To Everything There is a season!

As many of you know I lost my wonderful bakery job that I had taken late last year when the bakery decided to close I chose not to be angry at God for seemingly giving me my dream job and then taking it away. I walked right into another bakery job but the hours were demanding and I was working 50-60 hours a week when I was only supposed to be part time. Mr. A and I regrouped and prayed a lot I left that bakery job and chose to return to work full time.  I have now been at my new job for nearly two weeks. It was a hard decision that came with a lot of tears but we are blessed with a wonderful day care and I am holding on to the fact that it’s not forever. I can do anything for a little while even if it means leaving my precious girl at Daycare for 8 hours a day. She is happy and enjoys her time at “school” I am confident that our financial picture will improve with the added income and we can build to our savings and in a few years  probably when we’re ready for baby #2 I can be a full time stay at home mama. I was unhappy at first but Mr. A and I both feel this is what is absolutely best for our family.

I know some may disagree and that’s ok all families have to make choices based on what is best for their family at that point in time and we did that. It goes without saying that our new dynamic change has required some changes in the A household I thought organization with a child was important before but now with both of us out of the house 90% of the time it’s imperative! 

We must keep our home in working order through a serious of checklists in order for our limited family time to be maximized enjoying our time together instead of dealing with a messy home or staying home because we’ve exhausted our budget eating out. 

Our budget got tightened even though technically there is more income as we have several big house projects we are saving for. We chose to start a program called emeals we paid a set fee of 35.00 and for six months we get our menus planned for us as well as a complete shopping list based on what sales are at the store. Thanks @LeahMarie for introducing us to the concept not all of the meals are amazing but they are all fairly simple and if we don’t like a certain meal we might just replace it with a convenience meal such as soup or chili in the winter and grilled hamburgers or salads in the spring and summer. It’s been very helpful to us since we started the program in January and has become invaluable for helping us prepare a shopping list each week since now I get up early and go shopping on Saturday mornings for the week ahead. We also created a chore chart based on doing a few chores an evening so we don’t have to spend our entire day Saturday cleaning. We’re looking forward to having quality family time on Saturdays going to the zoo, the park, and eventually the swimming pool and soaking up our sweet girl’s smiles ;)

We’ve never really been this structured with our cleaning schedule or our meals although I have aspired to be. Truth is I’m a closet slob my living areas may look neat and tidy but that’s only because I cleaned like mad before anyone comes over. I hope this structure will help us to become a neater family. We’re doing well so far with our daily tasks and we’re taking it one day at a time but we have discovered that this system is much better than the alternative when we both have full time jobs. So I’m no domestic diva but I’d like to be and I hope maybe these baby steps will get me there.

So that's what's been up with the A Family lately!

Carys K. you are 1

My Darling Carys,

Saturday you turned 1 and mommy can't believe how quickly time flew. I truly feel as though I blinked and you were 1. You are such a busy bee little girl you are constantly on the move and you've started walking in the last few months and you are getting more confident every day, I am certain by the end of this month you will be a pro! You weighed in at the doctor's office today at just under 20 pounds and your 28 inches tall you're in the 25h percentile for both height and weight and Dr. Bowen your pediatrician was quite pleased with your development. Your hair is still fire red and getting quite long, and your are eyes still just as blue as can be.

A typical schedule for you looks like this:

Wake up 7AM-Eat breakfast which is either oatmeal and a mashed up banana, or pancakes cut into bites with some apples and cinnamon and a sippy with milk
then you play with mommy until time to leave for daycare

we  get to daycare at 7:45 and you spend your day playing with Miss Eva while there you eat a morning snack when you get there usually just some fruit or maybe some puffs, then you eat lunch at 11  and you eat whatever is being served that day, you are eating straight table food these days and you really enjoy your food you usually have milk with lunch too. you usually nap from 12PM-2PM
Mommy picks you up from daycare at 5:30 right after afternoon snack which is usually some yogurt, and we head home to play and hang out til daddy gets home at 6:00 then we play with daddy for 1/2 an hour and it's time to eat dinner you eat whatever the family is having for dinner and then it's bath time you absolutely love bath time and always get mad when it's time to get out but mommy can calm you down pretty fast with the excitement of tooth  brushing which you love as long as you get to hold mommy's toothbrush while she brushes yours with your toothbrush then you get to brush mommy's teeth or at least pretend to, then it's story time with daddy while you drink your milk and then it's night night by 7. You are sleeping like a little champ only waking up on off nights IE when you have teething pain or when you don't feel good.

You are such a little social butterfly and neither mommy or daddy have yet to see major bouts of separation anxiety from  you, we aren't sure whether to count our blessings or brace ourselves cause it's coming. You love having your picture taken and you always have to see the photo you point and say see. You had your first overnight stay with your grandparents recently and you did great mommy and daddy were so proud.

You have a few words in your vocabulary and we know you understand more than you say. You can say mama, dada, baba, up, see, bite, and nite nite, and you understand no no, dog, and go.

 Your favorite toys are stacking toys that you precariously stack together and then knock over with the silliest little grin and gleeful squeal. You are such a happy baby and everyone who meets you falls in love with your infectious giggle. Your favorite past time is feeding the doggy you giggle hysterically when you toss food on the floor and Missy gobbles it up, this does not thrill mommy or daddy but you are so gosh darn cute you usually get away with it.

Mommy got a little teary eyed today when I read an e-mail from a website I joined when I was pregnant with you that used to say "Your Baby This Week" it now reads "Your Toddler This Week" this made mommy sad to think you are growing up so fast, but happy at the same time you are turning into such a little lady. Mommy's favorite time with you is in the mornings when I've just woken you up we sit together in your room and you become such a little cuddle bug especially if it's a chilly morning. Mommy cherishes that time baby girl please don't give it up too quickly.

Mommy and Daddy love you more than we ever could have imagined and you are such a joy in our lives we count ourselves blessed many times each day when we see your sweet smile. I hope you are always as infectiously happy as you are at this age!

Love,
Mommy

Happy Birthday Little Miss!!

Hi friends,

Well the party has come and gone and our little sunshine had a blast at her party. Mr. A and I worked tirelessly creating all the little details of the party and I’m so happy with the way everything turned out.

I can’t believe it was a year ago that my little princess was born I literally feel like I just brought her home from the hospital.

We created a sweet “You Are My Sunshine” themed party and utilized the colors hot pink, yellow, and orange, no gray skies at this party ;). We had cupcakes in three different flavors, French vanilla, Swiss chocolate, and orange dreamsicle, Carys’s smash cake was make to look like a sun and we had a fruit tray and veggie tray to round out the food layout. We had such a special day celebrating Carys and the amazing blessing she has been in our lives.

Ok I’ll quit writing and let the pictures do the talking!

Happy Day of Love

Valentine's Day isn't a holiday this family makes a lot of fuss about. Tonight we can be found eating dinner at Chik Fil A family night, enjoying each other's company and loving the fact that we have our littlest Valentine with us this year since last year we were still dreaming about her arrival. :)

Hope everyone had fantastic days in bloggie land I am blessed to be loved by this man!

and this princess!