Living Life

I feel like I blog about Colton a LOT these days. I don't know if my readers get tired of hearing about him - if so, sorry but not sorry :-) Since my life pretty much revolves around his schedule right now, there's not much more happening in my life (not that taking care of a new baby isn't as much excitement as I can stand)! But, even though my days are mostly committed to taking care of Colton, I do still have a few other things going on - well, sort of.

I turned in my resignation to Alo last week, and as of March 15th I will officially be a "stay at home Mommy". I realize that this subject is still somewhat linked to Colton, but hey, that's my life! If I were to go back to work, my 12 weeks would be up already - that happened way too fast. Staying at home has so many pros and cons. I'm so thankful that I get to be at home with Colton. I was so worried that I would miss his "firsts", like his first real laugh, first word, first crawl across the floor, etc... Being at home with him is going to be such a blessing. On the flip side, we are going to be giving up a pretty good income on my part and we will also lose our (paid for) health benefits. We do have the option to continue a COBRA coverage until other things work out, so that's something to be thankful for. I guess it's true (and scary) that you have to give up some things to gain better things. Working on a tighter budget and making adjustments in other areas is going to be hard but at the same time, totally worth it to both Matt and me.

Since I'm no longer working a job outside the home, I'm really trying to get my PartyLite business up and running. I absolutely love these products and I enjoy doing the home shows to not only share the products with others, but to get out and meet new people. I'm not going to lie, it's tough getting people to book shows. I know before I became a consultant, I was very reluctant to book this type of show. I think it's because I didn't really know how things operated and it sounded like a lot of work. That's really not the case, so I'm making it a goal to try to show others just how easy hosting a show really is (especially a catalog show). Anyway, I'm still optimistic that if I keep at it, something good will happen!

Matt is still working in Charlotte during the week and traveling back to Tennessee on the weekends. I know he's tired of the drive back and forth and we are both so ready to be living under the same roof again. Matt spent every evening this past week (and Saturday) looking at houses, so we're hoping that one of those will be a fit for us. The house hunting is as hard as we thought it would be but we're trying to stay positive and patient and praying that the right door will open.

As for me, I feel like some days I have it all together and am doing really great and other days, I feel like I could fall apart. I had all these great expectations to be back in great shape, organize stuff around the house, have a lot of PartyLite shows booked, and the list went on and on. I laugh at these goals now. My concept of a flat stomach has changed somewhat and the stuff around the house looks pretty organized on the couch, floor and counters :-) Adjusting to this new life is, not really hard, just weird. It would seem like a burden to take care of another person 24/7, but I find it equally humbling and rewarding. I feel so blessed and sometimes I just stop and ask God "how do I deserve all of what You have given me?". I still don't know how to express my gratitude for all the blessings in my life, so I will just continue to thank God and do my part to live in a way to bring honor to Him.

Side (bottom) Note:
Visit My PartyLite Website
www.partylite.biz/reneesheltonneal