New Name and Playing Catch Up

I'm trying to get caught up on life in general. While adding a new baby to the mix has been fun and exciting, it's also put me WAY behind on pretty much everything. So, it's time to update the name of our blog and give it some much needed TLC!

"Pete and Shelley, The Bonus Plan"

When we were married almost 5 years ago, we weren't even sure if we would have kids. On our wedding trip, I remember having the conversation......

-"Do you want kids?"

-"I don't know. What about you?"

-"I don't know."

(not picture of actual conversation) :-)

This obviously wasn't the first time we had this conversation (We didn't wait until after we were married to discuss such a huge issue!), but we were still in agreement.......we had no idea what we wanted. We were getting "older" (31 and 34), but we also loved adventure and were constantly travelling or trying something new.

Over the next year, we made up our minds.....and a year and 2 months later, I was pregnant. Not just one baby, but two! BONUS!

When the babies were 19 months old (March of 2009), Pete and I were sitting at my birthday dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Again, we had the conversation.....

-"Do you want another baby?"

-"I don't know. What about you?"

-"I don't know."

-"OK, then lets just give it until the end of this year and then we'll re-assess the situation. By then the kids will be almost 2 1/2, so it wouldn't be as INSANE as getting pregnant with two 19 month olds.......Because if we got pregnant right now, that would mean we'd have 3 kids under 2 1/2 years old, which would be CCCCRRRRAAAAAZZZZZZYYYYY and just might push us over the edge."

OK......so maybe it didn't go exactly like that, but pretty close. Little did we know, that while we sat there having that conversation, I was already pregnant with Ethan! Another BONUS! Crazy, but definitely a BONUS!

2 days after my first doctors appointment, Pete was laid off for the second time in 7 months! He started his current job 7 months later, the same week that I delivered Ethan. I was still in the hospital on his first day of work! Ethan was born on December 14th. What if we had waited until the end of the year to revisit the discussion of adding another baby? What would we have decided? I'm SO GLAD that the decision was made for us. BONUS!

We were living in Indiana when he was laid off the first time (October 2008). He quickly found a job that led us back to Texas, near my family. October 2008.....the economy was literally falling apart before all of our eyes. We put our house on the market THE DAY AFTER he was laid off, not even knowing where we would be moving with two 14 month old babies (we are a little crazy). How lucky were we to sell our house and find a job within a month and 1/2 that would allow us to move back to Texas (even if the job would end 5 months later)? BONUS, BONUS, BONUS!

God only gives us what we can handle, right? We've been walking a thin line and I'm not always sure I can handle it all, but I really feel like everything has worked out perfectly.

In one month, Gavin and Emery will be 3 years old. So, instead of three kids under 2 1/2, we'll have three kids 3 and under. That's GOT to be easier, right??? :-)

So, that's why we're now called "Pete and Shelley, the Bonus Plan"!