Sunday, February 6, 2011

To catch up or not to catch up...


I have been starting posts over and over for the past few days trying to decide where to start from and where to begin again...I decided to make it a brief catch up and start from today! Jeff and my world has been somewhat upside down for the past 7 months as we took on an adventure to move into an apartment in the city back in July. In brief, we become a Cares team for the company I work for and moved closer to Jeff's work. We were placed to build community in an apartment complex in the city. Where Jeff and I thought, what better timing to go and do this, our kids are young, not in "real" school, we can save some money, rent out our home and try a different life style for awhile - we couldn't have been more wrong! We lived in a beautiful community, met lots of great people and tried some thing new and different for us and for that I am proud of us. However, living in a high rise with two dogs, two kids, a cat and a husband who travels ALL the time is NOT a good idea, especially when the community is all young professionals and you are the only one's with children, young children at that!! I became so busy with my real job, my role as a Cares team at the apartment and everything else we had going on that I could hardly see straight - I felt I was no longer a good mom, a good wife, a good friend, or even a good person to myself - nothing, I was drained beyond words and I couldn't function. The day I felt my kids suffering from my insane schedule I realized we had to stop, Lord knows we worked WAY too hard for these babies for me to be in this position where I can't put my family first! Needless to say, we stepped down from that role and are currently staying with my parents until our renter finds a new home and we can FINALLY go back home where we need to be right now! There is so much I would like to say about this adventure, so much we learned, so much we grew and so much we gained but I am going to leave it at that for now! Maybe more as time goes on...for now, we anxiously await for our renter to accept our 'incentive' to leave early and pray she finds a new home FAST!
In spite of that crazy 'adventure' life has been really going well, we are absolutely in love with our stage in life right now! Our kids, their ages, their personalities and the complete joy and happiness they bring to our lives right now are beyond even the best words I can think of. Katelyn turned 4 over the summer and I am watching her grow into this confident, strong willed, beautiful, full of life, smart and happy little girl. She is the light of my life, a glimpse of an angel that I am in awe of...her questions, the way she challenges me, the spunk in her and her intelligence are just a few of the qualities I am so in awe of. I am totally in love with this age and can't believe she is wrapping up her preschool life this year and will go on to kindergarten in the fall! Kate loved the first month of our adventure in the apartment, she thought we lived in a hotel but as time went on, she missed her friends, her school, her cousins being over all the time, our kid centered life basically. Kate loves living with Meme and Papa but asks me and Jeff everyday when we can just go home and while it is completely breaking my heart, I know she will be Ok as soon as we get home and settled again. Blake man just turned 2 and I still don't know where the past two years have gone. Blake is completely opposite of Kate, he is slower at everything, shy, quiet, cautious to an extreme and not as social as our little princess. I love how different these two are and love experiencing life with two completely different personalities! I had Blake in Mothers Morning Out when we lived at the apartment, the experience was tough on him, he cried so hard everyday we thought they were going to make me pull him out but he did come around and I think liked it there a little bit. We did pull him out when we decided to move Kate back to her school and come back to my parents. Blake had a really hard adjustment with the apartment and we really believe it was because his mama was so stressed and overwhelmed. The day we moved into my parents and my stress level went down, Blake became a new child and has really blossomed being 'home' again. He is back with his old babysitter while I work and he is SO in love and SO happy there. I think this is exactly what he needed as much as we did! Blake is still not talking very well, we are working on this and trying to determine if he needs additional help with his speech but I think it is more that he is all boy, much more quiet then his sissy and trying to figure out our crazy lives!
Anyways, that is about all I can do for updating/catching up and since I love this blog for my own 'scrapbooking' reasons, I had to add all that for an update! Here are some pictures to catch up...a brief view of the past 9 months.
Katelyn's Pinkalicious 4th Birthday!

Kid's First Day at New School Fall 2010
Watching the UGA Game and Nana and Bunka's
Blake's 2nd Birthday at Play
At the Pink Pig with my two favorites

Christmas Morning at Meme and Papa's waiting to see if Santa came

Ok now I feel somewhat up to date...my next post is all about Disney World since we just got home and I know (Erin) many of you are waiting for the photos!!

So good to be back to blogging!

4 comments:

Jennifer said...

Oh my goodness Katie, I can't imagine everything you have gone through these last 7 months. Sounds exhausting! But I am so glad you guys experienced it, yet, at the same time realized what you needed to do for your family. I know you are eagerly awaiting the day you get back in your house and I hope it comes soon. Can't wait to see your disney pics :)

Kelly and Brent said...

Wow, you have had a crazy 7 months. The apartment thing stresses me a little bit and I didn't even experience it! ;) Sorry it didn't work out but you are right, you have to do what is best for your family. Hope you guys move back home soon!

Don't worry too much about Blake and his communication. Hailey was the same way!! We were REALLY worried and the doctor told us that she has a big sister to get everything for her. She doesn't really need to communicate with us. She has gradually started saying more in the last few months. It has been hard because Madison spoke so much earlier than Hailey, but she is a lot like your Kate...social butterfly. Keep working with Blake and he will start talking more and more.

So happy you are back to blogging. We have missed you! Can't wait to hear about Disney. What a wonderful place!!

MattandErin said...

Thanks! ;)

Ashly said...

So glad you've decided to blog again! Even though we talk almost daily, it's great to read about y'all too!