First Blog....ever!

So, here we are! I am starting a blog since, despite my very best intentions, I've found it impossible to stay caught up and in touch with many of the people I love in my life and I want anyone who wants to to be part of Nicholas, Michael, and my life to be able to. Hopefully, this will help.

This first blog is probably going to be one of the longest since it has been months since I've spoken to many friends and family members.

So, many of you might be wondering what happened. For many of you the last time we spoke is when I was (as far as I knew) happily married. Well, apparently I wasn't as happily married as I thought. And in late June, the world as I knew it came crashing down around us. And I was totally and incomparably devastated. Thankfully, things have progressively improved since that time. And here is where I send a shout out to my peeps! :) Because without Julie, Stephanie, Sue, Mom, Dad, Emily, Sari, Aunt Patti, Karen (sister-friend!), and the help of the many angels in my life who's small and large acts of kindness, supportive gestures, pep talks, logistical support, hugs, and love, I am okay. And the boys are okay. And we are going to continue to be okay.

It is hard to describe what life is like for us now. It's changed drastically for all of us. The kids are in full time child care under the care of one of the angels who showed up in our lives, Jeanne, and are slowly adjusting still. They visit with their Daddy every other weekend and my sister Emily watches them on the alternating weekends (until my works schedule can change.) We don't go to playdates or bake or play outside together like we did before. But luckily, Jeanne is providing them with a loving home away from home where they get to do lots of those things, and the precious time we do get together, we try to make it count. I am working a full time job outside of the home and am still working part time as a contractor, which I do during the evenings and weekends. This might explain to some of you who were wondering why I've been so unresponsive the reason behind it. I get up at 4 AM and get to bed between 10 PM and midnight, just to try to get the basics done. Even with that, we are still scrambling to keep up many days. But I will get better at being a single mom and the boys are going to settle down too. Since this is still just a couple of months into our new life, I am sure I'll become more efficient at it.

Nicholas is 3 years old and Michael just turned one year old (this past week!) Nick is funny, outspoken, creative, adventurous, brave, determined, and loves to talk. He gets in tons of trouble, but is also very sweet and helpful and is generally very good with his little brother. Michael has just started standing and cruising around, is drinking milk and is eating real food now. He is sweet, has a great sense of humor, calls all animals 'dog', is laid back, and is generally a very happy and sweet baby.

And I've been doing pretty well too, lately. Life is hard, but I still love it and feel generally happy most of the time. This is not the reality I had wanted and it is much harder than I ever could have imagined, but in some ways it is better. Although I hate being away from the kids so much, I totally love working again and it's fantastic to be doing a job I feel passionately about. I love living near my family again and the kids really like getting to see their relatives. I've been running regularly again and plan to run the Disney World Marathon on my birthday this year, which should be a perfect start to a new year and a new life which I plan to accept and embrace.

And I want to thank whoever left the bag of chocolates and other treats because it came at a perfect time and totally cheered me up at a time when I really needed it. Since everyone is denying it was them, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to the angel who left it. :) It was a wonderful bag of treats....thank you 'Halloween Fairy'!

Note to self...don't leave chocolate where a 3 year old can reach it. And definitely do not attempt to go food shopping after he eats more chocolate than any child should ever consume...ever. And don't delude yourself into thinking that you can rationalize with a child who is hopped up on chocolate, which is for children is apparently a drug comparable to crack.

Other things I've learned over the past couple of months:

Be financially independent, always.

Drink as much coffee as necessary if it helps.

If someone offers to help, say YES!

It doesn't matter how nice you are, some people are still jerks.

If someone is being a jerk, vote them off of your island and don't waste anymore time on them.

Someone ALWAYS is worse off than you are, most of the time, much worse.

Be grateful for the good things, and people, in your life.

A container of baby powder can be completely emptied in approximately a minute and a half.

If your kids are awake and there is silence. Sprint immediately to where they are to prevent the disaster from becoming worse.

Six containers of sprinkles can be emptied in a minute and a half.

Sprinkles never, ever disappear once they are emptied.

Kids don't care if sprinkles are on the floor, they will eat them anyway.

A bottle of shampoo can be emptied in 30 seconds

Eating a half of A&D ointment tube will not make your kid sick

Eating certain types of lotion doesn't make a kids sick either

Eating make up...you guessed it...won't make a kid sick either

Eating chapstick isn't too bad either

If you call poison control 3 times within the same hour, they begin to question your parenting skills

They might drive you crazy, but kids are still one of the most wonderful things about life

There is nothing that anyone can not handle if they have to