Meggy Sue Turned Two!

On December 18th, my sweet baby girl turned two!  I can't believe it! 

We had an elephant themed party for her (which was slightly holiday-ish, given the timing), but she loves elephants right now, so it worked out.

The day started off with Mickey Mouse pancakes and lining up all of the elephant guests for the party (thanks JD).

After that, we got ready for church, where Meg had her last day in Baby Bible Class (sniff sniff).

We got home for a pizza party (Meg's favorite food) and presents! 

My Meggy Sue quite successfully turned two and loved every minute of it!  A couple of weeks later, we went to the doctor for the well visit.  I was so impressed (and so was JD) that she took her shot with only a whimper!

Head - 35th percentile
Weight - 26 pounds, 35th percentile
Height - 33 inches, 50th percentile

Meg is such a bright ray of sunshine in our house.  She has such a sweet disposition and is always smiling and singing.  She loves music of all kinds and will rock it out with the Fresh Beat Band or sing with Olivia or VeggieTales. 

Meg has quite a vocabulary and can carry on a pretty decent conversation.  She can count to 20 (with a few hiccups in the teens), recognize her shapes and sort them, and color and draw circles.  She is just starting on letters and can sing some of the alphabet song.  We're still working on colors, most things are green or red right now.

She can undress herself and put on her pants, skirt and socks and shoes by herself.  She also loves to accessorize and asks for her bow for her hair daily.  We have just started the potty training route, but I can say, as of today, she has successfully used the potty once and has asked to sit on it about a million times.

Meg is pretty good about trying new foods and just added salad to her list of vegetable likes (along with green beans and carrots).  Pizza is the favorite, but she likes spaghetti and meatballs, chicken, beans and rice, soup and chocolate bunny crackers.  Not a fan of juice yet, but she will still down a bottle of milk at bedtime.

At two, Meg still takes a 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap every day and sleeps every night from 7-7/7:30 in the morning.  As long as we have the sound machine to drown out big brother, she sleeps great!  We are just about to move her in the toddler bed, so we will see if this changes soon!

Meg loves to play with JD and they have created all sorts of brother/sister games they love to play together.  My favorite is pirate princess.  Meg puts on her princess crown and finery and then walks around saying "Arrgh!"  Sometimes she adds a sword for flair.  Love it!

I'm so excited to see how she changes in the next year and I love the the little girl that she is becoming!  So much fun with my sweet Margaret Sue!

It Only Took 10+ Years

When I first met my sweet husband nine years ago, he was taking a few classes here and there toward his bachelor's degree.  Since he went straight into the fire academy and all of his firefighting preparation right out of high school graduation, getting a degree wasn't a priority.

As he started to look toward promotions and getting to the next level in his career, a degree started to become very important.  So we embarked on a journey together (him - attending lots of evening classes, studying, writing papers; me - missing him while he was gone, helping him study and editing his papers) for Jon to complete his BA.

He started at Collin County Community College and transferred into University of Texas of Dallas.  After countless hours and a ton of hard work, Jon graduated Summa Cum Laude on December 17 with a degree in Public Affairs. 

I am so proud of him and his dedication to accomplish this goal.  There were so many times when it seemed easier just to quit and take the easy road, but he stuck it out and not only met his goal, but surpassed it with his high GPA!

Now, he is already enrolled for his Master's degree and starting classes for that this semester.  Thank goodness that one is only a year and a half!  And who knows?  He is talking about his doctorate too...

Retrospective

I think that is what this blog is becoming.  I am losing the battle with keeping up to date on this thing.  And I actually have a pretty good reason.

About 4 weeks ago, I went back to work on a part-time basis.  This was not a decision that I made lightly, but it really seemed that it was meant to be right now. 

Many factors have been coming in, loud and clear for us.  Living with two kids on a single income isn't easy.  My husband is a wonderful provider and daddy to my children and I couldn't ask for more.  But as a firefighter, they have a pretty tight ceiling as far as pay increases go, so we were starting to plan ahead for that fact. 

Also, I majored in Journalism in college.  Not elementary education, not home economics, not nursing...I am not gifted in these areas.  Let's face it, my patience with little kids, even my sweet babies, has a limit (although my love absolutely does not).  I found myself raising my voice and getting frustrated at insignificant things on a daily basis. 

Plus - back to that Journalism major, I did get a very expensive college education that I used for 10 years before having children.  I thrive on the challenge of creating a marketing strategy and tactics to meet a specific need with tailored messages per audience.  I loved my day-to-day interactions at work and feeling like a valued contributor.  And, let's be honest, I loved bringing home a paycheck to add into our family's finances.

So with all these things floating in my mind, I got a notification on my iphone from a job app that I had downloaded months ago.  It was programmed to ping me when a part-time marketing job in Allen came up.  Well, you can guess how many times that had happened.  So I was shocked when one popped up.

I showed it to Jon and asked what he thought and we both agreed that it couldn't hurt to find out more.  So I sent in my resume and got a call the next day, which turned into a phone interview.  Then I was asked in for a more formal interview, which turned into a follow up interview with the CMO and a job offer.  Wow!  All within 3 days of submitting my resume!

The job seems to fit my needs perfectly - working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (the days that JD goes to preschool).  It is just down the road in the offices above the shopping complex that Jon and I go to often for dinner and shopping.  The job is just the right balance of marketing and operational management that is in line with my career.  And the office seems to be very family focused and friendly.

We also asked our sister-in-law (a recent elementary education graduate - who is looking for a full time teaching gig...let me know if you know of one) to come watch Meg during those days and shuttle JD back and forth to school.  They LOVE Aunt Mary, so it seemed to be another blessing that just fell into place.

Now, four weeks into the job, I am hectic, busy and still a bit disorganized, but I am really enjoying the job and my time with my kids is so precious and seems to be more quality time together.  I am still a bit sad to not see them every day.  And I miss picking my boy up from preschool and getting Mommy-Meg alone time, but we are finding the balance.

The best part is how supportive my husband has been.  He has held my hand while I've cried over this decision and prayed with me and said all the right things ("You can quit anytime you feel like you need to").  Our conversations are about work and projects and office politics, not just kids now. 

After four years of poop, spit up, feeding, changing, entertaining and talking to kids, I am excited to be back in the saddle again.  I look forward to Tuesday, just like I look forward to Friday.  It is nice to feel balanced again.

So after my long-winded excuse for how my blog has fallen by the wayside, I do plan to give you an update on Jon's graduation, Meg's 2nd birthday, Christmas and Colorado soon!  Just look for an update Fri-Mon! :)