the windows down so we've been known to just drive around for a bit to entertain her.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is only two and a half. She can carry on a conversation like an adult most of the time and she's so independent that I worry that I ask too much of her. I worry that she isn't understanding. Usually she squashes that worry by doing exactly what I ask of her. Why is she so grown?!
She loves her wagon and being outside. She'll tell you if you're not being careful or if you're getting to close to the road. She is very, very cautious which is kind of insane because at the same time, she's a freaking monkey. But that cautiousness is why she doesn't climb out of her crib for which I am so glad.

She is a smart mouth and she knows it. She'll smart back in a second and we are in "act right" bootcamp most of the days these days. She's quick to tell me "you're making me crazy!" which she gets in trouble for and then I get in trouble for since she totally got that from me. She'll also tell you that you're "making her nuts". Also, from this girl. Nice.
She handles everything like a champ. She is so go with the flow it's ridiculous and I thank God that she is so resilient. She did not get that from me.

She did get a love of sports from me. She's my running partner though she has to be threatened to actually stay in the stroller and not actually run with me. She'll now tell you that "she has to sit and be quiet so Mommy can run because Mommy needs it". No one can say I'm not honest with my kid. ;) She loves to run and play outside. She gets so excited about the day she can play soccer (her words swear). I can't wait for that day either.
I could talk about her all day everyday because I think she is so awesome. 2.5 rocks. She is so, so cool and so much fun. I didn't think it was possible, but watching her grow everyday stretches my heart more and more. I swear I love her more now than I did the day I met her. It's crazy.

2.5 years. Wow. Such a short time really but so much has changed. Man I love this kid.