Monday, September 12, 2016

Re-Introduction




Hi friends!

I hope the everyone had a great weekend! We spent the weekend in Kansas City. My entire crew drove up Friday night and stayed with my sister and brother-in-law and niece Perry. Matt and I had a couples shower to attend with all of my sorority sisters I lived with my senior year and our honorary 320 sister (shoutout to Gabrianna). It was beyond fun and I haven't laughed so hard and for so long in a really long time. So good for the soul!

We wrapped up the weekend by stopping at my brother and sister-in-law's house that they just moved into -- my parents were helping them move this weekend so we got to see my whole family. It was wonderful!





I kind of wanted to do a mini recap (well … as mini as I can get. We all know how I ramble…) of my life since my blogging dissipated.

When we last left off, I had just had a 7 pound, 11 oz baby boy named Reece. That was July 5, 2012.

It is September 12, 2016 and I do still have that baby boy. But that baby (turned chubby fairly quickly and also had five months of severe acid reflux) is now a little boy who turned four on his last birthday. He's a character -- very happy, has a great deep chuckle, is busybusybusy and LOVES anything truck related! There is SO much to discuss about Reece and we will definitely dive into him in a post in the near future. He is one that I could use tons of advice on!

(Sidenote: I received a Facebook message from a sweet friend that I worked with years ago when I was at ORU -- she was asking questions about Reece because her daughter and Reece share a similar trait, not one that is widely discussed… so I told her we would definitely make it a blog topic because it's something I would love to have an open dialogue about)

What else hasn't changed… Our daughter Sloane just started kindergarten this year! It's extremely hard to believe that we have come to this point in her childhood. As the saying goes "the days are long, but the years are short". Sloane should have that tattooed on her somewhere. That girl and I butt heads every. Single. Day. And if we don't, I chalk it up as fantastic day and throw a little prayer in that it will continue through to the next day. And the next day, she wakes up already mad at me.

This is my life.

If we can get past the sassy pants, the talking back to her mother (at five years old) and some laziness … she is pretty great! She LOVES people -- like she desperately wants best friends. Best friends that she can exchange best friend bracelets with and share clothes and have slumber parties with. She just has a big heart. But she has already found out that it's hard to snag those best friends at five. And it's hard to explain to her at this age that you can have many friends, some can be best, some can just be friends. Enjoy them all!

But I think best way I can explain Sloane's heart to you is by telling you that for any birthday party we go to, she has to take a gift for that person. I might have already bought that person a gift. But she has to also take her own. Usually they are toys of her own, that she wraps herself. She is so, so, so proud to give these gifts - you should see her smile when she opens them. Now … I have to remind her that little boys probably won't want her doll or a pair of bunny ears, but hey - it's whatever!

We were fairly accustomed to moving frequently before we moved to Minnesota in 2010, so when we actually stayed put for 4.5 years, it was a shock to all of us! But after the winter of 2013, I told Matt I couldn't do it again. That winter consecutively sent us 50 below temps … and with 50 below temperatures, there is not much you can do, except stay inside. Which is not what we are good at! As luck would have it, Matt was asked to take on the Wal-Mart account for Coleman, which moved us to Bentonville, Arkansas in January 2015.

Two things: looking back, I truly miss Minnesota. I miss my the wonderful friends I made and just Minneapolis in general. It was a wonderful place! Secondly, I never ever ever thought I would live in Arkansas.

Like… ever.

But it happened. And here we are! Matt has been in his position for almost two years, we are closer to Kansas which makes drives to visit family much quicker, my best friend of forever randomly lives here so we have been able to spend time together and our kids have become friends which has been an absolute joy, we have made some great friends around the neighborhood with kids the same age as ours, we have a neighborhood pool, which is legit, and lastly… we had a third baby!

Our sweet Tess Ellen was born on February 24 of this year and has been the best baby (give or take a month or two when we didn't realize she was allergic to cows milk and her cries were cries of pain). The other night Matt told her if she would just sleep through the night, she might be the most perfect baby ever.

Because this baby was going to be our last, Matt wanted to wait to find out what we were having. I was not game for this idea, but gave in because I knew it would be a very cool moment when we found out and we already had all girl and all boy stuff so we were set.

It was a loooong nine months, let me tell you. And I honestly was pretty sure I was having a boy, deep down inside. And deep down inside, though having a boy would have been wonderful, I kinda wanted a girl. Because in my family, it is girl-boy-girl and in my mind, my family is perfect, so why mess with perfection?

So when the day arrived, and the last push to bring her into this world, the doctor says "Can you see what it is?" -- I looked, saw it was a girl and just lost it. Like… sobbing for many, many minutes. And, god love my other two babies, but I don't recall shedding any tears with the other two. I think because I knew what they were, I was prepped, had already been calling them by their names, etc. This time, I had no idea. And though I thought she was a boy, it was my sweet Tess all along.

She is six months old now and just so much fun! She loves her brother and sister, she loves to grab everyone's faces and bring them in for a slobbery kiss, she has the greatest big smile and wants to be held all the time. She is sitting up and eating lots … she's just great!

So that is life … in as small of a nutshell as I could give you.

Oh -- Matt and I celebrated eight years of marriage on August 16 (go us!) and we still have Wrigley, our golden lab, who turned 10 last December.

Did I miss anything?!

Life is good. Life is tough. Life is absolutely crazy.

But this is my life.

XXOO,
 Allyson

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