Summer Transition

Last year was a long, hard, SICK, year! With two kids in daycare, we were always sick. I bet if you were to look back at my time card last year, there wouldn't have been a single month in the year, including summer months, that I didn't have to take at least one day off in the month due to a sick kid at home. If it wasn't one sick kid, it was the other and I mean it when I say this went on all year long. I remember spending my 30th birthday (last July) sick in bed all day. Despite several ear infections, countless sinus infections, never ending colds, the dreaded flu, thrown in with a couple cases of mastitis, we somehow made it through the year on minimal sleep with bags under our eyes.

Come July, I was ready to start our new chapter at home. July was a perfect time of year to make the transition.  Even though I was ready to be at home, there was a large part of me inside wondering if i was 'cut out' to be a Stay at Home Mom. With the nice weather and all the outdoor activities, summer was a nice way to ease into it.  I signed Hanley up for lots of camps and we spent the majority of the summer playing outside. Here's an idea of how we got our summer tans on:

-Swim lessons for Hanley.  He LOVED swimming!! Every morning he would jump out of bed and get dressed in his swim trunks before he made it downstairs for breakfast and cartoons.

-Soccer camp.  Hanley surprised us with how well he did in soccer and how much he enjoyed it.  I almost didn't sign him up for it because the camp ran into his nap time but I am glad I said to heck with nap time!

-Preschool summer camp.  We enrolled Hanley to start preschool in the fall, so this gave him an opportunity to meet his new teachers and some of the kids in his class.

-Weekend trip to Seattle to visit Aunt Coco and Uncle Kyle.



-Five day trip to Alaska to visit Holly, Sever and Henry.  We had an amazing time up there!

-We got in 4 camping trips, including our annual Crescent Lake camp out.

-Tillamook County Fair.  The boys and I met up with my Mom, my brother Caleb and a few of my cousins and their kiddos.  Hanley decided this will be an annual event for now on :o)

-Parks, parks and more parks! I had a goal to visit all the public parks in Oregon City.  We had a lot of fun playing at new parks around town.

-We hit up the spray parks on a weekly basis.

-Hanley got to spend 4 days at my parents house which he loved and it gave Henrik and I some nice one-on-one time.

-Kim and Loren took both boys for a long weekend over our anniversary weekend. Happy 7 years to us!

-The boys and I met Mindy and Jaclyn at Oaks Park a couple times. The boys don't seem to have any kind of fear when it comes to rides!

-Annual Stuebing Coast trip.

-BBQ at Uncle Mark's house.

-Play dates, walks, bike rides, basketball...etc.

It truly was a fun summer! Oh and imagine this... we were healthy all summer long :o)

Our New Life... As a Family of 4

Well, its been a loooong time since I last blogged.  After Henrik's arrival, life just got too busy and this Mama was too tired to blog. But a lot has changed. So, let me get you caught up...

Adjusting to 2 kids was just that..an adjustment!  I distinctly remember when Henrik was 2 weeks old, we sat down to eat at the dinner table. Moments later, both kids were crying and I just lost it and broke down into tears myself.  I looked up at Cody and said, "Maybe we are just in over our heads here." Cody, the only one in the house not crying, assured me that lots of people have 2 kids and make it just fine.  Then he looked around trying to figure out which crying person to assist....the toddler with a major meltdown, the screaming newborn, or the exhausted, emotional Mama. Needless to say, we survived that dinner and hundreds more since then.

I had to go back to work 2 days before Henrik turned 3 months old.  It was really hard for me to leave him so early.  As if that wasn't a big enough change for the household, Cody made a pretty big career move that same month. Although he was experiencing a lot of success and building strong relationships at this previous job, it was becoming difficult for him to find happiness in the daily grind.  He made the decision to re-unite with a former mentor and long-time friend at another Portland based company. To date, its been a good change- for him and for our family.

Hanley turned 3 years old. Of course he wanted to have a Super Hero birthday party.

Henrik was actually a really easy baby. Great eater, sleeper, napper, etc. (Our only struggle with him as a baby was the car! He freakin' hated the car). But other than that, he was practically a perfect baby. Then at 9.5 months old he started walking and he's been a handful to keep up with since then.

I made a really tough decision to wean Henrik at 10.5 months old.  Cody and I had a chance to go to the beautiful island of Roatan with Kim, Loren, Courtney and Kyle. As selfish as it sounds, we just felt like we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Thankfully Henrik weaned easily and my Mom was wonderful enough to take a week off work to take care of the boys while we were on vacation. Our vacation was AMAZING! Kyle proposed to Courtney and we were so glad we were able to witness such a special moment in such a beautiful place.

In March, Henrik celebrated his 1st birthday (obviously, we had a Saint Patrick's Day themed party for him). A week or two later, he had a really bad reaction to his 12 month vaccinations (high fever for days, then later broke out into a measles-like rash all over his body). It was a work night and our normally perfect sleeper kept me up all night.  At the time, I thought it must be his teeth bothering him because I couldn't come up with any other explanation. Deep down, I knew he needed me. I knew he was not okay but I sent him to daycare anyways.  I didn't think he was sick, like contagious sick and I pretty much felt like my hands were tied.  I knew it was going to be a busy day at work and I couldn't justify keeping him home and taking the day off of work because he was teething. After lunch, I got the call from daycare.  He had spiked a really high fever.  They said he had been cranky all day before spiking the fever.  I felt horrible.  I couldn't help but feel like the worst Mom on the planet.  I kept asking myself "What kind of Mom drops her baby off and daycare when her Mommy gut is telling her he's not okay?". When I picked him up, I couldn't control my emotions.  I broke down into uncontrollable tears in front of his teachers.  I got him home and realized it was Tuesday, so the housekeeper was here. I cried in front of her too.  I took him up to his room and rocked him so we would be out of her way.  I just keep telling him how sorry I was over and over again. It was in this moment that my mind was made up.. If I had the chance, I was going to choose my kids over my work.

Three months later, my heart and the spreadsheet collided in the best way possible...and I retired. June 30, 2016 was my last day as a working Mama. One of the best decisions I have ever made.