My Brief Stint at Stay-at-Home-Mommyhood & what lies ahead...

Heelllllllloooooooo!


Well, needless to say, it's been much, much, MUCH too long since my last blog post. And there's really been no excuse for it. In my last post (...way back in April...) I was just about to become a stay-at-home mom and we were getting ready to leave for Budapest with the family - both were extremely exciting, fun, and times which I will never forget. The trip to Budapest was beyond amazing... I can't even believe I didn't post after coming back (although it was already so long ago, I honestly kind of thought that I had!), it just doesn't seem to do it justice to mention it now, four months later, but here are some highlights: did lots of sightseeing, saw lots of distant family that fed us lots of delicious Hungarian food, drank A LOT of wine, and even survived a halfway-around-the-world-and-back flight with a 10-month old. Nora did amazingly well and was surprisingly extremely easy to travel with - unfortunately she will not have any recollection of the trip, but we came back with well over a thousand pictures collectively and hopefully we'll be able to make the trip again someday when she's older.

The beginning of one long plane ride... I've never been more thankful for Nora's excellent sleeping habits.

N-n-n-n-n-Nora the explorer.

Nick and Nora enjoying the leisurely walk across the Szechenyi Bridge toward Buda.

The quaint and windy streets of the castle district in Buda.

Breakfast of champions.

View from the Citadel, the highest point in Budapest.

Happily looking like tourists on the very-touristy Vaci Utca, making our way to the market.

I definitely recalled some very fond memories of my four months abroad while I was lucky enough to live in this beautiful city. I retraced the steps I took nearly five years ago (how has it really been that long?) around the city, down Andrassy Ut, around City Park and the fabulous Szecheny Baths, remembering without hesitation the correct stops on the metro lines and which streets to turn down in order to conveniently pass by my favorite places to eat and drink. Since we've gotten back from this trip, Nick and I have said countless times... I want to go back. But the real reason this trip was so special was because of the company we shared while there, in particular, my grandmother - Oma - to those of you who know our family. I can't describe how amazing it was to travel to her and my grandfather's hometown, to stay with family that she hasn't seen in decades and watch them reminisce and joke and sing like they had never been apart all these years... to see the small rural town which has been modernized (and by modernized, I mean some people now have running water and electricity, and some even have internet and satellite TV - ironically, however, many of those with satellite TV do not also have running water...) but still seems, in so many ways, frozen in a much simpler time where most people make homemade wine and many have not even been to the capital city of Budapest, 2 hours away. Oma was the very best tourguide we could have asked for, and when back in Budapest, I took over and happily helped my family to discover this beautiful and unique city on the Danube.

My grandfather's family's old street in the middle of Duschau/Duzs.

Our Duschau family... halfway around the world, yet so much like being at home.

My great-great grandmother's house, where Oma spent many happy days as a child. 

My mom, aunt Maria and uncle Norman taking in the view from my grandfather's family's former vineyard.

The best little traveler you know.

It was also very exciting and relieving knowing that once I returned from the trip, I would officially be a stay-at-home mom. While it was short-lived, I enjoyed each and every second that I was able to spend with Nora and wish it could have lasted a little longer before returning to work, but alas, I've learned since I've entered adulthood that unfortunately there's this silly thing called money and these other annoying things called bills and apparently, you need the former in order to get rid of the latter. I don't really like being an adult sometimes.

So, I am now once again a working employed-outside-the-home-and-getting-paid-for-it mom... and so far, even though it is not easy leaving Nora every morning, I'm actually really enjoying my new job. I'm extremely grateful for the fact that everyone I've met is genuinely nice and welcoming, making for an easy transition back into office-life. AND, everyone tells me there's a good chunk of downtime most days, which will hopefully allow me to get back to my blog on a much more regular basis. I figured that it was a good sign when on my second day, I looked in my file drawer and found this:

It was clearly left by the girl that used to sit at my cubicle. But the question was, did she accidentally leave it behind? Or, did she very purposefully leave it behind, because maybe she received it as a gift in a secret santa yankee swap gift exchange, when really what she wanted was the iPod? (...unfortunately it was the first assumption, and yes, I had to give it back.)