Christmastime

I love this time of year, even though it feels like the stress level shoots through the roof!  Having kids at Christmastime is the best.  They are in total awe and wonder at the lights, the trees, presents, etc.  It's so much fun!  Of course, we have yet to put up our tree....that's this weekend's project!  We just got back into town the Sunday after Thanksgiving, then I had to turn right back around and drive back up to Atlanta Tuesday for my class on Wednesday.  So there's literally been zero time to decorate for the holidays.  Hopefully we'll remedy that soon....

I had a GREAT time shopping with my mom on the day after Thanksgiving!  She recently had shoulder surgery so I wasn't so sure she'd be able to go all out like she usually does, but she was a trooper and hung in there all day long (with the help of a little Lortab I think!).  People think I'm totally nuts going shopping the day after Thanksgiving with all the other nutjobs out there...but for me it's more about having uninterrupted time with my mom than marking stuff off my Christmas shopping list (although everyone that knows me knows I LOVE being able to mark stuff off a list!).  And a huge thank you to Jerry and Ken for watching the girls all day long while we were out running around!

All that shopping got me to thinking, though....exactly how did we get from Christmas being a religious holiday to one that we go out and spend gobs of money on the people in our life?  This in no way is a religious rant or anything...I'm just truly curious as to how it all evolved.  I guess I could Google it and find out.  But it just made me think that it was sort of silly to go out and spend all this money at this one particular time of the year.  Don't get me wrong - I love buying stuff for my kids and seeing their eyes light up when they get the toys they've wanted.  And I enjoyed a very blessed upbringing where I was never left wanting for more, and so did Jerry.  And we have the means to buy pretty much whatever Carrie or Anna may want/need (at least for now....get back to me when their wish list starts to include things such as "new car")  I love buying things for the people in my life that I love.  I do it to show them that I care about them and I love the feeling of giving to others.  But there just seems to be so much pressure to buy, buy, buy, spend, spend, spend that it gets a lot of people in trouble financially, not to mention the whole premise behind Christmas gets lost. 

My family decided this year to only buy for the kids in the family rather than even swapping names of the adults and buying for just that person.  I thought this was a great idea.  Maybe in the future we'll take it one step further and perhaps adopt a charity or a needy family in addition to the kiddos and "pay it forward."  I know it sounds cheesy, but it's just how I'm feeling these days.  I am planning on setting aside an afternoon very soon to have Carrie help me go through her toys that she no longer plays with or has outgrown and pick out some to donate.  It's important to me that she grows up learning that not everyone has everything they need or want and that we have a responsibility to give back.  I'm not sure how this whole process will go....I'm thinking probably not so well :)  But I figure if I start now perhaps it won't be so "painful" for her in the future. 

I know this post is a little all over the place.  Sorry!  That's what happens when I have a bunch of stuff rattling around in this head of mine....

Priceless

I've got no words for this....

Feeling renewed

I feel like I just won a hard-fought battle....I just officially submitted my first grant proposal application to the National Science Foundation.  I never thought I'd really get to do this sort of thing since I didn't go the PhD/faculty member route.  I don't think I'd want to do it full time or anything, but it really is a lot of fun as far as work goes (yes, I am a nerd.  I fully admit it).  I'm not under any delusions of grandeur that it will actually get funded; I am sure the competition is fierce, and this is my first stab at this, although my boss is also the co-PI with me on it.  It would be awesome if we did get funded - it would mean almost $750k over five years, which we could definitely use.  And it would give me an outlet for the research/dorky side of me to continue doing that type of work. 

Woo hoo!

You just never know....

What sort of emails you will get from Carrie's teacher on a daily basis....here's today's:

FYI
Your daughter is the mom and Joshua is the daddy and they have one kitty, Lauren but no kids! :) they have been holding hands all day today! :) it is so cute!


Oh dear lord.  I thought I had a few years before this!!

so tired....

And amazingly it's not because Anna's on a sleep strike.  She has actually been sleeping quite well this past week (cue the reversion back to no sleep).  I was terrified she was going to not sleep on Tuesday night.  As it turned out Jerry and I both were scheduled to be out of town at the same time, so Lizzy was a rock star and stayed with the girls.  I was a complete and utter wreck.  Not because I wasn't confident in Lizzy - that girl can handle my two girls no problem (after being in a room with 16 three year olds even my two kids seem tame I would imagine).  I was afraid they were going to act like total freaks while she was there.  As it turns out they were both quite well behaved :)

No, I'm just tired and worn out from life in general.  I know that sounds whiny.  I get that.  Work is just incredibly stressful right now.  UGA & Georgia Southern are trying to get three new engineering programs....which of course just happen to be the same ones we have at GTS.  Everyone's running around totally stressed out and part of my responsibililty here is to try to talk everyone down from the ledge.  It's a little exhausting playing psychologist all day then having to do my normal work at other times so I don't fall totally behind. 

Then there's the SHRM class.  It's definitely something I need to do professionally, but trying to read 200+ pages of material each week and take notes on it and do the practice exams and so forth is a little daunting.  There's a reason why I haven't scheduled my SPHR exam yet - and I probably won't tell anyone when I do schedule it so if I don't pass it's not such a public failure :)

I'm just glad it's Friday.  Maybe the girls will let me sleep in till 7am tomorrow.....

Busy busy

Things are hoppin' in the Reeves house, as usual.  Jerry's travel seems to be out of control (and by that I mean he's gone at the most inopportune times which conflict with my schedule).  My travel is about to ramp up; I'm going to be heading to Atlanta once a week through the first week in December for a test prep class for my SPHR certification (that's Senior Professional in Human Resources for you non-HR people).  I passed the PHR test in 2008 so it's about time for me to go ahead and get the next level.  And besides, as one of my friends said jokingly, I need to add a few more letters after my name.  I suppose credentials can't hurt in an economy like this!  It will mean more study time for me, which starts this weekend.  Not only do I just want to get it done to be done, but I also don't want to have to pay the $375 fee for the exam more than once!!

Anna seems to be sleeping better, thank goodness.  Of course now that I've said that I've jinxed myself.  We've been trying to put her down a little earlier and she's responding to it for now, so we're going with it.  She does have her two molars on the top coming in, so I'm sure that won't be without some fuss.  She's finally started saying "Mommy!" too!!!  It's so cute, and nice to hear after months of nothing but "Daddy daddy daddy..." (no offense, Jerry!)

Carrie's just being Carrie these days...I just got an email from her teacher that had me crying from laughing so hard in my office.  Here it is....

Kristy,

I just wanted to give you a heads up about Carrie today at lunch. She refused to eat any of her lunch. She told me she didn’t like soup or grapes. I was like well you had them yesterday and you ate them all up. It was so cute. I felt bad and told her only this once would I make her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She was so excited and ate all of it and was very proud of herself for doing so. She wanted me to write you an email to tell you that she doesn’t want soup and grapes anymore. But then again it might change by Monday! :) I hope you have a great weekend!

I truly have zero doubt that my child actually said to her teacher "Miss Stephanie, will you send my mommy an email telling her I don't want soup and grapes for lunch anymore?"  What a goober!

Ugh

Okay, so I've obviously been quite remiss in updating my blog.  It's been a whirlwind these past few weeks.  So much so that I've barely had time to sleep...oh wait, I don't do that anymore because ANNA DOESN'T SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT ANYMORE.  I don't know what this is.  She started waking up literally 4-5 times a night again right around her first birthday.  I was still nursing her at that time.  Granted, we backed off of that and are now no longer nursing, which probably didn't help the situation, but DEAR LORD.  I cannot operate well on 1.5 hours of sleep, which is what I had last night.     

I literally just called the doctor to schedule an appointment for her this afternoon.  I was sure that they would laugh their heads off when I told them why I was bringing them in....I believe I said something like "I want to make 100% sure that there's no medical reason why she is acting so crazy.  If there isn't, then I honestly don't know what we'll do.  Jerry suggested perhaps letting her sleep out on the back porch, which, after last night, isn't sounding like such a bad idea.

On a good note, work's going rather well.  I got a new title - Assistant Director, Human Resources & Career Services.  I'm a little overwhelmed at everything that I am now responsible for, but hey, it's a little more job security, right?!