Cutting it Close

As most of you know, Jared works at Merrill Lynch which was bought out by Bank of America at the beginning of the new year. Since then, they have had to start laying off employees all around the country, and we've been a little nervous about the security of Jared's job. A few weeks ago, one of the financial advisors that Jared works for talked to him and let him know that his job is secure for the time being which was very reassuring. He called him into his office again the other day to let him know that he had spoken with the other financial advisors and said IF they ended up having to let one of their client associates go, it would not be one of the ones who work for him, including Jared (basically only leaving one person...). Again, that made us feel better.

However, he told Jared to do everything and learn everything he possibly can in order to make himself more of an asset, and he asked Jared to go on another trip to New Jersey (he went there back in October) for training. So, Jared comes home yesterday and informs me that his boss wants him to go on this trip which just happens to be April 22-24--- TWO weeks before my due date!!! Taylor was two weeks early. Granted, I was induced with her, but I was already 4-5 cm dilated and like 80% effaced and contracting pretty regularly, so I really could have gone into labor on my own at any time. Needless to say, I am very, VERY nervous about this... and really not so happy at all!

He really can't say no. This is something that he needs to do for his job, and it will be better for us in the long run. I am just really praying that I will hold out until he gets back and not go into labor while he is gone. If everything goes the way I have it planned out in my head (and I haven't informed my doctor of my plans yet.. haha), I will be induced on April 28th, which just happens to be the day that Jared and I "officially" first started dating. Then, he'll also be back in plenty of time to be there when the baby is born.

So... please keep us in your prayers that I will NOT go into labor while Jared is out of town!! :-)

Snow Fun

I had to work on Saturday, and I kept hearing people say that it was supposed to snow early Sunday morning. However, I just really didn't believe it was going to happen. Jared was the first to wake up on Sunday. He immediately looked out the window, and from his reaction, I could tell that we had definitely gotten snow. Luckily, we don't have church until 1:00pm, so we were able to get bundled up and enjoy it for a little bit before we had to get ready for church.

view to side of front porch

view of back deck and our "new" patio furniture (we got it off Craig's list for $50!)

It's funny because you can tell that we obviously don't have clothes that are really appropriate for playing in the snow. We just have to mix and match until we find stuff that works. Jared and I refused to have our pictures taken.. haha

The wind was blowing really hard. You could even see the snow being blown around. Needless to say, we didn't last very long. After about 10 minutes, we'd had enough already... haha.. As much as Taylor loves being outside, she wasn't a big fan of the cold either. It was really good snow, too- the kind that could be packed really well to make good snowballs. Jared did manage to make a tiny snowman before we retreated back into the warmth of our home.

The Circus

Last year, Jared, Taylor, and I all went to the circus. Although Taylor was still a little young to really enjoy it, Jared and I had a great time :-) This year we weren't sure if we were going to be able to go or not, but a friend of Jared's from work won some free tickets. They had already purchased tickets to the circus, so they offered them to us, and we gladly accepted! We were pretty excited because we figured Taylor was old enough now to really get into it. We had 4 tickets so we invited Aunt Mimi to come along.

Aside from the animals, Taylor's favorite part had to have been the popcorn and soda.

Unfortunately, we didn't think the circus was nearly as good as it was last year. Taylor did enjoy seeing the animals, but they did a whole lot of magic tricks with the clowns which didn't hold her attention at all. Plus, we were way up in the mezzanine seats so that also made it hard for her to focus on what was going on. However, we are very grateful for our friends offering the tickets to us and for having the opportunity to go. You can't beat getting to go for free!