Testing my dedication.

Last night was like a scene from a movie; there was vomit everywhere.  Ashton threw up on a soundly sleeping Reagan.  Reagan threw up on a soundly sleeping Jimmy.  Jimmy threw up in every bathroom in the house.  And I was the vomit catching, hair washing, back rubbing slave through it all.  Thank the good Lord that I only felt sick and didn't ever get sick, because then we'd be out of hands to hold barf bowls for the kids.  I was damn close to putting both kids on the kitchen floor with two bowls and leaving them there to fend for themselves. I mean, after the first 10 times using the bowl, they knew the drill.  Besides, by that time, it was all dry-heaving, so the mess would likely be limited...

This morning, I called my mom to thank her for all the times she had a similar experience with me, because it takes love. Real love.  

Three's the new fifteen.

Spiderman.  Need I say more?
(THANK YOU GRAMMY AND  PAPA!)

My little boy turned three on the 13th.  I suppose this is where I say, "Where has time gone?"  Maybe it's just me, but my foot-loose and fancy free days feel like light years away.  These three years (well, almost four if you count pregnancy) have been a roller coaster ride of excitement, fear, success, failure, joy, and frustration. As I reflect, all I can think about is how exhausting it is to be a parent.  Sure, it's all worth it, and blah, blah, blah, but really, it would be much easier as a part-time job (actually many days I wish it were just volunteer work, so I could up and leave...).

We watch children morph before our eyes as they grow and think, "Wow, he's changed so much.  I swear he looks older than yesterday!"  I would argue that we develop just as rapidly and significantly as they do.  They change our perspective, intuition, actions, feelings and more.  For example, I worked in adoption and foster care, but until being a parent never fully understood why these parents fight so fiercely on behalf of their children.  Now, I think they're not fighting hard enough.  Jimmy admits being more critical and concerned when one of his "client's" unlawful behavior affects a child.  He's hugged and supported parents and children who needed him while on the job, when he would have otherwise been callous.   Parenting Ashton, followed by Reagan, has made us better people. We're more tolerant, giving, and patient.  We're happy and fulfilled.

Ashton taught us to live every day, reminding us to see the beauty and wonder in the world.  Nothing about these three years has been fast, thank God for that.

Off to daycare!

Pretentious B....

I never thought I was pretentious until I moved into this home.  When I scoff at the the things around me, Jimmy makes a point to highlight how stuck up I sound.  Give me a break, man!  I have zero familiarity with this stuff and I feel like I'm in a foreign country.

1. Septic system.  Two words I prayed I'd never have to deal with.  Something about a huge tank of... waste... makes me want to VOM.  I know nothing about septic tanks.  You have to have it pumped?! How is this any different from a portapotty? It can overflow and make my yard a sewage treatment plant? Freakin' lovely. 
2. Oil heat.  I'm about to go picket Capitol Hill.  To heat our modest abode is approximately $290/month, and that doesn't include electricity.  Can't they just hook up a gizmo to our electric cooling system to make it provide heat?  Beware:  I have our thermostat set at 63, so if you come over, it's BYOB... blanket, that is.
3.  Dump visits.  Apparently it is common for people to not have trash pick up.  Ok, I'm new to this, but    the thought of schlepping my trash to the dump makes me want to hurl. It's un-American, people!  Jimmy thinks it's all fine and dandy to put the trash bags in the bed of the truck.  OMG!  Call me hoity-toity, but  I can't bear the thought of trash juice soaking into the truck with the putrid fumes following us down the road. Am I the only one that finds this repulsive?   
4. Well water.  Since we live on a farm, I'm super excited about drinking the water underneath the fields of manure.  Also, I vaguely remember hearing that people that drink well water have brown teeth. I have no clue if that's true, but Deer Park it is, baby.
5. Pest plan.  We have crickets, spiders, lady bugs (protected by the EPA-- who knew?!), and likely mice and rats.  The morning we moved in, I purchased a pest control plan.  I may live in the country, but there ain't no way I'm living with roommates.  
6. Fireplaces:  Who knew that there was so much to learn about fireplaces.  Where to by the wood, how much to buy, how to stoke it, how to make it efficient for heating the home, fireplace inserts... the list goes on and google is probably annoyed with all of my searches.  To put it this way, I thought "seasoned wood" meant it was flavored.  "I'll take the apple spice, please!"

Christmas in Dixie

(My favorite Christmas song..)

Plasma cars from Santa!  

Sweet babies at Great Grandma's house.

Not a horrible picture, but I swear, it takes a miracle to get them to smile together on command.  Little rascals...

Over-freakin'-whelmed

There is so much happening at light-speed that I feel like I'm a dog hanging out of a car window. So what happened this month?

1. We decided to sell our house (Endured a roller coaster ride with a crappy Realtor, then had tons of fun battling with two very messy toddlers to keep the house show-ready, then had to find a competent new Realtor).  
2. Then we searched for houses, found a house and are in the process of moving to said home (which will culminate in a Uhaul cluster-F tomorrow).  
3. I started searching for jobs, stopped watching the two infants, went on interviews and found a (great) job.
4. Jimmy worked so much that he has been a walking, sleep deprived zombie and I have been a single parent.
5. While searching for a job and new home, I found a new daycare for our children--hereafter referred to as Child Heaven.  

So yeah, things have been a bit hectic, a statement in contention for the title of "understatement of the century."  I am proud to say that through all of this craziness, our family has been stronger than ever.  It would be natural to bicker and meltdown during this time of uncertainty and exhaustion, but not one moment of tension occurred.  For this, we are blessed.  

At every turn, things keep going our way.  I am starting to believe that this month is a product of divine design, but totally against how I imagined the month unfolding-- you know, holiday cheer and spiked  eggnog as the only highlights. 

The game changer was my reentry into the paid workforce.  (Hell yes, I said "paid workforce!" This year has been lots of work and a constant reminder of how ignorant I was when I viewed stay at home moms as dumb and ultimately a drain on their family's resources.  The egg's on my face on that one...)  The job search was intimidating, but I had great success in landing interviews and had four companies interested in hiring me.  I accepted the job with Ryan Homes, as complete departure from my previous experience.  I am thrilled about the opportunity to learn and grow professionally.  Event planning, something I've always loved, has lost its luster, and staying at home this last year has given me the clarity and confidence to step into uncharted waters.  But there's a sacrifice in every situation, the money's going to be great, but our family schedule is going to be down-right confusing. 

I'm looking forward to our children's new adventure at Child Heaven.  We're all good at something, but my something was not staying at home.  I've done my best at teaching them and giving them social interaction with kids their ages, but I love the learning environment they're going to experience in daycare.  I gave it a good run, but they're going to be better off there.

Our new home is very different from what we're used to.  The most obvious difference is our .14 acres versus 1 acre on a 75 acre farm.  Growing around our house will  be corn and soybean, which is like a living science project for our little ones.  The farm equipment, the bugs, the plants are all going to teach them something.  The house is older, so it is going to be a challenge to go from our ginormous bathroom to a bathroom fit for a field mouse.  At some point, I'll stop missing my soaking tub, but for now, I'm in tears.

caps, caPS, CAPS!

Had a great time at a Caps game with old and new friends last month.  It was our first Caps game since I was pregnant with Ashton.  In fact, at our last Caps game, I found out I was having a boy.  I could give you the long story, but for simplicity sake, Jimmy has a big mouth!  

Anyway, back to 2011.  Here are pics!

So much change.

Our family is going through many changes.  Some positive, like Ashton and Reagan being so loving, and some negative, like the threat of moving, job searching, and Jimmy working so hard that it makes me want to cry.  We're just like almost every American household struggling to survive.  I'm happy to be looking for a job, quite frankly.  I love staying at home with the kids, but I was also born to work.  I think both being a stay at home parent and a working parent has advantages and disadvantages.  Bottom line: parenting is hard; life is hard.  Through all of this, I feel so fortunate to have a loving, hardworking husband and two amazing children.  Without those two things, all of this change would be crippling.

But don't worry.  Our spirits are high and we know this time of uncertainty is short.  So no pity party.  Just enjoy the pictures of our kids.  They're smile-inducing :-D

ABOUT THE PICTURES:

Per a friend's suggestion, I took the kids out on a walk to gather leaves and do a project with them.  They L O V E D it.  It was fun because it was cold and I strapped on their backpacks, so it was an adventure.  

Reagan loves to have her picture taken.  Ashton doesn't mind, but he doesn't do a good job of looking at the camera, so most pictures lack luster.  But here's little peanut brittle cheesin':

Toddler conversations at the hospital.  For some reason, Reagan has inherited Ashton's breathing problems and was wheezing like crazy.  So off to the hospital we go!

Fun visit from our friend Sarah.  She did a great job of wearing out the kids... and herself too.