2009 in Review

January
First trip to Shipshewana, IN. Loved the waterpark!! Has named every pool and large bathtub a waterpark now!

Feruary
First pair of subglasses!

March
First tri-city blackout while I was at work. Luckily, uncle Rob and aunt Jen kept her occupied!

April

Easter and the March for Babies...Emily walked 3 out of 4 miles...I was so proud of her.

May

After 2 years of being stubborn, she was finally potty trained on my birthday! And we took our last trip to Chicago for Mother's Day weekend.

June
Uncle Rob bought the kids a slip n' slide so they could have some fun outside and cool off!

July

Visit from nana and papa!!!

August
Emmy and I finally got our own apartment!

September
Frequent trips to Meijer resulted in many pony rides!

October
Nice weather and living within 1/2 mile of the park, we would walk to the park on my days off and spend many hours there!

November
Reading to nana over the phone!

December


A month of many changes for us: Emily's 4th birthday, moving back to Oregon and Christmas at nana and papas in the morning, and then great grandma and great grandpa's house in the afternoon where she had tons of fun playing with her 3rd cousin.
This year has been challenging in many aspects, but it has been a great learning experience. That which does not kill us makes us stronger so they say. I am hoping that is true! I know the future holds many more challenges for me, but I am ready to embrace them and grow from them. I am so blessed to have Emily in my life. Without her, I am not sure if I would have made it through some of the challenges in my life thus far. She keeps me going and makes me want to better myself. It still amazes me that such a tiny person could make a grown adult melt. Goodbye 2009, hello 2010...let my new journey in life begin.

Quite Content!

Playing in papa's wheelchair

Emmy's new nightly tradition: sitting with papa and watching cartoons!

Christmas morning!

Emily's new dollhouse she got from nana and papa for her birthday! Furniture followed for Christmas!

It has been an interesting transition around here, but we are all adapting rather smoothly I think. With the limited amount of jobs over here right now, I am praying that my unemployment comes through, which has been an uphill battle thus far. It has been great catching up with my friends here in Oregon, but missing a few of my friends back in Michigan. I am heading over to Salem for New Years to catch up with some friends and have fun. Leaving little miss Emily with her nana and papa for the evening! Looking forward to Sunday when I get to catch up with another great friend that I haven't seen in over 2 years! In the mean time, I am so grateful that my parents are able to help me out right now. Without them, I don't know what I would do.

Back in Oregon

Just wanted to make a quick post since it has been forever and a day since I have bothered to get online! I love having a blackberry where I can access Facebook and Myspace from it, but it doesn't let me post blogs from it...oh well!

Emily and I are officially back in Oregon. We arrived Tuesday night around 9pm PST. We were delayed over 2 hours in South Bend, IN, which in turn caused me to be late for my connecting flight by 15 minutes. Luckily, when we landed in Chicago, I turned on my phone, looked up my flight number and seen that my next flight had been delayed. Big sigh of relief as I also found out that my next flight was in the same terminal I flew in to, so I didn't have to walk over a mile to get to my next gate. However...when I arrived at my next gate, they were already boarding. Thinking for a minute that this was just so freaking awesome, I then arrived to the counter to let them know I was there. When the lady informed me that the flight was full and I would have to get on standby, I about freaked! Since I was not there 30 minutes prior to boarding, they gave away my seats...AGH. Luckily, there were 2 seats and miss and I got on the plane. We arrived at PHX 4 long hours later and had some issues with seating there...but eventually made it to PDX. Emily did so well the entire day. By the time we arrived in PDX, we had been at airports or on planes for 12 hours and only encountered one rude person...not too bad!

Readjusting to being back home and going to start the job search next week. This week I am going to focus on getting settled, getting Emily adjusted and catching up with friends. I don't think that Emily realizes we are staying here because she still talks about seeing her uncle and cousins, but hopefully with time, she will adjust. She will be going to school the first week of January, so that will be fun!

Making Progress

Just a quick update while I have a few moments on the computer before jetting off to meet a few friends...
I have officially booked our airline tickets back to Oregon. We have decided that it would just be easier to put all of my stuff into storage back here and fly home for now. And then a good friend of mine and I will be driving out here with a truck and trailer next June to get my stuff. With it being December and roads might not be ideal for driving once I hit the mountains, to put my mom's fears of me crashing somewhere in Wyoming, I am just flying home! We will be flying out on the 22nd. Have a late birthday celebration for Emmy and be there in time for Christmas...which I am completely excited for because my mom got her this amazing dollhouse with all of the furniture! My dad is putting it together next week, so when we get home, Emmy just has to uncover it and she will have her dollhouse for her late birthday!!
In the mean time, I am packing and trying to spend as much time with my friends here in Michigan before I leave. Luckily, I don't have that much stuff to pack...sadly enough it is mostly toys, books and my kitchen stuff!! I am giving my car to a friend because my parents purchased a car back in Oregon for me...which I will be repaying them for. But my car here in Michigan isn't that great and wouldn't make it back to Oregon I don't think! The joys of being a poor single mom!!
Oh, and a random thought I have to share...I will admit, a friend of mine in high school got me hooked on listening to Tom Petty...so not my era, but I love him! Any ways, I was listening to a Chicago radio station the other day and a song came on that I hadn't heard before, which is not uncommon! But, when the chorus came on, I recognized the lyrics...it was Tom Petty's song "Free Falling". And not only did this artist remake it, but it is now a rap song!!! Ok, I like rap...some of it. But you NEVER turn a Tom Petty song into a rap song...it is just so taboo!
And while finally watching the movie Cars with Emily for the first time the other day, I have learned a new line and I am going to start using it whenever possible..."I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park!" Completely random, but so very funny! Living in tornado country right now I have come to realize that when you hear of things being destroyed by a tornado, it is ALWAYS a trailer park...I have not the slightest idea as to why it is, but maybe the trailers give off some signal to the tornado or something!! (That was sarcasm by the way!)

Adventures of Emily and Mommy!

Saturday night my very good friend Jessica wanted to go het her tongue pierced, but didn't want to go by herself. Well, obviously I have little miss with me all of the time and didn't think that I would be able to go into the tattoo shop with her. But then I remembered the tattoo shop that I go to in South Bend and realized that they have their kids in the shop with them while they work. Took a chance and drove down to South Bend!! I couldn't remember exactly how to get there, but I knew that it was by the airport and you had to go around 2 loopty loops before you got there. Well, let me tell you something I learned that night...never loook for two loopty loops when the city has more than one set of two loopty loops!! We got rather lost when we found our first set of loopty loops...however they were the wrong ones! We eventually found the tattoo shop. Luckily, Glen...the shop owner...did allow children in the shop! After him giving me crap about not being into the shop for over a year, he got to the piercing for Jessica! Emily had fun looking through all of the pictures. Had to take a picture of her in her first tattoo shop...my parents would be so proud...NOT!!

Now that I have come to terms with recent events in my life I will share what has been going on. On November 9th, I was terminated from my job. They said that another employee told them that I was "verbally abusing" a resident. HUH? I know, whatever, right?! Me of all people!! But, after the anger and hurt subsided and I was able to think it through, I realized that it was probably a blessing to be fired. I know, you are probably wondering where I am going with this! I will admit, since turning 18 and trying to find out who I am and what I want in life, I have given up going to church. I mean, I went every Sunday from the time I was a baby. I went to church 6 days a week while in high school...twice on Wednesdays! I just needed a break, but I didn't lose my faith nor my knowledge of what I learned in church. I know that God knows what a person can and cannot handle and never gives you more than what you can handle. Before I got fired, I was EXTREMEMLY stressed. I was having difficulties finding babysitters because my friend who was watching her came back to work and was needing to get to bed earlier. It was just stressful. Trying to figure out when to move back to Oregon next summer, dealing with my best friend going off into the Army, and trying to find that balance of home time and work. Being fired not only settled the babysitting issue, but also gives me the opportunity to get back to Oregon sooner than planed and to be home for Christmas...fingers crossed!!! I am waiting to hear back from unemployment right now. Once I hear back from them, I am able to leave. Until then, I have to stay here just in case they need anything from me or I have to go in person. I did find out that I can move to another state and still receive my unemployment. So, I will be moving back to Oregon and moving back in with my parents until I get back on my feet. I have missed my friends and family dearly back in Oregon, but I am going to miss my friends here in Michigan too. It will be nice to be home though! God always knows what you need, what you can handle and what is best for you...He just has His little ways of making things happen for you...even if it seems horrible to you at the time.

Yup, a very long winded blog...gotta love them! I have enjoyed my time at home with Emily so much...probably a little too much...I wont want to go back to work when I get back to Oregon!! Luckily she will be in school 3 days a week, so I won't miss out on too much time with her when I go back to work!

Finally Better!

I finally went to the doctor a week ago Friday to find out what was wrong with me...mind you...I hate doctors!! Probably why I procrastinate so much with going! But, come to find out that I had bronchitis and needed antibiotics! Guess it was good that I went! Emily had a cold as well, so last Monday night after working my two 12 hour shifts, getting off of work at 7am on Monday morning and turning around to be back at work at 3pm that afternoon, I was exhausted and feeling my worse! So, I managed to get off of work early Monday night, got Emmy and went home and collapsed on the couch! Emmy, being so sweet, didn't argue about pajamas that night and curled up on the couch with me! We both feel asleep here until I woke up around 11 and we both went to bed!

She LOVES to help in the kitchen. I was grating cheese one night to make some enchiladas and she wanted to help. She took over that part for me while there was still a big enough brick so she wouldn't cut herself! I got these letters for the fridge so we could practice the alphabet more. I would ask her what letter it was and she would tell me the color! I guess I should be happy that she at least knows her colors!!

It has been really warm here the past few days, so Saturday Emily and I walked to the park to get some fresh air! It was in the 70s all weekend and was so sunny...I loved every minute of it. It was nice to be able to open up all of the windows and let some fresh air into the apartment too. Sadly, today it is back to being really cold and I am regretting not wearing a coat!

Fun Weekend

My friend Jessica and I hung out this past weekend and had so much fun. We took Emily to the mall on Sunday and they have this awesome play area. Sadly, they were closing like 15 minutes after we got there, but she still had fun!! We will have to take her back on our next weekend off!

After playing, shopping and dinner, she was a tired girl!!! When we got back to my place, this is how she was in the car!! Looks very uncomfortable, but still cute!!

Continuing to make plans on moving next summer...have a good family friend who is going to be Emily's pediatrician and hoping to get her into the preschool at the high school where my mom works! Fingers are crossed!!!