Reflections – June 2009
June is over and that means we are one month closer to the blasted winter season! We are not a winter family – in fact, if given the opportunity we would move so far South that a heavy frost would close schools down for bad weather! Until that day comes, we will embrace every breath of summer that we can find!
The month began with Moanna’s second birthday on June 4th. She was still in Maryland with Grandma Annette and Papa Bob, so we did not celebrate until Saturday. Despite the fact that Steve and I had not yet recovered from our wedding, we decided to throw Moanna a big party and serve our friends and family brunch. You would think that since I work in food service, I would be able to make the right amount of food for a party. Nope, I always over cook!
Moanna and I were able to spend some “quality time” together when we were struck with the plague! It has been quite awhile since I was that sick, and it was not fun! Moanna being so resilient was only down for about three days with this gross phlegmy thing, but I had the pleasure of being well below par for several weeks. In fact, there are still times now that I feel it trying to peak it’s slimy head around the corner. It was not the best mother-daughter bonding experience, but it was nice to get to spend all of that time snuggling with Moanna’s clammy little self. Steve, lucky dog, managed to stay healthy throughout the whole ordeal!
The newest member to our family is the hammock we bought Steve for Father’s Day. It has been a great place to unwind and enjoy the summer air. Most of our June evening’s have been spent either in the hammock or going on walks around the neighborhood. Our schedules are packed full, so we do not get to enjoy a lot of your typical summer activities like going to the zoo, swimming, picnicking or vacationing, so we try to squeeze in as much summer in the evenings as we possibly can.
In addition to traveling all over this side of Virginia for work, Steve has decided that he wants to do a triathlon with some of the guys from church. When he travels up to two hours in each direction for work, it leaves little time to train for such an athletic feat. So, he and the fellas have been working out at 6:30AM twice a week. For those of you who know Steve, this is huge because he is not the happiest morning person! So far he’s enjoying it, but man does he whine for a few days after each workout!
It has been a very crazy and hectic month. We have spent a lot of time contemplating and strategizing about our near-future goals and dreams for our family, and how those will impact our lives down the road. Now that we are finally married, we feel that we can focus on the parts of our lives that were put on hold whil
e planning for the special day. Steve and I have quickly learned that being married is totally different from being “domestic partners” (to be politically correct). We really love it, and have found that it has altered our perspectives on what we want out of life. As soon as, the wedding was over I began to feel a very strong push to be domestic (shocking I know!). I want to clean, organize, cook dinner every day and spend a lot of time with Moanna. I have really been struggling with the whole dilemma of do I keep working like a mad woman, or do I stay at home to fully take care of my family, or do I find some middle ground? For now, it is financially important for me to continue working full time.
In line with this discovery, Steve and I have recommitted ourselves to watching our budget and paying down debt. Financial freedom is one of our key values for our family, and it had been hard to keep that in focus when planning and paying for a wedding. We are trying to pay closer attention to what we spend, and put our extra cash towards debt. Steve has taken his lunch to work with him some, and when he does that really saves us a lot of money. When I have time, I am really good at playing the coupon game. We are also planning on having a yard sale before the summer is over (please let summer last forever!), and selling some of our stuff online. All of our time is spent working, eating, and sleeping so we have no time to spend any extra money! We have established that financial freedom is vital for us reach our other goals in life; the challenge is having the time to put systems into place to make sure that we stay on track.
The most exciting thing that June has brought to us is that we have decided that we are ready to expand our family! Yes, we are ready for another munchkin! We had a lot of late night conversations trying to decided when the best time to have another child was. We concluded that there is no such thing as perfect timing, and that there are always challenges to overcome no matter when you choose to have children. While there are things going in our life that are not perfect for having more children, we fully believe that our hearts and home (I did not say house! I said home!) are ready to love and take care of another child. Moanna is definitely ready to have a little brother or sister. She is probably the most ready out of all of us! She loves babies – seeing them playing with them, holding them – she can’t get enough!
We are sad to see June go so quickly, but we are highly looking foward to the possibilites of July! We hope to see our lives slow down a bit, so that we can take deeper breaths and longer walks. Maybe we’ll make it to the pool this month! We hope to have more time with family and friends, and more time to work on the goals and dreams we have set for our family. Really, we can’t wait for a day that is devoted to doing nothing!
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