Steppin' Out

This past week was a milestone week for me as a mom...it was the first week that I "emerged" from the house for scheduled activities with the kiddos.  Yes, I said scheduled...as in we had places to be at set times (5 out of 7 days!)...AND they were all in the 9 o'clock hour!  I hardly believe it myself!

Since we had Hadley in June of 2009, I have been just figuring out how to be a 1st time mom on top of a wife, and then 13 months after sweet Hadley came on the scene, a little dude named Corban showed up! :)  In between that time we had a lot of stressful life events happen that made doing anything "extracurricular" (other than going to the store, etc.) just seem nearly impossible.

Here is our timeline of craziness...

June 2009 - Hadley was born!  I become a stay-at-home-mom
Sept 2009 - Chris' mom passed away
Dec 2009 - Chris graduated from WSU's Intercollegiate College of Nursing
Feb 2010 - Chris took a job as an RN at Kadlec Hospital in Tri-Cities
March 2010 - My Grandpa Bob passed away
March 2010 - Chris got offer for a NEW job as an RN at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup (while we were in Minnesota for my Grandpa's funeral)
April 2010 - Moved to Puyallup (in with my parents while we look for a house)
June 2010 - We start having a house built after months of searching for one
July 2010 - Corban was born!
Oct 2010 - We move into our new home

All that leads to where we are today...finally feeling settled into our new home, Chris' job, and as a family of 4 and all that entails and FINALLY feeling ready to commit to some scheduled activities outside of the house.

We joined the YMCA and I am taking Hadley to toddler gym 3 days a week and trying to work out as much as I can.  Chris is loving to swim again and he comes to toddler gym with us whenever he can.  We have also decided to become official members of Fellowship Bible Church and I am committed to going to the Women's Bible study Tuesday mornings, on top of church on Sundays.  Chris works every other weekend, so going to church alone with the 2 kids when he has to work has seemed like a daunting task, but I am finally ready to commit to going every week that we are able to - no matter how hard it is - and if I just have to be in the hall the entire service because neither one of my kids will stay in the nursery, then so be it. :)

It feels so GREAT to finally be at this point...we are exhausted and learning what it takes to be somewhere ON TIME in the morning, but we all are loving it.  Hadley LOVES toddler gym, and I love taking her (with Corban along for the ride).  I also LOVE having some time to fellowship with women and study God's word every week.

We look forward to this next season of life and pray this year isn't as eventful as the last couple have been...

Here are some pics I took with my phone of Hadley at toddler gym - horrible quality, but you get the idea!