Family Update

Ok, so I’m feeling like I need to provide a family update. Things have been crazy, crazy lately. I mean, they are always crazy, but sometimes they’re crazy, crazy. Do you know what I mean? I hope so, but let me explain…

The first crazy, crazy thing is my job. Yes, it’s been a challenge to keep up with house and family stuff since I went back to work, but the crazy, crazy comes from my employee resigning, my other employee traveling, covering for a team that is short a person, and being asked to take on additional management responsibilities. And somewhere in there I’m supposed to do my regular job. Sheesh! Suffice to say I am swamped.

I also went on my first business trip. It was only 24 hours, but it’s still so hard to travel with young kids at home… not only trying to prepare things for while I’m gone and missing my family, but also the logistics of travel while breastfeeding. Fortunately it went pretty well. I do enjoy talking to customers in person, and I was spoiled to be able to stay with my in-laws. It is so much more comfortable to stay at a house with family than in a hotel, and in the morning I got to enjoy a big hug from my beautiful little niece!

 

Isn't she the cutest?

Isn’t she the cutest?

When I talked to Parker while I was gone, I was surprised that he seemed bothered by me being gone. After all, he had lived through my business trips before, and this one was so short (he knew I’d be back the next day). Austin, on the other hand, didn’t seem bothered by me being gone until I returned (more on that in a minute). I took the afternoon off work after I flew in so that I could go visit the boys at preschool. Parker has had a bit of a difficult transition to the 3 year old class at his preschool, so I wanted to check things out for myself. I arrived at the school just after Austin woke up from his nap, and he happily settled down with me to nurse. I spent a little time in his class, and then Parker woke up from his nap, so I went to visit with him. Parker was thrilled to see me and so were his friends. It was pretty funny; everyone wanted to sit with me and play with me and to know if I was going to do the next activity with them. The teacher had good things to say about Parker, and his behavior was great while I was there– he happily practiced phonics, listened to stories, and played with friends. I felt a lot better after spending the afternoon with them.

But then it was weekend, and it was a tough weekend. Normally I adore my weekends– spending time with my family, getting stuff done– what’s not to like? But this particular weekend the boys didn’t seem like themselves– fussy, clingy, generally out of sorts– and I’m thinking it may be a reaction to me being gone. I don’t travel very often anymore because I moved myself into one of the sales positions at my company with the least amount of travel, but I am required to travel occasionally, so it’s upsetting to think that my travel takes such a toll on the boys, although in a way it is nice to be missed.

Anyway, other things going on… we continue celebrating birthdays. Between July and October we have a lot of birthdays: me, my best friend Lisa, Clint’s dad, Clint’s brother, my mom, my grandma, Parker, Cider (our dog), Clint, my dad, and my brother. Whew! For Clint’s birthday my mom babysat so we could go out on a date night. Clint has been wanting some time with his wife as that has been very limited since Austin came along. So we used a gift certificate we had to Outback Steakhouse, where we enjoyed a Bloomin’ Onion (as long as you don’t look at the calorie count, it’s awesome).

 

Yum :)

Yum 🙂

Then we got to go to a movie… in a theater!! We had a gift certificate for that too… score! (Apparently these things start to build up when you have kids and don’t get out much.) So we saw Two Guns, which was pretty funny (although a bit more violent and gory than I would like). Mostly we were just happy to be out together though. Then over the weekend we went to Clint’s favorite place– the river– and my parents spoiled him with Tomahawk steaks and homemade cheesecake.

Dig in!

Dig in!

Other than birthday celebrations, we also have had some adoptions to celebrate! My best friend Lisa, after years of struggling through miscarriages, brought home the baby girl she and her husband adopted a little over a month ago! The whole world seemed to leap up in joy at this news because Lisa and Tim are some of the most wonderful people you could ever meet, and they have had such a challenging journey to parenthood. Even through the pain, Tim and Lisa clung to their faith and inspired so many people along the way. (If you want to read more about their story, check out Lisa’s blog. She’s had her hands full with a new baby and moving, so she hasn’t posted about their daughter yet, but you can read the back story.) May I introduce the adorable Sierra Faith?

Welcome baby girl!

Welcome baby girl!

 

The new parents

The new parents

Lisa’s sister and I teamed up to throw her a butterfly themed baby shower this past weekend (butterflies were selected because that is the theme they are planning on for Sierra’s room). I am not naturally crafty, but in an effort to have more personal and special decorations for the shower, I decided to try to tap into my hidden creative talents. I traced and cut out a lot of pink and yellow butterflies, which in my perfectionist nature I spent too long on, but I think it turned out cute. And bonus, I was able to make the whole thing with materials I had at home.

CLS_1299

CLS_1300
I also found a cute butterfly frame that I filled with pictures of their early days with Sierra.

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What do you think? Can I pull off crafty? I actually got the ideas from Sara (who wanted to attend but had a conflict with a wedding), so I can’t really take the credit, but I think it turned out pretty well.

The other adoption we are celebrating is my new niece and nephew!!! The adoption was finalized months ago, but we have been waiting for the embassy to clear the kids to come home. My poor in-laws were devastated to meet their new kids in person finally and then have to leave them! My niece has been cleared to come home finally, so they are on their way to get her, and they hope they can work with the embassy to get my nephew cleared as well. We can’t wait to meet them!!!

Back on the home front, Austin is just blowing through milestones! He’s gotten pretty comfortable with sitting on his own– he can even move to a sitting position from lying down. And in the past week he’s started to pull himself to standing and started crawling! I mean, he had been doing a bit of a caterpillar crawl (up and down, up and down), but when he learned the standard crawl he went from a couple tentative crawling movements, to crawling all over the house, overnight– literally. It’s wonderful, but it just seems like time with him is flying by! Oh, and a couple weeks ago we introduced solid food. He is only mildly interested in puréed foods, but give him a cracker, and he is good to go.

 

I can crawl!

I can crawl!

I've found all sorts of new toys to play with :)

I’ve found all sorts of new toys to play with 🙂

I can even pull myself up!

I can even pull myself up!

My big brother fed me my first meal.

My big brother fed me my first meal.

Yum, bananas :)

Yum, bananas 🙂

Anyway, so we’ve had a lot going on, but we’re still alive and well over here– just crazy busy and crazy exhausted. How’s everyone else out there? Anyone else crazy, crazy? Anyone else miss the days of 8 hours of sleep? Hang in there!

3 thoughts on “Family Update

  1. I’m glad the shower was a smashing success! That family picture is super cute. We are crazy busy as well – last night Alicia threw a temper tantum because she was SO mad that we were gone. Hang in there!

    • Thanks Sara! I really did appreciate your suggestions. Without them I probably would have spent more and had decorations I didn’t like as well. I will share more pictures from the shower with you soon.

      Sorry that things have been crazy for you too. I hope you enjoyed the wedding and that the girls are in a happier place today.

  2. Pingback: I gave notice to my work today | Little Silly Goose

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