Thursday, January 29, 2009

Five years later and we're all alive!

It is the big FIVE for my son! He celebrated his birthday on the date with mom, dad, baby sister and grandma. For his birthday he got a guitar that he's been wanting for months. After all, we are going to be a rock star family! Mom is the singer, Dad is the drummer, brother is the guitar player and sister is the horn player! Where it came from? I can only assume Guitar Hero at his one-dad's. For him, we made his dream come true - of sorts. For his birthday, he got to play his guitar, mom sang (poorly), dad played the piano (no drums available), sister just stared, grandma played a tamborine-thing. It was the funest moment!!

Now his birthday party with all his friends and family will be tomorrow where we will ice skate and have cupcakes! We are so excited.

I am so excited to have my lil' boy be five. The last five years have been more eventful than a lot of other people, but less eventful than some. For that, I am so grateful for where we are today. I am so grateful that we get to be at-home together, playing Battleship, Chess, whatever boardgame of the day, reading books, playing ball, making cookies, all sorts of stuff. He is the funest kid I know. I enjoy (almost ever) moment. His smile is so full of love, his hugs are so big, his eyes are so full of hope and excitement.

I can't wait to see the end of our childrearing years. The joys, tears, pitfalls, decisions. Mommihood is so cool.

Crocodille tears

For being such a sweet, happy child, my daughter cries Crocodille tears when she's offended, Daddy walks away, kept off dangerous heights or moved from precarious places. Where does she get these tears? She's the cutest lil' girl and these tears are just so endearing, until the scream comes. When we look at her with a smile, she thinks she needs to start talking, loudly!

How fascinating for a tiny little girl to learn to manipulate through tears and so early. Where did she learn it? Not from me, for sure! My Crocodille tears are all dried up. My husband, well, do men have Crocodille tears? My son, he just does the lip quiver!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Life always changing

Whew. What a month.

My hubby went back to work full-time. The whole part-time work to go to school full-time stunt didn't work out in our favor. But, now we know why we were prompted to get into our house. We surely would've been asked to leave our previous home because we wouldn't have met our required classes for the semester. This was the fourth attempt to get my hubby through school using different ways: full-time, full-time; part-time, full-time, part-time, part-time, full-time, part-time. The latter, we have yet to try. That will be the last resort, or this fall, whichever comes first.

He has recieved confirmation that he needs to be in school. So, we are trying to make it work. It's so confusing. We have recieved confirmation that I am to raise my kids, complete my Master's degree, not work during the day, keep my night job and my husband works and goes to school. That is a heft load to recieve confirmation for. Too much for me. Again, we make it work. Lots of tears, lots of stress, lots of faith.

Because of these confirmations, though, we have done serious investigating into what we are studying. My husband's dream of engineering changed on him a while ago. Only I saw what is passion really was. He knew it, too, but as a career didn't want to focus on video games. I agree, but computer's are where he is at. Engineering for him, is a wee bit too hard for the stresses he's under. It is a dream of his that he left as a "would be nice, if ..." So, he changed his major. He's half way through it and didn't know it, can get his Master's with one extra year, in the department he already works for and in a field he loves and knows already ... Information Systems. Practical, well-paid, not too narrow and plenty of different tracts he can take. He wants to take the data security tract. This semester is his first in the degree and we are all rooting for him.

On top of that realization, he asked for his full-time position back and was able to get it RIGHT (we're talking TWO days) before a hiring freeze took affect. Now all we have to do is wait 30 days and we'll have paid vacation days again, sick days, insurance, 401(k) package, again! YAY. However, now my hubby thinks since he has is full-time job back, I can quit my part-time. Yes, it is time consuming - 4 hr shift with 1 hr travel time (total), at night when I normally do my homework, shifting things around makes it so there is a lot less wiggle room and now I babysit swap for three families, 8 kids and 10 hrs/wk so I can make it to work on time. So, it is a sacrifice. He doesn't think it is worth it, but I do. I feel comfortable there. I feel that it is the right decision. I don't mind the work and I get along with the people. It can be hard work and it is hard work to re-do life, but totally possible. I don't see my husband but every other Friday afternoon, every other Saturday night and Sundays; we don't have family time anymore other than every other Friday afternoon and Sundays, but, again, I feel confirmed that this is where I should be. Maybe not long term, because, really, I don't need the job, but I feel confirmed and I'm FREAKED out about the economy. Plus, knowing that my husbands job is taking a 19% cut and possibly LOWERING wages, rather than giving annual raises ... I'm a little nervous.

All things come with good, though, right? My daughter is no loger sick. My son had croup for a couple days and then a nagging cough and congestion for a couple weeks. In that couple weeks, my daughter got croup that lasted a week and now she is doing well. Nothing lasting.

We converted our large unfinished basement (about 900 sq ft) into a big play room for the kids. (I'll post pics later)

My son's new bedroom almost has a heater vent in it. He still hasn't moved in until the vent is finished. Then it will get painted and carpeted. It should've been done over the FOUR week vacation we had for Christmas, but we all decided to play and hang out instead. :( It was nice, but now the room is taking that much longer. My son and I finally compromised on how his room will be painted and decorated. He wanted to paint it all black!! His favorite color is black. So, I talked him into living in the bat cave. His latest superhero fix is Batman. Because he changes fixations, we will paint the walls yellow (all superheros that I can think of have some yellow or some color that works with yellow). The ceiling will be black with stars affixed on the ceiling. His walk-in closet won't be finished because that will become his BAT CAVE. We will hang black material up on the walls and put a black curtain over the door. His bed will be in there and we'll make bats that will be above on the ceiling, that will remain white. That way, when his phases are all done, he will still have a closet! I still haven't decided if I'm going to go to the trouble to repaint his dresser and bed black to keep up with the theme, but we did buy cheap wooden letters for his name that we will paint black and stencils that we can write BAT CAVE on his door using. Sounds good to me. :) Any other ideas or suggestions? I'd love to hear them!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Holiday Greetings: A day late and a dollar short ...

Greetings to all who read or follow this blog ...

This is my new greeting card. I've always had such high ambitions of sending out cards each December, sending out yummy treats to friends and neighbors. Alas, I am not as great on the follow through. My first year, I went out and bought a couple boxes of 50 holiday cards so I could start the tradition, six years later, I still have close to a couple boxes of 50. Now comes the trend of internet living and blogs so I am taking myself to the latest technological heights of greetings through the internet. So, here we go ...
2008: what a year!!
January: My son turned 4! He is still an amazing reader and very energetic. I still don't know where he got that from.
February: My lil' girl was (finally) born. I was hoping she'd be early, but if she could've, she would've been late. I didn't allow that, hehehehe. We induced the day after she was due.
March: YAY!! We made it through our first year! Happy Anniversary! Who said it was the hardest??? They lie. It was the funnest. I think, so far, the hardest is the second year! :D For ourselves and because we vacation so much, we invest in a timeshare. SOOOO, excited. What a month, we bought a car, too. Our Kia was on its death bed begging to be replaced. Happy March! Ugh.
April: April showers bring May flowers - LOVE the Spring.
May: Off to St George. Happy Mom's Day. The year of no traveling is finally over. We can travel again. Silly honeymoon.
June: To St. George again. It's only the cost of two tanks of gas. How could we go wrong?!! I begin my second year as an R.A. for the U.S.A. My niece comes to stay with us for the summer during the days. I begin homeschooling my ever advancing four year old as the public school suggested public school would not be a great fit for him for preschool and private school is just
too darn expensive.
July: I begin my master's program. I'm so restless and finally I found what I want to do. (Maybe)
August: My best friend marries her honey-bunch on the beach in CA. We vacation for a week to make it worth it since it is so expensive anyway to do any of that kind of traveling. We visit Legoland, really the coolest amusement park I've been to. Visit the Wild Animal Park, the Midway, all sorts of places. Shacked up in a cozy two bedroom hotel with two kids. CRAZY. Love vacations.
September: Classes for students all over begin. Good luck to all. My husband goes part-time for work so he can concentrate more on his full-time course load. Vacation with the in-laws in northern UT. So beautiful. What a great experience.
October: What? We're moving? Getting a house? Whatever.
November: Yay, we move to a house. LOVE the idea. Hate the amount of never ending cleaning. Added a new member to our family, Ruby, a Vizsla.
December: Finally, my baby nephew is born. Classes end. Basement getting finished (verrrry slowly). Vacation to St. George. I finally (after two months) find a job!!! Glamorous ... but my husband is now settling into being an at-home dad for the evenings and is pretty darn good at it!!!
Highlights of 2008. Short and sweet. Now for the more info intro:
My husband is still vying for his bachelors degrees in computer engineering and electrical engineering. He is my hero, more and more every day. He is the hardest working man I know. He is the best.
My four year old is leaping through school. Loving homeschool. Found the joy of XBox. LOVES Candy Cane Hot Cocoa.
My lil' girl is crawling. Refusing to stand by herself or walk ... ode to the early walkers. She still crawls up a storm and I still vacuum all the time to make sure she doesn't eat anything unpleasant with her orally stimulated self.
I am still loving my master's program. Working now only part-time. Loving homeschool. Enjoying my children.
Happy 2009, friends and family. May the Lord continue to bless you all.