Team Perine is Growing!

Hello friends!

As many of you have noticed, I took a very long unplanned break from the blog for a while. (By the way – thank you for noticing! I love knowing that people actually look forward to my posts.)

If you follow me on social media, you’ve likely already heard the big news: Maj and I are expecting our first child this March! We are absolutely over the moon and cannot believe we get to meet our little one in just a little over four months. This pregnancy is flying by!

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As you can imagine, these past several months have been a whirlwind of events and emotions – even more so than usual. As of my last post, Samajé had just graduated, I was still in Oklahoma, and he was training in Virginia. We spent about two months apart while I was finishing school and he was going through OTAs (Organized Team Activities). This is what NFL teams call the period of training in between off-season and training camp. Going into the league, we thought our off-season in Oklahoma was going to be longer than it turned out to be, but we learned to take advantage of the few months we do get to spend at home together.

Once OTAs were over, Maj met me back in Oklahoma and we got to spend a few more weeks at our home. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary in June and went to Alabama to visit his family in July. I knew (and was hoping) something was up on that trip, as I was extra emotional and sleeping a ridiculous amount the whole time. Sure enough, as soon as we returned home, we got a positive pregnancy test!

After trying to get pregnant for a few months, seeing that positive test was the most amazing thing ever! We were really hoping to have the baby during the few months of the year that we are in Oklahoma so it would be easier for our family in Texas to be there for the delivery. God answered our prayers just in time! We will have about a month at home with the baby before OTAs start again next year.

We couldn’t contain our excitement the day we found out. Although I was only four weeks along at the time, we told most of our family and closest friends within the next few days. I absolutely loved telling everyone. It was a great way to end our time at home; soon after, we were packing up the dogs and driving back up to Virginia for training camp.

The period during which Maj was at training camp this year was a rough one. With the surge of hormones I was experiencing, I really began to struggle emotionally right around the time he left town for the three weeks of camp. To add to the craziness, the rental house we had just moved into in Virginia was full of pet dander that was making me sicker than I would have otherwise been. Long story short, during the three weeks Samajé was away, I got us out of our current lease, found a cat-free house and moved all our possessions. Luckily, we did not have too many large possessions at the time, but moving seven carloads of things alone while eight weeks pregnant was still quite the challenge!

While dealing with the house situation, I was also doing my best to fight off my depression and anxiety. Thankfully, since I had experienced a difficult period of depression before, I knew what I needed to do to take care of myself. I prayed continuously and relied on God. I reached out to all of my friends here in Virginia, along with my family back home, and they were all incredibly supportive. It was a rough time, but now that I have been feeling better for a while, I can look back on it and see how blessed I was through it all. I have the best support system in the world!

Soon enough, Maj came home, and the season began. While we were so grateful that he was once again on the Redskins’ roster, the beginning of this season proved to be much more stressful than the last. Last year, he had just been drafted and was one of three main running backs on the team. This year, there was much more competition for his position. To add another challenge, he hurt his ankle halfway through the preseason, taking away some of his opportunity to show his skills before roster cuts were made.

After a few weeks of wondering whether we would be staying in D.C. or heading to another team (a question that nearly every football family faces each year), we finally got the news that he did, in fact, make the roster. We breathed a sigh of relief, as we are both happy here at Washington.

By the time the first game rolled around, the Redskins still had four talented running backs on the roster – a large number for most teams. Because of this, Maj ended up being inactive for the first three weeks. As an inactive player, he was still part of the 53-man roster (and was getting paid as such), but since only 46 players can be eligible to play each gameday, each team must designate seven players to be inactive. Some people thought that the inactive designation was due to his ankle still being hurt, but it had actually healed completely before the season began. In reality, the fact of the matter is that some players have to be inactive, and Maj just happened to be one of the seven during those weeks.

While it is certainly not ideal for Samajé to be watching the games from the sidelines, he was having great practices and staying healthy, so he knew he just had to be patient. Soon enough, he was active once again. He loves being out on the field, and of course we all love seeing him out there, so we were more than excited when his opportunity came around again. No matter his status each week, he continues to put in the work and take advantage of the opportunity to learn from those around him so he can constantly improve, and I am so proud of him for that. It just makes it so much sweeter when he does hit the field on Sundays!

During his bye week this year, we made the trip back to Oklahoma to have a gender reveal party with our family and friends. We were only able to be home for about four days, but getting to see everyone and celebrate our baby GIRL made it so worth it!

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As for me, I started my online graduate program in August and continue to work towards getting my next degree. I currently “go to” class through video conferencing twice per week, and I plan on continuing on with classes when Baby P is here so I can graduate in 2020. It is a bit odd to be back in school, but I am really enjoying it.

Now that I have gotten used to the new “normal” (for now, at least), I want to get back to sharing my favorite recipes. I have been receiving lots of recipe requests on Instagram, so I plan on rolling out at least a few more in the next couple of weeks.

Another reason I haven’t been posting to the blog is that I have been considering venturing into the YouTube world. Videography is not one of the skills I currently possess (although, to be honest, photography is not either), so there is a huge learning curve. Still, though, I love to learn new things, so once I am comfortable enough with recording and editing videos, I hope to get the ball rolling! In the meantime, if you are on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe to Touchdown Kitchen so you’ll be the first to know when I finally get my stuff together. 😊

In honor of fall, later this week I will be making one of my new favorite recipes to share with you all: Apple Crisp Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze. Stay tuned!

<3 Meg