Big News......

I've got some big news... big news for me anyways. After many long drawn out conversations with me and God (and my sweet husband too!), I have decided to resign my job. Actually, I already resigned earlier this morning. It was by far the hardest decision I have made in a long time. When I was younger I never saw myself as a stay at home mom. I worked hard through college and worked even harder at my jobs and I was fortunate to find a career I truly loved (Human Resources) and was good at - my yearly evaluations say so. My life changed in so many ways when Audrey was born. I wrestled with whether or not I should return to work after my maternity leave was over. Returning to work after Audrey was the last hardest decision I have ever made. I did and was always at an unrest. I knew Audrey was safe. I never questioned her safety, but after she turned 6 months I realized I was missing some milestones for her. She would come home and have learned something new. This made me sad. I didn't teach her that. Of course the next morning she would throw a huge fit and I was grateful she was going to daycare! I have always wondered in the back of my head if I made the right decision to return to work. There is only one way to find out.....resign. Which I already did - can you tell a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders?
There are also other factors at play. I have reached the ceiling at my job and there is no growth opportunity for me until my boss resigns (in 10-15 years - sorry, not sticking around that long) and since my new boss came ( about 1 1/2 years ago) I have reverted back to what I was doing when I started in 2004. There is also the distance from the house to work and back again. 33 miles one way in heavy traffic. I just don't have enough time with Audrey. Alot of people have asked me why I don't find a job closer to home. After carefully considering this, I decided that I would still always wrestle if I should stay home or not. This way, I can give my job a good notice (5 weeks), go on vacation, plan Audrey's 1st b-day and then take 2-3 months and give staying home a TRUE shot. If I don't like it...... off to work I go. No harm, no foul!
So that is my big news. Thanks for all the prayers friends!
Oh and to my other SAHM's - we have a pool and I am going to need adult conversation - so come on over!

10 Months... (just a little late!)

Oh My! 10 months! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I'll be honest....... I thought some days would never end, but for the majority of the time, they have flown by. I love this stage though. I see so much of her personality coming out. She is still overall a great, fun-loving, good-humored baby who takes most everything in stride. She has her moments though and let's everyone know it! I love being with her, even in her crabby moods - which are few and far between. She is a very social baby (wonder who she gets that from !). B and I praise God every night for blessing our lives with her presence. I wish I had 10 things to say about her..... I do, I am just running out of time and I am tired! Enjoy the pictures!

Hi! My name is Audrey... and you are?

I love to read (eat) books!

That poor puppet... it has been through the ringer with her.

One of the few and far between moments!

Silence

I'm still here! I am just incredibly swamped right now and haven't had any time to blog on Audrey. I'll catch everyone up soon!

What's that sound?

Now for the big tragic event that happened last weekend. Most of you actually know, but here is the story. A couple of Fridays ago I was lucky enough to get into bed by 10:30 pm (this is unheard of for me--way too early). I was so tired. B was up finishing up some stuff and then he was going to come to bed. I grab a book and I hear him start the water to wash Audrey's bottles (isn't he sweet?). I read a couple of chapters in my book and set it down, turn out the lights and get some much needed sleep. B is still washing the bottles. What? Audrey doesn't have that many bottles... what is he doing? So I go into the kitchen and all the lights are off. I walk to the office and he is sitting at the computer working. I asked him if he washed the bottles and he said no, he would do it tomorrow. I ask him what the water is that I hear running and he says it is probably the toilet and to just go in and jiggle the handle. OK. So I walk down the hall to the guest bathroom and SQUISH! My foot sinks into very wet carpet. Ohhh.. so that was what that sound was (I knew I had heard the sound before, but couldn't place it)... our water heater died... all over our carpet, Audrey's room and laundry room. At 10:30 pm.
I had heard the same sound at my parent's old house 12 years before, but that was a long time ago... no wonder I couldn't place it now!
Anyway, I go in and tell B that he could now get the tankless water heater he has always wanted. Huh?, was his response. I then tell him to grab some towels b/c the water heater has just busted. That got a response that was more appropriate! Anyway, 2 hours later B tells me to go to bed and he will finish up and tomorrow start the repairs and everything else we need to do. Good news is, by Sunday we had a brand new water heater installed (correctly) by my super smart and handy husband with a little help from his little brother (also smart and handy). Insurance claim has been made, damaged assessed, waiting on response to said damages. Enjoy the pictures!

damage to the hallway



Audrey's room.. took a big hit b/c it is right behind the closet where the water heater was.


Installing new water heater


welding (or maybe sweating) some pipe thingy.

When is enough.... ENOUGH?

I don't feel that I have a lot of spare time on my hands. I'm sure some people would say that I just don't organize my time well, but those are opinions. Everyone has one. So when is enough, enough? What am I talking about? I'll enlighten you. It took me forever to create a blog and then even longer to actually blog regularly. I never did a web page outside of the mandatory web page for one of my college classes, I never did myspace or whatever else was the flavor of the month. Now there is twitter, facebook, purposewrite (not sure on the actual name) and several other means to communicate with all your long lost friends. Who has time for that? I thought I was done when I finally created a blog? What's new? Voice activated communications page? What else do I have to do to find out all I can about my friends and allow them the chance to find out all about me? UGH!!!
All this to say, for all my friends who have asked me to do a facebook page in addition to the blog... you win. I now have a face book page. Now, can someone please tell me how to use it? Oh, and be my friend?

I draw the line at twittering though... a busy girl has got to have her standards!

32

So yesterday was my 32nd birthday. I had a great day. My co-workers took me out to lunch and later that day brought in an ice-cream cake from Marble Slab. YUMMY! After that, I met B at his conference and we spent some time with his co-workers and then left to go have drinks and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Double YUM! A lot of people have asked me if I had trouble with turning 32 and the answer is NO. I have no problem with my age group. This might change in a few years, but for right now... I love it. I have so much to be grateful for and hey, having another birthday beats the alternative... not aging at all, which means I'm dead.
Anyway, it was a great day. Below is a picture of the flowers my boss gave me. They smell so good and they are beautiful. Spring is definitely in my office!

A first....

Today is my first Mother's Day... officially. I actually celebrated last year too when I was pregnant with Audrey. I couldn't help it, I was so excited. Anyway, today was the first Mother's day with Audrey outside the safety of my belly. I say "safety" because she is such a dare-devil She has so many scrapes due to her falls. We can't possibly remove every potential threat to her safety in the house, so we watch her the best we can and leave the rest up to God. I have been praying for her safety since before she was born and it looks like she will need all the prayers she can get. It never ceases to amaze me how something that looks so harmless poses such a threat once she gets her hands on it. For instance, a non-working remote control I let her play with. She managed to rip off one of the buttons and chew on it. I can't get her to chew people food, but remote control buttons, hey, why not! Ugh!
Anyway, back to Mother's Day. Despite a rough weekend, (I'll explain later) I am having a great Mom's day. Audrey and her daddy got me cards and a plant AND a facial from my favorite spa. I can't wait to go! We are also going to go to Blue Mesa because they are running their brunch all day today! I LOVE Blue Mesa brunch. Originally, B was going to make me a super special lunch, but the disaster that happened over the weekend (yes, the one I will tell you about in another post) put a stop to that. Not to shabby for my first Mother's Day.

I do want to wish every Mother a Happy Mother's Day. Your children may not say it, but we/they do love you!

My mom, me and Audrey. Happy Mother's day mom! I DO love you! Your example of being a mom is in my heart and I hope to be as wonderful a mom to Audrey as you were to me.

Hammin it up for the camera. She definately knows what to do when I whip the camera out!

My blue-eyed girl! Love, Love, Love her!

Back Log

Okay, here are a lot of posts that I have been working on. You can click on each link or just scroll down. Whatever works for you!


http://thejohnsonjunket.blogspot.com/2009/05/where-has-time-gone.html

http://thejohnsonjunket.blogspot.com/2009/05/wheres-audrey.html

http://thejohnsonjunket.blogspot.com/2009/05/oops.html

http://thejohnsonjunket.blogspot.com/2009/05/seriously.html

http://thejohnsonjunket.blogspot.com/2009/05/happy-birthday-mer.html


http://thejohnsonjunket.blogspot.com/2009/05/easter-2009.html

Where has the time gone?!?!?

Oh my! I can not believe Audrey is already 9 months old. Well, a little older, this post is tardy. Anyway, 9 MONTHS! Time has flown by. You know what is funny? I barely remember her being small. I see pictures of her tiny-ness and I pull out her newborn diapers (yes, I kept one - not used of course!) and know she was tiny, but I just can't picture it. She is my big, blue eyed girl (yes, she still has her blue eyes!). She crawls, talks, laughs, plays and becomes more independent everyday. I love it and at the same time, miss what has past.

Anyway, she is a healthy, happy little girl, who is growing right on target and I could not ask for more!

She only needed one shot this visit and she did okay. She SCREAMED for a little right after the shot and then once I got her dressed and out of the room she calmed down. Although she did cry when she saw the nurse in the hall. Nurses have a bum wrap. They have to come in and torture poor kids with shots. Say thank you to a nurse next time you see them!



Here are her stats:

Weight - 18lbs and 14 oz (50th%)

Height - 2 ft and 4 in (50th%-75th%)

tall and skinny - like her daddy

Head - 44 1/2 in (75th% - 90%)

the aftermath....... not so bad

Where's Audrey?

I have a really good friend who will remain nameless for my protection. We have been friends for so long and I am so blessed to have her in my life. We used to live together and I played this game called Where's L? and it involved me throwing the covers over her face, saying in a crazy voice where's L? and then me pulling the covers back and she would make a crazy (sometimes scary) face. It was the highlight of my day and she hated it, but she did it because it always made me laugh. She also laughed at me, so maybe it was a fair trade. Anyway, Audrey loves the same game only without the crazy/scary face. Audrey laughs so hard. It is her favorite game. I thought of it when I saw her playing with the mesh cover that goes over her stroller to keep bugs out. We have played this game almost everyday. So I am happy to say that this game is STILL the highlight of my day. Well one highlight of many.

Where's Audrey?

There she is!

Playing with daddy....

Hi mommy!

OOPS.....

Audrey has been very independent the last few weeks. She really wants to do things for herself. This includes feeding herself, which she isn't good at. At all. It makes feeding time a little challenging. She constantly lunges for the jar of food. Anyway, I had to answer the door the other day when I was feeding her and I THOUGHT I had moved the food far enough away from her, but go-go gadget arms grabbed the jar and this is what I came back to...........

She wasn't real happy when I took the food away from her. What a mess! I promise I was only gone for a minute! I can't believe she made such a mess in a short period of time.

Seriously?!?!

So I spend a lot of time researching and looking for wonderful, educational toys to mold Audrey's mind. What does she like to play with? Mommy's make-up bag. I think I have a girly-girl on my hands!

Happy Birthday Mer!

A few weeks ago we went to east Texas for B's grandmother's birthday. We had so much fun. I love Mer's spirit. She is such a funny, sweet woman and she loves her family.

Easter 2009

We had a great Easter this year. B's family came up for Easter services and then we all had lunch at the house. I made a great ham that you cook in the crock pot with orange and lemon slices and ginger ale. Sounds weird, but it was great! I think that was my first ham I have ever cooked. I can't remember ever cooking one before. I've cooked turkeys for Christmas and Thanksgiving, but I can't remember cooking a ham. Not the point. Anyway, we all had a wonderful time with family and it was great to tell Audrey all about what her Savior has done for her and how much he loves her.

Whoa... that bow is massive!