I left the law firm at the end of July - good/bad ending - but I now work with my husband!  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!  I am only 5-10 minutes from home and from where Hunter is in daycare.  It is VERY flexible - I mean VERY!  It's so nice to work for a small family oriented place... Hunter has been sick twice since I started and both times he has either come to work with me for a little while or I've just stayed home and not worried that someone was upset I was having to stay home (again!).  We obviously took a pay cut but it is so worth it!  We are learning to change our spending but that doesn't mean we aren't struggling.  The Lord really works and knows what we can and can't handle.  He lead me away from the law firm just in time - the two owners decided to part ways about 1 month after I left - which would have landed me without a job - and He gave me the courage to call and ask for a job from David's bosses and they were more than happy to open a position for me :)  Things were tough after I left the law firm - I was stressed about how things happened - to the point all I could do was cry - I couldn't sleep, eat, or do anything!  I wasn't even enjoying my time as a mom... I decided  to talk with my doctor and they put me on a anti-anxiety drug which has helped SO much... I didn't realize jus thow stressed I really was - now I can get so much more done in a days time... I don't think about the last job... I don't worry when the house work needs to be done and Hunter needs a bath - I leave the housework and focus on Hunter.  Life is truly much more enjoyable now! 

We've really had some great months - we've been able to truly be a family and not rush here rush there - rush home, rush to eat, rush to get to bed, rush to get ready, rush to work, rush home, rush to eat... - you get the picture!  We are usually off early on Fridays so we've been able to keep up with the house work indoors and out.  I know our dog is much happier!  He actually gets to get out for a couple of hours each day instead of maybe 30-45 minutes!

And - we won a trip to LasVegas through the company so we leave Dec. 7th for 4 days.  This is going to be our first trip without Hunter.  I am so nervous but excited at the same time.  David's parents and my parents are spliting the time keeping Hunter so I know he will be well cared for :)  I'm so thankful for family! 

Just wanted to update!  Hope everyone is well! 

Yet again - it's been too long - Last time I posted we were heading to the beach and I was OH SO EXCITED!!!! We had a blast!!!  We arrive late Friday evening and headed straight to bed (Hunter was already asleep).  Saturday morning he woke up bright and early (6am) so we just decided to get our day started.  Going into the living room to play of course woke everyone else in the house up so they came down and my dad fixed us a wonderful breakfast, we all had showers, all got dressed, got packed up for the day and were out the door by 9:15a.  We headed to the ferry in Southport and rode it over to Fort Fisher and took Hunter to the aquairum.  HE LOVED IT!  Here are some pictures from Saturday...

Ferry Ride - Daddy, Mommy, Hunter, Grammy who Hunter now calls "Mam-maw"

Fort Fisher enterance

Hunter loved being able to get that close to the fish and the gators - fearless!

Hunter and Poppy Bob on the ferry ride home - he sure did work up an appitite :)

Hunter in his car seat on the way home

At Grammy & Poppy Bob's house (only) - he is allowed to go in the Tupperware cabinet and play play play!!!

Sunday we got up and again had a wonderful breakfast by Poppy Bob - we got dressed and packed up and headed up the road to Orton Plantation.  We went ahead and packed our stuff up so we could head back home from there... Orton Plantation was in full bloom and was beautiful... Hunter seemed to really enjoy that too - he was able to walk and run all over :) 

From there we went to eat lunch at Bojangles and then started on our way back home... it was still early and it was a beautiful day so we decided to take a new route home (the scenic route).  We stopped at Jones Lake State Park to use the bathroom and streach our legs - it was really nice... I think we have found a new camping spot!  We got home and enjoyed some more outdoors time and then it was back to reality Monday morning! 

It was a nice mini-vacation... we truly needed that!  I can't wait to do it again :)

After that weekend was over David started on his side jobs that he had picked up so we were traveling to Lumberton pretty much every weekend through the end of April and May... he finished up last weekend so we have the summer to do family weekends!!! 

My mom came up last weekend (that's when Hunter started calling her Mam'maw) while David went to Whiteville to finish his last side job... we had fun - shopped alot, had lunch with my bosses little boys (who were being kept my their Mawmaw who is my mom's childhood best friend), went to my cousin's soccer game (he scored 3 goals and won the game for his team - at 4 years old). 

This weekend we have a family reunion (David's mom's side of the family) and next weekend is our anniversary so we are taking Hunter to my mom's and going out to dinner and then to our beach house (5 minutes from her house) to spend the evening alone :)  We took the day off Friday so we are heading down to the beach Friday morning :)  - another mini-vacation...

Life has sure been busy - but it's all good!  David has been VERY busy with work (not getting home until 7-7:30 every night and leaving 6:30-7:00 every morning)... my job has been hopping too - we had a 2 week trial in Asheville at the beginning of May (which left only 2 of us in the office) - we lost the trial!  They came back we foudn out we lost an arbitration hearing and we are gearing up for another trial in 3 weeks!!!  Let's just say we NEED to win this one!  We hardly every go to trial - most of our cases settle before trial is set (I've been here 5 years and this next trial will be only the 4th one we've ever go to... the first was 2004, one in 2005, this past one May 2008 and now this coming one June 2008... If we lose this one so much for my raise!  Like I said - we NEED to win this one!

That's about it in the life of the West's - I hope you all have a wonderful safe summer!!!  It's officially here (at least in NC it is - 99 for the next 3 days! - yikes!)

I'll update again soon (sooner rather than later I hope).

Well - I know I always say that I'm going to try to update more... blah blah blah I know!

The last 3 months in review:

Hunter started daycare at the end of January.  I had a hard time adjusting as did he, but I think it's been a good change.  He has developed an independance and is actually able to play on his own for more than 2 seconds.  I like that he has other children his age to play with and it's dependable. 

The 2nd week in February he contracted a terrible stomach virus that had him out for a full week - SOOOO    

• 1 week in daycare
• 1 week out

The next was starting all over again.  At the end of February we went on vacation to Myrtle Beach for a few days with my parents and somehow he ended up with another stomach virus the day we were leaving.  SOOOO

• 1 week in daycare
• 1 week out
• 2 weeks in
• 1 week out

March arrived with some nice weather so I was hoping the season of sickness was leaving along with the cold weather.  (I love springtime - I hate cold weather - I guess that comes with growing up at the beach).  Everything was going... Hunter started walking just 1 week before his birthday... but other than that just normal day to day stuff.

We celebrated Hunter's 1 year birthday with a party on the 16th and had lots of fun - he really enjoyed all his new toys (especially his RadioFlyer wagon and his Little Tikes Sports Center).  On Monday - his actually birthday (17th) he woke up with a fever of 103.  We knew something was wrong - he could hardly breathe he was so snotty!  My parents stayed Sunday night just incase he was sick (he had shown some signs before his party) so I could go to work and they could stay home with him.  I took him to the pediatrician first thing Monday morning and the diagnosis was Upper Respritory infection along with a Sinus Infection.  Mom and Dad stayed with him Monday and Tuesday and he was doing much better.  He went to daycare on Wednesday & Thursday and my MIL came to get him on Friday to keep him for the day (since we were going there Friday evening).  SOOOO

• 1week in daycare
• 1 week out
• 2 weeks in
• 1 week out
• 2 weeks in
• 3 days out

Do you see a pattern yet???

That lands us at Easter... we had an Easter Egg hunt at my MIL&FIL's church so we went to that and Hunter did great!  He loved picking the eggs up and putting them in his basket.  I was so suprized!  He is growing up so fast! That afternoon we had another birthday party for him - this one was for all of David's family to attend (he still has 3 of his grandparents alive and they all live in the same town that MIL&FIL live in so we decided to do 2 parties so they could attend without driving 3-4 hours).  He had a blast and yet again racked up on the goodies - this time it was mostly clothes (which mommy really appreciated) but he did get some books which are his new favorite past time!

March 28th we had his 1 year checkup which included the dreadful shots - he had 3 shots and blood drawn - he is always so brave!  He looked mad at the first prick, rolled his lip with the second and looked at me a screamed for the 3rd just in time for me to grab him up real quick!  Within 1 minute he was all smiles again!  The doctor is worried about his weight.  He was 19lbs 12oz. in January and has dropped to 18lbs 2oz. at this last visit.  I knew he was going to have lost because he has been so sick.  They wanted us to start him on PediaSure - fine and dandy if he hadn't gotten sick yet again!  He drank an entire bottle of Vanilla PediaSure along with his full jar of stage 3 sweet potatoes for dinner that night... I was excited!  But within 2 hours we were cleaning sweet potatoes out of our white carpet.  He had thrown up uncontrolably about a half a dozen times.  I got him cleaned up, cleaned myself up, and let him play (he wanted to his toys and played hard for about 2 hours).  He came to me and said "ba-ba" so I decided that since he wasn't fevered and that he was playing so hard that he must be fine and gave him a 6oz. bottle of formula.  about 1 hour later (8pm) he was playing hard again, looked at me and threw up again (this time about 4 times).  I took his tempature and he was burning up.  I called the hospital (becuase by now it was 9pm) and they said that it was unlikely the shots that caused the vomitting but that he probably had - you guessed it - another stomach virus.  At least it was Friday so he wasn't going to be missing daycare yet again!  They told me to not give him anything for 2 hours and only do Pedilyte for 24-48 hours.  We stayed in all weekend (it rained anyway) and by Sunday afternoon he was holding everything down and was asking for more.  He went to daycare Monday and was fine all week!

Friday afternoon my MIL called to see if she could pick Hunter up for the weekend to give us a break (since it had been such a crazy last couple of weeks and she knew we were exhausted.  After she left with him David got sick and was sick all weekend. 

This week hasn't been much better - I've been fighting it off all week.  My MIL ended up in the hospital with the stomach virus that Hunter had had and evidenlty David had had.  We are supposed to go to the beach this weekend and I am so hopefull that that doesn't get messed up by my stomach which has not been right all week! 

So - that's in a nut shell what I've been up to.  Life's Hurricane!

I'll try to update with some pictures later - I need to get them downloaded!