I Sound Like a Broken Record

Well...As hard as it is to believe, our baby girl is 2 years old already! I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but where does time go? It sounds so cliche to say that it's unreal how much our lives have changed in the past two years and how much joy and happiness this one little girl has brought into our lives, but I've realized I've turned into one of those people. Until you're a  parent, you just. don't. get. it. Yes, your life changes SO dramatically and SO quickly once you have a baby. Yes, you experience a love you never realized was even possible. Yes, you realize you would die in a millisecond for this little person you've only known for even a minute. Yes, you think every. little. thing. is something to document either with pictures or pen and paper, or a milestone of some sort, or cute, or that you need to declare your infatuation and admiration on Facebook to family and friends. Yes, suddenly this little person trumps your spouse or your marriage for that matter. Yes, you talk about them ALL.THE.TIME. Yes, you catch yourself smiling with pride and admiration all the time just by watching them do something so small or routine. Yes, time really does fly by. I could go on and on about the things that I thought people were "just saying" when I was pregnant that really are true. It does sound cliche. But it's not. It's real life. And that's definitely something I've come to realize as Kayleigh gets older and older. I wish I could freeze time. I know I can't, but if there was a way that I could, I would do it in a heartbeat.  I have had an absolute blast with her so far this summer. She is at such a fun age where she can talk more and her personality is developing so much. Not to be the pessimist, but my summer is almost halfway over. Don't get me wrong-I am not complaining. I am so grateful to have my summers off, but I'm absolutely dreading going back to school in August already. That first day back may very well likely be harder than the first day I dropped her off at daycare as an infant. Don't get it twisted though. She definitely has her moments and I'm half convinced that the infamous "terrible twos" are headed our way, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Through the good and the bad, my mindset from the very beginning has been to cherish it all. The good. The bad. The fun times. And the not so fun times. Because before you know it's over and you're on to the next "phase". There are so many things that I can't wait for her to do, or to see what she'll like, or what she will look like. But I can wait. I don't want to wish her life away. I'm going to cherish every moment and enjoy them all because she very well may be our only one. So I'm going to make it count. We are absolutely enamored with this little girl. I could go on and on (clearly), but I'll stop there for today.

Instead, I'll leave you with her birthday party.  We celebrated on Saturday with close family and friends with a Minnie Mouse themed party. The party went really well and the weather was perfect in comparison to last year's heat stroke that we endured. I know Kyle and I were so grateful to everyone that was able to make it to spend some time with our sweet girl.  Here are some pictures from the day.

 Welcome!

 Lunch with some of her friends

 Cousin Love

Mommy's Girl

I Can Live Without Ever Going Through That Again

And by that I mean strep.

I have never had strep...until almost 2 weeks ago and at that point I felt like I would have rather died.  I went to bed Sunday night with a pretty bad sore throat and woke up Monday to 12 inches of snow, school canceled, and a sore throat, fever, terrible headache, and complete body ache.  Oh.my.goodness!

Needless to say Kayleigh and I stayed in bed all day because that was the only thing that worked for me that day. We watched about 10 episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse which she thoroughly enjoyed. And I felt like the laziest, worst mother ever, but I seriously could not do anything.  When she laid down to take her afternoon nap, I laid back down and took me an afternoon nap. Luckily, Kyle gets off work at 2 so when she woke up she was all his. I know that's not how he planned on spending his birthday, but the poor guy was great and never once complained.

We both ended up taking the next day off because by then his throat was hurting also.  I called the doctor's office as soon as they opened and got an appt. Mind you, I'm typically a pretty healthy person that rarely gets sick and if I do, I NEVER go to the doctor. Not because I don't like going, but I just don't go. I'd rather just try to fight it off by gargling hot salt water or taking cold medicine for a couple nights.  This was different and I knew something was not right. I truly had never felt that terrible overall.  The doctor took one look at my throat and said he hoped, for my sake, it was strep and not a viral thing so that I could get the antibiotics.  So I guess luckily it was because I woke up the next morning feeling normal again. My throat was still insanely swollen but I stayed home (again and much to my dismay). I HATE having a sub. I cleaned and got all sorts of things done. My mother-in-law, Shannon, had already taken the week off to watch Kayleigh because the babysitter was in Florida on vacation.  She was able to take Kayleigh those 2 days and watch her even though I wasn't working. I knew how much it was kicking my bootie.  All I knew was I did NOT want her to get it.  I was so relieved when she didn't, but I honestly don't know how after that first day of literally laying right next to me in bed all day.

I spent the last two days of the week at work trying to do damage control and make up for my lost time.   Not a fan of strep. Not a fan of missing work. Not a fan of sub plans. And definitely not a fan of subs.  Hopefully I don't have to worry about that for a LONG time and this weather will start being nice more. I'm over the cold and the big shifts in temps. This weekend has been beautiful so far, so here's to hoping the snow and cold are done...at least until the fall (although I do wish forever).