i am broken

A week ago, yesterday, I stood next to her bed holding my daughter.  Grace looked at me and said, "Her hair is getting so long.  It's like mine, she looks like me... like a princess.  We need to get her a crown Mommy."  The next day she left us. Memaw.
I pretended for so long that I would never have to live in a world that she wasn't in.  It was a dream.  
I remember the first breath I took after her last.  It hurt... it hasn't stopped yet.  There is a tightness in my chest that won't go away.  I am broken.  Maybe it will lessen, but i dont believe it will go away.  I'm okay with that though.  Because I know that I'm am lucky.  I feel like the luckiest of us all.  I am so unbelievably fortunate to have had the time with her that I did.  To have heard the stories, cherished the hugs, and felt the love.  And the love was intense.  It still is.   

Memaw,
I will miss you and love you with my whole heart.  Thank you for the rainbow.  I felt it in my soul.
XOXO,
Melissa

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a beautiful butterfly."

Memaw’s Birthday

Happy 96th Birthday Memaw. We love you lots!

No! I want to be a princess

Ever since Nanny bought Grace a pink princess dress for her birthday, it’s all she wants to do. So for Easter, the bunny brought her more dress up clothes, jewelry and tiaras. She loves it! It’s hard to put her in shorts lately, because all I get is, “No Mommy, I want to look like a princess.” And a princess she is.

Going to see the Wild Animals

In June we took a trip to the Zoo with Ava and her family. Ava is Grace’s very best friend. They’ve been together since Grace was 2 months old, and they are borderline obsessed with one another. It’s the cutest thing.
All she talked about all morning was how she was going to see the wild animals with Ava. When we all got there, they ran and squealed and could not stop giggling. It was such a fun day and everyone was sweaty and pooped out by the time we got home.

Daddy's Birthday

Grace has an extraordinary memory when she chooses too, but I still usually wait until the last minute to tell her things. She’s still so small, that waiting for something exciting is almost painful. So on the way home from work and daycare on Jared’s birthday, we started talking about it. I asked her what she wanted to get Daddy for his birthday. She said a teddy bear. We made a quick pit stop and grabbed a teddy bear that she picked out. We had a long talk about how it was a surprise and we can not tell Daddy. The second he walked in the house, it went like this, “Daaaaaddddyyyy, we got you a teddy bear for your birthday!”
And I just hang my head, “Really Grace, really?”

Happy Easter

Holidays are becoming more fun every year. This year for Easter, we finally dyed eggs. She LOVED it, and managed to keep herself pretty clean. Though, we all had blue fingers for a couple days.

On Saturday we went to Granny and Papaw’s house and it was so warm she even got to go swimming. She loves to swim, and had a blast. Everything is more fun when she has an adoring audience who will do whatever she wants.

This year she had her first Easter egg hunt. Being her first one, the Easter bunny took it easy on her and had the eggs in plain sight. She was so excited, then she found out there was candy in the eggs! What! Some eggs had money in it, but she would toss those on the side, because really candy is her favorite form of currency.

3rd Birthday Party

Gracie’s third birthday party was fun. She, once again, was a little intimidated with all these extra people in the house staring at her, but she gets better the longer everyone sticks around.

She really enjoyed opening her presents this year, and really loved the one from Granny and Papaw… her very own laptop. OVER THE TOP! She loved it. Of course, who wouldn’t?


In typical Grace fashion, she looked down the whole time Happy Birthday was sung. I can’t blame her; I don’t like being stared at either, and the singing? Well, I feel her pain.

But she liked eating it!

My first BIKE

When we got home from the zoo, we just couldn’t wait to give her the presents we got her. She got her yearly birthday charm, and A BIKE!!!




She did awesome! She was so excited; she had Jared outside the next morning riding her bike at 8:00am in her pajamas. The girl is nuts!

Three. What? How?

We did the Zoo again this year for Gracie’s birthday. I love her birthday, it’s my favorite day of the year. I’m not sure how we made it again, but I love it.
She’s so big it’s ridiculous. Gracie had so much fun, and we were all beat by the time we made it home. I’ll just let the pictures tell the story.

Memere

We miss you Memere. We love you!

My Little Valentine

This kid knows how to work it. Granny and Papaw ALWAYS have a gift every time they see Grace. She even tells me from time to time, “Yeah mom, we’re going to go to Granny and Papaw’s and get presents.” Stinker!!! So of course being so close to her birthday, the presents are being stock piled and she only got a couple when we visited. Aww, don’t you feel bad for her?
So about a week prior to our visit, we were at the store and she wanted a white fur-real kitty. I’m such a mean mommy and I didn’t get it, even though I’m sure she didn’t leave the store empty handed. Fast forward to our visit, Grace is on the floor pretending to be a kitty and scratching at Papaws leg and meowing. What do the grandparents do? Go into the closet and give her the kitty. Why? Because she’s so cute. ROTTEN!!!

Just A Girl and Her Dog

She really does love him… and when he can’t take anymore love he runs from her. It’s a give, take and hide relationship.

Gracie's Gala

So I’m like 6 months behind, whatever things get busy. Sorry, I’ll really try to work on it.
Anyway, so the beginning of the year started off with Grace’s Winter Gala at school. It was awesome! Jared and I totally thought she was going to freak with all those people staring at her, but she did great!

We were so proud of her. She waited patiently for her class to get ready and then there were a few bumps with her snowflake hat falling off. It was a little small, but she finally got tired of it and tossed it anyway.


She did such a good job, she even got a new horsey and flowers when she got home!