So I try to focus on things that do get better with age.  The first thing I have realized that has gotten better with age is being a mother.  I waited 30 years to be a mother and now I wonder why I waited so long.  I don’t regret waiting so long…I just chalk it up to something that got better with age! Speaking of being a mother, I’ll take a moment to update everyone on Gwyn.

Gwyn is so funny!  She really cracks me up every day.  We are starting to have more conversations, which I love.  The other night, she kept asking for milk after she had already brushed her teeth.  She was lying in bed for the night and I am in our bedroom.  She yells out “Mom…how bout some water?” to which I reply “yes, you can have some water”.  I go get the water, take it to her room and she drinks almost the entire glass.  She looks at me and says “wow, I was thirsty!”.

I took yesterday off of work and after lunch we put her down for a nap with some books.  We are in the living room and she talks to us through the monitor.  She says “Mom…I don’t want to nap, I want to play…please” and I cave and let her play for another hour or so before taking a nap.

Some things that I feel like I should share so that when I tell you that she is a genius, you will believe me.  She counts really well up to the teens.  She even counts backwards from 5 to 1 then says “Blast Off!”.  She knows most of her alphabet and can recognize letters 75% of the time.  She is learning her colors and knows most of her shapes.  She remember EVERYTHING you tell her.  Brian told her how to draw a fire truck the other day but starting with two circles then a rectangle…so when Papa came over, Gwyn asked him to draw a fire truck.  She said, “Draw two circles then a rectangle”.

She is drawing and doing it pretty well.  She draws people and tons of circles and something she calls a badgar.  She is starting to draw body parts which just amazes me!

So on to another aspect of life that has gotten better with age…running!  I started running distance in college with a friend who I’ve grown out of touch with…but I think of her often now that I’m back to running…I think she would be proud of me.  I used to do a fair share of 10k’s and 5’s and once I did a 15k.  I always averaged a 10 minute or more mile.  I was in great shape too!  Well, just before I got pregnant with Gwyn, I started running again but lacked motivation and I quit when I got pregnant.  After I had Gwyn and lost some weight, I decided to start running again.  Through a friend, I found a running group here in Greenville and I am very thankful that I found them.  Not only do they push me to better my time and distance, I found a good group of friends!  I just ran a 5k this past weekend and had a personal record of 27:08 to run 3.1 miles which was an average of 8:44 pace.  I was shooting for under 9 minute mile so I feel really proud of my time.  I came in at 13th place in my age group which had 44 runners.  So my goals for this year are to run a half marathon here in Greenville in early October then a marathon in Virginia in March 2011.

Lastly, while I may not have what some would refer to as a “career” anymore…I love my jobs!  I love teaching and the schedule.  I love my job with the Stallings and the flexibility it provides.  It is nice working for a family and great working with another CPA who can teach me so much and has experience that I can only benefit from!  I’m learning new aspects of accounting that I haven’t had to use in the past.  While I very much miss State and Local Tax and doing research (yes, I’m a geek and love to do research)…I like learning new things!

To end, as usual…I’ll have Brian post some pictures later on today!  We went to the aquarium on Sunday and had a ball!  Gwyn loved all the animals.  She is definitely an animal lover.  She is so gentle with our animals and respects them which is very important to me!

We promise…really…to update this more often to keep you all apprised of Gwyn’s happenings!

When we gave our notice to the management company about vacating, we were informed we would get penalized for 2 months worth of rent unless we could sublease our place.  I can’t believe the response we got to sublease this duplex and we were very fortunate to have that put behind us quickly…we didn’t have to stress long over finding a tenant.

So the big move is going to commence on the 22nd of August and we should be all moved by the following Saturday!  Yes, we decided to move during my first week back to school!

In other news, we went to Pennsylvania for vacation this year.  The drive up was not so bad.  I used some of my Marriott points and we stayed a little less than halfway up.  Gwyn and I got up the next morning and took a little dip at the indoor pool.  Then we were on the road again.  We stopped at a nice state park in West Virginia and let Gwyn play on the slide and swings and we ate lunch at a concession stand by the lake. We got to my grandparents in time for a cookout!

The next day we left for my dad’s camp at Pymatuning and had a blast!  The first day we went to see the carp at Linesville.  The carp are so densely populated at this one particular area that the ducks can walk on them and they flop out of the water.  You can buy loaves of bread to feed them and Gwyn had a great time!  That night dad and all his friends got together for a fish fry!  Gwyn was extremely happy with the menu…I’m not sure how much fish she ate but I know that I’ve never seen her eat so much food before!

The next day we went to Deer Park in Jamesville.  They have a lot of animals to feed and some exotic animals to just look at.  We had a great time and Gwyn loved it all.  We even rode on a little train that an emu followed us around…Gwyn thought that emu was great while other kids squealed over being afraid of it!

We then went back to my grandparents and hung out for the remainder of our stay.  We left on a Sunday and drove straight back which we will never do again.  We did stop at Potomac Mills on the way back to get Gwyn a new pair of sneakers.  It was a long day and needless to say – we are looking into flights for Christmas!

I’ve been working all summer for the Stallings Family.  I worked with the CPA there when I was in college and she needs help about 20 hours a week.  For this summer, I’ve been working full time to get trained up but now I’m down to my last two weeks full time, beginning with classes (and moving) I will work on average 20 hours a week.  I really enjoy my days there and I’m learning a lot about finance companies and some small business accounting rather than tax which is what I’ve done my entire career so far… and my tax work as been specialized to state and local tax.

Brian is actively seeking a teaching job which is hard to come by these days!  There is still one job that we hold out hope for but it is a competitive market right now.  Brian took his middle grades Praxis 2 weeks ago so we are awaiting the scores to see if he can’t maybe apply for middle school jobs as well.  In the meantime, he is staying home with Gwyn and teaching her lots of new things!  Brian has also been selling lots of stuff on Ebay.  It was been wonderful extra funds in the door while reducing the items we have been storing all these years.  I’m really proud of Brian and his auctions.  I’m also appreciate that he is willing to part with items he has had since he was a child.  He so far has sold all his Transformers and is now onto Battletech items.  We still have a lot to go!

Gwyn is learning so much these days.  She is taking gymnastics and will continue into the fall.  She loves to count.  She is learning all kinds of new words, some of which we have yet to figure out exactly what she is actually saying.  She is a good helper.  She helps with the animals feedings every morning and every night.  She is throwing toys for the dogs which they absolutely love!  Gwyn is learning to dress herself, eat with silverware, go potty (not really pursuing this 100% yet), put her toys away, and colors.  She loves us to read to her.  Her big thing lately, is putting puzzles together.  And most of all, we love the squeezes (hugs) and kisses she is giving away so freely!

The animals are doing great!  I want to get Keegan and Tess into agility classes again.  I’m trying to decide what classes and if we can afford for them both to be in class at the same time.  I went to observe some classes this week to try to decide and now I need to discuss with the instructor.  At any rate, I’m looking forward to it.  I’m also looking forward to getting back into running shape so that I can complete a 5k in October and a 10-miler in December.  We shall see about the 10-miler.  If I’m not ready for 10 miles, then I’ll just run the 5k.

Now I’m off to take care of Gwyn who doesn’t stop for even a second!  Hope to post more frequently after we get moved and Brian shows me how to post pictures too!

And finally a picture at Brian’s parents… she loves to slam the ball into the hoop!

* (from Brian) Sorry for the delay in new pictures here at our blog – it has taken me awhile to get used to switching to a Mac (LOVE IT), including new programs on how to upload pictures to the server. (big kudus/thanks to Scott L!)

This Father’s Day marks Brian’s second as a Dad to Gwyneth!  It is hard to believe that Gwyn is over a year and a half old.  Time really does fly when you are having fun!

Speaking of fathers and fun…there are several things I love about Brian and him being a Dad.  One of those things is how much fun he has with Gwyn.  Almost every evening, he makes her laugh.  He doesn’t just make her giggle but he can make her laugh this great belly laugh that brings a smile to everyone’s face!  I love how he gets down on her level and will play with her for hours!  If any of you have seen Brian around kids, you know he has a way with youngsters!!!

Another thing I love about Brian is that I can leave Gwyn with him and not get those phone calls that other Mother’s apparently get about “what should I feed our child for lunch” and such.  I find it hard to believe that when I’m around other Mother’s that they get these types of phone calls.  Brian knows exactly what to do with Gwyn, what to feed her, how to dress her (well…that sometimes can be comical but for the most part he does well), how to put her bed, etc.  I love that I can leave them for the weekend or longer have full confidence that Gwyn will be taken very good care of and this is more then I can say for most mothers!

And lastly, (not that there are only three things I love about Brian and him being a dad but I’ll only list three here) I love the fact that Brian is selling all his childhood toys and toys he has bought as an adult to help reduce our debt load.  I think he really wanted to share all these toys with a boy.  In all reality, we very well could have a boy if and when we have another child; however, I think he realizes that he has held on to them more because he is extremely sentimental.  I love this about Brian.  He can remember when he got a toy, who he played with when playing with the toys, who got him the toy or if he saved up to buy it…and probably even remembers the particular day…like March 8, 1984.  Because of his memory, when we are old and Gwyn is grown, Brian will be able to vividly see the days that I may have long forgotten and help me to recall these days when Gwyn is so young, so fun, and so full of laughter and everything good!

Thanks Brian for all you do and have done, all of us here appreciate it!  Gwyn, Keegan, Tess, Amos, Maizy, Sophie, and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Other Items:

It’s been a while since I last posted and a lot has happened!

First of all, the state of NC is having financial difficulties…imagine that.  The teachers first took a 0.5% pay cut; however, this pay cut for the year only affected the last two months of the fiscal pay, meaning that we took a 0.5% pay cut in May and June rather than over the full 12 months.  Too boot…Brian and I didn’t work full years as teachers but our pay was still reduced based on our full pay scale.  Now that is fair, huh?

Then because of budget cuts and the lack of importance given to education in the state of NC, Brian got let go from his job.  Basically they operate on a LIFO system (Last-in, First-out for you non-accounting people out there!) and he was one of the last teachers hired at North Lenoir this past year.  I still remain hopeful that something will open up and he will be hired back into the school system either in Lenoir County or maybe even closer to home so that we can enjoy him more in the evenings then we did this past semester.

I was very proud of Brian.  He worked hard up to the very end when others were saying that they wouldn’t have even gone to the school that day.  Brian is just not that way…he puts his heart into and he really took pride in teaching Civics and Economics this past semester.  Civics is not his subject of choice but he enjoyed the students and reading up on areas he has not taught before.  I’m very proud of him and ask that you all keep your fingers crossed that he finds something after this July 1st budget deadline when schools may supposedly begin filling their needs.

Second, with the lay off of Brian, we choose to take Gwyn out of daycare to save funds and pay off some debt in case he doesn’t get hired back on for the new school year.  We were extremely sad about this as we absolutely love Gwyn’s daycare!  She loves going there and I love that all the kids are around the same age.

Another new happening is that Gwyn started gymnastics this past Wednesday.  She loves the activity…climbing, attempting to jump, running, singing, playing, she loves it all.  The only things that she hasn’t grasped the concept of is waiting in line and following direction.  I guess it will come with time.  For now, she is just so enthusiastic that it is too funny and cute!

As I stated above, with Brian’s lay off and just because it was our plan for summer regardless of the outcome, Brian is selling most, if not all, of his childhood toys he has kept over the years.  Some of you  know that he sold some items back when we lived in Cary and he made some good money on items.  It is crazy that people will pay $50 for a little yellow transformer, but they will!  I have to admit it is fun to keep up with the auctions and see how much people are willing to pay in the end.  Last night we were looking at Ebay and a comic book that is graded a 9.8 is selling for $500 right now with like 7 days left on the auction.  Brian has two of these particular comic books…crazy to think we could get this much for a comic book.  So Brian is doing all his homework and treating this very much like a good business man would – I’m so proud…I’ve taught him well!  We may be sending some comic books off to be graded to get the maximum value!  While I get joy out of the money coming in the door, I feel compassion for Brian in letting go of all his memories that he holds onto physically, although I know that vivid memory of his will not let him forget them at all!

Update on the animals – We have added to our animal family…well, temporarily anyway.  We had a toad jump into our dog pool in the backyard and lay eggs.  So we have what seems to be a million tadpoles out back.  We will not just dump them because that is too cruel.  So we are waiting until they get a tad bigger…maybe mid-week this week and we will load them into a cooler and take them to the river.  It just starting to get too stinky out back and it attracts mosquitoes which we could do without!

Also, in the past month, Keegan seems to be losing clumps of fur.  I think that we bought a small bag of food to get us by because when I went to get the regular food…the store was closed and we were completely out of food.  Well, I think he must have had an alllergic reaction.  He seems to be losing weight to me too but I will continue to keep an eye on him!

And lastly – update on Gwyn’s development.  Gwyn is growing like a weed!  She repeats everything we say and do!  Brian coughed yesterday and she coughed.  She is a sponge right now!  She loves to do puzzles.  She is so good a memorizing things right now.  Brian is going to work on colors and counting this summer.

We went to the beach twice so far this summer.  I have some video of our experience that I will have Brian post shortly.  I’m not technically savvy and don’t know how to add the video here or I would!

I promise to post more frequently for those of you eager to see more of Gwyn!

1.  The smell of the country – yes…some of you may think it smells like cow poo…but cow poo or not I love that smell and so do my dogs!

2.  Good friends…truly good friends not just having lots of friends but friends who stick with you through thick and thin, changes and just life in general.

3.  The feel of a dogs ears – so yes I like those floppy Border Collie ears over the pricked ears.  I love my friend’s dogs ears…Tucker.  His ears are so soft.

4.  The smell of a baby after a bath – I just love that baby smell!!!

5.  A home.  I really miss our house and not because I loved the house, but because it was our house.  We could decorate, paint, plant, what ever we wanted.  I want to have that again, but only when we know where we will be for the long run because as much as I loved having that house, I hated how long it took to sell it – so not going there again unless we are for sure we are there for a VERY long time!

6.  Cuddling…with Gwyn, with Brian, with Keegan, Tess, Amos, Sophie, and Maizy.  I just like to cuddle; however, when it is time for bed…I prefer no cuddles or touching!

Now I think I’m supposed to tag some people, but I have no one to tag really…maybe I’ll make them do it on Facebook and/or Blog:

Kelly over at Raising Delia (http://raisingdelia.blogspot.com/)

Brian – here at this website…I’m interested to see his list!!!

OK…these people may have to do it on Facebook Notes:

Scott Lassiter

Anne Lewis

Kimberly Fulcher

I think that is good!!!

Gwyn is almost 18 months old… May 1st will mark her 18th month of keeping us entertained in every way.  She is so full of life and giggles!  I love that she has Brian’s sense of humor, she finds so many things amusing and just giggles ALL the time.

Gwyn is trying to talk but she doesn’t really do much of it yet.  Her favorite word this week is “shoes”.  However, she had to get her lips just so… when she says “shoes” she keeps her lips in an O position.  She tries to put on everyone’s shoes – Layla’s, Daddy’s, Mommy’s, Gwyn’s.  She looks forward to putting on her “shoes” every morning!

And are you surprised… we have a picky eater!  She really doesn’t like her veggies so we give her veggie burgers which she does love!  She loves her applesauce, bananas, cheese, and most recently ice cream cones!

As for playing, Gwyn loves to play with the Little People.  We bought her a castle and she just loves to explore all the doors and noises it makes.  She also loves her tug boat that we bought for the bath tub.  She would play in the bath tub for hours if we let her.  Grammy bought her peeps that stick to the side of the tub and she loves to arrange them just so on the wall… and tries to take them into her room after the bath is over.  She also discovered a stuffed animal this weekend that she hasn’t seen in quite some time.  She clung to it and took it everywhere this weekend.  She tried to feed it chicken nuggets and water at Wendy’s during lunch one day… I just had to laugh it was too cute!

On the down side, she has been sick quite a bit since we moved.  She has allergies and we give her Zyrtec every night to try to ward off the worst of it.  She woke up this morning with a runny nose so I’m hoping we can keep away the ear infections that tend to come with the runny nose.  She just got over an ear infection and during treatment we learned that she is allergic to penicillin.  Of course all this sickness happened during the final week of tax season.  Luckily the folks I work for during tax season are more than understanding and just a wonderful group of people in general.

As for sickness, Brian has managed to get sick three time since moving as well… only his sickness is vomiting… not so much fun!  I’ve gotten sick once with something that the doctor said was allergies but I wonder if it wasn’t something viral.  I think that since Brian and I are working around so many students that we just can’t keep the sickness away until we build up our immunity.

I’m almost done with my first semester.  It is hard to believe that it is almost over.  My last class is Monday, the 27th then finals… then I’m done for the summer.  I do plan to get ready over the summer for my fall class which is Managerial Accounting.  I want to have my whole semester planned and lecture notes put together before the semester even begins.  I’m excited to have some of my Financial Accounting students going into my Managerial Accounting classes. But for now, I’m at home… cleaning up and trying to finish unpacking on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I do plan to hopefully start working part-time for the summer and going forward.  I’m not sure I could just relax all summer long!

Until next time… maybe Brian will write a much more exciting post then me!

-Rachel

*Note from Brian – Here is a video I made with our new MacBook Pro… enjoy!! (click on the box of arrows to the left of “Vimeo” to make the video Full Screen)


Gwyneth: Year One from Brian Brassine on Vimeo.