Curly is Walking!...and a Giveaway

So I am a terrible blogger and I forgot to write a post about 1 1/2 weeks ago Curly finally started walking regularly. He was a little over 15 months old. I have to admit every month past 12 months I was getting more and more anxious for him to start walking. I would go on the internet and search to make sure it was still "normal" for my child to not be walking yet. Even though my Dr assured me it was fine and there was nothing wrong with my child. And a week and a half later I am already wondering what I was so anxious for. Didn't I learn my lesson the first time...apparently not! Now when we go to the store he doesn't want to ride in the cart. OH NO! He's a big boy now he wants to WALK. But he doesn't walk beside me he runs around and gets into anything and everything he possibly can. And his sister just laughs which encourages him more. How people with 3 or 4 or even 5 kids do it I have no idea. Also I just ordered some cloth diapers for him and I just got them in the mail. I can't wait to start using them. I've always been pro-breastfeeding but cloth diapering I have not. Not that I don't think its a wonderful thing for the environment and the baby and all that stuff but I just didnt think I could be organized enough to wash diapers all the time. Until lately every time I buy a box of diapers and open it up I cant ignore the "chemical" smell that pours out of the box. Literally I cringe actually putting the diaper on his bottom thinking about if I can smell the chemicals how much is actually absorbing into his baby bottom. I know I sound like one of those crazy natural parents that only feeds her kids organic foods out of the garden in my own back yard but I assure you that I am not. Its just a personal observation that I have had lately of disposible diapers. So next time you open a box of Huggies let me know if its just my imagination.


So my little Boo's 4th Birthday is coming up before I know it. I can't believe that she is going to be 4 in 1 month. I hate how fast they grow up. We've decided since she has 2 years left until Kindergarten we are going to do some preschooling at home with her this year and then send her to pre-K next year. I am starting to embrace being home with them each day and I feel more and more like I want to be more involved with her learning. Now I am not going to homeschool her or anything like that but I think that it wont hurt for me to do some preschool type teachings with her. And we are also starting her in Hula classes and a program called TuTu and me 2 days a week so that she gets the social interaction that will help prepare her for the class environment. And just this past Sunday we started attending the Nazarene Church here in Kona so she is getting a classroom type environment in the Sunday school there. She definitly does not lack the eagerness to learn and she has a very open mind. I think that will be very helpful for her when she does start school. She does like to talk though...which reminds me a lot of myself when I was young. I loved (and still do) to talk. I can still remember spending most of my 1st grade in the hallway because I interupted my teacher during class. I hope that she can work through this but for now it does help her make new friends in an unfamiliar world. Which I am grateful for.


I am getting more and more settled into my role as being a stay at home mom. Even though I still know that this is not a completely permanent thing I am still learning to embrace it and take advantage of this time with my kids. I am learning to be more creative in ways to play and just learning myself that I don't have to do things the way that everyone else does. I feel a sort of freedom and confidence building inside of me that has never been there before.


So I am not sure if really anyone is reading my blog lately since I don't write very often and I don't have any comments. So I decided to do my own little fun giveaway. Just something I thought would be fun. I am not sure all of the aspects of it yet but I will tell you what I do know. I will be giving away some fun little 'pieces of Hawaii' and I will be putting this on my blog in 1 week from today and the giveaway will go on for 2 weeks and then I will pick a winner on September 6th. Please check back on Aug 23rd for all the details on the giveaway.


Oh and my wonderfully amazing husband finally gave the go ahead and I purchased my first DSLR camera. I have been having a blast taking some pics of the kids and I can't wait to start taking some pictures of our beutiful new surroundings. Here's a few I took last week :)

Please come back in a week to check out the details of the giveaway!

Aloha

Quick (Late Night) Update

Ok so its only 8:13 pm but the hubby has had to be at work at 6am all this week and somehow Boo manages to wake herself up before he leaves for work and then she doesnt go back to sleep. So guess who's been up at 5:30 every morning with her.

We have been in Hawaii now for almost 2 months. We already have moved to a different apartment then we started out in. The one that we rented sight unseen was a 2 bed 2 ba that we thought could work for us but ended up being WAAAYYY to tiny. The whole one wall in the living room and kitchen was a mirror so the pics that we saw of it online before we rented it were definitly deceiving. Luckily for us we did not have to sign a lease agreement because the place was/is for sale so that was great. We are now in a 3 bed 3 ba townhouse and LOVE it! Its perfect for us. And we are finally beginning to settle in.

We have done tons of traveling around the island checking out all the wonderful things to see and explore here. There is so much we still have not seen yet. I will post some pics when I get a chance but if you want to see some you can go to my facebook page. Unfortunately we lost out camera about 3 weeks ago so I havent been able to take any pictures other than with my phone and it takes terrible pics. I am hoping to talk hubby into getting a Digital DSLR. I sooo want one! But they are expensive.

So currently the Kileaua Crater is slobbering out some lava so we went to check it out last weekend but all we ended up getting to see was the smoke from the lava. It had already flowed too far from the road. The day that we were there though it did burn a house down. Which was the first house in the current flow. Sad but the people that live in these homes are VERY aware of the risk to where they live. Hopefully they were able to get a lot of their personal belongings out before it was too late. We also drove up to the crater which is actually about an hour drive from where the flow is going on..crazy huh. It was really cool to see. Cannot even begin to describe it. Just amazing the magnatude of it all.

Well time to go for now. I promise as soon as I get a new camera (or find the old one) I will get some pics up.

Aloha

Curly's 1st Birthday!

Well today is ending up being a lazt day so I might as well blog. Mostly family attended since it is his 1st birthday and he doesnt really have any "friends" yet. So much fun watching him eat his cupcake. He would not remove his hands from away from his mouth until every little crumb of cake was in his mouth. It was adorable! The rest of the story in pictures

:




And I just have to add this picture..It wasnt his birthday but its just too cute not to post: Playin in the dryer

And last but not least. Baby Curly almost a year ago. Amazing how much they change in just 1 year:

Catching up!

So I have been totally absent from my blog lately. Actually I have hardly been on the computer at all except for listing pretty much everything we own on Craigslist. Sometime in March Jeff was offered and accepted a job in Hawaii and since then life has pretty much been a whirlwind of trying to sell our home and get things situated for the move. We leave on June 6th. We are very excited to say the least. A little nervous too of course.

Curly has just about started walking. He can stand forever without holding onto anything and he can take about 4 steps before he falls down. He is such a mama's boy and loves to cuddle up to me anytime I pick him up. Since he is now 1 year old I decided to try and start weaning him which I soon found out Curly was not going out without a fight...a big fight. So very quickly I decided with the stress of the move and everything else going on I am not even going to attempt to start weaning him until after we are moved and settled in there. He says mama, dada, hi, bye and a almost understandable "thank you". He loves his sister and idolizes her every move. When she is sent to her room for being bad he crawls to her door and waits for her to be allowed out. Uncle Brian has nicknamed his "Loie the french kisser"..dont ask. haha.

Also of course I will be posting pics of our new home as well. Right now we are renting a condo until we can buy a home which will not be until we sell our home here in Ohio. Which hopefully will be soon. We have a very positive realtor which has helped me to stay sane. Worrying about it is not going to sell our house any quicker so all can do is be patient...and pray.

Here's a few of pics from when my husband went out for his interview.







ALOHA!

Bed to Crib Part 1

So last night I committed to getting Curly in his crib and not giving in. He is 9 1/2 months old and has not slept in his crib for 1 day of his life. Yes he's slept in there for the occassional nap or two and for maybe an hour in the evenings a couple of times when someone has watched him while my hubby and I went on a date. But for the most part he has been curled up right next to me in our bed. Which I love! But he is just getting way to big and way to mobile.

So I decided to try a method of the cry it out method (I hate this method but I have tried just about everything else and NOTHING has worked) So actually the night before last I put him in his crib, let him cry for 5 minutes, went in and soothed him and left. Let him cry for 10 minutes then did the same. Increasing the time I let him cry more and more each time. This didn't work. He just kept getting more and more upset and the crying got harder each time I left. So I brought him back into our bed and called that night a bust.

So LAST night I decided to go ahead and let him cry for 25 minutes (max) before going in to soothe him. Well for 20 minutes straight he cried pretty hard while my heart broke clutching the baby monitor. Wondering what permanent damage I was doing to my sweet little boy. After 20 minutes he kinda went down to a whiney humming so I decided to let him go as it didn't seem as horrible as the full blown crying and I was worried if I went in to check on him the full blown crying would be all that would come of it when I left again. So I let it go on. This went on for about 20 more minutes and little 20 or 30 second blurps of full blown crying in between there a little bit. But after about 40 minutes of all of that there was silence and he was asleep. I DID IT! And him and I both survived it. AWESOME! Few hours later he woke up and I nursed him and put him back in his crib. He only cried for about 5 minutes and he was asleep. When he woke up at 5 am I put him in the bed. Mostly because I missed him like crazy and I just...well I'm weak! Now I am worried I totally messed it all up by putting him in bed with me this morning. But we shall see tonight I guess. Wow I really hope that this is it. I have been stressing about this for literally months.

I'm sure noone will actually read this post because its pretty boring but I wanted to write it mostly for my own records.

Oh and he is acting like the same little boy today as he was yesterday so I feel that the crying didn't do any permanent damage. I know it sounds dumb but this was a true worry of mine.

And as soon as I get around to it a more detailed post about our cruise is coming. Just been kinda busy around here.

Caribbean Cruise 2010

We are home. We had an amazing time on our 7 day cruise. For now I am just going to give mostly pics as I am still busy spending time with my little girl that I missed like crazy while we were gone.





More to come. I promise. Just wanted to get some pics out there. Check back for more about our trip.

What a week...

So it's Saturday night. I am reflecting on my first week as a SAHM. It was interesting. I really didn't lose my patience with Boo until Friday which I was kinda suprised at myself for. Honestly I didn't have anything to lose my cool about...until Friday (more about that in a minute) When I told her to do something she did it. When I told her it was nap time she would ask me if daddy would be home when she got up which I would reply "very soon after you get up he will be home", she would smile at me and lay her sweet little head down and be out for the next 2 hours. Curly was happy as a clam. I think mostly for the fact that he didn't have to take a bottle all week. Mommy all the time. He's such a mama's boy and I loooove it! I do think it is going to be a long winter inside though. It hasn't gotten over 20 degrees outside since I think sometime going on 2 weeks now so even bundling the kids up as much as possible I still hate taking them out in this cold. It sucks!

So Friday Boo was getting a bit of cabin fever I think. She was running around the house like a crazy girl almost the entire day. Wouldn't listen to a thing I told her to do. You get the picture. To sum it up it was a long day. I was glad when hubby got home and I could get away for just a few minutes for a deep breath...and quite frankly just to be able to go to the bathroom alone was a bonus.

Other Stuff From My First Week:

There is a girl. Beautiful woman, 2 young children (ages: 2 and 3 months), married, 28 years old. When she was pregnant with her 2nd child she noticed a lump in her breast, Dr's said most likely a hormonal thing from pregnancy, baby was born. Couple weeks later..diagnosis: Stage 4 breast cancer. She died Friday morning. My mind won't let it go. I have this incredible sadness for her family and her children. I also keep thinking about how she must have felt before she died. She was a Christian so she knew that she would soon be in the arms of her Lord and Savior which for anyone is an amazing thought because ultimately I believe that is where we all long to be. But again we are still human too. Knowing that you will never get to see your children grow up and they will never remember how much of an incredible strong mother they had. Only from pictures and stories will they know her. That to me is so sad! I pray for her family and ask that anyone that reads this would do the same.

On a different note: Since little Curly is now going on 9 months old he is getting a little too mobile to be sleeping in our bed. He wants to crawl to the edge and check out what's beyond the 6 foot boundaries of the mattress and I am not getting too much sleep. So we are trying to get him to sleep in his crib and its torture. I hate the cry it out method so I have been trying all kinds of other things. As of right now he will sleep the first few hours of the night in his crib then he wants me and he refuses to go back to sleep without being cuddled up next to me. And me being..well me..I give in and he's in our bed the rest of the night. Its a work in progress.

Well its getting late and I am tired. And I wanna check my facebook account so I am signing off. Take care and live like you're dyin.

Bye for now

Absence

Sorry about the absence lately. I have had a lot going on. I keep signing in to write a post about my thoughts and feelings and then proceed to write down a few paragraphs before hitting the delete button. There are a lot of changes going on right now. In all aspects of my life. I don't know yet to what extent I feel comfortable writing about the things going on. I am still fairly new to the blog world and I am still quite reserved in my writings. Maybe thats why I don't have many readers..haha. I don't want to say that I am not honest in my posts because I totally am but I just choose not to incorporate my struggles into them. For today I will just say that I am grateful for the blessings in my life. My wonderful, understanding husband and my 2 incredible kids. I feel right now as if the rest of my world could crumble around me and as long as I have those 3 then it wouldn't matter. Eh just feeling sorry for myself. I will post more as the time is right but as of right now its just not feeling right.

On another note, Christmas was incredible. I will write a detailed post on that soon. Boo was a hoot. At 3 she's really starting to "get it" More on that later. Gotta go for now.

Michelle

A little catchin up

So I haven't really posted anything in a while...sorry. I have been so busy with just the day to day things that I really haven't had a moment to just sit and think or write.

Curly is really trying to crawl with all his might. He gets on all fours and rocks and kinda scoots a little bit but doesnt have the real movement down yet. But he gets to where he wants to go by rolling around. I just know it wont be long before he is chasing his big sis around. You can just see it in his eyes how bad he wants to go after her. He had just recovered from a cold and then last night woke up with a goopy eye and nose again. Cold #2 for a little guy. Poor thing!

Boo is doing so good. I think she may be FINALLY getting out of the testing phase (for now) She is starting to listen better and be sweet and lovable again.

Thanksgiving was really great. We had it at our house again this year for my husbands side of the family. It was pretty crazy but still a nice time. Everyone pitched in and brought something for food so that helped a lot. We didnt get together with my family partly because Curly had a cold but mostly because my nephew had phemonia and we didnt want to expose the kids to that.

I am getting super excited for our cruise in January. I have really lost quite a bit of weight and am going to continue to try and lose more. I haven't been on a vacation in about 4 years and I really want to feel good about myself. Great motivation to get my baby baby weight off. Actually at this point my weight is below what I was when I got pregnant with Boo so I am right on track.

Still have not done any of my Christmas shopping yet. Terrible I know. But we really dont have to many people to buy for so I'm not too worried about it. Next saturday my sister and I are scheduled to go shopping together so hopefully I can pick some things up then.

My next post is going to be about co-sleeping. I really want to get my opinion out there and hear what others have to say about it. I know that as far as my family goes. (inlaws included) they do not share my feelings on this but I'd really like to share so hopefully in the next couple of days I can finally get that posted. Watch for it.

Giveaway!!

11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven is giving away a gorgeous Hotslings baby carrier!

To enter click HERE.

Wild animals and Halloween

Totally random I know but I am trying to play catch up here. Much more to come.

So a couple of weeks ago we were getting ready to head out the door when I saw some movement out in our backyard out our sliding glass door that caught my eye. This is what it was on closer inspection.

A coyote. My husband runs down to the basement to grab his gun but decides that it was already on the run so it would most likely be long gone by the time he got ready to shoot. Which he was right. Then I read on the news a few days later that some lady in Canada got attacked by a pack of coyotes and actually died. So needless to say I wish he woulda got his gun. Ah well maybe next time.

So since we live out in the boonies we dont really have a good place to take the kids trick or treating so we decided to take them to a pumpkin patch instead. Which was a great plan because then we wouldnt have had to buy a costume but we could still do something entertaining (accept we did end up having to buy Boo a costume anyway because my sister in law wanted to take her trick or treating, so the plan didnt work out to well) We still had a really fun time at the pumpkin patch though.

Our little princess

Boo got this dress up ballerina outfit for her 3rd birthday. My friend Jen at work got it for her. It is absolutely adorable and Boo LOVES it! Annnnd the skirt has fiber optics in that light up when you push the star on the belt (GASP!) I have never seen such an adorable thing. She was acting like a total princess in it. Which leads me to the next photo....

Speaks for itself.

Changes

Wow so next week is Thanksgiving and I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I only have 3 FULL weeks left of work until I am an official SAHM. At least for a "to be determined" amount of time anyway. To be honest I am a little scared. Honestly I hate taking my kids to a sitter every day. I am away from them for 10 hrs a day, 5 days a week and I feel like myself (and my husband of course) are not the biggest influences in their little lives at this point in time and I don't like that. But there is another side of me that likes the interaction with people my own age and I like making my own money. Is that selfish? I know that this SAHM thing will not be completely permanent but I feel like this time off will really give me a chance to think about what I want to do for the long term and hopefully do something I really enjoy. That possibly being: Massotherapy. I went to school for a semester right out of high school and then dropped out. I am thinking of picking this back up. So many things to think about but most importantly I am going to soak in my precious babies every moment I can....because they grow up way to fast.

Speaking of Growing Up:
My little Curly is now 6 1/2 months old. He is rolling all over the floor to get to where he wants to go. Which is usually wherever I am :) I am still exclusively nursing him which we both love. When I get home from work my husband takes over taking care of Boo and I take Curly in the bedroom for some quiet nursing time. Usually about 15 or 20 minutes. He is babbling like a fool. He can already make an audible: hi. Crazy!
Side note: Boo started talking way early as well. She had probably about 50-75 words in her vocabulary by her first birthday.
He LOVES his jumperoo. He can jump in that thing for hours. He also adores his sister. Loves to pull her hair or maybe hes just trying to get it into his mouth. Not sure which. He doesn't have any teeth yet but it still hurts when he decides to clamp down while nursing. He still sleeps in our bed at night but will not be for long. Boo was out of our bed at around 7 months so I know the time is coming. I hate the thought though. I love having him close!

What else: I'm doing Body for Life to get some of this baby weight off and actually I only have 5 lbs to go before I am the weight I was when I got pregnant with my daughter. I have been doing really well with the diet portion but finding the time to exercise can be a challenge. I think it helps to have a "cheat day" once a week so that I know that I CAN eat some of the things that I am craving at some point. My husband is doing it as well. He doesn't have much of a choice since all I cook are healthy meals now :)

I am getting really excited for the holidays. I know its sounds corny but every Thanksgiving I always think about all the blessings in my life and all the things that I am thankful for. So many things.

Well time to get back to work.
Michelle

Fall and Pumpkins

I just have to write to say I LOVE fall! The changing of the leaves are so pretty and the smell always reminds me of good times. Another reason is because I absolutely LOVE pumpkin. Not the carving and digging out the guts part. The eating. I love pumpkin pies, cheesecakes, pumpkin rolls. OH MY! Just love it! So today I was browsing some blogs and found a recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins. I am totally making this. Check it.



Oh does this not look like the most delicious thing you've ever seen? Those little white things on top. Little drops of heaven (cream cheese)

Now I totally do not know who had the crazy idea of going on a diet. But I KNOW that this is definitly not one of my allowed items. Guess I'll just have to wait for my cheat day. If anyone would like the recipe I'd be happy to post it if interested. Oh my mouth it watering. Welp time to go eat my Chicken Salad. For some reason all of a sudden it doesn't seem so appealing. haha.

See ya!

Thoughts

So its almost November and Dec 31st is my last day with my employer. I am secretly getting excited. I really would love to be home with my kids for a little bit. Even if it were just for a month or so. I hate taking them to a sitter and they are with her more than they are with me. I know that I need to work and that being a stay at home mom really isn't possible for the long term but I can live it for a little while right?!

They had a big reorganization of changes in our department starting today at work. I am really really happy about it to say the least. More to come later about all that.

I can't believe the holidays are right around the corner already. Its so funny to hear Boo talk about Christmas this year. She is all into Santa Claus and getting presents. We are probably creating a monster but its still cute. I can't wait to see her face Christmas morning when she sees all the presents under the tree. That is just the best part of it all! My husband and I don't really get eachother anything for Christmas much anymore because we spoil eachother so much throughout the year with things that we want. Guns for my husband and clothes or whatever else for me. This year my Christmas present is a 7-night cruise to the Carribean. I CAN'T WAIT!

Well gotta go for now.

Think before you Speak

If there is one thing my mama taught me it was "think before you speak" And it always amazes me what GREAT advise that was. Especially when I have those moments where I just realized that I didn't think about what just came out of my mouth and its about 1.3 seconds tooo late.

So today I was talking to a co-worker and SHE totally had one of those moments but the difference with her was...she never realized what she said was kinda..well hurtful...sorta...because it was so dumb I thought it sorta more funny than hurtful. So this is how the convo went. Well I guess I should give you a bit of background first. She is way into bodybuilding and is even in competitions. So me having a baby back about 6 months ago now I'd like to get in shape so I asked for her help. She was more than willing and gladly gave me a diet and exercise regimen to follow. AWESOME! So here's how the convo went

ME: So I went to the Dermatologist yesterday for this yucko patch I have above my eye. Its psoriasis so they gave me some cream. Also the doc thinks I have hyperthyroidism. Isn't that weird?

Co-Worker: (looks me up and down for a second) Ha don't you mean HYPOthyroidism (and a totally NOT kidding tone)

ME: No Hyperthyroidism as in I have an over active thyroid. The reason she thinks this is because I've lost 60 lbs in the last 6 months and she thinks my eyes are "wider" than normal. So I have to go get a blood test and see but I totally don't think I do because I have always had "wide" eyes and I feel completely fine.

Co-worker: Are you sure they didn't mean HYPOthyroid...because really 60 lbs when you deduct the baby's weight and swellng and all that its really not that much weight you lost. (looking me up and down again literally sizing me up)

Ok we continued on like this for a while. Her never realizing that she was pretty much calling me obese (which 15-20 lbs over my ideal weight is NOT obese)Then she's all "is your husband going to be an obsticle for you in losing weight" HUH??? What are you talking about??!! Lord lady. I think I will be avoiding her for a bit as she obviously has NO internal filter when it comes to having an intelligent conversation. I have a feeling she does not have to many close friends. But maybe so. I don't know.

Ah well I go on to tell one of my other co-workers about this silly run in this morning. One of my co-workers that happens to be a good friend. She is freakin hilarious and can spin almost anything into roll on the floor histerical. And she is so positive. Which I LOVE. But she's not that annoyingly positive person where like no matter what you say she's like "thats ok let me tell you a joke" She's the perfect combination of light-hearted but CAN be serious when you need her to be. I love ya Jen. I know that when I go to her she can always make me feel better. I hope that I have that same effect on people. I want people to think I am gonna go talk to Michelle because she just makes me feel so good. haha. Is that stupid? I try to avoid negative people and try to bring out the best in others. And if you like to talk then I will totally be your best friend because I LOVE TO TALK! But know that I am at least TRYING to think before I speak so I don't make a total ass out of myself. lol!


Later.

Vacation

So we just got back from VA visiting my sister in law and we spent a couple of days at Virginia Beach. Funny how you worry about certain things going wrong and then something you totally weren't worried about goes wrong.

I was so worried that Curly would be fussy and crying in the looong car ride down and back but he did amazingly well. I got back in the back seat with them a few times to nurse him and play for a little bit and I hardly heard a peep out of him. He did well in the hotel and at my sister in laws house too. You could tell he was getting a little antsy by the end of the trip to just be home but still a pretty good baby.

Boo on the other hand was kinda rotten. She didnt want to take a nap in the car for whatever reason even though she was dog tired so a lot of the way we were dealing with a tired 3yr old which is not fun. The hotel room was a little small for her taste as well. She LOVED the beach though. And she did really well at my sister in laws (a little more room to move around helped I suppose)

We went to some yummy restaraunts and fed the seagulls. You could hold a piece of bread in your hand and they would come take it right out. Also in the mornings we saw tons of dolphins. We tried to get some pics because they were so close to the shore but still weren't able to. It was a little too chilly to swim in the ocean but we still got to get our feet wet (which is enough for me)

We got to visit with my sister in law and her little guy. We'll call him B. B will be 1 yr old in November and he is such a doll. Crawling like crazy, big brown eyes and dark hair. Actually we joke how much B looks like Boo when she was a baby. Fun times! I just wish they lived closer so our kids could grow up together. She is pregnant with her 2nd one now.

I still am not sure why I live in a state known for its pot holes and long cold winters. I love the warm beaches and ocean.

Introductions

So a little more about my little family. My daughter is 3 yrs old. She is the biggest daddy's girl ever! We call her our little monkey because she loves to climb. Her laugh is contagious and she is the love of our lives! She is the best big sister! She loves her baby brother to no end. I suspect that this will last until he is mobile and stealing all her toys. haha. Since getting the movie Monsters Inc for her birthday her new nickname is Boo. She adores the little girl on that movie and the funnier part is that she looks kinda like her too. So this is what she will be referred to on my blog. Without further adoo.

Boo

Next up is my little man. Oh he is the cuddliest sweetest little guy ever! He is extremely ticklish and smiles as soon as he opens his eyes in the morning. He rarely cries and he is SUCH a mommas boy. No complaints here. He has adorable strawberry blond curly hair. I could just kiss him all day long. I introduce you to

Curly

Pushed out of my comfort zone

Almost exactly a year ago I had just found out that I was pregnant with my second child and was feeling good about my job. I mean even though the economy was in a downward spiral the company that I work for was not showing any signs of slowing. Actually we had just went from being a 2 billion $ company to a 5 billion $ company. And had just been advised that they would be hiring an additional 200 people to cover this growth. Great! I love where I work, love the people I work with, believe in the products we make. At this point I was pretty sure that I would retire from here. I would get my degree in Marketing and transition to a Marketing role in the company eventually and thats where I would stay for the next 30 or 40 years of my career. Perfect! I got it all planned out. Right?! WRONG! About 2 weeks after the big announcement of all the exciting growth myself along with the majority of my department were pulled into a conference room and advised that they were outsourcing our department and in approx. 1o months to a year our positions would no longer exist within the company. I had so many mixed emotions. I was glad they had given us so much notice for us to have a chance to find another positions within the company but also disappointed that I would no longer be in a job that I actually had enjoyed.

Every job that I've ever had before working at my current job I left on my own. I decided that that was not where I wanted to be, started looking for another job, put in my 2 weeks notice and I was off on another adventure. This was way different. I have a lot of family that has worked and even retired from where I am now. It's close to home. It's just a great company.

I have been given the official end date of Dec 31st. If I don't find something within the company before then then its over. Some people (family mostly) think that I should be excited because I will be getting some severence and I will be eligible for unemployement. I could be off work for a while and enjoy my kids and watch them grow. They are at such great ages right now. As this is all very true and the thought of being home with my kids is quite appealing I know that it is only a temporary solution and I don't like temporary. I like to have a little bit more of a grasp on where I will be at in a year from now or more. The fact is I have to start looking for another job right away. I mean the unemployement rate is up to 12% now. I can't expect to wait around till the last minute and expect to find a half way decent job. Just the whole situation is so different from anything I've ever experienced. I guess I have a lot to learn. I do have faith though that something else will come along and ultimately I will end up where I am supposed to be. If its staying at my current place of employment or moving on to something else I know that it will all end up being okay and I will look back on this as a learning experience. A time in my life that I grew up a little more. Realizing life doesn't always go exactly as you planned it out. Sometimes God throws out a curve ball. I think one of the most important thing is how you handle the situations that throw you off your course.

I'm interested to hear about a time when you've been pushed out of your comfort zone and where you are now? When you look back are you glad that things worked out the way they did.

Thanks for reading

Michelle

So it begins....

Hello Everyone,

There are a lot of things going on in my life right now so I finally decided to start a blog. It will be a good way for me to look back a year from now or 5 or 10 years from now and see how much has changed. I have a wonderful husband and 2 beautiful children. They are 3 and 5 months. I haven't decided yet how personal I am going to get with this blog so I will just leave it at that for now. Its a work in progress so bear with me.