Moving On

I have had a hard time posting many blogs over the past couple months because some things going on in our lives had to remain hush hush for a while.  Today, I can share my news with everyone that follows our blog. 

Yesterday, Jenna went to daycare, while Shelby and I went to Henderson.  I met with my boss (who rarely travels to Henderson) and formally resigned from my position with the University of Kentucky and Ohio Valley Farm Analysis.  I will be done with UK when my vacation time runs out - sometime around the 5th of August.  I am leaving UK, because I have accepted a position with Farm Credit Services, as an Ag Loan Officer in the Sullivan, IN office.  I start with Farm Credit on August 2. 

This carrer change means our house in Newburgh is for sale and we will be moving to our home and farm in Clay City. We are getting excited about the consolidation of our living arrangements. Lance and I have been together seven years (married almost 5) and have had only one home for 2 weeks of that 7 years.  Though I start my new job on August 2, I will be training with a gentleman out of the Evansville branch for a couple months or until our house sells.  Therefore, I am not 100% sure when we will be 100% moved, but we have started the process.  Fourth of July weekend, Lance and I, with the help of Stan and Janet, moved a cattle trailer load of our belongings into our Clay City home.

I need to post some pictures of the progress that has been made in Clay City.  In 2010 we have gotten the basement painted and waterproofed, some trim work fisinshed, baby proofed the stairwell, finished some trim work, had central air installed, got a new washer and dryer, and have completely rearranged the furniture within the house.  I am sure this is only the beginning!

First Date

Lance and I had our first date, with no kids, since Shelby has joined us.  Lance called me on Saturday late afternoon to tell me he had some good news and bad news.  I asked him what the bad news was and he told me he was headed to the hay field with the bailer at 6:30 pm on Saturday.  This was bad news because we were planning on going to the Clay City Fair for a while on Saturday evening (since it rained on us Thursday).  I was very disappointed so I asked him what the good news was and he said that he should be done and home by 8 pm.  He said his parents were going to come over to the house and "watch" the kids while we went to the fair to see the fireworks.  I told him that Jenna and Shelby should be pretty good for Grandma and Grandpa because they should both be in bed. 

Everything went off without a hitch!  We got away for almost 3 hours, went to the fair, had a very nice supper, walked around and talked to people for a little while, watched the fireworks, and went home.  It was very strange for us not to have the kids, this was the first time I have been without a child in tow in almost 8 weeks.  We really appreciated Stanley and Janet looking after the girls.  (Stan & Janet watched the fireworks from our front yard.  They could see all the tall fireworks, just not the shorter ones.  I imagine we all will watch them from the front yard next year!) 

Clay City Fair

Thursday night after Lance got home from work we went over to the Clay City Fair.  It had rained earlier in the day, but we thought it would be nice that evening, with the cooler temps.  We walked though the exhibit hall and talked to several people we hadn't seen in a while.  Then, I told Lance we should go out to the livestock barn and introduce Jenna to the pigs, cows, and sheep.  We walked in the livestock barn in the swine area and found a piggy up walking around.  We stopped Jenna in the stroller and let her look.  The pig walked over toward her and I had the camera ready.  The pig got right next to her and snorted, which made Jenna cry!  It was too cute!  I didn't take any pictures, because no one wants to see a crying little girl.

Then we walked on to see the cows.  Our sister-in-law, Angel, has a nephew in 4-H that shows cattle.  Since it was the night of the cattle show, he happened to be standing with this calf.  Jenna got pretty close to the animal and though the steer was pretty neat. 

It started raining while we were in the livestock barn, so we stayed and watched the rest of the cattle show and showmanship.  Once the rain let up we ventured through the carnival, food, and back into the exhibit hall.  Lance was talking to a gentleman from Farm Bureau and Jenna decided she wanted out of the stroller.  I let her out, she walked over to Shelby's stroller and started pushing.  We walked around the poster display at least a dozen times (Jenna pushing and Mommy steering).  Most the venders in the exhibit hall thought it was pretty cute and made comments. 

Other than breaking bedtimes for both of the girls, we had a wonderful evening at the fair.  Tonight is the big fireworks display, so we are hoping to get to watch them.  Our house is close enough we should be able to see them from home, so I imagine we will watch them from home this year.

Introducing Evan...

We started something when we were pregnant with Jenna, which we chose to repeat with Shelby and hope to make a family tradition. Before the baby was born, we made a trip to build-a-bear to create Baby Hofmann their own stuffed animal. Over Memorial Day (just a couple days before Shelby's birth) we brought to life Evan.

Our intent with Evan is the same as our intent with Nash.  Every month, I intend to take a picture of the baby with their bear to "track" how much she has grown.  Believe it or not, Miss Shelby is a month old today.  Therefore, Evan got his picture taken for the first time!

I also tried to take a close up of her face, so we can see how much her face changes.

I love her little chubby cheeks.

Shelby has been a very good baby.  She is very mellow, loves to be held, lets Jenna "play" with her and hold her, and she loves her bath!  She has gotten in a pretty good routine that is working well.  She eats at 4am, 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, and 11 pm.  I head to bed about quarter til midnight, get up once in the middle of the night, then get up at 7 or 7:30am with Jenna.  I can't complain about a 5 hour stretch and a 4 hour stretch throughout the night and a contstant 3 hour routine thoughout the day!  This schedule will not work when I go back to work, but for now it works great, and I am NOT ready to talk about going back to work yet!

Weigh In

Today started with an interesting turn of events.  Jenna woke up this morning crying at 6:30.  I got up with her and all she wanted to do was cuddle.  That is NOT my Jenna.  She is usually happiest in the morning and a VERY independent little girl.  She had an extremely runny nose and a pretty good cough.  I decided to take her to the doctor, because I didn't want her getting me or Shelby sick. 

We headed off to the doctor's office.  Jenna weighed in at 21 pounds fully dressed, diapered, and shoed.  We saw Dr. Best and sure enough something was wrong... an ear infection in the right ear.  So we got some medicine to help clear it up.

While at the doctor's office my mom (who works there) weighed Shelby too.  In only a onesie (no diaper) Shelby weighed in at 9 pounds 8 ounces.  That's 2 ounces shy of a 2 pound gain 4 weeks.  She is definately a growin' girl! 

Mommy has been bad and not taken many pictures of the girls in the last few days, so there are none to share with this post.  I will try to post some pictures next time!