New Chapter

Monday starts a new chapter of life for our little family! After a lllllloooooottttt of difficult decision making, we decided that I am not going to be working full time anymore. This decision was not made easily, but once it was made, there was no looking or turning back. We are SO excited about this new chapter in our lives and we feel like it was definitely the best decision for our family. There are so many reasons why this was so hard to finally decide, and the one that has eaten away at me the most is that I felt not everyone would be supportive of me. I have to say, though, that I was totally surprised at the amount of support I have received from mostly everyone. I have grown a lot, too, during this process. I have realized that those who love you are going to be there for you no matter what, and boy has that been true! I no longer care about pleasing everyone because, let's face it, that is never going to happen. I ultimately have to do what's best for our family, not anyone else's. It's funny how life teaches you these lessons when you need to learn them.

I was able to take a year's leave of absence, so if I decide to go back next year, the option is there. I am going to be working part time this year, though. I will work at my school on Mondays and Tuesdays from 9-2 so I will still get to see everyone. There are also a couple of other things I am going to do on the side to make up for the lack of full time work. I could not be more excited about this new chapter and I am so ready for it to begin! There are so many moms out there who work and are great at it, it was just not the best decision for us. Maddox and I are going to have a blast this year! Let the fun begin!!

"It's Not So Bad"

We decided to give rice cereal another go-round tonight and he finally started to take a liking to it!

"It's not so bad after all, Momma! I think I like this stuff!"

5 Months Old!

Today Maddox is 5 months old! He is growing so much and changing everyday! I am loving this stage with him because he is constantly doing new things! He laughs all the time now and it isn't that hard to get him cracked up! He is a WONDERFUL night sleeper which we are extremely thankful for. He travels great and enjoys his car seat a lot more now than he used to. He is almost rolling from his back to his tummy... so close!! He loves his paci and his lovie. He hates rice cereal but we are going to keep trying. He still spits up a ton, but we are used to that at this point. He is generally a pretty happy boy and we are loving him so much!! Here he is on his big day...isn't he a chunky monkey??? Love those thighs!!



I realized that I never did a 4 month post so here is his 4 month picture (only a month late!)...
Happy Monday!!! :)

Saturday Travels

Today we went to Montgomery to celebrate with our friends Nick and Brooke. Their son was having his 3rd birthday party today. They had the party at the Splash Pad and boy, were those kids glad to be in the water! It was SUPER hot today and I know all of the kids had so much fun! We almost missed the party because we were stuck in traffic on I-85 because of a wreck. We heard that it was a church van that had kids in it and when we finally started moving and saw the van it made me sick to my stomach. When we got home I looked up the accident and I do think everyone is going to be ok, thank goodness, because it looked terrible! Our friends Jamie and Gorham rode with us so that made the trip even more fun. We got to visit with Brooke and Nick and we even got to see their new apartment, which was super-cute! I only snapped a few pictures while we were there..

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday!! :)

This and That

School has started back, and if I thought life was busy before...well, it is super busy now! It has been a veeeeeerrrrryyyyy hard adjustment, but here we are. Maddox is getting adjusted to a new schedule and I guess I am too. There are some changes that are going to have to be made with me starting back to work. The first of which is grocery shopping. Prior to now, I have been planning meals and shopping for the week, but I am about to tackle shopping for 2 weeks at a time. I have only done this once so far, but it worked out really well. I left on Sunday afternoon right when Maddox went down for a nap, went to Sam's and Wal-Mart, and even made it back before he woke up. The reason I am doing this is I don't want to spend every single weekend at the grocery store. And the one time we have done it, we stuck to the "menu" very well! I think we only ate out 1 or 2 times. I really do enjoy cooking, and this makes me be more planned in what we have every night. A while back, we bought a dry-erase board and now it is the menu board on our refrigerator. So if any of you have any recipes you absolutely love, please send them my way. Time is precious these days... so quick and easy recipes, preferrably with minimal ingredients, are most appreciated.

I already miss the days of being able to be at home all day. The days when I could do laundry here and there and have a fairly clean house, well, they are gone. Another adjustment I have made is a shift in my priorities. I no longer stay late at work working on lesson plans. Not because I don't love my job and my kids, but I love my first job (mommy) and my own child more. I don't feel like it's necessary to make sure the house is spotless before I go to bed anymore... my priorities have definitely shifted. But in a good way. I want to soak up all of the time I have with Maddox because he changes so quickly! I can't believe he is almost 5 months old!! The balance of working and being a mom is a hard one, and one I feel like I'm not very good at most days.

On a more positive note, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law are in town this weekend so we are having lots of fun! Maddox is enjoying Lolli and Uncle Brandon time very much. I want the weekends to slow down and the weekdays to speed up!! I have not taken many pictures lately, but here are a few that I'll share from the weekend so far...