Praise the Lord -- Ben got a job offer! He's been interviewing for the past several weeks and had follow-ups with 2 of the companies, both of which he was excited about. Last Thursday, he got an offer from O'Neal as an Engineering Project Manager. After some negotiating, Ben verbally accepted the offer on Friday and plans to officially sign on the dotted line on Monday. We think his start date will be November 7. We are both thrilled for this exciting new opportunity and the next step in Ben's career.
To celebrate, we are heading to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord on Thursday and then to Raleigh on Friday for a weekend with Mike & Jenn. And wish us luck -- we are taking BOTH boys to the State/Carolina game on Saturday.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Day at the farm
We ALL needed a break from job-hunting & kid juggling, so we headed to Nivens Apple Farm on Monday. It was a treat to have Ben with us on a weekday outing. Jackson was super excited to see the animals, go on a hayride & of course, pick out him pumpkin. Weston slept in the Moby the whole time so we didn't get the iconic "First Pumpkin" picture. I guess it'll have to wait until Monday!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Go figure
As I was unpacking our harvest & Halloween decor, I ran across the monkey costume that I made for Jackson last year. While he was 100% uninterested in the monkey ensemble last year, he was gung-ho this time around. As in won't-take-it-off.
Too bad he's gonna be a cowboy this year, like it or not.
2 Months Old
This week, Weston had his 2-month birthday. Along with that milestone came his doctor's appointment with 4 shots which he was not happy about. He did, however, continue to top the charts for weight & height at 14lb 8 oz & 24" respectively, both in the mid-90th percentile. And his fat roll count continues to increase; as of this week, he had no less than 7 rolls per arm.
We ran across this baby picture of me....other than me looking somewhat cross-eyed, we think he definitely looks like me. And he unfortunately inherited my nose, poor thing!
Recently, we've been getting tons of huge, toothless grins and lots of coos. Weston is happiest first thing in the mornings and will smile so big that I don't even mind that its still dark outside and my days of sleeping in until 9 are long gone. Could you not just eat him up?
We've had some rough patches here and there with constant, insatiable screaming, but nothing consistent thankfully. Once he gets going, its just really hard to calm him back down. And Jackson undoubtedly loudly talks (aka screams) or startles Weston the minute we finally get him settled. So its a process.
But all in all, Weston's a happy, healthy little bundle of joy and we are so thankful for him!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Bavarian Weekend
I'm still playing catch up on my blogging, but I guess its better late than never!
A couple weeks ago, Oma & Opa (Ben's parents) came to visit. Opa had not yet met Weston so we were so excited for him to meet his third grandbaby. They arrived on the same Friday that Ben got laid off but it was a good distraction. Always adventurous and way younger than their years, Oma & Opa arrived on their motorcycle aka the "mo-mo" as Jackson calls it. Jackson was in awe and thought it was the coolest thing ever. He loves his Opa & these two play together for hours!
And true to form, Oma never arrives empty handed (however, this time, the surprises were delivered via UPS since the mo-mo didn't exactly have extra cargo space). Jackson is my little clothes horse and LOVES new clothes & shoes. Yes, he's 2, but he gets it honestly...Opa has more shoes than the rest of us combined. So he was thrilled to get 2 pairs of "Oma Shoes" which he won't take off, a set of popsicle molds and a scarecrow for both him & Weston for the front porch. Oma & Jackson made apple juice popsicles.
Having lived in Germany for 5 years (Ben was born there!), the Talbert's appreciate authentic Bavarian fare. On Saturday evening, we ventured to downtown Greer for the annual Octoberfest. (Last year, we made the mistake of going after dark and it was more of a bar scene than a family enviroment -- duh! -- and I'm thankful that Jackson didn't get doused with a spilled beer.) We arrived around dinner time & enjoyed brat and pretzel bread and were pleased to see that our kids weren't the only ones at the beer festival. We shared 2 funnel cakes (delish!), perused the new General Store (awesome!) and tried to get Jackson to dance to the band (fail).
Oma & Opa left on Sunday morning and as always, our visit just wasn't long enough. We plan to go to Brunswick for Thanksgiving for a longer stay!
A couple weeks ago, Oma & Opa (Ben's parents) came to visit. Opa had not yet met Weston so we were so excited for him to meet his third grandbaby. They arrived on the same Friday that Ben got laid off but it was a good distraction. Always adventurous and way younger than their years, Oma & Opa arrived on their motorcycle aka the "mo-mo" as Jackson calls it. Jackson was in awe and thought it was the coolest thing ever. He loves his Opa & these two play together for hours!
And true to form, Oma never arrives empty handed (however, this time, the surprises were delivered via UPS since the mo-mo didn't exactly have extra cargo space). Jackson is my little clothes horse and LOVES new clothes & shoes. Yes, he's 2, but he gets it honestly...Opa has more shoes than the rest of us combined. So he was thrilled to get 2 pairs of "Oma Shoes" which he won't take off, a set of popsicle molds and a scarecrow for both him & Weston for the front porch. Oma & Jackson made apple juice popsicles.
Having lived in Germany for 5 years (Ben was born there!), the Talbert's appreciate authentic Bavarian fare. On Saturday evening, we ventured to downtown Greer for the annual Octoberfest. (Last year, we made the mistake of going after dark and it was more of a bar scene than a family enviroment -- duh! -- and I'm thankful that Jackson didn't get doused with a spilled beer.) We arrived around dinner time & enjoyed brat and pretzel bread and were pleased to see that our kids weren't the only ones at the beer festival. We shared 2 funnel cakes (delish!), perused the new General Store (awesome!) and tried to get Jackson to dance to the band (fail).
Oma & Opa left on Sunday morning and as always, our visit just wasn't long enough. We plan to go to Brunswick for Thanksgiving for a longer stay!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Say What?!?
So a few weeks ago (Friday, September 30, to be exact), I was upstairs vaccuming and looked out the window and saw Ben's truck in the driveway. It was 2:00 & his parents were coming in town that afternoon, so I was really excited that he was able to leave work early and spend the afternoon with us.
But the early arrival at home wasn't exactly his doing. As he put it, he was given 14 weeks paid vacation.
Yep, thats right, he was laid off.
Milliken & Company laid off their entire corporate engineering department. Ben had an inkling this was coming, but spared me the stress of the unknown until it was official. Thankfully, he got a pretty hefty severance along with a personal recommendation and referral from the Director of Corporate Engineering.
Initially, it seemed like horrible timing for such a devastating event to occur, with me recently quitting my job to stay home plus a new baby. However, that timing couldn't have been any better. A year ago, we did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (FPU) at church and prior to me quitting my job, we had stashed away 6-months emergency funds in savings. We had been reluctant to do FPU because we didn't have any debt issues or financial problems, but our small group encouraged us to take the course in order to be better managers of what God has given us. And now, 18 months later, we see how God had his hand in it all along. Crisis diverted.
Also, its so neat having time extra time as a family. For the past 6 months, Ben's been working 50+ hour weeks, leaving before we get up and sometimes not getting home until after Jackson's in bed. Don't get me wrong, Ben's been beating the bush applying for jobs (and he's already had 3 interviews), but we get some precious time to hang out & enjoy this special time with our little family. Not to mention we can tag team the parenting when we have the daily tantrums, crying fits and meltdowns -- which always seem to be a chain reaction.
So, hopefully, I'll have a praise report in the near future to pass along good news about Ben's employment status.
But the early arrival at home wasn't exactly his doing. As he put it, he was given 14 weeks paid vacation.
Yep, thats right, he was laid off.
Milliken & Company laid off their entire corporate engineering department. Ben had an inkling this was coming, but spared me the stress of the unknown until it was official. Thankfully, he got a pretty hefty severance along with a personal recommendation and referral from the Director of Corporate Engineering.
Initially, it seemed like horrible timing for such a devastating event to occur, with me recently quitting my job to stay home plus a new baby. However, that timing couldn't have been any better. A year ago, we did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (FPU) at church and prior to me quitting my job, we had stashed away 6-months emergency funds in savings. We had been reluctant to do FPU because we didn't have any debt issues or financial problems, but our small group encouraged us to take the course in order to be better managers of what God has given us. And now, 18 months later, we see how God had his hand in it all along. Crisis diverted.
Also, its so neat having time extra time as a family. For the past 6 months, Ben's been working 50+ hour weeks, leaving before we get up and sometimes not getting home until after Jackson's in bed. Don't get me wrong, Ben's been beating the bush applying for jobs (and he's already had 3 interviews), but we get some precious time to hang out & enjoy this special time with our little family. Not to mention we can tag team the parenting when we have the daily tantrums, crying fits and meltdowns -- which always seem to be a chain reaction.
So, hopefully, I'll have a praise report in the near future to pass along good news about Ben's employment status.
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