Dear Exhaustion - Please GO AWAY!

Oh man am I exhausted after this weekend. I thought I was tired before, it's got nothin' on today! (Though, I am being productive..not sure how that's working!)

This weekend was slammed full of "stuff" - fun stuff, but "stuff" none-the-less.

Friday my in-laws got into town. We headed out to go see my hubby's job, and then out to dinner.

Saturday was INSANE! It was about 98* outside and the "feels like" (aka heat index) was at 113* for a good majority of the day, but our crazy selves decided that grilling out and heading down to Busch Gardens was a fabulous idea! I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my LIFE! We did have a blast though and the kiddo was FABULOUS! We enjoyed playing for the first hour or so that we were there, then headed over to dinner with Elmo (pictures to come later, my camera died so I've gotta get em from the in-laws) and friends. It was SUCH a great time, even the parents had fun! Judy got to meet Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie, and we even saw Oscar the Grouch poking his head outta his trash can a few times! I was incredibly impressed with how Judy handled meeting the over sized characters, she didn't handle Santa too well this past Christmas so I was wicked concerned going into it... but she blew me away, as usual! :) After dinner we headed out to go find more rides to ride and things to do until the fireworks at 9:30 that evening. The hubby and I got to jump our butts on a few roller coasters (which was a TON of fun, but scary in a way I'd never experienced... walking away from your kiddo to get on a roller coaster is a different kind of fear, that's for sure!) and got to act like big kids while playing a couple of games around the park. Overall, it was a very fun and successful day all around!

Yesterday (Sunday) we were up first thing to head out to church with the in-laws. After that we came home for lunch and to let Judy nap, hubby and I both ended up passing out - we were just too exhausted to stay awake while she napped! Once we all got up we then headed over to a waterpark near our house called Ocean Breeze Waterpark. Judy is SUCH a water baby so she, of course, had a ton of fun! Once again the hubby and I left her with Grandma and PawPaw to head over to ride a few rides, it was fun but being parents we wanted to be with Judy and enjoy our time with her! :D She had a blast splashing around in the water and going down all the little slides (mommy almost knocked a few kids out who were trying to push her out of the way and run her over, but luckily they saw me and kinda ran for the hills before they hurt her!).

One very packed weekend, but it was tons of fun. It was hard to see my in-laws go (shocking, right?! ;) hahaha) but I can already tell it's going to get harder and harder to say good bye to family as Judy gets older. We walked them out to the car and as we waved good bye Judy just kept saying "Where's PawPaw? Where he go?" It's heart wrenching, really! :(

Now, it's Monday and we're back to the grind. Hubby is at work and Judy's napping. I'm doing laundry and dishes and all those fun things a mommy does. Tonight I've got to get some work done (I LOVE working from home!!!).... Oh Mondays - I loathe you!!

Sleeeeeeeeep!

How is it as an adult a person can need a ton of sleep, then said adult has a child and sleep doesn't exist - but that's okay! (????) I have always needed more sleep than "average", I've always been one of those people who needs the "8 hours of sleep every night" .. blahhhh! Since having a child, and working from home especially, sleep seems to be elusive and 8 hours a night just does NOT exist for me... but yet, I run FINE on it (most days HAHA). 4 .. 6 .. some nights even less and yet here I am functioning and working and cleaning and getting things done and running errands and all this and that and still, if I try to go to sleep before 10pm it's like trying to do a headstand from standing up (dang near impossible - COMPLETELY impossible for me!!!) and it never happens.

Strange how our bodies work when it comes to caring for our offspring, huh?

Time Flies..

Do you remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait to grow up?! Couldn't wait to drive, make your own rules, and not have a bed time. Well, there are days now that I wish someone would drive me around, give me rules, and force me to go to bed at 8pm every night (except weekends!). It seems to me that as I get older time goes faster, then I had a kid and time started moving even faster - what's up with that?! My daughter is now 19 months old - she walks, runs, talks, talks back, and she has QUITE the BIG personality for such a little girl. She's growing into this little person!! I mean, as parents we all know this is going to happen, it's the way of life and all that fun stuff.. but let me tell ya - for those of you that may not have children yet, it moves FAST!!!

It honestly feels like just yesterday (okay, maybe just last week) that we were bringing her home from the hospital, to an apartment that had no power for our first 26 hours home with a newborn. It feels like only yesterday that we were celebrating her FIRST BIRTHDAY! It's crazy to think that in only 5 months our baby girl, our little princess, (and as my husband has taken to calling her) our little Judy-Bug will be 2 whole years old!

The day we brought her home! :)

Her very first birthday celebration!

Just last week!! 

How did this happen? How did time get away from me like this!? I ask my best friend all the time "When did we become adults? When did we stop being young and become adults, parents, and responsible people?!" He never really seems to know either, but it seems like we're all just moving SO fast all the time. It feels like life is on fast forward and it's impossible to find the "frame by frame" or "pause" buttons.

For my friends out there who don't have children yet, have children on the way, or are just starting out as new parents - do yourself a favor and remember to take the extra moment to REALLY appreciate them. Just take that extra moment in running around like a mad mommy/daddy trying to get bottles and baby stuff ready to remember what a gift these precious little ones are. When they're sleeping, take the extra moment to just watch them.. to just see them at complete and total peace (it won't last long!) and quiet and restfulness. And even if they're up all night, crying non-stop, can't be satisfied, and have an insatiable need to nurse or poop or just be plain old exhausting - remember, it won't always be that way. Things will change, they will grow, and when (like me) you realize exactly how much time has passed and things have changed you'll wish you'd stopped once in a while "back in the day"!