Well, hello everyone! It is certainly good to back in the blogging world. Obviously, I have been on hiatus for quite some time. Many of you know why, many of you don't. I will do my best to explain.
First and foremost, we have a new baby girl!! Her name is Cecilia and she was born November 7 via c-section. I had a wonderful midwife and was planning a homebirth, but thanks to my water breaking and not actually going into labor, we ended up in the hospital. Still, it was an excellent birthing experience at a wonderful hospital, and we now have another beautiful baby girl. She is so precious and we are all so much in love with her!
That being said, the start of this so-called blogging hiatus began with the start of my pregnancy. I had morning sickness 24/7. I could barely keep even water down, let alone food, and it was not at all unusual for Keith to find me puking into a bucket by the side of the bed in the middle of the night. Any type of reading I did, or typing on the computer, would bring on another bout of nausea. So I had to put blogging on hold for some time. By the sixth month I felt better, but by then horrible Braxton Hicks contractions had set in, so I spent whatever free time I had resting and napping. Thus, almost a year of no blogging.
Many of you have asked about the Charity Ball scheduled for last month. Obviously, with a baby due just weeks before the event, we decided it would be in everyone's best interest, especially the baby's, to reschedule it for next year. So the Ball is still on, just scheduled for 2010. Of course, we will post all relevant information regarding exact date, time and ticket information in a timely manner. Keith and I want to thank all of you who were eager and ready to purchase tickets. Your support means so much!!
One the reasons I have not been blogging is a huge change in schooling for the kids. This year, for the first time, we have been homeschooling. We decided to go this route for many reasons. 1) My son was having a very difficult time in public school. It's not that he couldn't do the work, it's that he did it so quickly he finished long before everyone else, then became bored. He started having some behavior issues due to this boredom. We decided that the best thing for him was to work from home so that he could work at his own pace.
2) We needed the flexibility that homeschooling provides. With a husband working fifty + retail hours each week, we need to be available when he is. Being confined to a Monday thru Friday, 8 - 3 school schedule drastically limits the time we have together as a family. When Keith gets home from work he needs to rest, so doing much in the way of family activities during that time is not usually possible. With homeschooling, we are able to schedule school around Keith's work schedule, which increases the quality time we have together.
There is one final reason why I quit blogging for so long. This reason itself will result in another post - a much longer and more detailed post. For now I will simply say that I had become disgruntled. Yes, disgruntled, mainly with Keith. Over the past two years I was getting more and more frustrated with Keith's lack of interest in his own health. Nothing I said or did was able to motivate him enough to take some sort of action to fight this disease, or at the very least, keep himself as healthy as possible. His shoulder locked up, he was diagnosed with Diabetes, yet he still refused to make any real effort for himself. On top of all that, we went back and forth, sometimes on a daily basis, about whether or not to sell our house and move into something more affordable and more PD appropriate. I won't lie - we fought about that particular issue quite a bit. I will blog more about that issue later . . . .
I know it's a little late for an official announcement, but like last year, all proceeds from the Life With Shaky store, from October thru December, will be donated to the APDA. Last year we had a ton of sales just before and just after the Oct/Dec deadlines (sigh), but this year we have already had some nice holiday sales. So keep shopping! It's not too late to buy for Christmas!!!!
Thank you all for staying in touch during my hiatus. It's good to be back!!!
