You’d think it was the 4th of July!  (all my Chicago fans say…”Amen!”

I wanna talk a little bit about the 4th of July.  One, because I can’t believe it was already a week ago, and two because…well…it’s my favorite!

In my short time of being a mother, I have quickly realized that “life events” very rarely ever meet my high expectations.  For example, I definitely thought Pennys first trip to the Pumpkin patch would be the best day of her life.  She was a month old.  She had about as much skill as a pumpkin at that point…so I was a little bummed when she cried through half of the experience.  Ugh…babies.  So inconsiderate.

Anywho…this 4th I was AMPED.  For a while a specific group of friends, including Brett and I, did the same thing every year.  Cheesy parade in the morning and a firework show at night in our hometown, on the football field of our high school.  After a few years off, we finally got the gang together again, only this time, we all have children!  I couldn’t help myself building the day up since about May 1st.  “Penny’s gonna love it! She’s gonna have so much fun! We’ll remember this day FOREVER!”  I had no worries about chasing her all through the crowd or keeping her out of the street during the parade, I was all stoke.

We had a 3 day weekend so we were in town by Friday afternoon.  We swam, we ate, we got some good quality fam time.  Then…it happened.  Brett and I are knee deep in the worst sleep regression of all time with Penny.  She woke up at 10pm, and did not get back to sleep until 3:30 AM!!!  We were a mess.

We woke up the next day…and I was a little bit derailed in excitement.  “Aw, man.  She’s gonna be a mess.  What were we thinking.  This is gonna be the longest day in history.”

And you know what?  It was a looooooong day, but it was filled with so…much…FUN!  Penny loved the parade, and she danced for literally 4 hours straight at the fire work show.  We had the best time, so many laughs, and there are some memories that we made that I will remember forever.

Penny watched about a minute of the firework show before she got a little nervous.  She didn’t cry, but she spent about 25 minutes burried in my neck saying…”Fireworks! Loud! OOOOooooO Pretty! Loud!”.  And I will never ever forget that.  Best 4th in my life for sure and Penny may not remember it, but it was the first time in her life that I expected the best and got it.  For that I’m thankful.

We had all of these firsts when she was just born, but I feel like they didnt really count.  Seeing her face light up as she grows and becomes more and more aware of whats around her is intoxicating.  It makes me so excited for whats coming next.  Which I believe is Halloween…and I have a sneaking suspicion shes gonna have a bast!  At least…I hope so.