Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I’m so excited… and I just can’t hide it…

Excitement is in the air. It has once again been much too long since my last post, and for that I do apologize…I'll be making up for it with a super long post this time. 

It’s been a very busy last few weeks and this week has been no exception. We spent this past weekend with my sister and her boyfriend at his family’s cabin, along with my brother and his girlfriend. The trip was mine and Nick’s birthday present from my sister, and we had a great weekend – and Nora seemed to enjoy her first snow trip, although she didn’t really come in contact too much with the actual snow… I think she was much more excited about the toy boats in the bathtub and her new-found crush in my sister’s boyfriend. I’ve never seen a 9-month old so smitten with an ‘older’ man.






The snow trip was a nice and relaxing finish to a busy and hectic week. On Monday of last week, I officially put in my two weeks notice for my job and have since been working non-stop to tie up any loose ends before my last day. This was both extremely exciting (if you know me then you know that this is a day I’ve been looking forward to for a while) and very nerve-wracking as I’ve been doing my best to assure myself that it’s the right move to make right now. I’ve been wanting a change for a while now, and this decision would have been made a year ago had it not been for a little bundle of joy surprising us and entering our lives (of course, an immense blessing which I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world, but a bit of a surprise, nonetheless). So, the time has now come to officially cut my ties with the job I was never really thrilled to have in the first place, but was very fortunate to have at a time when thousands of people were (are) still out of work. After this week, I will officially be a full-time momma (who is still looking for a part-time job… so if you know of anything, let me know!).

Part of the reason I chose to put in notice at this particular time was because of the other reason this last week and the current week have been so busy – we’re headed to Budapest in only 5 DAYS!!! We began planning this trip two years ago and for the longest time it seemed so far away, and was looking like only a few of us would be able to go. The group has now grown to include me, Nick and Nora, my brother and sister, aunt Kathy and uncle Norman (these were the original travelers), as well as my mom, my Oma, and my aunt Maria and uncle Paul. I don’t think I ever imagined we’d ever have the opportunity for a trip like this, and I’m so amazingly grateful and excited at the idea that we’re all actually going, especially when I think about how amazing it will be to be able to travel with my grandmother to the town where she and my grandfather grew up, in a little town in Southern Hungary. I know that there will also be some sad and bittersweet times on this trip, as we will all constantly be reminded of my grandfather and the fact that we’re making this trip without him, as we remember his memories and stories that we all grew up hearing. It will be the trip of a lifetime, and I plan to have lots of stories of my own and pictures to share when we return.

I’m hoping that no more than one or two of those stories will involve Nora being a pain in the butt during a ten hour flight, or of us missing our connecting flight in London during a 90-minute layover due to a diaper catastrophe. One can hope.