After our move to Washington and Crosby's birth, I felt myself begin to sink. I tried to float - hell, I tried to SWIM through the tough currents of life but I have felt, for two years, off and on, like I'm being PULLED beneath the surface, barely able to keep my head above water enough to breathe. It's an awful feeling. I have tried to search and figure out what it was that kept me in this state. We've struggled financially since the move, with Ritchie taking a large pay cut to move us out here (a small sacrifice we thought for all of the potential opportunity here -jobs in tech were hard to come by in Denver). Then we had Crosby, and got his aortic stenosis diagnoses. A feeling I can't ever explain and I wouldn't wish on anyone. The pain of hearing that something is WRONG with your child. We've been SO fortunate that his condition has remained stable and we haven't had to do anything surgical yet. It's coming, but I feel so much more equipped two years in than I did days after his birth. With Crosby's diagnoses came a big life change of deciding to put off (or just not complete at all) our adoption. We didn't think we could handle two children with medical conditions. We also found ourselves unable to fund it with the income loss and sudden medical bills (we received ALL of our prenatal bills at once from Colorado and it was a SHOCK - throw in a birth and heart condition bills and we were flat broke).
I simply chalked it up to fate and tried to let go of the dream of parenting a girl. But I couldn't. It kept coming back to me. We still couldn't afford it, though. A little over a year later, we became licensed foster parents and we've taken a few short term placements to feel it out. Something about it doesn't feel right for us. I wish I could explain that better, but I'm not sure I can. It's a feeling, a gut intuition, that foster care is not the right path for us. With that realization, I felt the water overflow right over my head. Air GONE. That's the only way I can describe it. Pain, no air, feeling weak and stupid because I HAVE THREE AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL BOYS AND SHOULDN'T I BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT I HAVE WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!
My desire to have a daughter is very real. It's not something I have been able to just work past. Ritchie and I brainstormed and budgeted and searched and talked and tried to figure out the best path for me to fulfill this desire and it wasn't until we came right back to the adoption from China of a little girl with a cleft lip and palate that I felt... PEACE. My head came fully out of the water. I felt more present with my children, happier with my husband, my life seemed to make sense again. It's like I hadn't been able to reconcile that loss of something I never even had and finally I realized that I hadn't come to terms with just not having a daughter. What's even bigger is I realized that these feelings, this desire, is worth fighting for. It's worth the costs, the paperwork, the adding more to our family's plate, etc... because in my gut, and more importantly IN MY HEART, I know this is right for our family.
I was meant to have a daughter from China. I've always felt this IN MY BONES. Like, there's a piece of me IN China. It's the most bizarre thing. If someone else said that and I hadn't experienced it first hand, I would be so judgmental. Like, weird voodoo magic hippy crap that isn't real, right? It feels so real, it's almost unbelievable to ME and I'm the one feeling it.
Anyway, we're working on it. We're working on bringing our girl home. It's a bit of a process still because we have to redo some paperwork (a lot of thing expire after a year and we're THREE years in now) and, most importantly, gather some funds. But, we're going to DO this. And I cannot wait.
Showing posts with label All About Me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All About Me. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Friday, January 11, 2013
31
I turned 31 today.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the things I really want in my life, what's really important. There are many a blogger following the model of monthly goals, one major accomplishment for each month of the year. I, too am taking on this model.
January:Organize the house
What better way to start the new year than to get everything organized and clean and shiny :) I'm working on it - I'll give you an update at the end of the month.
February: Shower and get dressed and make a genuine effort to look pretty EVERY DAY.
I spend most days in jeans and a sweatshirt of some sort with my hair in a hat and no makeup. I'm known to go roughly 4 days without showering. It's gross.
March: Learn Photoshop
I think learning Photoshop would really enhance my business. I'm hoping to gain a good grasp of the basics in March.
April: Obtain a business license
This is just something that needs to be done and it's also one of those things I'll avoid like the plague. It will probably get done at the END of the month.
May: Eat all meals at home
We eat out WAY too much. This will be a crazy challenging month for us, but I think it's an important habit to get in to.
June: Exercise every day
Again with the good habits! I haven't been exercising and my body can tell. I'm hoping to have begun SOMETHING prior to June, but it's my goal to do some sort of physical activity every single day in June.
July: Zero frivolous spending
No buying movies, no new clothes, no household items that aren't necessary, nada. Another tough month.
August: Learn a new craft
The craft world is my oyster. Yarn wreaths? Sewing something? Knitting? Painting? What will it be? Even I'd like to know.
September: Dedicated 1 hour of unplugged time with the kids each day
SO important!! I've been profoundly aware of how plugged in I am. I definitely spend time with the kids. 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there.... then I check the phone or my computer, or I make a call, or I take a picture for instagram. All fine things in moderation, but I want my kids to know that every day they have my undivided attention, even if just for an hour. One solid hour.
October: Read Pillars of the Earth
Why this book intimidates me, I'm not quite sure. It's been on my list forever though, so here goes nothing!
November: Overnight trip with Ritchie
Because of December's goal and how much money we're needing to save, I'm not sure where we'll go, but even if we get ONE blissful night in a nearby hotel without kids, sleeping in and enjoying each other uninterrupted it will be a huge investment in our marriage.
December: Apply for adoption
I'm scared to even put this down. We've just begun to really save and commit to this in our minds and hearts. There's still a TON that could stand in our way. The longing to start this process grips me so tightly that I can barely breathe sometimes. It's a goal. An important one.
Follow along, will ya?
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Top 10 Series... Let's Start With FOOD
I'm going to do a few series here on the ol' blog because I miss blogging and starting a series might help me blog a bit more... give me some material. This series is a Top 10. I'll share my top 10s of various categories and encourage you to share yours. I'm starting with comfort foods.
This is a far cry from my usual, "I want to be healthy" posts. Most comfort foods aren't the healthiest, and, well... this list is no exception. My definition of comfort food is something that I want when it's cold out, I'm feeling nostalgic, or simply want to spend some time in the kitchen whipping up something warm. To me, comfort food is always warm.
Without further delay; my top 10 comfort foods (in order from least favorite comfort food (but still delicious and amazing) to most coveted comfort food ever according to me.
10. Pancakes
9. Chinese food
8. Biscuits
7. Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha
6. Loaded Baked Potato
5. Spiced apples, preferably with ice cream and caramel
4. Chocolate chip cookies
3. Pasta with homemade meat sauce
2. Tomato soup and grilled cheese
1. Corn and cheese chowder WITH bread
This is a far cry from my usual, "I want to be healthy" posts. Most comfort foods aren't the healthiest, and, well... this list is no exception. My definition of comfort food is something that I want when it's cold out, I'm feeling nostalgic, or simply want to spend some time in the kitchen whipping up something warm. To me, comfort food is always warm.
Without further delay; my top 10 comfort foods (in order from least favorite comfort food (but still delicious and amazing) to most coveted comfort food ever according to me.
10. Pancakes
What's not to love about pancakes? Dripping with butter and syrup. You can flavor pancakes to your hearts content. Blueberries, chocolate chips, bananas, the world is your breakfast oyster.
9. Chinese food
Chinese food is something I really crave when weather is cold. I love nothing more than to sit and watch a fabulous chick flick and eat chinese food. My favorites are chow mein and any kind of breaded chicken in a sauce. Orange, sesame, lemon... what-have-you. Chinese food just makes me feel good.
8. Biscuits
Preferably cheddar dill biscuits made at home by me. I love rolling dough, I love making a floury mess of the counter. I love the way they smell cooking in the oven. I love spreading homemade jam on them or dipping them into a savory soup.
7. Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha
Sweet, caffeinated, warm... it's my favorite Starbucks drink.
6. Loaded Baked Potato
I love a crispy, salty skin of a soft, warm baked potato loaded with butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon. Baked potatoes are perfect, by the way, with a medium rare filet mignon. Cooked at home. By Ritchie.
5. Spiced apples, preferably with ice cream and caramel
These make the house smell amazing and are a perfect dessert. They're not too heavy, but still give me a sweet flavor after a savory meal. Spiced apples scream, "FALL!" to me. Yummm...
4. Chocolate chip cookies
Baking my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe is SO comforting to me. I love to involve Max in all the measuring and stirring. This recipe is by far my favorite and anytime I crave baking, I turn to this easy fix.
3. Pasta with homemade meat sauce
Ritchie makes the most amazing meat sauce in the history of meat sauces. It simmers on the stove for hours and makes enough for us to freeze afterwards. I love thick, hearty spaghetti noodles. No angel hair pasta for me. Cover this in some parmesan cheese and I've died and gone to comfort food heaven.
2. Tomato soup and grilled cheese
Sadly, I've yet to find a homemade tomato soup recipe that I love so I stick with Progresso Tomato Basil. It gets the job done. For grilled cheese though? My favorite is rosemary bread, turkey, gruyere cheese, bacon and fig jam. Go make this right now... just go.
1. Corn and cheese chowder WITH bread
Pioneer woman's recipe is my go to. I love to cook this soup. I love the way it's done in 30 minutes. I love to dunk bread in it. I LOVE that it lasts me for the next 3 days and I usually have it for lunch and dinner for 3 days straight and I never tire of it. As soon as it gets cold out I immediately want this soup. It's creamy, it's hot, it's cheesy, and it's perfect. My ultimate comfort food.
What's your go-to comfort food?
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
My Balls
Apparently I've become a 12 year old boy because this post has been buzzing in my head for a few days and the title that I keep coming up with, "My Balls", has me laughing out loud every single time I think about it.
Real mature, I know.
Anyway, what this post is REALLY about is balance. Finding balance. With my new photography business, I've been hypersensitive to the issue of balance. Kelly Hampton has spoken before of juggling these imaginary balls in the air and with each day there's a choice of which balls you'll keep up, and which you'll let fall. Balance.
So, that's had me thinking about my balls (haha, it gets me every time!). Which ones I choose to keep up each day, which I let fall and pick up another day. I've been practicing the art of finding balance, but also of cutting myself some slack.
I can get into a really bad pattern of comparing myself to others. Well, actually just to what others PUT OUT THERE. That's an important piece. I think often we compare our reality to what we perceive others' realities to be. People tend to put their best foot forward when under observation. Whether in blogging, when hosting a play date, when showing their work - it usually makes things look REALLY good.
But, what's real? How many of us actually have sparkling homes, well fed, clean, and impeccably behaved children with whom we craft, bake, discipline, snuggle, play with and teach morals and values to? All while, of course, maintaining a strong, loving marriage, healthy sex life, finding time for ourselves and, OF COURSE wearing adorable, highly accessorized outfits daily. Oh yes, and exercising! And reading! We're all doing all of those things, yes?
Yeah, that's what I thought.
I can balance about 2 balls at any given time. Some days I choose kids and housework. Other days it's kids and photography. After the kids go to bed, or during nap I may choose some different balls, one of the one's that dropped earlier, like showering or relaxing or making time for my marriage. But, I find, at any given time, I can handle about 2 balls up in the air. Some women may be able to handle more, and that's fine. I'm trying to be comfortable with what I can do and just feel good about that.
So, here's a little bit of reality for you on a Wednesday.
This particular day I was not focusing on housework OR discipline, apparently.
The balls can change frequently. I may not have planned on balancing a needy 3 year old that afternoon, but he needed me, so I dropped whichever other ball I needed to to make room to balance him, too. And it felt good.
Often times I choose to include TV in my balancing act. Because I love it.
Sometimes cooking healthy, homemade meals is my priority. Other days I just need to eat greasy food and focus on other things.
This day I made time for MYSELF. A haircut, a cute outfit... this may be rare, but when I make the time it feels so great.
Sometimes the balls I need to balance are SO simple. The ball of "kids" is always sort of floating up there, but I do consciously have days where I put my simplest needs above them. Sometimes, the day feels so hard that my juggling act consists of the balls "caffeine" and "rest". So, I use movies and snacks and long car rides and whatever it takes just to get me through that day with minimal yelling or crying. Those days happen, and that's okay, too. In being kind to myself I hope to teach my kids that bad days happen, you can't please everyone, you can't have everything, but you can do the very best with each day that you can. Whenever you choose to put your energy into something, inevitably something else will suffer and THAT'S OKAY. You're human, there's only so much one person can do.
Which balls are you juggling today? Mine were errands and TV. A lovely balancing act today. This afternoon it will be errands (didn't finish this morning) and kids - I have something fun in store for them. When Ritchie gets home I need the balls to be cleaning and cooking. After bedtime I have to focus on photography, the business side and time with Ritchie.
It's all in finding balance.
Real mature, I know.
Anyway, what this post is REALLY about is balance. Finding balance. With my new photography business, I've been hypersensitive to the issue of balance. Kelly Hampton has spoken before of juggling these imaginary balls in the air and with each day there's a choice of which balls you'll keep up, and which you'll let fall. Balance.
So, that's had me thinking about my balls (haha, it gets me every time!). Which ones I choose to keep up each day, which I let fall and pick up another day. I've been practicing the art of finding balance, but also of cutting myself some slack.
I can get into a really bad pattern of comparing myself to others. Well, actually just to what others PUT OUT THERE. That's an important piece. I think often we compare our reality to what we perceive others' realities to be. People tend to put their best foot forward when under observation. Whether in blogging, when hosting a play date, when showing their work - it usually makes things look REALLY good.
But, what's real? How many of us actually have sparkling homes, well fed, clean, and impeccably behaved children with whom we craft, bake, discipline, snuggle, play with and teach morals and values to? All while, of course, maintaining a strong, loving marriage, healthy sex life, finding time for ourselves and, OF COURSE wearing adorable, highly accessorized outfits daily. Oh yes, and exercising! And reading! We're all doing all of those things, yes?
Yeah, that's what I thought.
I can balance about 2 balls at any given time. Some days I choose kids and housework. Other days it's kids and photography. After the kids go to bed, or during nap I may choose some different balls, one of the one's that dropped earlier, like showering or relaxing or making time for my marriage. But, I find, at any given time, I can handle about 2 balls up in the air. Some women may be able to handle more, and that's fine. I'm trying to be comfortable with what I can do and just feel good about that.
So, here's a little bit of reality for you on a Wednesday.
Sometimes the balls I need to balance are SO simple. The ball of "kids" is always sort of floating up there, but I do consciously have days where I put my simplest needs above them. Sometimes, the day feels so hard that my juggling act consists of the balls "caffeine" and "rest". So, I use movies and snacks and long car rides and whatever it takes just to get me through that day with minimal yelling or crying. Those days happen, and that's okay, too. In being kind to myself I hope to teach my kids that bad days happen, you can't please everyone, you can't have everything, but you can do the very best with each day that you can. Whenever you choose to put your energy into something, inevitably something else will suffer and THAT'S OKAY. You're human, there's only so much one person can do.
Which balls are you juggling today? Mine were errands and TV. A lovely balancing act today. This afternoon it will be errands (didn't finish this morning) and kids - I have something fun in store for them. When Ritchie gets home I need the balls to be cleaning and cooking. After bedtime I have to focus on photography, the business side and time with Ritchie.
It's all in finding balance.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
I Have the Secret to Living to 100 (Hint: It's NOT Paleo)
Okay, this is all going to come out very unorganized and seemingly irrational. Just go with it.
So, Paleo? One of the biggest arguments against Paleo (in my very limited research) is that our cave-people ancestors didn't live very long, so can't we fault their eating style for some of that? At first I thought, well, they were dealing with so many other elements, what with limited shelter and dinosaurs and what not.
THEN, I figured out what really killed them. There was no Starbucks. People these days are living past 100 years old. You know why? STARBUCKS. They are happy, they are fueled, they are caffeinated, less crabby and therefore less likely to club their neighbor over the head. Or their husbands. Or their three year old.
Okay, so I've been missing Starbucks the most. OH, and quick little interruption of this obviously important blog post to say that one should NEVER, I repeat NEVER begin a food challenge at the beginning of Fall or Winter. That is when Starbucks peaks with all its new drinks and goodies and pinterest is flooded with pictures of them passing on to all the secret to a long and happy life.
So, I've started Paleo at the wrong time of the year. Also, since beginning I've been very VERY moody. I will say it's gotten better. Day 2 was the worst. Day 4 is manageable. I even went TO Starbucks all determined to get my damn Salted Caramel Mocha and then I backed out at the last minute and got hot tea. Who the HELL goes to Starbucks for hot tea? I hope they let me come back.
Anyway. I hate Paleo. If my husband will let me out of it, I will for sure bail. That's not to say I want to go back to having Starbucks 4 times a week and eating pizza for dinner with brownie and cookie chasers. However, I do believe in grains. Whole grains. And cheese. I definitely believe in cheese.
As of right now I'm trying to convince Ritchie that 10 days is plenty. Honestly, if I can go from eating the way I was, to eating NOTHING but meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and eggs for a whole 10 days, I would consider that a success. That would take us right up until next Friday. That's still a hell of a long time away.
I've been enjoying most of the meals I prepare. I haven't even been missing Diet Coke that much. But, Starbucks. I think I could even manage Paleo for the whole 30 days IF every 3rd day I could have a Starbucks. I don't even need the scone or muffin, but I NEED the latte or mocha.
Do I sound like a total pansy? Will you all hate me if I quit? Do ANY of you even care, or am I just thinking that I will be horrifically judged but really nobody really thinks about me all that much to give two shits?
Please, do tell.
So, Paleo? One of the biggest arguments against Paleo (in my very limited research) is that our cave-people ancestors didn't live very long, so can't we fault their eating style for some of that? At first I thought, well, they were dealing with so many other elements, what with limited shelter and dinosaurs and what not.
THEN, I figured out what really killed them. There was no Starbucks. People these days are living past 100 years old. You know why? STARBUCKS. They are happy, they are fueled, they are caffeinated, less crabby and therefore less likely to club their neighbor over the head. Or their husbands. Or their three year old.
Okay, so I've been missing Starbucks the most. OH, and quick little interruption of this obviously important blog post to say that one should NEVER, I repeat NEVER begin a food challenge at the beginning of Fall or Winter. That is when Starbucks peaks with all its new drinks and goodies and pinterest is flooded with pictures of them passing on to all the secret to a long and happy life.
So, I've started Paleo at the wrong time of the year. Also, since beginning I've been very VERY moody. I will say it's gotten better. Day 2 was the worst. Day 4 is manageable. I even went TO Starbucks all determined to get my damn Salted Caramel Mocha and then I backed out at the last minute and got hot tea. Who the HELL goes to Starbucks for hot tea? I hope they let me come back.
Anyway. I hate Paleo. If my husband will let me out of it, I will for sure bail. That's not to say I want to go back to having Starbucks 4 times a week and eating pizza for dinner with brownie and cookie chasers. However, I do believe in grains. Whole grains. And cheese. I definitely believe in cheese.
As of right now I'm trying to convince Ritchie that 10 days is plenty. Honestly, if I can go from eating the way I was, to eating NOTHING but meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and eggs for a whole 10 days, I would consider that a success. That would take us right up until next Friday. That's still a hell of a long time away.
I've been enjoying most of the meals I prepare. I haven't even been missing Diet Coke that much. But, Starbucks. I think I could even manage Paleo for the whole 30 days IF every 3rd day I could have a Starbucks. I don't even need the scone or muffin, but I NEED the latte or mocha.
Do I sound like a total pansy? Will you all hate me if I quit? Do ANY of you even care, or am I just thinking that I will be horrifically judged but really nobody really thinks about me all that much to give two shits?
Please, do tell.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Lincolns are Moving!
I actually wrote this post in my head yesterday as I was driving to the paint store for 50 shades of grey paint (did you see what I did there?) -
side note: these are my priorities. It's EXTREMELY important to me that I have paint samples WITH ME when I arrive so that the first thing I can do in my new house is put paint samples on the wall, choose a color and paint. Like, Day 1. Yup, I'm a total freak.
Onward. I started to write this post in my head and began bawling uncontrollably in the car. I pulled it together to go inside and get my samples, but then picked up the bawling immediately as I got back in the car.
We're moving to Denver, Colorado. It's been a whirlwind that I'm not sure I could even accurately depict to you right now. Basically, I've been hounding Ritchie for years (since Max was born) to look for work out of the state. I do love California. Well... I love that my family is nearby. California is fine and all, but I've craved having four seasons and a slower pace and better schools for my kids ever since I had them. Perhaps a bit of grass is always greener? We'll find out, I guess. Anyway, Ritchie wanted to put more time in with his job and gain some experience and plus he LOVES California so he kept putting it off. "In two years" he told me 3 years ago. A year ago I pushed HARD and he even applied to one place and never heard back. This time I knew our lease would be ending come November and I wanted to make sure there would be ample time to land a new job so we didn't have to sign another lease and be here another whole year. Ritchie basically threw a few applications out there to placate me. Within a week he had several responses, one of them from a company in Seattle, WA and one from a company in Denver, CO.
Seattle has long been one of our favorite places. To sweeten the pot, my BFF lives there. That certainly would make transitioning a whole lot easier. Ritchie began to move forward with the Seattle company and didn't with the Denver company. He just ignored them.
Fast forward about a week. The Denver company contacted him again and said they would be in the bay area if he wanted to meet them and do an informal interview. He agreed, but almost canceled twice! The Seattle thing was moving forward, neither of us were super thrilled on the idea of Denver (Ritchie had never been, and I had only been once, MANY years ago). He did decide to go, though and when he came home from that meeting I remember it was a turning point.
He was EXCITED about this company, this position, these people and they had REALLY sold him on Colorado. From that day I on I KNEW. I knew we'd end up there. I wasn't the happiest. I had been planning this grand life where my best friend and I hung out with our kids all day. A built in network was far more tempting to me than some mountains.
But, I am the type of person (thankfully) that truly can become excited about anything and therefore I put my mind to learning all the great things about Colorado. In the meantime the Seattle company fell through, Ritchie had one intensive interview with the Denver company and was fairly immediately offered the job. All within 2 weeks of applying. The company was on a big push and couldn't take the time to fly us out there immediately so we planned to visit 2 weeks later and see if we liked the area enough to live there.
That trip happened 2 weeks ago. There are pros and cons to any area and we sought out both so that we had a healthy perspective on what we would be getting ourselves into. We fell in love with Stapleton, a neighborhood very close to downtown Denver where Ritchie would be working. I'll go into our new hood and home in a different post though. The trip solidified that we would be moving there. The rest was just a matter of waiting for human resources to get the paperwork done. Once that was finalized we found out that in order to have health insurance for the month of August Ritchie would have to start by August 1. So, we quickly put into motion our plans to be in Colorado by July 22 so that we had a week to settle in before he had to begin working. That was last week. We load the truck tomorrow.
To say it's been crazy would be an understatement. I still don't think it's hit me that this is ACTUALLY happening. I will delve more into my feelings on leaving my family and friends here as well as what I'm looking forward to about moving in another post. For now, there are the basics. I need to nap :)
side note: these are my priorities. It's EXTREMELY important to me that I have paint samples WITH ME when I arrive so that the first thing I can do in my new house is put paint samples on the wall, choose a color and paint. Like, Day 1. Yup, I'm a total freak.
Onward. I started to write this post in my head and began bawling uncontrollably in the car. I pulled it together to go inside and get my samples, but then picked up the bawling immediately as I got back in the car.
We're moving to Denver, Colorado. It's been a whirlwind that I'm not sure I could even accurately depict to you right now. Basically, I've been hounding Ritchie for years (since Max was born) to look for work out of the state. I do love California. Well... I love that my family is nearby. California is fine and all, but I've craved having four seasons and a slower pace and better schools for my kids ever since I had them. Perhaps a bit of grass is always greener? We'll find out, I guess. Anyway, Ritchie wanted to put more time in with his job and gain some experience and plus he LOVES California so he kept putting it off. "In two years" he told me 3 years ago. A year ago I pushed HARD and he even applied to one place and never heard back. This time I knew our lease would be ending come November and I wanted to make sure there would be ample time to land a new job so we didn't have to sign another lease and be here another whole year. Ritchie basically threw a few applications out there to placate me. Within a week he had several responses, one of them from a company in Seattle, WA and one from a company in Denver, CO.
Seattle has long been one of our favorite places. To sweeten the pot, my BFF lives there. That certainly would make transitioning a whole lot easier. Ritchie began to move forward with the Seattle company and didn't with the Denver company. He just ignored them.
Fast forward about a week. The Denver company contacted him again and said they would be in the bay area if he wanted to meet them and do an informal interview. He agreed, but almost canceled twice! The Seattle thing was moving forward, neither of us were super thrilled on the idea of Denver (Ritchie had never been, and I had only been once, MANY years ago). He did decide to go, though and when he came home from that meeting I remember it was a turning point.
He was EXCITED about this company, this position, these people and they had REALLY sold him on Colorado. From that day I on I KNEW. I knew we'd end up there. I wasn't the happiest. I had been planning this grand life where my best friend and I hung out with our kids all day. A built in network was far more tempting to me than some mountains.
But, I am the type of person (thankfully) that truly can become excited about anything and therefore I put my mind to learning all the great things about Colorado. In the meantime the Seattle company fell through, Ritchie had one intensive interview with the Denver company and was fairly immediately offered the job. All within 2 weeks of applying. The company was on a big push and couldn't take the time to fly us out there immediately so we planned to visit 2 weeks later and see if we liked the area enough to live there.
That trip happened 2 weeks ago. There are pros and cons to any area and we sought out both so that we had a healthy perspective on what we would be getting ourselves into. We fell in love with Stapleton, a neighborhood very close to downtown Denver where Ritchie would be working. I'll go into our new hood and home in a different post though. The trip solidified that we would be moving there. The rest was just a matter of waiting for human resources to get the paperwork done. Once that was finalized we found out that in order to have health insurance for the month of August Ritchie would have to start by August 1. So, we quickly put into motion our plans to be in Colorado by July 22 so that we had a week to settle in before he had to begin working. That was last week. We load the truck tomorrow.
To say it's been crazy would be an understatement. I still don't think it's hit me that this is ACTUALLY happening. I will delve more into my feelings on leaving my family and friends here as well as what I'm looking forward to about moving in another post. For now, there are the basics. I need to nap :)
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Just the Happs
I haven't done a post that just sort of tells you about life lately in awhile. So, here it is.
First off, and most importantly, THIS little guy right here?
He's letting us SLEEP!! We took one week and sleep trained the shit out of him (lots of tears, all around) but he's FINALLY SLEEPING. It's like a Mother's Day miracle. Last night he only woke once between the hours of 7:30 pm and 6:30 am and he didn't even nurse at that time. Just a quick diaper change and he was out again! Engorgement aside, it was glorious! It's been about 2 nights of this behavior and I feel like a whole new woman.
So, our tricks? I completely stopped nursing him before sleep times. NO more nap or bedtime nursing. He gets nursed about 30 min before it's time to go to sleep. That seems to have stopped the needing to nurse to sleep association that he had hardcore. The second big thing was Ritchie and I not sleeping in the room with him. We spent 5 days on the couch and have just recently brought our mattress into the living room. While it seems extreme, we don't have a 3rd bedroom for him and until we're certain he's a solid sleeper we want to keep him out of Max's room. So.. for now we'll sleep in the living room. It's rather lovely to have a space to ourselves again, even if it's not our bedroom. Plus, the kitchen's RIGHT there for midnight snacking.
In other news, I performed with my high school dance team last week for an alumni surprise performance for my coach.
I had THE best time seeing some old friends and dancing again. I almost passed out from nerves, but overall it was a huge success. Max kept saying he wanted to see it again!
Just a super cute picture of Max with his all time favorite almond butter. If you haven't tried almond butter yet - DO IT.
I did two photo sessions this week. One you already saw, my sister in law's maternity session. The other was my dad, his wife, Mary and their doggies. Chole, the lab, is getting up there in age and they wanted to make sure to have photos done altogether before she's no longer with them.
Wouldn't it have been nice if I didn't totally ruin all the photos by having my ISO up to 3200 in perfect lighting? Grainy, hot mess they are. We're going to go out and try again soon.
On the photography note, I've been pondering actually starting a business. I have two thoughts about this. One is all full of gusto and confidence; like, I could actually DO THIS! Maybe this is my next move, a way to bring in some income, fulfill a passion AND be home with the kids! The second thought is, there is NO WAY I'm good enough to actually have paying clients and what if I screw it up and what if people hate my work and blah, blah, blah. I hate that my mind can get in my way of pursuing something I want. So, for now I'm in limbo. I'm enjoying practicing on family and friends. I'm hoping to attend Blue Lily's Go Pro workshop in 2013 sometime and take it from there.
Oh, and Max is almost potty trained! I have no pictures of that, but here's a cute one of him.
I had a fabulous Mother's Day and I hope you all did, too! With all this sleep, I'm ready to start a new week!
First off, and most importantly, THIS little guy right here?
He's letting us SLEEP!! We took one week and sleep trained the shit out of him (lots of tears, all around) but he's FINALLY SLEEPING. It's like a Mother's Day miracle. Last night he only woke once between the hours of 7:30 pm and 6:30 am and he didn't even nurse at that time. Just a quick diaper change and he was out again! Engorgement aside, it was glorious! It's been about 2 nights of this behavior and I feel like a whole new woman.
So, our tricks? I completely stopped nursing him before sleep times. NO more nap or bedtime nursing. He gets nursed about 30 min before it's time to go to sleep. That seems to have stopped the needing to nurse to sleep association that he had hardcore. The second big thing was Ritchie and I not sleeping in the room with him. We spent 5 days on the couch and have just recently brought our mattress into the living room. While it seems extreme, we don't have a 3rd bedroom for him and until we're certain he's a solid sleeper we want to keep him out of Max's room. So.. for now we'll sleep in the living room. It's rather lovely to have a space to ourselves again, even if it's not our bedroom. Plus, the kitchen's RIGHT there for midnight snacking.
In other news, I performed with my high school dance team last week for an alumni surprise performance for my coach.
I had THE best time seeing some old friends and dancing again. I almost passed out from nerves, but overall it was a huge success. Max kept saying he wanted to see it again!
Just a super cute picture of Max with his all time favorite almond butter. If you haven't tried almond butter yet - DO IT.
I did two photo sessions this week. One you already saw, my sister in law's maternity session. The other was my dad, his wife, Mary and their doggies. Chole, the lab, is getting up there in age and they wanted to make sure to have photos done altogether before she's no longer with them.
Wouldn't it have been nice if I didn't totally ruin all the photos by having my ISO up to 3200 in perfect lighting? Grainy, hot mess they are. We're going to go out and try again soon.
On the photography note, I've been pondering actually starting a business. I have two thoughts about this. One is all full of gusto and confidence; like, I could actually DO THIS! Maybe this is my next move, a way to bring in some income, fulfill a passion AND be home with the kids! The second thought is, there is NO WAY I'm good enough to actually have paying clients and what if I screw it up and what if people hate my work and blah, blah, blah. I hate that my mind can get in my way of pursuing something I want. So, for now I'm in limbo. I'm enjoying practicing on family and friends. I'm hoping to attend Blue Lily's Go Pro workshop in 2013 sometime and take it from there.
Oh, and Max is almost potty trained! I have no pictures of that, but here's a cute one of him.
I had a fabulous Mother's Day and I hope you all did, too! With all this sleep, I'm ready to start a new week!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
5 Things I Learned While my Children Were Insanely Sick
How do I sum up this week? There's been coughing, vomiting, high fevers, higher fevers, snot, eye goop and very little sleep. I have SO much I could say about how awful this week has been for the Lincoln household, but where would that land me? If there's anything I've learned in my 30 years is that there's power in positivity so I'm going to attempt to shed some light on this garbage dump of a situation and share with you the top 5 things that I've learned while my children were insanely sick. I'm also going to throw in some Instagram photos of my very sick children.
Max as we were coming home from Urgent Care. This picture doesn't even do justice to how bad he looked and felt. I was so sad that day.
I've learned that...
1. Even though the pediatric advice line will immediately send you to urgent care or the ER for anything over 104 degree fever, once you get there they will be "unimpressed" with that low of a fever and tell you there's nothing to worry about. Moms? Apparently you don't have to be truly concerned until your child has a temp of 107 degrees or higher. That is when you will impress the emergency room staff. This is one area that I would prefer my children to be underachievers in. Remain as unimpressive as you'd like, kids! So, I guess I've taken from this to stop panicking about a high fever. Try a fever reducer (more on that coming right up) or a luke warm bath or a cool compress and take it from there. They basically did nothing for Ben at the emergency room despite his 105 degree temperature so basically I could have stayed home and slept. They did, however, give us Motrin and that brings me to the second thing I've learned.
Ben and me at the ER. He just slept the whole time in my arms.
I've learned that...
2. Motrin is far superior in reducing a fever than Tylenol. Maybe it's just my kids, but we had Tylenoled Ben at home and he still had a rockin' fever an hour later but 20 minutes after some Motrin he was at a much less alarming 97.5 degrees. It just works better.
When all else fails, get them outside for fresh air!
And ice cream!
I've learned that...
3. A hoarse voice on a 2 1/2 year old is really cute. Sad, but cute nonetheless. Both my kids are honestly troopers and I've been so proud of the way they've handled being so sick. It hasn't been easy and there's definitely whining and crying, but overall they're just sweet little souls who have given their momma so many snuggles.
Max and me snuggling on the couch watching Thomas.
Also, we were a little silly.
Ben perked up this morning and went with us to sign our closing docs on our house.
I've learned that...
4. Ritchie is a freaking rock star dad and husband. I already knew that, but when we have these sorts of crap times running through our family and he steps up the way he has I am just in awe at how I got so lucky. He stayed home for 2 days to help me deal with the 2 sick kids, only to go to work sick himself today because he didn't want to miss anymore time. I feel like a HUGE mommy wimp when the kids are sick. It's the vomiting that I can't handle and both kids were coughing so much they were vomiting, so I requested some help and he was there for me despite what that meant for his workload and his ability to take time off later when he was sick. He didn't complain about it and even told me that he totally understood! I mean, really, he's my hero. And I'm working on my wimpy mommy ways. I still want my own mommy when I vomit, so maybe I need to grow up a bit, yes? After all, I am 30.
Lastly, I've learned that...
5. I have an amazing network. It's all of YOU that have brought me to tears (good ones!) this week. Whether it's in a friend bringing dinner or a text saying that we're being thought of or offers of help in any way, the love and support has come in abundance this week! I've had offers for dinners to be made, Starbucks to be brought, prayers to be said and everything in between! I seriously thrive off positive energy. That's why both labors I wanted the masses to KNOW I was in labor. It helps me tremendously to know that others are thinking positive thoughts for me and this week in particular I've needed all that positivity! So, thanks SO SO SO much to you all for keeping me and my boys especially in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for the offers of food or coffee or just a shoulder (even if over text because you don't want to get sick! haha!!) to cry on. I've felt the love big time and it's carried me through.
There really has been a light at the end of this tunnel and I'm grateful to be being pulled through to the other side. I think (Dear God!) that we're through the worst of it with the boys, but I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. Oh, and just because I feel I HAVE to say this - please, call your doctor/on call doctor if your child's fever gets high. They may send you to the ER and you may not have needed to go, but obviously I am not a doctor and can't really tell you that your child is fine if they have a high fever. Just GO. It was not at all a waste of time! I felt so much better knowing he had been seen.
I plan to get back into Project 365 soon here as well as write some exciting updates on our house selling AND (finally!) a tour of the house we're renting that we love! Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things on this here blog in no time.
Max as we were coming home from Urgent Care. This picture doesn't even do justice to how bad he looked and felt. I was so sad that day.
I've learned that...
1. Even though the pediatric advice line will immediately send you to urgent care or the ER for anything over 104 degree fever, once you get there they will be "unimpressed" with that low of a fever and tell you there's nothing to worry about. Moms? Apparently you don't have to be truly concerned until your child has a temp of 107 degrees or higher. That is when you will impress the emergency room staff. This is one area that I would prefer my children to be underachievers in. Remain as unimpressive as you'd like, kids! So, I guess I've taken from this to stop panicking about a high fever. Try a fever reducer (more on that coming right up) or a luke warm bath or a cool compress and take it from there. They basically did nothing for Ben at the emergency room despite his 105 degree temperature so basically I could have stayed home and slept. They did, however, give us Motrin and that brings me to the second thing I've learned.
Ben and me at the ER. He just slept the whole time in my arms.
I've learned that...
2. Motrin is far superior in reducing a fever than Tylenol. Maybe it's just my kids, but we had Tylenoled Ben at home and he still had a rockin' fever an hour later but 20 minutes after some Motrin he was at a much less alarming 97.5 degrees. It just works better.
When all else fails, get them outside for fresh air!
And ice cream!
I've learned that...
3. A hoarse voice on a 2 1/2 year old is really cute. Sad, but cute nonetheless. Both my kids are honestly troopers and I've been so proud of the way they've handled being so sick. It hasn't been easy and there's definitely whining and crying, but overall they're just sweet little souls who have given their momma so many snuggles.
Max and me snuggling on the couch watching Thomas.
Also, we were a little silly.
Ben perked up this morning and went with us to sign our closing docs on our house.
I've learned that...
4. Ritchie is a freaking rock star dad and husband. I already knew that, but when we have these sorts of crap times running through our family and he steps up the way he has I am just in awe at how I got so lucky. He stayed home for 2 days to help me deal with the 2 sick kids, only to go to work sick himself today because he didn't want to miss anymore time. I feel like a HUGE mommy wimp when the kids are sick. It's the vomiting that I can't handle and both kids were coughing so much they were vomiting, so I requested some help and he was there for me despite what that meant for his workload and his ability to take time off later when he was sick. He didn't complain about it and even told me that he totally understood! I mean, really, he's my hero. And I'm working on my wimpy mommy ways. I still want my own mommy when I vomit, so maybe I need to grow up a bit, yes? After all, I am 30.
Lastly, I've learned that...
5. I have an amazing network. It's all of YOU that have brought me to tears (good ones!) this week. Whether it's in a friend bringing dinner or a text saying that we're being thought of or offers of help in any way, the love and support has come in abundance this week! I've had offers for dinners to be made, Starbucks to be brought, prayers to be said and everything in between! I seriously thrive off positive energy. That's why both labors I wanted the masses to KNOW I was in labor. It helps me tremendously to know that others are thinking positive thoughts for me and this week in particular I've needed all that positivity! So, thanks SO SO SO much to you all for keeping me and my boys especially in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for the offers of food or coffee or just a shoulder (even if over text because you don't want to get sick! haha!!) to cry on. I've felt the love big time and it's carried me through.
There really has been a light at the end of this tunnel and I'm grateful to be being pulled through to the other side. I think (Dear God!) that we're through the worst of it with the boys, but I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. Oh, and just because I feel I HAVE to say this - please, call your doctor/on call doctor if your child's fever gets high. They may send you to the ER and you may not have needed to go, but obviously I am not a doctor and can't really tell you that your child is fine if they have a high fever. Just GO. It was not at all a waste of time! I felt so much better knowing he had been seen.
I plan to get back into Project 365 soon here as well as write some exciting updates on our house selling AND (finally!) a tour of the house we're renting that we love! Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things on this here blog in no time.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
I Have A Problem
I've been a long time fan of Pottery Barn. Before I could afford to buy any furniture at all, I still got the catalogues delivered and ogled at all the beautiful dark wood furniture and dreamt of furnishing my entire home in Pottery Barn.
We bought our first Pottery Barn pieces off the floor at a discount price. We had been married a little over a year and we bought a coffee table, TV console and side table for the couch. They each had little scratches, but we got them for 25% off so we didn't care. Pottery Barn was officially in our home!
Next came our desk, which at the time was used as makeup table for me.
When we bought our house, our first major purchase (oh, and it was major) for it was an entire bedroom set from good ole' PB. A bed, dresser, and two nightstands.
Shockingly, our crib and nursery dresser is not from Pottery Barn Kids. They didn't get great safety reviews and so I went another way. But, I did get espresso colored wood so that I could easily pair any Pottery Barn with it in the future.
When it came time to get Max a big boy bed we went with a twin from Pottery Barn. His table and chair set where he eats snack and does art projects is another Pottery Barn goody.
THEN, we moved again and needed a bookshelf, so we picked up one of these beauts:
So... what does that put us at? 11 pieces of Pottery Barn furniture and two bedding sets.
I'm not telling you this to brag. I seriously have a problem. I said to my friend today that I believe myself to be incapable of buying furniture from anywhere but Pottery Barn.
I've decided to just go ahead and embrace it. I am who I am and I happen to freaking LOVE Pottery Barn. Like, A LOT.
So... we need a new couch. It's time. We've had our couch (which we bought off of friends who had used it for who knows how long) over 8 years ago. It's SO time.
We're planning to have this in our home by the beginning of May:
I almost peed my pants just now. I'm SO excited. And, to add insult to injury, I just bought this yesterday:
And, there you have it. I have a problem. And, I've decided that I'm okay with that.
Feel free to judge, because I certainly do.
We bought our first Pottery Barn pieces off the floor at a discount price. We had been married a little over a year and we bought a coffee table, TV console and side table for the couch. They each had little scratches, but we got them for 25% off so we didn't care. Pottery Barn was officially in our home!
Next came our desk, which at the time was used as makeup table for me.
When we bought our house, our first major purchase (oh, and it was major) for it was an entire bedroom set from good ole' PB. A bed, dresser, and two nightstands.
Our old bedding is from Pottery Barn as is our current bedding.
Shockingly, our crib and nursery dresser is not from Pottery Barn Kids. They didn't get great safety reviews and so I went another way. But, I did get espresso colored wood so that I could easily pair any Pottery Barn with it in the future.
When it came time to get Max a big boy bed we went with a twin from Pottery Barn. His table and chair set where he eats snack and does art projects is another Pottery Barn goody.
Then we went ahead and got him a coordinating red bookshelf.
THEN, we moved again and needed a bookshelf, so we picked up one of these beauts:
So... what does that put us at? 11 pieces of Pottery Barn furniture and two bedding sets.
I'm not telling you this to brag. I seriously have a problem. I said to my friend today that I believe myself to be incapable of buying furniture from anywhere but Pottery Barn.
I've decided to just go ahead and embrace it. I am who I am and I happen to freaking LOVE Pottery Barn. Like, A LOT.
So... we need a new couch. It's time. We've had our couch (which we bought off of friends who had used it for who knows how long) over 8 years ago. It's SO time.
We're planning to have this in our home by the beginning of May:
I almost peed my pants just now. I'm SO excited. And, to add insult to injury, I just bought this yesterday:
Feel free to judge, because I certainly do.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
11 Things
I was tagged by Carly of Texas Lovebirds to participate in this 11 Things post! Here goes nothing!
THERE ARE 5 RULES
1) Post these rules.
2) Post a picture of yourself and 11 random things.
3) Answer the questions set in the original post.
4) Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5) Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them.
11 RANDOM THINGS
1) I was born on my mother's birthday. No matter how hard my husband I tried to conceive a January 11 baby to make a 3rd generation birthday share happen, it never did. We were destined to have summer/fall babies.
2) I don't watch sports, but I REALLY want to. I think it's the mother of boys thing. Suddenly I desperately want a team to root for for Football and Baseball. Hockey, too. Ritchie is totally against this.
3) I go through phases where I want a drastically different life. Same people (meaning Ritchie and the boys - obviously!) just different locale. Some small farm town, London, Australia, the East Coast, Washington - basically I just want to be anywhere but here sometimes. I'd like to pick up and move, get to know a whole new place and lifestyle, live a grand adventure. And then, since CA is nothing to sneeze at, I'd probably like to come back. Unless I happened to find some other magical place that was 80 degrees in winter.
5) I have a huge sweet tooth. I'll eat pie and cake and cookies all day.
6) When I was little I wanted to be an actress. I used to be in Junior Theater and daydream about being on Broadway. I still have Broadway singing sessions in my car, but I don't think I'm winning a Tony anytime soon.
7) I wear my heart on my sleeve and am very trusting of others.
1) I was born on my mother's birthday. No matter how hard my husband I tried to conceive a January 11 baby to make a 3rd generation birthday share happen, it never did. We were destined to have summer/fall babies.
2) I don't watch sports, but I REALLY want to. I think it's the mother of boys thing. Suddenly I desperately want a team to root for for Football and Baseball. Hockey, too. Ritchie is totally against this.
3) I go through phases where I want a drastically different life. Same people (meaning Ritchie and the boys - obviously!) just different locale. Some small farm town, London, Australia, the East Coast, Washington - basically I just want to be anywhere but here sometimes. I'd like to pick up and move, get to know a whole new place and lifestyle, live a grand adventure. And then, since CA is nothing to sneeze at, I'd probably like to come back. Unless I happened to find some other magical place that was 80 degrees in winter.
4) I almost never like my hair. If it's blonde, I want it brown.
If it's long, I want it short. Bangs, I want them gone.
6) When I was little I wanted to be an actress. I used to be in Junior Theater and daydream about being on Broadway. I still have Broadway singing sessions in my car, but I don't think I'm winning a Tony anytime soon.
7) I wear my heart on my sleeve and am very trusting of others.
Sometimes this bodes well for me, other times, it doesn't.
8) I don't like art, unless it's photography of my family or some sort of object (oars, anyone?)
9) I watch movies AND TV shows over and over again. I love the comfort of knowing what's going to happen and get a lot of anxiety watching things when I don't know how they end.
10) I always thought I'd have a house full of girls, but I LOVE being a mom to two little lads.
8) I don't like art, unless it's photography of my family or some sort of object (oars, anyone?)
9) I watch movies AND TV shows over and over again. I love the comfort of knowing what's going to happen and get a lot of anxiety watching things when I don't know how they end.
10) I always thought I'd have a house full of girls, but I LOVE being a mom to two little lads.
I think the universe really knows what it's doing sometimes.
11) I'm a believer of karma. What goes around, comes around so I really try to be
11) I'm a believer of karma. What goes around, comes around so I really try to be
kind and truly happy for others, even if it's hard sometimes.
______________________________
QUESTIONS FROM CARLY
1. What's your favorite color?
QUESTIONS FROM CARLY
1. What's your favorite color?
Blues and greens are the colors I'm most drawn to, both for wearing and for decorating with.
2. What would your "last meal" be?
Oh man. I enjoy way too many foods to answer this question. I want to say a really good steak and baked potato. And a freaking HUGE Diet Coke.
3. What's your biggest pet peeve?
Hmm.. I don't have a lot of pet peeves. I guess when people are mean? Lame answer, sorry.
4. What movie character (not the star playing them!) do you think you're most like?
Man, Carly. Why you gotta make me think to answer these?! I would say I'm most like Monica from FRIENDS. I know it's not a movie. She's a little neurotic and yet, still lovable :)
5. Do you have kids? If you do, do you want more? If you don't, how many would you like?
I have two handsome boys. It's up for discussion on whether or not we're having more, but I do think we're done with having biological children. If we have more, they would be adopted.
6. If you could live anywhere, where would you live?
See above! It changes all the time. Lately, I want a farm house in the middle of nowhere.
7. Tell us something about you that we don't already know.
I have a celebrity crush on Tom Hanks. I know, I know. He's no Channing Tatum - but he's so talented and I grew up watching Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail so, Tom Hanks it is.
Oh, and Patrick Dempsey!! Although, that one is probably more self explanatory.
8. What kind of tv shows are on your DVR?
Holy sheet. I have SO many. Teen Mom (1&2) and 16 and Pregnant are up there with my favs. Biggest Loser, Ellen, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother, Private Practice, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives, So You Think You Can Dance. Okay, so I watch too much TV.
9. What is your guilty pleasure?
TV. And cookies, ice cream and brownies. And manicures!
10. Are you a morning or night person?
NIGHT!! Basically you don't want to talk to me in the morning unless I got a lot of sleep. A LOT.
11. If you had to live in a reality tv show, which would it be?
Real World. You know, because it's so real. Nah, I think Biggest Loser! My own trainer (who looks like Bob Harper) and nutritionist?! Yes, please. Only, I would beg them not to make me put on spandex and step on a scale in front of America. I would also request some sweets in the house.
______________________________
QUESTIONS FOR THOSE THAT I'M TAGGING
1. What is your dream vacation?
2. If you could meet any celebrity (living or dead) who would it be and why?
3. What is your favorite blog to read?
4. What would your ideal day consist of?
5. Show us a picture of your dream living room. (some Pinterest fun for you!)
6. If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
7. Where is your favorite place to buy clothes for yourself? Your kids?
8. What is your favorite beverage?
9. What jewelry do you wear everyday?
10. Favorite movie and TV show?
11. Tell us one bucket list item for you!
______________________________
I'M TAGGING
Kim from A Blog About Nothing
McCaulie from News of the Feus
Rebecca from Reb Em's Ramblings
Holly from The Jenkins Gang
Angel from This Life is Sweet
And anyone else who would like to participate! Leave me a link to your post in the comment section if you decide to participate.
I'M TAGGING
Kim from A Blog About Nothing
McCaulie from News of the Feus
Rebecca from Reb Em's Ramblings
Holly from The Jenkins Gang
Angel from This Life is Sweet
And anyone else who would like to participate! Leave me a link to your post in the comment section if you decide to participate.
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Third Decade Part 2 (Or... Our Love Story - Part 2)
Happy Monday! This is my last decade post! I become much less detailed as the 3rd decade closes because I was blogging for a large portion of it. But, you might learn some new things about me :)
When we last left off Ritchie and I had just gotten engaged. We immediately began planning our wedding for a year and a half away. Haha! We had a long engagement because we wanted to time the wedding around my brother's high school graduation so that family would be able to fly out for both events.
The day after we got engaged - I'm showcasing the ring everywhere I go!
6 months later I graduated from college. We had graduation parties and wonderful celebrations. This was an amazing time in life for me. Great friends, I had a teaching job lined up for the Fall at a private school, I was engaged and planning my dream wedding - life was so, so good.
At my graduation
With Shannon and Rachel
Ritchie and I moved out of my mom's house that summer after I graduated and rented an apartment in Los Gatos. That was awesome. I loved living in Los Gatos. We would walk downtown at night and get dinner or just soak in the ambiance of downtown. While the location was fantastic, the apartment was not. It was upstairs with no heat and we basically died a slow death that summer.
With Shannon and Rachel for Shannon's bachelorette party
My girls helping me find my dress
Life went on though and we continued to plan our big day. We decided to do a fancy dance and my dad and his wife Mary choreographed it for us. We began having weekly dance lessons with them in their family room. Those lessons began a tradition that still stands almost 6 years later of getting together weekly. We don't dance anymore, but we do dinners or other various activities. I love that and am so thankful that stemmed from those dance lessons.
Dancing in the unfinished living room
My dad "coaching" us. He was strict.
The dip :)
I was coaching a high school dance team at the time and really enjoying that as well. It was a great group of girls and they performed mostly at football and basketball games. I was super busy with work and the dance team and wedding planning. That whole year flew by. Before I knew it we were rapidly approaching the wedding date.
With Rebecca at my shower
Bachelorette party fun
More fun
And more fun
As we neared summer, Ritchie and I started dreading spending the hot days and nights in our apartment. At the same time we happened to come across a couple who was moving out of a great Willow Glen apartment. We just love to be near little downtowns. So, about 2 weeks before our wedding we moved into a new apartment.
I had also grown really unhappy in my job. The school I was at wasn't allowing the personal growth I was hoping for in a teaching position. There was zero room for creativity and self expression for the students and that also frustrated me. Luckily a close coworker of mine had found a job at a new school and she introduced me to the director there and I was in. I would be teaching 2nd grade at a new school in the Fall.
Before we knew it, it was June and time for our BIG day! It was hot and there were many little bumps along the day, but none of that mattered one bit. I was insanely happy. I smiled more that day than I ever have before. I could gush for ever about our wedding, but for now I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Signing our license at the rehearsal
With my maid of honor and bridesmaid
Rebecca was my maid of honor
All of my grandparents made it to my wedding. I was so happy to have them there.
Heading to the church!
During the ceremony
Heading to the reception!
Stopping for some pictures with daddy
Cake - yummy
We honeymooned on a cruise that left out of Galveston, TX and stopped in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico. The cruise was honestly just okay. We loved stopping in Mexico and being together, but I think we would have done a single location if we could have done it all over again.
A private dinner on the cruise
Coming back, we returned to our routine. Ritchie was still with Apple and loving it. I adored my new school. It had everything I could have dreamed about for teaching. I quickly made friends with a coworker who, over time, has become one of my very best friends, Kim. You probably recognize the name? She and I are still very close today.
Having some "fun" at a school function
On a road trip through Oregon and Washington
Us playing games. We may be sort of competitive. Maybe.
A trip to Tahoe. We always have fun with the Gillettes!
Towards the end of the school year Kim and I enrolled in National University to study together and get our Master's degrees. It was much more pleasant to go through the program with Kimberly rather than on my own and within a year we both had attained our goal of earning our Master's. At this time I was teaching 4th grade and really loving it. We were still living in the apartment in Willow Glen, but had begun house hunting.
Our first married Thanksgiving we hosted in our apartment.
We rather quickly found a town home right around the corner from my mom that fit our needs perfectly. It was expensive and such a stretch for us to get in, but what in California isn't? So, we took the leap and bought our first home.
Us in the house.
And the renovations began immediately. See... we had bought a hole, basically. It needed a lot of work. And, work we did. Sweat equity I believe they call it?
There was a very 70s orange mini bar *shudder*
We settled in and quickly decided to start trying for a baby. A few months passed and still no second line on that pregnancy test. I started to use ovulation sticks and pay better attention to my cycles but they were LOOONG. I'm talking 60 + days. It was so hard to track! Within 6 months it became clear that getting pregnant on our own wasn't going to be easy.
We did get a dog in the meantime - Gracie.
We saw a doctor and had a few preliminary things done. I had blood work done and she looked at my charts. She proceeded to tell us that we would never be able to conceive naturally. That was a really hard time for us. I cried a lot. I didn't want to give up, but I did start looking into starting adoption proceedings. Luckily, I had another doctor tell me that it was as simple as going on a medication called clomid. We tried two round of that before I finally got what I had waited nine LOOONG months for. 2 pretty pink lines.
When that second line appeared, I screamed and got all shaky. I think I went into shock a bit. But, I was thrilled. Kimberly was 3 months pregnant at the time and 5 months later my friend Kirstie got pregnant so I got to experience pregnancy (all 3 of us with boys!) with two of my best girlfriends.
Kim and me at her baby shower.
Max's pregnancy was not easy. In the beginning they thought I would miscarry because my hormone levels were low, then they could never find the heartbeat when we went in. We got a lot of ultrasounds, which I was perfectly fine with. I ended up with gestational diabetes and being induced. My birth with Max was long and laborious (ha) but the end result was this gorgeous little man whom we've fallen more and more in love with as each day passes.
I was supposed to go back to work when he was 3 months old. But, I spent the first 3 months of his life crying and trying to figure out how to stay home. In January, with the support of the principal at my school and Ritchie I decided to take a big risk and become a stay at home mom.
We struggled through that first year on one income and blew through our savings making ends meet. Ritchie got a new, higher paying job the following year, but things were still tight. We had had to use credit cards to get by and didn't have a way of paying them off completely so we now had credit card monthly payments to make in addition to our extremely high mortgage payment and HOA. We began to think about our options of short selling our home and renting, but wanted to avoid that at all costs, so we continued to ride it out.
I sold Stella & Dot for awhile to try and help earn money, but it wasn't for me. When my heart's not in something I don't' do well with it and I certainly wasn't meant to sell anything. We basically just couldn't escape the reality that if I wanted to be a stay at home mom, something had to give.
With Maxton on his first birthday
In the meantime, we started trying for baby #2. We had a couple of months with no luck and decided to STOP trying because we were approaching the time frame that would have been Max's birthday and 1. I didn't want kids to share a b-day - I wanted them to each have their own month and day, and 2. I had zero desire to be super pregnant in summer again. I did that once and to repeat? No, thanks.
Yeah... that was the month I got pregnant. So much for not being able to get pregnant on our own, huh? So, we were due in August with baby boy #2.
It was then that Ritchie got moved to yet another position at Apple. He had graduated college after so much hard work and it was paying off. He got a job as a software engineer. This was a huge help financially and we were able to make our minimum obligations each month. The problem remained though that we had nothing in savings and had racked up credit card debt again. So, while we could make our payments now we couldn't get ahead. Our house had also fallen victim to the declining market and was now worth well below what we payed for it. After much (almost 2 years worth) consideration we decided to put our house on the market as a short sale.
Bennett was born soon after we placed our house on the market. We had hired a midwife to do a home birth with Ben and that had all gone beautifully. It made selling our home even harder though. This was not only the home that we brought Maxton home to, but it was where we had birthed Bennett. It was where he met Max and spent the first few months of his life.
Meeting Bennett
The first picture of our whole little family
Life soon got very busy with two small boys and a house for sale. Luckily, we quickly got an offer and the bank approved the amount. Things were moving forward! We began looking for rental houses and got very lucky when Ritchie's cousin told us she was renting her house out. It was a lovely little two bedroom house in a great neighborhood. We sorted out all of the details and prepared to move in 3 short weeks! Life got even busier...
With Max on his 2nd birthday
We moved in on November 1st and soon found out that the couple who had put the offer in on our house backed out. So, we still have our house on the market, but happily reside in our rental house. It's not the outcome we were hoping for when we bought our home and put all of our hard work into it, but that's life and we've learned so much about home ownership. Mostly we've learned that it's not for us right now. We're working on building a future for ourselves that will eventually involve buying again, but not for quite awhile.
So, here we are. Building this life together. And, here I am. 30. Happily married to someone I love more than I could have ever imagined all those years ago when we decided to get married. Fulfilling my life long dream of being a stay at home mom, hard as that is some days. Always working to better myself, conquer fears, live dreams and be an example of good in the world for my boys.
I don't know what my future holds, but I can't wait to find out.
When we last left off Ritchie and I had just gotten engaged. We immediately began planning our wedding for a year and a half away. Haha! We had a long engagement because we wanted to time the wedding around my brother's high school graduation so that family would be able to fly out for both events.
The day after we got engaged - I'm showcasing the ring everywhere I go!
6 months later I graduated from college. We had graduation parties and wonderful celebrations. This was an amazing time in life for me. Great friends, I had a teaching job lined up for the Fall at a private school, I was engaged and planning my dream wedding - life was so, so good.
At my graduation
With Shannon and Rachel
Ritchie and I moved out of my mom's house that summer after I graduated and rented an apartment in Los Gatos. That was awesome. I loved living in Los Gatos. We would walk downtown at night and get dinner or just soak in the ambiance of downtown. While the location was fantastic, the apartment was not. It was upstairs with no heat and we basically died a slow death that summer.
With Shannon and Rachel for Shannon's bachelorette party
My girls helping me find my dress
Life went on though and we continued to plan our big day. We decided to do a fancy dance and my dad and his wife Mary choreographed it for us. We began having weekly dance lessons with them in their family room. Those lessons began a tradition that still stands almost 6 years later of getting together weekly. We don't dance anymore, but we do dinners or other various activities. I love that and am so thankful that stemmed from those dance lessons.
Dancing in the unfinished living room
My dad "coaching" us. He was strict.
The dip :)
I was coaching a high school dance team at the time and really enjoying that as well. It was a great group of girls and they performed mostly at football and basketball games. I was super busy with work and the dance team and wedding planning. That whole year flew by. Before I knew it we were rapidly approaching the wedding date.
With Rebecca at my shower
Bachelorette party fun
More fun
And more fun
As we neared summer, Ritchie and I started dreading spending the hot days and nights in our apartment. At the same time we happened to come across a couple who was moving out of a great Willow Glen apartment. We just love to be near little downtowns. So, about 2 weeks before our wedding we moved into a new apartment.
I had also grown really unhappy in my job. The school I was at wasn't allowing the personal growth I was hoping for in a teaching position. There was zero room for creativity and self expression for the students and that also frustrated me. Luckily a close coworker of mine had found a job at a new school and she introduced me to the director there and I was in. I would be teaching 2nd grade at a new school in the Fall.
Before we knew it, it was June and time for our BIG day! It was hot and there were many little bumps along the day, but none of that mattered one bit. I was insanely happy. I smiled more that day than I ever have before. I could gush for ever about our wedding, but for now I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Signing our license at the rehearsal
With my maid of honor and bridesmaid
Rebecca was my maid of honor
All of my grandparents made it to my wedding. I was so happy to have them there.
Heading to the church!
During the ceremony
Heading to the reception!
Stopping for some pictures with daddy
Cake - yummy
We honeymooned on a cruise that left out of Galveston, TX and stopped in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico. The cruise was honestly just okay. We loved stopping in Mexico and being together, but I think we would have done a single location if we could have done it all over again.
A private dinner on the cruise
Coming back, we returned to our routine. Ritchie was still with Apple and loving it. I adored my new school. It had everything I could have dreamed about for teaching. I quickly made friends with a coworker who, over time, has become one of my very best friends, Kim. You probably recognize the name? She and I are still very close today.
Having some "fun" at a school function
On a road trip through Oregon and Washington
Us playing games. We may be sort of competitive. Maybe.
A trip to Tahoe. We always have fun with the Gillettes!
Towards the end of the school year Kim and I enrolled in National University to study together and get our Master's degrees. It was much more pleasant to go through the program with Kimberly rather than on my own and within a year we both had attained our goal of earning our Master's. At this time I was teaching 4th grade and really loving it. We were still living in the apartment in Willow Glen, but had begun house hunting.
Our first married Thanksgiving we hosted in our apartment.
We rather quickly found a town home right around the corner from my mom that fit our needs perfectly. It was expensive and such a stretch for us to get in, but what in California isn't? So, we took the leap and bought our first home.
Us in the house.
And the renovations began immediately. See... we had bought a hole, basically. It needed a lot of work. And, work we did. Sweat equity I believe they call it?
There was a very 70s orange mini bar *shudder*
We settled in and quickly decided to start trying for a baby. A few months passed and still no second line on that pregnancy test. I started to use ovulation sticks and pay better attention to my cycles but they were LOOONG. I'm talking 60 + days. It was so hard to track! Within 6 months it became clear that getting pregnant on our own wasn't going to be easy.
We did get a dog in the meantime - Gracie.
We saw a doctor and had a few preliminary things done. I had blood work done and she looked at my charts. She proceeded to tell us that we would never be able to conceive naturally. That was a really hard time for us. I cried a lot. I didn't want to give up, but I did start looking into starting adoption proceedings. Luckily, I had another doctor tell me that it was as simple as going on a medication called clomid. We tried two round of that before I finally got what I had waited nine LOOONG months for. 2 pretty pink lines.
When that second line appeared, I screamed and got all shaky. I think I went into shock a bit. But, I was thrilled. Kimberly was 3 months pregnant at the time and 5 months later my friend Kirstie got pregnant so I got to experience pregnancy (all 3 of us with boys!) with two of my best girlfriends.
Kim and me at her baby shower.
Max's pregnancy was not easy. In the beginning they thought I would miscarry because my hormone levels were low, then they could never find the heartbeat when we went in. We got a lot of ultrasounds, which I was perfectly fine with. I ended up with gestational diabetes and being induced. My birth with Max was long and laborious (ha) but the end result was this gorgeous little man whom we've fallen more and more in love with as each day passes.
I was supposed to go back to work when he was 3 months old. But, I spent the first 3 months of his life crying and trying to figure out how to stay home. In January, with the support of the principal at my school and Ritchie I decided to take a big risk and become a stay at home mom.
We struggled through that first year on one income and blew through our savings making ends meet. Ritchie got a new, higher paying job the following year, but things were still tight. We had had to use credit cards to get by and didn't have a way of paying them off completely so we now had credit card monthly payments to make in addition to our extremely high mortgage payment and HOA. We began to think about our options of short selling our home and renting, but wanted to avoid that at all costs, so we continued to ride it out.
I sold Stella & Dot for awhile to try and help earn money, but it wasn't for me. When my heart's not in something I don't' do well with it and I certainly wasn't meant to sell anything. We basically just couldn't escape the reality that if I wanted to be a stay at home mom, something had to give.
With Maxton on his first birthday
In the meantime, we started trying for baby #2. We had a couple of months with no luck and decided to STOP trying because we were approaching the time frame that would have been Max's birthday and 1. I didn't want kids to share a b-day - I wanted them to each have their own month and day, and 2. I had zero desire to be super pregnant in summer again. I did that once and to repeat? No, thanks.
Yeah... that was the month I got pregnant. So much for not being able to get pregnant on our own, huh? So, we were due in August with baby boy #2.
It was then that Ritchie got moved to yet another position at Apple. He had graduated college after so much hard work and it was paying off. He got a job as a software engineer. This was a huge help financially and we were able to make our minimum obligations each month. The problem remained though that we had nothing in savings and had racked up credit card debt again. So, while we could make our payments now we couldn't get ahead. Our house had also fallen victim to the declining market and was now worth well below what we payed for it. After much (almost 2 years worth) consideration we decided to put our house on the market as a short sale.
Bennett was born soon after we placed our house on the market. We had hired a midwife to do a home birth with Ben and that had all gone beautifully. It made selling our home even harder though. This was not only the home that we brought Maxton home to, but it was where we had birthed Bennett. It was where he met Max and spent the first few months of his life.
Meeting Bennett
The first picture of our whole little family
Life soon got very busy with two small boys and a house for sale. Luckily, we quickly got an offer and the bank approved the amount. Things were moving forward! We began looking for rental houses and got very lucky when Ritchie's cousin told us she was renting her house out. It was a lovely little two bedroom house in a great neighborhood. We sorted out all of the details and prepared to move in 3 short weeks! Life got even busier...
With Max on his 2nd birthday
We moved in on November 1st and soon found out that the couple who had put the offer in on our house backed out. So, we still have our house on the market, but happily reside in our rental house. It's not the outcome we were hoping for when we bought our home and put all of our hard work into it, but that's life and we've learned so much about home ownership. Mostly we've learned that it's not for us right now. We're working on building a future for ourselves that will eventually involve buying again, but not for quite awhile.
So, here we are. Building this life together. And, here I am. 30. Happily married to someone I love more than I could have ever imagined all those years ago when we decided to get married. Fulfilling my life long dream of being a stay at home mom, hard as that is some days. Always working to better myself, conquer fears, live dreams and be an example of good in the world for my boys.
I don't know what my future holds, but I can't wait to find out.
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