Change

I've always enjoyed a healthy balance in my life between stability and change.  I do relish the comfort of the familiar, but I always love the excitement of the new.  My work life has been pretty static over the past 15 years.  I started working at the Children's Hospital after I graduated and have never left.  Although there have been many changes, I have spent the past 15 years working with both in-patients and out-patients at the hospital.  I've found comfort in the stability of my job, my co-workers, and my profession.  Although I have contemplated job changes over the years, the flexible schedule, job security, salary, and love for the work I do always counteract any of the negative changes occurring at any given time.

Change can be good.  And although I am not changing jobs, I am making a major change in the job that I currently have.  Starting this week I am changing my work schedule and I am changing my work focus.  Starting this week I am exclusively seeing in-patients in the hospital.  For the past 15 years, I have enjoyed a balance of seeing out-patients coming to the clinic and in-patients in the hospital.  However, most of my continuing education, most of my program development, and most of my focus has been on improving services in the out-patient setting.  That is all changing. 

The change was a little bittersweet as I had to say good-bye to the families that I work with in the out-patient setting, some of whom I've worked with for years.  But I am also excited.  Excited because I am also saying good-bye to the mountains of paperwork and insurance queries and scheduling difficulties and room shortages that have become a part of the out-patient world.  Excited because, instead of a split focus, I will have a single focus.  Excited because this is a new focus for me and I am looking forward to professional growth that will come with this.  Excited about building new programs and developing new relationships and establishing new processes that will hopefully enhance in-patient therapy.  Excited that I can keep my flexible schedule and my job security and my co-workers while getting re-energized about approaching my job in a new way.  Stability and change.  This balance works for me, and I'm looking forward to this new chapter.

Free at Last

Guess who slept in underwear last night?

Answer:  All of us

For the first time in six and a half years, we are officially a diaper-free home.  There are many milestones and lasts that make me a little sad as I watch my kids grow up so quickly.  This isn't one of them.

Free at last!!

A Moment

On our way home from vacation, we stopped at Culver's for lunch.  Adelie was able to remove the top from her little milk carton all by herself.  So proud and excited, she jumped up from the table, did a little dance, and sang an original song about taking her top off.

Love this girl.

Love her enthusiasm.

Love that she's singing this song at 4 and not 16.

T-ball

Staley played t-ball for the first time this summer.  After her lack of enthusiasm for soccer, I wasn't sure how t-ball would go.  Although she only had 2 practices and about 6 games, she really enjoyed it.  She learned the fundamentals of the game, was able to hit the ball from the tee, almost made an out one time, and never ran the wrong direction around the bases, so I consider that a win.

She had encouraging coaches and a few school friends on her team, which made the experience even better.

Adelie and Briggs made some friends amongst the siblings, so they really enjoyed t-ball too.

I think that baseball is definitely a better fit than soccer.  I little more structure, a little less aggression needed, and a little more time to socialize on the bench.  Staley learned about the game, was always enthused about playing, and is looking forward to next year.  That's a win in my book!!

4th of July

There may have been some tears.  Some tantrums.  Some heat.  Some unsuccessful photo attempts.  Some difficulty getting out of the house in a timely manner, resulting in this mama walking several blocks with kids in tow to get to our parade watching spot since the parade route was blocked off.  But amidst the sweat and tears, we still managed to have another wonderful 4th of July.

Briggs loved his 4th.  He LOVED the parade.  He waved...and waved...and waved at every vehicle that passed.  He identified every tractor and fire truck and police car, but he picked his favorite as the "bubble truck" (which was a float that had a bubble machine blowing bubbles off the back).  He also loved the food, the cousins, and the fireworks.  And I loved the 3 hour nap that we both took.

Although the day started off a bit on the dramatic side, Adelie pulled it together for a fun day as well.  She liked the parade (especially the candy), playing with her cousins, glow bracelets for the fireworks, and sitting with Uma to watch the fireworks.  Although Staley didn't cover her ears at all during the fire trucks at the parade or the fireworks, Adelie did.

Staley enjoyed all her cousin time and staying up late for the fireworks.  She was also very enthusiastic about making things for our celebration.  She made a number of 4th of July signs and pictures, and was super-enthused about making the pretzel rod sparklers from her Aunt Sandi cookbook.

Adelie enjoyed helping make them as well, and they turned out really cute.

A parade, play time with cousins, good food, good naps, and fireworks.

Indeed it was a happy 4th!!

Question of the Day

While on vacation, we let each kid pick out one small thing to buy.  Can you guess which of my children chose a little car?  A sparkly mermaid finger puppet?  A face painting kit?

Can you guess which purchase I'm already regretting?

#whatwasithinking

#momentofweakness

#somanyplans

#therestofmysummer

Pentwater 2017

We just returned from another fun and relaxing week in Pentwater.  (Well, as relaxing as a vacation with 3 young kids can be anyway.)  Although the weather was a little cool and a little cloudy, we still spent most of our days at the beach.  The kids didn't mind the cool weather--it just meant more sand play and dune adventures.  Like every other year, Pentwater is all about beach time and family time and traditions.  And I love it all!!

Briggs loved the beach.  He loved the sand and the water and the snacks.  Briggs had watched us pack up all his sand toys and trucks.  When we got to the beach on our first day, Briggs looked around and asked, "Where's the sandbox?"

Adelie's favorite beach activities included sifting through the sand for jewels (small, polished white rocks), playing with Aunt Maggie (my mom's sister), and catching ladybugs.  She also loved dressing like "twinsies" with Carolyn since they had matching swimsuits.

Staley loved going on "dune adventures" with her cousins.  They would head up into the sand dune to build forts, make spy clubs, and explore.  When it was warm enough, Staley also LOVED going into Lake Michigan to play in the waves.

The kids had so much fun with their cousins and "beach cousins" (my cousins' kids).  There were 18 kids in all, ranging in age from 7 months to 12 years old.  One day, we ended up with 3 pairs of swimsuit "twins" among the cousins.  How fun!!

On the coldest of our days in Pentwater, we skipped the beach and headed to a farm market and petting zoo.  It was SO much fun and there was so much to do!!  We spent the entire day there playing and seeing the animals.

Briggs loved the barrel train rides and the giant sandbox.  He also enjoyed playing on all the different wooden playsets like the pirate ship, the tractor, and the train.

The big kids loved the giant jumping pillow, the wooden playsets, the spinning hamster wheel

to run in, and all the animals to see and feed.

Adelie was our most resourceful child.  Since we didn't buy any animal feed, she would find all the feed that other people had dropped on the ground and then give it to her siblings and cousins to feed to the animals.  She had more fun finding it than actually feeding it to the animals.

And the birds really liked Staley's shoes.

There was so much to do and it was a great way to spend a non-beach day.

This year, we had to switch up our living arrangements.  Because there are now 7 adults and 7 kids with my brothers and their families, we had to split into 2 houses instead of one.  We stayed in our usual house with Evan and his family while Erik and his family stayed with Ethan in a house down the street.  We still spent all our days together at the beach and our evenings together at our house, but it was a little different not living all together this year.

Evening time was still family time when we would all gather at our house for dinner and playtime.

Pentwater traditions remain the same every year.  We get together with the whole extended family for spaghetti night and s'mores night.  We walk into town for ice cream.  We always make time to go to our favorite stores and play games after the kids go to bed.

This guy definitely enjoyed s'mores night.

We also continued our tradition of trying to get all the cousins together for a picture with everyone looking in the right direction and smiling.  This was a pretty successful attempt!

Since the sunset comes after bedtime for our kids, Zach and I got to enjoy one of my favorite Pentwater traditions--Michigan sunsets on the beach.

I love our weeks in Pentwater.

I love that my family loves our weeks in Pentwater.

I love that we are carrying on the traditions of my childhood while making new ones along the way.

Thanks, Pentwater, for another great year!

See you next year!!