October

This was a big month. I had a tiny little reason to make a big change. The tiny reason being Cece and the big change being my decision to quit work to stay home with her. So, last day of September also ended up being my last day of work. It was a difficult decision to make, but I'm glad I did. It was getting too difficult to be spending so much time away from Cece. So, for many reasons (financial, emotional, etc.) I made the decision to stay home with her. I really loved Cece's daycare and  I loved my job. I do feel lucky that both these things were so hard to leave. I am also lucky that even though Joe's job is tough, it allows me the opportunity to do this. But, I always struggle with the end of anything. I can be so emotional and I often develop the "it's the end of an era!" mindset. I will say that it has been a wonderful three years with the same company, but I was very excited to start my new job with my new little (if slightly demanding) boss.

And October has been rather busy and a great time of year to embrace this change in our lives.

We started out the month with attending the wedding of the ridiculously lovely Kristina and Tony Anderson. This was also our first night away from Cece as Grandma got to babysit. The wedding was gorgeous and filled with amazing little details, including Minnesota wines, Wisconsin cheeses, a smores station, many hockey cheer alumni, and so much more!

Also, Sarah and Will came to visit us early in the month. It. Was. So. So. FUN! It went by far too quickly and we filled the time with lots of catching up, walks around various lakes, making the babies pose in photos together, brunch in Uptown, a visit to the Mall of America, a few home-cooked meals, and a glass of wine or two after the babies were asleep. Luckily, she has scheduled another visit up to Minneapolis in January so I don't go through Will and Sarah withdrawal for too long!

And then some more wonderful news... Emily finally had that baby! Little Penelope Margaret. Such a peanut! Joe and I counted and just about nine of our couple friends either had babies or became pregnant in 2011. So many little mini-mes!

Next-ly, Joe and I took a giant technological leap and traded in our flip phones with text limits (and mine with no camera) for SMART PHONES! We are literally the last people I know to still own flip phones, so this was a really big deal. And it's kind of pathetic how cool I feel now because of a silly material item. And really, if I don't have a fancy job, do I really need a fancy phone? Why, yes, yes I do! Boy am I having fun taking and sending photos and videos, listening to music, facebooking, AND playing Scrabble with all my sister-in-laws. So,below is just some fun photo-taking of October around our place.

 

That being said, this little iphone was a fantastic accessory for me to take along to my solo trip I made to Madison and Chicago this month (solo meaning me and Cece). As always, it was great to hang out with my sister  (with all her gift-giving, sangria-making, and cupcake-pushing), see my Grandma, see my Dad play with Cece, and have coffee with my Mom, even if it was all pretty brief.

And of course, the month ended with our six-month-old C Monster's first Halloween. How fun it was to carve pumpkins, hand out candy (now that we are in a house!) and have a kid to dress up! Rumor is that it only gets more fun from here.

So, here's to hoping now that I have a little more free time on my hands that a little more bloggity goodness can happen.