I got a promotion

(I started this post two weeks ago - must be more disciplined about the blog posting.)

Well, not a promotion in the conventional sense of the word.  But this one's been a long time coming.  Or it feels that way.  Ready for it?  On July 11th, I bit the bullet and resigned from my full time job.  So, my promotion is home to be with my kiddos. 

These are the ones.

For a while now (since March at least), Brian and I have been looking at options that would allow me to work less and be home more.  We kept having conversations wherein one of us would say, "we can't keep up this pace." or "we don't have any time margin." but we couldn't find a work situation that made sense to us. 

When we just had C.C., it was hard for me to be gone from her and I often felt like my time with her was not enough.  Adding in Henry has multiplied that feeling.  I know there are plenty of women who work full time - I've told myself this several times throughout the past seven or eight months.  I've tried to tell myself to buck up  and look at the positive - my current job is only four days a week and it is a job that I can truly leave behind when I go home.  But I kept longing for something different.

I believe that God has called me to be a mother - that it is my primary task and ministry to train the children in our home.  Part of that will be foster care - we aren't done with that.  The other part will be loving the children who are forever in our home.

Anyway, after a particularly rough night of sleep (or lack of), on a Thursday which is my last work day of the week, Brian and I put our heads together.  In practice, we weren't playing to our strengths.  On the days that Brian wasn't working, he was at home with Henry and also trying to do housework.  Meanwhile, I was at work wishing to be home.  That day, we decided to take a hard look at the budget and see if we could make do without my income.  Since you're reading this, you know that we did figure out something satisfactory to us.  It's not without it's sacrifices, but I think it will ultimately work better for our family. 

So, here I am, in my last few days of full-time work (for the foreseeable future) excited to shift gears into my other job.  For now, I'm going to be working one long shift a week and running the house the rest of the time.  I am not naive enough to believe that I'm choosing something easy - it's just a different hard.

Weekend in Captions

Here are most of the pictures I took this weekend. There's no real story to tie it a together, so the captions will have to do.

Lunch with Christi

Serious about the menu

Fresh flowers for $3.99? Ok!

Tummy time on new foam pads.

Our first go at Princess Leia buns.

Someone loves his daddy.

PJs from Alaska!

Dental hygiene!!!

New kiddie pool.

Never thought I'd answer that question

Imagine with me if you will...I'm giving the kids a bath.  The same one I posted about on Saturday (yep, no baths since then).  I'm combing conditioner through CC's hair and trying to keep an eye on Henry so he doesn't flop over.  

We'd had a little discipline earlier and always after a consequence, we say "when do I love you?"  To which CC knows to respond, "all the time."  I'm thinking that's what got her on the following train of thought:

CC: Mom, you love my body.

Me: Yes, I love all of you.

CC:  You love my privates?

Me: (feeling like this is a weird question, but not wanting to be shaming) Sure, honey, God made your privates. 

CC: Does God have privates?

Me:  ...

Oh the joy and entertainment of such an inquisitive little mind. I can't remember exactly what I said - - maybe something about God not being a person.  How would you have answered?

Today.

Today started with Henry wiggling and fussing a little before six.  Brian got up a little bit after that and started getting ready for work.

We had a later night than normal on Friday, so I was hoping that both kids would sleep a little longer.  With some prayer, and a good bit of patting on his back, Henry went back to sleep.  Except for a brief nursing interlude (in the bed with me) around 7:45, he slept until 8:30.  Yay for glorious sleep!

CC was stirring by then too. She had spent the last two days with her cousins Carter and Ella, so she had to catch up on some sleep.  

Once everyone was dressed and had breakfast, we headed to the gym.  I'm grateful that both kids do great in childcare at the gym.  I did some ab work, 2 miles on the treadmill and then 20 minutes on the elliptical.  This was followed by some much needed foam rolling - it hurts so good.  

Brian met us at the gym in his work SUV and we all went to Starbucks.  

Ever get a glimpse of what your kids might look like when they're older?

Henry fell asleep in the car on the way to the grocery store, so we stopped off at the bank/ATM to make his nap last a little longer (call me super mom). After feeding him in the car (who knows how many parking lots this kid has nursed in), we hit the grocery store where Henry sat like a big boy in the cart for the first time:

His expression cracks me up!  My friend, Marta, gave us a nice cart cover, but in my hurry to get to the gym before childcare closed, I left it at home.  He did well through most of the store.  Towards the end, he started leaning to one side.

We came home, unloaded groceries and had a late lunch.  Henry and CC had whole wheat noodles with veggies and cheese.  I had a wrap.  We all split a couple of plums.  In the past couple of days, we've been changing over to table food for Henry.  I'm a fan - he is too.  

This picture is not from today - it is for illustration purposes :)

After lunch, Henry napped (only took 15 minutes to go down!) while CC watched some Disney Jr.  Brian commissioned me to make a training plan for him, so I did a little research, threw in some laundry, and made headway on a plan before H baby woke up.  Both kids hung out in the  bonus room with me while I finished up the plan,  

Nursed Henry, then it was time for dinner.  We ate salad and homemade pizza - I heart Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough.  Henry had black beans, mozzarella, and some of my pizza crust.

The kids had another first tonight - their first bath together! Here's a little video that will hopefully not embarrass them forever.

 

 

Post bath it was lotion, pjs, a book and bed.  Yay.  

Track

Our June was largely dominated by track.  Knoxville Youth Athletics runs a developmental track league every summer.  When I heard about it last year some time, I was excited.  I wish I had come to enjoy running earlier in my life - or that someone had introduced it to me in a non-threatening way.  This summer, we signed CC right up.  

We want her to try lots of activities and see what she likes.  

We had practices twice a week every week in June.  There were also track meets every Saturday from 8:30 to noon.  Pretty time intensive for a five year old - we kept telling ourselves "it's only June."

Track meets were loooong and often hot.  We brought a sportbrella for shade and a blanket so Henry wasn't in the stroller the whole time.  There was a lot of this:



When all else fails to entertain - take selfies.



 

And a little of this:



Lining up for the 50m dash



The program was good about gratification - CC got a ribbon for every event she participated in.  

The most exciting event for us was the 4x100.  The first week, CC was on a team with her cousin, Amari, their friend, Audrey, and another little girl - they got 2nd place.  Weeks two and three, they got 3rd then 4th place.  Finally, in the last track meet, their team won!  Look in awe at the blue ribbon bling:

 

CC, her cousin Amari, their friend, Audrey, and another little girl who's name I can't remember (oops)

Overall, I'd call it a positive experience.  The only real negative for me was the time commitment.  CC seemed to have a great time and loved "track days."  We shall see if she wants to do it next year.