things that make us "us"

I think there are unique things that make each person who they are. Which is awesome because truth be told, it would be pretty boring out there if we were all alike.

Same goes for each family. I think there are little quirks, little day to day activities that make each family unique. Which is awesome. I also kind of love hearing the different things/traditions/rituals that each family have. Maybe I'm nosey (I totally am) but I love it. I love hearing bits of what makes up people.

These days my little family of three has settled into this nice little routine. There are things that happen daily that are different, probably downright odd to other people but they make us who we are. It's just part of us. It's part of what makes us a family.

Every morning Mr. P goes to work early. Like really early. So it's always me and the little in the morning. Sometimes she wakes up when he does and if that happens, he moves her into bed with me nine times out of ten. On the mornings he doesn't, I always wake up before her and move to her bed with her for a bit. We snuggle for a while before it's time to get up. I can't think of a better way to start my day.

If it's E and I in the car; the music is on and LOUD. If I turn it down, she wants it back up. She gets it from her Mama. If it's E and Mr. P; it's conversation. And lots of it. They are talkers. I am not. I love that she adapts to whichever parent she's with.

We eat out a lot. Like a lot, a lot. We're working on it. But we've eaten out so much with our kid that she now asks "where are we going for dinner?" instead of "what's for dinner?". She's also a restaurant champ. She gets to watch Netflix on her phone til the food comes while Mr. P and I chat about our days, then when the food comes, the show goes off and we eat and talk as a family. It's routine. It's fun.

Sometimes I let E sleep really late in the morning. It's good for me to have peace and quiet and sometimes I know she's tired so I let her sleep. On those mornings, she eats breakfast in the car on the way to school. I should feel guilty about that. I don't.

E has show and tell on Thursdays. Every Thursday. Most Thursdays I forget. Most Thursdays she throws me under the bus right in front of her teacher when I pick her up. "Mom! You forgot my show and tell item again!". She knows her days of the week. I really think she does this on purpose..... I didn't forget today.

Every night before bed, I tickle E. Hard. Like til she can't breathe. Mr. P tells me every night that this is the opposite of settling her down. I don't care. He really doesn't either. We can't get enough of that laugh.

E has started telling us "you always do that" when we do something dumb. It's like having a tiny teacher around all. the. time.

On Fridays we eat pizza. We also have tried to instill family movie night. Most of the time though, we put the little to bed at 7 on the dot like the rest of the week. Because let's be honest; by Friday? Mom and Dad are tired. Kids got to go to bed.

Saturdays we have ballet. E dances while I work out and Mr. P gets a few girl free hours.


We like to laugh. A lot. Most of the time at one of our expenses. It's true. Someone is always being ganged up on. I need a boy. He'll be on my side. ;)

The older E gets, the sweeter she gets. She likes to be carried and sit on our laps more now than ever. I should be ripped from carrying her 40 pounds around. I'm not.

Every morning E eats while I get ready. Every morning she plays around and when I holler down for her to come brush her teeth, she hollers back "but I'm trying to eat!" and every morning I tell her to come brush anyway and go back and finish. It's like clockwork. I laugh every morning because I know it's coming. She always comes.

E gets mad at Lacy no less than five times a day for breathing on her. They are the same height. It's not going to stop.

Dragon Tales is basically the soundtrack to our lives. I get mad daily for how much it's on.

Mr. P can't handle whining. I can tune it out like a champ. I can't handle incessant chatter. He can tune that out like a champ. We tag out a lot.

E and I daily fight over her hair. She never wants it how I want it. I usually win. It's my hands doing the work.

I have a problem with shopping. Mr. P gets home first in the afternoon and always finds my packages. Usually I tell him I "won it from the blog" somehow. But then I quit blogging as much and the packages kept coming. Pretty sure he's on to me... ;)

Our house is a three ring circus most days. Someone gets mad daily. Usually at least one set of tears is had (usually E's). But there is so much laughter. So much good. I love us. As crazy as we are, I can't get enough.

halloween.

Months ago, BG decided that she wanted to be a Mexican jumping bean for Christmas.

I was kind of excited. I mean, how cool. Plus totally original. I loved it.

I set to work finding brown material to make her "bean" and found a sombrero for her to wear. It was going to be EPIC.

Then we went shopping with my aunt and my girl walked by Pottery Barn Kids and suddenly, she HAD to be the purple fairy princess she saw hanging in the window.

Blast.

I thought for sure she would forget about it but as Halloween got closer and closer, it was clear that wasn't going to happen.

Mr. P and I really didn't want to pay the (ridiculously overpriced) price of the PBK costume so she and I ended up at Target one night to try and sway her decision. While there, I got a text from Mr. P saying "just go get the purple one. She'll be the cutest fairy princess ever". Wrapped he is.

But she found a Tinkerbell costume at Target that she liked so we got it. But she wasn't that excited about it.

Long story short; we are pushovers. And BG ended up with two costumes for Halloween. But her smile when we picked out the purple fairy costume (in two sizes too big mind you, last minute sucks), was totally worth it. Mr. P was right; she was the cutest fairy princess I ever did see.

Once she was all dolled up, we headed downtown to our local business trick-or-treat. It was packed out. There were tons of "characters" walking around, which BG is terrified of, and tons of businesses doling out all kinds of fun stuff. We did manage to get her to take a picture with a Ghostbuster. That was all she was having.

We did about half of the walk through and then headed back to our neighborhood. We walked around for a bit, checked out a local haunted house (which only I went through with a bunch of high school girls; holy hilarious), and then headed on home about eight when it was clear a certain toddler was Halloween'd out.

It was a really, really good time. We may be about ninety bucks poorer, but the fairy princess was worth it.

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.**