Hey Everybody!

I know, I know . . . way too long since I gave an update so here goes . . .

I went back to work on Jan 5th & Tim switched to a continential shift the 2nd week of Jan. What this means for us is that Reid only goes to daycare Mon, Tues & Fri one week & Wed, Thur the next week. So it allows Reid to spend more time w/ Mommy & Daddy. It also means that Tim now works every other weekend. He is enjoying all this. He gets to spend more time w/ Reid & he is enjoying his new job. He is on call every day so gets to do a variety of runs/jobs. We found a sitter on Harmony which is the road Mom lives on (5 minute drive from our place, if that). She is inexpensive, we went to high school w/ her & a couple of acquaintances of ours send their kids there too. So being a working Mom has all gone way better than I expected. Don't get me wrong there are things that totally suck . . . like Reid crying when I drop him off & actually clinging to me when I go to hand him over to the sitter . . . but things are good overall. There is not enough hours in the day to do everything & I really miss spending my days w/ him but knowing that he is w/ Tim some of the week helps. Tim has a new iphone (which I regret more & more each day not getting myself one!) & he takes video of his days w/ Reid so I don't miss too much. Last week Reid walked 6 feet to the front window & 6 feet back without us even encouraging him. It was pretty awesome to watch.

So a little more about Reid . . . We turned his car seat around so he now gets to face the front which I think we all like better. He is just about ready for 1 nap a day instead of 2 (I think!). He was given a batman 4 wheeler for xmas & he just gets right up on it & starts driving , although he needs to start steering! He is just about clapping properly. He still enjoys dancing & music. He seems to learn new noises/words every week. We love him to death & he makes us laugh & smile everyday! Last week he had to go back to Sick Kids to f/u on the hernia he had in his groin. The one in the belly button has totally disappeared. They did an ultrasound & he was also examined by the dr. The dr thinks that the one in the groin was never actually a hernia. He thinks it was just his testicle moving up. His one testicle still has a wide range of movement still (which is OK but supports the theory - it will loss this movement over time). So they are booking us another f/u in 6 months but feel there is nothing to worry about. All this is common for premature boys.

My first week back to work I received an email from the guy who hired me @ London Life. The company he is w/ now (Insurance Protection Group) was hiring & he wanted to know if I was interested in what they had to offer . . . HELL YES! They had apparently received 200 applications for the job, only wanted to interview 5 of them & none of the 5 had experience. So I had 2 interviews & they offerred me the job. It was a $5100 raise for me & is an admin role instead of a sales role. So I started on Feb 14th. 1st week has gone well & I think I will be happy there (according to Tim I better be as I will be stuck @ this job forever!).

Mom & Steven got us gift certificates for Xmas so we decided to finally get moving on the trim & baseboard in the livingroom & kitchen. Tim & Steven actually made it themselves from pine. We also bought interior doors/knobs for the kitchen, bedroom & bathrooms. It is a lot of work but I am sure it will be well worth it when it is all done. Lots of staining & painting left to do.

Reid was sick this week. It was the first time we had to figure out what to do as we both had to work. We did not think he should go to the sitter. He was up 2 nights coughing & not sleeping properly. Since it was my 1st week of work we decided Tim would call in sick. Not only did we lose a days pay but we still had to pay the sitter! The up side is he slept in until 9:45am this morning . . . I woke up @ 9:30AM a little freaked as he never sleeps this late. He is napping now (2 hrs so far, again totally not typical!). Hopefully he is all better by next Wed when he is due to go to the sitter again.

So I was thinking the other day about our next McKown family get together. There was talk about doing another Amazing Race. So I have added a poll to see what the majority are interested in. So please take the time to vote so we can get planning this yrs event(s).

Happy belated birthday to Nathan & we hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day.

I will do my best to make blogging more of a priority in 2011! If there is anyone not on the blog who should be or would like to be added please forward me their email & I will add them.

xo