It's Been Awhile!

What can I say, life has been a whirlwind of ups and downs since I last posted! Lets rewind to 6 1/2 months ago. Mark came home early November 17th. Just by looking at him I knew what happened, he didn't have to say anything. His department was eliminated that day and it felt like our world came tumbling down around us. Being 7 1/2 months pregnant I was devastated. What was going to happen to us? Would we have to relocate? What happened to his staff? Good news was that he received a comfortable compensation package and we still would be on the company's insurance (we would have to pay the insane COBRA premiums) until after the baby was born.

Those 7 weeks of unemployment were awful but made us stronger people in the end. It made us take stock of what we valued. The job was gone but we had our family, our faith and our values and nothing could take that away from us!

Mark had an interview on a Monday, started work the next day and on Friday, January 15th our baby Benjamin made his debut 3 weeks early! His birth was awful (4th degree tear!) but we rejoiced that he was here and thanked God for our blessings!

Benjamin is a wonderful addition to our family, I just wish he was a better sleeper! Grant has adjusted well to being a big brother and thinks of Benjamin as HIS baby. He is a great helper. Loves picking out which diaper Benjamin will wear and enjoys entertaining him. I hope that they will grow up to be great friends despite their age difference.

In Case You Missed the News!

Yep I am pregnant. In case you were wondering if I was or I just let myself fall apart. It's surprising to run into people and they can't figure it out! We were at an event where cocktail attire was required and people still didn't get the hint! Do you think I would wear a form fitting dress and let my abs go, seriously!

This pregnancy has been pretty uneventful, not that I am complaining! No morning sickness. VERY irritable (if you want to piss me off please be late, slow moving or write a check in the check-out lane). Retaining water. This baby is kicking me in places I never knew were possible (like bring me to my knees kicks), lets just say I have a new found respect/pity for men who get kicked in the groin.

We still have a few things to accomplish before the baby arrives: paint and move Grant to his "big boy room", paint and decorate the nursery, sibling class for Grant, breastfeeding class, update Grant's baby scrapbook, purchase new baby monitor and attend two baptism classes. Oh and let's not forget to keep my sanity.

Four Years Later!

I can't believe it's been four years since I have stopped working! Fours years ago I was 2 weeks away from delivering Grant and getting some much needed rest. Flash ahead four years and I am 70lbs lighter and still needing rest! It has all been worth it! Sure I have had days where I browse the classifieds and think about updating my resume. But kids have a way of saying they are sorry whether it's an "I'm sorry", "I love you mommy", "Snuggle with me" or "Mommy read me a story" and everything feels right with the world again. I have stopped reading the classified section for the time being realising I have the best job in the world! Cherish all their little moments while you can.

Somedays when I am having a tough day with Grant I remind my self to repeat the lyrics from a song called "Let Them Be Little" by Billy Dean
I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand.
You felt so good in it; no bigger than a minute.
How it amazes me you're changin' with every blink.
Faster than a flower blooms, they grow up all too soon.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give 'em hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

I never felt so much in one little tender touch.
I live for those kisses, your prayers an' your wishes.
An' now you're teachin' me how only a child can see.
Tonight, while we're on our knees, all I ask is:

Please, let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

The so innocent, precious soul:
You turn around, an' it's time to let them go.

So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give 'em praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let them sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.

Let them be little.

Somebody's Watching Me

Last week I am downstairs and the door bell rings I peak upstairs and to see who it is, all I see is a pair of small legs wearing jeans in the window. I immediately think it is my neighbor across the street who also is also a SAHM. I open the door and a bugged eyed, gaunt and short man is at my door. I immediately grab Quincy for a border between me and this individual. "May I help you?" I ask. Stranger tries to poke his head in door and asks who our realtor was at the time when we purchased our house. Perplexed by this question I ask "may I ask why?". I was thinking maybe he was looking for the builder of our home, since it is well built that seems to be a question strangers on the sidewalk like to ask us. He was asking because he left his garden tractor in the garage."Holy crap!" I thought to myself "this is the old owner of our house"! I wanted to ask him a few questions but wanted this strange individual off my property stat! Directed him to ask the listing realtor about his question since we obviously don't have it! He was on his way and I took down his vehicle description and license plate number. When I was writing this information down I realised this vehicle has been in our neighborhood before. Wrote a mental not to myself to change the locks!

This is a list of why I was perplexed about his question.
1. It was a foreclosure and ANYTHING left in a foreclosure is property of the new owners. The garden tractor was probably sold in a sheriff sale to help pay off the back taxes.

2. This genius had a garden tractor and no lawn. We installed the lawn, sprinkler system and landscaping. I really don't think he was looking for his garden tractor.

3. Why would you go up to your old house and ask the new owners about personal property left in your old home? A house that he lost in foreclosure three years ago!

4. If there was some sort of a riding lawn mower in our garage do you think I would be mowing the lawn?

I was a little spooked after this visit but after evaluating his appearance Quincy and I knew we could take him!

Where Have You Been?

As the saying goes "Life is what happens when you start making plans." Well friends life did happen around here and some parts of it I could have done without. We had a snowstorm, flood, flizzard (flood and blizzard going on at the same time), sports sampler classes, preschool, general winter blues, Mark finished his policy and procedure writing for his department, parents, Grant is completely potty trained, oh and I met New Kids on the Block.

The only thing that I want to say about the flood it that I would rather just forget it ever happened. It was the worse 2 weeks of my life! Many sleepless nights worrying if the Hesco wall about a block form your house would break, sounds of black hawk helicopters became normal. Every time the phone rang you wondered if this was the call to evacuate. Our community came together and saved our city. It was quite a site one late evening seeing your neighborhood join together to sandbag and save the neighborhood. We survived and it all made us better people and better neighbors. United We Sand!

**Above are pictures that I borrowed from another blog (type in drain 27 or Rose Coulie and see the results). In these pictures you will see how close the water got to the bridge. On the other side of the bridge where we live the water was a lot closer to the houses. Also an interesting fact: Do you see the twinhomes? That is our old neighborhood. They were on the wrong side from what I have been told. Some of the twinhomes even built samll sandbag rings around their houses. I guess we moved just in time!

Good Advice!

Being yourself
As we walk
along in life,
there is a tendency
to follow
the established pattern
or norm.

In doing so,
we miss
being ourselves.

Our true character
and value
are hidden.

Always be yourself.

Poem By Gary Dodd
**saw this poem on a favorite blog and had to share it.

Joining the Facebook world

I always vowed I would never set up a Facebook page.

Whoops.

What brought me around? A few things. We had a strategic planning meeting at work a few weeks ago that we talked about the whole "social networking" phenomenon. As the youngest member of our management group, it really struck me that no one in the room had a Facebook page but everyone's kids basically did. I'm young enough to be the son of some of that management team.

Did you know the average age of a Facebook user now is 36? Stunned me. I would have bet money it would have been a late-20's type thing.

Also, I am on the alumni association board of directors for our local university that I graduated from, and now I see that a vast majority of students have Facebook (or Myspace) pages too. We have to understand how younger students think and interact, and Facebook appears to be the "window" that we can get access to that.

So, I've jumped over to the dark side. Let the experiment begin!

(Anyone wanna be my friend?)