Our Moving News Continued...

Well, we're still not sure if we are going to take the job in Cincinatti yet.  It's likely we will, but we're not 100% sure.  We're still figuring everything out, weighing our options.  The one thing we do know is that we will have to move.  There aren't anymore acturial jobs for Kyle here in Lafayette now that his company is moving to Cincinatti.  The offer that was given to Kyle is a good offer with lots of very nice moving benefits included.  It's nice to know that he's not out a job.  We have one if we want it.

We met with a realator last week.  I have a page full of small projects to work on the next month before we put it up on the market.  Lots and lots of little projects.  I've already started.  It's been a little hard though because Kyle is working and studying so much that he barely has the time to help.  Luckily I have a handy-man brother who is going to help me out with the things Kyle would normally be doing. 

I've had a couple of meltdown the last week or two but I'm doing pretty good with everything.  I think the thing I'm most bummed out about is the house.  I've worked so hard on this house and we just have to leave.  Someone else will get to enjoy all the hard work and love we've put into it.  It's seriously an entirely different place then when it was when we first bought it.  It's a home now, our home.  I'm going to be so sad to leave it to move into a rental.  Yep, a rental .  We want to save for a good down payment and get to know the area of where ever we will be living before we buy our next house.  It's pretty bad when you have seller's remorse before you even put the house up for sell.

This will be a new adventure for us.  One that will be really good for us, I think.  We'll have to expand our horizons.  We'll get to start over again.  And that'll be nice. 

Thank Heaven for Cars

I honestly have no idea what Leon would do all day if it weren't for his cars.  He loves him and therefore I love them.  He's such a little boy. 

I'm trying to work on my everyday photography skills.  I think by working toward a more lifestyle approach to my everyday photography would be so beneficial and rewarding.  I'm currently loving the work by Molly Flanagan whose everyday photographs of her children are just wonderful - they're so real but so aestically beautiful it makes me want to cry.  So, with that said (or typed, I guess), I hope to be posting more fun, playful, and beautiful photo post of our everyday lives.

P.S.  I'm sure everyone is wondering about our recent news about moving.  I promise I'll most more next week.

Bombshell News

This week we got some news that pretty much has turned our world upside down.  All our upcoming plans and hopes have come to a screaching halt.  On Tuesday, we found out that the company that Kyle works for is moving to Cincinnati, Ohio which also means that Kyle's job is moving as well.  We're so grateful that he'll still have job if he chooses to accept their offer, but we're also flustered, scared, sad about the fact that we're going to have to move.  We knew that this was probably going to happen, but we also thought it would be 5, 7, 10 years down the road.  It was just so sudden.  We bought this little fixer upper house which isn't in any means close to how we thought it would be when it came to sell it.  There's still a lot of little projects to do and we haven't even landscaped yet.  Fortunetly the offer they gave us is good and includes very generous moving expenses and benefits.  However, we still are deciding if this good offer is the right one for us.  We would have been happy to stay here forever, close to all our family.  And I FINALLY have good friends, ones that I don't want to leave behind.  It took me forever to make friends and I don't really want to start over. 

I will say this though.  We are excited about having the chance to start over.  We're excited about having a new adventure, a new learning experience.  We'll get to go house hunting again which I love.  We'll get to be on our own.  We'll (maybe, if he accepts) be in larger city with lots of fun, new things to do - OH, and there's an Ikea in Cincinatti.  Once I found that out, I was like "well, this may not be so bad afterall!"  hehe. 

But...there's always a but.  I had big plans this year and moving cancels or puts a lot of them on hold like for instance:  Gardening.  I couldn't wait to start a garden this year- just could not wait!  I was so excited about it.  My photography business - it was really doing well and now if I want to, I'll have to start all over again.  I was also finally starting to get my art work out there in the community and selling it.  We'll have to leave our family and won't be able to just stop by on Sundays or meet up for dinner.  Leaving our little house - even though it still has many flaws and we get upset with it every so often we've put so much work and love into it.  I love our neighborhood.  I love our big yard.  I'm not a city girl either.  Lafayette, West Lafayette is about as big as I really wanna go.  I've never moved further than 45 minutes of where I grew up.  I don't know how to really move.  I knew what schools Leon was going to go to and I knew they were good schools.

I've got tons of mixed feelings about all of it.  I'm mostly scared of all the unknowns.  However, I have faith that everything will be okay.  It will all work out.  It's not the end of the world ;)  I know that God has a plan for us and He's sending us on our way. 

Smile!

Now you can't tell me this didn't make you smile!

The part I could do without...

So last night, I encountered the part of motherhood that I'd rather do without: cleaning up someone else's vomit.  Leon started running a fever yesterday afternoon.  He wouldn't eat dinner but before bed he was hungry so I got him a snack.  Around 9:30 I had to go into get a very scared, very sick, very unconsolable little Leon.  I felt so bad for him.  After he finished throwing up all over the place, we got him changed, gave him some water, put Curious George on in our bedroom, and preceded to clean up his room.  It wasn't fun seeing my little guy so miserable and it certainly wasn't fun to clean up.

Here's after all the mayhem, watching Curious George and trying to get his fever down a bit.

Leon woke back up around 2:00, once again very scared and burning up.  I got him calmed down, gave him some tylenol, and got him ready for bed again.  But after going back to my bed, I knew there was no way I was going to sleep unless he was right beside me where I could keep an eye on him.  Leon won't sleep in our bed with us, so I ended up making a bed on his bedroom floor next to the crib.

This morning he was feeling much better.  His fever is much better.  He still isn't 100% by any means.  He actually just went down for a nap around 9:45 - he's tired and wiped out.  I'm glad though because he could use some more rest and I could use a shower.  Here is a moment when he was really feeling pretty good.

I love him to death.  I hope he starts feeling better.  Poor guy.

Looking back, looking forward

I feel like this last year has been a year of overcoming things and becoming better by doing so. I really feel like I've grown in so many ways. We've accomplished so much. We have so many wonderful things to be grateful for. Leon has grown and changed and developed so much. He's sweet and funny and adventurous. Kyle is a better husband and father than ever. I feel like we are closer and love each other more with everyday counting. I've pretty much defeated my seemingly everlasting battle with post partum depression and couldn't love being a mother more. My portrait photography business completely took off unexpectedly. I finally accomplished my goal to start selling my artwork and did so quite successfully, I think. I finally have friends again, something that had been so much harder since I got married then I ever expected. I really feel good about life. It's been a while since I've felt this satisfied. There are many things that still need working on but I've got a handle on things which makes it all feel so much more easier and doable.

2011 is going to be a tough one. I already know this and I'm prepared for it. I'm just hoping I can keep a good perspective about things. Kyle is going to be studying for and taking 2 actuarial exams. For those of you who don't know about actuarial exams, they are hard and incredible time consuming and hard and exhausting for everybody. For every hour of exam there is you are recommended to study 100 hours. The ones that Kyle will be taking are 6 hours long. You do the math - yep, that's 600 hours of studying from January to May and then again from July/August to November. And that's just if he passes each one. If he doesn't, he has to start all over again. However, if he does pass it will be soooo worth it and he'll be done with these crazy exams for good!

I'm hoping to start an etsy shop selling my fine art photography and revamp my portrait business. I also have a mile high of home project to work on. I'm taking one thing at a time and taking my time with each thing. Nothing will be worth me being overwhelmed this year. We're also hoping to possibly fit some other things in like going on a decent vacation, getting a new vehicle, and possibly another kid? I also have hopes to becoming a better mom and wife, to read The Book of Mormon again, and working on our budget. Kyle is usually the one who takes care of all the finances, but we both agree it's time for me to learn the ropes of it all.

I know it'll be a hard one, but I know those are the ones that always make you better in the end. Happy New Year to you all!