Because I don't have enough jobs

So as anyone who reads this blog knows, I have a lot of jobs. I do the doula thing a bit - - a birth every other month or so, or more often if it works out. I conduct early childhood training workshops, although work has been awfully scarce lately. And oh yeah - I am a mommy too - the biggest, most important job with the longest hours and the worst pay but the job that has made me the richest.

Well, a few weeks ago, I was offered another job for 2009. The church where we work decided they would like to start a part-time preschool, and they asked me to start it and be the director. Now I should preface this by saying I made the decision in the summer to stop contracting for the early childhood workshops and go out on my own to start my own business. I am doing that, although I have taken longer than I initially planned. But I am doing it. Anyway, that being said, the timing on this church thing is pretty ridiculous. Otherwise I couldn't ask for a better situation - the church is extremely supportive, with a beautiful space. The slate is totally clean there. I will be writing all the policies, choosing/creating the curriculum, making all decisions, hiring, etc etc etc . . .I have the chance to do things the way I think they should be done. And all of you know how much I love that. It is very unusual to be in that position. And the reason that it is wonderful is the reason that it INSANE!! It is going to be an incredible amount of work - physical and mental - to get this off the ground! And I am not ready to put my own business idea aside.

If it isn't yet obvious I accepted the offer. We are not in a financial position where I can be turning down a job in my field with the flexibility and opportunity they were offering. So for 2009 I will be starting two brand new businesses from the ground up. I am at once nervous and excited about it all!! Stay tuned for more about my training business - the web site is almost ready for publishing! And as soon as we have a name for the preschool program I'll let ya' know. It will be very interesting to see where we are this time 2009. It is a little ironic that I have started now to really make an effort to live in the moment, try to be present. Glutton for punishment, did I hear? Or maybe just up for the challenge. Guess that is to be seen!

What Makes a Jillian?

(no no no - - I know what made Jillian, although when we announced we were pregnant the second time and Erin was only 6 months old, some probably wondered . . .)

But as we celebrated Jillian's third birthday today, I kept thinking about what an amazing little creature she is! So I hope you'll induldge me a bit and let me tell you what came to mind about my little girl who is no longer a baby.

Jillian Abigail . . .
* the baby that totally threw us for a loop (and frankly, continues to do so every single day!)
* the newborn who nursed every 45 minutes round the clock for many many weeks, who did not sleep through the night until . . .oh wait, she rarely sleeps through the night now!
* the baby who for about 8 weeks only pooped at 11:oo am on Tuesdays. I swear.
* the baby who never once used her legs to crawl (think G.I. Joe/army crawl)
* the toddler with all the spunk and extroversion a child can muster, yet who was until recently petrified of the vacuum and raindrops. Not storms, drops.
* the toddler who could, when learning how to talk, make noises and combinations of sounds that didn't seem humanly possible, and who now adds an extra syllable in between almost every syllable of every word (eg. baby = ba-ya-bee)
* the two-year old who could make you break a sweat getting her dressed, who could throw a tantrum like nobody's business, and who could cuddle until she melted you into a big puddle of goo (all of which continue to be true.)
* the now three-year old with a sense of humor that continuously amazes us, that is on a level unlike anyone else's! Today, she asked Mark, "Daddy, how many days 'till Christmas?" Mark said, "Four." Jillian responded, "I beat Jesus, I beat Jesus!"
* Erin's best friend in the world, who truly cares about Erin's happiness and absolutely loves her sister.

Happy Birthday my dear Jillian! I love you bigger than the whole world.

Two in one day!

I need to use my blog for advertising today - - probably not the last time, but it won't happen often I swear. I now sell Barefoot Books. This is an amazing children's book publisher with an emphasis on creativity, diversity and an acceptance of the world's many traditions. Products are printed on forest-friendly paper and with earth-friendly processes. I am NOT a sales person - I hate the whole idea. But when I heard about this company and now that I have sampled the books I could not resist the chance to spread the word. The books are FANTASTIC. The artwork is beautiful and stories are completely unlike any others we have seen - and as most of you know, we have seen our share of children's books!

I swear this is not why I started my blog again! But I just found a way to post buttons and there is free shipping until Tuesday so I thought I would throw it out there. Visit my site and check it out - you will LOVE it!!

You thought I'd already given up, didn't you??

I swore that even though I waited a year to post again I wouldn't rehash an enitre year of funny stories and unfinished knitting projects. And don't worry, I won't. There are plenty of each to share and I am sure there will be a sprinkling here and there. But by popular request I have to post the following photos to document our annual Black Friday shopping trip.

We - some combination of mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and children, depending on the year - have gone shopping the day after Thanksgiving every year since 2003. We scope out the ads during Thanksgiving and make our plan, which usually consists of meeting at Michael's Crafts at 6am and just winging it from there. Since the girls have been born, Mark stays home and calls me when they are awake and we pick them up to join the fun. They have gone every year of their little lives. Erin is all about it; this year when it was 6:45 pm and we'd been going all day, she was crying when we decided to call it quits because she wanted to go to another store. Jillian can't quite make it through a whole day yet - she is much more of a napper and consequently much less pleasant if naptime gets skipped. Regardless it is fun and will be a tradition for years to come.

The point of bringing this up to is post the following pictures of Erin at Old Navy, our last stop this year. She staged these completely on her own and requested that the pictures be taken. (Can I reiterate that this was completely on her own?!) She really likes staging pictures - with people, stuffed animals, Fisher Price Little People, whatever. Apparently headless Old Navy manequins fit the bill as well.

But here's the kicker folks. We were in line to pay and my mom says, "You have to come here." So Mimi and Beth and I went to the display, and found this:

Here were my thoughts: Oh Erin, you can't take the stuffed animals out of the maniquins hands. Wait, she wasn't wearing those clothes. We don't own those clothes. Wait, those aren't Erin's hands! She totally posed herself to be this maniquin's head! You cannot see her legs at all!

In all my research in child development and stuff, I have never looked into the development of a sense of humor. I don't know where it comes from or how it develops - maybe I need to write a workshop on that. It would be interesting. All I know is that I think this is pretty darn funny for a 4 year old - I almost wet my pants when I saw it.

Right Now

So here I sit, with a million and one things on the list to be working on. But I have chosen to take a moment to relish in the amazingness (yep, that's a word, atleast on my blog) that is my life. Jillian and Erin are coloring together in the kitchen - which they do about 75% of their waking hours. Mark is working on dinner (which he probably feels like he does 75% of his waking hours). My little house is a wreck, laundry needs to be folded, my business is waiting to be launched, knitting is sitting in the rocking chair hoping to be cast off before Christmas Day.

And as crazy as it feels most of the time, and as much as I would like for a lot of it to come together a little better, I feel so grateful for what this moment is. It is exactly what it is supposed to be. It is here for all of us to experience what it has to offer - the joy of coloring (and the cooperation of doing it together!), the simpleness and sweetness of being together, the innocence conversation between a 2 y/o and 4 y/o. Oh my - how could I wish for something to be different than this?

You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star. Nietzsche

Three Comments - Are you Kidding??

Well Blog Rolls Rock! How fun is that?
It is weird that once I started a blog, I started constantly thinking in blog posts. When things happened throughout the day, I would write a blog post in my head about them. (Now I think in Facebook statuses too). Shamefully they never made it to the blog, but whatever. I am working on it.
Now that I am here again maybe I can try harder. I wanted to update pictures right now but as is typical when I want to do something with it I can't seem to locate my camera. Figures. I did promise myself that my blog does not have to be perfect to be used, though, so my imperfection (as much as I hate it) is not going to stop me from posting. Maybe next time!
Today at church was as Intergeneration Church School Hour, which sounds a bit more grandiose than it was. It was, however, really really fun. Families who braved the icky cold rain on a holiday weekend to actually come to church got spend the Sunday School hour together rather than in separate classes. First we played Name that Tune with Christmas Carols. Then we decorated living Christmas Trees - not trees at all, but people at each table who agreed to be trees decoated by random found items in boxes at each table. Mark was our tree and he rocked! After a parade of all the trees, there was a story and some children unwrapped a gift of the manger. Then St. Nicholas came for family pictures. It was a really fun event. Are you looking for pictures? yeah - me too. Had I known it was all going to be so camera-worthy, I'd have located my camera before church. I just didn't know. grrr. . . . Thankfully there is someone who takes LOTS of pictures for the church web site who was there, and he even had his camera with him! As soon as they are posted to the church site I will link to them.

12/8/08 Here are the best of the photos - You can imagine from these how fun the morning was!

Mark checking out his tree competition.

All the Living Trees (Wonder which of these has the most rings??)

Jillian usually refuses to do anything like this so I was shocked that she agreed at all. Erin (you know, the shy one) is all about it, and is of course reassuring Jillian that St. Nicholas is our friend.

Here are the Tablers and Nana with St. Nicholas.

Happy New Year!

So in response to the millions (or four) people who have told me they look at my blog every day waiting for me to post some breath taking, heart stopping story, I decided to make my annual visit to the blog. I am calling your bluff. Who of you out there really still looks at my blog every day? This shall be the ultimate test. This first person to comment on this post will win a prize. You think I joke but I do not - there is a prize for my most loyal friend. (Mark already knew I was doing this so he doesn't count, and Lord knows he must be the most loyal becuase he puts up with me everyday!)
Why the resurge in blogness? Well, for some reason Facebook has sucked me in, and that has made me online more regularly for that kind of thing. (instead of work-related stuff) The girls spend a little more time at school, which gives me a little more time to get some things done. And really I just thought it would be fun to see who would comment on this first. We'll see - no promises. But I do want to try again. Third time's a charm, right? And hey, if Grandpa can do it . . .

So now I wait.