I'm a Blogger!

So I started out blogging close to a month ago with my "semi-vegan diet challenge" and soon learned that I really enjoy blogging!  I wish I had realized this when I was pregnant because it would have been nice to have been  able to keep up with the memories this way!  However, when baby #2 comes along, you can rest assured that there will be lots of blogging going on!

I love that by blogging I can keep people up to date on what is going on in our lives and what we experience from day to day as working professionals, new parents, and best friends.  I know Aaron isn't really into all of this (as he admitted to me today that he hasn't read a single one of my blogs so far!) so you won't be hearing from him through all of this; but maybe one day I can convince him this is an okay thing!

Olivia's first time in the snow :)

So, here is a little of what is going on with us currently.  Olivia will be six months old next week (March 10th) and is wearing size 12 months!  I can't believe how big my little baby is getting!  I almost had a meltdown today in The Children's Place because I went to the area where I normally find her clothes and realized she didn't fit in the "baby" clothes anymore!  She is very mobile now!  She can roll anywhere she wants to go!  She loves to jump and to dance and is looking more and more like me every day!  Although some of her facial expressions remind me of Aaron.  She started saying "mama" about a month ago and I was absolutely thrilled!  However, she recently started saying "dada" and has now almost completely dismissed "mama" from her vocabulary!  Every now and then she will say it (usually when she is mad) but for the most part everything is "dada!"  And of course her Dada is thrilled!

I have worked for TN Retina for going on three years, and although have had some trying times here and there, have thoroughly enjoyed my experience here!  I work with some great people and some WONDERFUL doctors!  A while back I had given my resume to my childhood optometrist in hopes that he might have a position open.  However, he didn't, and I worked out with my boss that I would no longer have to travel.  I was pregnant and very sick!  And traveling in a car 3-4 days a week was not an option for me.  And neither was 9-11 hour days.  So, I took a job doing the doctor's paperwork and helping in clinic when needed at the main office.  When I returned from maternity leave, I decided to work part time and had arranged with my boss to work at the satellite offices close to home and not have to travel anywhere other than the Nashville office until Olivia was older.  However, I found myself constantly being asked to work at our Nashville office and never really got to work close to home as I had hoped.  So, since I was working in Nashville anyway, I decided to apply for a position in our study department that had just recently been posted.  It would be four days a week with very flexible hours and a consistent schedule, which is what I had been longing for for quite some time.  On Valentine's Day I received the news that I had been offered the job and could start training the following week!  I was ecstatic!

Valentine's night, however, came with even better news!  I had just got off the phone with my mother telling her how excited I was to try out this new position with TN Retina, when all of a sudden I received a call from an unknown number.  I normally don't answer calls from people I don't know, but since I have my number listed as the RSVP number for a shower I am hosting here soon, I felt it was best to answer it.  Soon after I answered it I was greeted by my childhood optometrist asking me if I would be interested in a position he has available!  He told me he knew it had been quite some time since I had given him my resume but he just recently had the position open up and would love to talk to me about it!  I was so excited I could hardly even concentrate on our conversation!!!  I have known him since I was in second grade and he is the main reason I decided to go into this field.  I always had such a lovely experience as a patient at his office!  I didn't think I could cut nursing school, so I thought becoming an ophthalmic technician would be a good fit for me!  And sure enough, it was!  And now I am talking with him on the phone about a job opportunity and it seems as if my career has finally come full circle!  We talked about some of the job duties and he explained it would be quite different from what I am currently doing and wanted to know if I would be okay with that.  I ended up interviewing the next day and explained to him my predicament at my current job.  He understood my situation and told me he would be in touch.  Sure enough, I received a call that week from him saying he would like to officially offer me the job but that if I needed a day or two to think about it that would be okay.  So I talked with my family about it, prayed about it, and came to the conclusion the following day as I was sitting in traffic trying to get to work, that this was the best thing for myself and my family!

Jayme and I at the TNR Christmas party 2010

It is a bitter sweet goodbye that I must leave TN Retina this coming Wednesday, March 2nd.  I have learned so much in my time here and have grown tremendously not only as a technician but as a person.  The relationships I have made here mean the world to me and I will truly miss seeing my co-workers!  However, I am so excited to be taking a job five minutes from my house (literally!) where I can come home and eat lunch with my sweet girl and husband.  Never again will I have to get up at 4:00 a.m. so that I can be at work in Nashville at 6:15.  I can't even begin to comprehend how much of a difference this is going to make!  My time with Olivia will such better quality because I won't be exhausted from sitting in traffic for two hours on my way home!  I can not wait to make new relationships at my new job and see what this opportunity has in store for me!  And Aaron is so grateful that he will not have to stress every time he gets a call at work saying the ambulance is bringing in a car crash patient from I-40 west bound.

So, I know this was a little long winded.  But being my first (of many) blogs I felt like I had a lot of catching up to do! :)  I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it, and I hope my next blogs will be even better than this one!