Reflections

With only a couple more hours left of 2013 I'm inclined to sit here and reflect on all that has happened in the past year. I do have to say it has been quite an amazing year! The past several years I could honestly say that there were some really difficult hard times that I went through. Though I did go through some hard times this year, they were nothing like it has been. I've been truly blessed. This is what the past year has brought me:

1. First Anniversary
In the year 2013 I was able to celebrate my first anniversary. Can't believe I've been married for over a year now and about to celebrate my second! Time sure does seem to fly!

2. Pregnancy and Baby Theo
The day after our first anniversary we found out the wonderful news that we were expecting a baby. Boy did I not know what was coming. Never knew that I could love a little person so much even after all the sleep deprivation and endless crying. We have had some pretty rough days but this little boy still has a firm grip on my heart.

3. New Apartment
So maybe this doesn't seem like a really big one but it has made quite a difference in our lives. I really do like our new place. Without this new place we wouldn't have been able to get a dog which brings me to my next point.

4. Mozzie
Though this dog can drive me crazy at times, I still love him. He can have his moments of sweetness. He has been kind of needy lately because he isn't getting as much attention lately but he's still a good dog.

5. Michael's Job
So Michael started his job last December but its kind of big thing so I'm listing it here. We are incredible grateful for his job at Delta. Michael really likes working there. The job is boring (what job isn't?) but he really likes the people he works with and Delta as a company. We're really hoping to stay with them for years, Lord willing.

6. New Year's Resolution
Last New Year's I made the resolution to start learning French. So here's the big reveal to see whether I actually kept to it or not. Drum roll please........I did it! Ok, I'm not fluent in French but I did keep to it and start learning the language. I feel as if I came pretty far. There have been stretches of time where I drifted from it so I didn't get as far as I could have but I think I did pretty well. My sister-in-law is also learning French and she told me about this fabulous website where you can learn French for free! I loved it the moment I tried it. It has helped out a lot, and they do other languages other than French. If you're interested the site is called Duolingo and I highly recommend it!

Ok, so this is all I can think of right now, though I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting things. But hey its late and I'm tired. I'm really looking forward to all 2014 has to offer. Happy New Year!

Christmas

First of all Merry Christmas! It's a little late but hey, its the thought that counts right? We had a great little Christmas this year. Since Michael was working on Christmas we decided to open presents on Christmas Eve in the evening and do a little "party". We just had a few little finger foods, opened presents, and watched a Christmas movie. It was really rather wonderful. :) We still have a Christmas dinner to do with Michael's brother and his family. We were going to do it the day after Christmas but my sister-in-law and nephew came down with something (poor things) so its been postponed till they get better.

Little Theo

So its about time I write a post announcing little Theo's birth. Little Theodore Michael was born on November 7 (so he's a month old now!). He weighed in a 7 lbs 14 oz and 20 1/2 in. long.

I ended up getting induced one week past my due date. They would have let me go longer but his cord was wrapped around his neck and the fluid was getting low so the doctor it was best to go ahead and induce than wait any longer. The whole process went smoothly for the most part. They brought me in on Wednesday (the 6th) night and started me on certavil. It wasn't to bad until they started the pitocin the next morning. The contractions were coming on hard and strong. Soon after they administered the epidural there was a slight complication with his heart rate dropping. When it first started happening they rushed into the room turned me to my side and put a oxygen mask on me without saying a word. I was kind of freaked out not knowing what was going on. The theory is that his cord was possibly causing his heart rate to drop since it would only happen if I was laying on my back or my left side. Thankfully he was born a healthy boy with no complications. I ended up laboring less than 24 hours from start to finish. I certainly got lucky.

Life at home with him has certain been a challenging one. It has been a great life adjustment. I just try to take it one day at a time and try not to think how tired I am. He's definitely a morning person. He's all smiles after he wakes up and slowly fades as the day passes. 

We haven't really had any major problems with nursing. He caught on pretty quick and my milk had no problems coming in. He's already a little over 9 lbs! He's still in newborn clothes which surprises me. I personally think he carries all his weight in his cheeks haha.

Don't you just want to squish those cheeks!?

We have had some problems with sleeping at night. There have been quite a few of restless nights and I don't doubt that there are more to come. Though I am pretty happy that he only woke up once last night. I don't think it will stick for now but I am grateful for one good night of sleep! One of the best things is that he does really well going out. I probably just jinxed it though. He falls asleep pretty quickly in the car and then whenever we're in the store or at a restaurant he just sleeps the whole time. I think he likes all the background noise.

Ok, so now for an embarrassing/humbling/never-going-to-happen-again story. The day after Thanksgiving Michael and I went out to Hobby Lobby to look at their fake trees (we had a real one last year). They were having a sale so we went to see if there was one in our price range. Lucky enough for us we found one that was perfect. After buying the tree they told us to bring our car to the front while they go get the tree from the back. We do just that. They bring the tree out and we proceed to load it in the car. Unfortunately our car is not very big so it didn't fit in the trunk so we had to put it up front on the passenger side. Kind of hard to explain but it ended up with me moving to go sit in the back seat. Now since we were just loading the tree into the car we left the car running. Once the tree was safely in the car I proceeded to go around to get in the back of the car. Out of habit we shut the doors. That is when it hit me. We just locked not only the keys but our newborn baby in the car. I, of course, started freaking/stressing out. I felt like such a failure. How could a mother lock her own child in the car. We tried all possible ways of getting in but all efforts failed. We tried asking for help but all anybody could tell us was to dial 911. Luckily for us someone was parked illegally in the fire lane behind us. A cop showed up and asked them to move their car. Michael quickly went to him and asked for help to get in the car. Of course once he heard that Theo was locked in their he quickly got the tools to help. Thankfully he was able to unlock the car and we were able to finally all go home safe and sound.  Whew, I was beyond stressed and tired by the end of the day. I'm just really glad that Theo slept through the entire thing.We are determined to never let that happen again.

Birthday Celebrations

Today is the most special man in the world's birthday. My sweet dear husband Michael. :) I make a big deal out of my birthday so I tend to do the same with other people's birthday, especially Michael's. Last year since we were really tight on money I wasn't able to do much of anything, and I was afraid I might not be able to do much of anything this year either because I didn't know if Theo would be here already or not. But thankfully I was able to do somethings for his birthday. Since he works on today we celebrated his birthday on his days off, Thursday and Friday. Thursday we went out to Red Robin for dinner because Michael could get a free burger for his birthday. We don't go out to eat much so it was a nice treat. We came home for a birthday "pie" afterwards. On Friday we went to go play miniature golf at a family fun center that I recently found. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was for Augusta, not the nicest place putt putt place I've been to but it was cute. I bought Michael Dutch Blitz for his present. We used to play it together before we started dating. Friday night we went over to family and had a nice dinner. Overall it was a great success and I'm really happy I was able to "spoil" Michael for his birthday, I don't get to do it often and I love the chances I do get to. :)

Delicious!

Love this man!

Almost 40 weeks!

Words

I'm going to take a little break from all the baby talk (sigh, yes I'm still pregnant) and share with you something that has been on my heart. The other day I was listening to a song on the radio, one that I had heard many times before but this time I took the time to actually really listen to the lyrics. After really listening to them the song really spoke to me and touched on a subject that I've been very adamant about for awhile The song is Words by Hawk Nelson.

 It speaks of how words can really affect a person and how the words we say should be uplifting and encouraging and pointing back towards God. This has been an issue very close to my heart. I have been on both ends of damaging words, and I don't like it either way. A lot of people today like to joke around and tease people as a way of having fun, I know, I've done it. But this can be a big problem. Though you may be teasing and just joking what you say can really hurt a person and bring them down. I've had people tease me in my life, and I've teased people in my life. It just seemed like the way to goof off with people, but after seeing how out of hand it can get and how I could hurt a person's feelings or have my own hurt I started reevaluating myself. I didn't want to continue this vicious cycle. I didn't want my words to bring people down but instead bring them up and encourage them, perhaps even put a smile on their face. I especially don't want to bring down my own children or husband with discouraging words or have them see me do it to other people. What kind of example would I be? Its not an easy task. It can be so easy to get sucked in and start "innocently" teasing a person and then it get out of hand. It's my prayer that I can learn to control my tongue and continue to uplift people.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

Waiting

With only a little over two weeks till my due date. I'm officially considered full term so little Theo could come at any time. So now we're just anxiously waiting his arrival. To tell you the truth I'm not a very patient person, so all this waiting and not knowing when he'll show is driving me nuts. So in the mean time, to keep me sane I'm keeping myself busy by keeping the house clean. The other night I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep and I kept thinking that it would be great if I went into labor that night. But the more I was thinking about it, the more I kept thinking of the kitchen. The kitchen was a disaster, the dishes and counters needed to be wiped down. I didn't want to go into labor and have the house a wreck, haha crazy I know. So then I decided to do my best to keep the house as spotless as I could till this little guy came. So that's about all that is happening around here, waiting and cleaning. Hopefully soon I'll be putting up a post about our precious little Theo being welcomed into the world!

36 Weeks

So I made it! I finally made it to the final month of my pregnancy. I'm feeling pretty good so far but I am getting pretty anxious for this little guy to arrive. I keep telling him he's not allowed to be late, haha. One thing I won't miss once this pregnancy is over is all these doctor's appointments. I'll know Theo will have them but I'm sick and tired of mine. Maybe its just the doctors office I go to, but I usually end up being there for 2+ hours every single visit and its starting to really irritate me. It didn't bother me at first because I thought it just happened every so often but its been the past several appointments so I usually come back from them feeling very stressed out. Ok, enough of my ranting. This past month has been busy with preparing for this little guy. I have basically everything done and ready to go, just need to confirm on someone to take care of Mozzie while we're in the hospital. Even though I have everything ready I still don't feel "ready." Oh well for now I just need to try and relax. :)

Nursery and Name Reveal

The nursery is finally done! So excited to share it with you all!

I love how it all came together! I made all the wall decor myself, my wonderful mom made the quilt and diaper stacker and the rest of it was bought at either Walmart or Target. Michael has been such a great help with it too. I couldn't have done it without him. :)

At the beginning of the pregnancy we had originally decided to keep the name a secret. We had decided to do that because I was getting really irritated on everyone's opinions on names. But now we have decided on a name. And since there was no changing our minds we agreed that we would let people know the name and see how it goes. So far we've gotten a great response, and its no wonder, its a really cute name! So here it is:

Michael's one request was that the name would work well in both French and English. This was the one name that we both loved! We're going to call him Theo for short. My one request for the name was that his middle name be Michael so his full name is Theodore Michael Rinderknecht. I can't wait to meet this little guy!

Blessings and Mistakes

I feel like we have been extremely blessed. People have been very generous by donating baby items and clothing. We actually have so many 0-3 month clothes that I'm pretty sure that we'll be giving away about 1/3 of it, or maybe more. It's nice to know that I have the option of helping someone else out just as people have been helping us. It really is a great feeling, especially with a baby on the way.

So the lovely 4 day weekend that Michael had ended up being more tiring than I was planning. We were planning on possibly going to the zoo but by the last day I just wanted to stay at home and do absolutely nothing. Michael was good with that so that was what we did and it was much needed!

Now to the mistake part of this post. During this past week I was looking through Craigslist and found an adorable crib and mattress for a really great price. Well at least from the picture it looked adorable. I showed it to Michael and asked his opinion, He said it was nice and that if I really liked it we should get it. So I told the lady selling the crib that we would take and come pick it up that day. Once we arrived at the house to pick up the crib I started getting the feeling I made a mistake but just put it aside thinking it was just because I was at somebody's house and I tend to get uncomfortable in those situations. The thing is once we walked into the house we realized they were smokers. This didn't hit me right away as a problem until we got in the car with the crib and mattress that I finally realized that (of course) they smelled like smoke. But by that point its kind of to late to return it, especially when you're in the car driving away. I was really quiet the whole way back just regretting the whole thing. Once we got the crib upstairs in the nursery I regretted it even more. We tried cleaning the crib, looking up ways to get smoke smell out of the mattress but nothing seemed to work. I was an emotional wreck that afternoon/evening. Once the waterworks started they were hard to stop. Anyways, the next day after both of us had a good nights rest and my mind wasn't so emotionally clogged we sat down and talked and came to the conclusion that we should get a new crib. I hate (and by hate I mean loathe) wasting money but I can't handle having a crib that smells like cigarette smoke. I've thought of trying to resell it but I don't know of many people who would want this crib, I can imagine it being really hard to sell. We're throwing the mattress away and the crib has been re-purposed to close in the patio so Mozzie can't escape. It may look a little tacky but hey, it works. After this mess of a mistake we've learned a valuable lesson and will not be making the same mistake again.

Update

Just a quick little update on the Rinderknecht household. Life has been pretty busy lately, between Michael working, babysitting, getting up early running to run errands, preparing for baby and dog sitting I feel like the days are flying by faster than I can count them. This week we have the fun of having two dogs. My brother and sister-in-law left for a vacation so they asked us to take of their sheltie. She's a real sweetie. It is nice having her around and keeping Mozzie occupied, I think he gets a little to bored during the day with just me here.

Michael has a short work week thankfully. Starting Sunday he has a four day weekend, which we are going to use to just relax and maybe do something fun if the weather permits. Summer is the busiest season at Delta so its been a little tiring for him, but he's been working so hard. I'm very proud of him. :) On top of all of that he's getting ready to go back to school. He'll start classes in August. Not much else going on as of now, more updates to come.

My Hand at Crafts

This past week I started working on decorations for the nursery. I had spent so much time finding ideas online that by the time I got to making them I knew exactly what I wanted. Here's the first project I did:

I got this idea from pinterest, it was actually something someone was selling on etsy I just took the idea and made it my own. I absolutely love how they turned out! And they were so easy to make. I just found a whale silhouette that I liked, printed it out on a "make-your-own-sticker" paper, cut it out, place it on the canvas and painted over it. Once the paint was dry I removed the stickers. Michael was even impressed on how well they turned out.. They look super cute hanging up in the nursery. :)

The next project was a fabric banner to hang on the wall above the crib. For this one I simply went to Joann's and looked through their excess fabric bin for blue fabric (I didn't need much), and then some fabric "tape". I didn't have the best of scissors so cutting the fabric was kind of a pain but I think it turned out pretty well. :)

On a side note, unrelated to crafts, I tried out a new carbonara recipe today that was a big hit. Michael said that it was so good that he wasn't even going to put salt on it, haha! I count that as a compliment!

Greatest Husband

I just wanted to get this out in the open...I have the greatest husband ever! Never thought I would be so lucky in getting such a great guy. Lately (ok the entire time I've been pregnant) I have been crazy hormonal. One minute I'm fine the next I'm bawling my eyes out or raging mad. Yet through all of this Michael remains so patient and understanding. How he does it I have no idea. The mood swings have been getting worse recently and just the littlest thing will set me off. It's crazy. I'll be talking to a great friend and they'll say just one thing not even mean and in my head I'll go crazy mad but hold it in. Then once Michael gets home or I get a chance to talk to him he gets an earful. He knows that all I need is for him to just sit there and listen and let me get it all out. Isn't he great? He gives me hugs when I need them and apologizes if the littlest thing makes me cry, even when he has every right to sit there and wonder why I'm crying. I feel so blessed to be married to him. I think he is going to make such a wonderful father. Love him so much! :)

The Makings of a Nursery

Ever since we found out we were having a boy I've been busy planning the nursery. It's been kind of fun too :) . The first thing on my list was painting. Now its been 10+ years since I've even had a hand in helping to paint a room (and I didn't even really do much), so first I needed to do my research on painting a room. I'm kind of a perfectionist (as is Michael) so I wanted to make sure I got it right. Next was choosing the color and getting the paint. I decided on a light gray color. I loved the neutral color of it and how it could easily grow with our little guy. During my scouring of Pinterest for ideas on the nursery I kept seeing striped accent walls and I immediately fell in love. I was a little worried about how hard it would be to do, but it turned out to be fairly easy. So here is the finished product:

My dear sweet husband helped out with the accent wall. He measured out the stripes and then taped them out so all I had to do was paint them, so it made my job quick and easy. My sister was visiting this past weekend so she helped paint the rest of the room. I really love how it all turned out! Now it just needs furniture.

We have one piece of furniture bought already for the nursery. We decided that instead of getting a glider to put in the nursery we would get a futon instead. That way it can double as a place for me to sit and nurse but also as extra sleeping place when we have company. I ended up finding the perfect one too. I saw it on craigslist and it was perfect!

When I saw that it had a blue mattress it was a match made in heaven (ha!). It's currently sitting in the living to act as extra seating, and then when it gets closer to the due date Michael will move it up stairs.

17 Weeks: Gender Reveal

Well it's official we are having a...

BOY!!!!!!!

Michael and I are both excited! I grew up with all girls in my family so in a way I was hoping to have a boy. We weren't surprised either. With all the boys in Michael's family it was just inevitable haha. Of course once we found out I couldn't resist going out clothes shopping. :)

He's going to be such a stud :)

Right now I'm at 17 weeks. I can't believe it! Before I know it I'll be half way through! I finally started looking more pregnant than fat, and started growing out of my clothes. I can no longer rubber band my shorts, I'm officially in maternity shorts or as Michael calls it "fat women clothes" (he means well haha).

Now that we know the baby is a boy, nursery plans are underway. I'm planning on doing gray walls with blue whales to decorate. This picture inspired my idea:

In puppy related news, Mozzie is doing really great! He's is basically house trained (a few accidents every once and a while) and he follows commands well. He's a big whiner, which in a way is kind of funny. He whines anytime someone leaves the house (us or company), when he comes back from a walk, or when he comes home after hanging out with people. He's loves people! I finally took him to the vet to get a shot, and found out he weighs about 8 lbs. He's most likely bigger than that now haha, he's been growing so much!

The Newest Addition

Introducing the newest member of our growing family Mozzie. :)

We finally did it, we finally bought a puppy. :) At first we thought maybe we should wait to get one but then I decided that now would be the best time. I didn't want to have to deal with house training a puppy with a newborn and I thought that getting one now and house training it before the baby comes would be the best idea. Well at least in my mind it makes sense, I might seem utterly crazy to everybody else haha. He's a sweetheart. He's very playful and loves to cuddle (which I love!). I think we have a good one.

Our Growing Family

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted on here. Yikes! Of course things have been kind of busy so I guess that gives me a good excuse. :) In March Michael and I were able to celebrate our first anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year already! It has been a really good year. Of course it did come with it's many struggles that I would like to not go through again but I believe those struggles made us closer as a couple and strong and wiser too.

Also in March we did receive some very exciting news. Our family will be growing from a family of two to a family of three! We are very excited to be expecting this precious little one. S/he is due October 30 so that puts me at approx 12 weeks. Almost done with my first trimester (woo hoo!). So far I'm doing ok. The first several weeks were pretty rough with morning sickness and fatigue. Thankfully the morning sickness is slowly wearing off and I'm slowly but surely getting more of my energy back. All the family was told soon after we found out. Everybody is really excited, including my dad though he says he's not ready for it :P . We wanted to wait announce officially to everybody else until I finished my first trimester but after my first doctor's appt. we were a little to excited to contain it. :)

So little yet so cute!

I won't be posting any pictures of my belly quite yet. Right now it just looks like I ate a really big meal (not flattering). Hopefully soon it will start to look like more of a pregnant belly. :)

Chinese Dinner

So we're officially all moved in and unpacked! I absolutely love our new place. I'll post pictures later but for now I'm going to do my first recipe post. For awhile now I've really been wanting to try my hand at making homemade Chinese food. So this week I decided to finally give it a shot. I found this recipe for sweet and sour chicken on Pinterest. I found the recipe here. Here's what you'll need:

-3-5 chicken breasts
-salt and pepper
-2 eggs beaten
-approx 1 cup of cornstarch
-oil to fry the chicken in (The original recipe calls for canola oil but I used vegetable oil)

First you'll need to rinse and chop the chicken into 1 inch cubes

Once the chicken is cut, dip the chicken first in cornstarch and then in the egg (this can and will get REALLY messy). The fry the chicken till its golden brown.

Once the chicken is fried, put it into a baking dish. I used about 3 chicken breast and it fit perfectly into a 9x13 dish. Now for the sauce. You'll need:

-3/4 cups of sugar

-4 tablespoons of ketchup

-1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar

-1 tablespoon of soy sauce

-1 teaspoon of garlic salt

The original recipe calls for distilled vinegar, but some people were saying that it was a little to vinegary so I took used apple cider to cut the taste down. It tasted delicious anyways. :) Just mix all the ingredients together until smooth.

Once all the chicken is fried and in the dish pour the sauce over the chicken, make sure you turn over the chicken so the sauce gets on both sides. Once that's done put the chicken into the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, then turn the chicken and put it in for another 15.

Trust me the chicken looks as good as it tastes. Now to compliment the main dish. I searched high and low for an easy and simple lo-mein. I finally found it here. Its pretty simple and straight forward. However I made a few mistakes with it (crazy right?). It was mostly just little things, my mind has been pretty scattered brain lately. I had twice the amount of pasta needed and forgot the vegetables, but it was still decent. The final addition to the meal was Chinese doughnuts. You usually find these at buffets, but the were always my favorite. These are pretty simple to make as well. Get some refrigerated biscuits, fry them, let them drain on a paper towel and roll them in some sugar. They tasted great! Put all these things together and you have a wonderful Chinese meal at home.

Michael really loved all of it, and requested it to be made again. So in my book that's a win. :)

Looking Ahead

Life has been busy as our upcoming move is getting closer (next week!). Cleaning the apartment has been my major focus right now as I've already packed some and don't have to much left to pack. The apartment wasn't in the greatest condition when we moved in, nevertheless I'm making sure the place is spotless. So I've been scrubbing the floors (I mean literally on my hands and knees scrubbing) and vacuuming every corner. There's no reason this place shouldn't pass inspection (they would be crazy if didn't). Anyways, I want to share with you some things that I'm looking forward to at the new place.


1.  Location Location Location

The location of the new place is such a huge blessing. Its just minutes away from Michael's work and minutes away from everything else that we will most likely be making weekly trips too (i.e. grocery, laundry, gas station etc). It's also in a great area of town. Its going to feel like a major upgrade from where we are at now.

2. Paint!

We will be allowed to paint the walls! I was really excited when we heard this. I thought I wouldn't be able to paint until we owned our own place (if that ever happens). The ideas have been coming in full force for possible colors. I really love this color green for the kitchen. It brightens it up!

3. Patio

Last summer I kept wishing I had a place I could just go sit outside and relax, maybe plant some flowers and just enjoy the fresh air and this summer I'll be able to do just that! 

4. Pets

Isn't he the cutest thing?

My long desire for a dog may soon be fulfilled! Allowing pets was one of the main things we were looking for in the next place. Michael and I tend to disagree on what dog to get. I'm a big fan of large dogs whereas Michael likes the smaller ones. However, we've both have agreed on a sheltie. Michael grew up with having a sheltie and I just adore the cuteness!

Where for Art Thou.....Motivation?

Motivation has not been my friend lately. I just can't seem to get myself up and do things that need to be done, like cleaning, and organizing and my personal favorite (sarcastically speaking) packing. Oh yeah, did I mention we're moving? It's kind of a last minute thing, it was our original plan to move once our lease was up but then we were thinking that maybe we should stay another six months to save a little bit more money. We've been looking at different places to move to that would be closer to Michael's job. Recently we went to go visit an apartment complex that was in a great location. Just minutes away from everything. We ended up falling in love with the place. So we took a look at our finances, moved some things around and now we're moving! I'm really excited. I've been wanting to move out. I'm not the biggest fan of our apartment, but we won't get started on that (we would be here all day). The only bad thing is that we're moving in 5 weeks (yikes!). It's a good thing we don't have to much stuff, but I still have to go through all of it and sort out all the collected junk. Packing is one of the things I hate doing. It takes me forever just to pack a suitcase, imagine an entire apartment! I'm hoping this non-existent motivation will not last very long.

The Family is Growing!

Big news! Around 7 yesterday morning my brother and sister-in-law brought their special bundle of joy into the world. So I now have another nephew. Here's a picture of the little stud:

Isn't he a cutie?

Michael and I were able to see him last night when he got off work. His name is Romain (pronounced Roman) Carter. I'm so loving this little guy! Michael also seemed pretty happy holding him. ;) So in the past year I went from having no nieces or nephews to having four!

Cuteness runs in the family ;)

These are the other cuties. Unfortunately they don't live near us anymore, but hopefully we'll see them again soon.

A New Year

Let me start out by saying Happy New Year! 2012 was a hard but good year. I'm really looking forward to this coming year, so many new things to look forward to. I have posted anything on here in awhile which I probably did on purpose. I tend to clam up and keep to myself when things get really stressful. Since my last post, Michael left his job at Sitel and is now working at Delta Air Lines. We feel really blessed for this great opportunity. The pay and benefits are more than we could have hoped for. Anyways, I've decided to try to get back into blogging (try being the key word). I'm staying at home now so I need something to keep me busy when I have nothing else to do. So here it goes...

In honor of the New Year I'm going to share with you my New Year's resolution. You may or may not know that my husband is French. He spend most of his life in France and he considers that his home. I used to live overseas as well. My family were missionaries in Romania. I learned to speak Romanian, not completely fluently but enough to get around. Anyways, I've realized I'm starting to lose my touch with it, and its making me kind of sad. I took pride in the fact that I knew another language. So getting back to my New Year's resolution. I've decided I want to learn French. I've been wanting to learn for awhile but have never acted on it. Both Michael and I would love to move over to France sometime, both of our hearts lie in Europe. So learning French now would be a big help for the future. I also want our future kids to grow up knowing the language so it would be helpful to know some of it by then. I told Michael about it and he seemed pretty excited about it. I also told him that I wanted his help and that the only way that I would be able to completely learn it is if he held conversations in French with me. I regretted telling him that really quick. He got all excited and started speaking French constantly. It was pretty late and I was tired so I finally convinced him to stop for the night. But I did get roped into watching a French movie, which wasn't so bad but would be better if I understood it. Anyways, we'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed!

Bringing in the New Years with my beloved.