Careers

When I was little I always wanted to be a teacher. I used to play school with all the books and papers and everything. Then as I got older I decided that I really didn't want to have all the extra stuff that goes along with being a teacher. So I was looking for a new career path.

In high school I was always the shy kid (still am really). I didn't join in much and hated speaking in public. I even failed my high school speech section. As I was looking through the course catalog for college communications caught my eye. I know, sounds weird for someone that hated public speaking, right? What drew me to that major was the options I had. I didn't have to pick a specific major right away.

I eventually chose Public Relations and while the professor wasn't anyone I really wanted to see again, the projects were great and I loved the writing aspect of the courses. I figured I would end up working in PR in the sports world somewhere. Then I took a public speaking course. I found out that I wasn't half bad at it and I had dealt with my fear. I competed on the forensics (speech) team and placed at every meet I went to except Nationals. I had found a new love.

After college I had a hard time finding a job in my major. I ended up working as an assistant to the Maintenance Supervisor at a pharmaceutical company. It wasn't my intended job, but I loved it. I am still heartbroken that my old boss lost her battle with cancer. She was such a huge inspiration for me and the guys that I worked with became like a second family to me. Sadly, when the Navy moved us I had to quit my job. I found out just after that I was pregnant. Because of Jeremy's job we decided that I would be a stay at home mom. It has been tough at times, but something that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Now that Jeremy's job is a little more stable (or as stable as it can be in the Navy), I have decided to pursue my career again.

I have decided to turn my love of public speaking, my desire to teach, and my passion for natural childbirth into a career. I am in the process of working on my certification to become a childbirth educator. I am really excited about this new opportunity. It is scary to kind of start all over again, but I am ready and hope that things work out for the best.

Happy Valentine's Day

Playing train

Where's Cooper?

Chocolate strawberry cupcakes. YUM!

Plastic bags are more fun than the actual toys.

This ramp is the best invention for bowling with little kids.

Cody watching to see what happens. It's a rarity.

The Valentine King.

Showing off the toys.

Forgot one

26. I hate the phone. I wish it had never been invented. I believe everything should be handled by email or text.


I am a little late on my 365 picture project post. Hopefully I will get to it today.

Figured I'd join in

I've seen this on a few blogs that I follow and on facebook so I figured I would give it a try.

25 things about me

1. I am horribly shy. I hate meeting new people and I obsess over it for days when I have to.
2. I hated public speaking in high school. I gave up an A in English class because I wouldn't get up and read my paper.
3. In spite of that, I competed on my college speech team and placed at States.
4. I never thought I would move more than an hour from my hometown.
5. Obviously I was wrong since I've lived in Portsmouth,Nh (twice), Groton, CT, and now here.
6. I am researching becoming a childbirth educator.
7. I have a degree in Public Relations, but I NEVER want to do that job.
8. I had a horrible experience with a boyfriend in college.
9. When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher.
10. I can not sing a note.
11. I love to do crafts. Right now my love is quilting.
12. I have at least 10 unfinished projects going at the same time.
13. I spend way too much time on the Internet.
14. I've fed my kids cake for dinner once.
15. I love to bake and have made 50+ dozen cookies at one time.
16. I hate to cook. I am not good at just throwing things together.
17. Writing this I realize I am a very boring person.
18. American President is my favorite movie.
19. I am a Bravo TV junkie. Minus the Millionaire Matchmaker I watch pretty much every show on there.
20. I interned at Watkins Glen Raceway in college.
21. I had the opportunity to work for the Busch North series (Nascar) and turned it down.
22. The first time I spent the night completely alone was after I was married.
23. I have no close friends. Acquaintances yes, friends not really.
24. My sister is 12 years older than me.
25. My parents were 37 when they had me. My dad didn't want kids. I still torture him about that.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I have been thinking a lot lately about what type of job I would like when I decide to go back to work. I have a degree in public relations/speech communication, but I definitely do not want to be in the public relations field. I am glad that I took the classes, but I hate the actual job.

When I think about getting a job I really want something I am passionate about. I don't want to just do something to earn money (not that it is a bad thing, just not for me). After doing a lot of thinking and soul searching I've decided to look into being a child birth educator.

I loved giving birth to my children. I enjoyed learning about the process and just knowing what is going on in my body. I would love to teach other women about what is going on and how to get through labor and delivery the easiest way possible.

Right now I am just in the research phase. I know that it will be awhile before I am able to actual start working on getting certified, but I am excited to be at least headed that direction.

Bowling

We went bowling with some friends yesterday. It was a lot of fun considering the fact that I am horrible. Give me Wii bowling anytime. The second game I got beat by all the kids that were playing. I really wish I would have gotten my grandmother's bowling skills. She will be 93 in February and last year she bowled a 300 game.

Cody has to throw the ball. It is so cute to watch him all intent trying to will the ball to go where he wants.

Cody patiently waiting to see how he did.

This ramp thing is awesome. It makes it so much easier for the kids.

Things here have been moving along. We got a shock about hubby's schedule yesterday so I am trying to adjust to that. I am seriously a creature of habit and must now what is going on to plan. It is very hard for me to change directions quickly. I will get there, it will just take some time.

I am loving the Motivated Moms system. My house has been clean every day for a week. It is amazing. I have always hated cleaning and keeping up on things. Crossing things off the list is very motivating for me. I love to see all the little boxes filled in.

I am hoping to have some crafty stuff done soon. It is hard to find time to get down there with a newborn and two others that need things. I have so many ideas and projects running around in my head that I really want to get to work on. Hopefully things will settle out with the schedule change and I will be able to get back to doing stuff for me.

Surprisingly, things are going very smoothly being a mom of three. It hasn't been as big of an adjustment as I thought. Colton is a pretty laid back baby. He only really cries when he is hungry and overly tired. The other boys are big helper and love their brother. We haven't had too many issues with jealousy yet. I'm sure they will come though.

I am still trying to find some balance with everything. I think that is going to be my biggest challenge this year. Trying to balance kids, Cody's school, me time, housework, time with the husband, and possibly a sport for Cody in the spring. Right now I am just trying to not let the scales tip so far that I fall over.

2009

Now that 2009 is here it is time to make some goals for the new year. I am not going to do resolutions because they always get broken. One of the message boards I frequent had a post the other day asking you to list where you want to be on December 31, 2009. I like this idea because you can be more vague that resolutions.

By December 31, 2009 I want to:

- be thinner
- be healthier
- be caught up on my crafting projects
- have spent more quality time with my kids
- explored the area more
- taken more pictures
- have less clutter

I am slowly working on getting more organized too. I worked on cleaning out our filing system yesterday. I also purchased the Motivated Moms planner. I tried something similar a few years ago (the Sidetracked Home Executive System) and I hope that will help me keep up on the cleaning and stuff. I really work much better when I have a list to go by.

I hope that your 2008 ended on a good note and your 2009 is happy, healthy, and prosperous.

My day in pictures

Yummy raspberry pie
Halloween cookies with the kids
Stupid football game
Coop haircut
Cody hair cut. Hubby got one too, but no pics of that.



Mountains of laundry.

Eaten pie while watching...

the Red Sox lose!

Crazy weekend

It was a pretty busy, crazy weekend around here. After getting sick Thursday night, Cooper woke up Friday and still wasn't feeling good. He was whiny and mopey and just miserable. He slept on and off all day and just gave this pitiful little look. My parents came in Friday night and he was pretty clingy to me which is unusual for him when the grandparents are around.

Luckily Saturday morning he was pretty much back to normal and driving us crazy. My parents helped with a bunch of stuff around the house. We went out and bought the boys Halloween costumes. It was a very interesting experience. They were both so indecisive. Cody didn't want a mask, Cooper couldn't decide what he wanted, they both wanted all this extra stuff to go with the costumes. My dad was the smart one by staying in the car!

I finally finished the quilting on my Christmas quilt finished. It is drying from where I had to wash away the marking pen. Hopefully I will be able to get a picture of it tomorrow. I still have to make the binding and attach it, but at least the longest part it done. I love how it is turning out, but I will be glad when it is done too. I have too many other projects I want to work on!

Foiled plans

So much for making plans tonight.

I needed to get groceries, but had to wait until after my mom got home so I could call her about something. Of course she didn't get home until late so I left later than I planned.

Then I had to go to Best Buy to return the boy's DVD player because it died. I thought I would be all set because I had bought the 4 year warranty. They did replace it, but because it was more than a year it voided the warranty so I need to decide if I want to buy a new one.

Next off to get groceries. I hate going to Walmart period. Going with two kids who haven't had dinner yet is horrid. Luckily they weren't too bad, but it still took forever.

I picked up Burger King for them because frankly I was not going to go home and cook anything.

Finally got home around 7 and sit down for dinner. Bedtime is at 8 so the boys pretty much ate dinner and went to bed. Not a great way to end the day, but nothing too horrible.

Cooper had been coughing on and off all day long, but I wasn't too worried because Cody had the same thing last week. I went downstairs thinking that I could finish up some of the quilting on my Christmas present quilt. I no more got one line done and I hear Cooper cough really bad and then a weak call for mommy.

Upstairs I go and of course he has thrown up. EVERYWHERE! It was gross. Usually it doesn't bother me, but this was pretty bad. He looked so pitiful. So I wait until he is better and draw a bath. He is loving just splashing in the water and letting his head and tummy settle. After stripping the bed, remaking, and cleaning up he crawls back into bed and pretty much promptly falls asleep.

Ugh! I am exhausted.

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth

I swear I am still around. It has been crazy busy around here lately. Between end of the season softball games (they lost, but still finished second), swim lessons, doctors appointments and sick kids I haven't had spare second to get anything done.

Both of the kids have been sick this week. Cody started on Sunday with a cough and then had a fever when he got up Monday. Luckily it was gone by Tuesday. He was not happy about having to stay home on Monday. Then Wednesday Cooper was miserable. He was just whiny and crying and just plain upset. It was a long day and night, but luckily yesterday he was back to his normal self. Hopefully no one else in the house will get it.

I did manage to get my christmas quilt basted. I found a new technique on You Tube that I was intrigued by. I don't know if I really like the actual basting part, but I love the use of boards instead of taping it to the floor. First of all because I don't have a space big enough to lay this quilt out and second because this pregnant body has a hard time getting up and down off the floor.

Here is the first part of the technique. You can find the other part on the side bar once you load the page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA

I started quilting it today. It is going to take awhile, but I think it will turn out pretty nice. I am hoping to get some time to work on it this weekend, but we have a lot of stuff going on so not sure how that will work out.

Boring

It has been boringly busy around here lately. Just the same old, same old.

Cody is loving school. I can see where we may have a few problems in the future, but I am grateful that he likes going every day.

Cooper is being Cooper. There is no other way to describe it. He has a very unique personality. Jeremy has been on vacation the past week so he has gotten the full on Cooper effect. It is hilarious to see those two interact.

I am just pushing through this pregnancy. It has been rough on me for some reason. I feel huge, tired, and miserable.

We have a very busy few days coming up. Cody had his first swim lessons today which he loved, tomorrow Jeremy has a dentist appointment and open house is tomorrow, Thursday is groceries, Friday is Cooper's swim lessons and setting up the yard sale, Saturday and Sunday are the yard sale (assuming it doesn't rain again), Monday is Jeremy's championship softball game and BBQ, Tuesday is swim lessons, and Wednesday is my doctors appointment along with the stupid glucose test again.

I will be ready to crash on Thursday!

I am still working away on basting the quilt. I think I am going to like this new technique, but I have to start the quilting in order to figure out if it is going to work out. Hopefully if my pregnant body holds up I will know by the end of the week.

Things here are moving right along. Cody is loving school and seems to be really excited to go everyday. I'm sure that will wear off after awhile, but it is nice to see him excited. He did get a little boo-boo today, but he didn't seem to mind too much. I am curious how he handled it since he HATES band aids.

Jeremy and I got to go out by ourselves last night. We were supposed to go to a Jeff Dunham concert, but I was so uncomfortable sitting there that we came home early. We did get to go out and eat which was really nice.

My parents came out to watch the kids. It was hard because I wasn't able to spend much time with them, but it is always nice to see them and the kids love when any of the grandparents come up.

Jeremy's softball team had their semifinal game today (finally) and they actually won. Even though they didn't do that great during the season they have made it to the championship game. Who knows when they will get to play that though.

Nothing much else going on here. I haven't had much time to do any quilting. I am trying a new basting technique with the Christmas quilt. If it works out I will share!

My baby is officially a Kindergartner. He was so excited this morning and was all ready to go in plenty of time. He spent most of the morning wearing his book bag and asking when the bus was going to come.

He even had to change shoes. He decided that the sandals wouldn't work and he needed to wear his fancy shoes (his sneakers, no idea why he calls them fancy shoes).

Here he is all decked out in his Iron Man gear. The bag looks so big on him, but he had to have it. Plus that size was the only one we could find that would fit his lunch bag and the folder he has to take.

Waiting for the bus. Surprisingly it was on time though the driver looked a little confused when he got here. Waiting for the bus is fine now, but I'm hoping by the time December rolls around he will be ok getting on and off by himself since I really don't want to have to bundle up a baby and stand in the frigid weather.

Cooper had some adjustment. He was excited to see the bus come, but didn't quite understand that Cody wasn't coming right back. For about the first two hours he kept asking when Cody was coming home. The nice thing was he actually took a really good nap which never happened when they were both home. He was a ball of energy when he woke up too.

He looks so small getting on the big bus. He could barely see over the window. The bus driver was really good though and seems nice.

He said he had a good day at school. We asked him what he did and he said that he didn't remember. Typical of him. Hopefully the teacher will send home some notes so we can at least have a clue of what is going on. I know he will never really tell us anything!

I did all right. It was a rough day all the way around. I was sad about him going to school, but very grateful that he was ready and willing to go. I would rather just be upset that my baby is in school then to be worried that he is a crying mess there.

The other thing that made today hard is some family stuff. My uncle Arnie died last Thursday and today is his memorial. I feel guilty about not being there because he was the uncle I was closest too. I know that the family understands, but it still makes it hard. He was a great person and while I am sad that he is gone, I am glad that he isn't suffering anymore and can fight with my grandpa in heaven about fishing and hunting.

Overwhelmed

I am feeling seriously overwhelmed right now. There is so much that needs to get done around here and I have no idea where to start. My kitchen is a disaster, the living room floor is covered with stuff, the boys toys are all over the spare room, the bathrooms really need cleaned, etc, etc, etc.

I would love to just stay in the house this weekend and get it back in order, but we have something pretty much every day from now until Tuesday.

Today - softball (even though he isn't going to play, he wants to show up to support them)
Thursday - going to the fair
Friday - drs appt from 9-11, game at 2, dinner out, probably groceries
Saturday - birthday party at 11
Sunday - as of right now nothing
Monday - game at 4:30
Tuesday - he has an appointment in the morning, works afternoon, and I have to get my car inspected

AARRGGHH!!! I love softball season because we get to hang out with people and he loves to play, but sometimes I really hate it because the games always seem to fall at odd times.

The up side is hopefully we will find out what we are having on Friday. That is assuming this little munchkin cooperates. Pretty much everyone believes it is a girl, but I have no idea. With both boys I knew they were boys. This one I have no idea, not even a little thought.

I am off to finish baking my cookies. Nothing like a nice yummy chocolate chip cookie to make me feel better!

A slight change in plans

Jeremy spent Saturday and Sunday morning working on the drywall and made some really good progress. We were looking forward to getting it done last night and being able to move stuff back in. I had dreams of setting up my sewing area and finally getting to work on some of the projects that are getting backed up on my to do list.

That was until he decided to go and get himself injured. He was sliding into third base at his game and dislocated his shoulder. He fell to the ground and I knew something was wrong. Luckily some of our friends from the game took the kids and we rushed off the ER. After waiting for an hour just to get checked in, his shoulder magically popped back into place. We waited another 1.5 hours to get xrays to make sure everything was all right and was sent home with an ice pack and pain meds. He was pretty sore this morning, but doesn't seem to be any permanent damage. Just means light duty at work, no softball for awhile, and no home improvement projects getting done this week.

Thankfully he is ok and it wasn't anything more serious. I guess this just gives me more time to add projects to my to do list!

Belated Happy 4th of July to everyone!

We had an awesome holiday. Our original plans were just to stay home and relax and get some stuff done since we were out the whole day before. Instead we ended up going to our friend's house for a BBQ. There were 6 couples, all with kids, there and we had a blast. The kids all played together and the adults got to talk and veg. We played an fun game of badminton guys against girls. It was a blast.

Now today is back to the real world. I have laundry, dishes, general cleaning, and cooking dinner. Tonight is the Nascar race so as long as Jeremy stays up we will be watching that.

I finally got my new sewing table. Now we just have to find time for Jeremy to drywall it so we can get everything moved back in. Considering he has 6 games is 8 days this week I doubt much will get done!

Can someone stop this merry go round and let me off????

I swear June was the craziest month ever. Cody had something every day with school then graduation. Jeremy's parents came out here. I went home for a few days. He has been working more hours because people have been gone. Add to that summer heat and pregnancy tiredness and you've got one dead mommy.

I would like to say that this month is going to be better, but I'm not so sure. Jeremy has a ton of softball games to go to, I have a Pampered chef party, a doctor's appointment (it's the big one too, hopefully we will find out what this little bean is), swimming lessons, and hopefully a short vacation for our family.

We are working on finishing up the utility room which is where my sewing stuff is so sadly there is no progress to show there. I have my christmas present quilt all figured out so just need to get my space back together and get moving.

I baked 32 dozen cookies the other day for Jeremy to take to work. It was crazy, but they always appreciate it. I have a few other recipes that I want to try once the weather cools down. It is just too hot to run the oven most days.

We are just going to keep pluggin along here. I will try to update as I can. There is some drama going on with our extended family so that may keep us busy for awhile.

Sorry I've been gone for so long again. Life has been too crazy and busy to have even a few spare seconds to think lately.

The pregnancy is going all right. I'm still sick quite a bit, but I've been ok. It is hotter than Hades here so that hasn't helped any. Jeremy had back to back softball games yesterday and that sucked. Especially since they lost both of them. The first one was close, but the second team they played was a bunch of idiots and creamed them. Hopefully we don't have to play that team again for awhile.

My parents came to visit for my birthday last week. It was really nice to see them again and spend some time with them. We went out for my birthday and I got some money and Jeremy bought me a new computer game. The boys got me bath salts and the promise of a quiet bath. We'll see if that ever happens!

We were supposed to have a yard sale last weekend, but we ended up cancelling because of weather and not having any help. Jeremy's parents were supposed to come out, but my MIL's sister ended up having surgery.

It is going to be really hot here this week so I doubt much will get done around here. We've cleaned out the utility room to start drywalling soon. I have the fabric for my next quilt so hopefully I will get to start working on it soon. At least it is nice and cool in my sewing room!