So much has been happening since our last life post back in July when we visited Ohio and unforunately we have fallen off the blogging wagon, but here's hoping we can get caught up soon. July was a very busy and crazy month. July 1st, Katie started back to work after being a stay at home mom for 11 months. I had very mixed feelings about going back to work. Part of me was really sad to be leaving Brady and worried about missing out on his day-to-day activities; Part of me was scared to get back into the workforce and accounting (11 months was quite a long time and I felt like I was starting to forget my accounting skills) and Part of me was excited to get back into the workforce, talk to more adults on a day-to-day basis about something other than baby stuff and part of me just knew that it was time for me to push the big wheel again.
After 3 long months of interviewing, I ended up accepting an Accounting Manager position at a Real Estate Investment Trust (aka a REIT) which is kind of like a mutual fund but instead of stocks and other securities, it invests in real estate and mine specializes in retail real estate. So we basically own shopping centers across the United States. I really liked the people when I interviewed and it was especially nice because 2 of them were in similar life boats as me and had babies close in age to Brady. This has been very helpful because not only is it fun to talk about our kids a little bit, it is also nice because they understand when Brady gets sick and I need to leave early to go get him. The company is much smaller than Toys R Us, which I think will be a good learning experience because I will get to see so many more things. My group of 9 people is responsible for all the accounting, booking journal entries, closing the books, preparing monthly and quarterly financial statements, preparing the quarterly and annual reports for the SEC, accounting research and taxes. So far it has been going pretty well, the only downside is I have an hour (sometimes more) commute each way. Our office is located in Oak Brook on the west side, which seems like a nice suburb.
So the dynamics of our family life has changed dramatically. The first 11 months, Charlie was the only one pushing the big wheel, so Katie was doing most of the housework and baby work. But once I started the new job, Charlie really had to step up and help out and he has done great. We have settled into a pretty nice routine where Katie gets Brady up and ready in the morning, has breakfast with him and takes him to daycare. Charlie then picks Brady up in the evening and feeds him dinner and sometimes when Katie has to work late, he gives Brady his bath and puts him to bed. I think all this extra time with Daddy has been great for the the two of them and it has been really neat to see how their bond is getting even stronger. I sometimes struggle with being away from Brady so much, but my mom reminds me that quality time is better than quantity time and so I try to turn our everyday tasks like eating breakfast and getting ready into good quality time with lots of hugs and kisses. Oh and Griffey has his routine down too, he eats his breakfast with Brady and I because he knows Brady will throw him some cheerios. Brady loves to help put him in his crate and Griffey has a dog-walker 4 days a week and then goes to doggie camp one day a week.
So another big thing that happened in July was that we moved ....again. This time just a couple of miles from the old place. It was with a lot of mixed feelings that we decided to go through the moving process again. The first place was 2 blocks from Wrigley Field, which Charlie loved but the area was not that baby friendly and the El tracks went through the back yard, which we had sort of gotten use to but it was pretty loud. We found another rental 2 miles west of the old place in Roscoe Village. Roscoe is very family friendly, lots of restaurants and all of them have highchairs...hooray!! There is a cute gelato place that we love walking to and has a train set for kids. The new place is called a duplex- down, which means that we have the 1st floor and basement of a 3 apartment building. The basement is finished and has a 3rd bedroom and bathroom which is set up great for grandparents and guests to visit. Brady has much more room to crawl and play. The one downside is that Griffey seems to be quite busy with his head of security job, because he unfortunately barks a lot when he hears the people above us coming in and out. The move was extremely chaotic and stressful and luckily my parents came up to help us get the small stuff that the movers left behind at the old place and unpack, and overall we are much more comfortable here.
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