30 Days of Giving Thanks: Day 7

Today I am thankful for my job.  Sometimes it is hard for me to remember to be thankful for my job... that really sounds terrible, doesn't it?  In this economy I should always be thankful for being gainfully employed, right?  No matter what path I take (or am dealt) in life, I know there is stress and aspects I will not like.

I work with a pretty awesome group of people... seriously.  Everyone is super supportive of each other.  It sounds cheesy, but we are definitely more like a family (at least in our building).  Aside from helping each other out with work projects, we bicker and poke fun at each other, play practical jokes, debate politics, and bring in surprise treats for our coworkers.  I've gotten to sit in next to the same person for the past 5+ years; she and I have both sat next to each other during the times when we were planning our  weddings, just got married, and had our babies.  (In fact we just moved desks and we are both still sitting next to each other.)  I have coworkers that have given me hand-me-down clothes and shoes their kids have out grown!  The support we provide each other at work goes more than just Monday-Friday during business hours, because goodness knows we certainly aren't working just 40 hours a week.  I truly believe that no matter what you are getting paid to do, if you don't like (or even try to appreciate) the people you're working with you will be miserable!

Sometimes work gets busy... and we're talking the crazy insane amount of busy because I feel like the "normal" is busy compared to some companies.  (I guess everyone feels that way...)  When things aren't the "bad kind" of busy (and by that I mean things falling apart left and right), I remember to enjoy the challenges and fast-paced nature of my job... there's never a dull moment (see previous paragraph about practical jokes).

There's also the support from management for personal/professional development that I get at work.  If I want to attend a conference or training opportunity, it is almost always a given that I will get to go.  Okay, there was one time where a coworker and I tried to convince our boss that an industry related conference in Hawaii was absolutely necessary... that travel didn't get approved.  This week I'm attending a training course in San Francisco, CA and while I don't have time during the day to do any sight-seeing, I am in SAN FRANCISCO!  You better believe I am going to see some of the city while I'm here!  I have talked about the possibility of graduate school in a previous post... my company wholeheartedly supports and encourages my pursuit of that opportunity.  If I go that route, I just have to figure out something that works for me personally and that I truly want to pursue.

As a company and specifically in our department we do a lot of outreach.  Whether it's company time to go participate in our county United Way volunteer day, hosting and sponsoring a camp for girls entering the 8th grade interested in science/engineering, or providing exhibit days down at our local science museum.  This is probably one of the biggest reasons why I am proud to work for my company.  There are a lot of people who have negative things to say about a lot of corporations, including the one I work for, but I don't think most people know the types of things that they do that are more than just producing a product (or providing a service).

30 Days of Giving Thanks: Day 5

I know, I know... I've already missed 2 days.  Oops.  The weekend really got away from me apparently... you would think I would actually be able to blog over the weekend?!

Today's post is how thankful I am to have such an amazing support system.  I've already posted about my husband, but this is a more general post about my/our support system.  They say it takes a village to raise a child, and I would agree!  Both my husband & I work full-time outside of the home.  My mom watches the boys when we are at work and she is truly a huge blessing to us!  There are days that I get really down about not being able to be at home with my boys, but they have such a great time with Grandma during the day!  Plus, getting to see my mom on a daily basis is awesome!

Both sets of our parents will watch the boys on the occasional weekend evening so Matt and I can have a date night.  I think that Matt and I taking time as a couple is very important for our kids to learn what it may take to make marriage work.  How else will they have successful marriages in the future (if that is their vocation) if they do not have parents leading by example?

As a professional I also sometimes have "extra-curricular" activities in which I participate.  I am the chair of the local section of American Chemical Society for 2012 (yes, I am somewhat counting down the days) and tomorrow I will be leaving for a business trip for a training course.  I continually toy with the idea of going back to school for a graduate degree, and even though I haven't yet found a program that fits what I want to do, my family is extremely supportive.

With having such an amazing support system to lean on to help raise my wonderful kids, I constantly hope and pray that I do not ask too much of those around me.  I understand and appreciate how much our family does for us and hope to never take advantage of their generosity.

30 Days of Giving Thanks: Day 2

Today's post is about my awesome husband!  He is truly the most amazing husband and father to our children a girl could ever want.  Matt does so much for us it constantly amazes me.  Not only does he work very hard all day every day at work, he is very involved in helping take care of the boys and our house.  He does things around the house that he knows I hate to do, like clean out the fridge or wash those "hand wash only" dishes.

Matt with his boys at Jack's Christmas party at school last year!

His work schedule allows him to get quality time with the boys as the only parent home after I go to work in the morning.  I love watching him share his interests with our boys!  Jack loves watching football and Disney movies with his daddy and going to visit him at his "lacrosse work".  Christopher loves his daddy's silly faces and sounds and to climb all over him!  He is very patient with the boys throughout the day.  I know that his patience will continue to be such a blessing when it comes to teaching them different things in the future.

He is my best friend and I can not imagine my life without him!

Dancing at our wedding over 4 years ago!

Love you sweetie!

30 Days of Giving Thanks: Day 1

I'm participating in the 30 Days of Giving Thanks Challenge over at Blessed Beyond Words for the month of November.  I try to really be thankful each day, but I know I am not perfect.  I hope that putting one thing in writing every day I will truly remember to be more appreciative in my daily life and prayers.

Today I am very thankful for my little boys!  They constantly amaze me with the new things they learn and do (both good and bad, tee hee).

Just tonight I took both of them to Mass by myself (Matt had to work late) and on the way there Jack declares "I'm going to be good at church"... and sure enough he was great!  They were both great and I feel like it was the first time in a very long time that I felt like I was really able to participate in [most of] Mass.

This morning Christopher woke up late, which wasn't that great from the perspective of needing to get to work, but it was SO nice to not have my little alarm clock waking up at 5:30 am.  After he finally woke up, he reached for me and I held him while he just hugged me and laid his head on my shoulder while I got ready for work.  Love that he is a mama's boy!

I am so very blessed to be their mom!

My Baby is 1!

I know I have been terrible about posting as of late... I chalk it up to being busy at work and with things for the local ACS section, as well as other general life stuff!  But on to the fun stuff...

My baby boy is officially 1!  He turned 1 last Saturday and definitely seemed to have a lot of fun at his party.  His 1 year check up at the pediatrician's was on Tuesday and he was 20 pounds 13 ounces and 28 inches.  He's dropped to the 25% across the board, which is where he started out as far as his birth weight was.  The doctor said he might be starting to reach his "genetic potential" as far as growing curves goes.  It will be interesting to see if that is true because I think he will be taller because of his big feet and long fingers!

Christopher LOVES to eat... he eats more than Jack these days!  His favorite foods are strawberries, french toast, and puffs/Cheerios.  I am still nursing him (yay!) but at about 11 months we did have to start supplementing during the work day, because I am not pumping quite enough to keep up.  I don't know how much longer he will want to nurse, but so far he is interested (which might change next week when I go on a trip for a training course).  He is a pro at sippy cups, just as long as it is the "right one."

He's becoming quite steady on his feet, though he is not quite walking.  He can walk while holding on to pretty much anything or anyone and still loves to climb!

He is definitely a "mama's boy" and I love it (most of the time ;-)). Some of his words are "hi" and "got it"... he says "mama" but I think it is still more in the babbling way.

Here are some pictures from his birthday party:

Happy baby eating his birthday lunch!  He LOVES strawberries!

The "before" Christopher's smash cake... Jack helped me make the cake and I did the decorating... not too bad for not being a professional!

Christopher enjoying his new rocking chair that my grandma got for him!

Concentrating on opening a present!  Big brother was helping a bit too!

He was genuinely excited about his gifts and I found it adorable!

Opening a BIG box... looking like quite the little man!

Eating some chocolate cake!

It didn't last long because I don't think he was crazy about having sticky fingers!

As you can tell, his birthday was owl themed!  I will have to show the invitation and maybe even a tutorial on how I made them because I am kind of proud of them.

Hope everyone had a blessed All Saints' Day today!  I will do another post soon on the boys' Halloween with pictures of their costumes and even some Halloween commentary from Jack!

That Awkward Moment: Breastfeeding & Working (part 2)

(I know, I know, I've been terrible about blogging lately...)

In honor of Christopher being 10 months old today and the fact that I have officially made it to 10 months of breastfeeding my little guy, something awkward had to happen around the topic of breastfeeding right?

Monday's are a special little day we like to call at work "war room day"... I sit in a conference room all.day.long. with some of my closest coworkers to work on European projects & video conference with our EU colleagues.

Well, I went to leave the war room to go to the lactation room in the building and a male coworker was walking out behind me.  The lactation room is a hop skip & a jump away from the room we were so he was going to see me "sneak in" even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows that I am a nursing mother.  (Or so I thought.)  To my surprise after I open the door he is right behind me saying "I've always wanted to see what is in this room!"  In my mind, I was thinking "wow, you want to see the inside of a lactation room?  I mean, it holds liquid gold but how did you know what was in here?" but of course I just kind of stare at him politely not really sure what to say.

The next words out of his mouth (after seeing the fridge, the sink, the lockers and the microwave) are "so what is this room?".  I looked at him and just said "A lactation room."  His response was the classic "Oh!  Okay..." as he scampered down the hallway clearly embarrassed he asked.  I called out behind him "Hey, you asked!"

This was a conversation with the father of 2 children...

Summer Swim Lessons

Summer means swimming and pool time to me!  Growing up we always did swim lessons during the summer... I can remember taking classes up until middle school/junior high time frame.  I am very fortunate to have a pool at my company's park that is open ever summer.  It is free for employees and they offer 3 sessions of [dirt cheap priced] swim lessons!  We did them last year with Jack and he screamed and resisted the whole time.  Man, I was hoping for a better time this year!

This year we did the second session of classes.  The first week was a replay of last year... ugh.  The second week he did slightly better but was still pretty resistant most of the time.  He did so well with one of his teachers that I asked her if she would do private lessons with him.  We just did 3 days of lessons this week... it has made a HUGE difference I think!  He still started the lesson kind of resistant to participating but his teacher always got him engaged within minutes!

Just wanted to share a few pictures of him in swim lessons this week:

Blowing bubbles, kicking and doing his "ice cream scoops" with Miss Abby.

Using the big noodle to practice his kicks!

Trying on his new goggles.  I think these have helped with him getting all flustered if he got water in his eye or sun in his eyes while practicing back floats.

Within three days of private lessons she almost had him swim by himself... so close!  He was just acting a bit hesitant and kept putting his feet down!

Hopefully we'll be able to get him swimming before we know it!