Since Then...

I had completely forgotten about this blog until I went down a rabbit hole of looking for a new career, researching what it takes to be a freelance copywriter, learning to increase my online presence, and then searching for my old blog since that is practically the only online presence I have.  I spent the weekend strolling down memory lane rereading these old posts, sharing them with Lauren.  Why didn't I keep this up?  I had forgotten practically everything on here so the reality is that I have likely mentally misplaced countless other things about my kids' early childhoods.  Well now, there's another rabbit hole probably best not traveled down. Oh and besides the fact that raising kids while working - which is what I was doing during that time - is probably the hardest job on earth.  So I may try to keep up with this more often now if only to help with my own faulty memory.

Since my last post, here's a little list of the highlights that I've missed chronicling:

Marissa ended up in speech therapy for about 2 1/2 years with a diagnosis of apraxia, which nobody could really say for sure whether she actually had.  The hearing loss from all of her early ear infections was most likely the culprit.  She is a super talkative eight-year-old now and most people don't even know that fact.

I was diagnosed with DCIS breast cancer on St. Patrick's Day in 2011.  After five surgeries including reconstruction, I am cured and grateful.  My little family became a wolf pack and we still run that way - we do things together as a family as much as possible outside of work and school.

We finally got a puppy in the summer of 2013, when I switched to part-time.  Morgan is a white Lab and has completed our family.  She can only be described as sweet but lazy and someone is loving on her every waking minute.

After about seven years of asking if he was interested in moving to Dallas (which we weren't), Rob was finally transferred with work in the summer of 2015 and we made the move from Alpharetta, GA to Frisco, TX.  It was terribly difficult to leave my sister and her family plus all of our friends but now that we're here, we just love it!  We go back to Alpharetta once a year and all are welcome here for visits.

I retired after 19 years and 11 months from Merrill Lynch, just before the move.  Rob works downtown now, some 32 miles away, so we decided that me working is probably not a good idea in light of the flexibility that I need for the kids.  I am the PTA Treasurer, which has been like a part-time job, but I still would like to do something more.  I just haven't figured out what that might be yet but I'm always open to ideas and suggestions.  

The girls had been in gymnastics for about four or five years, plus they took dance classes sporadically during that time.  When we moved to Frisco, they were both in cheer and started volleyball too. In the past nine months, though, they have hung up their pompoms in favor of pursuing indoor sports, for which I thank the Lord often and profusely.  It's darn hot here! Lauren made a club prep volleyball team last fall and Marissa is doing rec league volleyball and basketball.  They both work so hard which makes chauffeuring them daily to practices and spending most weekends in tournaments and gyms worth it.

We still vacation every summer in WaterColor in Florida.  It is collectively our happy place.

This is the last week of school and Lauren is finishing up her fourth grade year and Marissa her second.    Lauren loves to read and Marissa does not  - they both love school and are excellent students nonetheless.

And now we're all caught up!  

cbs