Well, if you haven't figured it out already, I kind of fell off the blogging bandwagon and into the mind-melding, all-consuming lifestyle that is being a mother. Here we are, more than a year later, and I've left you on a cliff-hanger about Blair's first Easter. I would apologize, but it's just too funny. Sorrynotsorry.
So how has life been in the McClanahan household over the past year? Well for one, we're in a totally different household - in an entirely different town! Mike was hired by the Town of Kingston Springs back in February and we packed up our beautiful Clifton house and moved here. We are just a short drive from downtown Nashville and Mike is thriving in his new environment. Blair and I are so proud of him and we know he's going to do great things for our new, long-term community.
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| Downtown Kingston Springs - home to an amazing pizza joint and the most adorable library! |
Blair has grown into the funniest, sassiest, most incredible little lady I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. She took her first steps at 7 months (Yes. I wish I was kidding) and was full-on running through the house shortly thereafter. We haven't slowed down since - it's funny looking back at the "most recent" posts here because I can barely remember the days when she wasn't mobile. She's saying a few words here and there, mostly "mama," "dada," "baby," and "uh oh!" and she's healthy as a horse! Or... whatever animal is appropriate to compare with your baby.
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| May 2014 |
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| May 2015 |
The past year has been an absolute whirlwind for me. I have no idea where to start except to say that it has been one of the craziest, most roller-coaster years of my life. I have been incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to work from home and spend so much time with Blair. I know I'll never have this kind of alone time with our future children (I AM NOT PREGNANT thankyoujesus) so I truly cherish our bond. It's not always easy, in fact, it's ridiculously hard to be a work-from-home, stay-at-home mama to an active and, *ahem* independent child, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else. (Except maybe a winning lottery ticket, but don't tell her that)
Shortly after Blair was born last year, my parents got divorced. I won't get into the details, obviously, but we're all still hoping time continues to heal those wounds. It was a huge part of why I disappeared from here - everything was different. Family vacation, visits back home... I was hesitant to share pictures and stories here until that situation was finalized. For some reason, I kind of felt like I'd be lying by omitting an obvious elephant in the room blog. It's all behind us now and we're working on moving forward, learning how to navigate life with an entirely unfamiliar family dynamic.
I guess the only way to really give you all a taste of how much life our life has changed is by sharing photos. I got a new camera for my birthday this year, upgraded from my beat-up Rebel T3 to a
gorgeous 6D, and the quality of my shots has improved significantly. It's easy to practice when you've got such an interesting little person to follow around all day! So, here we go. Strap into your couch cushion, we've got a lot to catch up on.
First of all, here is Blair on her first Easter and this past Easter. Last Easter we had a blast with my mom and Aunt Ro and this year we made the trek north to Kentucky to spend the long weekend with Blair's Grandma and Papaw and Cousin C! The girls are only 3 months apart and just love playing together now that they're both mobile. It's hilarious to watch them interact!
Murphlanaroux Family Vacation 2014 was in Breckinridge, Colorado and Blair had so much fun with her dog-cousin Lady, Aunties, Uncle Scott and Poppie. We spent a few days exploring the mountains and Blair took her first boat ride.
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| Aunts are fun! |
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| Driving the boat with Poppie on Dillon Lake |
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| Sharing toys with Cousin Lady |
We also took her to her first baseball game in Atlanta to cheer on Dada's favorite Braves. She and I spent most of the weekend walking around the ballpark because the crowd noise freaked her out (and she hated the baby headphones because they squished her giant cheeks together hahaha). Maybe we'll try again this year. MAYBE.
Blair was the flower girl in my cousin Julia's beautiful October wedding! I flew up with B the week before the wedding to spend time at Mom's new house and hang out with Dad and Granma in Perkasie. It was Blair's first plane ride and she did SO well. She slept the entire time and only pooped during one of the landings! She even got to meet all of her great-grandparents.
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| Meeting her Great Grandparents for the first time! |
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| Playing at MeeMaw's new house! |
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| Touring Perkasie with Poppie and Great Granma after riding the Perkasie Carousel! |
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| The prettiest Flower Girl in all of Maryland! |
The holidays were busy, but great. Blair picked out her first pumpkin and then we spent Thanksgiving up in Kentucky with the McClanahans. We had a parade of Murphy visitors to Clifton around Christmas time. Christmas morning was just the three of us, which was really nice. It took her the entire day to get through all of her presents (spoiled!) but she was finally getting the hang of paper ripping by the end of the day.
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| Blair's first pumpkin from Gentry's Farm in Franklin, TN |
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| Sharing toys with Cousin C at Thanksgiving |
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Auntie Karagh, Lady and Poppie came to visit the week before Christmas
and MeeMaw came the week after! |
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| Blair's First Christmas! |
Blair turned one in January, of course, and we had a small party for her with just family. It's tough being far away from both sides of the family for big events like this, but we had a great time with my parents, Auntie Megan and Uncle Scott. I'll do a separate post soon about her first birthday - I had so much fun doing all the decorations myself!
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| First birthday cupcake! |
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| So much love for our sweet little girl |
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| I did a Cake Smash session with her just for fun and it was hilarious! |
We moved east toward Nashville on Valentine's Day and were hammered with about 2 weeks of ice and snow storms. We're in a rental house for now while we get our bearings and I look for a full-time job. After I get settled, we plan to buy (or build!) our first house. It's so exciting being close to the city, but Kingston Springs is still far enough away that it still has that rural feel we got used to in Clifton. Except the Target is 15 minutes away. HOORAY!
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| Mike and Blair sledding in 4inches of snow at the new house |
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| She was less than impressed with the ice storm |
These days, Blair and I spend our afternoons at the park or hanging out on the back deck - she is always itching to get outside in the sun and get her hands dirty. She's just like her father!
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| She loves trying to climb the slide |
That's about all I've got for now. Hopefully I'll be able to pop back on here and stay current as we head into a busy summer - we've already got a few trips planned, including Blair's first time at the beach!
P.S. Bear with me as I attempt to freshen this place up a bit. HTML code is hard.
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