Steve took Carter to see the ducks at the park.
Nyles and Carter being silly w/ the bubbles in their bath.
Carter has been fighting his naps this month, and after losing his binky over Thanksgiving it's been even harder. Once he finally falls asleep he's asleep for a couple hours. He's been waking up earlier than normal though, so we're waking him up after only an hour nap so he'll be tired for bed. Steve took a picture of Carter when he went to wake him up from his nap. As he's fighting his nap he throws his blankies out of his crib. Silly kid.
We went to Red Robin's for dinner on Steve's birthday. Free birthday burger, can't beat that! Joann and Rob joined us as well. I am so thankful to have Steve in my life and as my eternal companion forever!
Throwback Thursday- Joann pregnant w/ Steve, Stacie in the background.
We went back home and sang Happy Birthday to Steve and had cake to celebrate. Nyles and Carter were so excited to help blow out the candles. Carter kept saying "Party" all day, which means he wants to blow out the candles.
Big helpers blowing out the candles.
Carter wanted a duck on the cake, so Steve drew one for him.
Carter loves to push the button which makes the snowman go up and down. He calls snow "nose" for some reason. It's cute that he loves the snowman so much, but we have to limit how often he gets to push the buttons. The weather turned quite stormy at home, so Steve sent me a picture.
At work it was mostly sunny though, so I sent him a picture.
I finished up my first year of CFP CE (continuing education) credits and renewed my license. I can't believe it's been a year since I took the test. I'm so thankful to be done w/ that! It definitely worked out to have me finish my test last year, now this year Steve is the one studying and I usually put the kids to bed. We've traded spots, but we make a good team. Looking back it definitely worked out and I'm glad we followed the promptings to get my certification done then, so now Steve can get his.
Thinking of blessing we've definitely had some recently. We've been praying and thinking about how we can balance my work, Nyles' school, Steve's school and clinical rotations (since they have to be 8-5pm the same time I work), and Carter. All during Thanksgiving it's been on our minds but we hadn't found something that felt right. Since we got home from Thanksgiving early, we went to our ward like normal. A sister who spoke bore her testimony about how another sister in the ward helped watch her kids after she had to return to work. As she said this I felt impressed this is what we needed to do as well. Then during 2nd hour the Bishop felt impressed to pull Steve aside and ask how he was doing. Steve explained our predicament w/ his clinical rotations and how we're going to care for the kids. The Bishop then promised Steve that since we felt prompted to apply to this program and we pay our tithing faithfully, the Lord will provide a way for us to accomplish it. As Steve told me this I felt it was true, though we still didn't know how it would work out.
That evening after Steve and I were discussing it further, I felt we should ask our ward members for help. I posted on our Relief Society Facebook page and a few minutes later a couple sisters said they'd gladly help us. One said they could help take Nyles to and from school if needs be, and the other could help watch Carter during the day! It definitely was an answer to our prayers!
On Wednesday, November 28th, in light of what the Bishop said, I decided to look at our tithing again and make sure we had paid a full tithe. We've always paid a full tithe and have a testimony of it. I usually do our budget and pay our tithing at the first of every month, looking at the previous month. It was only a few days earlier than I normally do it, but I felt impressed to double check our tithing. So during my lunch break at work, I decided to pay our tithing for what we'd earned so far that month even though it wasn't over.
The next day the 29th, on Steve's birthday, we had a number of wonderful surprises.
- First, we found out that Steve will do his first rotations at Alta View Hospital! We are so excited since it's the closest hospital to us, only like 7 minutes away. It's also where Nyles and Carter were born so it holds a special place in our hearts.
- Next, I then found out that they are rolling out "work from home" in my department sooner than expected. Before they kept saying it would be mid next year at the earliest, but they changed their minds and decided to give us all laptops so we can start sooner. We should get more information over the next couple weeks, so hopefully by January I'll be ready to go. Right now we can only work 50% from home, but still, it'll be a great blessing! Not having to spend 2 hours commuting to and from work every day will be wonderful! On the days I work from home I will be able to spend more time w/ Steve and the kids as well.
- Then I received a higher base raise than I have in past years, which will start in January.
- And to top that, I got my regular bonus on Steve's birthday AND we found out they're giving all of us an EXTRA bonus the first week of December! Can't beat free money!
- We just finished our annual enrollment in October and we didn't think we'd need childcare, so I didn't sign up for it. But by November we found out that Steve's clinical rotations require Steve to work 8am-5pm, so we are now going to need help w/ the kids. I was able to call and sign up for a pretax Flexible Spending Account after the enrollment closed. Since it comes out pretax that'll save us a few dollars. Definitely a blessing!
- Carter has still been seeing the speech therapist a couple times a month. He's been greatly improving w/ his words and communication abilities since she's been coming. She also let us know that in January Carter can go to a Pre-preschool on Mondays for a couple hours. She said this will also help him since he'll be w/ peers and be in a formal educational structure. We're definitely going to try it, especially since we don't have to pay anymore for it. Another blessing for sure!
I know the Lord has our best interests in mind and he knows what will be best for us, even though many times we don't understand his timing. I have felt his "hand" in our lives as we've acted in faith, knowing he knows best. As things have been coming together, especially these past few months, we truly see his timing coming to pass. I also don't find it coincidence that the day after paying our tithing, many blessings came through for us. It has definitely helped strengthen my testimony of tithing even further.
On a lighter note, last Saturday we went to the Aquarium since we hadn't been in a while. They have Elf of the Shelf hidden around w/ the animals/insects. Nyles is really good at finding them. We had a lot of fun going and just being together.
In the jungle/Amazon area of the Aquarium.
Nyles showing his coin he made and Carter and Nyles taking a ride on the sea turtle.
Looking at some fish.
Now taking a ride on the whale.
The sloth was actually awake and eating!
It's been a wonderful month of November, full of Thanksgiving and recognizing blessings from the Lord in all our circumstances.
