It's Official

As of Monday Oct. 19 I am officially a stay-at-home mom. I have been on maternity leave for the last few months waiting to see if Jake found a job (his job ended at the end of June because of the economy). Over the past few months Jake, his brother, and his dad have decided to start a law firm together. We are hoping it continues to be successful. So I called my boss on Monday and let him know that I wouldn't be coming back. I was a little nervous and sad before I called him knowing that I would be unemployed for the first time in 5 years and that my career was about to officially end. It ended up being a lot easier to tell him I was leaving than I had anticipated. When I hung up the phone I felt so relieved and happy. I think I realized at that moment that I was finally going to have the "job" I have been dreaming of for years.

Me with my co-worker Melissa on my last day of work.

This morning while I was walking with Hannah I found myself a little nostalgic thinking about all of the lessons I have learned from the people I was able to work with as a speech therapist over the past 5 years. I decided that I needed to write some of them down so I wouldn't forget them, so bear with me.
There were many people who taught me to be grateful for the little things:

* The lady who was so excited to be able to eat again after 2 months and went on and on about the canned peaches I gave her. I never realized eating canned peaches could be so exciting. (speech therapists work with people on their speech as well as on swallowing and eating).
*I was with a family as they heard their teenage son talk again after 3 months following an accident and watched them shed tears of joy.
*The man who was very active and in the military and now is too weak to eat or move his limbs who always was concerned about me and asked me each day (especially when I was pregnant) how I was doing.
*The woman who had to go to an assisted living center instead of home following a brain injury who told me she had watched a presentation about the people in Africa who don't even have homes and how when she thought of them she decided assisted living wasn't so bad. This is the same day I had been complaining to Jake about our tiny apartment without a dishwasher. I decided that day that I should be grateful that at least it isn't assisted living.
*I learned how fragile life is from the 27 year old father who was dying from brain cancer and whom I had the privilege of helping him find ways to communicate with his family up until the day he passed away.
*The little 6 year-old girl whose voice was affected by a car accident and when I asked her what she wanted for Christmas her response was to have her voice back and maybe a few "jewels" (meaning a necklace and earrings).

I am also grateful for the patients and their families who kept things entertaining:
*The little old men who told me they loved me and proposed quite frequently (this is before I was married).
*The family who persisted in trying to find someone to marry me (also before I was married) and brought their 40 year old nephew (this is when I was in my 20's) in who was a dentist to talk to me about how dentistry related to speech therapy. After he got there I figured out the real reason he was there.
*The older gentleman who when the song "I believe I can fly" came on the radio one afternoon began to sing along with the words "I believe I can die". His version actually fits better with the rest of the lyrics of the song.
*The teenage boy who flipped me off while in a coma. All I could figure was that it was such an automatic thing for him before his accident that he even did it in his sleep.
I could go on and on and of course there were definitely some bad days, such as when families were angry their loved one was not making progress and the horrible manager I had right before I quit.
All in all it is interesting to look back and see how Heavenly Father has guided my life, helped me choose a career, get through school, and find the perfect job for me. Working until almost 33 was never in my plans, but I know Heavenly Father knew more than I did and led me to the best situation for this last phase of my life . I am excited for this new phase and all of lessons and experiences I will have and have already had. I am so grateful to now have the job title of "mother" and to have the privilege of taking care of this little cutie every day.

Catching up with Hannah

I am sitting here on the couch using one arm to hold Hannah and trying to type this with the other. I feel like time is slipping away and I haven't had time to document Hannah's life yet. Before I had her I remember thinking I would be so much better at blogging once I was at home with her all day because I would have all the time in the world. All of you moms out there are probably laughing at me right now and I am sure it only gets worse with the more kids you have. It is interesting how perspective changes depending on the stage of life you are in. When I was working, a productive day was getting ready for the day and seeing 4 of my patients before noon. Now a productive day is getting Hannah and I ready for the day and getting a morning walk in (if we are lucky) before noon. Learning to be a mom so far has been both exhausting and wonderful. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have loved watching our little Hannah grow over the past 7 weeks.

Here are a few things we are discovering about Hannah:

Hannah loves going to bed late (2:30 am was the usual bedtime for a while, but it has gotten a little better). As a result we have all learned to take advantage of nap time when we can. Hannah is better at this than Jake and I are.

Hannah loves her bath. This is her first official bath after her umbilical cord came off (2 weeks old).

Hannah loves her car seat. She would sleep for hours in it if we let her.

Hannah loves going on walks. She and mommy go on a walk together every morning. Daddy got home from work early one day and came with us. We decided to go up to Silver Lake and enjoy all the fall colors before it got too cold.

Hannah is a true girl. She loves looking at herself in the mirror and often talks to and laughs at herself while doing so. She also loves the hair dryer. She will be screaming at the top of her lungs and all we have to do is turn the hair dryer on and it calms her right down. (She usually only gets this luxury when we get desperate).

Hannah loves her changing table. Lots of times if she is upset all we have to do is set her on there and she calms right down. This is her first blow out. There have been plenty more since then and little did we know at the time that this is a pretty mild one.

Hannah loves her daddy. We called him on the phone while he was at work one day and I put the phone up to her ear while Jake talked to her. When she heard his voice she got a huge smile on her face and started cooing. I thought maybe it was a coincidence so we tried it two more times and she did the same thing. Her daddy knows just what to do to make her smile. This is Hannah visiting him at work one day.

Hannah loves her Great Grandma (Louise) Miller. She is named after her. We were visiting with grandma last week and Hannah was upset. Jake was trying to sooth her and grandma asked if she could give it a try. I was a little nervous about this at first just because usually Hannah needs you to stand up with her and bounce her to calm her down, but I decided to let grandma give it a go. As soon as Hannah was in grandma's arms she calmed right down and started smiling. She loves her Great Grandma.

Hannah loves visiting all of her family. This is her with her cousin Clair "playing" together.

Luckily Hannah has a pretty tough stomach and has never spit up much since she was born. The few times that she has spit up have come after she has had a bottle. This is what happened this particular day when Jake fed her a bottle while I was teaching Young Womens. She conveniently both peed on Jake and spit up on his suit pants 5 minutes before he was supposed to go home teaching.

This is Hannah's first Halloween party. My mom loves celebrating Halloween and has a party for the grand kids every year. We had it a month early this year because my sister Rachel was in town and my other sister Lisa is moving next week. Hannah was a giraffe.

Part of the Halloween tradition is my Dad telling the story of "The Harry Toe" to all the grand kids.

When my sister Rachel was in town she took family pictures for everyone. She is still working on editing most of the pictures but sent me a few of Hannah. Rachel did such a great job. We are excited to see the rest of the pictures. This is Hannah at 1 month.

We love our little girl! This Hannah at 7 weeks.

Marathon Relay

Jake, 2 of his siblings, Nick & Cami, and two of my siblings, Ben & Megan, all ran a marathon relay together in September. Each member of the team runs 5.2 miles for a total of 26.2 miles (a full marathon). The medals they got said "A full marathon 1/5th the pain" (That is my kind of marathon.) They had a lot of fun doing it together. Here are some pictures of the runners.

Happy Birthday Nicole

I am trying to play catch up and have been meaning to write this entry for a couple months. My youngest sister Nicole passed away 4 years ago on Aug.31. It was the day before her 15th birthday (September 1st). Each year my family goes to the cemetery and celebrates her birthday by writing her a note and tying it to a helium balloon. We then sing Happy Birthday to her and send our notes off up to "heaven" for her to read. I am sure the people driving past the cemetery while we are doing this probably wonder what is going on, but I love this tradition my mom started. It gives our family the opportunity to continue celebrating Nicole's life each year and let her know how we feel about her. We miss you and love you Nicole.