Land of the living

I'm officially rejoining the land of the living.  Well ... technically I already have I guess, but now I'm going to write about it.  I've been a blogging slacker to put it lightly.  Pregnancy and working full time throughout pregnancy sucked every last ounce of energy I had so when I did have a couple of minutes to sit and rest, I did just that.  I watched all 4 seasons of Cake Boss, about 7 seasons of the Biggest Loser and a few other things here and there.  This, however, was not without effort.  That TV time was used to fight the wonderful nausea that comes with a little person growing inside.  The postpartum recovery time was when I got hooked on Lost and watched all 6 seasons.  Most recently, Mike and I got into Friday Night Lights and watched all 5 seasons.  Could this TV addiction have a positive spin?  Maybe its an indicator that I don't do anything halfway.  It's the whole series or nothing at all!  Perhaps.  However, I guess that means its back to The Biggest Loser to polish that one off.  It's good, it just doesn't have that "pull me in, have to watch it right now" quality.

OK, this is exactly why I need to rejoin the land of the living!  Here's a quick little "catch you up" on the Reintjes life ...

We left our beloved Belvedere apartment in early May (yes, a month before I was to have a baby ... ugh).  In preparation for the impending financial responsibilities of our little one, we found an apartment manager gig that came with free rent and a stipend.  Score, but this meant we had to move to the Millcreek area - pretty far south.  No more walking to work/school for us and we are juggling the car on a daily basis, but so far so good.

Our goal was for me to quit my job and do the apartment managing full time from home.  Long story short, that plan changed and I'm back at work at Charles River Associates part time (with Will in tow) and Mike handles all things apartment managery as well as full time school.  Busy busy!

Will was born on May 30th - 1 week past his due date.  I thought he was never going to come!  He had some complications upon delivery and spent about 5 days in the NICU, but is now doing great.  He's a calm little guy who loves smiling, being hung upside down by Dad, watching Bubble Guppies and playing with his toys. He makes our hearts burst with joy and I can't imagine life without him.  It kind of feels like he was in a hidden room in my heart all my life and now that door is open.  Mike and I spent the first month or so of his life staring at him, watching him sleep, holding him, telling him stories about how we met and got married, teaching him about Jesus (although I'm sure at this point he still remembers), and showing him pictures of all of his relatives.  We cried tears of joy often as expressions of, "I love our little family." and "I just really really like him." were uttered.  I felt the holiness of his innocence and new life.  I felt the great responsibility of parenthood and divine help from Heavenly Father.  I felt a renewed purpose in my life, greater than anything I'd ever felt before.  I knew that every experience I'd had up to this point had prepared me for this very thing ... motherhood.  This is it.  This is the good stuff.  Taking care of my boys leaves me feeling more fulfilled than anything else.  I can't imagine anything else being this good.  That's not to say we aren't struggling to figure things out.  We are.  But even that brings joy.

Mike is enjoying another semester at LDS Business College and we are already examining options for the next phase of his education/our life.  In the running - Boise State, BYU (all of them) and Weber State.  Within the next few months we should know where we'll be headed next.  This is both exciting and scary, but Heavenly Father has led us here and taken care of us so well, we know we are not alone in this next step.  We are being carefully guided to where He wants us to be.

As for right now, we are excited to be heading into the holiday season!  I've been having warm fuzzy Christmasy feelings for a month now and our tree will go up in just a couple of weeks!  One of my "happy places" during labor was Mike and I decorating the lit tree with Will sitting in his bouncy chair watching as Christmas music played in the background and we sipped hot chocolate.  I can't help it if this sounds a little June Cleaver-ish ... it helped me get through the hard labor and now it is going to be reality.  Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday.  For me, Halloween is just a necessary day we have to endure to get closer to Christmas.  Can hardly wait!

Well, that's enough for this post.  I'll post pics of our new place/Will soon!

Much love :)