Good Golly Miss Molly

I debated for a while about whether or not to write this post as it could be construed as "work" related, which I try to stay away from posting about.  I finally settled on doing it because this little corner of the interwebs serves as my scrapbook and this particular event was certainly part of my life story this year.  Also, it's main subject became much more than a co-worker to me - she is a beloved friend.  That being said, hopefully she doesn't mind.

At the end of April Molly and her husband decided to move back home to Ohio to pursue an incredibly exciting professional opportunity and to be closer to family.  This was a loss to me both personally and professionally.  For as sad as I was to lose her, I was (and am) even more excited to see what this change has in store for her and her family!  

The importance of co-friends (co-workers + friends) truly can not be overstated.  You spend so much of your time at work that it's inevitable that they come to know more about your daily life and what's going on in your world than some of your oldest friends.  Between trips to get water, to procure "the bad drink," to say hi to Donna or simply to get some steps in- the little moments that go neglected in big catch ups get shared.  Life gets lived.

She joined our little team just before I had Emery and over the course of the past few years she grew to be a trusted confidante, voice of reason and supporter through all of my life events.  She watched Emery grow from a tiny, screamy newborn into a vocal and busy infant and then into an opinonated, strong-willed and hilarious toddler.  She watched me struggle a bit balancing a toddler and pregnancy.  She watched Brynn go from a sweet, chunk of a newborn into a smiley, giggly, loving infant.  I watched her buy her first home, get married and triumph over the CPA.  

If the above doesn't sell you on how wonderful she is, I suppose you'll just have to trust me.  Or fly to Ohio and learn for yourself.  Either way- someone this wonderful clearly deserved many send off activities and we were happy to oblige.

First, our other fabulous co-worker hosted a small group of us and our families out at her house.  She made a mouth watering meal of pulled pork with all the fixin's and we all got to enjoy hanging out outside of work.  The highlight for Em was that one of her horses had a 3 month old filly that she got to feed and play with.  Perhaps she should have been born into another family because she was all about the farm life.  

I was pretty shocked that she wasn't scared of something so much bigger than her.  I guess Lola really is more like a horse than a dog.

As tends to be the case with most of Emery's undertakings- her feeding style was a little bossy.  "EAT!"

Sweet baby Josephine was only 3 weeks old.

Next we had a little HH next door the night before her last day.  If these people don't scream good time to you then clearly you've never had one.  

The coolest finance team on the planet.  (Me, Jean, Grace, Ilhan, David, Carolina, Leslie, Cynthia, Becca, Molly, Maria & Thomas)

Last, but in no way least, Becca, Molly & I became infamous for our walks over to Starbucks once (sometimes more) a week.  So clearly on her last day we had to take one last walk.  This one may or may not have been with sunglasses to hide shiny eyes.

Becca is artsy.  I am pointy.  Molly is double fisting.  Leaving is rough.

The last 3 Musketeers pic.

We miss you Molly!  Now hurry up and plan your next trip down.  :c)  

Why?

My Dearest Daughters,

As you likely know, I typically reserve this blog for life events and not for the messy and emotional contents of my brain.  I'm breaking that rule because I've spent enough time in the past few weeks walking around our neighborhood with Brynn in the moby, Emery on my mind and tears streaming out from behind my sunglasses to know there's something I need to get off my chest.  (It's actually marginally surprising that no local service providers have called the authorities about that random lady walking around crying, but I digress.)

Today marks the day that I go back to work after 13 blissful weeks at home.  I have lived long enough at this point to know there will be things about the way your Daddy and I raise you that you will want to do differently should you ever be blessed with, and led to, have a family of your own in the future.  There will be some small things.  Like perhaps you'll select a partner who remembers to close cabinets and drawers after their use.   Maybe you will let your child take her milk in the bathtub to avoid a 10 minute stand off. There may also be big things like maybe you'll choose to live in the city.  Or choose a job that doesn't require sitting behind a desk.  I also pray that we do a few things that you want to emulate, but I won't hold my breath.

Undoubtedly if you become mothers yourselves one day, one of the biggest decisions you will make is whether or not you continue to work.  Regardless of which camp this choice falls into for you, I need you to understand why I am making the decision to be a working Mama.  I'm writing it down in case one day the pain and emotions behind it aren't as fresh and thus dull my explanation should you ever ask me.  I'm writing it down in case, God forbid, I'm not here to tell you one day.  I'm writing it down in case some day in the future I am not a working Mama and you want to be.

I myself was raised by the world's best primarily Stay at Home Mom (you know her better as Nonnie), so allow me to preface this entire explanation with the fact that I KNOW, first hand, that staying at home is without a doubt the most difficult job on the planet.  Period.  Shout out to my Mama and to all the other Mamas who stay at home and answer to tiny bosses each day.  You truly make the world go round!

So, am I running away from it because it's hard?  Oh no, my precious ones.  I'm sure after living through your teenage years with me you can attest to the fact that I have always loved a good challenge.  Where do you think you got your stubborn-ness from?  On the contrary, deciding to go back to work is harder for me emotionally than should I have opted to stay home.  It's physically painful for me to know that someone else will get to see a lot of your milestones first.  Someone else gets to laugh at you for 75% of your waking hours.  Someone else can reach out and give you a hug or a kiss whenever they want.  I chose this option because I think it's better for YOU.  The moment someone lays a newborn on your chest you realize that what's hard or easy for you doesn't matter any more.  You have one singular goal in life and it's to do what's best for your children.

I never thought I would be someone who liked their children going to daycare.  Then one day around 15 months or so as you sat in the bath tub Em, you pointed at a monkey and said "oh oh, ah ah" and scratched under your armpits.  Your Daddy & I had worked on teaching you multiple animal noises and succeeded but we had not taught you the monkey.  It sounds so silly but in that moment I realized just how much you learn from the people you spend your day with and how much they benefit YOU.  They do a far better job of teaching you things than I would.  I would sit at home and kiss you and hug you and laugh at the silly things you do.

Another especially poignant moment in my relationship with being a daycare Mama was at Halloween this year when we went to watch the costume parade.  Emery you were about 19 months old and super independent.  Listening and obedience weren't strong suits for you at home.  Nonnie, Paw paw and I were sitting there waiting and preemptively laughing about what a hot mess the parade would be.  We were all shocked when you walked out, held your teacher's and classmates' hands and did EXACTLY what you were supposed to do.  You never would have done that for your Daddy & I.  I realized just how much the school and it's norms were teaching you about how to behave.  You were watching others and learning to do what they do.  Could I  provide that for you at home?  Not exactly.

In addition to benefiting your mind and ability to behave (at least for others), you will learn the importance of friends and what they mean to your life.  Your Daddy does drop offs and he tells me that when you get to school your classmates run over chanting "Emmy, Emmy!"  I pick you up and at least 3 days of the week when I ask what you did that day, you tell me your BFF at school's name.  I assume that means you played with her and didn't beat her up.  I guess we will find out soon enough?  For everyone, but I think particularly females, it's so very important to have friends and to nurture the relationships with those around you.  Would I be able to provide enough play dates for you to form these types of bonds and early friendships?  I don't know.

On top of how wonderful I know going to school has been for you, going to work is equally wonderful for me.  I go to work and interact with people who support and challenge me.  I do a job that I find stimulating and interesting.  I feel fulfilled in it.  I'm blessed beyond belief with a boss and a work environment that support and foster a healthy work-life balance. It allows me to come home and be a better Mama to you.  It makes me appreciate every single second we are together because I know they're fewer than I would like them to be in a perfect world.  The confidence I have from work makes me more patient and more present than I fear I might be otherwise.  These facts are most assuredly good for YOU also.

Last but not least, your Daddy and I want to give you the world.  We want to make all of your dreams come true.  While I hope to teach you that happiness and confidence are the most important elements of success it can't be ignored that sometimes money is required to teach such lessons and achieve such goals.  At this stage in life your pragmatic and conservative parents don't feel confident that we have enough money saved for any potential eventuality or dream for you.  This isn't the most important element of the decision to continue working as I know love and support are the most important ingredients to your childhood, but given the others outlined above, it tips the scales.

So there you have it.  A very verbose explanation as to why your Mama works.  In one word it could be summarized as: YOU.  You are why I work.  Each person, each family, each situation is different which is why the decision is different for everyone.  What's right for us may not be right for someone else.  Truth be told, I'm not even positive that it IS what's right.  That's what we call Mama guilt though and a post for another day.  For now, it feels like the right thing to do.

I know that I'll re-make and re-visit this decision nearly each day I live.  Probably hourly depending on what kind of day it is for us.  If one day it becomes evident that it's no longer what's best for you then we will simply make a change.  At the end of the day though, whether you believe it was the right thing to do or whether you want something different for your family, I hope that you know that I am doing the very best I can.  Regardless of what my business card says, Mama will always be my favorite title.

All My Love,
YOUR Mama

Eastbound & Up

So as I have alluded to previously, dearest Bucket has acquired a mini passport for herself this summer- 2 of the 3 stamps courtesy of Mama's job.  The first was in early June with a week long jaunt to Finland and the second was in late July with a week long trip to London.  I neglected to post about either of these trips for a multi-part reason: 1) well, you see how grossly behind this blog has been and 2) I generally don't post about work.  However, because my job isn't one that historically has required a lot of travel and now that Ryan and I have started this little zoo family, I foresee my travel plummeting for the near future.  I decided that it was okay to post some pictures of some of the extracurricular, non-worky things we did on each trip.  I'll save you the snoozefest that was the purpose of our trips as I assume most of you aren't accountants and thus don't get amped up about things like "spreadsheets," "rates," and "site visits."  I personally was very excited and felt fortunate to be able to go on each trip- I really have some amazing co-workers/bosses.

First up, Finland.  This was my second time to travel to this charming little nordic land.  It was mainly as I remembered it- chalk full of light headed people with a strong affinity for fish and potatoes.  The difference was that this time we went in the summer rather than in the winter.  This meant that the daylight lasted like... all day.  Seriously.  I kept waking up and seeing the sun coming through the curtains of my hotel room and having a mini-panic attack that I'd overslept only to look at the clock and see 4:00 am.  It was weird.  Fate did not mean for me to be Finnish and I'm comfortable with that.  I'll perform narration of our trip through photographic commentary.  Isn't that everyone's favorite anyway?

Because seeing people in PPE never gets old.  The men are definitely rocking it better than yours truly.

 The yard HSE coordinator was a Houston expat and he took us to dinner on this little boat.

I'm looking very travel-worn but this serves as photographic evidence that we indeed ate on a boat.  I had... wait for it... fish.

On another day the same week our awesome expat tour guide took us to lunch at this little place on the water.  The fare?  You guessed it- fish.

Preeeeeeetty jazzed about our fish.  Actually, one night this week the guys took me to Chef Jani's restaurant, Bucco, and it. was. amazing.  I did not eat fish... I ate scallops.  It's too bad I was busy stuffing my face and didn't take any pics.  If you ever find yourself in Pori you should definitely go visit him.

Did you know that Angry Birds was created in Finland?  No?  Then you clearly haven't visited Finland.

The last day of work my boss made us be rebels by stopping off at the Yyteri beach on the way to work.  It took us about 20 mins to find the beach down this rickety walkway clearly not made for a pregnant woman in wedges, but it was well worth it.

On a totally unrelated note, it's hard to get sand out of wedges.

Because Pori is so small, we had to fly to Helsinki, stay the night and then fly out to the states the following morning.  While in Helsinki our last evening, Chef Jani recommended a restaurant for us to go to called Bronda.  It was heavenly.  Like seriously maybe the best meal of my life but certainly top 5.  I'm not a photographer of food, but I'm going to subject you all to these so I never forget it.  I don't remember what much of this was other than delicious though.

Scallops.

Osso bucco and something else that was also amazing.

Dessert.  Equally as out of this world.

While wandering around the city trying to walk off some of our fantastic dinner we happened upon a car show in the middle of the city which apparently takes place the first Friday of each month.  It was funny to me to see so many American cars.  There were lots of 1997ish mustangs like Jen had.  Oddly none of them were headed to Sonic like we usually were though.

Good to know that some of America's obnoxious bumper stickers have made it across the pond.

Old Ford.  That's about as technically savvy as I get when it comes to cars.

Uspenski Cathedral.  We walked by it, I took this picture and had no idea what it was until I just googled it.  #besttouristever

Really awesome old ship.

Everyone else had a beer and pretzel in the United Lounge pre-flight out.  This was my pregnant lady substitute.

Next up- London!  I have also traveled to London a time or two for both work and for fun.  It was just as I remembered it- chalk full of people with intelligent sounding accents, snappy dress socks and a strong affinity for beer.  The difference in this trip was that the office that we were going to visit had changed locations to right by St. Paul's.  So we got to know a new 'hood, which was fun.  Unfortunately the self-proclaimed photographer of our previous trip did not make this one, so I fear that I have less visual proof that this trip took place.  I'll see what I can find in my photostream for you though.

We ate dinner over at the Cinnamon Club one evening and got to walk by Westminster Abbey.  Delish food- highly recommend.

We also went to see Jersey Boys and I took zero pics (who's shocked?)  So I hijacked this one from the interwebs.  It's hard to say whether I enjoyed the performance by the actors or the performance by the several older women in the audience who were singing and dancing in the aisles.  Either way- it was definitely a win in my book.

Here's a view of St. Paul's after walking out the doors of the office we were working from.  Did you know this is where Diana and Charles tied the knot?  My boss' wife did.

My boss and I snuck over here during work hours for the quickest tour ever on the last day we were in town.  Shot of the ceiling.  I wasn't supposed to take this picture.  Please don't report me!

The building in the forefront between the two towers is where we were working.

We climbed all the way to the top.  They put this little hole in the floor at one point just so you can see how quickly your blood pressure can rise.  This is a view of the very bottom floor.

London Eye, the Thames, etc.

View of the office we were working out of from the highest observation deck.

Ta-da!  The front.  We were so lucky to have such gorgeous weather while we were there.

And that, my friends, about sums up the fun touristy parts of my two work trips this summer.  I hope you have enjoyed this short break from my pregnancy catch up tour as much as I enjoyed these jaunts across the pond.  Oh, and OF COURSE, a huge shout out to my Baby Daddy (plus Nonnie & Pawpaw for their assistance) who took such incredible care of our princess for two whole weeks so Mama could play career woman.  Sure I picked her up from school in pajamas one Friday upon my return but overall, he could not have been more successful.  I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but I sure am glad I did it.  Thank you, love!

Pretty amped up about her impromptu jammie day at school.

Happily Ever After: The Bahr Edition

On June 8th Ryan's former co-worker, Bryan, married his longtime girlfriend, Gaby, and they were kind enough to invite us.  The wedding was at St. Martin's Episcopal church and the reception was on family land in Bentwater out in Conroe.  It was probably the most beautiful I have ever been to.  After attending I'm surprised that Gaby and Bryan had enough faith in Ryan and his operations co-workers' manners to invite them.  I think they also questioned the decision as they put us at the very back table by some industrial sized fans in hopes of silencing any inappropriate remarks they may have made. 

Not only was the wedding over the top stunning, I had a fabulous time.  Ryan's old operations co-workers are so. much. fun.  I spent the evening listening to them talk about 2 chains, use canes in multiple inappropriate pictures and poses, shamelessly make fun of eachother and just generally cause ruckus.  On top of the sheer entertainment value of hanging out with them, the wedding itself had a mariachi band.  How fun is that?  The icing on the cake was that Dena & Shawna were the photographers.  So, it was basically the perfect recipe for an ah-mazing night.

I'll let the pictures below speak for themselves in terms of just how gorgeous the soiree was.  Thanks to Gaby & Bryan for letting us be a part of their day- we wish you all the happiness and Baylor wins (when not playing UT), in the world.  :c)

Succulent garden with my initials?  Yes please.

This is only a small sample of the mind-blowing table decor.  Every table was slightly different but equally breath taking.

What?  You can't see the dance floor from here?  All part of Bryan & Gaby's wise planning.

Just a part, yes that's right, a PART, of the incredible favor table.

More favor table action.  I hovered for an inappropriate amount of time in this area.

Gorgeous cupcake display.  These cupcakes were to die for.  I would know because I had two.

Has Bryan mentioned that he went to Baylor?  He did.

This, believe it or not, is a porta potty.  With granite.  Are you wondering why I took a picture?  You would too if you found the 8th wonder of the world.  

Awesome mariachi band.  This picture doesn't even begin to do the beauty of this portion of the tent justice.

Blurry pic of the hubs and I.  It's probably better that way by this point in the evening.

Ryan, John, Vishal & Kelly.  Eating meat with their hands.  Can't take them anywhere nice.  I also just realized I took no pics of the bride and groom.  I promise they were there.  I'll have to nab a picture from Shawna.  :c)

Pleut des Bebes

(Editors Note:  I recognize that the title of this post does not directly translate, BUT I only have one year of French, people.  I'm relegated to what I know.  I know raining and I know babies.  So that is what you get.)

On December 17th, my co-workers proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they're the greatest group of people to work with in the entire state of Texas.  If we're being honest- probably the planet.  They threw me and the little tike a baby shower!  Given how busy we all are with the implementation of a new GL system and the holidays, I was quadruply flattered that they put forth the time, energy and effort to do so.

Sweet Becca did the lion's share of the organization and decor (and took the ah-mazing pics below).  Knowing me as well as she does, she knew that if it was too over the top and too many people were invited I would freak out, turn all red and start stammering awkward things about babies and puppies.  Perhaps sharing with her that I took a jager shot before my own bridal shower tipped her off to the fact that I'm petrified of being the center of attention.  Whatever it was, she created the perfect amount of celebratory atmosphere without me feeling too overwhelmed. 

My boss made some killer muffins and fruit salad, Becca provided deliciously homemade cupcakes, Leslie made the cutest diaper cake and another co-worker made the best sherbet punch I've ever had.  Baby Girl got spoiled with our pack & play, the car seat base, a gift card and lots of other adorable assorted clothes, blankets and what not.  I seriously am way more lucky than I deserve to be.  Thank you so, so very much to everyone who participated and for your time and kindness.  It really means the world to us!  P.S.  Was the pack & play an open invitation to bring my child to work daily?  I will assume so.

The cute little cupcake decorations & muffin paper are pink and French themed.  C'est parfait, non?

Precious little favor bags.  And our not as precious conference phone.  (That thing and I do not get along very well).

Presents and Leslie's masterpiece.

Christi, Marina, Brad, Jani, Me with a mouthful of heavenly icing, Jacqui, Katherine & Leslie.  Mike, Lalli, Tracy D, Laura, Tracy N & Becca were also here but managed to escape Becca's paparazzi lens.

This is the beginning of about 5 million pictures of me in different states of opening things.  We'll call this next sequence "how to open a present."  First, you should have a goofy smile on your face and position your hand like a claw above the bag.

Then you should read the card so you know who you're supposed to be thanking.

Sometimes you've got to reaaaaaally get in there.

Last, hold it up for mandatory ohhhhing and ahhhhing.  Ta-da!

Poorly lit picture of Leslie's diaper cake in our kitchen.  In the future I will try to keep diapers out of my kitchen, but obviously Ryan needed to see this right away.

Super cute unicorn hooded towel & zebra hooded blanket.  Does anyone know what sound these animals make?  I see that question in my future.