Well, hello there. It has been a while.
I will start with an apology for the lack of blogging this past year and move forward with a promise to fuel my passion for blogging more, just as I used to. I'm not sure I even have to preface this with how crazy life has been this past year, but let's just get a little reacquainted, shall we?
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Sipping lemonade from mason jars with stripey paper straws, followed by catching lightning bugs in said mason jars, topped off with roasting marshmallows around a campfire would call for ideal summer memories -- and well, they just won't be making the cut in our Summer 2014 jar of memories.
Promise it hasn't been a bad summer, just abso-freakin-lutely crazy, which is pretty much "our" norm. We've been in and out of the state, living in and out of hotels, getting in and out of too many different routines.
But let's start with that hubby of mine -- he is officially a doctor. White coat, Dr. title, germ-laden stethoscope donning and all kind of doctor. He did it!
We made the trip to Atlanta to celebrate amongst all of our med school friends, whom I already miss like crazy. It was a bittersweet moment after J took those steps across the stage. The steps signified walking away from a great adventure and moving forward to a brand new one, meaning saying our official 'goodbyes' to the amazing people we grew so close to over the years before everyone went their separate ways to save lives all across the country.
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Our spontaneity got the best of us - again - as we woke up one morning and decided to book a trip to Key West (and leave 2 hours later). That meant leaving our sweet girl behind for our first whole weekend without her. Momma was sad, but I can't say we didn't enjoy ourselves like crazy. We justified it with the celebrations all around between med school graduation, our wedding anniversary, Father's Day, and a baby moon! After seeing the way J's schedule is today, we are beyond grateful we were able to go on that trip and spend some last minute quality time together before the madness began. Going to the Keys without drinking is certainly a different experience, but we explored in ways we never have before and it was ah-maze-ing.
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And then, we bought a house. No biggy. Homeowners 'R Us. :)
New roof and paint accents to come ASAP :)
What a process THAT was. Everyone says it's stressful buying a home, but even our realtor said he had never dealt with some of the things we were faced with during this homebuying process! Thank goodness we are in and we're beginning to settle. Whew! Closing on the house during the same time J was starting residency - not the greatest timing. It's truly made settling in quite the arduous process as his free time is rather non-existent.
We've explored a little and have had visitors as well. Thank goodness for familia!
We celebrated 4th of July in our new home and broke in our backyard with a family BBQ, followed by walking down by the river to watch fireworks. How 'Merican of us.
Little Miss E is settling in well and has made the transition from crib to big girl bed! How did she get to be 20 months old already?!
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And since then, E and I have been having lots of play dates out back with ourselves, cousins, grandparents, and the occasional hour that Daddy has home per day or night!
We've been soaking up the sun and taking advantage of all that summer has left to offer us, while looking forward to what else -- football season!!
E's growing every day and learning 454 new things daily. I don't even know where she comes up with some of the stuff she talks about.
But I just go with it and remain thankful for the wonderful child she is. "Daddy go work - good day! Love you! Bye Bye!" Too freakin cute.
"Oooh, a diamond!", pointing to the shape on my towel. Wherever she comes up with these things, it surely makes me proud :)
Such a curious little girl she is.
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The curls just keep on comin', and I am loving them.
Grandma came to visit and E had lots of fun with "Mima" (her very own made up name for her Grandma!)
We may not be roasting marshmallows, but we're playing as much as we can!
..And burning as much energy as possible in this little girl as she gears up to become a big sister.
She may be getting smarter and smarter every day and making me look at her in a new 'big girl' light, but then she reminds me of just how young and free and fun she is. Sticking a graham cracker down my shirt while I'm sleeping (and me not noticing until I've been awake for a half hour already) truly makes me laugh at just how great she is. And her running to me with the perfect shade of Baby Lips' Coral Crush applied messily across her entire face while saying "pretty, yeah?" reminds me just how funny (and troublemaker-ish) she is. Girl knows how to make me laugh with just her expressions.
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Here's to hoping our new adventure brings me lots of inspiration - I already feel like a housewife and momma again in between all the work I've got going on and now I'm ready to continue being inspired to take more photos, blog more, and see the beauty in the little things.
Like a pretty flower in a nasty thunderstorm.
We've got a max of 10 weeks left before my sweet, secretly-smashing-graham-crackers-in-boobs little E becomes a big sister to this sweet smiley baby girl, and we are getting more and more excited every day.
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Be back soon with more regular updates :)