Philips Healthcare

Paul officially started his new job today at Philips Healthcare.  The job is still in the Atlanta area but they have offices all over the west.  So it holds the possibility of someday returning closer to home. I am really proud of Paul for looking to improve his job.  It has been a rough year for him because he basically worked alone for over a year.  Instead of staying in an unhappy position any longer he started applying for some jobs to see what was out there and found this job which fits his personality and skill set perfectly.  Not only does the job come with a raise, but much better health insurance!!!  I am so excited for him to be able to work with people each day and build new friendships as he learns this new job. 

Congrats Paul!!!

Age Is Just A State of Mind!

"Age is something that doesn't matter unless you are cheese...It's all in the attitude"  -Billie Burke 

This quote is on my birthday card from my sister Michelle and it is going to be my mantra for life.  Birthdays have never really made me reflect on my attitude ever, but this whole turning 30 thing has really made me think.  By nature I believe I am a negative thinker.  It's way easier for me to dwell on the negative and be a bit of a complainer.  This is going to age me beyond any other factor in my opinion and just because I am now 30 years old does not mean I have to start "aging."  I'll still blog about and voice my frustrations, but I need to balance them with the joys that are all around me!

My birthday really was a great day despite being on Friday the 13th!  (although a plate fell off my wall, put a whole in my wood floor and broke :( see I do have to add the frustrations still!) I woke up feeling a bit like my birthday was anticlimactic as I went about my normal morning routine with Hayden who had no idea it is my birthday, let alone my 30th!  But then I went to meet my friend Ali Mendenhall at her house for lunch and she had planned a whole surprise luncheon.  I was totally caught off guard and floored by their love and support.  All the moms parked far away so I wouldn't see their cars, so when I saw them all I was so shocked!  The food, cake, and company were amazing and made me feel so appreciated and special.  Then the emails, facebook messages, texts, and phone calls made me again feel valued and important!

That night my friend Stephanie and her daughter Lizzie watched Hayden for us while Paul and I went to Maggiano's.  It was delicious and they have the best deal there:  an appetizer, two entrees, dessert, and wait for it....two more entrees to take home for $40!  Isn't that amazing???  It was a nice restaurant and a fun way to celebrate my 30th birthday.

I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends who take the place of my family while we are far from home.  And I am also truly blessed to maintain relationships with family and friends all over the country.

I didn't take any pictures until the very end of the night dang it!

We probably took 8 pictures trying to get Hayden to look at the camera, but she was much more interested in holding onto the gift bags!

Buyer's Remorse

Does anyone else ever get this or is it just me?  I am probably a pretty extreme case.  I recently bought 2 pair of earrings and a headband for a great deal at the Banana Republic outlet store and I felt sick to my stomach about it the whole day!  So given that you can see why I am really freaking out now!  This weekend we finally bought Hayden a big girl bed and dresser.  Her baby furniture are not that great of quality and I am done with cheap furniture, it doesn't last, end of story!  We have been looking at this specific bed for a long time now and this weekend it went on sale for 20% off, so we had to do it right?  We really are in no rush, no baby on the way, and Hayden loves her crib still and has never tried to climb out.  But we couldn't pass up on that deal.

Today we had our foundation repaired.  It was getting worse and worse, so we finally bit the bullet on that one as well.  I should have done before and after pictures but here are a few.

Hayden was so entertained by them all morning.  It was pretty amusing to watch.  She would point and say, "truck, trailer, bucket" and then turn away when one of the men would wave or smile at her!

 Lots of people have asked me how they fix this sort of problem.  They drilled out a section of our driveway and drilled until they found solid ground which in our case was 41 feet.  Then they put a supporting beam to lift our house back up and patched up all the cracks.  In the picture below you can see a lot of the cracks because the mortar is still wet.  There were a lot more on the left part of the house too.  We had a few other spots around our house where the mortar had left little wholes so I asked how much it would be to fill them in.  The men were so nice and did the small repairs for free :)

Now that our house is structurally sound and squirrel free (for about a month now)  maybe we will be able to do some fun things to it in the future!  I just can't think about the cost of the squirrels, bedroom furniture, and foundation because my buyer's remorse guilt is taking years off my life!!!

Happy 2012

The new year started out good for the Pratts!  We were able to spend New Year's Eve with our friends the Mounts.  I met them while in grad school and we just so happened to move about an hour from where they've been living since we all graduated.  They have friends about 30 minutes from where we live, so we met up there and had fun playing rock band, board games, and eating way to much food!  Sadly I got no pictures, why am I so lame about pictures all the time?  Hayden stayed up until midnight, I couldn't believe it.  I thought for sure she would crash.  She even stayed awake the whole car ride home.  She has loved all the holiday festivities this year. 

Next our friends the Sanders came home to Georgia to visit their families and they got to stay with us Monday night and left Tuesday afternoon.  We took them to Jim and Nicks, one of our favorite BBQ places (although the service was pretty terrible this time :( )  and just spent the night talking away and catching up.  We were so grateful to have them take away time from their families and spend a whole evening with us.  They are awesome!  Pardon my unshowered self in the following pictures!

This picture pretty much sums up how much Hayden loves Susannah!  I can never get her to look at the camera and smile, but of course she does when Susannah is holding her.  She kept going to Susannah's lap and her daughter Payton was a little upset that Hayden was trying to take over her mamma.  After the Sanders left and Hayden woke up from her nap she kept asking for "mamma."  I kept telling her that I was mamma and that Susannah had left.  She was pretty devastated!