Moving on....

Well its official....I have bit the bullet, gone outside my comfort zone and accepted a job in the private sector. On July 11, 2011 I will begin working at Baptist Medical Center as a floor social worker.

Normally I am ok with change but this terrifies me. I have worked for the state for 7 years and seriously thought I would retire in the state system. Despite their low pay and lack of acceptable insurance there has always been a sense of job security that I have felt that I am not sure I will have working in the "private world." Billy has done his part in advancing in his career and nearly doubling his salary since his first job out of college and now it is my turn. I feel like I owe it to him & Raylee to step outside my comfort zone and at least try it.

I know I will like the work because most of my experience is in medical social work and I LOVE the medical setting. It is the non-state medical setting that I am unsure of....haha! Hopefully everything will work out and we will live happily ever after. If not I know that I can always come back to DHS and work in the county....right?!?!

Stars & Stripes

This weekend we did something that I didn't think we would be doing for a very long time....if ever again! Raylee was in the Bella Rose Stars & Stripes Pageant in Pelahatchie. After several pageants, feeling the need to commit child abuse and nearly the end of my marriage I decided that Raylee would be in another pageant when she was able to say "I want to be in a pageant."

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't the toddler and tiara mom who made her get up there and got pissed when she didn't win. Raylee always had fun and wanted to do them, she just didn't play by the rules per say.

She thought that the stage was her own personal soccer field and she could run, jump and play on it as she saw fit. When she was corrected she would get pissed and fall out on the stage or dive off the front of it. Yes, I said dive off the front of the stage! She did that at the Hattiesburg pageant oh and lets not forget that was the same pageant she acted such a fool in running around that her diaper came loose and was around her ankles. This was pointed out to me by a judge during crowning.

Anyway, I have been thinking about trying her in another pageant just to see how she would do. She has been talking about and showing us her "pageant walk" for some time now but I just didn't have it in me to try it. Well last week I was contacted by the director saying that the numbers were low and asking me to put her in it and she offered me a great discount. I just happen to find the cutest petticoat skirt that was very cheap and the rest was history!

After getting her dress we walked in the auditorium, got a seat and waited for the pageant to start. We weren't even seated yet and Raylee took off to the side of the stage, climbed up on it and away she went! We didn't even practice before the pageant. when she got up on stage she looked for the first x, went and stood on it and did her thing all by herself!

headed to the second x

now on the third. Did she sneeze????

No mam...she was giving sugars!!!! Not sure where she saw this at. This was very Toddlers and Tiaras......

After coming off stage and waiting for the other contestants to go up she would run around and act a straight up FOOL!!! By the time crowing had come around we were all wore out, frustrated, ready to beat her and get a divorce. Saturday was totally different! She sat there the WHOLE time minding her business and watching the other girls. We were all like WHO IS THIS CHILD???

and you know we couldn't leave "Pageant Dad" out! He went up on stage with his baby girl during crowning!

She won prettiest eyes and placed Princess (2nd) in her division!!! She did great!!!!

A Tribute to Billy for Father's Day

Lyrics to

Family Man

By Craig Campbell

I've been working as a temp
At the local factory
I hope the hire me on full time
I've got shoes to buy
and a mouth to feed




I drive a buy here pay here truck
It aint new but it is to me
it fires right up
and it gets me from A to B

What puts the dirt underneath my nails
What keeps the calluses on my hands
A family man

They are the world my world revolves around

My sacred piece of solid ground

The flesh and bone that gives me strength to stand

The fire in my coming home

The drive behind my coming home

The living breathing reason I am

A family man

There are dirty shirts to wash

Dishes in the sink to do

and there is how many times does 17 go into 52

and there's bed time prayers to pray

There's sleep tights and I love you's

And there's a pair of eyes

I get to loose myself into

What keeps me keeping the faith

What makes me believe I can

A family man

They are the world my world revolves around

My sacred piece of solid ground

The flesh and bone that gives me strength to stand

The fire behind my driving on

The fire behind my coming home

The living, breathing, reason that I am

A family man

There's a fire in my driving on

The drive behind my coming home

The living, breathing, reason that I am

A family man

A family man

Happy Father's Day out there to all of the Daddy's Especially Billy! I couldn't ask for a better husband or baby daddy. When I say that this man is Raylee's world I mean just that. She LOVES her daddy!!! This next pic says it all!!!!

Every morning when I go in her room to wake her up the first thing out of her mouth is "Where my daddy?" I'm not going to lie, in the beginning it totally hurt my feelings and still does on some days but I guess I just have to accept that she is a daddys girl!

He works so hard to be able to provide not only for her but for me as well. He truly wants to give her everything in his power and then some.

Happy Fathers Day Billy!!!!

We LOVE you!!!

Raylee's crafts

I don't think I officially announced that we took Raylee out of the the daycare that she has been going to since she was 8 weeks old and put her in a pre-school in Pearl. This came after much thought, consideration & prayer. Everyone that knows Raylee knows that she is one strong willed little girl. We felt that she needed a structured & educational environment. We researched several different preschools & their curriculum's and finally decided on one. She was not supposed to start until the end of May but due to a series of events we made the decision to go ahead and move her now. There are no hard feelings with the old daycare and they will forever hold a special place in our hearts for caring for our sweet girl for 2 1/2 years! She is slowly but surely adjusting to her new preschool. Every day seems to get a little easier. She still cried some this morning but for the first time this week I didn't! YAY me!!! The mama in me hates leaving her crying but I know that this place is the best place for her and we have made the right choice. I know she has not even been there a week but I am AMAZED at what she has learned and some of the stuff she is doing! Monday when I picked her up there was a "news letter" from her teacher telling us what they will be talking about and learning this week. In the newsletter it gave some tips on how we as parents could help our kids by discussing some of the things with them in car on the way to school or in the tub etc.... This week they are learning about grass. Tuesday while we were riding down the road out of no where I asked Raylee what color is grass. Normally when you ask her things like that she says "blue", everything is always blue. Well this time she said "green"! I was so amazed! I realize that there are probably other kids her age that would have already know this and she is a little behind but I am still so proud of her! She has only been there 2 days (at that time) and she is already learning!!! Here are a few things that she has done this week.......

She made this on Monday! Billy & I are so proud of it.

I think it is very frameable....don't you?

She did this on Tuesday!

She did this on Wednesday. They went outside & picked grass

and taped it to the sheet of paper and they call it a

"grass viewer". It is really cute and she is

really proud of it!

At this point I realize what a goob I sound like getting all excited over this kind of stuff. Her teacher said that she REALLY enjoys the activities that they do and things that they make. Maybe she will be just like her mama and be crafty! Not only have we notice that she is learning but there has also been a change in her behavior. She has been in the best mood when I pick her up in the afternoons. We laugh and talk the whole way home. In the past she would start whining and crying from the time I picked her up until she went to bed. We come home and she plays while I cook dinner. She sits at the table and eats her dinner like a big girl. She still doesn't like bath time very much. She wants to get in, get bathed and get out. When it is time to settle in for the night it doesn't take her long at all to go to sleep. I guess she is just so tired from all of the excitement during the day that she is just pooped! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we continue to make this transition.

Here we go.....

Here are a few pics of Raylee as she is going into her new school Monday morning. I have a few more but for some reason it wont let me upload them. I have been trying since Monday night so I decided to just post what I have.

Would you hurry up! You are embarrassing me!

Oh my!!!! She is still at it!! Yes, notice the tutu. She HAD to wear it! No outfit is complete without one.

Sigh..... tear.....sigh.... my baby is growing up way to fast!!!!

Tears, tears and more tears.....

September 6, 2008

Raylee's 1st day of daycare

April 4, 2011

Raylee's 1st day of Pre-School

We were all smiles when this picture was taken this morning, however, it was short lived. She did great getting out of the car this morning and walking in. She got really shy as we walked into her classroom. She cried for a little while, Billy cried for a minute and I cried all day and as I am typing this blog...haha! I only called 8,000 times to check on her but all in all she had a really good day! She ate great. She played great and took a great nap. When I walked in to pick her up she ran up to me and shouted "I pee peed in the potty today." She was so proud of herself! Then she started telling me all of the great things that she did today. She was talking so fast and was so excited. We felt all along that we were making the right choice for her and this was conformation. Hopefully tomorrow morning will go smoothly and with less tears.

FINALLY........

I wouldn't go to far as to day that today is the best day of my life but it is pretty darn close!!! I suffered through 3 long, dreadful, nagging, tough years of graduate school at Jackson State University. In May 2007 I lived to graduate with a Masters of Social Work. For those of you who are not familiar with the social work profession, to get a ok social work job on the bachelors level you have to be licensed, to get a descent job you have to a masters degree, and to get a good job you have to be licensensed with a masters degree in social work (LMSW). Thankfully when I graduated on the bachelors level I took the exam and passed the first time. That was SO not the case on the masters level. Luckily I had my bachelors license to fall back on so I was able to get a job while I worked on passing my masters exam. This time I only told one person I was taking it and I didn't tell her until a few days before! I had to call my mom and tell her I was going over to one of my group homes until after lunch so don't be blowing my phone up, I would call her when I got out! When I finished the test and the result flashed up on the screen I just sat there. This is what I saw..... The times I have taken it before I have missed passing it by a point. A year or so ago they stopped giving number grades like 75, 42, etc... and started saying this test needed 105 right and you got 103. The last two times I have taken it I missed it by 3 questions and the time before that 2 questions. My test today needed to have 97 questions answered correctly and I answered 106 correctly!!!! I was SHOCKED. I wanted to stand up and scream but I knew I couldn't! I just sat there and looked at it! So many times before I had dreamed of seeing the PASS but it was always FAIL!!! I have to keep looking at it! I still cant believe it!!!! March is National Social Work Month. With today being the last day of March passing my test couldn't be a better day to pass it! Happy Social work month to me!!!!

HAPPY SOCIAL WORK MONTH TO ALL OF THE SOCIAL WORKERS OUT THERE!!!!

Where has the time gone?

Monday, July 21, 2008

the day we brought her home from the hosptial...

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

As we were eating dinner last night and I looked across the table I couldnt help but to be sad. I seriously cant believe that this is my little Raylee! I cant believe that she has gone from eating from a bottle while we rock her, to sitting in a high chair using a spoon for the first time, to sitting in a dining room chair using a real fork, drinking out of a cup without a lid and eating like a grown person! Notice I didnt say using a booster seat. Well, we have one of those and she refuses to use it. I guess she thinks she is just to big. Before we know it she will be headed to kindergarten. Oh how time flies......

Raylee

Last night Raylee busted out with "I got fever, got cowbell." I think what she was trying to say was that she "has a fever and the only thing to solve it is more cowbell."

Later on this is our conversation:

Me: What's your name
Raylee: Raylee Elizzzabeff
Raylee: What's MiMi's name:
Me: Ayn Elizabeth
Raylee: Nooooo!!!! I Raylee Elizzzabeff.....NOT MIMI!!!!

we could sit and laugh at her all night long. Most of the time we do........

It's cleaning Wednesday!!!

Ok, so I cant believe I am actually saying this but a couple of weeks ago we finally broke down and hired a lady to come clean our house. Billy & I refused to do this for a long time. We are only 30 years old and shouldn't have to pay someone to clean for us. After one frustrating weekend of cleaning all weekend and sitting down on Sunday night feeling no more rested than we did Friday night we decided that it was finally time to hire someone. Since we are 30 years old and are very capable of picking up after ourselves and doing some things around the house we decided to hire half a maid. She comes every other week and only does the "deep" cleaning such as base boards, tubs, windows....etc and we do everything else! It is much easier knowing that all we have to do is pick up after ourselves every night, wash our own dishes and clothes. I love walking in the house on Wednesdays after she has come, it feels so refreshing! Speaking of....she came today!!!!!!

Decisions......decisions......

Did anyone see the news last night? Well, if you did you would have seen that Social Workers finally got some positive publicity! That doesn't come very often! Normally you only hear of us on the news when a child has been abused or on a show like E.R. or Grey's Anatomy where you see the social worker dragging a child away kicking and screaming from their mother due to some form of suspected abuse. If you didnt catch it and you are interested you can read it here.

Contrary to most of the media's belief, there are rewarding areas of social work to work in. I currently work for The Department of Human Services (DHS) in the licensure department. I go out to group homes, shelters, adoption agencies and child placing agencies that we (DHS) place our kids in that are in custody and make sure that they are in compliance with the standards that are in place. This seemed like the perfect job when I took it. Don't get me wrong, it is a great job but at the time I was so burned out with being the "front line social worker" and the less people I had to deal with the better! Little did I know but I would soon miss interacting with the clients.

I have been offered a position within DHS in their Adoption/Resource Unit. I would be doing home studies, which I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do, working with foster parents, conducting trainings and recruiting foster parents for Scott county. This sounds like the PERFECT job for me and usually I would jump on it but for some reason I am real hesitant.

As most of you know, Billy's job is less than pleasant. He has got several of things in the "works" but no on paper offers. When he was laid off in August he applied with a company. He had several phone interviews and then a couple of in person interviews. About the time the interviewing process was over, their business slowed down and they were able to hire any one. So in the mean time he gets another call from another company he has previously worked for asking him to apply for a position they have. So he does. He heard from them last week and they said that they are currently reviewing all the applications and they would call him back with a interview date. So we are waiting on that call he gets a call back from this other company saying that they are able to hire now and they want him!!!! He is excited but tells them about this other offer and they said ok well if you don't want the design job and you want to stay in quality then we will make you our Quality Manager.....as if the decision wasn't already hard enough! So I said all that to say that Billy has 3 verbal offers and not a clue of which one to take!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we make our decisions! I think mine would be a lot easier if we weren't both changing jobs at the same time. As you know with a small child and this time of year the odds of her being sick and needing time off are high.

There is something about a sleeping baby that you have to love. Especially this sleeping baby.....
It scares me to death to know that I wont be able to save her from experiencing this cruel dangerous society that we live in these days. As my friend Amy says, "I just want to put her in a bubble."

Playing with her laptop that her Uncle Bubba & Aunt Emily gave her! She LOVES it and thinks that she is so grown when she plays with it! I have actually played several of the games on there. They make me feel smart...haha!

We had a lot of fun tonight. We played with legos, drew on her easel that Santa brought her and splish splashed in the bath tub. She is growing up way to fast! She even called me "mom" several times instead of mommy :(

Please continue to keep Billy & I in yall's thoughts and prayers. We have some very important decisions to make in the coming weeks and are nervous that we are not going to make the right ones. Thanks!

Signs

So after talking to many of yall about deleting my page and yall telling me that I was doing the wrong thing yall got me wondering. I receive a text message this morning from a number that I wasn't even sure who it was and when I found out who It was she was not even aware of what is going on. The text message read:

"1 Thessalonians 5:22, Avoid every kind of evil. Have a great day :)"

Those of yall who really know me know that I am a biggie on "signs." Just a small reminder that HE is always with us and steering us in the right direction! This is all the conformation that I need!

Sleepy Head....

It looks like I was not the only one who was sleepy this morning. I got her out of bed, changed her diaper and clothes with out a fight. She didn't even do her usual calling the roll asking "where's daddy, where's sadie grace, where's mimi, where's gamma and the list goes on and on and usually starts over at the end! This probably isn't a good thing, but she was so sleepy I left her here for about 10 mins while I went and finished getting dressed and she never even moved. She looked so sweet and comfy it made me want to call into work sick and let her sleep in! God love her!!!

Going Private.....

Just want to let everyone know that in a couple of days our blog will be going private. If you would like to follow us and keep in touch send me your name & email to KimberlyIReed@Bellsouth.net and I will add you to the list of people who will be able to view it. Its really sad that people have to go to such great links to keep "haters" & jealous people that have nothing but evil intentions out of their lives.

Also, last night I deleted my facebook page. I have been thinking about it for a while and I finally got fed up and just did it. I have had several people text and ask me not to do it because they love all of my pictures and my comments. I hated to do it but it was what I had to do and what is best for me right now. For those true friends that have nothing but good intentions you can follow our blog and I will update it as if I was updating facebook.

Hope you all understand!

The Reeds