Thankful

Most days I get wrapped up in what I don’t have at the moment.  Our lives have been kind of at a stand still for the past four years while Gabe has been in Medical school.  We have moved several times and just have never felt settled.  Life right now can be so stressful and it is hard to just take a step back and realize that we should be thankful in what we do have.  I have a husband who works his butt off every day without getting paid then comes home and goes above and beyond to help out around the house.  I have an amazingly beautiful daughter who makes me laugh at the silly things she does.  I have a mom who is helping to support us while Gabe finishes up school by allowing us to live rent free and helps us with Maddie ALL the time.  I have a wonderful sister and brother-in-law and a gorgeous nephew who makes me so happy.  I have grandparents who are always there for us and an amazing family who I love dearly.  Not to mention great friends who I can always count on.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  It is getting brighter every day!  I am excited to see what the future holds for us.  Only three more months until match day {when we find out where Gabe will be for Residency}.  He is busy with interviews-he has two this week in Virginia.  I am definitely thankful for interviews, because that means a job for him soon!

We spent Thanksgiving in Georgetown.  What a wonderful weekend we had sharing with our family and eating lots and lots of delicious food!  Gabe fried a turkey again over the weekend and if you haven’t tried fried turkey you are missing out!  My Omi has officially said “no more oven turkeys EVER again!”  On Saturday we celebrated a Carolina football win against Clemson for the third year in a row.  We are THANKFUL for a win!

 

Soak it in

While Maddie was in the bath tonight and was brushing her teeth {we usually let her brush her teeth while in the tub} I had to stop and just stare at her and smile. She probably thought I was crazy, but as she was brushing her teeth this overwhelming feeling came over me and I thought “she is not my little baby anymore”and I just wanted to cry right there. She is becoming independent and wanting to do everything on her own. After I got her dressed and we started reading our books I began to reflect on just a few things that she has said recently that has made me smile.

The other morning after I handed Maddie her milk she looked up at me with a cheezy grin and said “thank you!” My heart just melted. It was the first time she had said ‘thank you’ on her own without us prompting her to say it.

Every meal I ask Maddie “what do you want to eat?” I try and give her choices and she never has answered me straight up. Well yesterday I asked her “what do you want for lunch?” and she stared at me for a few seconds and then said “GRAPES!” I was shocked! Thank goodness we had grapes in the fridge!

Today while we were in Cracker Barrel for breakfast she was looking at the toys and she went up to these big stuffed horses and picked them up and said “camel!” This really threw me off guard considering camels is not an animal we talk about often. I had to think about where in the world she got camels from and I finally realized that a camel is in one of her picture books. I don’t even remember the last time we read it. She doesn’t forget anything.

While I was rocking my sweet girl, I held her especially close, and reminisced about when we first brought her home from the hospital. She was just a little peanut then and now she is overflowing out of my arms. She will never be this little again, so for now I just have to soak it all in each and every day.

Happy Halloween!

Maddie the Monkey was in full force this year for Halloween.  She had lots of fun going trick or treating.  She caught on real quick as what she needed to do to get more candy!  With little prompting she would say “teet” (treat) and “ween” (Halloween).  Whenever she went to the doors she would say “knock knock” and we would ask her “what does a monkey say” to get her to say “eee eee” to the people.  Of course everyone thought she was super cute!  Maddie made the perfect monkey, because she loves “monk monks” and it is the first animal sound she could ever say.  Remember what she was last year?    Wonder what she will be next year?

 

Matching Monkey cousins!  Carter was not as thrilled as Maddie about Halloween.

 

Trick-or-Treat!

Right after we took this picture she said “Daddy” and ran over to Gabe and said “cheese”…this daddy’s girl wanted a picture with her daddy, too!  It was too sweet!

 

checking out the loot!

 

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween this year!

Pumpkin Patch

We visited Stewart Farms for our second annual pumpkin patch adventure!  Last year Maddie was barely crawling and now this year she was able to run around and pick out her pumpkin on her own!  Mimi, Natalie, and Carter tagged along and we all had fun picking out the perfect pumpkins.  Stewart Farms is a nice little farm located in Laurens County.  Hopefully, in the spring we can make it there to pick strawberries!

 

 

Look how much she has grown!!!

Week in review…

I’m doing it again-not writing in the blog!  After getting Maddie down for the night I’m so exhausted and just ready to collapse myself.  Running after a toddler all day and having to do most of the night time routines by myself while Gabe is away during the week is wearing me out.  When my mom is gone at night (which really is rare) I really feel like a single mom.  I’m amazed at how single moms can work and take care of children all on their own.  I am THANKFUL for the support I get from my mom every day while we are living with her.  I really could not do it without her during these last couple of months while Gabe has been gone A LOT. 

On another note, my very smart and talented husband has had many interview offers for residency (I think we are at 14 now).  I’m so proud of him.  His first interview is on Monday at Palmetto Richland in Columbia, SC.  We are excited, because we love Columbia and it is definitely at the top of our list of places to move for residency.  He has many more scheduled for the next few months, so keep him in your prayers that we end up in a place that we love and can raise our family.

Of course we have stayed busy.  Last weekend my dear friend got married and I was honored to serve as a bridesmaid and witness such a beautiful ceremony.  She was married at the Cliffs of Glassy and talk about the most gorgeous setting imaginable! I cried pretty much all day, so I was a hot mess to say the least.  After much debate, we decided to take Maddie with us to the wedding.  My grandparents were going to come down to watch her, but plans got cancelled when my Omi had to have a surgery done on her foot (she is doing well, so no worries).  She did great during the ceremony-only one little grunt that I heard .  She was a hoot at the reception running after the bride’s nephew and dancing the night away.  She is such a social child, which I can say she did not get from me-don’t get me wrong, I am social now, but as a child I was so incredibly shy.  She had a blast and partied until 10:00!!  I kept telling people to please not call DSS on me because I had her out so late!  She did fall asleep in the car, but we were able to get her into her pajamas and she went to straight to bed only to wake up at 7:30 the next morning!  She did take a three hour nap on Sunday, so Gabe and I were able to catch up on our sleep as well. 

Gabe was able to stay home most of Monday, because he didn’t have to be at work until 8:30 that night, so were were able to be extra lazy for another day.  On Tuesday, Maddie and I packed the car and headed to Columbia for the day.  She was able to meet some of our friends for the first time.  We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed catching up with them. 

Mom had her fall break yesterday and today, so we took Maddie to the zoo today.  I love having a family membership-it is worth the money as much as we have been.  It was a beautiful day here-sunny, slight breeze, high in the lower 70s, and the leaves are really starting to change.  It doesn’t get any better than this.

Gabe is on call again tonight (Friday) and won’t be home until tomorrow afternoon, so it will be an extra short weekend for us, as he has to be back in Columbia early on Sunday afternoon.  So I guess we will just have to soak in the little time that we do have.  Have a great weekend, y’all!

 

 

Just some other recent pictures…As you can see Maddie really loves to try on shoes and walk around in them-I must say she does better in heels than I do!  We have been enjoying lots of time outside lately.  The weather has been great.