Things I love hearing

Your son is so cute!

Charley is one of my most favorite little people ever.

He's adorable

What a sweet boy!

It is so reaffirming when other people love your offspring almost as much as you.  They only have a little taste of his sweetness, so when they say these things I just can't help but turn inside out with joy.  Because I get to taste the full flavor of his charming personality, I know that when they say it, it's not just my biological bias, I am the luckiest momma in the world. 

Some of his sweet things as of late:  

You ask a question, he will almost always answer "esss" 

His association with the combination of letters NO is not your typical toddler defiance.  He immediately sticks his fingers up his nostrils.  I avoid asking him where his N-o-s-e is because of this, and if I must use words which start N-O I try to spell it out so to avoid the comedy he finds in the before mentioned spectacle.  

Peekaboo from the cupboard doors?  A-door-able

He is always copying us trying to learn.  He sees mommy clean things up and tried to wipe up his spills, and throw away things in the garbage (we're working on throwing garbage away in the garbage, not shoes, remotes, Tupperware).  He LOVES to put away dishes from the dishwasher.  While making breakfast the other day, left the silverware drawer open and about half the utensils were placed inside (in a toddler fashion, but pretty good for 17 months old!)

Big enough to reach things.  "Hide yo keys, hide yo knife!"  (Look at that-i made a funny on a pop culture viral video).  But really, if you don't hide it, he wants it, if he gets it, he hides it.  Did I tell the story of the missing iPod?  My little brothers iPod went MIA and after about 2 weeks of figuring it got left on a car to fly off into unknown ditches never to be seen again, one day here comes mr moo waltzing into the room with iPod in hand.  I will never know where it was hidden.  Only Charley.  

Dance parties.  He loves to bounce to a good beat, turn in circles and groove with mommy.  This kid is going to take the world by storm.  

Some things stay the same

   Blessings abound.  Travis and I have made the decision to turn down a job offer on New Jersey.  The financial incentive was 92000 a year with a possible 15% bonus based on annual review and merit.  We could have potentially been in the 6 figure income range!  Writing it hurts a little, but here's a few reasons why we said no.  

Travis currently works for the University.  We have lots of fringe benefits from employment there, like flexible hours, free tuition, any side projects Travis wants to take on would be his and his alone.  At almost any other company all his ideas and projects while working for someone else would belong to that someone else. And did I tell you flexibility?  When Charley came into the world Travis was home with me for almost a whole month! I do not think that is an option anywhere else.  

Also, he has a great team here.  His boss and managers know him, love him, and give him lots of oppourtunities to lead. Even more, they appreciate him.  I've worked somewhere I was not appreciated and I was so unhappy.  He is happy here and that counts for a lot.  

We live in freaking ALASKA.  It's a pretty great place with a lot of unique and amazing places to see and things to do. We've barely begun on our list of places to explore and new experiences to try. 

We live near family.  Neither Travis or I grew up around any extended family.  He was in the air force and I was in the middle of Alaska.  Charley right now has both sets of grandparents right here.  My parents aren't going anywhere, and Travis' parents say they'll retire soon and go somewhere else...but they can't decide where that somewhere else will be.  I think they will probably be here yet a while longer.  

Additionally, the process of interviewing with the other company really helped Travis realize how happy he was here.  It helped him to see that this is what he enjoys doing, and that decision to be here was his choice, not just what he went along with because it was what was easy.  There's a lot of joy that comes from knowing your decision and circumstances are intentional.  And another bonus was his manager helping him out by turning in a beautiful letter of praise into HR along with the offers from the New Jersey company and Google (he interviewed there as well) to get Travis a comparable counter offer to stay.  It's definitely not as close to six figures, but it helps us out a great deal.