Beginning My "Jesus" Year

So yesterday was my 33rd birthday (thanks Mommy! I appreciate you popping me out SOOO much more now that I've done it myself a couple of times!). Some people call your 33rd year on Earth your "Jesus" year since that's when his Earthly ministry ended. Not all of the important stuff happened that year, but a whole lot of it did. We'll have to see what it brings me. (Oh, and happy 5th birthday, free Iraq!)

Leading up to my birthday, God gave me His present - a new, fabulous job! I'm working at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab. I'm working with some former co-workers and customers (a.k.a. "old friends") doing stuff that I enjoy doing! They have a new laptop for me and _TWO_ ginormous screens (and a docking station) for when I'm in the office. Right now, that's daily mostly in the afternoons. In a couple of weeks, I'll start working most days from home. The main reason that I haven't posted about this (or anything else) since I started two weeks ago is that they became aware of a cyber attack the day before I started and today's the first day that they've restored complete internet access to us. They're paying me (way) more, they're a (way) better organization overall, they value me as an employee (way) more, they've bent over backwards to do everything possible to make working for them as convenient for me as they can. And did I mention that I'm working with friends doing stuff that I love? :) It's _GREAT_!

It's been hard being away from the kids even though it was just the afternoons, but we've got a friend watching them for us and they're really enjoying her. Plus I'm really only missing lunch, naps, and the post-nap whiny period. For the most part, I'm ok with that. :) It _has_ been difficult trying to keep the house "company" ready-ish and getting stuff like grocery shopping done while still pumping enough to meet Joanna's needs while I'm away, picking up our friend (who is currently car-less), and getting to work "on time" (which is really just a requirement I set for myself - no one here cares when I get here). But we're making it work!

Joanna was 6 months old last Tuesday, so we started with the solid foods. She's not the fan of carrots that her big brother used to be. Didn't mind the peaches so much, but just isn't as into eating solids as AJ was at 4 months! It's still amazing to me how different they can be!

Hopefully she'll do alright with them though because the next two weekends we'll be apart for significant periods of time and I'm not sure I'll be able to pump enough. My folks are sending me and VNB to a little B&B on St. Michaels this Friday night (with babysitting included since my mom's flying up Friday morning and staying through Monday morning). Then the following weekend, we're taking our first family-of-four camping trip with a big group of friends. The group is leaving Friday night, but I've got a meeting till late, so I'll be away from her a good bit of the evening, then most of us (myself included!) are going white water rafting on Saturday. So I'll spend this week and next downing my "Mother's Milk" tea and eating oatmeal cookies to boost my production as much as possible.

But speaking of which, I need to go pump. So things are good! I just haven't had time in the mornings to post anything.