What's up now?

I'm officially starting this blog thing--everyone's doing it, why not us? And it's the perfect time to start...we're starting a new life very soon. For those of you who we haven't kept posted as perfectly as we should have, Brian has been a real-estate appraiser in GA, and I've been working at Blue Cross and Blue Shield...however, with the economic downfall, Brian's job has suffered significantly, leading him to seek a new career. We've been feeling as if we wanted to move closer to his family in FL, so he went down there at the end of July to see about meeting with appraisers there. He was hoping he wouldn't find the same sort of conditions as we have here, but it turned out that FL is probably in worse real-estate condition than we are in GA. However, at that time, something sparked our interest in the Janitorial service industry--perhaps it was the freedom of owning our own company with little overhead costs, or maybe it was just because we were ready for a dramatic change, but either way, Brian stayed in FL to get the business started, while I took care of the boys here in GA and kept working at my job. We missed daddy terribly, and with little Trace on the way, I hated being away from him. So, after two months, with the cleaning business not taking off like we had hoped it would...Brian came home and we were left wondering what was in store for us, and ultimately, leading us to prayers, blessings, and family counsel.

Our house is now almost completely packed up, and soon after Trace comes, we're going to move down to FL--to temporarily stay with Sarah and Brandon (Brian's sister's family). They have been gracious enough to allow us to live with them while Brian and I will search for jobs. I have six weeks of paid maternity leave that we can live on while we look, but more importantly, we've found a career right along the path of one of Brian's true loves--something he's always said he'd love to do, but never actually thought he would! He will soon begin school at Orlando Culinary Academy, and in one to two years, become an executive chef! I know it sounds really fun, or crazy, or both, but if you know Brian, you know he's going to love it. It's perfect for him, and the school provides help with career placement after graduation as well...however, we'll be living outside of Orlando, and so I really don't think he'd have a problem finding a resort to work in.

So, that's what's happening with us--we're keeping our GA house, and renting it to one of my very best friends here in GA and her two little girls, and perhaps when the market is better we'll try selling it, but until then, it will be nice owning it longer.

As for the boys, Kalen is 3 and a half, very smart, loves to read and use his imagination, and can't wait for Trace to get here! His favorite food is chicken broccoli alfredo, and his favorite things to do are to go to fun places with the family, such as Chuck-e-Cheese's and Hollywood Connections (a fun-place for kids--has a merry-go-round, little train, Ferris wheel, etc). Lately, we haven't really been able to find Kalen, but mysteriously Spiderman has been living in our house (thus he'll have a spiderman costume for Halloween).

Brady is 19 months old and a true mess--he's been a mess from the point he started crawling at 5 months old! He's constantly scaling the tallest things in the house, trying to eat anything within reach, and lately he's been biting anyone that makes him mad--we're working on that. His favorite food by far is anything sweet...especially cookies and candies, and his favorite thing to do is to play outside in the dirt and pick up rocks. Brady will be superman this Halloween.

Trace is already causing trouble. At 32 weeks along, I starting having contractions that ended me up in labor-and-delivery at the hospital, where fortunately the staff was able to stop the contractions and send me home. Then, last night, I found myself again at the hospital with contractions, but this time, they actually admitted me to a delivery room, thinking he was coming. Sometime during the night though, everything stopped, so this morning they released me again, to come home with no baby. I know he'll come soon, but I just hate those hospital beds and don't look forward to another long night or two on one :-) If he comes on time, he'll be a little tiger for Halloween. (He's due on Halloween).