Coming back up for air

It's been a long time since we've really had any margin in our lives...  My life in particular has been going at a brutal pace for all of 2012.  Turns out, juggling a crazy-intense job, plus caring for a very energetic toddler, plus growing another human being, isn't a particularly sustainable long-term proposition.  After a lot of long talks with David about the lack of balance in our lives, and a series of conversations with the partners at my firm, and plenty of prayer and wonderfully encouraging support from our family and friends, we decided it would be best for me to resign from my job.  So I gave notice in early April, and last Monday, April 30, was my last day of work.

Let me say that again, because it still hasn't quite sunk in for me yet -- I am currently not working as a corporate litigator.

!!!!

I did truly enjoy my work, and am thankful for the time I had at the firm -- going at that pace really does teach you an incredible amount about being a lawyer.  But I can also say that this is undoubtedly the right choice for me, and for our family.

And let's face it: this past week has been such a refreshing time for me!  There are all the little things I just haven't had the time or energy to handle over the last year -- for instance, I ran the dishwasher for the first time probably in months.  Which action so confused David that he re-ran the dishwasher after I had already done it, despite me mentioning that I had just taken care of it.  :)  I also took some photos and videos of Joshua on an actual camera, rather than just trying to snap some cell phone shots before he grabs my phone to try to play with it.  (And I've already composed a blog post in my head to display the latest Joshua cuteness -- that should be coming down the pike soon!)  It's wonderful having the mental space to begin getting back on top of life again!

As for what the future holds for us, it's all still a bit up in the air.  I'm looking for a new job, but my current tentative plan is to stay out of work until after the baby is born.  I'm hopeful that I can find something that will enable us to have a better family balance, and I'm exploring a ton of options -- as I'm sure you can imagine, the type A planner in me is busily researching away.  But in the more immediate future, I'm planning play dates and fun summer activities with Joshua, soaking up as much time with him as possible before he's no longer an only child.  And I'm hoping to get back on top of this ol' blog, because seriously, our little corner of the internet has been sadly neglected for far too long!

And because a blog post is *always* more interesting with photos...  Here's an adorable candid shot of Joshua from Easter, walking down the stairs like a big boy.  With identical toys in his hands, because that's still how he rolls.  :)

Ahhhhh...  Feels good to dip my toes back into this blogging thing.  Stay tuned for a whole series of back-dated backlog posts, going all the way back to Christmas!

A new family photo!

(I know, I know, I have such a huge blog backlog to get through... And hopefully will find time for a good old-fashioned blog burst sometime soon, and will back-date all those posts.  But here's something we've been dying to share for a while now!)




Expected due date: August 9, 2012.  :)

Joshua's 2nd birthday party! Trains!!

We decided to put off throwing Joshua a birthday party until after David recovered from the (very good, but very intense) PEF/Manna winter retreat at the end of January, so we held this party on February 11.  And because Joshua's big Christmas/birthday present from us this year was a train table, and because he had been obsessed with his train toys and train books for months, choosing a party theme was a no-brainer!

Instead of designing all the party paper goods myself, I ended up buying a personalized set of printables from a really talented Etsy designer, Anders Ruff.  And I was really pleased with how it all turned out!  It was nice to have a fully coordinating set of party items, from the invitation to the birthday banners and food and drink decorations -- the OCD party planner in me was very, very happy.  :)








With the decorations pretty much taken care of for me (all I had to do was print, cut out, and assemble), I got to throw myself into the party baking.  This is actually the one part of party planning about which David kind of has an opinion -- his family always had homemade birthday cakes, so if and when it's possible, he'll always prefer a homemade cake over a store-bought one.  So I started Googling for train cake ideas back in January, and found a Wilton 3D cake pan and some frosting design ideas that I thought looked easy enough for me to try... And I also made up a batch of cupcakes in case the train cake was a total fail!




As it turns out, it was a good thing we had cupcakes, because the birthday boy didn't really like the idea of cutting into "his" big train!  Though we did end up slicing it up for small group the next day, when he wasn't really looking.  :)

We had invited a number of Joshua's friends (and their parents) to come party with us -- but that was the week that the gastroenteritis epidemic hit Princeton.  Many of the kiddos were out of commission that weekend, so we ended up having a slightly smaller party than planned.  But I think that was ultimately a good thing -- we still had five toddlers and a baby, which was more than enough chaos for one little apartment.  And even more importantly, we had just enough locomotives for each toddler to have one of his/her own.  :)






The kids also all loved poring over Joshua's books, finding many a willing parent lap to snuggle in and reading stories together.  Seriously, how cute are these little groupings??






And then Joshua got to relive that wondrous moment last year when he had his very first bite of cake.  :)




We all had such a wonderful time celebrating our dear little man.  It's hard to believe he's already two!  We're so blessed to have such a sweet, loving, fun-filled, rambunctious toddler, and we can't wait to see how he continues to grow and develop in the coming years!