Better days ahead...I hope

2012 kind of sucked the big one.

Aside from getting engaged and watching my beautiful daughter grow up, it was full of crappy moments, even right down to the last second.

First of all, my Uncle passed away 2 days after Christmas. I knew it was coming, honestly. He was so sick. I just didn't think it would happen this soon. He went into the hospital the day after Christmas with Pneumonia and with all of his medical issues, his body just shut down. It didn't take long and he was in no pain.

I got to ring in the new year by myself, sick as a dog with the flu. YAY! J was already in bed thanks to this lovely winter job.

Work has been extremely stressful to say the least. We are so busy, so understaffed, and SO underpaid. But eh, it's where I need to be right now if I want to achieve my goals.

Right when I started to feel better, Mackenzie came down with an upper respiratory infection and ear infection. She was so sick, poor thing. But the doc fixed her up with some Amoxicillin and she was feeling so much better after a couple doses. It is amazing to me how Josh didn't catch anything that was floating around here. I did Lysol the shit out of everything though.

She has some new words! She says "baba" for bottle. She calls the dog "dog-dog". I guess she is in the say-everything-twice stage right now. She also says "love you"! So cute. If you ask her "what does the doggy say?" She'll go "woof woof!" And she will meow when you ask her the same about a kitty. She knows all of her basic body parts- nose, eyes, ears, mouth, fingers, feet and belly. She will even point to her heart!

I am amazed every single day at how much she grows overnight. Where did my itty-bitty go? I just love her so much, it almost hurts.

And with that sentiment, I feel I should address something. I have kept up with the blog now for almost 3 years. It has been a wonderful outlet for me. Even when I was a kid, I could never keep up with a diary, so it surprises me that I have kept current with this. I don't know who reads it. I don't really care. It's been such a helpful way for me to vent when I have personal problems.

There are some people out there, who think I am a less than stellar mother. I will not name names. They know who they are. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course. But I am so God damn tired of having to live up to other people's standard of what they think I should be.

You may be an anal retentive, OCD control freak (am I channeling RENT?) Great. I'm not.
You have your certain way of doing things. Awesome. So do I.
You may have a perfect grasp on balancing housework, work work, and family. Nice. I'm a little over a year into it. I'll get there.

But before you decide to go spouting off about my parenting skills, perhaps you will remember to get ALL the facts, lest you end up with egg on your face and walking away with your tail tucked between your legs.

That feels better. Moving on, people. Nothin' to see here!