#500

500 posts . . . it's a lot, but not really considering it's been almost 4 years of our lives. But I took a look back to see where we were at the other hundred markers . . . oh my . . . .


#100 - apparently I didn't think to mark it as a milestone post, but I counted and it was in April 2009. Which in itself was funny because there was a pic of Girl Scout cookies - we just delivered 248 boxes! There were pics of the girls with Grandma and Grandpa and their 1st Minnie Mouses - we are deep in the throws of Disney planning right now! And there was a pic of Jayson and Marlie going to the store by themselves - something that was a rare occurrence when Jay worked 70 hours a week . . . now, the girls get Daddy time a whole lot more!!!


#200 - February 2010 - we were 1 week away from moving to Clarksville and I was pretty much scared shitless and losing my mind at the same time! My only goal then was to have our family under the same roof . . . I look back at that time (6/09 - 2/10) and it was some of the hardest we've dealt with as a family. Hospital stays, Jayson being away for such a long time, job loss, career changes, moving . . . I remember back to that time not because I like to live in the past, but because I remember that no matter what happens these days (hello flooded basement), my husband is either home or 2 miles down the road, and everything will be ok ;)


#300 - December 2010 - a few weeks before Christmas and 20 weeks into my pregnancy with Evan. That was a rough month in my pregnancy - that was when they found choroid plexus cysts on my baby boy's brain! In my gut, I knew it would be okay - but there was a small part of me that didn't exhale until he came out and I looked into his eyes. And of course, it was also Christmas!


#400 - July 2011 - I must have been having a lack of sleep day on that post - I simply put in 3 month pics of all the kids to compare! I don't remember anything particularly eventful in July - I mean, at that point we were still recovering from Marlie's surgery and broken arm incident a few weeks earlier! UGH!


So here we are at 500!! I look around and it amazes me how different life is from what it was 500 posts ago! On my first post Marlie went in the potty for the first time at 22 months (she was fully potty trained by 25 months), we lived in a beautiful house in Knoxville, I worked full time in the office while Marlie was in full time day care, and Jayson was working 70 hours a week at O'Charley's (which we still affectionately refer to as O'F**** Me's)! ha! I was also 7 months prego with Samantha. Now we live in a different city, I am a SAHM, Jayson loves his job, and we have 3 kids - 4 years made just a little bit of a difference in our lives! And while I would never wish the past to change . . . life is leaps and bounds above what it was 4 years ago. Not in a million years would I have planned this path, or even imagined it, but damn, I couldn't be more pleased and thankful for it!


What will happen by #600? Let's see . . . I have been averaging 100 posts each 8 months, so that would take us almost to November. Well, by then we will have made our 1st trip to Disney World, our kids will be 6, 4, and 1 (I choked typing that!), Marlie will be in 1st grade, we will have made a trip to MN for fall break, and I will be just as in love with my life as I am today - flooded basements, teething infant, and all . . . .ha!