Time flies, work sucks, but I love my kids

Wow, how incredibly long the last 2 weeks have been. We are borrowing bunk beds from my sister and got those set up last weekend. As soon as Adam saw his "new" bed he got very excited and kept repeating, "I love it! I love it!" He was very proud to have his new "big boy bed" and so far has slept well in it for an entire week. We explained to him that the crib is now Noah's bed and he was perfectly OK with that. I was amazed. I seriously thought it was going to take us a week or two to transition him over (he really loved his crib) but it didn't! He switched right over with no problems and Noah did the same - he sleeps very well in the crib. He's asked a couple of times to lay down in the crib but all I have to do is show him Noah laying down in it and he says, "OK." and allows me to lay him in his new big bed. I'm so proud of my boys! What's even more amazing is that before moving him to the crib Noah refused to go to bed before 10pm. But now, all of a sudden, he's super fussy and ready for bed at 8:00pm. Not only that but I can lay him down wide awake and he will go to sleep ALL ON HIS OWN. Now, Adam has done this since he was 5 weeks old, silly boy wouldn't ever let me nurse him to sleep once he started that. But Noah...well, Noah's only done that a handful of times in his short 5 month life and now he's done it every night this week.

I am truly blessed.

Of course Michelle is beyond happy to finally have a normal bed - 8 years old and she's been in a toddler bed for the last 6+ years. When I told her the bunk beds were coming she was just beside herself with anticipation and then to get the top bunk to boot - that girl is on cloud 9! ;)

Oh, and I mustn't forget...this weekend marks 2 milestones for my youngest, Noah. 1) He is 5 months old on Sunday. 5 months old, wearing 12mo clothing and has been switched over to a convertible car seat because let's face it, a child who wears 12mo clothing is far too freaking heavy to carry around, one-handed, in a carrier carseat. 2) He slept COMPLETELY through the night last night. And I don't mean just 6 or 7 hours which is what most consider "through the night" - he's been doing that for like 3 months now. But I mean he slept 10.5 hours. Went to bed at 9pm and didn't wake up until 7:30am. Unfortunately for me, I didn't sleep all night. I kept waking up expecting to hear him fussing at any given moment. Figures. Imagine my surprise, though, to not hear a peep out of him until 7:30am!

Yes, I am indeed very blessed.

Aside from all the kid/mommy stuff, I have just been completely exhausted. Work has been not so fun and way too busy for my liking. So busy, in fact, that I haven't been able to even take the time to post on here. That sucks. See, 4 weeks ago this coming Monday one of my co-worker's went out on medical leave to have a hysterectomy. This surgery was the final step in her process to becoming completely cancer free. She had estrogen-receptive breast cancer - meaning it feeds off of the estrogen which is naturally produced by every healthy woman of child-bearing age who still has her ovaries. This meant that she could no longer allow her ovaries to work. She tried Tomoxafen, which would have been a 5 year regimen to shut down her ovaries and being the extremely petite thing that she is she experienced almost every freaking side effect known for this drug. This made life hell for her and she gave in very quickly after starting the drug to the idea of just having it all taken out. Far easier than remembering to take that dumb expensive pill every day for 5 years.

So anyway, she went out on medical leave and I was left to cover for her and do her job while she was out. No problem, I can do that. Two weeks later, she's at home, board out of her mind having read 4 books and watched all the TV she can handle and somehow she managed to get her doctor to sign the release for her to be able to work from home for her last 2 weeks of recovery. She got less than a week into it and realized that she is in fact NOT superwoman and her body really was not ready to be sitting up quite so much so soon after having some of her internal organs removed and she calls in sick for the last week of her 4 weeks *out* of the office. This wouldn't have been too terribly bad except for the fact that my boss decided to put me on another project after my lovely coworker got the OK from her doc to work from home. So, when she decided to call in sick for all of last week, guess who got to do all of her work again PLUS all of mine? Yup, that's right, it was ME. Me. Me. Me. Me. I'm tired. I can do her job. I can do my job. I just don't do so well having to juggle 2 full time jobs in a 40 hour period. I don't like it. It sucks.

...

Last Sunday was Easter. Easter means a great deal to me as it is celebrated as the day my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ rose from the grave and ascended to sit the right hand side of the Father. For almost a year now we have been without a church home. Three years ago, due to some extenuating circumstances, we left the first church I ever called home and was a member of and followed the pastor as he/we started a small church which met in members' homes. And then last June our pastor was accepted to law school in West Virginia and he and his family moved accross the country and that was the end of our "church". As much as we miss church and weekly praising the Lord with our brothers and sisters in Christ we haven't been too focused on finding a replacement because we know that our standards are quite high and what we're looking for (very conservative and 100% biblical - something most churches thes days are definitely NOT) is very very hard to come by. But, last weekend I promised my best friend, Chelle, that I would attend Easter service at her church - mostly because she was singing and I love her dearly. So, I left the 2yo monster, Adam, at home with Beau and took Michelle and Noah with me to "church". This church is unlike any other I had ever been to and not exactly anything I ever really want to go to again. Talk about catering to the young and "hip". Oy. Loud, rock "worship" music that repeats the same lyrics over and over again. A preacher who dresses in baggy khakis with worn out brown leather shoes, a sweater vest over his "dress shirt" with the shirt tales hanging out and the top button or two undone, a tan beaded necklace tight around his neck and blonde highlighted "surfer-dude" shaggy hair - the kind of hairdo that my 8yo nephew is trying to achieve. Only my sister won't let him get the highlights. And a sermon that didn't last more than 15 minutes - one in which not one actual bible verse was cited - complete with PowerPoint slide on 2 large screens for all in the congregation to see. It all made me very uneasy and I found it very hard to relax until I finally reminded myself of Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." and at that point I was able to sit peacefully through the rest of the service and just focus my thoughts on Christ and his teachings and all that he gave and suffered just so that I could have forgiveness for my many, many sins and everlasting life. It will be a long time before I ever go back there again, IF I ever do. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that Chelle and Phil have a church home that they love and enjoy. It's just definitely not for me and my family. We much prefer the quiet conservative services of a Missionary Baptist church. Now if we can just find one that doesn't compromise on doctrine just to get people in the door and keep them in the pews.