2012: Year in Review!

It has been so long since I have blogged, I decided that, instead of trying to update everything that has happened in multiple posts, I would just review the whole year.  I know I say it all the time, but I really can’t believe that it is already the end of 2012!  Where has the time gone????!!!

January:
Our year started off just 2 days after moving into our new house. In fact, I rang in 2012 asleep in our bed. David had to work, and I was 39 weeks pregnant with Finn…needless to say, I was exhausted after spending the previous days trying to move and organize all of our stuff. 

 

Finnley joined our family on Friday, January 6 at 8:31am. She weighed in at 6lbs 14oz, and was screaming before the doctor even pulled her out of my belly. I guess she takes after her Mama. We came home the following Sunday, and I don’t think I have rested since. J  

 

The rest of January was spent adjusting to having 2 kids under 2, cuddling with Grayson as much as possible, continuing to organize, waiting for furniture to be delivered, and enjoying my maternity leave.

February:
February was much of the same as January. The weather was pretty mild, so we were able to spend some time outdoors with the kids, and I was able to enjoy the remaining few weeks of my maternity leave. Finnley started having some pretty nasty acid reflux, so we started taking her to the chiropractor. She loved each visit, and the adjustments really helped relieve her pain! We also noticed that she slept much better after each adjustment and was much less fussy during the days—we highly recommend chiropractic care for infants!
We travelled to Nashville to visit David’s mom and grandmother.

David and I attending the 40^th birthday party of our good friend, Mitch.  It was a themed party, and we went as Mike and Carol Brady.  My parents came down to watch the kiddos, and we left them for the first time since Finn was born. 

 

We also enjoyed spending a family day at the Children’s Museum of Memphis—Grayson especially enjoyed the splash river and the giant FedEx Plane!

 

 

And the big news of the month was that Grayson no longer took his foo-foo!!WOOHOO!

 

 

March:
Finnley started going to school each day with Grayson, and I started back to work. Talk about another tough adjustment! I cried the first day I dropped her off, and must have called 100 times to make sure she was okay. Of course she was, and she loved her teachers from the minute she laid eyes on them.  

 

One of the most memorable moments from this month was the day that Grayson face-planted into the driveway, resulting in quite the scraped up face. That was the day that David and I realized that we were going to have our hands full—and that this was the first of many boo-boos.  

 

Our friends, the Sartains, came to visit, and Grayson and Anderson enjoyed hanging out.  

David and I had one of our first date nights since having Finn, and we enjoyed celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at T.J. Mulligan’s.  In fact, I think I am still recovering from that hangover! 

We also had our first visit to LeBonheur—Finnley fell and was diagnosed with a head injury.  Thankfully, she checked out a-okay and we haven’t had any major issues.  In fact, she was flirting with the doctors the entire time we were at the hospital!

 

April:
April was a month of celebrations!!
Finnley turned 3 months old.

 

We celebrated Easter, and that weekend included a visit from my Grandma and Grandpa Plank. We really enjoyed spending time with my brother and his family, too. We were able to go to Collierville Square for lunch and pictures, and then travelled to Humboldt later that weekend for our annual Easter Egg Hunt.  

I turned 30, and David threw me a (sort-of surprise birthday party). He ended up having to tell me about the party because I was convinced he was cheating on me after his countless whispered phone calls and sudden phone password change.

 

My very best friend, Kim, and her husband, Travis, came to stay for a weekend.  I always love when we get to hang out, and this weekend was no different.  We never have to do anything special, and I don’t think I even get out of my pjs while they are here!  Of course, the kids love Aunt Kim and Uncle T. 

On the weekends, we enjoyed spending our time outdoors, and even spent a day exploring the park next to our house!

 

May:It finally started getting warm enough for us to head to the neighborhood pool! We met some new friends, and had lots of fun splashing and playing. Grayson took to the water like a fish, and asked to go to the pool every day.

We had a family afternoon at Collierville’s Fair on the Square, and Grayson and Daddy got to ride the train! It was soooo hot that afternoon, but so much fun. I was even able to score Finnley’s first UT outfit!!!





 

Unfortunately, May wasn’t entirely full of fun family time. David had to have an unexpected surgery when the doctor discovered a tumor in his foot. The tumor was growing very quickly and was entangled in the ligaments of his big toe. It was a tough recovery, and still bothers him from time to time. 

 

We celebrated Mother’s Day with a trip to Dyer’s Café and to see the trains downtown. I also got a very sweet letter from my baby in Heaven.  

June:
We spent as much time at the pool as we could each week—sometimes going every day!
Grayson said bye-bye to his crib and hello to his big boy firetruck bed! He actually spent most of the month sleeping on the floor instead of in his bed. We still aren’t sure why he did that—I am just thankful that it stopped!!

 

 

We started spending out Thursday nights at Sunset on the Square, listening to music and dancing with Colleen. 

Our next door neighbors, the Bells, moved in, and we become friends from almost day 1! They have a little boy who is between Grayson and Finnley’s ages, and they are Vol fans—we can’t ask for much better neighbors than that!!
We had a family afternoon fun day at the Mud Island Riverwalk, and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  Grayson especially loved splashing in the water and walking across the bridge. 

 

 

July:July was a big month for our family. We started off the month by hosting a small 4^th of July Party at our house, and then left the next day to head to Ohio for my family reunion. That trip was quite the adventure. I touched on some of this in my last post, and maybe someday I will talk about what a nightmare it really was. Let’s just say we came home a day early because David and I were about to lose our minds.  

Finnley turned 6 months old, and started sitting up. She also started eating baby food, and hasn’t stopped eating since. J


 

Weekends were spent at the pool, and weekdays were spent at school and work. 

Grayson and Finnley had their last day at daycare at First Impressions, and I think I cried more than anyone else when I said goodbye to the teachers who have loved the so much.
And, just to inconvenience me, I was diagnosed with Mommy Wrist and had to wear a brace on each wrist for several weeks. 

 

August:

The kids started going to their new school in Collierville, Collierville Christian Academy.
Work got crazier than ever, and I was in 100% survival mode for most of the month. I think I spent more time on the phone than I did off of the phone, and I really had to work to make sure I didn’t neglect my family.
Grayson turned 2 on August 12. His party was train-themed, and he really had fun playing with all of his friends. I still can’t believe my baby boy is 2. It makes me sad to realize that he won’t be my little cuddle monkey for much longer.

 

We traveled to Nashville to visit Thomas the Train, and Grayson loved every minute of it.  He was one excited kid!



 

We had family pictures made for the first time since Finnley was born. The kids did great, and I was so happy with how they turned out.  

We said goodbye to my Grandma Esther on the 22^nd. Man, I miss her. She was a wonderful woman, and I am so thankful that my brother and I were able to make the trip. We drove to Ohio and back in less than 24 hours, but we were able to spend time with family that I don’t get to see very often. I really enjoyed the time with my brother—I realized we don’t get to spend time like that together very often. We definitely had some good talks!

As we were driving home from Ohio, David called and told me that he broke his foot while running, and spent the majority of the month in a walking boot. It turns out that this was a result of his foot being weakened by his surgery in May. Needless to say, he hasn’t been able to run much since. 

We celebrated PapPap’s birthday, and spent the last warm weekends of summer at, you guessed it, the pool.  We were also able to meet lots of new neighbors at the neighborhood potluck/pool party that we helped to host!

September:  Our favorite time of year started: Football time in Tennessee!!

Finnley began pulling herself up.  I can’t believe how early she started doing all these things!  She began feeding herself finger foods. 

David and I completed the Advocare Challenge, and were very happy with the weight and inches we lost.  I ended up losing 2 pants sizes, 9lbs, and several inches from my arms and thighs.  My favorite part was getting to buy new clothes, and I was able to fit into skinny jeans for the first time ever!!
David and I went to a wedding on Labor Day weekend and had a blast!  I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun dancing, and it was so wonderful to be able to spend some adult time with friends.  I don’t think either of us wanted the night to end!!

 October:
Finnley turned 9 months old, and started trying to walk. In fact, by the end of the month, she was a full-blown toddler! I was excited to be able to buy her big girl shoes, and my first purchase was a pair of black sparkly mary janes.

We helped celebrate our friend, Colleen’s, birthday with a pajama party at her house. I think Grayson’s favorite part of the day was the bouncy house (and the doughnuts)! 

 

We participated in Step Up for Down Syndrome at the Botanic Gardens as a part of #TeamJarrett.

Halloween came and went, and we had a neighborhood Halloween gathering for all the kids.  We also went to Zoo Boo, continuing our family tradition.  Grayson was Woody from Toy Story, and Finnley was Minnie Mouse.  The best part of the weekend was watching Grayson run around to everyone saying, “Trick or Treat!”

We went to Cedar Hill Farms with some friends and picked out our pumpkins. It was a super fun day!! Grayson got to ride on a pony, and Finnley enjoyed crawling around the muddy pumpkin patch.

David and I celebrated our 3^rd wedding anniversary.  Sadly, I can’t remember what we did to celebrate—we went to dinner, maybe? 

We also got covered in powder at the Color Run, and even the kids had a blast!!  Our stroller is still orange from that weekend, and I feel like I am still washing color out of Finnley’s hair. 

J

 

November:
I had been looking forward to November for such a long time because it meant that we were headed to Knoxville to a football game—and to see my very best friend!!  We spent the weekend laughing, drinking, being silly, and wishing that it all didn’t have to end so quickly.

 

Of course, the week after we got back, both kids got sick and I had some unexpected time off of work to stay at home with them. Finnley was diagnosed with excema and also got her first ear infection. Grayson was diagnosed with strep throat for the 3^rd time in 3 months.
We got our Christmas card pictures made in downtown Collierville, and Grayson only broke 3 ornaments in the process! J I love how the pictures turned out, and can’t wait to get prints made for our house. 

Thanksgiving was spent with my family in Humboldt, and both kids loved pigging out on all the yummy food; especially the turkey smoked by my dad! We enjoyed having a long weekend off of work with the kids at home.

We put out our Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the unofficial competition between the neighbors in our cove began! David and I worked hard to decorate the outside of the house, and I think it turned out great!!

We started off the Christmas season by watching the Collierville and Arlington Christmas Parades and drinking lots of hot chocolate!  Grayson was soooooo excited to see all the police cars and fire trucks.

 

December:
We celebrated Jarrett’s 2^nd birthday at Chuck E Cheese.

We went to visit Santa!!  Grayson was super excited that Santa gave him a sucker, but Finnley, well, she was less than thrilled. 

The kids participated in their schools’ Christmas Program, and I cried the entire time.  They had their class parties right after the program, and it was so neat to see how well Grayson interacts with his friends at school. 

 

David turned 40, and I surprised him with a birthday party downtown! He also was surprised when he found out he was getting a Big Green Egg! It is so hard to believe that he is 40—probably because he acts so much younger!!



We learned that Grayson would be having his tonsils out the first week of 2013, which also includes a stay in the hospital. We are not looking forward to this at all, but are hoping it will help him feel better.  I am also hoping that it will help his behavior at school—it hasn’t been good lately. 
We celebrated Christmas with each of our families at our house.  The kids were more than spoiled, and Grayson even got a drumset!!

David had to work Christmas Eve but made it home in time on Christmas morning to enjoy the kids waking up and getting into their Christmas pjs.  We spent the morning opening up presents and playing with all the new toys.  Grayson especially loved the fact that Santa at the cookies he had set out the night before!!

We celebrated our first anniversary of living in our dream home.

And, I think I am most proud of the fact that I was able to get our Christmas Cards out early this year!!

2012 has certainly been an eventful year.  It has had moments of joy and sadness, heartache and happiness, but mostly it has been filled with lots of love and laughter.  We certainly are very blessed, and we are very much looking forward to seeing what 2013 has in store for our family! 
Happy New Year to you and your family!!

Love, The Bledsoes

Lessons

This past weekend, we travelled over 1200 miles in 2.5 days to Ohio and back so I could see my family, and they could meet David, Grayson, and Finnley. 

Some lessons I learned on the trip:
1.  Aways have your child safetly lock on because a 2 year old can indeed figure out how to reach the door handle and pull on it while you are driving down I-75 at 80mph.
2.  No matter how tired your children are, they will conspire with each other (and against you) to stay awake as long as possible.  They will accomplish this goal by screaming, yelling, running, hitting, scratching, and pretending to be asleep just long enough to scare you to death when they jump up and start screaming all over again.
3.  Don't put your 6 month old in the middle of the bed and then run out the hotel room door after your 2 year old who managed to turn the door knob and sprint down the hall.  Your 6 month old will roll off the bed.  And scream. (Are you noticing a theme here?)
4.  Kids of all ages love "Bubble Guppies" and will want to watch the same 3 episodes over, and over, and over, and over, and over....and over............and over.
5.  An iPhone can be a lifesaver on a long trip---but they really need to come up with away to lock that darn home button.  Having to constantly start a video over because your child hit the button gets really old, really quick.
6.  When it states on a crayon box that the craysons won't mark on clothes, it doesn't mean that they won't mark on walls, or carpet, or hotel room chairs.
7.  Don't leave the sink water running at the same time as you are trying to get your child in the bath.  You will forget about the sink.  And it will overflow.
8.  You can never have too many pacifiers.
9.  Sometimes, just seeing your mom's face is the most wonderful sight in the world.  Family can fix anything.
10.  When arriving home, everyone in the family will be soooooooo relieved to finally be sleeping in their own beds in their own rooms in their own house.

I may decide to explain these one day.  But, for now, I will leave you with one of thie highlights of our weekend:

A very Pinterest-ing 4th!

We had a small 4th of July cookout this past Saturday, and it was so much fun!  We invited two other families over, and the kiddos played together while the adults enjoyed some adult conversation.  :)

Grayson had a great time! Aren't they so cute?!?!

I am not much of a decorator or a cook.  In fact, I don't do either well.  But, I wanted to make this party really special--so I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration.  We had Angus burgers, corn on the grill, pasta salad, Justin's famous squash salad, Donna's baked beans, and brownies.  Yummo! 
On Pinterest, I found recipies for fruit pizza, chocolate-dipped rice krispie treats, and baked potato salad:

The fruit pizza turned out so yummy!  And it was super easy to make!

Some decorations to brighten up the living room.

Chocolote-dipped rice krispie treats were definitely a hit!

 The plates and napkins tied together made everything so much more organized!

I made the All Citrus water and it was sooooooooo good.  But, it doesn't taste very good on the 3rd day, so make sure to drink it all up when it's still fresh!  :)

Unfortunately, not everything turned out like I hoped.   Some things that were total bombs:

I was so excited about making this punch, but it just didn't turn out as nice as the picture.  There was an ugly foam after about 30 minutes, and it really didn't have a very good flaver.  I didn't want to waste everything, so a little later into the night I poured in some coconut rum.  The rum really seemed to help the flavor.  I'm not sure I will make this again, but, if I do, the rum is going in!

 The potato salad was AWFUL!  I was so excited about this recipie, and so disappointed with how it turned out.  It had no flavor at all.  None.  :(  I will not be making this again.



Overall, I was pretty pleased with everything, despite the huge disappointments it the punch and potato salad (the 2 things I was most excited about).  Our next big event is our community cook-out in a couple weeks.  I have already been turning to Pinterest for some fun ideas, and I can't wait to share with you how they turn out!!

We hope that all of you have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

As always, thanks for checking in!  We love you all!

Enough

**When I post from my phone, the formatting gets a little crazy, so forgive me if things look a little odd.**

I'm really struggling right now with balancing all aspects of my life: being a good wife, a good mommy, a good employee, a good friend, and a good me. It's hard. I think part of reason it is so hard is because of the expectations I put on myself. Please remember that these are simply how I think I should be in each of these roles, not how I think every woman should be.

In my mind:
A good wife: makes dinner every night, always keeps the house clean, folds and puts away the laundry right away instead of leaving it in the dryer, does the meal planning and grocery shopping, stays in shape, spends time with her husband, and always looks good for her husband.
A good mom: sits and talks with her kids, plays with them each and every day, loves and comforts them at all times, reads them stories, keeps them healthy and clean, takes them to all their appointments, attends parent/teacher conferences, is slow to get overwhelmed, doesn't yell, and never makes them cry.
A good employee: gets all paperwork in on time, completes all hours every month, solves all problems right away, and is effective in changing behavior.
A good friend: spends time with her friends either in person or on the phone, listens to their problems, calls or texts for no reason other than to say hi, doesn't cancel plans because of being tired, remembers important dates, isn't judgmental, is honest, and accepts all faults.
A good me: is patient, slow to anger, doesn't yell, doesn't curse, doesn't judge, doesn't compare life to others; is calm and loving, someone who people enjoy spending time with; someone who can do it all.

The past 6 months have been a whirlwind, and I have realized that I can't do it all...but that doesn't stop me from trying and from feeling the guilt and failure each and every time I come up short. More often than not, I feel like I take one step forward and ten steps back. My kids eat crap, my husband is constantly worried about one thing or another, I am unhappy with the way I can never seem to catch up (let alone get ahead), and it all just keeps piling up. Ugh.

(Now, that I got all of that out, you can see, that, despite my best efforts, I'm not perfect.)

The other day, I was listening to the radio in the car, and I heard a little story that really struck me. It was a story about a man who told his wife an kids, "You are enough for me." for some reason, those 5 words have stuck with me. Maybe I'm aiming too high. Rather than aiming to be perfect, maybe I need to aim to just be enough. Being enough for someone isn't a bad thing--they are completely satisfied with enough. They have enough of my love, enough of my attention, enough of me to fill them.

Will my kids really notice the difference if they wear the same pajamas to bed two nights in a row or if they don't have the newest and coolest toys? Will my husband really love me any less if I pick up take-out one night instead of making dinner (although lately it's been take-out every night). Will my friends really care if would rather hang out at the house and drink a glass of wine than get all dressed up for a night out? Will my boss really get angry with me if I can't solve the problem right away, as long as I give it an effort? Do I really need to care about that zit on my chin?

I don't have to be perfect. But I have to be enough. Enough for my family, my boss, my friends, and me.

I leave you with pictures of the 3 people in this world who are always enough for me: