Birthday Fun Phase 1

Enox managed to survive his first year living with Jamino and I. Anyone who knows us well would understand that that's a big deal. His 1st birthday fell on Thanksgiving; lucky little tot. We didn't do anything Thanksgiving related, we chose to make it a birthday only day and celebrate Thanksgiving later. I divided up the day into 4 separate phases designed to be separate of one another and to not overwhelm Enox with a lot of presents and activities all at once.

To kick off the Birthday festivities Enox got a Balloon (well actually 7 balloons). Kind of a silly way to start the day, but not if your 1. Enox points out the balloons with wonder and excitement whenever we are at the store. He has always wanted one and I have never given him one. Once we were at Old Navy and there was one balloon left in their balloon cup in the kids section and he saw it and as I considered the ramifications of giving it to him some guy reached in snatched it up and handed it to his son. Enox looked so devastated and confused. He had pointed to it with such hope and anticipation and in an instant he had been CRUSHED. So I figured it was time for Enox to have his first balloon.

He saw the balloons right away when he came downstairs in the morning and got quite excited when we gave him one to play with. He ran with it and jumped on the couch, squealing "Bwoon! Bwoon!"

 He'd let it go and then pull it back to him and pounce on it. He played with the balloon for a solid hour, simply delighted as he tried different movements and then watched the balloon react.

Phase 1 of the Birthday, "Balloon time", was a hit.

I'm Back

Shortly after my last post I stopped living for a bit, it was kind of a dark time. And after everything was better I couldn't seem to move on in the blog without reconciling the lost time. But writing about it would be to relive it so I never returned to the blog. Well the problem with avoiding a blog is time continues to pass and then there is even more catching up to do--a vicious cycle! So a few things have happened:


After the company employing Jamino went under (rendering him unemployed), he went to Alaska to help his parents. His father needed heart surgery so his parents needed some help during his rehabilitation period. He was in Alaska for 7 months. While he was gone, my car broke down, the air conditioner in the house broke, the furnace broke, I broke a few bones in my foot and was in a cast and I put my dog, Harley, down. After Harley was gone it was suddenly open season on my house; every mouse in the neighborhood took up residency-GROSS. I was alone trying to keep up on the bills and the mortgage on a third of the income. I often went to bed hungry in a 100 degree house with all the doors and windows open. Suffice it to say I didn't really sleep. I buried myself in work and withdrew from the world.


Though difficult there were many blessings that came from this time:





The timing of Jamino losing his job right when his parents needed help. Jamino was able to reconnect with his parents during this time-before he went I would have to remind him to call his parents, which was maybe once a month; now they talk a few times a week. While in Alaska he adopted his father's new heart healthy diet and lost 60 lbs. Losing the weight completely nullified his need for Gout medication.





My car had the decency to wait until after my broken foot bones had healed; Jamino's car is a standard and I wouldn't have been able to drive it in a cast.





Jamino's parents bought us a new furnace and air conditioner. They essentially gifted us with years of comfort, sweet dreams and safety (the old furnace leaked carbon monoxide). I seriously cried the day I came home to a wonderful 72 degrees, I had forgotten the joy of crisp cool sheets-I slept for 2 days straight.





The focus on work gave me the performance ratings and experience to advance my career 2 positions to a new job that I LOVE.





After Jamino returned from Alaska in his new and improved healthy state he started looking for work and got on with FedEx. We added Radley a 7 week old Scottish Terrier to the family. (She immediately finished off all the mice). Then 8 months later we added Piper a 4 month old West Highland White Terrier. Life started getting back to normal. 2009 was my least favorite year on record. 2010 was a recovery year. It was a year full of feeling constantly behind but being so used to it that it just feels normal. I started 2011 with high hopes that it would be a year of change and improvement. I made plans/ set goals etc, all of which went out the window when I got the news that I was pregnant. Strangest, most suprising, best news ever.