March - June Update!

Hello everyone! Long time no see! These past few months have been ridiculously busy. Here's a quick update:
As you of course know, Vincent turned one on March 7th, on which we also had his birthday party! We had several close friends and family members here for his party and it was a blast!

And on April 11th, Michael and I had our wedding ceremony! It was more amazing than I ever hoped and dreamed it would be.

All above wedding photos were taken by my amazingly talented friend Amber Armstrong!
Please give her a like on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Armstrong-Photography/149340051754341?fref=ts

In May, we took a long weekend trip up to New Mexico to visit family and friends! We spent the first night and part of the next day in Belen, visiting my mom and Grandparents, then continued on to Farmington. We spent a few days there, visiting Mike's mom and stepfather and some friends, then spent Saturday night and part of Mother's Day in Colorado, visiting Mike's dad's side of the family. It was a quick, but lovely trip!

Watching Cars in the car! I can't begin to tell you how
much that DVD player helped on this trip!!

Vincent meeting "Buddy" and Great Grandma and Papa's! 

First time at Wendy's 

Enjoying a cider beer at Three Rivers Brewery with some friends!

Vincent's first time meeting his Great, Great Grandfather!
Amazing to get 5 generations together.

Mother's Day 

Coffee on the return trip is a must! (Don't worry - I was parked!)

The same weekend we were in New Mexico, my brother moved back out and Vincent is back in his own room! This allowed us to purchase a desk and cube shelf, so I could set up a little office space in the bedroom to paint. 

At the end of May, Mike and I both started new jobs. Mike is now a frac water pumper, working 16-17 hour days, 7 days a week. Before Mike left his last job, I had applied for a part time job as a childcare provider at a local daycare center, where Vincent would be able to attend. After Mike got his new job, I decided I'd leave the ball in the daycare's court and if they were interested in hiring me on, I'd go ahead and take the job, so we could put more money into savings. I got the job, but after two weeks, I found that it just was not working. Because of Mike's hours, obviously 100% of Vincent's care, shopping, cooking and housework fell on me. Which is completely understandable and I did not mind at all, but it was wearing me out very quickly. And since Vincent was not used to the daycare environment and not only being away from his daddy all day, but also his mommy, he was really, really struggling. He hardly napped at all and slept terribly at night. We both got really sick as well, which is a no-brainer at daycare. For all of the above reasons, I decided to leave the daycare and stay at home again. I felt that I bit off more than I could chew.
Part of me feels like I failed. I REALLY wanted for it to work and I kept trying to convince myself over and over again that everything was going to be okay. But it just wasn't. And at the same time, I felt like if I didn't leave, I'd not only be failing my son, I'd be failing my husband. I don't regret my decision at all and I've come to truly appreciate my time with Vincent all the more, as well as the opportunity to raise him at home, the way Mike and I see fit. It also gave me a lot of insight and a new appreciation for working moms and moms who do it alone! You women are rockstars! I've gotten back to painting pretty regularly again and life is good. Mike's job is exhausting, but he is really enjoying it and the fact that we are no longer financially struggling. I appreciate every single day how hard he works for our family. 
Well, those are the last 4 months in a nutshell! Now that so many huge events have passed and most all of the big projects are out of the way, expect to see me post more frequently! Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July weekend!