I'm back. I was in a coma like state for several months, but instead of being unconscious in a bed, I was ridiculously occupied. Ridiculously. Seriously. It was ridiculous.
Where to begin is the real question. I had to glance back at my last post and it appears there was no indication of the absolute chaos that has been my life since the beginning of summer. I feel like everything started one night when Dan and I were sitting on our back porch talking about what we wanted to do with our back yard. Long story short, our conversation ended with - Let's sell the house! Fast forward through 2 months of showings, followed by one month of packing, followed by 2 weeks of imposing on my parents, followed by another move and the subsequent settlement in our new home in McKinney. And just for grins, let's throw in a family trip and two job changes....just to spice things up. Honestly, as much as I've tried, I just can't figure out why it's been 3 months since my last post.
I think the important thing to note is that we made it. We survived a move with 2 kids 2 and under. We both undertook new roles and responsibilities and we all survived. And we all still love each other. You don't have to tell ME that God had his hand in this. It's the only way we came out unscathed on the other end.
Now here we are. We just celebrated my FIRST baby's 3rd birthday. Do you remember when/why I started this blog? She's it. The when and the why. I still can't believe she's 3. But then, I talk to her and she tells me things like "the sky is blue? Well how does that work??" or things like "Mommy, stop getting under my feet!", or she tells me she wants to read me her favorite book before bed, and to my surprise she has EVERY WORD of this 45 page book memorized. Either that or she legit knows how to read and someone neglected to inform me. It's those moments that I think to myself, there's no way she's ONLY three. She's at a stage where she wants to do everything by herself, but if she could do it from inside my skin, she'd be elated. Her staunch independence and insane desire to be close to (verging on inside of) me are contradictory and oddly comforting. It reminds me that she's growing up, but also tells me she still needs me. She frequently tests the limits of my patience (and frequently tests out exactly how many times the word "mommy" can be said during a 30 minute car ride before my head starts spinning around like in one of those horror movies) and then in the next breath has me cracking up. She's the smartest, funniest kid I've ever met in my life. She has a love for her sister too that just blows my mind. It's like the two of them have their own language....I can't even explain it, but despite Bella's inability to communicate or play on Mia's level, they still chase each other around and laugh hysterically as though there is no age difference at all. Thinking about it makes me see what everyone was saying - One day they will play together and you'll realize why people have kids close together. I see it. I definitely see it. And I love it.
We are gearing up now to celebrate Bella's birthday next week. You know, because she's been around 1 year now. She is 1 year old. 12 months. Nope, it doesn't matter how I say it.....it still doesn't feel real. This kid.....she's amazing. I remember my fears going into kid #2, that seemed so genuine at the time. Would I have enough love, patience, attention?? I do. I love this baby more than I ever dreamed possible. It is exactly like when Mia was born....that kind of love. The same. But beautifully different. Bella is such a good tempered baby. She smiles ALL THE TIME. And her laugh.....I can't help but smile when I think about it. Now she is still crawling and trying to figure out the whole standing without help thing. I caught her stand up for a few second the other night. I forgot how exciting that is! She says things like "dada", "mama", "yia-yia" and the newest addition/my personal favorite - "UH OH!". THE. BEST. I don't even mind that she intentionally throws her paci on the floor and then follows it with "Uh-Oh!" as though it inadvertently slipped....In other Bella news, she is completely off baby food and formula - THANK YOU GOD, MAMA GOT A RAISE! She is also shaking her head NO (no idea where this baby, who never met an electrical socket or set of stairs she wasn't immediately drawn to would have learned that, its a mystery), waving bye and blowing kisses. She goes through phases where she sleeps 10-12 hours a night, and then a tooth comes in or the wind changes or she fears I will become rested....and then we go back to waking at night. Lets face it though, I have slept, like REALLY slept in like a year. So being more tired is not really an option. I consider any extra I get to be a bonus, and after 4 days of no sleep, my family just understands that I'm going to be a bitch. Its just a fact. Like we all know the sun is going to come up in the morning. So they just deal with it. Normally on day 5, Bella is tired too though and we all get a break.
So, now that we are settled, and the kids are settled, and things seem to be peaceful, I am finally starting to wake from this coma of chaos. I have started running again, and 1 year later, am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. It's about freaking time. I'm not even gonna dive into that can of worms, but I will say that despite being in my pre-pregnancy close for 6-ish months, being back to my weight has really helped me gain back the self confidence I was missing post baby. In addition, we are trying to eat better. Dan has said that he is open to trying out the Paleo diet so I've researched some recipes and right now, we are at about a 50% success rate. Not good enough to dive in head first. But it's a start. I think once I find some recipes I like I'll post them on here so if you have any interest in that kind of stuff, you'll have a jumping off point (promises the over confident blogger who hasn't blogged in 3 months).
So there you have it, that's the update. Well aside from the job thing. Dan and I both are numbers people, his title is the same, he's just working for a much better company. I moved from Accounting to Sales, but I still deal with the numbers. We both love our new jobs and are overall very happy with where we are at both individually and as a family. And lets face it.....isn't that the ultimate goal??
