The last 2 years

It's been a long time since I posted. And I created this blog just to talk about my last pregnancy and any future ones. However I would like to start using it a little more for other things as well. And since I plan to be posting here regularly for the next year, I figured I should write an update.

   We were living in La Grande when Aimee was born. Joe was working his full time job at the pool, coaching for the high school swim club, and working for the local radio station as well as going to school. Life was crazy to say the least. Joe finished his bachelors degree and the swim season ended so life slowed down a bit. Then in November of 2009 he was hired as the head coach of the club swim team. From that point on he was working 60+ hour weeks and traveling a few weekends every month for swim meets. Life got really lonely for me. I didn't have a job anymore and was staying home with Aimee all day every day.

   Aimee reached all her milestones and we had a pretty uneventful year. She started rolling over at 4 months and could sit up by herself. She could crawl at 7 months and she learned how to walk at 10 months old. Overall she has always been a very happy baby.

   For her first birthday we had a party in Lebanon at my Mom's house. We had about 30 people come. Aimee wore her ladybug dress and we had red and black decorations. I made a ladybug cake at the last minute. I had been planning how to make it for months but on the day of the party I was too busy cleaning. So someone else baked the cake and I decorated it. After the party ended I finally got to eat a piece and realized it was burnt. Other than that the party went pretty well.

 

After her birthday, we celebrated Christmas.Aimee loved opening more presents. We had a huge family party with our extended family. Aimee had a lot of fun playing with all of her cousins and it was really nice to be with family for the whole week.

    In June I received an offer to work as the assistant cook at Camp Tadmor. My Mom has been the head cook there for 8 years. So Aimee and I packed up and spent the whole summer living with my Mom. Joe had to work so much that he was almost never home and it was really hard on me to be alone all the time. So I spent my summer working 3 days a week at camp. Joe came to visit on the weekends when he didn't have a swim meet to be at. I spent my extra time riding my bike and trying to lose weight.

 

After camp was over, Aimee and I went back home. We were there less than a week when Joe found out he had a new job in Toledo, Oregon. So I packed the whole house in one week. Our parents came and helped us move on Saturday. We left some things there for Joe to camp out for a few more weeks while he finished work. Aimee and I moved back into my Mom's house. Then on that Monday, September 13th, I had breast reduction surgery. I had 9 pounds removed and spent the night in the hospital. After that we spent the next month at my Mom's house while I recovered and we found an apartment in Toledo. Joe had his last day at work in La Grande then packed and drove to Lebanon to start his first day in Toledo the next day. After 2 weeks of commuting we were able to move to our apartment in Toledo. It was a small 2 bedroom. After living in a 3 bedroom house with a yard it took some getting used to. Plus it had a really bad mold problem.

    Soon after surgery I developed a cough that just got worse and worse. After 2 months of this I saw my doctor. She believed it was whooping cough. I went through 2 rounds of antibiotics before I was able to slowly get better. Then we were told that an apartment upstairs in our complex was coming open. It is the same size as the one we were in but has a deck. Plus it has it's own parking spots (before we parked at the end of a lower lot and walked). It is also upstairs next to the laundry room, mailboxes, and trash cans. Every thing is so much more conveniently located. And the best part, no mold!

  Aimee loves to read, play with her babies, cook. and ride her bouncy horse. Right before her second birthday she became OBSESSED with the Toy Story characters. Especially Buzz, and Woody as her second favorite. Every time we went to the store she could tell you exactly where every toy story toy, balloon, or poster was. So for her birthday we had a Toy story party. On December 18th, Aimee's 2nd birthday, we moved. Our families came and helped us. We managed to take Aimee out for pizza and a quick trip to the beach and have a little party for her as well as getting everything in place. I'd say it was a pretty good day! A week later we celebrated Christmas with family. Our Christmas ended up being something like a 4 day affair if you count all the family we visited and all the parties.

 

 Now we are just settling into life. We are so much happier now that we are so close to our families and seeing so much more of each other. We get to go to the beach any time we want (weather permitting) and can make quick trips to see our family on the weekends. And just this weekend we had a big surprise. We found out I'm pregnant! It looks like I'm due September 18th, 2011. So life finally settled down but I'm pretty sure it will get exciting again before long.