Thank you for Stalking

Just a bit of an update for all of you blog stalkers (you know who you are – leave a comment so we can know who you are as well!).

I am back at Vanguard as Maria mentioned in her blog a while ago. I am in the third of four weeks of training now. I hope that this year the job last longer and that it ends more positively – we will just have to wait and see.

Maria is now on short term leave at her doctor’s recommendation so that she can be well rested and relaxed for when our little girl comes. She is enjoying her “nesting time” and loves being home with Davis. She is so ready for this baby to come but is still about two weeks out from her due date. We were going to have a baby shower but planning fell through and it never came to fruition. We are now too close to the birth day and notice would be too short to throw one together now. Maybe we can have people over again for dinner like we did for Davis last year and you can all bring us gifts then!

Davis is teething and still as crazy as ever. I am so glad I had the opportunity to be home with him for as long as I was but at the same time I am so glad to be out of the house and in the work force again. Our little girl is almost here and we still have not decided on a name!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and it makes me think back to last year's feast (at Panda Express) and all the work that went into our basement this time last year. This year our house is in much better shape and able to accommodate a lot of family which will be fun.

Some of you might not know that I am a lover of all things Christmas. Our lights and tree are up and Christmas music is streaming via Pandora and the radio. Maria has a pinch of Grinch in her but I am winning her over. She was not excited about the lights going up the first week on November and the tree the second week but last night she admitted that the tree has a calming effect and that she enjoys having it up.

As a kid we would get an enormous live tree and I remember the many hours it would take to decorate it all. I had fun going with my dad to the plant to get a ladder tall enough to place the angel at the top. We would string lights, garland, and put a big wreath on the door. I loved it all. I remember one year as a child our family did not do much in preparation for Christmas and I took matters into my own hands. I found myself outside in the snow on Christmas Eve stringing lights by my self and decorating a house plant as a tree.

Now as an adult homeowner I want to go overboard. I would like a tree for our front room, family room, media room, and master bedroom. I want to animate our house lights and blow our circuits each time I plug them all in. I want bells, wreaths, garland, nut crackers, bells, sleighs, candles, snow – the whole works! The only things holding me back now are finances, time, and energy. I will collect a little here a little there and will build up my Christmas Empire one year at a time.

This started out as an update but morphed into a message from Christmas past, present and future. We are doing well and will try to blog a bit more regularly.