Our Christmas Card

Once again I wasn't prepared completely for Christmas and didn't send out any Christmas cards. I wanted to send them out with a letter enclosed like most people do, but time got away from me and it never got done! So, I figured I would just put it all on here. Here goes our 2008 family recap:
New Year's 2008 was interesting. I was pregnant with Ashton and I had the flu along with Pyper and Jordan. It was not fun to be stuck at home, feeling miserable, missing work. It took about a week but we all got better. Then some other yucky virus came through the house like a week or two later and I was sick AGAIN, missing even more work! I finally got over all of that, went back to work and thought that things would move along as usual....NOT! On Feb. 10th, I was on my way to bed when I noticed police cars and a fire truck pulling into our apartment complex and I could hear a lot of people outside being a bit loud(not unusual for where we live) and I almost ignored it but I decided to check out what was going on instead. Well, our building was on fire. It was my worst nightmare come true....home alone with the kids and no way out except for one long drop to the ground from our third floor apartment. Obviously, we all made it out alive but very shaken up. It took a few days before I could go back to work. I was only back at work for 2 days when they announced that the project I had been working on was going away and we were only going to have jobs until the end of April. At this point, I was having issues with my pregnancy, I was having anxiety attacks at night due to the fire and couldn't sleep, Pyper and Jordan were having nightmares because of the fire, ect. I talked it over with Spencer and we decided that it would be okay if I left work to stay at home until Ashton was born. A good idea considering my doctor was concerned about the problems I was having with the pregnancy. I have to say that after being at home and on "bed rest" is not something I ever want to do again! I love my kids to death, but I don't think I could ever be a full time stay at home mom....I would go insane! I had a couple of overnight stays in the hospital durring my pregnancy which only hightened my anxiety. I was having contractions at 6 months and always really tired which I didn't experience with Pyper and Jordan. Despite my best efforts to carry Ashton to full term he came 3 1/2 weeks early. He was born on July 4th! We were happy to have him at home with us and very happy that he was pretty healthy considering how early he was and how small he was! I finally got back to work on September 2nd and I started training to be a technical support representative for Dell computers. I got all the way through 8 weeks of training, and A+ Certification just to be told that I was going to be laid off for two weeks and then I would start training for the new Verizon FiOS account that was coming. Dell's stocks had taken a turn for the worse so they downsized the project significantly. Spencer had been working the graveyard shift for Dell for just over a year and he was lucky enough to be one of the 60 people that they kept on the project. But because I was new I got booted over to Verizon and I had no other choice. The good part of the move to Verizon was that after completing training we would be given a $400 bonus for staying with the company through such tuff times. I was excited for that because it was going to be on the pay check two days before Christmas! I went through training and was getting more and more anxious for that bonus so that I could get Spencer his Christmas gifts. They were expensive so I had to wait for the bonus. Well, Spencer let his brother Joe borrow our car and he slid on some ice and hit a crub. I went to have the car aligned but was told at two different places that I needed to take it to a body shop. I went to the body shop and they told me that it would cost $490.02 to fix all the damage and that it wasn't safe to be driving my car. I got my bonus on Tuesday the 23rd and it was all gone and then some by Friday the 26th! On a good note, at least I can drive my car now without being scared that the wheel will come off or that I'll drop my engine in the middle of State Street! Christmas was....well...read my previous blog titled "Freakin' DRAMA" to hear about that day. The kids are all doing well and Spencer is happy that he still works for Dell. We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year. We also pray that 2009 will be better for us than 2008....fingers crossed!!!