New Beginnings

When Aaron and I first started dating, I learned that Aaron and his dad had purchased a townhouse for his sister and her friend to live in during college (I ultimately rented there too!). Eventually Aaron had moved in with me and through the years we've had several people live with us and for a while we lived there by ourselves. Once we started building our new house we had renters lined up and they were amazing! Going back to when Madison was a few months old, these renters decided to move on to bigger and better things. Great for them, sucks for us. Let me tell ya, finding good renters is so difficult.  Since November, we kind of sat on it and stalled. We had a new baby, and it was hard to find time to clean the place up, list it on various sites, and find someone we THINK is reliable to not tear the place up and keep up with rent. Finally in January, I had had enough. We were paying two mortgages and man, these diapers were getting expensive! Madison and I took a day where we cleaned the place up and finally got it listed. Aaron had come to visit us after work and placed the ad on social media. Turns out, we had so many responses! We found a new renter who is so amazing. I keep thanking God that he is providing for us!

Another "new beginning" is my job. Let me first start off by saying, if you think you have the best management ever, think again. I have never EVER met a group that was so willing to work to keep employees happy and work to create a better environment for nursing care. Their leadership is so profound, they are touching lives every single day and maybe not even realizing it! 

I went back to work full time after my maternity leave and was keeping up, but was feeling swamped most of my shift and having to stay an hour late every day. Between Aaron and our gem of a babysitter, we were working it out mostly so the days I worked, Aaron was off or his parents watched Madison and we occasionally had a babysitter. It made those days seem extra long and I was always late coming home. I also needed to pump breastmilk during that time and that had turned into another fiAsco. I used to work nights during school, so I was close with several nurses during that time who kept telling me that I needed to switch to a weekend option night shift. I basically work only weekends at night. Well, I was scared about such a change, so I shrugged it off. Each night I stayed past 8:30pm, this was looking better and better. I finally seriously inquired and researched it. I emailed my manager and she had an opening for this position. Holy cow.... How scary. It sounded great in theory, but man, it was going to be a change. My husband was even more nervous than I was about how it was all going to work out. It gets stressful when a new schedule comes out and we have to arrange who is watching Madison when, but I tell ya what, this is the best decision I have ever made. I get to spend so much time with Madison and I also have days off with my husband now. How amazing it is! 

Last on my "new beginnings" is priorities. Pre-baby, I had my house spotless once a week. One day a week, I would deep clean the house. I have OCD tendencies, so let me tell you what a struggle it has been after baby. In those first few weeks it didn't bother me that much as I just wanted to sleep any break I could, but after about a month, I could see the dust collecting. I felt like one of those cartoon characters that you see a hair pop out of place on their head and then they get this deranged facial expression right before they go bazerk (I don't know how to spell, I'll own up to it). Yep... I was a woman on the edge. I would actually become this mean person and as soon as my house was cleaned, I actually felt this weight lifted off my shoulders and I felt so much better! I'll admit it, I have a problem. One thing I have learned, is clean as you go and when you can. I had to let go of the "spending all day to clean" and embrace the "clean a little here, clean a little there" routine. It has been a learning curve, but one thing is for sure, if my Madison is awake, I want to be playing with her or having adventures with her.  My world revolves around her. Let's face it, it is a hard truth when you realize she will never again be as little as she is right now. Seeing her stand for the first time or finally learn how to walk, I can't get those moments back for her and I don't want to miss any of them if I can help it! Especially if it means the dishes pile up in the sink or the amount of hair on my bathroom floor can make a wig. Cleaning can be done when she is sleeping. Especially at this point where she is sleeping through the night and taking regular good naps! 

Speaking of sleep... One thing that still hasn't changed... I hate mornings!