Goin' back to Cali, Cali, Cali

Jared and I enjoyed a fantastic vacation to Cali...just the 2 of us!!! Grumps (my dad) and Meemee (my dad's wife) came and took care of Henry. They did a wonderful job and graciously stuck to his schedule. Henry also got to try some yummy table food! Dad and Jeri, thank you so much for coming and taking amazing care of our Doodle-bug!

Jared and I went to California for our friends' wedding. Adam and Jessi live in LA and asked Jared to officiate their wedding. He did such a sweet job, if I do say so myself. Adam and Jessi are friends of Jared's from high school in good ol' Greendale, WI. They enjoyed such a beautiful day; thank you Adam and Jessi for inviting us out! Here are a few highlights from our week. Jared and I left early Tuesday morning and had dinner with the lovely couple Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, Jared and I went to Santa Monica and enjoyed a beautiful day on the beach, shopping, and just having fun. Then on Thursday, the festivities began for the wedding. Adam's aunt and uncle hosted a pool party at their house. Everything was set up beautifully...of course I didn't get a single pic, BUT I managed to catch this video. I promised Adam that I'd put it on our blog! Adam's sister and cousin created this marvelous synchronized swimming routine! Check it out! :-)



Friday was the rehearsal dinner that turned into a late night...well, for me anyway! Jared was tired and went to bed. I, however, stayed and made friends. For those of you reading, I'm sure you're shocked! ;-) The wedding was absolutely stunning...Jessi looked AH-MAZING! Adam cleans up nice, too! Haha! We really needed to get away, and it was an added bonus that my dad suggested he come and take care of Doodle. Here are pics from our trip! :-)

Long Time No See...So Much to See!

It's been almost a month since I last posted. Sorry about that! I'll do my best to go back to once a week. Lots of things have happened since then...Henry's loving the pool more and more these days. Jared enjoyed a great, relaxing Father's day. Lauren and Justin visited. Shannon and her girls came to visit for the 4th. We took the little ones to Chuck E Cheese! Jared turned 28! Henry's pulling up and scooting around everywhere! Enjoy a several pics and videos below. Like I said...lots going on! :-) FYI - the comments aren't posting near the pictures, so I had to go back and number the comments with the corresponding picture...so frustrating!

4 -

Henry and

YaYa

chicken

fighting!

5 - Henry loves his YaYa!

(Pretty sure YaYa loves her Henry too)

6 - Quite possibly my

favorite picture! :-)

7 - Look at me! I'm so big!

8 - Not quite ready to slide by myself!

9 - Gettin' him started early...haha!!!

10 - Daddy, thanks for letting me drive

12 - Henry is OBSESSED with Karlee! She can just look at him and he laughs...I think it's his first crush! She's so great with him! You may not be able to tell, but they're laughing at each other here.

13 - Family picture. Aren't we festive in our red, white, and blue ;-)

14 - Hmmm...what's going on here?

15 - Can I play?

16 - Wow, look at these!

17 - Holy Moly, It's Chuck E Cheese!

18 - Shannon and her beautiful girls

19 - Caroline, Mattilyn, and Emma

20 - 21 The face that melts my heart!

l

Ch, Ch, Changes

We are into the swing of things as far as our routine with me going back to work. Henry's little personality and self-will are coming out. I've put some cute videos of him below. I was telling my mom, Nana, about Henry's latest thing...tantrums. Every night when Jared and I get home, he demands our attention for the first 10-15 minutes. I caught one on video, per Nana's request. Turn your volume down if you don't want to hear the crying...or just don't watch it at all! ;-) I will say, however, there's a funny part towards the end! Jared and I are learning the balance of letting him cry it out, so as to teach Henry that he will not get his way all the time or playing with him, as our time is VASTLY limited these days.

We took Henry to the pool last Saturday for the first time. Poor guy was terrified. Jared took him and plopped him down in the baby pool and sat beside him. Henry's just like his mama and daddy...he HATES being cold! Bless his little heart, he made noises and his entire body started shaking! It was sad. Jared scooped him and tried to comfort him. Then I took him and jumped in the big pool (no, I didn't dunk him!). He was clinging to me, practically clawing me. Any time I want to snuggle, I'm going to take Henry to the pool. I took him on Sunday afternoon by myself, then the whole family went again Sunday evening. Henry's definitely warming to the idea of the pool. We managed to get a few laughs and smiles out of him by the 3rd time around. :-) Here are some pics of our water-baby. (please notice Jared's dark tan)

Jared also took Henry to the dr. for his 9 month check up this Thursday. No shots! Henry weighs in at a whopping 17 lbs 13 oz. (30th percentile) and 29 1/2 in tall (90th percentile). He's doing well but needs to eat more.

Votes are in 14:1!

The voting results say that you want to hear the details of the process of my new job and how God was in every moment. I know it’s a lot, but here you are…

First know that upon receiving the news that my position had been eliminated with Pfizer, I was deeply saddened. I thoroughly respected and admired my manager at the time and learned MUCH from him in a short amount of time. So, I took some time to be with Henry to enjoy his infancy.

In February I attended an invitation-only lunch meeting for displaced Pfizer reps. There I met a woman named Jude (pronounced Judy) Wardle. She is currently a District Manager for Pfizer. I’ve been keeping up with her during this transition. Keep this in mind, it will matter later…

I applied to this Hospice Company a while ago. To be honest, I don’t even remember when. A recruiter named Lori from Vitas called one Thursday to see if I was still interested/available in the position. After confirming that I was both interested and available, she set up a phone interview. She called and the interview was going really well, but I heard a baby cooing in the background. She apologized and began describing for me that her baby sitter was sick, so her daughter was home with her today. I then explained why the time from 1-3 was the best time to call…Henry’s nap time. One thing led to another and we started “mommy talk”, and I found out that her daughter was born 4 days after Henry! To say the least, we became fast friends. She said she didn’t want to wait to tell me, but that I’d moved onto the next level of a face-to-face interview. She said she’d let me know the time and day for that interview. I followed up with her appropriately on Friday and Monday. When she called on Tuesday, she explained that the manager had interviewed 3 other candidates and was probably going to fill the position with one of them; the main reason being that they had hospital experience. Upset with the news, I asked her to please keep me in mind if another position came up or if things didn’t work out.

The next day, I got a voicemail from Jude Wardle saying that she had spoken with Jack Reilly about my resume, potential job opportunity, and gave a wonderful reference. I called her back immediately, thanked her, and explained that I was grateful for the reference but I had no idea who Jack Reilly was. Later in the afternoon, Lori (Vitas recruiter) called and said that the 3 candidates were still in the mix but that I was wanted to interview face-to-face. She said that a man named Jack Reilly may be there!!! So I told her the story of my friend giving me the good reference.

I interviewed with my now manager – but still no Jack Reilly - , it went well, and she moved me to the next level. The next interview was set up for Thursday afternoon after another interview I had with a pharmaceutical company. I do not suggest 2 interviews in one day! I sat in the interview with my new manager, Jack Reilly, and another General Manager. Jack did most of the talking/questioning. It was a really difficult interview! He didn’t let me know for a second if he liked or disliked me. I mean, wouldn’t even crack!!! I walked out of that interview like, “What just happened?!?!” That night Jude Wardle called me at 8:00 to tell me that she and Jack had been talking about me for the last 45 minutes. She said that she didn’t know what I said but Jack was VERY impressed and said that I was a girl that knew what she wanted and will go places. She felt congratulations were in order. Tuesday morning after Memorial Day I was offered the position. Pay, benefits, flexibility…it was ALL there! So, I enjoyed EVERY minute of my last week at home with Doodle and started back in the workplace on Monday, June 1st.

God had this job for me and me only! He orchestrated every move, every thought, every question, and every answer. I know that God, in His infinite wisdom, worked all of these pieces of the puzzle of my life into His plan for me…Jeremiah 29:11.

Workin' Hard for the money!

OK, so when I title this post, I couldn't help but think of Kris Allen's version of that song! Love him! Sorry, back to business...

I accepted a job last week and began working on Monday. I am working for VITAS Innovative Hospice Service. I'll be visiting hospitals to educate physicians, nurses, and social workers to help patients transition to death. Sounds depressing but it actually isn't. Providing peace for a family and/or patient during such a difficult transition is a gift. (So in a way, I'm selling a gift!) I will sell the service that my company provides patients and their families. Some of my new territory is vastly different, and I'll also have some of my previous territory from my pharmaceutical job. I'm going through orientation this week and shadowing people with different aspects that our company provides. God, of course, provided every step of this...Without going into much detail things were arranged by the hand of God (vote on the right if you want to hear the details of the story).

Andrea is taking care of Henry, which is a great comfort to us. On Monday when I went to drop him off I cried. I was just going through so many changes (1. contemplating a new car purchase 2. new job 3. breast milk has decided to start drying up - starting taking an herbal supplement today, we'll see how that goes 4. oh yeah, leaving Henry to begin a new career). Andrea just doesn't do tears, but she handled it beautifully. I hopped in the car and called Tiffany...She picked up and I said with tears, "I need a pep talk!" (I'm pretty sure only dogs could hear my pitch!) She gave a pep talk, and then we gabbed for a bit. Thanks friends!

We decided to purchase another vehicle! I'm excited about it. It's a 2009 Hyundai Sonata. After research, I'm proud to quote one of the reviews, "Hyundai built a better Camry than Toyota," which is good because we were considering a Camry or Accord. I wish I knew how to hyperlink, but here's the review if you want to read it! http://www.edmunds.com/hyundai/sonata/2009/review.html We went on Saturday to test drive it. I couldn't decide on what to do. They let us drive it over the weekend to "help" our decision. We took it in on Monday, and after asking a few demands, we bought it! Woo-hoo!

Below are some older pictures of Doodle...I kiss him much more often these days! It's probably a bit annoying.

Jeremiah 29:11

I don't have any pictures today but wanted to let you know that lately some job interviews have become available to me. I'm REALLY excited about a couple of them. I'll keep you updated. Please pray as you feel led.
Jared has just ended another semester of school. He continues to do so well. He's taking summer classes to stay on schedule to graduate May 2011.

Henry's finally teething. He's cut 2 already, but you can't really see them yet. I've heard that this can be a fussy time for babies, and he's proven so. He's such a content baby, so when he's not feeling good I feel so sorry for him. He'll be playing and crawling around, and then those crocodile tears come. Bless his little heart!

In other news, my sweet friend Brian and his wife Roxanne had their baby last Friday. Welcome little Avery Nicole!!! Brian and I worked on the same team at Pfizer. He got hired about a month or so after I did. Like me, he was laid off in January. I'm asking that you be in prayer for his family, too.

We sincerely thank you for all of your prayers during this time of transition. They are felt and much appreciated. God has given me this time with Henry, and I will ALWAYS be grateful for that. I don't know what I would do without my hope in Jesus Christ and the loving friends and family He's placed in our lives. The enemy is so devious that I become shaken about my job situation once in a while and begin getting worried, but I have hope in my Savior that things will work out. Our Sunday school teacher (also Jared's OT prof) has a mantra that I've grown to love... "What God has done in the past is a model and a promise for what He will do in the future, although He is too creative to do the same thing the same way twice." I also need to thank Tiffany and Andrea for their ENDLESS counseling and mentoring during this process. Jared has continued to be the pillar of faith our family needs and has led our family so willingly. Henry's going to learn how to be a great man with Jared's example...and how to save a dollar! (Sorry, boo, you know i had to!!! We love that about you!) With the title of this post and God's word, of course, my heavenly Father knows the plans He has for me...nothing else needs to be said.

Rocket Man!

We cleaned our carpets last weekend, so we moved the furniture out of the living room, giving Henry free reign to roam around. He's scooting around so much these days, and he's become a little rocket man. He rocks back and forth and can't figure out why he's not going anywhere. This video is a great example!


Saturday mornings are pretty lazy around here. Jared and I have agreed that he gets to sleep in 2 weekends of the month. These pictures are a typical Saturday morning for us! Have I mentioned that Henry and Rahab are best friends...if not, they are!

I often pick Jared up from the train station when he gets off work. One day when we got home I put Henry in his jumper. He wasn't in there more than 2 minutes when we found him like this. On this particular day Henry was EXHAUSTED...can you tell?

Well, I guess daddy was too...

It's pretty windy here. When Grammy Judy was visiting in January, she was always putting hats on Henry to protect his little ears. When she went home to WI, she sent this hat. It's a little too big but will be GREAT for this winter. Anyway, Jared put him in it the other day to go for a walk, and I just had to get a picture!

Last, but not least, Henry's so funny when he sleeps now. This is a prime time shot of him with his booty in the air. I love this little Doodle!