Family at Heart

It occurred to me yesterday that I haven’t even mentioned our two kitties when I have talked about our family. We have had Elmo for nearly 11 years and Eve for 9 years. I just had to put their pictures on here, and give a little background on how they joined our family. Eve has finally gotten comfortable with letting A pet her. It’s only taken 3.5 years

Elmo is our big, fat, fluffy buddy. He was set on our doorstep right after our other beloved kitty had passed away. I just know it was our apartment neighbor but she always denied it. Anyway, after some initial health scares with him, he settled in with us and has been our faithful and loving companion since. He is Hubby’s kitty for sure though, and he always steers clear of A.

Eve is our tiny little buddy. We adopted her from the Humane Society on Christmas Eve 1998, hence her name. She is the most loving kitty I’ve ever had. She sleeps next to me EVERY night and is always on hand to lend a purr. She is definitely my kitty. Funny how they chose their favorite humans!

I’m glad that I did this post. Now I have proof that my cats exist. I know there are so many people that have been to my house that haven’t seen them. Here’s my proof; they do exist

We had a fantastic Christmas as a family. We were so blessed to be together, and my dinner wasn’t bad either Here are a few pictures from the gift opening, the playing that ensued, and just a few of the special moments that we were able to share with our little girl these past few days. I hope everyone’s holiday held the same warmth, happiness, and magic that ours did!

She couldn’t wait to tear into the packages.  She needed no help this year for sure.

I took this picture of a Dear Santa letter that A brought home from preschool. Apparently, the teacher helped the kiddos find pictures of what they wanted and this is what she picked out. My heart exploded with happiness when I saw it since she had one under the tree already!

The now-beloved flute, well by A anyway!

And the binoculars that Daddy found.  All of us enjoyed taking these to the park.

She got a Bella Dancerella set with a dance barre, video, and dance mat.  The girl is now obsessed!

A had the best time and of course is already talking about next Christmas, but not how you think.  She’s already planning on what she will get me.  So far, it will either be a Mrs. Potato Head or a baby doll that pees

Oh my, how time has flown!

I have been meaning to write about how hubby and I met and several of the events that happened leading up to our being in Texas and to where our family is now. Here’s a short timeline:

1986 – I met hubby at my house. He had become a pretty good friend to my brother and he brought him home. Hubby and I both grew up in a tiny town in the coalfields of southern West Virginia. Our moms went to school together, and had known each other their entire lives. I had heard his name and knew of him, but didn’t really know him until he started hanging out at our house. Of course, I immediately developed a crush on him

1988 – After two years of really knowing each other, we began dating in the summer of 1988. He asked me to wear his class ring. We had so much fun together, but my mom was super strict. We had to have my brother tag along to the movies, etc.

After several more years, we got married and settled into life. I was taking classes at the community college that was 45 minutes away, and I got my first part-time job at a grocery store. I started out as cashier and was moved to manager about a year later, without a raise I might add. Money was very tight and collection notices were not an uncommon thing to see in our mailbox. Hubby worked at jobs that he hated, mostly drawing CAD maps of the mines, but always had computer programming in his heart.

One day in the spring of 1996 after a mini-meltdown of mine over money, he casually asked if I wanted him to look for work out of state. I immediately said YES. I had really had enough. The stress was just too much. For both of us to work that hard and not even be able to pay basic bills was just unacceptable at that point.

March 1996 – Interview with video game company in Austin.

April 1, 1996 – First day of work at Iguana Entertainment.

April 3, 1996 – Last day of work for me at the grocery store

April 5, 1996 – Hubby flew in to WV to get me, the Ryder truck with all of our earthly possessions, our cat, and tow my car to Texas.

April 7, 1996 – Arrived in Austin to a brand new life, leaving everyone and everything we had ever known behind. Most people thought we were crazy since no one ever leaves WV. Why not? I ask myself that question all the time.

July 1996 – I started working at a speech pathology clinic and worked there until May 2004 just before A was born in June. I am still very good friends with my former boss and she always invites me to the Christmas party. So sweet of her. So yes, I am 34 and have had two jobs my whole life.

Spring 1998 – Began classes at UT.

January 27, 1999 – Closed on our house – the proudest day of my life until A was born. At one point in WV, we couldn’t afford our $200 mobile home payment.

December 21, 2000 – My dad passed away.

January 20, 2001 – Hubby’s dad passed away. Two funerals in a month was almost more than I could bear, and those were some of the darkest days of my life. Having Hubby by my side is the only thing that got me through.

Life carried on just working, going to UT, and having fun as a couple for several years.

May 2003 – Graduated from UT with a bachelor’s in journalism.

May 2003 – Hubby started his own company.

September 2003 – Pregnant with our greatest blessing!!!!!

June 4, 2004 – A was born after nine months of anticipation and 33 hours of labor!!!!

There’s way too much life events to list after that monumental event, so I will just have to try to describe it overall with a couple of words: Mommyhood ROCKS

We just got back from the Trail of Lights during which I fell in love with my hubby for the millionth time. He carried A on his shoulders the majority of the time. He was so patient with us while I had to get all the photos for the scrapbook and the grandmas. He, by the way, is so much better than I am with any camera so he got some great shots for me. When he wasn’t toting A, he was toting the coats that we didn’t have to wear – PERFECT weather, warmest Trail of Lights for us yet. He also toted the big camera and even my purse at times. Whatever I needed from him, as always. Honey, I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon, which child care option for A would you like? “I’ll keep her with me.” Honey, I want to go and help clean up the snow room tomorrow night. “No problem.” Honey, while you’re working all day, I’m going to go out with our friend and her kiddos and then come back home and make cookies with them. “Have a great time.” This man is just too much and so good to us. THANKS Honey.

Oh and by the way, he is super smart and good at what he does. I am so proud of him, and so impressed by what he can do and how he keeps his business going. Four years and going strong. I’ll be behind you every day in every way sweetie.  He has the kindest and gentlest heart I’ve ever known.  That’s why our garage door is never fully closed.  He lets our ex-neighbor’s kitty live in there.  Oh yes, and then there’s the $50 kitty house on the patio for the other ex-neighbor’s kitty.  His love for A is unrivaled and I thank God everyday for him and for the child that we’ve been blessed with.  Yes, I’m feeling particularly nostalgic and thankful tonight.  We just had a great family tradition go so great and I understand what being lucky and blessed is really about.

His interview with a major industry magazine came out today, and I couldn’t be any prouder. I haven’t figured out how to link using Wordpress, but the address is www.vision-systems.com.

All of this and he can fizzle a tantrum like nobody’s business too. I really did find my one in a million!

A and I have been pretty busy, so instead of writing everything out, I thought I would just tell a bit of it in pictures. Here goes…

This is our engagement calendar that stays on the fridge and is the only thing that gets us where we’re supposed to be when we’re supposed to be there. I couldn’t talk about all the cool things we have going on without mentioning what keeps me organized enough to show up to them.

This is our beautiful Princess A before we went to the Princess and the Pea playdate with our play group.

This is the caterpillar that we made at a playdate. He came in kinda sparse, but A just loves him.

This was one of my favorite pictures taken at a friend’s birthday party at Build-A-Bear.

A made this at preschool, and she is so anxious to add a cotton ball for everyday.  She keeps saying, “When Santa has a full beard, I get to open presents.”  I think I’m more excited than she is to see her tear into the packages this year.  She actually had stuff she asked for and we were able to get it, along with the grandmas of course!

We had our neighborhood play group’s party yesterday. It was a wrapped book exchange. Very cool idea.

And finally, to top it all off, the playdate to end all playdates – the snow room. One of the moms in our group set up a snow room in her house for all of us to enjoy. The first shriek of the kids today made me cry, it truly did. To hear such joy coming from them just made the world right. A loved it so much. After many, many pictures and even some video on my new small camcorder that fits in my purse (Christmas gift from my great hubby, THANKS SWEETIE), I jumped in there with her and had the best time I’ve had in probably years. We threw snow on each other, buried each other, laughed, giggled, squealed. The best playdate EVER!!!!! Thanks again J and all the moms who helped to make it happen

I can’t explain how lucky and blessed I feel to be A’s mommy and the wife of such a fantastic husband. I love that we are able to share so much as a family and that we can do for A what our parents couldn’t always do for us. I mean this in a very light way – I never got to play in a snow room when I was 3.5

Well, the evening was pretty uneventful overall. The biggest issue was the big sister of the baby. She was so excited to be here and was up way past her bedtime. That spells WIRED. After I fed baby A, he would have gone straight to sleep. But big sis wouldn’t hear of that. She was soooo loud. I didn’t think girls were supposed to be that loud Anyway, my A was great and was trying to play the whispering game with her. Finally, my dear hubby took the big girls upstairs to watch a movie in the media room while I tried, unsuccessfully I might add, to get the baby back to sleep. I think by that time, he had some gas stirred up in that little tummy. Gurgle, gurgle Our friends arrived back at just after 11 instead of midnight, so that was nice. Hubby and I agreed that we might be busy this time next year. Wink, wink Still it was good to help them out. However, we have not changed our minds about not adding to our happy family of 3

Ok, so I was roused from my overly scheduled routine this morning with an email from a pretty close friend asking me to babysit her two kiddos on Friday night. Her little girl is 4 and A just loves her. Certainly not a problem there. But then there’s the two month old little guy that I haven’t even held yet. I just love babies, but in truth I haven’t handled one for more than a few minutes since A was that size. I haven’t changed a baby boy’s diaper in 20 years when I did it for my cousin who is now training for the police academy There are a couple of great moms in our play group that have 3 under 4 and they are fantastic. However, they did have some experience with two and then some time to prepare. I have 2 days! I feel like such a baby being this nervous. I’m just not used to having that much on my plate at once, and most of the time, our house is pretty quiet. I want to say yes. I know that she and her hubby want to go to his company Christmas party. She even gave me an out saying no problem if I didn’t want to take on 3 kids for the evening. My other issue is with my hubby. He has been working so much since December 1st and today his clients are leaving and he can relax a bit. He might want to have a family night out on Friday. I’m definitely going to talk with him about it. I thought about sending him out with a guy friend to catch a movie that I would never want to see, but then that would leave me alone with 3 under 4 Anyway, I am using this post to try to gather my thoughts. I am 70% sure that I will tell her yes. I know she could use a break too. She certainly doesn’t call me or email me like she did a few months back. Now I must get hubby’s opinion. I’m sure I will be writing again after Friday with all the details (or not).

A wanted to write on her dry-erase mat so I of course grabbed the camera.  She’s getting really good at her letters.  I had her sign her name on each of our Christmas cards this year which was extremely sweet.