Wordless Wednesday

Hubby's Work Update

OK

!!!!!!!!!I'M EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

Alright so now that I got that off my chest, I can give you an update:

Last week Sean completed  two day training with his new fleet. 

On Wednesday he was put into HIS final truck 

(He had be put into a loner truck that was equipped for his new fleet until he was able to get his own truck)

Wednesday afternoon he was set loose to go do his pickups and drops offs and has been running STRONG since. He has been home just about every night, except last Friday, and that was because he had worked all day long and ran out of hours to make it home. BUT he did return home bright and early Saturday, right when the kids and I got up! Then we had him all weekend, eeeeeekkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot begin to tell you how much joy I felt with him being home this past weekend.

 We did not have to rush our time together. We were able to relax and just be well, a family.

I'll be happy to report I haven't been to the grocery by myself with two kids in almost 2 full weeks. I either take one kiddo, or leave them both at home with my husband.

(I even did a midnight run to the grocery last night to grab some things for my hubby's lunch)

Last Saturday was supposed to be my day for me but I had forgotten about a baby shower I was supposed to attend. So Shell's and I packed up and went to the baby shower. I was gone for a few hours and did not feel like I had to rush back home to my mom (who is usually my sitter when I go do things, which sadly isn't "wasn't" very often). My hubby let me enjoy my time away and didn't call me once to see when I was coming home. Gosh I'm a lucky gal!

 Sunday it was raining and we were trapped inside and the kids were going NUTS, so I said out of no where "Pack up we're going to the Zoo!" I packed a lunch and the four of us took off and had a great "wet" time at the zoo. The animals were so active, moving about their homes, or they were laying in front of the viewing windows. The best part is that we went as a family. I told Sean how great it felt and how it feels that I can start planning ahead for our weekends. We can go to the beach on a whim now and not worry about if he has to leave the next day. We have the weekends to just us, and it feels oh so right.

My ONLY complaint is that this new fleet requires him to work really funky hours. Last night he had to leave at 2am and he returned today at 2pm. He was home all afternoon but had to take a nap for a few hours because he just left at 11pm for a 4 hour drive to Tri cities. From there he doesn't know if he'll have another pick up, so you can see his hours are all over. He if fine right now with his sleep, or lack there of, so I hope (and pray) his body is able to go into a smooth transition with this new schedule.

My family is together at last. We eat meals together, enjoy bedtime routine together, welcome daddy home from a long day at work together.

We are together 

Skidamarink

Skidamarink a dink a dink

Skidamarink a doo

I. Love. You.

 Skidamarink a dink a dink 

Skidamarink a doo

I. Love. You

 I. love you in the morning

and in the afternoon

I love you in the evening

and underneath the moon

 Skidamarink a dink a dink

 Skidamarink a doo

I. LOVE. YOU

Hot Dog Day

(His last day as a 2 year old)

This year my big bright eyes munchkin turned 3! Is it possible to be happy and sad about this? He arrival into this world was such a HUGE blessing. He made me a mommy, something I never thought possible.

Michael James 10-14-09, 4:41pm, 7lbs 7oz, 19 1/2 inches

We stayed low key this year. The past two years I have made such a huge deal about the party when in reality he had no idea what was going on. I knew this year he would have more of an understanding but I still kept it low key and it turned out perfect!

I had in mind a theme which was Mickey mouse. Michael asks for Mickey everyday and loves the hot dog dance! I scanned my go to site pinterest for inspiring ideas. I saw a hot dog bar and thought how perfect is that, since Mickey and the hot dog dance and Michael's favorite, turkey dogs. 

I was going to make a nifty invite but lost track of time and ended up buying mickey invites from the store. I was bummed I couldn't make a unique invite like I did last year but I will always have next year :) 

My husband and I woke Michael up on his birthday and sang him happy birthday. He grinned ear to ear and I could feel he felt so special. My husband took Michael into the kitchen and had Mike help him brew up a batch of chocolate cupcakes to add to our yellow cupcakes. I got busy making a fruit salsa and Cinnamon tortilla wedges (turned out terrific and def. a go to party food for me now).

I gathered the gifts and food for the party and took off with my mom down to the park to set up. We had planned on a BBQ for the hot dogs but the park ranger said no fire, there is a burn ban that had just been put into effect. I called Sean and told him to dig out our propane camping grill and bring it with him (thank goodness we had one!) 

My mom and I got busy blowing up oodles of balloons. I used black and red balloons and taped them onto the wall to form the number 3 as the backdrop to the food table. I also blew up a huge beach balloon the is such as tall as it is wide as Michael. I get it for a dollar at winco in their clearance selection from their summer goodies and it was a huge hit last year so I got it again for this year. 

Sean showed up with the kids and got to work on the dogs. Pretty soon our guests started to arrive and we started our chit chatting and watching the kiddos play. When the food was ready everyone dug in. 

I was interrupted but a couple during our party. They had planned on having a birthday party at the same place and was wondering if by some chance we would mind sharing the shelter with them. I said by all means please do, we don't all this space. We moved some table around so that the shelter kinda look somewhat separated and the other couple got to work setting up their costume themed party. 

I had Mike sit on the floor and handed him his gifts and he was more than happy to open each one, BUT he also wanted to play with each one as he opened it. He was quite the happy camper. 

The kids set off to the playground again and then it was time for Cupcakes. We frosted them in chocolate and put mini oreos, and mini chips ahoy in the cup cakes to look like little mickey mouse cakes. Michael squealed "EARS!" I had him sit in a chair and everyone surrounded him with the happy birthday song. When it was time to blow out his candle he knew just what to do!

We all visited for a while after the festivities were over and Michael loved visiting and playing with his friends. I think he had a blast and I know I felt good about it. I didn't over do it, meaning I didn't allow myself to get worked up over the little details. I just let it be and it was perfect!

(Throughout the party I kept asking what time it was, and each time I would reflect how I was at that time three years ago. I had Michael at 4:41 pm, so when I heard it was 2:25pm I would say, I've been pushing for twenty minutes now, and I would get chuckles. I pushed for nearly 3 hours until he finally came out!) 

Happy 3rd Birthday little Buddy. You light up my world everyday. Love you all the way to the moon and back Michael. 

Gizmo

Just For Fun Post

If you know Shelby. You know her behavior. Super cute and cuddly but so mischievous  I can't help but smile at the things this girl does. 

She is super sneaky. She will be in my line of view, come up and give me a kiss and go about playing(or so I think.) The house will get all to quiet, well at least minus sounds from one child. I go on the hunt to find non noise making one and find her in the bathroom playing in the tub(empty), kitchen either leaning down and lapping up dog water, or her usual eating dog food (YUCK!) She loves getting into kitchen cabinets and pulling out ALL the canned goodies and her FAVORITE thing in the cupboard are the BBQ utensils? She will drag them all throughout the house like she is taking it for a walk. Her newest adventure involves climbing anything and everything, including her crib. She finally figured out how to get her other leg over, and I am sure big brother has had a huge role in that! Another thing she loves to do is take off into a fast walk if she has something she knows she isn't supposed to have, or if she is being tracked down for a diaper change.   

A few days ago it finally dawned on me I have a real life gremlin on my hands. :)

 (Gizmo)

I started calling her gremlin when she was doing something naughty and she gives me the sweetest smile and her eyes light up. I can't help but chuckle to myself "Yup, my little gremlin alright"

Finally!

I can't believe I haven't posted in months! So much has happened since my last post. I am going to need to dedicate some time and really put our summer adventures to blog. But for right now I will post the most current happening in my life.

I have been struggling for quite literally 8 months, mentally and emotionally. I am DRAINED. The past few months I have called my husband in tears sometimes unable to breath because I have just been THAT overwhelmed. 

8 months ago my husband took a new job with the promise of better pay, more home time, and great benefits. We had gotten our tax return around the same time he took this new job and had hopes to use it to make our big move. We quite quickly spent that money as it was our paychecks for quite literally two months. The third month in we finally saw some shed of light with his paycheck and felt like things were going to be OK. However he had been gone for a very long time. Since then his paychecks have stammered off to what he was making at his old job, he was gone for 3 weeks at a time, and he had no benefits. I tried and tried to be patient but there comes a point when you cant struggle anymore. I want our finances to be OK, and more than anything I want my family together.

I have fought with myself talking to my husband about my feelings because frankly, I felt very selfish. I hate having to face the man that does whatever he can for our family and tell him I am unhappy. I finally did it, I finally put my foot down and said no more. He agreed, no questions asked and from there we tried figuring out what we were going to do. I told him he needs to go back to his old company. We know what his home time is, there is no guessing, he will have benefits, and we know what his pay is. He agreed although he despised working for that company. 

He called his old company and they were more than happy to take him back. We had to wait until he was home to go fill out an application as part of the re-hiring process. The next day he went into the main office at his current company and gave notice. He was taking in to see one of the main dispatchers right away. Sean disclosed why he was leaving and right away they offered him a position in a different fleet. Sean called me absolutely elated. He now will be home almost every night and every weekend AND he doesn't have to go back to the old company. His pay per mile will go down but he's guaranteed so many miles per week and it will make up for everything. 

I am restraining myself from being too happy & excited, just due to the pure fact this company has done nothing for us in the past 8 months, so you can understand my hesitation that this will work out. I am praying for some heavenly light that this is best thing. 

I am saddened at what time of the year this is happening though. It takes at least two weeks to get into the swing of things and even though Sean has already been given a new truck for his new fleet, it still takes time to be fully into the fleet. I am scared at what our next few paychecks will be like but I know GOD will provide. 

To bring a little light into this I talked with my husband last night about this coming Saturday. I asked him if I could leave the house alone, and spend the day with just, me. He said well why don't we call your mom and see if she can watch the kids so we can go out together. I told him as much as I would love that, I really just need alone time. I need to leave the house and not have a time limit on when to return. I just need to have a day of freedom. To recharge my batteries and reflect on my life. I almost started to cry and my husband could just feel my need for this. It has been over three years since I have gone out really by myself and just did whatever I wanted to do. He agreed and asked what I was going to do and I replied, I don't know. I may go the bookstore in Portland, Powell's and get lost. I may go to the waterfront and just sit. I do know this, though. It will be a day of past. Of leaving on a whim and doing whatever my heart desires. 

I love my family more than anything in this world and could not even begin to imagine where I would be without them. Taking a day to recharge my batteries is something my entire family needs. Mommy needs to be happy to make her family happy.