Chasing my tail...

I struggle to even put into words how crazy 2017 has been. I have been on 7 flights, 3 of which were booked less than 12 hours before, traveled thousands of miles, worked insane hours, all while being a wife and a mom and dealing with sickness, and teeth (FINALLY) and a death in our immediate family.. I've been chuggin vitamin c like no body's business, because now is NO time for Mama to be sick! So let me rewind a few weeks back and try to capture this crazy time in our lives. 

I knew sometime in January I was going to have to drop everything and head to New York for Private Equity on-cycle recruitment. We thought surely it would be towards the end of the month, so I wasn't terribly concerned that I would be gone the same time AJ was speaking at Berkeley.. But sure enough, I found out at 9am that someone had jumped the gun on recruiting and I needed to head to NY on the 1pm flight. And I would not get back until 12ish hours after AJ left..  (Business class softened that blow a little bit :)) 

Fortunately, Auntie Paige had planned to come to LA juuuust in case this very thing happened. (Thank the Lord, hallelujah!!) So she picked our girl up from daycare, did bath and bed time, AND had wine and cheese waiting on me when I got home.. And while Mama was gone, my girl got her first THREE teeth!! 

I clocked 50 hours in three days, interviewed over 50 candidates, (on three different floors, separated by stairs, ow..) and came home with 5 accepted offers! Needless to say, my body was aching and I was in need of these amazing face masks Paige had waiting and wine to celebrate! 

We had a low key weekend of shopping, playing, and eating! I can not thank this best friend of mine enough times for being there for me. No idea what I would have done had she not planned this trip!!

AJ got back home really late Saturday night and we were so thankful that it was a holiday weekend and we could spend our Monday like this! 

And then two days later, we sadly found out Gran had passed away (AJ's grandmother). So we all boarded a flight to Dallas then another to Shreveport to go be with our family.. (And for the first time, Maddie had her own seat. It was a life changer. She did SO well.) 

Despite the terrible circumstance, we did get to spend some time with family and Maddie Jane got to meet lots of new people! One she is really kinda crazy about.. her cousin Hutch.

We found a park nearby to burn off some steam.. and Maddie had her first ever trip down a slide!

And tried our best to stay out of all the "play pretties" as my Mom would call them.. 

We stocked up on Southern made clothes.. 

Made quite a few messes.. (And yes, we are wearing our Christmas pjs until they fall apart!)

And spent some time honoring the matriarch of AJ's family. Things just won't be the same without Cruise Gran! 

She was quite smitten with him, right!? 

And finally got to meet Mary Cecile and Julia Claire! These girls were so, so incredibly sweet to my MJ and I so wish we could see them more often!! 

And after a few whirlwind days, we headed back to LA in hopes to stay put for awhile.. 

Life is getting back to normal.. We are catching up on sleep and trying to figure out what time zone we are in.. Molly girl hasn't missed a beat and stayed with her beagle friend Charlotte while we were away. 

And since we have been back Maddie Jane has been reading non-stop. It makes my heart SO happy that she loves to read. She meticulously picks out the book she wants (often the same three over and over and over), says Re! Re! and backs her little bottom back into your lap or climbs up in her nursery rocker. 

And that's a wrap on our crazy first few weeks of 2017. I kinda have a feeling these three weeks are a glimpse into what this year has in store. We have big plans for this year. And as exhausting has it all has been, I wouldn't trade it for the world. This is our crazy little life and I'm trying to soak up every little drop. One day I will look back with three kids and think this was all a breeze, right!?