McCants Year End Review

AS 2014 is wrapping up, I thought I'd refresh as to all of the things that happened this year.

January 

Callie and I traveled to Honduras on a Medical Missions trip. I was working on getting over first trimester morning sickness. We had a great time helping others and being constantly humbled by the needs of such a poor population.

While I was there, a surprising and tragic event happened, my dear aunt Cheryl passed quickly and Charlie had to tell me of her passing through sporadic phone service in rural Honduras. She is missed daily and her vibrant spirit is seen always.

March

We find out that the little bean growing inside is a sweet little girl. Our minds fill with thoughts of more pink and sisters who will be best friends and enemies for their whole lives.

I also dealt with terrible GI bug in March which debilitated me more than any other sickness I've come up against.

May

We celebrated the Kentucky Derby with our lovely relatives in Wake Forest, NC. They throw fabulous Derby Parties, and although each year they state that is the last one, I am so happy to see each year they continue.

July

We are due with our sweet little Virginia in July, and although the waiting was difficult, we did relish those last days as parents to only one beautiful girl.

July 21, 2014

Sweet Baby Virginia Mae was born. She had a few bumps in the early weeks, but things has been ::knock on wood:: smooth sailing since then.

She has been quite her own woman and really gave us a run for our money. She is quite a mommy's girl (which I LURV) and a not-so-good sleeper. But she's certainly a rascal and we love her so so very much.

August

Virginia has been making herself an individual in the McCants house and is telling everyone what she really thinks about every situation.

We had all hands on deck since Virginia's birth and it really made the transition much easier for all of us. I'd signed MM up for swim classes in second half of the summer and since I was still dealing with all of the postpartum lady part things, I couldn't get into the water with her. So we gave aunties and grandparents the privilege of having MM cling to them while in water.

Charlie and I celebrated 4 wonderful years of marriage with a classy meal of pizza and beer. It was just fitting for the crazy life we were living at the time.

October

Our cherished first born turned 2 this month and found a new appreciation for birthday cake, and future implications that all parties are birthday parties and need cake. For which I agree.

November

We hosted Thanksgiving for the first time in our teeny town home. It was crazy and packed, but really showed us that we enjoy the chaos of having a house full of love and people.

December

And for Christmas, among other things, Charlie and I are giving our family something we've always wanted. A stay at home mother and wife. Come the end of January 2015 I will be the Stay at Home Mom for my girls and begin honing my skills as a terrible homemaker. I am beyond excited about making breakfasts and occasionally finishing my cup of coffee, fighting tooth and nail for nap times, and attending every library story time I can get my hands on. We will have to make tons of changes and sacrifices to make this work, but I know at the end of the day it will be be best for our family.

Now that I'll be around the girls non-stop, get your insta-eyes ready, as I'll be bombarding you with more pictures than ever of our little family. You're welcome!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!!

A quick scroll through as you're watching trashy Christmas Movies

OK, so there is really no theme to this post. It's really just a photo dump.

Ohh right, we got Virginia baptized. Mandi and David are her wonderful Godparents.

 And she MAY like them. Pretty much other than Charlie and I, Mandi and David were her next favorites that evening.

I will note that she had been sleeping amazingly poor the days leading up to her baptism and that night she was up only once. ONCE. And then I had to wake her for the day the next morning. Of course that didn't last and my hopes of the bed sleeping demons had been exorcized, were crushed.

We had our dear friend Meredith take pictures for us. I, of course, now regret my outfit selection, but the rest of the family looks great. And we even got one with us all looking AND smiling (except for V, that would have been a miracle).

We had Thanksgiving #1 at our tiny apartment, but the McCants Thanksgiving was the Sunday after and was wonderful because there was a fried turkey and it wasn't at my house.

MM holding court, asking for food, per her usual.

Boom came across a few different sizes of lifejackets for this coming summer.

And then came Advent.

Some of Charlie's students who came to Virginia's baptism gave us this AWESOME Christmas sweater. Can I say an infant Christmas sweater is probably one of the best things ever.

And Saint Nicholas came (Virginia's and Nana's shoes got some treats)

then, I tried to re-create those really cute Christmas light with your kids. And it went about as well as can be expected.

Back to watching Love Actually

Hey Hey, still here!

Alright guys, it's been a little while. Like almost a month.

Here's the deal. I'm going to ramble and post pictures (possibly already seen on Instagram) that may have nothing to do with the words before or after them.

I have been thinking about things to write about, but as things go with those with children who are spastic sleepers, I end up going to bed right after I look around the house and decide not to clean anything.

Also the other things I do instead of blogging is catch up on Fall TV, which I'm in lurv with. HuluPlus has been the best $7.99 per month I've ever spent.

After Charlie's birthday this past Thursday we left for High Point on Friday afternoon for the weekend. Charlie had a school thing on Saturday and I had a mini-reunion with the girls I went to high school with, specifically the girls who survived 4 years in marching band with me. We had a little "ladies and kids" potluck for lunch and then a nice dinner with juuuuust enough drinks that night.

I look like a floating head with boots.

Virginia loathed being at someone else's house and made it very clear all the time, including bath time. When she screamed non-stop and wouldn't even calm down for nursing. It was pretty much the best.

Baby, it's what's for breakfast.


What else, what else, what else...

Tea with Great Grandaddy

She doesn't love him at all, can't you tell?

Ohh, in High Point there we were graced with Uncle Daniel's presence. As all those with brothers know, uncles are THE. BEST. I believe Uncle Dan Dan walked around with an on the edge screaming Virginia for no less than 5 hours this weekend. Only to be a bubble blowing-tea time sharing-chase around the house partner for MM. I am thisclose to kidnapping him to live at the house with us full time.

Furthermore, he gifted MM with a Cam Newton jersey which may have sealed our fates as Carolina Panthers fans.

Also, we have determined that V is a momma's girl. Charlie tried with all his loving-might to calm her last night, at least 5 minutes later she's still screaming like a banshee. I go up to take over, she's calm before Charlie can leave the room. It's a blessing and a curse, but mostly a blessing to have a cuddly little girl. Mary Margaret is so the independent lady that I rarely get snuggles, so this is a welcomed change.

She stayed like that for about an hour, and I loved loved it.

Come home late from work, this is what you find.

Two.

Two years...

We have been parent for whole 2 years now.  Sometimes it feels like a nanosecond and the other feels like 100 years (obvi the really tough times make it seem longer).

We celebrated Ms. Thang's second birthday with a little get together at our tiny townhouse with all of the grand (and great grand) parents and a few friends. 

For months now MM has been saying "One day, Mary Margaret get a bike!" and Saturday was that day.

Honestly, she's in love with the "holmot" and the bell on the trike most of all.

We forced a cardio and weight bearing exercise on all of the guests' parent by forcing them to drag, push, and carry their children and/or children's vehicle up a not-small hill to the park.

If we were really looking to draw attention we would have carried a boom box alternating "Happy" and "Who run the world" on repeat, but alas we didn't.

Our neighbor whose parents we've copied and had both children 2 months after they had each of their boys. Hopped right on that bandwagon. 

UGH...Postpartum like WHOA

After Nana pushed MM up the hill, refusing help, we sat her down with the little one so we could socialize with our friends.

The sweet saint, Mandi, who watches both of our girls and her own while I drink numerous cups of still warm coffee at work. Ohh and that is her husband, David.

Rich and his daughter who informed us that she was part eagle that fine Saturday

Semi-forced Nana hugs for the birthday girl. She will literally stay in a cuddling pose for .3487689 seconds before squirming loose.

Another sweet friend, Amy, who watched MM before she had her own cuddly smiley little girl 3 months before V was born. And of course she looks 1000x more amazing than yours truly. 

And Amy's beyond sweet little man. He is THE BEST at playing by himself. What a skill! He not only will get up at 5 AM, not wake up his parents and watch TV. But he chilled in the house and played with MM's toys and talked to my mother in law for most of the party.

Speaking of that, we had food and drinks and what-not but the kicker wasn't the obvious  bed sheet I used as a table cloth, but the lack of toys I provided for outside play... a grocery store Hello Kitty ball and a mini red wagon... Have fun kids. It was so depressing... I wish I'd had a lame picture of it, but no... we didn't take any pictures after the park.

Mary Margaret's dream of "Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Foods" as a party theme came true and we are listening to the sound of sweet (painful) tricycle bells ringing and the multiple requests for us to help with her holmot until the end of time.

Happy Birthday silly, independent, cleaver little girl. We love you so much and CONSTANTLY question how we were given the privilege of being your parents.

Pictures that make no sense

If you've every asked yourself "I wonder what it's like to get a cooking spice out of a toddler's eyes" let me confirm it's not fun.

After a long week at work, Charlie's dad, "Boom", invited him to attend an NC State football game on Saturday afternoon, which implied that I was solo parenting again today. Which honestly is fine because, Monday I'm back at work (all of the tears).

.256 seconds after Charlie left I was texting a good friend Meredith to come over and make scones with me, as that is just what we do. She came over with exactly all of the ingredients because I was look "busy" to actually see what I had here and what she needed to bring.

She was being super with MM and asking her to help mix things and pour things into the bowl when it came time to add the Clove. We had those measuring spoons that look like hearts, which I believe my mom had given out at my bridal shower or something, and of course we haven't upgraded because, why would we. Meredith asked "Do you think she can grab it" meaning the 1/4 measuring spoon of Clove "ohh sure" I said. Then BAM! MM had flung 1/4 tsp of Cloves directly into her face.

Aside from wanting to bust out laughing, I sprung into action telling her not to rub (but why would she not? It hurt) and trying to get her still enough to get the spice out. After a brilliant effort, I bribed her with an apple and she was right back to normal. We are still finding Clove coming out of her tear ducts, but all-in-all she's fine.

Pep talk about tummy time

Also, I'm not sure if it happens in all parts of the state, but here in Raleigh, NC. October is fruit-flies-come-and-invade-your-house-and-make-you-feel-like-a-discusting-person-and-drive-you-insane month. At first I thought it was just our house, with all of the breast milk and diapers and food and I'm a lazy cleaner. BUT after Meredith confirmed that she had them in her house too, and she is a pretty clean person.

She mentioned that she was going to Bed Bath and Beyond to see about getting a fruit fly cleaning something and ran into an old co-worker who mentioned blue Dawn (which apparently is the coconut oil of the cleaning world) and Apple Cider Vinegar.

After all the nap times (or cat naps for the infant...45 mins is NOT a real nap) we sped our way over the grocery to get said tools of the fruit fly killing variety. You need to put just enough Dawn to cover the bottom of a small dish then add vinegar and leave it for a while. I plan on putting a dish on every flat surface of the house.

It looks like she has fangs here, "I vant to suck your boobs"

Back to the grind, almost.

You'll come to find out, that is the cheesiest title ever.


I had written this post in my head as I was putting V to bed last night, and of course I can't remember it this afternoon as I try to get it down...

Either way, it revolved around the newest and essential member of our family.

Our coffee maker.

Photography at it's finest

Our past coffee maker was a hand-me-down from my parents who had used it for at least 5 years before we procured it and have used it for close to 4 ourselves.

My mom came this weekend with an early birthday present from my dad. It was picked out and wrapped by him and the whole 9 yards. I had no idea what it could be. Upon opening it, I was elated! I don't think I've ever been that excited about a kitchen appliance. I seriously talked about how excited I was for 30 minutes after opening it.

There isn't anything supremely fancy about the maker, it doesn't grind beans, or make espresso, or take a K-cup or anything like that. But, like any fancy lady, looks great in black (doesn't show dirt or stains) is sleek and unreachable by a toddler. It also has a handle to reach the place where the grinds go, so you don't have to dig your (potentially) nice clean hands into the basket to get the filter out.

Our past maker was white and had it's buttons on the bottom easily within toddler reach. So, if pre-set you might not know if a toddler had changed the brewing time to 3am (although, recently I've been up at 3 am... and coffee sounded good).

Birthday Boots with Houndstooth pants, natch. 

Anyway, this little beauty, along with the amazing "real" fall weather we have been having the last few days and pumpkin spice creamer is making up for V's not-getting-better nighttime sleeping habits and the persistent nap strike we're getting from MM. Along with the fact that today marks my last week of Maternity Leave (insert many many cries here).  It seems like it's been really fast and really, wonderfully slow all at the same time.

This is probably going to be the only talking I do about Maternity Leave (only because it's almost over) but if you know MM, she's not overly clingy and is very independent. Which is great because she doesn't "need me" all the time. The only thing is that over this 3 months I've gotten to spend more time with her than I ever have (even on my Maternity Leave with her, which was shorter than V's) and we have really gotten much closer. She is happier to see me when I come home from someplace without her, and she snuggles more with me daily. Yes, I have been able to see, first hand, how hard toddlers and newborn are to schedule and napping is a blessing and curse (at least for being social sometimes) but this time has been special for me as I have bonded with both of my girls in ways I haven't before and didn't really expect.

To touch back on V's sleeping. Naps are going well, most days, we're getting her used to napping in her crib (kudos to me for starting early) and she most of the time goes to sleep easily.

She is doing this thing, where she'll sleep for 4 hours at night and then wake up and fall asleep nursing, sleep for 1.5 hours then fall asleep nursing, sleep for 1.5 hours (maybe 2 if the stars aline) then I'll put her into bed with us and nurse her to sleep and we're up at 7-7:30 almost daily. That has been the normal for the last 2 weeks. BUT, on Friday we had a little happy hour at our house and I had a glass of wine (or 2...) and get this: V slept for 7 hours(!!!!) and then went back for another 3 hours. I really really hope she wasn't drunk from the wine but it hasn't happened since and I'm wracking my brain on what I could do to get that sweet sleeping back. Why tease me V???

OK, I'm done complaining about her and the sleeping. She's a much happier baby and big picture we have had great luck.

Keep an eye out for tearful posts coming about leaving my girls 4 days a week (thanks, work for the "part-time" option!!) in another city. I know they will be in amazing hands, but they won't be my hands and that hurts.

#teammccants