Another quick James story

I got home from work earlier than expected tonight. I didn't think I would be home in time to put the kids to bed, but I was. Here's a conversation I had with JP as we finished the movie he was watching before bed.

"Mommy, I'm glad you and Daddy had kiddos because I really wanted a Mommy and a Daddy" brief pause "and I wanted to live." He cracks me up!

James

Jp is growing up so fast! He starts preschool on Tuesday *sniff**sniff*. For some reason, this past week, it seems like he has aged overnight. He's been talking about more abstract things that I didn't realize he could comprehend.

The other day, we were sitting in the car talking about brothers for some reason. I told him I had two, uncle Matt and uncle Mark-married-to-aunt-Jojo (Sorry, Mark. You have a very long title because Jp has several "Uncle Mark"s). James said that Gabby only has one brother. I said: "Yeah, and you don't have any brothers." He replied back, "Well, if Sammy hadn't been born too early, I would have a brother. When you die and go to heaven Mommy, you won't be sad about Sammy anymore because you'll get to see him. He's up in heaven playing in the red car while he waits for me." The thing is, I haven't been torn up about Sammy (my October 2006 miscarriage) in a long time and we only talk about it every now and then. But in Jp's beautiful mind, Sammy is up in heaven, playing with Jesus and waiting for us.

Another concept he surprised me with the other day was when he told me that we live in a ball. Somehow he picked up on the whole "earth is round" thing. I have no idea where he's getting this information, but I love watching his understanding of the world grow. He didn't believe me when he asked what was in the middle of the ball and I told him fire though. He laughed and thought I was joking :-).

The last James story for the day happened this morning. He was sitting at the dining room table and yelled to me across the house: "Mommy, I won't ever smoke." Um, ok. "I'm glad to hear that, James." I replied. "I'm really, really glad to hear that. Why aren't you going to smoke?" "Because I want to see you longer, Mommy!"

Finally some pictures!

I wanted to post the link to Gabby's birthday pictures, but I wanted to share this one too. I took it of Gabby this morning. And yes, she dressed herself, starting with the glasses and moving down :-).

Here's the link to her birthday album on photobucket. I hope it works.

http://s536.photobucket.com/albums/ff344/theherrings42/gabby3/

Our little California Girl

A few days ago, Gabby and I went outside to get the mail around 8am. There were a few clouds in the sky. Not the big fluffy ones but several little ones (sorry. Don't know the technical term.) Gabby looked up and started giggling. "What are those, Mommy?" she asked. I told her they were clouds and she laughed again. "There are LOTS of them!" In seven months, our little girl forgot what a cloud looks like :-).

A new job!

I know that many of you are waiting with bated breath to find out about Gabby's birthday party. Jason is working on uploading the pictures and the link to the photobucket account will be sent out in the next day or two, so hang tight :-). Gabby informed me this evening that she is "sooo glad she's three!" For two days, she got to feel like a true princess and she is just beaming.

On another note, I have been working long and hard this week. I worked the VIP dinner on Wednesday and had a great time. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I worked the grand opening. It had it's challenges and I started to really miss the kids, but all in all, it was a good experience. I got to Gabby's birthday party Saturday night completely exhausted and stressed out. The hardest part for me that it was really crazy, chaotic and no one was telling us anything. I did, however, find out that I am hired on permanently. When my manager Freda told me, I said: "Oh, yay!" and gave her a big hug. She looked at me like I was nuts, but that's ok :-). She likes me. As a matter of fact, I went in to work today and about half-way through the shift, she offered me a position as lead! Another YAY! Basically we (me and one other girl) will alternate every other week and act as the manager on Freda's days off (Sunday and Monday) and whenever she goes on vacation. I guess those grueling hours on my feet all weekend, trying to pretend like I was super excited and not about to die paid off :-D.

I still don't have a permanent schedule yet, but Freda said she would work with me on my schedule, so hopefully in a couple days, I will have something that is more family friendly than the crazy hours I've been working. She has me scheduled for 5 of the next 7 days. So much for a part-time job ;-). Now I just have to find childcare. Thankfully, Jason's schedule is very flexible in the short term, so worst case scenario, he can come home and watch the kids.

Thanks to all of you for your support, prayers and encouraging words as we go through this transition.

Quick news from Salida

Jp had his physical this morning. It was quite thorough. They checked his hearing (he thought that was funny :-).). They checked his eyesight. (He thought that was a little strange. He wasn't sure what the nurse was up to.) He weighed in at 51lbs and 44.5" tall. 95% in height and his weight was near 100%. Poor guy had to have 4 shots, including MMR and tetanus. OUCH! He's been hobbling around the house all evening, with a huge thigh. Poor thing!

I had my work orientation today and it went well. It looks like I will be hired on permanently with Warehouse Demo Services, the company that does samples for Costco. I volunteered to work the VIP opening tomorrow, which should be lots of fun! All the big-wigs will be there. No pressure on my first day :-).

Please pray for us as we adjust to new family dynamics, that we will have the wisdom to know when to push ourselves and when enough is enough. I'm having a hard time thinking about leaving the kids (although the thought is quite nice sometimes :D). I don't do well with uncertainty (an anxiety trigger) and as of today, I have NO idea what my schedule is going to be next week. YIKES! I don't like that!

She's never growing up!

This morning, Gabby happened to see me take the Little Mermaid bedding set and curtains from her room. The set was for her toddler bed and she now has a twin bed. Poor thing was tired and she completely lost it. She sobbed and sobbed saying repeatedly: "I don't want to grow up! I want to stay little!" Broke my heart :(

Tonight I went to the mall to get a couple white shirts for work tomorrow. As I was walking through Penneys on the way out, I noticed they had some really cute lingerie. Then I looked up and realized I was in the Juniors formal dress section. I decided that Gabby was right. She should NEVER grow up!

Can I please go back to bed?

You know some days you wake up and you really wish you could just stay in bed? Today was one of those days for me. Maybe it was foresight into the day that was waiting for me. Here's a picture I took about 15 minutes ago. If you make the picture bigger, you'll notice Jp's red eyes. Hmmm.

Random Thoughts from Sunny Salida

I often think of you all when something happens. We often use the phrase: "Now THAT's a blog moment!", but often it never makes it to the blog because, by the end of the day, I am too tired to type it out, or I forget, or it's such a short story that I feel silly creating an entire blog entry for it. So today, I thought I would string together all of these random thoughts and occurrences for your enjoyment :).

First of all, Jason got a raise! 5% cost of living raise, completely unexpected. We really didn't think he would get a raise of any kind for quite a while, since he's so new to the company, but they gave it to him anyway. And his boss also told him to arrange his hours however he needed to so he could take care of the kids while I'm at work! God is good!

I've been looking up college friends on face book and my space lately. It's been kind of fun, finding some of my good friends again, even if it is only online.

Gabby is at a very enjoyable age, and boy is she ever a little princess! She loves to go shopping. Actually she loves to go anywhere for any reason. The other day, I took her with me to run an errand. I don't remember what shirt she was wearing, but she put on a pair of brown pants that she has had for a long time. We go out, do our thing. On the way home, she pipes up from the back seat: "Everybody LOVED my pants!"

This morning, I was getting ready for my shower and she decided that she would pick out my clothes. So she goes to the laundry pile and pulled out my outfit for me, which I actually did end up wearing, although I asked her if she could choose a different skirt, because I didn't care for the original one she picked out. She was very accomodating :).

Last night, Gabby and I headed to Target to fill a couple prescriptions. As we walk toward the door to go in, Gabby suddenly recognizes where we are and exclaims: "This is where I got my nail smoother thing!" She was very excited, because last time she went to Target with Jason, he got her a nail care kit from the dollar bins, which she was using on him before we left for the store by the way. Jason was laying on the couch, pretending to sleep. Gabby walks up to him, grabs a nail file and starts doing his nails. It was too cute!

James has been having a challenging week. Because we've lived with him for 4.5 years now, we know that this is a phase that he will come out of in a week or two and he will either be taller or will have some brand new skill. It's hard to watch him go through it though. He loses his temper over every little thing and the minor details become HUGE! Poor guy :(.

Speaking of, he's supposed to be napping but is making a lot of noise. I'd better go fight...I mean check on him.

My thoughts on Bunco

I played Bunco last night with a group of church ladies for the first time in my life. I have to say, Bunco is a dumb game. You sit around and roll a bunch of dice over and over and over and over and over and then, should luck be on your side, you get the numbers you are hoping for and you jump out of your seat screaming and yelling because, well, you got a lot of points. Do these points ultimately get you anywhere? Not necessarily because the biggest loser gets a prize as nice as the biggest winner and those in between get nothing. What kind of game is this anyway?!? And yet, I signed up to do it once a month for a year. Why, you ask? Because as I sat there marveling at the absolute absurdity of the game, I noticed myself relaxing and the women around me laughing and I felt more at home than I have in a very long time. You see, I only knew a few of these women and yet. I don't know. Something drew us together. And there are few things better than a room full of women laughing and having a good time. One of the ladies at the end of the night, sitting at the "rowdy" table, made the comment: "If we're like this now, imagine what it would be like if we were drinking!". I looked over at them and thought: "It honestly wouldn't be much different." :)

Oh, and because I always have to share the pictures of my cakes, here's the one I made for last night: