Hello all

Hi everyone! Sorry I have not been very good about keeping you updated lately. This mom thing keeps you seriously busy! So let's see, what have we been up too...?

I went to Tyler for a few days last week. Jason's project has been hectic so I think he likes it when we are gone sometimes so he doesn't have to feel bad if he needs to work late or whatever. Basically I just hung out with mom and dad. One day mom made a big lunch and my granddad and Aunt Tricia came over to see Isabella. My sister came over too and we were going to have a pool day, but that was the day with the big storms, for those of you who live around here and know what I am talking about. So I didn't get much pool time, but that's ok. I think we may go back around the fourth of July or something.

This weekend was pretty laid back. Jessica and Chris came over Saturday night for dinner and it is always fun to hang out with them. Jason grilled out steaks and we just kind of hung out. Isabella is getting to where she goes to sleep pretty early, then I wake her up to eat sometime between 8 and 9 and then she sleeps for several more hours, usually until about 3 or 4, then eats again. Then she sleeps until about 7 usually. So the sleep is improving. One night I got 8 hours in a row! On Sunday Jason took over in the morning and let me sleep until 10:30. I SOOO needed it and I felt so much better afterward. Thanks honey! I felt bad because it was going to be the first week we tried taking her to church, but I know God understands how tired I have been the last two months. =) We will try again next week.

I have joined two mom's groups now. One is at my church - Highland Park Methodist - where we meet Tuesday nights. I am so glad I joined this group. All the girls seem really nice and the babies are all pretty close to the same age. Next week is the last official week and then we form a play group that will meet every week or two. It will be so nice for Isabella to grow up with some families from our church. I am really excited about it. Next week, being the last week, our husbands are supposed to come and they are going to be asked all kinds of questions and do all the talking instead of us girls. I was looking so forward to it, but Jason just found out he has to go to Orlando next Tuesday for a meeting with his new client. That's right, Orlando. The place where Dreams come true. Don't even get me started on how jealous I am that he is going without me...even if it is for 24 hours. So not only is he going to Orlando without me, he may have to miss the mom's group meeting. I am pretty bummed about it since everyone else's husbands will be there, but I know it isn't his choice. =(

The other mom's group I joined is at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano. My friend Dawn who has about a one year old told me about it and it meets on Friday mornings at the hospital and they have speakers come in and stuff. However, they just went on hiatus for a few weeks so I won't get to go again until the end of July. The moms do get together, though, once a month for dinner while the husbands keep the kids. So that will be fun.

I officially quit my job yesterday, too. That was harder than I thought it would be. I know I really want to try to stay home right now with Bella. I will never get this time back with her and I know in the long run I will be glad that I did it. But it is going to be a strain financially obviously, as well as just missing my job. I wasn't in love with what I was doing there, but I will miss the people I worked with a lot. I think I will also miss that sense of purpose too. Just knowing I had somewhere to go and something to do every day. Something to accomplish. I know I still do, but the results of raising a baby are not quite as immediate as building a new IVR menu or something like that. But when she smiles at me, which she has started doing a lot lately, it is so worth it. She is so dang cute!

Other than that, I haven't been up to much. I have just started working out with a personal trainer...trying to get this weight off! I think I sort of expected it to just melt away somehow, not sure why, but it hasn't and I am sick of being all pudgy. But the child care at the gym doesn't take infants until 3 months so I can't really go that much right now, except when Jason gets home early enough to watch her. I feel like I am finally getting back to the real world so I am trying to get back to things I was doing before she was born. Just like projects around the house and stuff. We started renovating our bathrooms a year ago and they still aren't done. All we have left is staining the cabinets, but I know that is going to be a painful process so I am not looking forward to it.

Hope everyone out there is doing great! Hope to see you all sometime soon.