October and November were really busy months for me. First, at the beginning of October we started our Portfolio Advisory Transformation at work. I am now assigned to work mainly with our Brea, CA office (Orange County). Since more than half of my book was new I needed to contact them all. My book is now over 600 people. So since October I've been trying to contact my new clients, along with any completely new clients to the service, plus reach out to my old ones. I've been SUPER busy every day and have put in more hours than before, and I still haven't contacted everyone. I doubt I'll get to everyone by the end of this week, but I hope to at least attempt most of them. I'll have the last 2 weeks off of work, so I'm trying to get it all done, but you can only do so much in a day.
Second, I also was studying for my CFP all of October and half of November. I felt really good about what I was studying and the practice tests I took. On the day of the test, November 18th, I felt the first half went so/so and the second half went really good. Unfortunately I didn't pass though. I can take it again in March if I want. Oh course I'll have to pay for it again. I'm still trying to decide if I want to take it again or not.
Finally, we found out we were pregnant! We found out just after General Conference, the first weekend of the month. We were really excited! We've been praying about when the right time would be, and though there are still a lot unknowns for us, we felt the time was right. Shortly after we found out we were pregnant, the morning sick started. I have been doing the best I can to try to keep it under control, but I've still had several occasions when I just couldn't control it and had to throw up! I feel like this time the nausea is a little worse and less controllable. I feel like I didn't even have a chance. I was going to throw up no matter what.
At the beginning of November I got sick too, which made it 10 times worse. Steve got sick a couple weeks before and was still sick when I got sick. He also lost his voice. He went to the Dr a couple times. At one point he also got an eye, ear and sinus infection and had to take some antibiotics. After about a week when mine hadn't cleared up, I went to the Instacare as well, but since I was pregnant there wasn't much they could give me to help. It was a viral infection at this point, and luckily it didn't turn into a bacterial infection. I could take Tylenol for the pain (sore throat) and used a Nedi Pot (to clear the mucus out of my nose). The coughing was the worse because it would make me want to throw up even more. I was of course physically tired from work, the pregnancy, studying, and now the sickness. It was quite the combo to have at once.
We had our first Dr appt at 10 weeks on November 16th. Everything looked good and on schedule. The heartbeat was perfect and size was too. We are due June 12th! We are hoping it's another boy so Nyles can have a buddy to play with, but we'll be thankful for either. Of course we all just want a healthy happy baby. I haven't wanted sweets hardly at all, so maybe it's a sign it's a boy again. Since this is my last week of work for the year, I pushed out my next appointment to next Monday the 21st, so I don't have to hurry to or from work.
Baby McGrath #2
We told Steve's family we were expecting the Sunday before Thanksgiving at our family dinner get together, then told my family on Thanksgiving. We wanted to wait to tell everyone in person, so since my parents were coming down for Thanksgiving, we wanted to do it then. We had Thanksgiving lunch w/ Steve's family at his parent's house, then we hurried down to Highland for Thanksgiving dinner w/ my family. We were pretty full still, but Nyles made some room for ice cream. He had a lot of fun playing w/ his cousins both times.
We made a card which said, "Thanksgiving is here. And the turkey isn't the only thing in the oven. Baby McGrath #2's timer will go off June 2016. Feeling thankful and blessed this Thanksgiving." My mom was the best, as soon as she opened the card and saw the pic of the ultrasound, she started crying. We had to tell her to read the card :) We're glad the grandparents are excited as we are about the new addition! ;)
Steve and Nyles on Thanksgiving, ready for lunch!
Quick family pic.
While together for Thanksgiving w/ the McGraths, we put together cars in memory of a little boy who died. We then were to put them in places for others to find. We gave our bags to Zach to take with him while on call at the Fire-station. Needless to say he's given them all out.
Nyles and Conor playing w/ cars.
Nyles helping Steve blow out his birthday candles. The big 30!
My parents stayed w/ us Thanksgiving night. The next day they hurried out to help Rose w/ her car, then came back for lunch. We put Nyles down for a nap, then went to see the last Hunger Games moving "Mockingjay part 2." My mom stayed home w/ Nyles. There were 13 of us total that went to watch the movie. It was awesome! We'd like to see it again!
We were planning to go have dinner w/ Pauline that night, but since Rose has having car troubles and Nyles had a fever, we decided we'd better not. Ezra also had diarrhea so it was best we didn't mix all the germs. Nyles ended up keeping his fever for 4 days, but it finally broke thankfully. We took him took his Dr, but aside from his fever, luckily he didn't have anything else going on. The Dr gave us a prescription just in case, but thankfully we didn't need to use it.
My parents stayed until Sunday morning then headed back. Saturday night they had their annual Buhler Christmas party w/ all my mom's brothers and sisters. They had a great time!
Mom w/ her brothers and sisters
With spouses
At the beginning of November Fidelity announced some changes to their benefits. The first is that we now have our vacation and sick days together in one lump sum for Paid Time Off (PTO), plus we can rollover up to 1 week for the next year instead of the "use it or lose it policy." That was pretty exciting so we don't have to fake sick days sometimes when we just need a personal day.
The most exciting news though was their change to Maternity/Paternity leave. Paternity leave was 2 weeks before, and now it's 6 weeks, all paid! Maternity leave was 6 weeks paid, and now it's 16 weeks paid! This news felt like such a blessing! Last time I had the 6 weeks paid then took the remainder 6 weeks unpaid using FMLA, this time I can take 4 months off all paid!!!! Talk about good timing! I'm definitely going to take the full time so I can spend it w/ our new baby. Those first few months are so precious. I'm excited for our new baby and feel blessed that Fidelity has decided to provide some more "benefits" to their employees.
As I was giving the visiting teaching message this past month, I was planning to give a different message to a sister we visit, but as I started to speak, my mind went back to the talk from
President Uchtdorf from the General Women's meeting. The message that came out of my mouth was to count our blessings instead of looking at what's wrong with our life. It really is easy to focus on the negatives in life and how everyone else has a better this or that than us. As I shared this message w/ the sister, the Spirit confirmed to me that I need to do this myself, that is count by blessings. The Lord really has blessed me and my family. I am thankful for the Gospel in my life and the knowledge it brings me. I also know that as we serve others too, we can start to realize how little our problems actually are. This time of year gives us a great opportunity to serve others and share of the Light of Christ with them. I hope you all can feel the Light of Christ now and forever!
