New Job...

Well I guess its time for my annual blog post.. haha I really will get better this time... and I'm sure I'll be saying that in 6 more months.
Well lots has happened since I last posted. Noah turned one, Christmas, New years, JORDAN GRADUATES THIS YEAR (actually in about 6 weeks), and we're moving! The story of Jordans soon-to-be new job is long one... so here we go.

When Jordan first started looking for a job it was February. The first place he was interested in looking was Siemens because we had talked about moving to Germany for over a year and it was something we really wanted.
So it turned out that there was a job opening that would be pretty perfect for what he's been focusing on in school (MRI software development). He sent them his resume and heard from them a few weeks later. They wanted a phone interview! So he did the interview and as soon as he got off the phone he said he wanted to job. It sounded so good.
Well about a week later Amazon (.com) contacted him because they had found his resume on monster and wanted to interview him. He decided to do it just for the experience. About three weeks after his first interview with Siemens Jordan hadn't heard anything from them and he had just completed his second phone interview with Amazon. Not five minutes later he received an email from Siemens saying they wanted a second phone interview with him to discuss contract and salary (they don't usually do that unless they're really interested in you).
So he did his second interview, everything sounded pretty good, and they wanted to set up a final interview with the president of the company (they also emailed him a preliminary offer with the final salary and terms). Then a few days after that, Jordan got an email from Amazon inviting him up for an in person interview (it was unexpected). He decided to do it just for the experience since his final interview with Siemens wasn't for a few more weeks.
Well he went up there and did five hours worth of interviews (fun, right?) and came home not expecting anything. Noah and I left for California with my family a few days later and while we were there Jordan got an awesome offer from Amazon. It was totally unexpected and up until then we hadn't even considered anything but Germany.
After weighing out the pros and cons of both we decided to accept the offer from Amazon. So Jordans start date is June 4th and Amazon is taking care of everything. They are even putting us up in housing for 30 days while we find a place to live. We'll begin moving everything up there at the end of May and be moved by June 1st.I guess I haven't mention where yet... but if you're friends with me on facebook you know already...

Beautiful Seattle. I've never been there myself but I can't wait! It will be exciting (and scary) to live somewhere new.

Playing Catch up...

So there are a few things I need to catch up on. This is a very neglected blog... I blame that on having a very busy baby that I'm trying to keep up with along with doing things around my house that are a little more important than blogging. So here we go...

1. At the end of September Jordan went to a conference in Banff, Canada. He had a presentation up there and lots of meetings to attend. He said it was beautiful though and he didn't have to share a room with anyone, so I'm sure that was nice for him. Then at the end of October he went to Washington DC again to present a poster at the AMIA conference. During both conferences Noah tummy and throat decided it would be a good time to make him miserable. In September he got sick for the first time- he had a flu and was throwing up like crazy and was super tired and cranky. Then in October, one night he suddenly got a really bad sore throat and had a fever of 103. So sad. So being a super mom, I got to deal with that all on my own... I'm thankful for the instacare and doctors who are so helpful and understanding.

 

2. Noah is a full on WALKER! He took his first steps in August (about 9 and a half months) and by 10ish months he was walking on his own. Just a few weeks ago he figured out how to stand in the middle of the floor without holding onto anything. Very exciting stuff. So now he's EVERYwhere and getting into everything. We've really had to step up our game as far as baby proofing goes. He has SO much energy. He's almost climbed the baby gate a few times but only gotten half way up before he starts to scream. Also, he now had FOUR teeth! His third tooth popped through around 11 months and his fourth came through a few days to a week later. He's pretty adorable with four teeth, though I'm going to miss his gummy grin... maybe its time for another babe? haha...

4. I've been crazy busy with projects. I've been feeling pretty crafty lately so I made a fall wreath, a stacking toy for Noah (for his birthday), and right now I'm working on an owl mobile for his room/birthday. I know I'll probably say I'll post pictures but I can't promise anything.

5. Noah's birthday is coming up!! I can't believe its been a YEAR. Holy cow.... having a baby has changed my life in more ways than I can count. And I wouldn't change anything for the world... not even being dirt poor at the moment. Its such a blessing having Noah is our lives. I feel so lucky to have such amazing men surrounding me.

6. Jordan got a paper accepted to be published! Don't ask Jordan about it because he'll just down play how awesome it is and say "well there are revisions that need to be done before its official." Well let me tell you, he's worked is BUTT off working on this paper and even though theres more research and data that needs to be added before its published and I'm so proud of him. He's pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

7. We got a fish. Her name is Dolores and we often refer to her as a him. She's so pretty though and really livens up our tank.

8. Halloween this year was SO much fun. We went to Jordan's parents house and Jordans mom wanted to take Noah to trick-or-treat at a few houses of people Jordan knew growing up. So we went to 6ish houses and Noah was figuring out that it was really fun to grab hand fulls of  candy and stuff them in a sack. He was so cute dressed up as a little blue monster.

Thats all I can think of for now. I'm really going to try and be better about this. Promise.

Ready to pull my hair out...

Yes... it stresses me out THAT much. I always go back and forth about whether or not to grow out my hair. I'll cut it super short then a few months later say I'm growing it out. So it'll get to about my shoulders (after a year of cutting it as it grows out so I don't have a mullet) and then I'll get sick of it again, and its back to being short. At this moment, my hair consumes much of my thoughts when I'm not with Noah (so basically all of my free time). Its pretty short right now and I would love to go much shorter; SO... the other day I was looking for short hair cuts and came across THIS BLOG and its something I should NOT have read. Some of you may know that Sienna Millers short hair cut is what I have now... so the thoughts that came to mind when I read this are:
"Is my husband lying to me when he says he likes my hair short?"
"Am I the same person he married?"
"I should just grow my hair out."
"Maybe men really don't like short hair and Jordan is just being nice!"
"AHHH! What did I do?!?"
...and so on. Complete self doubt and crushed confidence. The thing is, I absolutely LOVE short hair. I think it looks much better on me than long hair does (the longer hair I had a few months ago, I feel, made my face look chubby). I think it really takes a confidant person to cut their hair super short. But I just don't know what to do.

Have you ever watched Desperate Housewives? There is an episode where Lynette (who has cancer) buys all these different wigs and her husband loves it. Its a pretty funny episode. But after asking Jordan (for the trillionth time) what I should do with my hair, he suggested I just shave my head and buy a bunch of different wigs. Then I would NEVER get bored... Right?

Poor baby...

Yesterday Noah had some epigastric hernia's repaired. Poor guy. We had to leave at 5:45 in the morning to check in at 6:20 and by 7:30 we were walking him back to hand him off to the anesthesiologist. SOOOO sad. It was one of the hardest things to watch him be taken away by a stranger and have that terrified look in his eyes. But I'm so grateful that everything went well. The surgery itself took about 20 minutes or so and he was pretty grumpy afterword. But now its like nothing happened! He's back to his happy, energetic self; it didn't even phase him.
But here's the bad news: see that little bump about an inch above the bandage in the photo? Thats the harnia they were SUPPOSED to fix. It only pops out when he flexes his abdominal muscles a certain way and when the doctor was looking at his tummy to mark where he would cut, it didn't pop out and the doctor felt other, smaller hernias below it. So he'll have to go back in a week and half for his post-op check up and to schedule another surgery. What a trooper.

What Noah has been up to...

So we went in for Noah's nine month check up today, just to see how he is growing and such. I just wanted to update on here so I don't forget! He took his first steps yesterday *tear* he's growing up so fast!! He really turned nine months on the sixth of this month but I'm the worst blogger ever so naturally I forgot to update. While I'm thinking about it and I have the paper in front of me, here are his six and nine month stats:

Six Months:

Weight: 21.6 lbs (96%)

Height: 27.75 inches (88%)

Head size: 18.3 inches (98)

Nine and a half Months:

Weight: 21.1 lbs (53%)

Height: 29 inches (67%)

Head size: 19.3 inches (100%)

He's lost a little bit of weight in three and a half months but the doctor said he's not worried because he's lengthened out and isn't going to be a chubby little boy. Also, his head is HUGE! haha But it also isn't a problem because it hasn't been a rapid change- Noah has always had a big head. at three weeks old his head was already in the 76th percentile. Anyway, as far as development goes, like I said before, he took his first steps yesterday! It was the most exciting thing ever (for me at least). Its so fun seeing all the milestones. He's going to be walking before we know it! Its sad but so exciting and fun at the same time.... I would say more so. He's still army crawling although he can get up on his hands and knees but he's just not interested. He climbs up onto everything and cruises along the furniture. Here are some of the milestones that have happened in the last few months (that I haven't updated...):

Got his first tooth May 17th (our third wedding anniversary)

Got his second tooth just after turning 7 months in June

Starting crawling May 10th (6 months)

Started pulling himself up onto things mid-July

Took his first steps Sunday, August 21st

Started getting three "solid" meals a day at 8 months in July

Is sleeping 10-11 hours a night and taking two 1.5-2 hour naps during the day

 His favorite things are:

Pulling things out of the bookcase

Opening the lid to the diaper pale and pulling out diapers

Opening cabinets in the front room

Grabbing Busters tail and feet

Playing with Buster and all of Busters super fun toys

Walking around with his rolling cart/walker

Chewing on Busters toys

Pulling out all the DVD's he can reach

Crawling into the kitchen

Buster

Standing up by himself

Bath time every night

Daddy reading books to him

Graham crackers

Swimming in grandma and papa's pool (kiddy pool of course)

Riding in the stroller while mommy runs at the park

Ice cream/popsicles

Things he hates:

Riding is his car seat

Diaper changes

Being held by strangers

Getting out of the bathtub

When mommy puts up the baby gate while he's trying to get into the kitchen

When mommy leaves him by himself

Naps in his crib

Squash

When other dogs are mean to Buster

Thats my Noah in a nutshell. Its so amazing to see his little personality coming out more and more everyday. He's such a cuddly little guy, I love it! This morning he woke up at eight and wouldn't let me put him down- he just wanted to be held and cuddled. He's brought so much joy and fullness into my life; I can't imagine it without him. He's the light of my life.

Undeniable Adult Truths...

So I know its been forEVER since I've updated... but I wanted to take a moment to post this first. I read it on a blog and laughed out loud several times. So I just had to share...

Undeniable Adult Truths   

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3.. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure we know how to get out of the neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions always make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid" routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front.. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty.. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

24. The first protective device, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Things that make me happy...

Whoa... two blog posts in two days.. I'm on a roll!!

So why am I posting a second day in a row you may be thinking... or not. Today I was dancing in my kitchen, trying to get my almost seven month old boy to laugh- even though I probably looked ridiculous and totally insane, it was for the sake of my little boys laughter and I loved every minute of it- his laugh is so contagious and I was laughing just as much as he was, if not more. It got me thinking: what things in my life bring me happiness... even just the little things that make my everyday a good day. I've blogged about my depression before so its no secret. I've battled depression since I was a teenager... but recently I haven't felt that hopeless grip of sadness... I've mostly felt joy. I say mostly being we all have those days when we don't want to leave the house, or even get out of bed. But those days have been very few for me recently... something that hasn't happened in a few years.

So today, after dancing like a maniac while my little guy squealed with laughter, I took a few pictures around my house of things that make me happy... here are a few of the little things...

Chocolate milk, strawberries, caffeine free Diet Coke, Arrested development, the new fabric I got this past week, the orchids I've been taking care of, Harry Potter, my Kindle, my sewing machine, and The Hunger Games trilogy :)

 And of course, the biggest things in my life that make me happy :-D....