Fun Days

My brother Greg gave me a huge surprise when he visited last weekend... he brought our mom with him as a Mother's Day gift to both her and me. How sweet is that?! We had a wonderful time. Harper really enjoyed time with his "Ga" and "Ga" (what my mom said was "Grandma" as well as "Greg"). Below are some fun pix from dinner while they were here. He was squealing with delight while eating bits of peeled grapes, plain baked potato, and melons.


The following picture is one of our new favorites. The hat is a bit big, and you can't really see his great "Geek in Training" shirt, but who can resist this precious face?! Harper is such a happy, goofy, loving little boy. I wouldn't change a single thing about him, or the love that overflows in our happy little family.

EA Sports Active > Wii Fit

I have a shiny new toy! For those that have a Wii and are interested in fitness or losing weight, I highly recommend EA Sports Active. Sure, it's a little pricey at $60, but cheaper than a gym membership in the long run. Jeff and I picked it up this morning (it released today), as I've been dying for this to come out for for a month or so. I've taken it for a spin, and have already decided (from my first impression), that it is a better workout tool than the Wii Fit.

Let me give a little background here. When the Wii Fit was announced then available for pre-order, I wasted no time securing one. I pre-ordered it through Amazon, which was good because it was in such high demand, that they ran out of pre-orders, and continued to be out of stock for quite some time. It's release was almost as highly anticipated as the Wii console itself. I was thrilled when I got it, but I'll have to admit that I didn't drop any pounds by playing it. Also, it didn't really hold my interest as I had hoped - though I still love the yoga!

EA Sports Active helps you set realistic goals, lets you select your workout intensity, and mimics a gym and trainer experience overall. Really, it is continuous circuit training at its best. In my opinion, the problem with the Wii Fit is that it doesn't put you through an actual workout - it just has you select random activities at your leisure.

Alison Sweeney from The Biggest Loser describes it as a "trainer-in-a-box", and I definitely agree. The trainers are much more effective than those in Wii Fit. It employs new peripherals with a leg strap to sense leg movements as well as a resistance band. Though the leg strap is great (it detects leg movements), the resistance band is less than impressive. I'm sure when mine inevitably breaks, I'll just go get a "real" one.

So, I am beginning a fat-busting journey to get rid of these post-pregnancy (yikes, 9 months later) pounds... and some pre-pregnancy pounds too. I'm excited for my shiny new toy... I highly recommend it!

It finally happened!

I first walked through the doors of Airtouch Cellular, now Verizon Wireless, ten years ago. I was young, cute, naive, bold, and oh so peppy. I'm sure those of you that knew me then would agree. I hadn't planned to make a career out of working there, but that is essentially what happened. I also didn't expect that I'd ever want to be a stay-at-home mom. As I have written about before - they say everything changes when you have a baby. I just didn't expect my heart to change so much, too.

Well, it finally happened... my last day at work was Friday! Jeff and I decided that I should become a stay-at-home mom, and am so excited. Walking through those doors for the last time on Friday gave me such a thrill; the entire experience has been quite surreal. I think back to who and how I was ten years ago, and so much has changed. I feel like I grew up at that job. I look forward to focusing on Harper, Jeff, and myself. I look forward to exploring the things that I never had time for, and to get back into the things that I used to enjoy like painting, writing, and taking better care of myself. Becoming a stay-at-home mom is one heck of a mother's day gift!

On the topic of Mother's day, I had a great one. Jeff and I had an amazing day together. The three of us went for a walk at the nearby park, made some home made iced tea when we got home (YUM), and just puttzed around. We were neither lazy nor productive - we were leisurely. Now if only we can figure out how to achieve a situation where neither of us has to go to an office to work, things would be perfect.

And for the record - my first couple of days at home have been wonderful!

Daycare News Story

Below is a link with a video update to the story about Harper's former daycare provider. It's a bit surreal to see this happening to a place that we spent so much time, and to people that we entrusted with our son's care.

http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=91962@ktvx.dayport.com&articleID=91962

The Kind of Thing You Only See on Television...

Have you ever had something incredible happen to you, and think "This kind of thing only happens on TV". Well, that is exactly what we found ourselves thinking today. Jeff went to our day care provider around 12:15ish (just as he does every day before his shift starts), and was informed by one of the directors that the owners skipped town. Apparently, no one had seen them for weeks, they were past due on all of their utilities and rent, and haven't even paid their employees for quite some time. I think some of the mail labeled as "final notice" tipped off the management, so they proceeded to open the mail that had been piling up. They uncovered really bad news. Check out the story at a local news site here.

It was big shock to most, but I can't say I'm surprised. There were so many broken promises, and they seemed to have a hard time retaining employees so started hiring 16 and 17 year olds. some of them were fine... others not so much. They had a tough time covering each "classroom" with enough "teachers", and things were always just so hectic. The owners made some really obvious poor business decisions - and clearly didn't know what they were doing. I'm sure I saw more of the drama there than most parents because I spent an hour there each day while feeding Harper on my lunch break.

Regardless of whatever dramas there have been, this is a difficult situation for the employees and parents. Parents are now scrambling for daycare (and not getting paid due to time off of work), and the poor employees are now looking for jobs. Some of them were so sweet, sticking around to watch some of the children today even though they knew they would not get paid. Getting back our deposit and advance-paid tuition should be quite interesting (we may be looking at a class-action lawsuit).

I am fortunate that my boss has been great about this. She said she didn't want me to worry, and that I could work from home until... well... until this all washes out (more to come on that later). This is good timing though, and I am glad Harper won't have to go in there ever again.

S

Inside My Heart

Today I could tell you about my worries. I could go into emotional detail about how it hasn't gotten easier to part with Harper at day care. I could tell you how it breaks my heart to see him reach for me with confusion as I walk away, leaving him in a room that makes me think of some kind of puppy mill full of crying, lonely pups.

I could tell you all about my work stresses, too. I could tell you how out of my team of twelve, my boss only kept two during our reorganization. That's right - two out of twelve. I would try to find a way to explain my conflicted feelings when I found out that I was one of the two that was kept - while the others are now left to look for jobs in this horrendous economy (fortunately some already have)... I say conflicted because I was the one person that was hoping to receive the option of getting a severance package. I would try to explain how nervous I was to tell my boss that I wanted to trade places with a peer and let her take my place (a.k.a. I knew I was committing career suicide for a career I no longer had the passion for). I could go into detail about the disappointment that came when she told me that if I left, it would be voluntarily and without a severance package. I would try to explain how much I was hoping that my employer of ten years would make this difficult decision for me, though I am now coming to terms with the fact that they will not.

Instead of telling you all of this unpleasant things (which I do realize I gave you a taste of by mentioning them at all), I am going to share something else with you. I wish you could all see inside my heart. You would find something so overwhelming, it would knock you off your feet. You would find this bright, strong light that keeps me going - my incredible son. He is the best of both Jeff and I... and so much more. If you could see inside my heart, you would also see how indescribably blessed I feel to have found my soul mate. During these tough times, he is there by my side - together as a team. What would break other couples only makes us stronger. Our little family of three is just unbelievable. And if you could see inside my heart, you would realize that you were looking inside both Jeff and Harper - because my heart is within both of them.



S