my promotion

i'm officially 17 days into my new job - full time mama to my babes...check that my big boy and my baby! what a crazy last few months it's been juggling work, kids, home, life, etc. i'm so excited to be able to focus on my number one priority - my family. i'm really hoping to find some peace, calm and simplicity in just enjoying this time while our kids are still young.

while i know this is the right thing for us right now...this decision was both the easiest and the hardest decision i've had to make. hard because i loved my job at nike - it gave me/us so much, both personally and professionally. i will miss the challenging work, the awesome friends and co-workers, the amazing opportunities, the employee discounts (!), the paycheck & benefits, the feeling of professional accomplishment and growth, the ability to grab coffee, lunch, run an errand, workout or just have a moment to myself and the opportunities it afforded our kids (friends, teachers, learning, bonding, experiences at Stringer). i won't miss the ~45 minutes it took to drop off and pick up both kids, the logging on for a few hours of work a couple of nights a week, the rushing into the Stringer at 5:55pm and feeling like the worst parent on the planet, the chaos of getting a decent dinner on the table before rushing the kids off to bed and the constant feeling of being just average at home and at work (whether it was true or not!).

i'm lucky, because i have many friends who have already made this decision and i thank them for giving me the courage to do the same! i'll be approaching my new "job" similar to how i would approach any new job. i have plans to meet with all my friends to learn their "best practices" and will be scheduling regular 1:1 and team meetings...make that playdates! today i started a spreadsheet of all the free/inexpensive activities to do during the week (library and bookstore story times, music peformances, art classes, gymboree classes, etc.). i need to figure out our routine for balancing fun with errands, cleaning, cooking etc. also, with a busy busy 2.5 (almost 3!) year old and a demanding, hates to sleep and eat almost 1 year old, i need to find some extreme patience. i'm going into this expecting that this job will actually be harder then my old job...but oh so much more fulfilling!

how lucky am i to be able to spend my days with these adorable babies? watching them grow, learn and love each other...i couldn't ask for a better gig!

i'm mostly thankful to Aa - for supporting this decision and working so hard so that we can do this. i <3>