Working Again

After a little hiatus, I am back to making money! God sure is faithful, and provided this job at just the right time. It fits what we wanted exactly- not full time, in my home, and enough money!

When Abel was born, I quit working full time because I had a crazy schedule which included too much time away from home! First I quit one of my sitting jobs altogether, then brought Abel with me to the other house where I babysat. But leaving our house would throw off his nap schedule, resulting in a fussy baby. Also, Abel still HATED the car at that point, so the trip over would turn him into a grouch. After a short time I began watching Sophie at my house, which was wonderful. But she just began Kindergarten this Fall, so after watching her for 4 years I needed to find someone new!

On Monday, I started watching Chase. He is a sweet little guy, about 18 months old - I am embarrassed I don't know exactly how old he is! I have him about 9 hours a day, 4 days a week. Chase had been in both a home daycare and a regular day care, but his parents wanted him in a smaller setting. On the first day, his mom warned me of separation anxiety that he'd been experiencing. He'd developed it recently as result of being bitten at daycare; she showed me the bruise on his arm.

Watching him has been a smooth transition. Honestly, waking up at a regular time has been the hardest part for me! I would usually let Abel be my alarm (except when I had Bible study and Church) and then just bring him into bed to snuggle when he did wake up. Hearing my phone go off at 6:30 has been a much less pleasant alarm. And a side effect of this is that now Abel gets up at 6:30 too, because he hears Reed and I moving around. I'm hoping that getting up early will force Reed and I to be going to bed earlier, and having a regular wakeup time will help us have more of a routine with our day.

I do wish that Chase didn't like the TV so much, he really throws a fit when I tell him no! I have a small selection of kids movies, but he even brings his own. His mom encourages him to go to the DVD player when she first drops him off. Ugh. We are more 'TV is a special treat' type people than 'lets have it on as background noise all day' type people, like his mom told me they are. I just don't want Abel getting use to it on, so it's a battle I'll keep fighting.

Both boys are napping well, typically at the same time. I am so thankful for that! Even on day one, they took both of their naps at the same time. I thought I would be too busy to get my chores done during the day, but since naps are so successful and because the boys entertain each other so well, I've been getting more done than usual. I can even write a blog post!

I am off to go prepare lunch for the little men, they should be waking up from their 2+ hour naps soon!

Still Here!

Just a quick update to prove that we're still here :)

Since my last post:

• Our camera broke! This is why (if you're my Facebook friend) I've not been posting my usual 'Abel month-by-month' pictures, or any day to day pictures. Our camera is not worth repairing, and until I've been working for awhile, we don't have enough extra income to replace it with the one we want. However, a family from our church was kind enough to let us borrow theirs until we buy one! So even though I did miss about a month's worth of pictures (which makes me sick!) I have been taking some the past week or so, I just need to upload them.

• I got a job! I've been looking for quite a while, because watching one little girl here and there was just not cutting it with the bills. (If you don't know, I stopped working full time when Abel was born, Reed and I wanted me to just be working inside the home.) Now that the little one I've watched for four years has gone to Kindergarten (!) I was looking for a full timer. In God's perfect timing, I found a family with a 1.5 year old that needs someone 4 days a week. I will be watching him in my house, beginning Monday. I am so thankful! It is enough money, with a little extra to save, and I'm not even working 5 days a week. And since they didn't need me until mid- October, I had time to get settled into our new house! Perfect!

• We moved! You should come over for dinner :) The Kerr's now live in a wonderful 3 bedroom that I love! Since we now have a borrowed camera, I will be posting pictures soon. The house has been such a ridiculous blessing, and so is Reed's part time job that provides the house! I'd love to share the long version sometime, but the short version is that along with the experience in ministry that Reed is gaining by working as the director of children and youth at our church, we were also offered the opportunity to live in the parsonage. So we packed up our apartment, slapped some paint on the house, and here we are!

• My mom was married last weekend! The ceremony was beautiful (on the beach at sunset) the food was great (crabcake and steak!) and I loved visiting with all of my Maryland friends and family at the reception. We don't head up to MD that often and though we were only there for about a day and a half, I am so glad we could go. We've been praying for my mom and her new husband (you'll never guess his name-- Tony. Haha) since they began dating. It's wonderful to watch how God uses different life circumstances for a purpose, to shape His children into His image. We're praying that they continue to grow together in their relationship with each other, and that they continue to encourage each other's relationship with God.

Hope to be back on soon with some pictures!

P.S. Abel is crawling, and has 2 teeth. He is such a joy! I love watching him grow and discover new things, though it's breaking my heart that he's almost one.