New Adventures

YIKES! I am so out of practice! It took me a solid 20 minutes to log in and an obscene amount of time to update my template and I still have a weird pic of a cat that I cannot get rid of.

People aren't joking when they say motherhood steals your brain cells! Maybe I should have my 6 year old customize my template for me?!

To answer the question many of you posed in the comments, we are very much still unsure if our family is complete. Right now, we need to focus on our health. I have very much neglected taking care of myself since I became a mom. I am at an all time high weight and just not feeling great about it. As a result, my cycles are wonky again and I truly cannot imagine being pregnant right now. We spent Spring Break in Baltimore visiting friends and family last week. Walking the harbor with the kids, left us sore and feeling old! If we are going to add #4, we need to be able to keep up or we are surely doomed.

A big thing that has changed for me and brings me great joy is that I am a business owner. I have been blessed and lucky enough to stay home for the past 6 years, but it has not been without stress and sacrifice. Sean works extremely hard to provide for our family, but also works in a field with unpredictable income. He was under a lot of stress at work and ends were just not meeting at home. We knew we needed to do something, but daycare x3 was out of the question as was me working nights and weekends. We had worked way to hard to build a family and I was not about to give up on my dream of being a stay at home mom.

Sean has always been very entrepreneurial and is always looking for the right opportunity or franchise. Thankfully, last spring, that opportunity found us and it has been incredible.

We partnered with the doctors who created the acne medication, Proactiv, in the 1990s . Doctors Katie Rodan and Kathy Fields launched their own anti aging premium skin care line and we decided to jump on board once we saw the magnitude of the opportunity. We offer skincare solutions to all your concerns - anti aging, sensitivity, sun damage and yes, acne.

If you had asked me 6 years ago if I would be a stay at home mom to three kids and selling skincare, I would have laughed in your face. Laughed and laughed and laughed until I cried. I was a Target skincare girl - if you can even call it skincare. I would wash my face with generic wash when I was lucky enough to catch a shower and then I'd put on Target brand sunscreen and call it a day. Skincare was not a passion of mine.

Yet, here I am. This has been the perfect fit for me. It has given us the ability to make ends meet again and reduced our stress enormously. I have been able to take over paying the mortgage, both car payments and preschool tuition x2 thanks to my job as a consultant with R+F. Taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University has enabled us to put our residual income to work for us!

It has also given my self confidence a huge boost - for so long I felt like my identity was my infertility and then it was all tied up in being pregnant and becoming a mom. As much as I loved being a new mom to 3 kids under 3, it was very isolating at times. For the first two years, my social life involved going to Target alone or with my mom for a couple hours. Once my littles started preschool and I was connecting with other moms, I realized how much I missed interacting with adults and using my brain for something more than figuring out who ate last and how to potty train a toddler.

Now, I connect with men and women all over the U.S. and Canada every single day. I lead a team of over 50 people and I consider them among my closest friends and cheerleaders. This job is the most fun I've ever had and it fulfills me in a way that I didn't know I was missing. My glowing skin also helps my self confidence and forces me to take a few minutes to myself every night to wash and practice a little self care.

My only regret is not finding this opportunity sooner. I sometimes day dream about how invaluable it would've been during my infertility struggle. Not only would it have been a way to help fund some treatment, but my infertility would've been a BIG part of my why. Now, my kids are my why and creating time and financial freedom drive me to succeed in this business. Our ultimate goal is also to retire Sean from his full time job and we are on track to do that.

Let me close by telling you a little bit more about these kiddos that I am lucky enough to have call me their mom!

Eliza is 6 and in kindergarten. She is a typical first born and little mama to everyone. She is wise beyond her years. She is responsible and independent and so loving. Everyone says she is my mini me.

Lydia is 4 and her 2 year old teacher nicknamed her Sassy Pants. It stuck and she has proved it to be very accurate! She is my wild child! She is funny and has an incredible imagination. She is going to set the world on fire!

Owen is 2 and my littlest love. His favorite color is pink and he wants to be just like his sisters (who he adores). He is smart and never stops talking. He loves me something fierce. Now, I understand what everyone says about a mom and her son.

So, that's a little snapshot of my life these days. I am going to try to better about blogging because the time is going so fast and I want to remember every moment.

2009: The Year of Change?!?!

You know that saying, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" ?Yeah, well that might be the best way to sum up the past week.

Just when I thought 2009 was going to be a boring year, we have a big shake up in our household. This past week has brought about some major changes and it has taken us a little by surprise. My last post about moving back to Buffalo? Well, it may not be happening any time soon, but that's okay.

First, let me start with the beginning of the week. As I think I have mentioned, we have been in the market for a new car for almost a month now. We were thinking used SUV. We looked and looked and looked and were having a really tough time. We are super picky and type-A about things & that is a really annoying way to be when you are making large purchases. We weren't even considering new SUVs because this purchase was all about getting into a larger vehicle at a great price. Well, thanks to the craptastic economy and the stimulus bill, there are some great deals out there on new cars & our amazing salesman was able to get us into a NEW SUV for right around what we were going to spend on a used one. We were pleasantly surprised and after 4 weeks & many bad experiences, we drove off the lot in a brand spankin' new Fo.rd Esc.ape Limited! It is a little smaller of a truck than we were looking at originally, but the gas mileage is unreal - 28 miles to the gallon- & that was super appealing. It also had many of the features we were hoping for. At the end of the day, it is more than large enough for the 2 of us and the 4 wheel drive will come in very handy when driving up to Buffalo. Realistically, we could even get away with 2 little ones and have enough space. So, that was the beginning of our good news for the week.

In my last post about moving back to Buffalo, I alluded to the fact that things haven't always been perfect at Sean's company, but they have always been flexible about us moving back to Buffalo and they were open to taking Sean back after he left to open his own business - you take the good with the bad I guess. Recently though, despite the refi boom, things have been slooooooowwww & no sign of improvement on the horizon - so more bad than good. Sean is always networking & keeping his feelers out there and late last week an old friend spoke to him about an opportunity at a local brokerage. Sean called and an interview was arranged. We discussed it & decided Sean would at least go on the interview - nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? He had an interview on Wednesday & he felt that it went very well.

On Thursday afternoon, they called and made him a formal offer! We had already decided if they made an offer, we would accept. So, it's official! He resigned today and says he feels like the weight of the world has been lifted from his shoulders. He starts on Tuesday. We are VERY excited about this opportunity and are looking at it as a total new beginning.

Some of the highlights - the hours are much more appealing than his current job - 10-7pm daily instead of 9-9, no weekends, no pressure. The benefits are great (not sure about IF coverage yet, but I won't hold my breath), Sean knows a lot of people on the sales floor, & the compensation plan is very appealing.

Sean spoke to the management team about the possibility of moving back to Buffalo at some point and they are open to it. No promises, but there may be an option to work from home or open a small branch of the company. We decided it was not a deal breaker for us, if it works out - great. If not, that is okay too. Perhaps this will be a bridge to something else, perhaps we will extend our time frame a little bit. Right now, we are just going with the flow. This was not part of the plan, but we always try to be open to change. Though it is an overused cliche, I do believe everything happens for a reason.

We feel like the tide has turned for us a bit. We have had quite the stretch of bad news of the past 18 months - Sean's shoulder surgery, the car accident, the business not working out, 3 failed IVFs, Sean's dad's cancer, my Dad losing his job & not being able to find work, the economy etc... We have learned a lot, but I am so over all of it! We feel way over due for some positive news. I truly feel like there has been a shift in the cosmos. Perfect time to get our FET under way!

You may remember that my mantra for 2009 is "The Year of Hope" & I went into it with no expectations. Well, so far 2009 has been full of surprises and full of hope too. Looking forward to what else is in store...