We have big news and big changes happening in the Friske house! Gary had an interview about six weeks ago for a job that he applied for back when he was unemployed - a position working for the VA in Washington D.C. Two weeks later, he got a call offering him the job (this was about two weeks ago now). They agreed to let him have a week to make the decision, so we traveled to D.C. two weekends ago for an extended, 4-day weekend to check it out and look for a place to live and see whether or not we wanted to accept the job. We made a list of the pros and cons, prayed about our decision, talked a lot with family and friends, explored the area, and officially made the decision a week ago to accept the position and move to D.C.! We are so excited!! This will be a huge change for us in many, many ways.
Here are a few details about what's going on right now and what our plans are:
*We are scheduled to move in just 3 weeks, and Gary starts his new job on July 20th!
*He'll be working right across from Washington Square in D.C. - you can actually see the White House from his building!
*We have a 2-bedroom, 1,000 square foot apartment that we will be moving to (cost of living is, of course MUCH higher in D.C. and we will be paying slightly MORE for this apartment than we do for our home here - CRAZY!)
*The apartment is in Woodbridge, VA - about 20-25 minutes from downtown D.C. This was the best area that we found to get affordable housing that is still in a family-friendly complex and where we felt it was safe and clean.
*Gary plans to use public transportation to get to work, and will probably spend AT LEAST an hour each way commuting. (Although, he is used to a long commute, since he is an hour away now...) However, the long commute seemed like a better decision than living somewhere closer in an area that didn't seem as safe (for what we could afford closer, the housing was not real nice at all)
*We are in the process of renting out our home here in KY. We're also busy getting things done (cleaning, fixing things up, etc.) for our new tennants.
*I officially resigned from my position in Norwood today, and am excited to stay home with our boys this next year!
*I am busy packing and labeling boxes - some to stay here in storage, some to go to our new apartment, and some to be stored at my parents' house in PA (like I said, we will have less than half of the space we do now, so it's taking some creative packing!)
We are so excited for this next adventure! It is a bit scary, and definitely seems crazy, but we really feel that this is a good decision for our family and that God has been opening many doors to us over the past month, making this an easy decision for us. We are thankful for this opportunity and can't wait to see what it brings!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
1 Month Update! (better late than never, right?)
I know, this is waaaay overdue - I started this post about 2 weeks ago when Nathan was one month old, then life got CRAZY and I never finished it -oops! So, we had his one month check-up about 2 weeks ago... here are his one month stats (even though he'll be two months old sooon!):
*He weighs 9 lbs and is 20.5 inches long (both in the 25th percentile - along with his head size which I can't remember the numbers on)
*He is still eating every 3 hours or so (although sometimes I feed him at 2.5 hours and other times he'll go a little over 3 hrs to get on schedule throughout the day for a 10 pm bedtime!)
*Nathan is still going to bed at 10:00 (nursing for the last time at 9:30) and getting up between 1:30 and 3:30 at some point to eat. He is good about going right back to sleep and usually gets up again between 4:30 and 5:30. I've been nursing him, putting him back down, and getting him up to eat around 7 or 7:30 for the day. If I'm lucky, he sleeps straight from 3ish until 7ish though :) But... that's not been too often lately.
*He is smiling real smiles now :) Amazing!
*His head is getting strong - on his belly he can lift it a little over 45 degrees now!
*Alex is still enjoying being big brother and taking care of "his" baby :)
*He weighs 9 lbs and is 20.5 inches long (both in the 25th percentile - along with his head size which I can't remember the numbers on)
*He is still eating every 3 hours or so (although sometimes I feed him at 2.5 hours and other times he'll go a little over 3 hrs to get on schedule throughout the day for a 10 pm bedtime!)
*Nathan is still going to bed at 10:00 (nursing for the last time at 9:30) and getting up between 1:30 and 3:30 at some point to eat. He is good about going right back to sleep and usually gets up again between 4:30 and 5:30. I've been nursing him, putting him back down, and getting him up to eat around 7 or 7:30 for the day. If I'm lucky, he sleeps straight from 3ish until 7ish though :) But... that's not been too often lately.
*He is smiling real smiles now :) Amazing!
*His head is getting strong - on his belly he can lift it a little over 45 degrees now!
*Alex is still enjoying being big brother and taking care of "his" baby :)
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Memorial Day Weekend!
This was a crazy weekend at the Friske house! I came down sick with mastitis on Thursday evening and it was AWFUL! I can't remember when I've been so sick! Even though it's an infection from breastfeeding, it's MUCH more than that... fever, chills, headache, nausea, lightheadedness - basically feels like a bad case of the flu. Gary offered to stay home Friday, but being at a new job I really didn't want him to use up his sick days/vacation and I figured it'd be fine. We pretty much sat on the couch ALL day... Alex was a trooper, watching movies and shows and being pretty good all considering. He was cute about it too because he'd tell me I needed to rest and sleep and he'd ask if I needed to "hold him" or if I needed daddy to hold me. I ended up getting an antibiotic and was on the mend by Saturday morning.
So a couple of weeks ago I found out my new placement for next year is kindergarten at a new building (Norwood View). I'm not super excited about being back in kindergarten... I've really enjoyed first grade and teaching reading. Kindergarten is just so different! The kids are such babies and so needy - no independence at all! At least I have experience in K though, so it's not something totally new. I also will have to work with a new team of teachers though - in five years of teaching this will be my FOURTH team of teachers to work with! I was also told I'd need to pack my room up since I'll be moving to View - my THIRD building in five years! It really kind of stinks being the low one on the todem pole! I was given June 2nd as a date to be packed up by - and school didn't let out until May 29th - so that gave me 5 days to pack up (3 of them over the weekend). Seeing as there is no way I could do all that work with a 2 year old and 1 month old in tow, it meant I'd have to get it done with Gary's help over the weekend! So Gary's family got dragged in as well - they were super helpful though and it really went pretty quick with so many hands. It is AMAZING though how much stuff I've accumulated over the past four years... here's the final count:
*36 boxes provided by the school (we filled every provided box!)
*2 small bookshelves (since I'm only moving the ones fully intact :) )
*6 personal boxes
*4 crates full
*6 large plastic tubs
*1 box fan
*1 pocket chart stand
*1 rug
*2 chart paper boxes
I'd say that is A LOT of stuff! It seriously stresses me out to think of UNPACKING it all later this summer - uggh!
So we didn't really get a chance to do any "Memorial Day" festivities on Monday since we were busy finishing up the packing - no parades, parks, or grill outs for us this year. But that's ok, we had a great weekend with family and got a lot done :)
Gary's parents and brother/sister-in-law were in town visiting this weekend! We enjoyed lots of good family time - brunch, movies, grilling, conversation, board games, playing with the kids, church, food, and packing! Yes, packing! They were kind enough to help me pack up my classroom on Saturday morning (but I'll get to that). But first, a couple of pics from the weekend:
So a couple of weeks ago I found out my new placement for next year is kindergarten at a new building (Norwood View). I'm not super excited about being back in kindergarten... I've really enjoyed first grade and teaching reading. Kindergarten is just so different! The kids are such babies and so needy - no independence at all! At least I have experience in K though, so it's not something totally new. I also will have to work with a new team of teachers though - in five years of teaching this will be my FOURTH team of teachers to work with! I was also told I'd need to pack my room up since I'll be moving to View - my THIRD building in five years! It really kind of stinks being the low one on the todem pole! I was given June 2nd as a date to be packed up by - and school didn't let out until May 29th - so that gave me 5 days to pack up (3 of them over the weekend). Seeing as there is no way I could do all that work with a 2 year old and 1 month old in tow, it meant I'd have to get it done with Gary's help over the weekend! So Gary's family got dragged in as well - they were super helpful though and it really went pretty quick with so many hands. It is AMAZING though how much stuff I've accumulated over the past four years... here's the final count:
*36 boxes provided by the school (we filled every provided box!)
*2 small bookshelves (since I'm only moving the ones fully intact :) )
*6 personal boxes
*4 crates full
*6 large plastic tubs
*1 box fan
*1 pocket chart stand
*1 rug
*2 chart paper boxes
I'd say that is A LOT of stuff! It seriously stresses me out to think of UNPACKING it all later this summer - uggh!
So we didn't really get a chance to do any "Memorial Day" festivities on Monday since we were busy finishing up the packing - no parades, parks, or grill outs for us this year. But that's ok, we had a great weekend with family and got a lot done :)
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