First day as a Stay-at-Home Mom

Ok... so first day on the job as a stay-at-home mom. Is it everything I've hoped for? Well, Caleb was crabby this morning and didn't want to get up right away. Sonya wasn't wanting to eat her morning cereal and started gagging on it so we skipped that to try again later. Next on the agenda: dropping Caleb off at the Y for his second day of 4K. He didn't even say goodbye to me. :-( I came home half-expecting to feed Sonya and have her nap all morning while I got lots of things done --  like she did last week for me. Guess what? That didn't happen. She finally fell asleep about 15-20 minutes before we needed to leave to pick up her brother from school.

We got home again and little mister didn't want to eat lunch and went straight to his room and laid in bed. I don't know if he was really tired or not, but finally convinced him that he needed to eat. So we had lunch and read a few books. Without prompting, Caleb went to take a nap while I was stuck with a very wide-awake little girl. She only napped for about 20 minutes again this afternoon. Gosh, I'm ready for my own nap. Why won't she sleep? I think she's teething -- those little pearly whites are ready to make an appearance soon!

Overall, I know that it's not going to be easy.  --  Even though I'm not getting paid in dollars or cents, it's still a full time position. My new job description:

I'm a mentor and a teacher.
A coach and chauffeur.

I'm nurse and librarian.

Some days: the barber.

I'm a mother and a wife.
I'm a daughter and a friend.
I'm a chef. I'm a maid.

The list never ends.

Being at home all the time will be physically draining especially with a 6 1/2 month old that just wants to go and demands my attention while my little 4 year old boy is trying my every nerve while developing his independence.  I'll probably have some days where I wish I could just be at work to escape the mayhem. Well, maybe I'll have moments like that every day. No matter what, this is way better than being away from my kids for 10.5 hours a day and letting the daycare raise them for me. Is it all worth it? I think so.

Sonya -- Saying da-da

Sonya -- Rocking back and forth on all fours!

Wedding up North

I just had to share some of the fun pictures from Tim's cousin's wedding last weekend. We had a blast and enjoyed staying at his aunt's house.... WAY better than a hotel.

Ava was the sweetest flower girl

My two boys

The happy couple with Kate's daughter, Ava

Caleb and Ava

The beautiful cake topper that Janna made!

Fun wedding cake

There were goldfish on the tables as part of the decorations. After the reception, they were sent home with anyone that wanted one.

Jamie & Matt (Tim's cousin) with Sonya

Tim's cousin, Lauren with Caleb

Chad, Mary, and Lauren (More relatives!)

Tim's aunt Terri (mother of the bride) and my beautiful, Sonya

Janna holding Sonya

Dancing the night away

Janna and her husband, Nick

There's my Sonya again. She liked watching Nick make faces.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

This is just a short post before I head out to work.....

I'm getting closer to being a stay-at-home mom! Only 7.5 days to go! During the process of decision making, I kept reminding Tim that God is faithful and he will always provide for us. We'll be ok with just him working. We have enough in savings right now to last for a while (unless we buy a house... then it'd be a little more tight with the budget, but still manageable). As Tim's doubt was slowly fading away, a grassroots advocacy position became available at the American Heart Association where he worked. He was about to tell his boss that he was interested, when she said that one of the youth market directors was quitting and wanted Tim to take on additional tasks and more or less get a promotion. (and yes... it'd be a raise of some sort too... not just additional work tacked on to what he is currently doing). No matter which way he goes with his job, it is such a blessing to have these opportunities present themselves so close to my leaving the workforce. It's amazing how perfect that God's timing is. Great is Thy Faithfulness!

6 months old

I can't believe how time flies by. Just the other day at ABF, I was comparing my little Sonya to some of the other new babies and she's SO big next to them. It's hard to imagine that she was that little only 6 months ago. They pick up on just about everything too!

This little munchkin loves to watch people and seems to wait patiently until she has their attention. Then she starts babbling up a storm and smiling like crazy. She loves when people talk to her! Her favorite things to do are play with Caleb, roll everywhere, and put EVERYTHING in her mouth. I set her down in the middle of the living room the other day and between rolling and scootching, she made it to the dining room. She really likes eating paper and playing with plastic bags. (Don't worry! I didn't give them to her.. just found her with them and had to take them away). Silly little girl.

Yesterday at the library, Sonya and Tim were having a little conversation. He told me that he was telling her to say "Hi dad" and she repeated back "ha da." Now, when Tim told me this, I wasn't fully sure I believed him, but had seen her watching us talk and looking like she was mouthing words. Sure enough, later that night, she said it without prompting! I could hear it clear as day and knew exactly what she said. (She wouldn't say "ma" or anything like that for me though... tis sad.)

I don't know if I'm ready for her to start crawling and talking yet. It's still so fun to watch her grow. :-)

A special moment

Tonight as I was tucking Caleb into bed, I sang him a lullaby that I've been slowly trying to phase out since it's more of a baby (and maybe a bit girly) song. I can't believe how big he has gotten. He's FOUR! It seems like it's just happened in the blink of an eye and I feel like I missed a huge chunk of those changes because I was at work. The daycare got to see him more than I did, I think. I enjoyed my special moment with Caleb, taking a stroll down memory lane and cuddling him in my arms. I love my little cuddle boy... he doesn't do it very often anymore... unless hanging on me is the equivalent. lol

I'm SOOO looking forward to being at home fulltime. I'll get to see some of those moments with Sonya that I missed with Caleb and I'll hopefully get to catch up and spend more time with my little boy. God has blessed me beyond belief. My kids are wonderful...even when they're driving me crazy. My husband is amazing... even when I think I'm always right and probably drive him nuts with my mood swings. He rarely argues with me and makes sure that the family is taken care of. Above all, he constantly tells me that he loves me. I almost take it for granted, but just writing this... I'm reminded of the love we have for each other. I'm going to stop writing and spend some time with that man right now.... :-)