New Business Venture

Hi all,

We have been enjoying ourselves immensely and so much so that I have had no time to post recently!  The boys are doing really well and love living down in Orange County, which makes me happy that this was the right move for our little family.  Mark is still happy at his new job and seems to be have found his niche with a great team to work with and a great company to work for. 

As for me, I struggled for months to find what I want to be doing for work.  I assumed I would be working full-time like I did in Santa Barbara, but having been home with Tate for a bit since moving down here I have realized that I do not want to work full-time.  I was not sleeping well and it was causing such anxiety because I was trying to force something that I subconciously did not want to happen. 

But, I also need something to do with my time, in addition to raising kids and going to Grad school part-time, so I searched for a part-time job opportunity.  This economy is tough right now and part-time work is not super easy to come by.  I feel so fortunate that I found a great opportunity to be able to represent a line of bath and beauty products and make it my own.  If you have a chance, check out the website (here) and let me know what you think! 

My goal is to start by presenting the line at home parties and branch out to selling to salons, boutiques, etc.  I am really looking forward to starting this new adventure and back the line completely.  If after reading this you have any interest in hosting a party at your home, let me know!  Or, if you visit the website and see something you like, feel free to order directly from the link.  Lastly, if you know if anyone who may be interested, please forward to them, or if you know of a boutique or shop owner who may be interested in carrying the line, please let me know and I will set up a meeting. 

Thanks for checking in!

Treasured Tate

My adorable Tate! This little boy could not be any sweeter or loving and I am enjoying getting to spend so much time with him considering I am STILL looking for a job. But, this post is not a gripe about unemployment, rather my love for my youngest son.


Tate brings so much joy into my life and we have so much fun together. Granted he is a lad of few words, which do include Mama, Dada, Papa, Ninny (Finlay), Hi, Bye-Bye, Happy, Apple, Buh-bee (burp, don't ask), Mimi (Mickey Mouse), and Ah-Yup (yes, with a head nod as well!); however, we have conversations all day long. He is known for making his mad face (evidenced below) and cracks up at himself all day long.

Yesterday was his 15-month birthday and we celebrated with a check-up at the Doctor. Bummer way to ring your 15-months of life, I realize. Doctor G. said Mr. Tate looks great and he is weighing in at 22 lbs and 31 inches long. Tate was NOT stoked to be weighed or have his height and head measured and was bummed with a capital B for both shots and finger prick to check his iron level. He bounced back quickly though, which is typical for happy Tate the Freight, and proceeded to take an almost three hour nap in the afternoon.


To my Tate, you make me laugh and smile throughout the day and I miss you when you are sleeping....but, don't get me wrong and stop taking two naps during the day and sleeping through the night! I am thankful that you inherited your Daddy's personality and am not sure where you got your "pageant wave" when you say hello or bye-bye, but I love it!

Fabulously Fun Finn

I love to laugh and there are no shortages of funny moments with my Finn. He is so smart and so funny, which helps on those days when he is in monster-mode. I love that he is super communicative and inquisitive - always interested in his surroundings and people he meets.

My new favorite time is right after bath and he requests to "cuddle with me". I usually end up with soaking wet pants since he plops on my lap fresh from the bathtub and his towel never seems to cover all of his little body, and my heart is bursting with the love for this little person. During our cuddle times we just chat for awhile and have some pretty sweet conversations. Last night he told me he was thankful for me, he loves me and wanted to know why I call him a baby. I clarified that I call him baby since he was my first baby and will always be my baby. He then told me that he wants to be a fireman (which is not news to me and he will tell anyone who will listen that he wants to be a fireman when he gets older) and he would wave to me when he was driving his firetruck. I told him I would be super proud of my fireman Finn and he said "but babies don't drive firetrucks!" Touche, Finn.

For all the moments when I have to take a deep breath and count to ten before responding because he has pushed me to the very tip of my sanity, I want to remember the amazing moments shared with Finn. I feel so grateful that I have this adorable child in my life and cannot wait to see what life has in store for my Finn.

Happiest Place on Earth

One thing that I was looking forward to when moving down to Orange County was getting Disneyland annual passes. Anyone who knows me is very aware of my love for this place and the boys love it as well. Scratch that, Mark has fun and appreciates how much the boys and I love it, but I wouldn't say he is as fond of it as we others are. Just shows what a great husband I have!!

While I am still looking for work, I decided to fully take advantage of my fun-employment and took the boys to Disneyland on a Thursday. It was not too busy and we had a blast for the few hours we were there.

Tate is a huge Mickey Mouse fan - we have a huge Mickey Mouse stuffed animal thanks to Nuna, Uncle Jason, Amber and Emily from Tate's first birthday. But, nothing can replace getting to meet the "real deal" and this introduction took place during our visit. Tate Fah-reaked out and was so excited to see Mickey moving around and waving at him that he didn't even know what to do with himself. He just screeched "MEEEE MEEEE!" at the top of his lungs and squeezed my arm so hard I thought he was going to draw blood! I didn't have my camera with me so I ended up paying through the nose for the photo below, but I love that we captured Tate's first meeting with his BFF, Mickey!

Horn Tooting

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have taken the steps to achieve a personal goal which is to obtain my Masters degree. I have since completed two courses and just received my grade for my second class...an A! I am positive it is because I am more focused on learning the material because it will be applicable in the workplace (whenever I get back into the workplace) and because I am paying for this entirely myself, but regardless of the reasons the most important thing is that I got an A!!!! I am pretty sure that makes me an "A" student, whereas in the past I was just A student. Hahahaha, I crack myself up.

In other exciting news, our Finn is almost 100% potty-trained. Yes, this may seem late for potty-training, but he had absolutely no urge to move away from pull-ups for what felt like forever. We have had a few accidents here and there, but I chalk that up to the learning curve. His favorite is to have Mark or me tell him stories while he sits on the potty. This has fostered our creativity for sure!

Tate is walking like a maniac now and enjoys his freedom. This morning he emptied my purse and his diaper bag - twice. This will teach me not leave anything on the floor that I do not want emptied in its entirety and strewn all over the place. He is still our sweet little lover, but will usually give you his "mad face" if you ask him. I will attempt to get a photo of this soon and post because it is scarily hilarious!

Knock, Knock, Knock...anyone still out there?

Hello!

I cannot believe we have been living in Orange County for over four months now and I haven't posted a single thing. Sheesh, I wouldn't blame you if you blog-broke up with me!

All is well and we are settling in nicely. We are still crashing at Papa Danny's house while I search for a job and that is posing to be more difficult than I had originally thought. Our goal is to buy a house in an area we love that is relatively close to both of our offices so you can see how my finding a job is quite important to this scenario.

The boys are LOVING being down here and being so close to family. It is so great to make a quick Target run, which is < 10 minutes away as opposed to the 45 minute commute we had when we lived in SB, and run into some friends...or their parents...or my cousins! We miss Santa Barbara and are looking forward to visiting one day soon, but are really happy down here.

Finn is in pre-school and is doing really well. He still cracks us up on a daily basis and continues to push all the wrong (or right, depending on who you ask) buttons. His favorite thing to do these days is find words that rhyme and I had to tell him recently that "cup" and the word that starts with "f" and rhymes with "luck" do NOT rhyme. There is definitely no way we are sneaking Mr. Chatty with the vocabulary of a 10 year old into Disneyland and pretending he is not yet 3! I am so thankful for our smart, funny, happy, feisty little character.

Tate is home with me during the day and is my sweet little buddy. For the most part, he can be found smiling and babbling, making silly faces to try to get his audience to laugh or standing up on his own with the proudest look on his face. He has started taking a few steps, but always ends up on the floor and crawling like a mad man. I think he may be getting some new teeth in and he has had some rough patches, but otherwise is really good. He still naps twice a day and sleeps from 6:30pm - 6:00am...not too shabby! I am so thankful for our sweet, happy, funny-face making little lover.

Mark and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary in October with a family trip to Palm Springs. Talk about romantic and relaxing! We hope to be able to make Santa Barbara our annual anniversary celebration locale in the future. We have also gone to Knott's Scary Farm with friends, a Disneyland trip over Halloween, eating dinners al fresco at Papa Danny's house (when we originally moved down here, not so much recently), laughed hysterically at Jay Mohr's comedy hour in Irvine, met for a few lunch hours at Mark's favorite place - The Irvine Spectrum, and had one Real Housewife of Orange County spotting...well, quasi RHOC spotting. It was the husband of an ex-cast member. Still counts!!

Hope everyone is well and that 2012 brings much joy, laughter and good luck.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!!

Well, the Barry Family is officially turning the page on this chapter in our lives...we are moving from the beautiful Santa Barbara area for new career opportunities and to be closer to my family down in Orange County. It will be bittersweet to leave the place I have called home for the past 15 years, but know there are new, amazing adventures that await us. And just knowing that my boys have cousins galore and friend's with children close in age makes me happy. The outpouring of love from my friends and family down there has been heart-warming, and the response from those friends we are leaving behind up here makes me feel so loved.



So, we are packing up and moving shop. We have ALOT of work ahead of us in the next 2+ weeks, but once that is behind us I think we will feel a big sense of relief and excitement.



As for the boys, they are doing great! Finn had his three year check-up yesterday and passed everything with flying colors. He is in the 50% for weight (31lbs) and 25% for height (35 1/2 in.)We talked to Dr. B. about his belly issues, but he assured us that all seemed normal and nothing a little dietary modifications (and possibly more miralax) won't cure up. Note to teenager Finn, I apologize for blasting the web with your belly issues, but I want to be able to think back on the struggles we had with you when you were younger so when we are going through the door-slamming, metal music blaring rebellious stage I will remember these weren't so challenging! :) Love you, Finn Bear.



Tate is doing great! He is almost 9 months old and I can hardly believe it. He is a happy guy for most of the time and has decided to start saying something other than Da Da, which is most appreciated by yours truly. He says "Ma" and "Ba" too and sometimes throws a little "Nuh nuh" in the mix. He's a genius, I tell you. Most mornings we wake up to this happy little face and it makes me want 5 more just like him. Well, maybe not really, but he sure is sweet! Love you, Taters.







All in all, we are doing well and thankful for all the blessings we have in our lives. Hopefully we will have more posts soon, but may not until we are down in our new hometown. Crazy!



Much love,

Courtney