Dog Days of Summer

I have been looking forward to this summer for the last 6 months. I was excited about taking Lexi and our friends to the various pools (beach club & waterpark) in our community. Now that the heat & humidity has hit,....I think I've changed my mind. We may have to live at the pool. I guess I am looking forward to my family reunion in the Grand Canyon in July. Perhaps, I'll consider that cool.

Flamingly Liberal

Since moving back to Texas, I have realized that my moderate/little to the left views are extremely liberal here. I guess it should not come as too much of a surprise seeing that it is a predominately Republican state that is strongly proud of being in the Bible belt. One of my friends told me that our voting district is considered the most conservative in the US. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing; I have just always felt that I am more on the liberal side.

Those who know me would definitely say that I am a laid back person. I am opinionated, but I have an open mind. While I feel a little out of place at times, I recognize that it is a wonderful location to raise kids. I went to high school here and I can tell you that I never experienced peer pressure. We had a big group of guys and girls. We were too busy playing volleyball, watching movies, joking around, and doing a million more things. This is a place where lots of kids are involved in Bible study and various church activities.

We live in a safe place and I am comfortable raising kids here. I hope that my kids continue to be surrounded by great influences, but manage to pick up a little of my open mindedness. Mainly, I would like them to be generally caring people and be able to listen and figure out their beliefs for themselves (after they move out of our house of course - until then they are MINE). :)

Five Years

Our anniversary is on Saturday, but we are celebrating this evening because a friend offered to watch the kids while we grab a quick bite to eat. We haven't been out in a long time, so this is exciting for us. We are going to try out a little Italian place, which will not be quite a cozy as our first date in Coconut Grove. Things have changed quite a bit since then.

It has been five crazy years that included having 2 kids, moving 5 times including the big one from FL to TX, buying and selling a house, buying another house, losing my father to brain cancer and his mother to lung cancer, as well as all the regular marriage stuff. Talk about tough times! Ok, so overall it has been a fun ride.

I don't really have the time or energy for a tribute post, but we also don't have time to celebrate the 5th one right either. I guess we'll save up the thrill for the 10th one.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day I am celebrating the fact that I get to be a mother to these two characters.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to you all, for those of you have mothers & for those of you who are mothers.

Thoughts of Another

This weekend, Steve admitted that he works late sometimes because he finds life with kids can be stressful. He loves it, but it can be overwhelming for him. I just stayed quiet and listened mainly because I have no response. Should I point out that I deal with most of it? No, it doesn't change his feelings. Besides, we have very different views when it comes to family and kids.

The entire time I was pregnant with Lexi, it was easy to think I could do it again. I have always wanted at least three kids. My thoughts were not so pleasant when I was pregnant with Jordan. In fact, I spent the whole pregnancy thinking I NEVER wanted to do this again. However, shortly after he was born, I really wanted another one. He has been such a wonderful baby, except for the frantic hunger pains at night.

Steve, on the other hand, feels differently. He was very happy to have one and was pleased to have another one, but for him three is too many. Throughout the last year, he half joked about getting a vasectomy. Actually, I am sure he was seriously considering it, but I asked him not to. I told him that I haven’t made my mind up about a third, but I wanted to leave the option open. In reality, I wasn’t too worried considering the fact that he never finds time to go to the doctor for even normal things.

I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that we have such different opinions of kids when you look at our families. I am the oldest of five and he is the youngest of two. I have twelve first cousins on my dad’s side and ten on my mom’s. Steve has three on his dad’s side and none on his mom’s. Holiday gatherings with my family are full of noise and millions of things going on at the same time. With his immediate family, we mostly sat around talking or all did a relatively quiet activity (before the kids came).

For me, kids are everything. The joy of nurturing and watching a person grow is one of the best things in life. I realize that I am lucky to have two kids, but three would be better. It is not only for me, but for them. We will not always be around for them, but they will have each other. The more siblings they have the more support they can give each other. I know that the idea of large families is engrained in Mormons and it is something that I have a hard time giving up on. Of course, I don't want a whole bus load of kids, but three seems reasonable.

We have seven months before we would even start trying for a third, so why am I thinking about it now? Mainly - because we're packing and moving so it would be a great time to unload maternity clothes and baby stuff. Partly - because my sister-in-law is pregnant and could use the stuff. Partly - because I’m not young so a quick decision would be best. In reality, I am not ready to let go of the idea of three kids yet so the stuff goes with us.

May Day

When too many things are going on in life, it is easy to fall behind or feel like you are slipping. This month is going to be one for the books. Besides getting everything ready to close on the new place in the middle of May, packing, taking care of kids, coming up with Mother's Day Presents for our grandmas, and trying to figure out how to do something at least a little special for our 5th anniversary while moving, I have quite a few deadlines for work.

Oh, & did I forget to mention that my sweet little boy is nowhere near getting close to sleeping through the night? He still wakes up every 2 - 3 hours starving despite the fact that I have been feeding him cereal for breakfast plus cereal & veggies for dinner, which is more than I was feeding Lexi at this age. I mentioned this problem to a friend who told me that her pre-term son was the same way (BTW- he was bottle fed). They just can't get enough to eat. She told me the answer is banana flakes, but they are only sold through medical supply companies. Unfortunately, I can only find them by the case. I am not sure that I want to spend over $100 just to see if this will work. ...not yet anyway.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to the end of this month. Not only because I am hoping most of these issues will disappear but because the beach club and water park in our community will open. It is always nice to have a SUPER fun activity to wear the kiddos out at. -Happy May!

Time To Run

Last Friday, in my quest to buy an interesting present for a friend's birthday, I dragged my kids to some cute little boutiques in the old part of town. I had Jordan in his carrier and let Lexi roam free. Even though this is not my preferred way to shop, little boutiques don't tend to keep the aisles clear for strollers.

In the first store, Lexi had to point at everything and make comments. By the time we made our way around the store, the ladies at the register were snickering. They told me that she is quite the talker. I just laughed & said, "Yes, she is non-stop!"

We went into the second place & it was pretty much the same thing, except that they had several breakable items so I had to keep reminding her not to touch. There was a group of well dressed women (baby boomer age) having a meeting in the middle of the store. I think they owned it. I did my best to keep the volume of Lexi's chatter down with no amount of success. Somehow, I found a gift and got us all to the front. As we were leaving, Lexi turned to the ladies to say good bye and make this announcement, "I have caca in my panties!" They all stared at me over their posh reading glasses even though Lexi had given them a HUGE smile.

It is one of those moments when you realize the best thing to do is politely nod and say, "With that, it is time to go." I am glad that I don't have any reason to go back there for a while!

Not an IT Girl

I have disappeared from the blogging world for the past two weeks because I remembered how much I hate computers. For the most part, they are fine or even great, but when it comes to IT stuff...YUCK! I have been working on getting hooked up to the servers at work. I ordered a static IP, had to changed modems, fought with getting the firewall installed, and spent a million hours talking to tech support. Everything is finally doing what it should and I am praying that I don't have to go through all this again when we move.

Speaking of that, we have a contract on the new place. Yippee!! We are supposed to close around April 15th. I have also realized just how wonderful our realtor is. She is doing everything, even stuff I should be taking care of. Maybe some people prefer to be more involved, but with everything going on right now...I love it!

Put an Offer

Besides being slammed with work this week, taking care of kids, trying to clean the house, etc., we realized that the time for our lease is drawing near and we needed to get serious about buying a place. Fortunately, one of the places that we have had our eyes on recently was put up for sale. Even better, they had an open house last Saturday. The place has some perks we didn't even know about like a $4500 air and water filtration system. I have spent the last few days working with a mortgage broker, looking at several of the places we were interested in, coordinating with the realtor, and finally making an offer (this morning). We are very excited about the place.

The only potential problem could be the timing. The sellers are about to have twin boys. They are due at the end of July, but will probably come the middle of June, which is when we are interested in closing. They would like to close sooner. Seeing that they just put their house on the market, that seems odd to me, but they are fairly young and might not have thought this out completely or are not exactly sure what babies (especially twins) and selling a house entails.

We'll find out this evening what they decide. While we want this one, there is one almost exactly like it (same floor plan) that will be on the market tomorrow. We got a sneak peek this morning and it is very nice too. I told the realtor that we would just go for that one if this doesn't work out. They are both just around the corner from us.

Back in the Saddle

Those of you who read my last post may have guessed that my old boss called & offered me a part time job. Apparently, they have not been happy with the way marketing has been handled since I left. I will only be taking on the part of the job that I truly enjoy though, which is creating proposals. I will not have to do a lot of research or mingling.

Today was my first day back, I guess. I had a telephone conference with several people in the office to go over our roles. To prepare for the call, I put a movie on for Lexi. I knew I needed a little quiet time and that would be the best way. About 10 minutes into it, she started screaming her head off (in a non-hurt way). I had to ask them to give me a minute and let me call them back. Apparently, in my haste, I had forgotten to take her to the potty and she had an accident. Oops. I'll add that to the check list.

Fortunately, they love kids and I have worked for them for 5 years, so it wasn’t embarrassing. Can you imagine starting off a new job like that? Of course, I didn’t mention the reason I had to call them back. However, I did let them know that they will have better luck getting more of my attention in the afternoon when she is napping/enjoying quiet time. That is when I plan to do the bulk of the work. Hmm...planning that is the thing that used to work before I had 2 kids.

Let the games begin.