Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Where To Begin

Last post was in October! Ack! For awhile there, there really wasn't anything new going on. I've been tired beyond belief so haven't done much of anything. My days consist mostly of schooling Elizabeth, napping, then trying to get with it enough to make dinner. Then it's bed time and I start all over the next day. Yah, pretty boring.
I do have some note worthy items though so thought I'd catch up a bit. It's spring break, so not much pressure to get anything done :) I like that.

Today, Rob started a new job! He now works for Harmonic. I am so thrilled he was able to change companies! He'd been feeling like Cognex wasn't the right place anymore for a little while. He'd followed a couple job leads last year but nothing came through so we figured it just wasn't time for him to move on yet. He reapplied at one place this past January. It was one I was hoping he'd get last year. It's just down the road. His commute to Cognex, though not terribly long, was long enough to make our evenings even crazier than they normally were. He'd barely have time to walk in, scarf something done, then run off again to our various activities. We weren't getting very many family dinners with him that was for sure, and that was frustrating. Let alone being able to spend any real time with him. Anyway, we hadn't heard anything from the company so assumed that it wasn't going to pan out again. Rob was very surprised to get a phone call mid-February from the hiring manager telling him he'd like to set up an interview. He went, thought it went well, and sure enough a couple days later recieved an offer. In the mean time he had a friend who works there send him insurance information. We have to be very careful about insurance since Elizabeth needs good insurance coverage. We had pretty good insurance with Cognex and figured we'd never find any better. Imagine our surprise when we found out that not only would it be cheaper per month but included better coverage!! So really, how could Rob turn it down? Closer, better pay, and better insurance!! WOW! Rob accepted the offer. The biggest thing for me was the commute. Harmonic is located on the way to Hwy 26 which is on the way to all our doctor visits, mine and Elizabeth's. No more hours wasted just in drive time to try and get to E's CF visits! He was losing so much work time, thus using his PTO, just in trying to get to and from Doernbecher. Now I can just drive by, pick him on the way there, then drop him off on the way back and it shouldn't interfer too much with his work day! LOVELY! Not to mention I'll get to see him for lunches again :) I am so HAPPY about the change!!

We were able to get away one last time without the kids on Monday night. I have a friend in Washougal, WA who kept the kids for us. Our kids are all great friends and it's always nice to get them together! Our other dear friends, Lance and Heather, had given us a bed and breakfast gift certificate for Christmas and we wanted to use it before the baby entered the picture :) We found a place in Camas, WA, called the Fairgate Inn, not too far from our friend's place. It was our first time to a B and B so we weren't sure what to expect. We LOVED it! We had looked at all the rooms online and found one that was decorated in purple and gold. Naturally I went with that one.
So glad we did, it really was the most romantic of all the rooms in my opinion and so tastefully done. I would so love to do my own room up like that one! We stayed in all evening except to run out and grab some snacks later. I'm just not up for wandering around and exploring these days, everything hurts. We had brought the lap top so we sat around watching Netflix movies all evening. We never let ourselves watch anything at home so this was our treat, haha! We were the only couple staying there that night and the Inn keeper, wish I could remember her name, told us we had free reign of the house and to enjoy. All the other rooms were unlocked so we looked at each one, each of them decorated beautifully in a different theme. We were also told since we were the only ones we could upgrade to one of the bigger rooms for free if we wanted. But I really did just love that purple room so we kept it. She told us breakfast would be served at 9 am and then left us alone for the rest of the night. We explored the other rooms downstairs for a bit, huge library, beautiful sitting room with a baby grand, and a lovely dining room.
We got up at 8 (even managed to sleep in!! So great!) and got ready and headed down to the dining room. The same lady we talked to the day before met us down there and let us know breakfast would soon be ready. She was also the cook :) She brought out these really yummy pancakes, some kind of multigrain, covered in bananas and candied pecans. Grapes on the side. So delicious!! I had no idea there would be a 2nd course and had eaten the whole thing and was totally stuffed. Can't eat much at one sitting these days! So when she brought out another plate of food I almost died! This plate had an omelet, ham slices, and fried potatoes. So dang GOOD! I couldn't eat it all. We got our hostess to stay and chat with us. Was fun to get to know her and how she came to be at the Fairgate.
After that we had about an hour before we had to leave to pick up the kids. Spent it watching this show on TLC called "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant". Wow, that is the way to go. Find out that those horrible pains are labor pains and you are having a baby and you didn't even know. I'd sure take it over feeling like crap for 9 months :) Blows my mind that someone can be pregnant and not even know until they either drop the baby out or end up in the ER for pains they didn't know were labor pains. Just seems impossible! I think it would be GREAT! HA!

Then ran out to pick up the kids and headed towards home to get some much needed haircuts :) It was just a short time away but was so very nice to sit and enjoy the quiet together! Looking forward to trying out other B and B's in the future, and hope to make it back to the Fairgate! We would totally recommend it to anyone.