words. and such.

I am bound and determined to get over here more often. To write about life a bit more. I try to do a yearly book for each year for E. I know I should do one for our family as well, but being as how I have one done for E and she's 4, I'm going to have to backburner that one. I really should get hers caught up.

The point, I use this blog to remember what happened back then. So when working on her book, I can look back. Hopefully I'll be catching up around here soon. Don't worry, I'll archive it all. You won't get blasted with tons of old pictures. Lucky y'all ;)

Work is busy. But it will always be. And if it's not, then I'm not doing something right. So I'm glad it's busy. The whole working with the husband the best friends and all that has gotten better. MUCH better. I think we've all figured out a bit of a balance on how to have work and a home life. It's been much better.

BG is doing AMAZING in school. She stays on "green" most of the time. It's this new behavior chart that her school has started and it seems to work. She's pretty stoked with herself when she stays on green and knows it's not good if she gets on yellow or red. So she works pretty hard to stay on green. I'm proud of her for thinking about her actions. She needs to do a lot more of it, (truth) but she's learning.

Three is a really hard age. The tempers and the attitude are fierce. But oh my stars this age is hi-freaking-larious. The things she says and does daily absolutely kill me. She's emphatic about what she wears, how her hair is done, what she eats. She's completely a little person with a complete mind of her own. Maybe because I wasn't around a lot of younger kids growing up, but I never expected a three year old to be just such a cool person. I never expected she'd already be digging out her own clothes each morning, cleaning her own room, putting up her own dishes, getting her own water and snacks from the fridge; I'm rambling. I just love my kid.

The hubs and I are finding ways to make date night at home again. Hands down, I miss having a baby sitter next door back in Florence more than anything. We've found an amazing sitter here in Charlotte so we've gotten lucky there, it's just harder to plan last minute dinners when you can't drop your kid off at her grandparents next door. So we're getting good at at home date nights. It's been fun.

This is probably the most boring post ever but it's what we're up too. We're settling in nicely here. Things are good.

october 15th

As you all probably know, October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. And today, I remember the four that came before my sweet girl.

And just like every other day, I thank God that He allowed her to make it. That He is allowing us time with her on this Earth. She was beyond worth the wait.

I never would have wanted to go through everything we had to go through for her. I wouldn't wish the heartbreak, the surgeries, the meds, the feelings from those meds, the pain; any of it, on anyone. But.. I would do it all again. For her. I would take every medication, every shot, exploratory surgery again; whatever I had to do, to get her here. Because, oh my gosh y'all, she's worth it.

There are some mothers who still don't have babies here on Earth to hold and my heart aches for them. You are in my prayers because I know your pain. And those mothers who lost an infant? I can't even imagine and my heart goes out to you all today as well.

It's good to remember the ones who aren't here. It's good to have a day about them. It's good for our hearts as Mothers.

They deserve to be remembered.

We deserve to miss them and long for them. My heart longs for the day I get to hold my babies again; whole and perfect. I absolutely cannot wait.

But until then, I am going to love on their little sister and give her every ounce of love I have. I'll tell her about them and how she has four perfect guardian angels always watching over her. I'll tell her she'll meet them one day.

It's good to remember. Sending prayers to everyone this day has affected.

my favorite mermaid: a giveaway

So apparently I can't sit down long enough to blog, but one should always have time for a giveaway no?

Yes.

Hands down my favorite Disney Princess is Ariel. One, she has amazing hair. Two, she's kind of a bit OCD and totally a hoarder and I like people that are a little bit off. My people.

I still remember when the movie originally aired. We were freaks over it and to this day I still love watching it. I was thrilled to see that it was coming out of the vault and couldn't wait to add it to BG's growing Disney collection.

And now you can get your hands on the Diamond Edition DVD/BlueRay combo to add to your collection. A perfect addition to any childs' Christmas morning. Giveaway ends at midnight so make sure you get those entries in. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway


**I received a copy of the DVD/BlueRay combination to review for the giveaway. All opinions are courtesy of me.**

another first for the books.

Weekend Wrap-up huh? Does anyone still do these anymore? Probably not. Oh well. Today I am.

This weekend was awesome. Absolutely positively so much fun.

A few months ago, my very football crazy aunt bought tickets for the Charlotte Panthers/New York Giants game. She was stoked at the chance to come see her beloved Eli Manning play so she snatched up tickets basically the minute we moved to the Charlotte area. My brother and sister in law made plans to come up for the weekend and we've all been so excited for this weekend.

But plans change. And when kiddos are involved, they change quickly.

The day before my S & Kiki were supposed to come down, their little one came down with the chicken pox. Which quickly put a kibosh on the weekend plans.

My aunt and granddad still came down though so Saturday we took them with us to the littles' ballet practice and then headed over to Southpark to do a bit of shopping. My Papa and Mr. P did most of the entertaining of the little one (who is finally at the age where these excursions are mostly fun) while my aunt and I hit basically every store in the entire mall. True story.

BG hit a few stores with us and as she exclaimed "look! isn't this so cute!" over and over as she showed us stuff, I was hit with a memory so hard it took my breath away. I remember spending Saturdays growing up shopping with my Grandma and aunt and now here I am, with the same aunt and my little girl shopping away on a Saturday. Some traditions are too awesome to not keep.

Since we now had two extra tickets, we decided to just take E to the game with us instead of leaving her behind. I figured if she got super bored, we would just walk the concourse for a bit. I honestly wasn't too worried about it.

And I truly shouldn't have been.

We dropped the three of them off at the stadium while Mr. P and I went and parked. We then walked the mile back to the stadium and met back up with them. We went on through security and checked in at the guest counter where BG was gifted a certificate to commemorate her first Panthers game.

We found our seats, then found some overpriced hotdogs and drink to consume. BG ate and kept her eyes on the beginning of the game. She was being so good!

She lost interest for a bit but just sat down in front of her chair and played on the stadium floor (no judgement!) for a bit. After a quick rest on her Mama's lap, BG was ready to finish out the game. And finish the game she did.

In no time she was high fiving those around us, dancing with the cheerleaders, and having a blast watching the Panther dance around the end zone. I'm not sure she watched a bit of football, but it didn't matter. She clearly had a blast. And so did the rest of us.

The weather was perfection. The city is perfection. And though the Giants basically didn't show up to play at all, it was still worth it to go. It was an absolutely perfect day.
We ended the day with wings and ice-cream before collapsing in the bed pretty early. It's safe to say my girl enjoyed her first NFL game. And so did her parents. Such a good day.

(almost) wordless wednesday

When Mom sleeps in on a Sunday morning and it's up to the Dad to handle breakfast, the Dad and the kid will sneak off only to return with a dozen doughnuts. And it is so good...