Two Years in the Making

Two years ago my lovely husband thought it would be a good idea to totally and completely uproot my life. Not only were we moving, to Columbia of all places (side note: I HATE Columbia but that's another story for another day), but he decided he wanted to get his MBA.  At Duke.  Now if you know me (and chances are if you are reading this, you do) you know my feelings for Duke mirror those of Columbia.  I secretly hoped he wouldn't get in to Duke.  He had been accepted to UNC and if I was going to lose my husband and my bank account, I would have preferred it to be to a school that I actually liked.  But this was the year where NOTHING went my way (Nothing) and sure enough my brilliant when he wants to be husband, was accepted to one of the top universities in the nation.  Great. There goes my life, although unlike Kenny's song, it wasn't a bittersweet moment, it was pure bitter.  That July was "Partner's Weekend" and I did.not. want to go.  I may have thrown a fit (an adult one).  Alas, I went and spent the ride home with my tail between my legs.  I had the BEST time with the partners and meeting his classmates. We learned that first weekend that we were going to be each other's support system during this journey because no one else would quite get what we (and they) were going through.  (Made me hate Columbia even more, so many of the partners lived in Charlotte.)  It was also during this weekend I realized I needed to stop being a brat. One of the wives already knew their schedule by heart and I was sitting there thinking, DANG, they have how many terms?  And there's a two week residency?  And huh??  I knew nothing.  Knew nothing about the program, the schedule, hell I didn't even know exactly WHEN they were done, just that it was going to be forever away and I hated Duke (& Columbia).  I kinda felt like a bad wife at this point and decided to put my hatred for the basketball team aside and put some interest and support into this.  I did however feel better knowing that other people had the same feelings. Although some of them, we won't mention any names, MonicaBelinda&Adrienne, actually liked the athletic program, we all hated the weekend program.  At the next partner's weekend a year later we celebrated that we were half way through. We had made it this far, we could make it 6 more months (or one more year for those brown nosers who wanted to do a concentration, #lame).  December 16 was the 3rd happiest day of my life, no lie.  We were DONE and all that was left was graduation.  Insert happy dance here.  When I asked Mike if it was worth it, if he learned a lot, he replied, "Eh, it was more about the networking."  I'm sorry, what??? We just spent HOW MUCH MONEY for you to MEET people?  You could have meet people online.  What was this, a fraternity on steroids?  But I digress (because they people were honestly worth it...why can't we all live in the same city???)  So we spent this past weekend celebrating this two year accomplishment.  (And I spent my first Mother's Day weekend in Durham, #storyofmylife.)  This time though, it was bittersweet. Thrilled beyond words that it was over & we survived, and sad that this could & would be the last time we would see so many of these people.  We truly all became one big, {eventually} happy family and I'm already having withdraw.  Here are some pics of the marvelous day:

 Presenting the class check.  We had a get away plan but he decided to give it to the university instead.

 Walking!! And meeting Shane Battier...whoever that is :)

 They did it!!

 So thankful for a wonderful and supportive family who came to celebrate with us.

 Celebrating!  We are so proud of you babe!

 Palmer looking out the windows at Cameron.  He was over graduation quickly.

It's over!!!! 

Stolen pic from Adrienne who stole them from someone

 Another stolen picture from Adrienne who stole them from someone

Don't Blink

Three years ago, thanks to Pinterest, I started reading blogs.  Not long after,  I wanted to blog too...it was pretty much my current #flavorofthmonth.  Like most flavors, I sampled it but never bought. Not enough time, planning a wedding, didn't want to put forth effort and for the love, most importantly, what would I name it???  Not to mention, who would read i, and what would I blog about?  Fast forward to present time. Not much of those things have changed, except I do have {some} time and I have something to talk about.

Everywhere I go with Palmer I hear the phrase "Don't Blink."  When we were living in Columbia, I HATED that I was going to miss out on so much.  Whether I blinked or not, I was going to miss something.  When we found out we were moving back home and I was going to get to stay home, I was so excited because "I wasn't going to miss a thing."  I won't blink I told myself, I'll get to see all of the big milestones, I'll cherish every moment, and I'll remember everything.  It won't go by as fast as they say, because I'll be there. Wrong. 1000x over was I wrong.  Somewhere between 5 & 6 months I blinked and my baby was different.  Over night he had hair, was babbling more, had new sounds, was reaching for toys, picking things up, eating like a champ and just developing left and right. Every day was something new. And it literally happened when I wasn't watching, or expecting, it, even though I was right there.  No lie, 90% of the things I checked "Not yet" on at his 6 month well check he started doing minutes, hours, or days later. \My preemie is no longer a preemie.....he is growing like a weed and doing it at a pace of rapid.  In the wake of all of this developing, and after three years of vaguely thinking about it, this blog was born.  A way to document and remember the small things, celebrate the big, and share them with whoever wishes to read. Because lets face it, whether you blink or not, life flies by and I really don't want to miss a thing (insert Areosmith)

Enjoy friends!