monthly updates Archives - Page 3 of 6

Aug 05

ten whole days

Aug 05

Hey friends, we’re back!

I’ll keep the actual beach recap short by saying this: it was fun. Molly loved the sand and the water and all of it. I loved spending 24 hours/day with my daughter and bonding with her in a deeper way than I can during my too-short weekends. I loved how we fell into a routine, and how Eric was more helpful than ever because he wasn’t tired and burnt out from a stressful workday. We both decided that the only logical solution for us would be to win the lottery. Now we just have to play.

Just a hair over 13 months old and Molly started experimenting with a slight side step before plopping back down and scooting. She is still incredibly sturdy on her feet when standing and zooms all over the place when we help her walk, but as far as walking alone… nope, wasn’t having it. We got back from the beach on Friday, unpacked and did all the laundry, and then spent a leisurely Saturday/Sunday hanging out at Eric’s parent’s pool. I could tell that the walking was going to happen any day but as of Sunday night, no dice. Monday morning I dropped her off at my sister’s house, and a couple of hours later I got the text – she took three steps! By that afternoon we had a video to prove it and my heart simultaneously broke and exploded with pride. She was walking… but I missed it. By like 12 hours.

Besides her momentous day of milestones, my sister said yesterday was pretty regular – she went down for her nap, played, had a good time, etc. So that doesn’t really explain what happened later that night. Now, normally putting Molly to bed is a breeze. She starts rubbing her eyes anywhere between 7 and 8, I rock her and give her a bottle, and then lay her in her crib and turn on her Pandora lullabies. It can be light out, the neighbors can be mowing the lawn, or whatever, and she usually just tosses and turns for a while and falls asleep about 10 minutes after I leave the room.

Well, not last night. Every time I put her down in her crib she screamed bloody murder. Not cried like, wahhh, I’m grumpy and not ready for bed yet. More like screamed as though she were being kidnapped and would never see her family again. I kept coming back in to rock her and she would grip onto me so tightly it made me feel terrible. I tried laying with her in my bed… sitting by her bed and singing… stroking her cheek… no matter what, no matter how relaxed she was in my presence, the second I left the room she would start screaming again. This went on for three. solid. hours. Now, I realize I could have it so much worse. I know some kids are like this every night. But I’m used to the easy-peasy baby who basically puts herself to bed. I wonder if she had separation anxiety after our ten days straight of being together… which makes me feel both good and bad. At least she really does miss me (because considering how happy she is with Ashley, sometimes I wonder).

Nothing else too exciting going on. We are going camping in two weeks – probably our only trip of the year, which is kind of sad. How did the summer slip by so quickly? In no time it’ll be fall and then I’ll be having a baby! Like… what?!! I am soooo not prepared for that. We still haven’t figured out the room situation. We are pretty set on the name but I’m hesitant to share it in case it changes again. I still need to get all the hand-me-down clothes from multiple sources… and sort them… and put them away in the non-existent dresser drawers. It’s such a daunting task that I’d rather just keep putting it off.

Hope everyone is having a great August so far! I took like 160 photos at the beach, and I won’t make you suffer through all of them.

Here are the highlights:

beach babe

you can’t ride in my little red wagon…

family photo op

it’s absurd how many selfies we took

such a beauty

talking into random objects is a favorite pastime

Baby boy

playground fun

she looks so big in this pic

yes, the belly doubles as a table

every day on the walk back from the beach, this happened

see you next year, OCMD!

Jun 25

and just like that, she turned one

Jun 25

I’ve spent the better part of the week obsessing over something I have 100% no control over – the weather. Looks like a massive rainstorm is poised to hit the entire east coast this weekend. Oh, and we’re throwing Molly a first birthday party. Outside. In a park.

It’s not all bad. We do have a pavilion… it’s just a rather small pavilion. So let’s just say everyone who shows up will get rather cozy with one another. I caught myself saying this morning, “This is the worst thing that could have possibly happened!” That’s when I realized – no. The worst thing would have been if I never got to have Molly, so there wouldn’t be a birthday party at all. Sometimes I need a little perspective.

Between making shopping lists and obsessing over weather.com, I never got to post on her actual birthday, which is what I meant to do. I did jot down some thoughts but just never got around to publishing them. Eric and I both took off work on Tuesday, her actual birthday, and spent a lovely day swimming at my in-laws and just enjoying the company of our daughter. I made her a cake from scratch and we sang to her. It was nice.

Below I’m going to share a letter I wrote to her in honor of her first birthday. Then, for those of you who haven’t already seen these on Facebook, I’m going to share some of the photos from her 1 year photo session (which was also outside, but not in the rain). Rain or shine, I truly am blessed to have this child in my life.

My dear Molly,

I can’t say that you made me a mommy. Your sisters who came before, now waiting for us in heaven, get credit for that. All my little embryos do. But you were the one who I got to hold. You’re the one who made me understand what that being a mommy really meant.

Before you were born I used to talk to you all the time. I was so excited to meet you! I’d be driving home from work and I’d just keep telling you how much I wanted to know you and you’d kick inside my belly like you knew what I was saying. I didn’t like being pregnant as much as I thought I would – mostly because I was impatient and just wanted to know you. What did you look like? What was your personality? The 9 month mystery was just too much for me.

I’ve already written so much about the day you were born, and I won’t say it all again now. You were late – you must have been so warm and cozy in there that you didn’t want to come out. I didn’t get to hold you right away but I did see you and hear you. So tiny, my little girl! But still healthy and strong. You were so much better than I could have imagined.

Molly, this year has been so different than every year that came before it. It’s almost as if I can’t remember a time before you existed – you have filled the spaces in our lives so completely that imagining life without you is basically impossible. We waited so long for you. Every tear I cried, every dark night I had, every doubt that plagued my worried mind has disappeared completely since you came into the world. Now every moment leading up to you makes sense because it brought us more than we could have dared to hope for. You were so, so worth the wait.

I love everything about you, all the little things and all the big things too. I love your smile and your laugh. I love how you don’t crawl, but instead scoot all around on your butt. How you clap when you’re happy and touch your cheek when you’re sad. How you kick your feet when you’re excited and tense them up and yell when you’re mad. The way you eat everything, all the time – and throw it on the ground and watch the puppies eat it when you’re all done. The way you tip your head back to drink from your sippy cup like a little gerbil. I love how you curl onto your side to fall asleep and how the first thing I hear every morning in your happy stream of babble through the baby monitor. I love how excited you get when I’m filling up the bath tub – you hold onto the edge and watch the water fill because you can’t wait to get in and splash around.

You’re so smart, little one. You’re so good at stacking blocks and rings and you love to read books together. You especially love the big book about babies and when we go through together and find all the different parts of the body (your favorite one is “mouth”). You know what “no” means (even though you don’t always listen). And it goes without saying that you’re the cutest baby I’ve ever seen! Even strangers at the store stop to tell me how cute you are. Everyone who knows you loves you. Everyone who doesn’t know you wishes that they did.

You’ve spent one year on this earth teaching us so much. I used to dream about what you would be like – but never in a million years could I have conjured you, and just how special and amazing you actually are.

I love you, peanut. I can’t wait for next year, and next year, and the year after that as I find out even more wonderful things about you. I’m so proud to be your mommy.

Jun 16

one week to one

Jun 16

My aunt yelled at me because I didn’t mention my five year anniversary in my last post. Oops! All in all it was a good day – we both stayed home from work and hosted a yard sale at our house, and actually sold a whole bunch of crap. It was so successful that we plan on having another in July (another yard sale – not another anniversary). Then that night we went to Wendy’s for dinner – not just the drive-thru, mind you, but dined in the restaurant as a family. Yes, so romantic. I don’t ever let Molly (or myself, for that matter) have fast food, so as you can imagine she was in chicken nugget heaven on this rare occasion. We only went because we were on our way to an indoor football game, which is how we closed out the evening. I was really expecting a lavish vacation or a romantic stay at a B&B for 5 years – but hey, a yard sale, Wendy’s dinner date, and football game turned out to be not bad at all.

Other than that, things are just kind of chugging along. I’m still pregnant. Still feeling little flickers of movement and still getting a little rounder each day. A friend of mine posted that her timeshare was available in October and asked if anyone was interested. As I’m sitting there googling flight prices and trying to think how I’m going to convince Eric to go, I had a sudden realization – October. Third trimester. Hello, I’m not going to be allowed on a plane! I literally forgot I was pregnant for a second. That’s something that never, ever happened with Molly.

In one week, my baby girl turns one! Ahhhh!!! One year ago today – 2 days shy of my due date – I was enormously fat and pregnant and hot and miserable. Today I am still kind of fat and definitely pregnant but not miserable. And sometimes I don’t even know I’m pregnant. It’s amazing the difference a year can make.

I just submitted a post to Scary Mommy (even though I have a love/hate relationship with the site in general, I figured it would be fun to be published there. They have over a million readers…and they pay $100 per post). I really hope it’s accepted. It’s all about my guilt over not finishing Molly’s baby book. I know, so ridiculous, right? I’m a writer and I can’t even do it. And she’s my first child! What the heck is wrong with me?

oh, hang on, I know I have a heart-shaped photo around here somewhere…

I am really going to try to work on it this weekend because my plan was to have it displayed at her birthday party. The most annoying thing – besides finding photos to fit in the weirdly shaped spaces allotted – is trying to remember when things started happening. Molly says Mama/Mommy and Dada/Daddy, but most of all she says, “I DID IT!” She says that all the time. And that’s why baby books exist, right? Because as much as this is part of her identity now, in 5 years I probably won’t remember that every other second she was exclaiming “I DID IT!” and “I DID THAT!” or intentionally dropping toys and saying, “UT!” (no uh-oh. Just ut!).

But when I go back and read old posts, it’s clear how much she has changed already. Like how there was once a time where I fretted over self-feeding and how she didn’t really have the hang of it. HA!! Now the girl could demolish a Porterhouse steak, and I probably wouldn’t even need to cut it. No teeth and all. She is the queen of self-feeding.

So yeah, baby book. I think I’m going to go through all my old photos/videos on my phone to determine when things took place since they are conveniently sorted by date (thanks, iPhone). I do have months 1-5 filled in at least. The photos are going to be the real challenge since the spaces provided are so specific and strange. I want to order a whole bunch to display at her party but I’m waiting to see if the photographer gets her one year photo session proofs done before I do that.

And for this next kid I’m not even attempting the guilt-inducing baby book. I recently discovered (too late for Molly but not too late for lil’ crouton) that there are apps where you input photos and milestones, then order a pre-made book once your baby hits a year. Genius, right? And so much easier than putting pen to paper. I’m definitely going that route for this and subsequent children. If I remember. Eeesh.

May 08

weekend update

May 08

Apologies in advance to Facebook and Insta friends who will probably find these photos redundant.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind week. Last Saturday, Molly, my MIL, and I accompanied Eric to a conference in Washington DC as a bit of a summer kick-off mini vacay. We could not have asked for better weather, and the hotel/convention center we stayed in was positively gorgeous. It was nice to take a little break and recharge the batteries.

On Sunday we all got to hang out since the conference didn’t kick off until the evening. We took a ferry ride over to Downtown Alexandria and walked around. Molly loved the boat.

Monday Eric was stuck conferencing all day, so my MIL and I (along with Eric’s colleague’s wife and their daughter) headed to the National Zoo in DC. Molly was such a trooper, even with being stuck in her stroller all day – thank the Lord she doesn’t mind napping in there. Her favorite part of the day BY FAR was riding the carousel.

Tuesday we went downtown to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (did you know they have the Hope Diamond?) and then walked and walked for many hours and miles to see a few of the monuments/historical points of interest. The highlight of the day was finding amaaaaazing gluten-free pizza that’s worth a return trip all by itself.

Our last day was Wednesday – my birthday – and truly it was underwhelming. Welcome to 31, right? We had a huge and delicious breakfast, checked out of the hotel, drove the 4 hours home, and then just kind of sat around. I’m not sure what I was expecting… I guess I’ve reached a point where a birthday is just another day. But at least I wasn’t at work.

Today I had another ultrasound – all looks good, heart rate 176. Since everything went well at my morning appointment, we did make it Facebook official with this photo –

One thing really annoying that happened this weekend? KATE MIDDLETON STOLE MY GIRL’S NAME. I seriously had my heart set on Charlotte and when I heard it was a contender for her, my stomach sank, because I knew that’s the one they would choose. This is a name I fell in love with way back in 2013 when I was pregnant the first time! In other words… long before it became a princess name. Blah. And before you say, “Just use it anyway,” know that I’m dead set on not choosing any top 50 names (and come on, the popularity of Charlotte is about to explode), but I also don’t want anything too out of left field. That’s a task that’s a lot harder than it sounds! Oh, and I’d prefer to stay away from names that end in a “y” sound, because I don’t want it to be too matchy-matchy with Molly. So it’s a tough decision all around.

First world problems, right?

Any name suggestions, send them along! I know Eric wants a boy (and we have a boy name), but my gut is telling me that it’s a girl.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Apr 20

weekend update: Lilly for Target, house hunting, and finding out I’m actually (internet) famous

Apr 20

Howdy, y’all!

Sorry, I suddenly feel the need to talk more Southern now because… Lilly Pulitzer for Target? Have you guys heard about this craziness?

For all those of you living under a rock (hee hee), the Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection debuted on Sunday, and the lines outside rivaled (or surpassed) Black Friday. Racks cleared in minutes. Items up on eBay for 4 times the price the same day. It was nuts.

the line (or as some said, the yoga pants convention)

I’ll be honest: I’m not into LP. I like bright, fun summer colors and prints, and I’ve seen some stuff that’s cute, but by no means am I a brand follower. I was talking to my sister-in-law Saturday night and she mentioned that she was heading to our local Target at 6:30am to stand in line for this event. I thought that was a little nuts… but at the same time, I was intrigued, simply because I get super anxious/frantic over bargains and also things that other people are passionate about. As much as I would love to turn up my nose and sneer that I don’t care and it’s all pointless (which let’s be honest, it is)… I started getting a little excited and told her I was going to join in.

Molly for Lilly: worth the trip

I went with the intention of getting flip flops, and I did. One bonus of being pregnant at the moment is that I knew none of the summer clothes would fit anyway, and Lord only knows what size I’ll be next year. So, I did manage to duck underneath the mass of clamboring women and grab the flip flops I wanted, plus score a sun hat and a really cute dress and hat for Molly. I grabbed a straw bag just because I could, then stood there for like 20 minutes debating it even though I knew I didn’t REALLY want it, I just wanted it because everyone else wanted it. I kept saying to myself, “Pretend you are alone and no one else wants this bag and Lilly Pulitzer is a mere figment of the imagination. Are you buying the bag?” The answer, of course, was no and I did finally put it back (well, actually, I handed it to the amped up woman standing next to me who saw me gesture towards the empty rack and asked in a loud voice, “DO YOU NOT WANT THE BAG?” before eagerly snatching it up for herself. I’m telling you – this whole thing was just absurd.)

Anyway. So then Sunday we went to look for a house even though we’re totally not ready to buy a house. I can’t remember if I’ve blogged about this before – I compose all these posts in my head and can never keep track of which ones actually make it to publish status and which ones stay trapped in my imagination forever.

Here’s the reality: if there was some profession where I could just look at houses day in and day out and somehow make money doing it, I swear I’d be a millionaire (and don’t say realtor, because I don’t want to sell them or deal with people… I just want to LOOK at them). I am obsessed with looking at houses. Obsessed. Some people spend all of their free time on Facebook… I spend mine on realtor.com. It’s by far the most used app on my phone. At any given moment, I could recite the specs, list prices, and quirks of every single house for sale in my town without having to think about it.

I’m not sure why this is. It might actually be related to the whole Lilly Pulitzer bandwagon thing – I don’t want to feel like I’m missing out on a bargain. But more than that I just love house hunting. In elementary school I used to check floor plan books out of the library – all the time – and read them for fun, dreaming of my future home. I was an odd child.

The truth is, our current house is in our desired town, but it’s on the way outskirts and it’s not in our desired school district. We got it for a really good price and I have every confidence that we will make a profit on the sale, especially with the upgrades we’ve done. When we bought it, there were multiple offers and it sold in 3 days flat. That just proves to me that we underpaid, and if anything, the market has gotten better since then. But there’s that pesky school district problem and Molly’s just getting older…. I don’t know. In a perfect world we would send her to private school, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to afford that. Unless they invent the “looking at houses” career, in which case I will be making more money than I know how to spend.

We’re friends with our realtor and he’s very well acquainted with my particular type of crazy, so he took us to see the house despite the fact that 1) ours isn’t on the market and is nowhere near ready to go on the market and 2) it was clearly overpriced. We arrived at the showing and there was another couple there looking at it… and during the showing (during which the homeowner followed us around and was offended when I asked if there was hardwood under the carpet, probably because there wasn’t) no fewer than 3 more couples showed up. It made me feel that familiar anxiety over wanting to get something everyone else wanted even though I didn’t even want the thing that much.

The three of us (Eric, our realtor, and me) eventually declared the house “janky” and left it to the rest of those couples to battle out. I have no doubt they’ll have multiple offers in no time. It was very telling, though. Everyone wants that school district and 4 bedrooms. When we really do find “the one,” we need to be better prepared to act quickly.

So then later on I got a really awesome message from an old friend. I’ll relay it below.

I mean, how freaking cool is that? I’m an internet sensation! (Haha, hardly). But truly, this is why I do this. Because if I can inspire and offer hope to just one person – just one – then it’s totally worth putting it all out there and potentially making a fool of myself.

Hope you’re all having a fantastic Monday. If anyone else has any Lilly for Target stories, please share, so I don’t feel like the only materialistic psychopath around here. :)

Jan 15

wordless wednesday: sweet toast

Jan 15

Dec 31

oh, what a year it’s been

Dec 31

What started out as a Christmas recap/Molly’s 6-month update post has now been hastily turned into a year end recap, or life right now recap, because I just haven’t had the time to streamline my disjointed thoughts into coherent sentences. The funny part is that now that I have a job where I could conceivably blog on lunch breaks or when I come in super early every day (because every website in the world isn’t blocked like it was at my last job), I’m usually too busy with actual WORK to spend any time blogging. Plus, I’ve been really good about going to the gym during lunch, even in the hard-to-stay-motivated month of December. So… yay for me and my jiggly thighs, boo for my blog. I’m sorry.

I’m sure I don’t have to spell out for anyone, especially all you faithful blog readers, that 2014 has really been the best year EVER. I mean… duh. Not only did my dream of becoming a mommy finally come true, but also I scored a job at the company I’ve been targeting for years, and so far, everything is just as good as I thought it would be (and yes, I am talking to my coworkers more, and you were all right, I was just being impatient about making new friends).

Christmas was so awesome. I took off on Christmas Eve and the company gave everyone off on the 25th (obviously) and the 26th (yay!), which meant that I got to spend 5 entire days with my sweet girl and my dear husband. Despite a 24-hour bout of sickness that I thought was the flu but probably wasn’t actually the flu, it was pure bliss.

But also kind of sad. Because the more time I spent with Molly, the more I got to know her… I mean, really know her on that day-to-day basis that I don’t usually get to see. And as much as I enjoy working, especially at my new job, it was a little depressing, you know? I had 8 weeks off with her when she was first born, but that’s when she was all newborn-y and hadn’t developed a personality yet. During the five days of Christmas break, I got to know her on a deeper level and to really enjoy her company, rather than just try to cram as much as possible into that one hour window before bedtime or our whirlwind weekends of errand running and other events. So yeah, it was great, but it also made me feel wistful…and thankful that I basically have the same thing this week (working from home today, then off until Monday). So talk to me on January 5th and I’m sure I’ll be even more sad/wistful than I am now.

But for now, I’m just looking forward to another nice break, and more time hanging out with our little family. Especially since we’re spending New Year’s Eve at home for the first time in a long time.

Here are a few highlights from last week:

-Molly LOVES being around people and commotion, and proved this by staying up a full 3 hours past her bedtime on Christmas Eve. She didn’t waver – not even as the clock crept toward 10pm. My little trooper! We got a late start to Christmas Eve dinner (par for the course with my family), and didn’t get to present opening until way late. Luckily, we always go in age order youngest to oldest when opening gifts, so Molly was first. Wouldn’t you know – she did a great job tearing that paper! She got a bunch of toys, which she desperately needed, and then promptly fell asleep once her turn was done. I figured she’d sleep soundly through the night after all that, but OH NO, that girl was up every hour from about 1am to 5am. One of those times I was so exhausted that I didn’t even wake up to her crying, and Eric was the one to go fetch her, try unsuccessfully to comfort her, and then bring her to me (literally, the first time that’s ever happened). Eeesh. She was up for the day by 6am and ready to open her Santa presents. I think she likes getting gifts…

Christmas Eve and so many presents!

gift opening pro

-Our big girl turned 6 months old on the 23rd. Every month I think to myself, “No, this is the best age!” and I keep wondering when that’s going to end (hopefully never?). She can sit up pretty solidly, though we usually do put a pillow behind her just in case, and have had a few unfortunate head-bumping incidents. I’m definitely not saying this to brag, but I’m super impressed with her fine motor skills. Her Nana bought her one of those old school wooden block toys where you fit the shapes into the holes of the cube (I hope that explanation makes sense), and it’s for ages 2 and up, but we figured hey, why not let her just bang the wooden shapes around. Not only does she insist on trying to put the shapes in (and understand that that’s the point of it)… she can almost do it! I seriously sat there recording her attempts for 10 minutes, but so far she hasn’t actually done it. Oh, well. She’s very good at focusing on tasks and I have no doubt she’ll have those blocks dominated in no time.

6 months!

so close…

-Here’s another fun new thing Molly started doing: giving kisses. If you’re ever feeling down, just take a little drive over to PA and I promise, these kisses will put a gigantic smile on your face. She gets this very intense look, grabs your face on both side with her two hands, and with an open, drool-y mouth, pulls your cheek (or your mouth, or nose, or whatever) to her mouth for a few seconds and releases. Then she always has a satisfied little grin when she’s done! I almost don’t want her to learn how to kiss correctly because the way she does it now is just TOO MUCH.

Well friends, it’s time for me to bid farewell to the amazing-ness of 2014. There’s so many things to look forward to in 2015. I find myself doing that a lot lately – looking forward to things. I’m not so obsessed about that one thing (MUST HAVE BABY), so finally I’m able to think about other things, which is nice. I didn’t bother with resolutions. I just hope to continue being grateful for all the blessings I’ve already been given.

May your year be filled with happiness! Love you all.

Nov 18

#microblog monday

Nov 18

Lots of people ask me, “What’s the best thing about being a mommy?” (I’m not just saying that. I’ve been asked this multiple times). I never know how to answer, so I usually just smile and say, “Everything!” and we all have a laugh.

The truth is, it’s hard to put into words. There’s something that Erika said on her blog recently about motherhood that’s been stuck in my head ever since. She said that ever since becoming a mom, “Every day is the best day of my life.”

So simple. Yet, it fits perfectly. Ever since having Molly, no matter what’s going on, I just have to sit back and marvel. Because every day is just that – it’s the best day of my life.

Oct 21

pumpkin picking & very important questions

Oct 21

Despite the amount of anticipation leading up to the event, not much went down at the pumpkin patch. It wasn’t very cold (mid-50s) but it was windy. Very windy. And while normally Molly loves being outside, she is not a fan of wind.

“Not amused, mom.”

My sister and I both decided that pumpkin patches sound better in theory then they do in practice. Or maybe I’m just saying this because it was so dang windy. But all in all, it went ok. Obviously, she looked adorable. We picked out a little pumpkin for her. We took a bajillion photos. Eric and I also bought a gallon of homemade apple cider and have plans to make a warm bourbon/cinnamon/cider drink to enjoy while carving the pumpkins. It’s nice – usually I just buy a pumpkin, plop it on the front porch, and throw it away when it starts rotting in mid-November. But this year, we’re actually going to put in the effort to carve it. Apparently having Molly has inspired us to do cute and crafty family activities (not gonna lie – spiked apple cider is also part of the incentive).

Saturday we had a wedding to attend and left Molly with my parents for the evening. Apparently (and of course my mom only told me this later) she was inconsolable after figuring out that we had left her there. My mom didn’t want to bug us, so she called my sister to see how to calm Molly down. I have noticed that she’s been clingier than usual lately and doesn’t really like when people who she doesn’t know hold her (and she sees my mom once a week at least, so it’s not even like they’re strangers). She’ll tolerate it, but she keeps her eyes on me. It makes me feel special to be needed…but I’d also like to be able to leave her with babysitters when I need to. Everyone says it’s just a phase. Hopefully that’s true.

And thankfully she considers Ashley her second mommy, so dropping her off there every morning is no problem. I’m not even jealous of their bond anymore… I’m just relieved that she’s not crying and reaching for me when I leave. I couldn’t deal with that kind of heartbreak on a daily basis. I was a little worried this morning because she was watching me warily as I put on my coat (Yes, she was literally eyeing me up and definitely knew I was getting ready to leave…and she’s not even four months old. Child prodigy, ha). But Ash said she was fine. Apparently Aunt Ashley is an acceptable substitute for mommy.

Ok, now on to my crazy idea/question: have any of you ever considered a blog meet-up?

I don’t know…it’s just, I’ve been following along with your lives for several years now. I’ve laughed with you and cried with you. I’ve celebrated your joys and mourned your losses. I talk about each and every one of you as if we’re friends IRL (and still, my husband is always like, “Who?!!”).

So it just led me to the idea of doing a meet-up. Before I think about it too deeply, I guess I’m just wondering if there’s any interest. And I do realize it’s probably a lot to ask people, to use precious vacation time on relative strangers.

But then I think… couldn’t it just be awesome?

Obviously the big question is, WHERE? And for that, I turn to you. As much as I would love to have a big bloggy sleepover at my house, I simply don’t have the space for it. Plus Pennsylvania is a pretty lame state in general. I would be using this as an excuse for a little vacation, I’m assuming, so I’d like to pick somewhere cool. I mean, if one of you has a beach mansion off the Florida Keys, now is the time to say so!

Then I was thinking, do these already exist and maybe I just don’t know about them? I’m not really looking for networking or blog exposure or anything sales-y like that. More just fun times in a new place (maybe a festival? Wine festival?) and putting names to faces.

So I ask you – is this crazy? Or can we maybe, feasibly do this? I know many of you who live close to each other have already done something similar, so I’d love to hear your take on whether something like this is worth it or not.

So – worth it? No? Where? When? How? Or is it just too weird? Either way, it’s fun being friends online. I won’t be offended if you think it’s lame.

This is officially the most interrogative post I’ve ever written. Sorry?