26...

Only a few hours left of me being 26! Haha I (even now) have to stop and think about how old I am sometimes, often. lol! But yes, in 1 hour and 40 min. (from right NOW!) I will be 27! Ok well actually I was born at 5:34pm, so I have awhile to make it officially official, but you get it! haha I think this will be the best birthday I've had yet, even though the only plans we have are to celebrate a special little man's 1st birthday, and then attend a friend's wedding reception tomorrow night, I think it's going to be wonderful because I will be surrounded by wonderful people all day, and most importantly I will have my sweet husband and perfect baby girl with me alllllll day! :) What could be better than that??? Kinda what I thought! While I'm not looking forward to being another year very close to 30, I am excited about being with my little family. This will definitely be the best birthday yet, because it's the first birthday I have had that my little princess is here in the flesh! Yes she was "with" me last year.... lol literally, but I feel like she is by far the best gift I could've ever received. I am so so thankful for her, every single day. I love nothing more than being her mommy! She is such a special, sweet girl. I sure am missing my mama, though. She always made sure to make my birthday wonderful as well. Ever since I can remember, she sent me a balloon with candy or flowers to school or to my work (when I was out of school) for my birthday. It always really, really made my day. I have the last birthday card she sent to me with balloons and flowers, the year she died, hanging on our fridge today, as a matter of fact. :) It's always hard without her.... everything is. I know she's here in spirit, though. I definitely feel that.......
I have had so many wonderful things happen to me lately, I just want to share. Last Friday, I got to go to Wichita to the Scotty McCreery, Brad Paisley & The Band Perry concert with my SIL Heidi on her birthday!! It was sooooo much fun. Definitely the best concert I have ever been to. We also got to go eat at Olive Garden (my treat!) and we got pedicures (her treat!) since our b/days are within a week of each other, we always celebrate together. Then on that Sunday, my little family and ALL of my in-law family went to our Annual Thunder hockey game in Wichita! We've made it a tradition the last several years and it's always so much fun, too.  This week, I got to make Pastor Joel's daughter some hair bows the other night and when I gave them to her, she was sooooo excited. It literally made my heart smile how much she loved them. She is such a sweet girl and it really made me feel good that I got to give her something that she loved so much. I hope she gets a lot of use out of them! My bestie and her sister (I consider her my "little" sister) informed me today that they are paying for me to get a message for my b/day!! I love them both so much! I'm sad that we are literally down to a few days of Tara being here. She is moving back to North Carolina on Tues of this coming week! :( I'm sooooooo excited for her b/c it means her hubby is FINALLY coming home from his year deployment within a week, but I'm sad it's already time for her to leave! :( I know she's excited and I'm excited for her, though. :) I got to go shopping with my husband and G yesterday in Salina. It was a lot of fun too. We spent way more money than we intended to, lol, but we got a lot of great stuff. My SIL Nicole txt me tonight and wanted to take me out, but it was too late and didn't work out for someone to watch G, but we are planning to go eat next week! I also got a special FB message tonight from a friend from college. We haven't seen each other in years, unfortunately, but she wrote this sweet message to me. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing it here, but it just really meant a lot to me...
"I posted something about my mom tonight and I thought of you. I know you miss your mom but it looks like you have become an incredible mother yourself. I just wanted to let you know that because of what you have had to endure I appreciate my family and friends more everyday. We don't talk much nor have we seen each other in a long time but I still love you and think about you often. Take care my friend and please know how you have made my life better....... You are a strong woman for being there for your husband and daughter. You will inspire more than just me in your lifetime. Xoxo"
She's such a sweet girl. We don't get to talk often, just whenever we happen to catch each other on FB, but it really meant a lot to me, that she thinks that, and that she took the time to tell me! I just feel so incredibly blessed to have soooo many amazing people in my life. :) Blessed, blessed, blessed. Sometimes, most times, I step back and can't believe this life is really mine. It's just so wonderful, more so than I could've ever even imagined, I can't believe I GET to live it every day. I can't believe that I've been blessed with such a great husband, a beautiful baby girl, the fact that I get to stay home with her and play all day every day, it's the best 'job' I could've ever asked for! I'm thankful, so thankful for all that I have. Thank you for all of you who are reading this now. You have all impacted my life in more ways than you probably know. I am thankful for each one of you and all that you have brought to my life as well.
I think '27' is going to be a great year for me, for us! :) I'm really kind of looking forward to it! :) We ordered G a "big girl carseat" yesterday. Lol It's kind of sad how excited I am to get it and see what she thinks of it. We should have it sometime next week. I'm kind of sad that she's big enough to need it already, though! We could keep her in her carrier carseat for awhile longer, but we end up taking her out of it most of the time anyway (so she can sit in carts, etc) and it's just getting too heavy to carry it and her, so I guess it is time to "graduate". I just can't believe how big she's getting already and how much she changes, even over night it seems, and all that she is learning. I am so amazed and fascinated by her, every single day!! She has mastered pulling herself onto her hands and knees and rocking REALLY hard, lol, so any day now she'll be on the move! She also has started saying "Mama" and it gets more and more clear and more and more OFTEN every day!!! I love love LOVE it!! I can't describe the feeling it gives me. I love being a mommy so so much! OH! She also got her first tooth this past Monday (the 25th!) It's barely above the gum line, but it's DEFINITELY there!! My baby's growing up!!!
Justin officially requested Mast. I'm not sure where I left off in the "process" previously, but, the short version is, he wasn't getting anywhere asking himself, so his superiors were asking, they weren't getting anywhere, then they finally discovered it conveniently got "lost" somewhere after the 2nd desk it supposedly went to, and they didn't know where it was. Typical right? Got that straightened out, hopefully, and it's moving again (supposedly), but he is still requesting Mast (which means talking to his commanding officer, it's a very serious thing to do this) so we will hopefully hear something early next week (if not over the weekend) because of how quickly this process has to be done. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this and with the situation overall. I'll keep you posted, please pray for us and this process, that it gets resolved and we can figure this out, one way or the other! :)
I suppose that's about all the update I have for now!! I hope you all have been enjoying yourselves! I officially have 1 hour and 6 min. left of being 26!! lol :) Good night all! :)
1. I am so thankful for all of the sweet, wonderful people in my life who make not only my life better, but ME a better person.
2. I am thankful that I get to share my 27th birthday with my sweet baby girl!! (and of course my husband too, but this is the first year with her! lol)
3. I am thankful for all the things that have made me smile in the last several weeks, made not only my face but my HEART, smile. Thank you, thank you all for everything!!
Love, Love, Love.