So Not A Blogger...

I jumped on Blogger today after reading a friend's post & realized I haven't written anything in 9 months!!!  I'm so not a blogger I suppose haha!  I much more prefer the quick idea bursts that Facebook allots me...  But here I am, so I guess I'll share a little bit about what's been happening.

In June my grandmother was able to sell her house in Brenham & move in with us.  It has been a transition for sure, but one I'm really grateful for.  When she first moved in, we were living in a 1200 sq ft, 3 bedroom house - things were cramped!  So we decided to start looking for a new place to live.  We spent most of the month looking for another rent house, but we kept getting denied time after time.  One night I was talking to our realtor & just threw it out there that maybe we should look at buying a house.  24 hours after that spark of an idea, we were pre-approved with a lender, found the house we wanted, and had put down earnest money! It's amazing how quickly things went...  At the end of July we purchased our first home :)

We moved in on July 20th & (because I'm crazy) on August 12th we had Kaelynn's 1st birthday party here! It sure got my butt in gear with unpacking, but I seriously felt like an insane woman haha.  We had such an amazing turn out from our friends and family.  Kaelynn got lots of good stuff & it was awesome to have a place to accommodate everyone who wanted to come!

Let's get dressed!

Dressed & ready to go

Happy Birthday Baby!

Cake, glorious cake!!

 Things have been great for us in 2012.  Up, down, around & through, we didn't miss our share of tough times, but in the end it has been an amazing journey.  Having my baby be healthy & happy, my husband being loving & supporting...these are the things that win out in the end!  Even though I'm not the best at blogging, I really hope I can start being more dedicated.  I honestly don't want to have to refer to Facebook when I'm old to see what my life was about!!!

Till next time : )

SAHMs Deserve PTO :-)

Yesterday I really wished I could have called in sick...  Kaelynn has been fighting something (teething, ear infection, cold, who knows...) all week.  Any mom whose been lucky enough to make it to this dreaded stage knows the sleepless week I have had!  To top it all off, mold decided to crawl up into my sinus passages & take over my entire head...  I really wanted to call in sick & lay in bed all day.

BUT...that's the thing about being a Stay At Home Mom...we simply do not get Paid Time Off.  When I worked in the corporate world, I earned exactly 4.52 hours of PTO every two weeks.  Kaelynn is now 26 weeks old.  By my calculations this should be 54.24 hours of PTO I have earned since she was born...  When, oh when, do I get to cash in?!

Okay, okay, this blog is sounding like I'm just whining, so let me take a moment to point some of the things I love about my new "job".  I love being able to go to lunch with fellow mommies on a whim.  I love being able to stay in my pajamas if I'm not having to go out.  I love snuggle sessions with the baby & our two beagles.  Yes, I love many things about this job, but my absolute favorite perk to staying home is witnessing every single milestone my daughter achieves...  There's simply nothing better!

Okay, so I don't have it too bad...but I still think we SAHMs deserve some earned vacation time every once in a while :-)

How does one begin to blog??

I have always been one of those people that have DREAMED of blogging, but I just never have really known how to start!  I guess I could start by telling a little about how I have arrived at today...

2006 was not one of the better years of my life - in a leap of faith I packed all my belongings into a Budget truck rental & moved 2,000 miles across the country from Idaho to Austin, Texas!  It was great to be back where my roots began & be home with my family. 

6 months after the move I met my prince charming :)  I didn't feel like I was in a place to start a relationship so I tried to keep him at bay...  When he asked me out, I had to tell him I wasn't ready to start dating anyone.  We proceeded to spend a month "pretending we weren't in a relationship", but it gave us a beautiful opportunity to build a real friendship.  On May 15th, 2009 we were married at a beautiful park here in Austin.  It was 2 years to the day from the first time Clay asked me out!

In the summer of 2010, we decided we wanted to to expand our family & right before Christmas we found out that we were going to get our wish!  On August 12, 2011, my heart exploded in ways I didn't know was possible when I became a mother to the most beautiful girl I had ever seen... 

Kaelynn Andee Halliburton, 7 pounds, 15 ounces, 20 3/4 inches long arrived at 6:20 pm.

My life has dramatically changed over the last few years.  I am now in some uncharted territory.  For the first time since I was 15 I do not have a paying job.  When Kaelynn was 6 weeks old I was laid off from my job.  I had worked there for almost 5 years, but with the recession my position had been outsourced to Romainia while I was on maternity leave.  Technically I could have fought against FMLA laws, but I honestly felt like God was in the middle of all of it.  I am now a full-time stay-at-home-mother & I honestly love it!!!

I never knew I could be as happy today as I am...  I never knew that the life I live today was possible...  I am so happy that I wasn't really allowed to pick out my life - I would have sold myself so very short!  I am looking forward to getting on the blog-wagon & hopefully will be able to have lots more to write about soon!!