2017 has been a great year!
I'm here playing with my girls in the morning, Isabella is playing with her kitchen making me all kinds of foods, and Camilla is bringing me book after book to read to her- pure happiness. We had a rough night last night, Isabella tried to come to our beds 5 times, which meant one of us usually my husband taking her back to her bed, Cami woke up at around 1:30 crying and continued doing so every few hours last night, I wish I knew what on earth was bothering her and why she is so disturbed at night, she writhes and screams in her sleep, my mom said I was the same so maybe its karma. Its so hard when they can't talk yet and you have to guess what is wrong, is it just her personality? Does something hurt her? Is she cold? Her ears? Her stomach? Or what they usually chalk it up to-her teeth. I can thank my genes that even with very little sleep I still consider myself a pretty energetic person, I'm tired but I still have energy, so I'm very lucky.
Its the last day of 2017, I can't believe that last year we were in such a different place. We were in Virginia with a 1 1/2 year old and 2 month old, almost no income for 2 1/2 years, (the company where my husband had worked for over 16 years was going bankrupt and they laid off most of their personnel, my husband was part of the layoff, he tried to start his own business which didn't end up going well so any income we had was invested in our business).After lots of "almost jobs" he had no real job prospects at the time, trying to figure out what our next step should be. I have to give credit to my husband who at no time was despondent or hopeless nor did he ever want to succumb to the "poor" mentality, we had our savings but they had just about dwindled, I was so worried and felt unable to help in any way other than take care of the kids and be moral support. I always hear the story " and at that moment when I was in the depths of despair saw no way out and I was so desperate, such and such happened". That has never worked for me, things never happen to me when I am in the depths of despair and at my lowest point. I've felt like that at many different times in my life and now I've learned when I feel like that, nothing happens, there is never a knight in shining armor to save me, not for me at least. Its taken me many years to figure it out but now I know I have to pick myself up and change something, even something as small as a haircut or something in the house, I have to do something new, change the dynamics in some way and as strange as it sounds make peace with whatever is causing me to be desperate. That Christmas, I went out and bought my husband a drill, it might sound like a funny gift but I knew he wanted and needed one, it was way more than we were supposed to spend on any gift, and for the past few years we hadn't gotten each other gifts because we had to save. One of the biggest joys in my life is giving gifts, my sister is the same way, I love getting gifts for people especially if I know its something they will like. I was so excited when I bought it and hid it in the house and then wrapped it and put it under the tree and was sure he had no idea what those boxes were. He deserved something nice, and I thought "not this year, I don't want to just be seeing how we can live with less and less." Honestly it changed my energy if even a little, if nothing else it made me extremely happy. At the beginning of the year after another almost job fell through, we decided to move to Illinois where most of my family lives, my husband had a job possibility that had more a commission based salary and was a very different industry than he was used to but it was something. We put our house up for rent, and at that time a job came though, it was a temporary contract for a few months and he had to travel 90% of the time, but they paid him well and of course we were jubilant when we got the contract in the mail. We asked my brother (who along with his wife must be some of the nicest people in the world) if we could stay with them while we found a house. We packed up our whole house, my husband had to drive us there pulling a U haul with some of our stuff over the weekend, fill up my brothers basement with our stuff and then fly out that night for his job. We stayed with my brother and his wife for over a month, Isabella was delighted as she would play and torture her cousin Lucas who is a year older than her, she absolutely loved Elena (my brothers wife) till this day she will still ask me for Elena and Luquitas as she would call him. I was looking for houses and I realized that I love house hunting, after many fails we finally found a house that had the best location and right between my Dads house and my brothers. My husband flew to Virgina and with his friends loaded up a huge truck with all our stuff and drove it over on Sunday and unpacked it in our new house, he was amazing, along with a very good friend they set up all the beds, dressers and moved all the heavy things, he had to fly out the next morning. I unpacked everything else, something which I love doing, granted it was a huge challenge with two very small children, Isabella was not yet 2 and Cami was 8 months, I would race around as soon as Cami was napping and hope to God she would stay asleep long enough for me to do a few boxes, thankfully I work pretty fast and efficiently and I do enjoy getting everything set up. It was perfect as we got to spend the summer there and we had a pool right across the street and plenty of parks nearby.
My husband was still travelling all the time usually Sunday night or Monday morning till Friday, but his contract was ending soon and while originally it was thought they were going to extend it, it didn't look like they were at least no time soon. I couldn't believe this was happening again, couldn't the universe give us a break. We started thinking about how we were going to make the most of other job that was commission based and started scoping things out and making plans, and then one of the most wonderful things ever happened, he got called for an interview with a company where he had wanted to work for a while in Pennsylvania where since we visited it a few years before I always knew I would end up living there. Those weeks I was beside myself with anxiety, I didn't want to tell anyone because very well meaning people ask what happened etc and I just didn't want to say anything until it was certain, they were long weeks for me until we got that phone call, my husband hung up the phone looked at me and said "we are moving to Philadelphia!!" I will never forget the feeling, I was crying with relief, joy, thankfulness and everything else good, besides the birth of our daughters it must have been the happiest day of our lives, after 3 years he had a good job, in an industry that he loved, and a good work environment, and best of all they paid a full relocation package, so we didn't have to box up everything or worry about driving back and forth and finding temporary places etc. I was very sad to leave my friends and family, and I felt bad for Isabella but it was for the best. He started work the next week and he had to fly there to start and then fly back so we could all drive back together. We stayed in a great apartment downtown Philadelphia, which was excellent because the weather was still good and I could walk around downtown and get to know it, once we moved to the suburbs I knew we wouldn't go there often. I found the very best realtors Ann and Ken who helped us find a house, again I love house-hunting. We moved on the 17th of November and were able to have my husbands birthday here. we are still getting our house set up and there have been plenty of challenges and almost misses, but looking back 2017 has been a GREAT year.
Its the last day of 2017, I can't believe that last year we were in such a different place. We were in Virginia with a 1 1/2 year old and 2 month old, almost no income for 2 1/2 years, (the company where my husband had worked for over 16 years was going bankrupt and they laid off most of their personnel, my husband was part of the layoff, he tried to start his own business which didn't end up going well so any income we had was invested in our business).After lots of "almost jobs" he had no real job prospects at the time, trying to figure out what our next step should be. I have to give credit to my husband who at no time was despondent or hopeless nor did he ever want to succumb to the "poor" mentality, we had our savings but they had just about dwindled, I was so worried and felt unable to help in any way other than take care of the kids and be moral support. I always hear the story " and at that moment when I was in the depths of despair saw no way out and I was so desperate, such and such happened". That has never worked for me, things never happen to me when I am in the depths of despair and at my lowest point. I've felt like that at many different times in my life and now I've learned when I feel like that, nothing happens, there is never a knight in shining armor to save me, not for me at least. Its taken me many years to figure it out but now I know I have to pick myself up and change something, even something as small as a haircut or something in the house, I have to do something new, change the dynamics in some way and as strange as it sounds make peace with whatever is causing me to be desperate. That Christmas, I went out and bought my husband a drill, it might sound like a funny gift but I knew he wanted and needed one, it was way more than we were supposed to spend on any gift, and for the past few years we hadn't gotten each other gifts because we had to save. One of the biggest joys in my life is giving gifts, my sister is the same way, I love getting gifts for people especially if I know its something they will like. I was so excited when I bought it and hid it in the house and then wrapped it and put it under the tree and was sure he had no idea what those boxes were. He deserved something nice, and I thought "not this year, I don't want to just be seeing how we can live with less and less." Honestly it changed my energy if even a little, if nothing else it made me extremely happy. At the beginning of the year after another almost job fell through, we decided to move to Illinois where most of my family lives, my husband had a job possibility that had more a commission based salary and was a very different industry than he was used to but it was something. We put our house up for rent, and at that time a job came though, it was a temporary contract for a few months and he had to travel 90% of the time, but they paid him well and of course we were jubilant when we got the contract in the mail. We asked my brother (who along with his wife must be some of the nicest people in the world) if we could stay with them while we found a house. We packed up our whole house, my husband had to drive us there pulling a U haul with some of our stuff over the weekend, fill up my brothers basement with our stuff and then fly out that night for his job. We stayed with my brother and his wife for over a month, Isabella was delighted as she would play and torture her cousin Lucas who is a year older than her, she absolutely loved Elena (my brothers wife) till this day she will still ask me for Elena and Luquitas as she would call him. I was looking for houses and I realized that I love house hunting, after many fails we finally found a house that had the best location and right between my Dads house and my brothers. My husband flew to Virgina and with his friends loaded up a huge truck with all our stuff and drove it over on Sunday and unpacked it in our new house, he was amazing, along with a very good friend they set up all the beds, dressers and moved all the heavy things, he had to fly out the next morning. I unpacked everything else, something which I love doing, granted it was a huge challenge with two very small children, Isabella was not yet 2 and Cami was 8 months, I would race around as soon as Cami was napping and hope to God she would stay asleep long enough for me to do a few boxes, thankfully I work pretty fast and efficiently and I do enjoy getting everything set up. It was perfect as we got to spend the summer there and we had a pool right across the street and plenty of parks nearby.
My husband was still travelling all the time usually Sunday night or Monday morning till Friday, but his contract was ending soon and while originally it was thought they were going to extend it, it didn't look like they were at least no time soon. I couldn't believe this was happening again, couldn't the universe give us a break. We started thinking about how we were going to make the most of other job that was commission based and started scoping things out and making plans, and then one of the most wonderful things ever happened, he got called for an interview with a company where he had wanted to work for a while in Pennsylvania where since we visited it a few years before I always knew I would end up living there. Those weeks I was beside myself with anxiety, I didn't want to tell anyone because very well meaning people ask what happened etc and I just didn't want to say anything until it was certain, they were long weeks for me until we got that phone call, my husband hung up the phone looked at me and said "we are moving to Philadelphia!!" I will never forget the feeling, I was crying with relief, joy, thankfulness and everything else good, besides the birth of our daughters it must have been the happiest day of our lives, after 3 years he had a good job, in an industry that he loved, and a good work environment, and best of all they paid a full relocation package, so we didn't have to box up everything or worry about driving back and forth and finding temporary places etc. I was very sad to leave my friends and family, and I felt bad for Isabella but it was for the best. He started work the next week and he had to fly there to start and then fly back so we could all drive back together. We stayed in a great apartment downtown Philadelphia, which was excellent because the weather was still good and I could walk around downtown and get to know it, once we moved to the suburbs I knew we wouldn't go there often. I found the very best realtors Ann and Ken who helped us find a house, again I love house-hunting. We moved on the 17th of November and were able to have my husbands birthday here. we are still getting our house set up and there have been plenty of challenges and almost misses, but looking back 2017 has been a GREAT year.
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