The final countdown...

I have a lot of countdowns running through my head at the moment it's hard to know what to concentrate on first...
We finally got a job offer for hubby...after numerous weeks (maybe five, I lost count) of back and forth phone calls the head manager in Georgia asked him to come down for a face to face meeting. We heard some comments about they should foot the bill for him to travel down there, but honestly at the point we're at beggers can't be choosers and we just want him to get the job without making any more demands. It's not the greatest pay, but the benefits are nice and hell in this economy it's a J-O-B! It will give Evan the tools, skills and certifications he needs in order to become more marketable to other companies. We're giving it a year before we decide what our next plan of action is, until then the kids and I will be living in Salem, AL in a house that belongs to his grandparents right on the Chatahoochee rive, it's going to be quite the change of lifestyle but I'm ready for some relaxation and quiet! Coundown to moving is 24 days!

Now that that major stressor has been lifted I can concentrate on the more fun things...such as I only have 14 days until my due date and our family of three becomes a family of four!!
The last few weeks of pregnancy are the toughest, the excitment of being pregnant and getting prepared and all that jazz are gone and the anticipation and anxiety of having the baby and wanting so desperately to see their sweet little face sets in. I think telling women that full term and babies can come after 37weeks is kind of a cruel joke...Because once you hit that 37wk mark in your head it's GAME ON to get baby out! I've been having braxton hicks alot, which are just plain old annoying and lots of pressure lately. My 38 week appointment is tomorrow and I'm hoping for some nice progression! I've been researching "stripping of membranes" and while it does sound a bit painful and I'm a firm believer in babies come when they are good and ready I'm contemplating asking my OB if she'll attempt to do it...just to kind of get things moving...would be nice...especially since Evan leaves on the 15th, I'd like baby to arrive before he departs, though Mum is coming in on the 14th so if baby comes after the 14th I'll have her here to help me! Timing is everything, what would be great is if they BOTH were here but that'd mean a crazy 24hrs for all and not sure Evan would want to leave right away and Mum would be jet lagged...sigh nothing is perfect but what's meant to be shall be :)

My final and shortest countdown is work...and can I just say THANK GOODNESS! I like my job I do, but my boss can be a bit bi-polar and in the last two days I've been told I was wrong twice and not in a nice way. I hate people, but especially bosses who think they are perfect and when others make a mistake can't seem to effectively say "oh you made a mistake shit I make them all the time, lets see how we can fix it" instead you did it wrong let me make you feel like crap for the next 10mins then we'll go over what to do to fix it. SIGH 3 and a half more days...actually only 3 more days as I have my dr. appt tomorrow afternoon and plan to leave as early as I can! Thursday and Friday I'm training the new lady, if baby hasn't arrived ;)

It's the final countdown...

Rain Rain...

stay please!!
I just LOVE the rain and thunder storms, I'm not sure why. I know when I was little thunderstorms used to scare me alot. I remmeber one night in particular living in Groote Eylant and Mum and Dad had gone out for dinner or something and we had a babysitter and a HUGE storm. One of those awesome, light up the sky, huge storms! I was petrified and in tears and our babysitter had me stand on the front porch in our house on stilts and watch the sky with her...it was magical! Haven't been afraid since in fact quite the opposite, I live for a great storm and pelting rain!

I think some of it must come from growing up in the tropics, where you can wear your swim suit and run up and down the hot drive way with the rain pelting down on you! Or dress up in the rarely used raincoats and gum boots and stomp around in puddles. Maybe it all stems from fun childhood memories?  Maybe it has to do with me being born on the coldest, dreariest day in Melbourne where I think Mum said it got dark by 3pm...who knows other than I really love a good storm!

Nothing more beautiful than a rain storm cleaning everything off, bringing new life into the earth...very magical. I could fall asleep to rain every night.

In true Colorado fashion, April showers have arrived...it's currently storming and pelting rain outside my office window making the skies dark and grey (a rarity around here). Of course we also get the awful tornado warning sirens but if you can drown those out it really is peaceful to just sit and watch the rain.

This is my view at the moment taken by my cell phone inside a window and still captures such beauty in the sky!

We are supposed to move in the next month, hopefully to the great state of Georgia and I really need to look up the local weather and see if they get rain as often as I'd like. We will be living on the river and I can't think of anything cooler than watching the rain come down on the water and splash up!

I could sit here all day and watch, but as I only have 2 weeks left here I should probably do my work and leave a good impression with my boss instead of a blank stare shadowed by rain clouds!

What I hope I'm meant to do...

I've never been fully happy with working, I don't know what it is laziness, comfort, ability...I really couldn't tell you but in each of my jobs I've had I've never felt like I was in the right place or doing what I was supposed to...the alarm going off in the morning was a drag and going into work was just what I had to do. I always have questioned how I'm going to do this for the rest of my life and keep trying to change jobs and paths and look into programs to try and find what I will love...I want to be one of those people that wake up in the morning excited to go to work, loves work and feels like they are fulfilled/content with what they do every day. I don't want to waste life in a job I hate.

When I became a Mummy on July 29th, 2007 my hatred and boredom with work became even more intense, didn't help that I had a crappy, crappy, crappy boss for most of Kaitlyn's first year. I really struggled and looked at MANY different options, nursing school, teaching, respiratory therapy, surgical tech, etc. Respirtory therapy sounded fantastic but the schooling didnt' work out so I looked at teaching again, but decided I wasn't cut out to be a teacher yet still wanted a job that made a difference in something and not just a phone answering, client serving mundane position. So Teaching and Learning it is with a hope to get into curriculum development working with the school districts to make a differnce in kids lives in what they learn in the classroom and how it's applied to life instead of just learning to test! I'm a week away from finishing my first year of grad school with CSU Global Campus, it's 100% online and works out great for my life at the moment...and can definitely say I enjoy it, the classes aren't difficult, I like what I'm learning and think that it's going to be a better career for me hopefully one that I can actually enjoy and wake up everyday at least semi excited about going too.

HOWEVER as of May 7th I am going to be a SAHM for a good 2 years, I'll get to finish my degree and spend time with baby boy and Kaitlyn being a Mummy. My real love in life, raising my kids, playing playdough, doing puzzles, colouring, dressing baby dolls, singing songs, dancing, playing in the water, running around at the park and cooking plastic food.

So even if this whole curriculum development thing doesn't work out, I still have a great purpose and that is raising my kids :)

My new baby!

My new baby before my real baby to be used with both my babies!

It's a Cannon Rebel XS 10.1 megapixel...and I LOVE it! At least what I know about it, which isn't much :) I REALLY need and want to take classes to figure out how to use it so I can take cool shots of my kiddos and potentially save money on professional photography sessions! It was a loving anniversary/valentines gift from my wonderful hubby :)

I've wanted one forever...and I mean ever so I'm really excited to learn how to use this bad boy! I remember being little, like 9 or so, and playing with my Dad's old camera winding the film, looking through the lens, pretending to take pics. I've always loved amazing photography and wished I could do that, catching the light just right and the angles to bring out the true beauty of an object or moment. I want to capture what I see with my eyes on film and I'm hoping that with this camera I'm at least on my way to being able to do that...

Hopefully after the baby arrives and we're settled I can sign up for a couple of classes to teach me the ins and outs of the DSLR world!

cross your fingers...kiss your rabbit foot...

Whatever it is you do to bring luck to yourself and others I'd appreciate if you'd do it for us this week! It's been a loooooooooooooong 4 months with Evan out of work...very frustrating when we were told it would only be 3. He's been applying to any contract he feels he qualifies for and following up with phone calls and emails as much as he can without totally being annoying...

Are you lost?

Let me back-track all the way to Oct. 2009...Evan was working a sales job, not the greatest job in regards to compensation but he liked sales and he's pretty good at it. His Dad calls and says he has an opportunity for him that will make him a lot of money, it's a very stable career and something he would enjoy....he had about 30secs to make the decision to quit his sales job, get in the car and drive 8hrs home to Nebraska to start training as a Nuclear Pipe Testor. He was gone from Oct. 21st through Dec. 5th...quite a shock to our family since we were used to getting home at the same time during the week and having all weekend to hang out. He enjoyed it, he did well and was excited about the future...we were told outages for the power plants are March through June and Sept. through Dec. so roughly 8 months of working with 4 months off depending on the contract but looking at a nice salary that would allow me to stay home with the kids and us to live comfortably even during his months off.

Fast forward again to now...April 7th...we're still crossing our fingers, holding our breath, wishing on stars that something will come through.

He's had two promsing phone calls this week, one in Georgia and one in Tennessee. We're hoping upon hope that by Friday he has an offer letter...

We really need it and all the crossed fingers we can get!

I'm ready for a new page!

Time seems to be moving pretty quickly...although now I've said that I'm sure it will just stop! I'm at 33 weeks today and feeling quite enourmous, I don't remember being this big last time but surely must have been, my fundal measurements are measuring perfect so it's not like I'm having a bigger baby this go around or anything different, err scratch that I was up quite a few pounds when I got pregnant this time as opposed to when I got pregnant last time so that could be some of the problem...Evan keeps commenting that I'm bigger and his ever so lovely "its going to be a 13lber" remarks drive me quite crazy! Maybe a bit bigger than Kaitlyn but I don't think much, for some reason 7lbs 13ozs comes to mind and 20inches...Kait was 7lbs 3.75 ozs and 19.25 inches...we shall see :)
Here is my montrocity (is that how you spell it? never was a good speller!) of a belly last week at 32wks, I'll take another one next week once we hit 34wks...

Also somewhere along the line I developed a rear end...something I've never had before! And yes I take these in the bathroom at work, I'm there, the mirror is clean unlike the rest of the bathroom and its full length so why not? :)

We've also finally decided on a name but thought it would be kind of fun to keep it a surprise for most people until the day he arrives! Since it took us a good 12 weeks to come up with a name we love I don't wish to have any "oh" type comments...not that it's a weird name or anything but you know some people just can't fake that reaction like they should! ;)
So 8 of our friends know plus our parents and my youngest sister, haven't told Bear yet but we haven't talked recently for me to bring it up...so unless it's been mentioned by the rest of the family she can be surprised too! Although I think Mum's told Gran, who's probably told the Kennedy crew...I don't mind a bit if family knows though! :)

I'm looking forward to tomorrow at 4pm when I can switch the calendar over to April, ready to see the next page and get closer to the arrival of my son and the completion of our family...

Spring are you there? maybe?

Today hasn't been the best of days, it's our 2 yr anniversary that ended before it even started since my "lovely" husband was a jerk all day yesterday and escalated into an even bigger jerk last night. So I didn't wake up with a "happy anniversary, love you babe" I woke up to my alarm, got dressed kissed my angel goodbye and came into work...didn't even set eyes on the husband. Since today was supposed to be a nice, enjoyable, reflection day and instead it went down the pooper I decided I needed to enjoy myself anyway and grabbed lunch at Panera...okay between the Panera Bacon Turkey Bravo and Jason's Deli California Club I could live happily and not eat anything different ever again and nope it's not just pregnancy hormones talking...I've loved these sandwiches since discovery probalby 5 yrs plus years ago! JUST YUM!

Escaped from my work torture chamber and drove out to get my Bacon Turkey Bravo deliciousness! When I got back I decided last minute to sit outside and enjoy the 60 plus degree weather and amazingly clear Denver skies. Since moving into our new office we have an awesome front garden area complete with water fountain and picnic tables...in the middle of the DTC it's a nice change from building upon building! We have a nice little view off to one side that is almost building free...it was a nice relaxing 15-20mins minus the odd Indian lady who felt the need to stare at me the whole time!?!

Now my calendar in the office says Spring officially started on Saturday and I'd believe them if not 15mins after coming back in from lunch I got a beep on my phone from weather bug saying "storm warning" through tomorrow evening and snow predicted...but wait I really should belive the calendar b/c I live in the state of Colorado and Spring time means any temp from 30 degrees to 70 degrees!

So maybe it really is Spring and I just have to enjoy the weather as it comes :)