Yay for 2010!

I am so thankful to be starting a new year! I can only hope that 2010 brings our family better luck on the "Financial" front than 2009 did. Although everyone is feeling the pressure from the hard economic times, I can't help but feel that our family has a large target pasted right on our backs.

The Recession "in short"according to the Bains Family: As many of you know...in January of 2009 The Sundried Tomato closed suddenly and without notice, leaving Pete without a paycheck for 2 weeks already worked and suddenly having to look for a job, only 2 months prior to Jack's birth. In March, teeter tottering on the end of Pete's Unemployment and with my income already cut while out on Maternity leave, Pete found a job with Dolce, a hotel here in Peachtree City. Finally...a job with benefits, vacation, decent hours and the possibility for advancement. In June, after being out for 4 months of maternity leave, I returned to work, only to walk back into the front lines of a full blown recession, and be laid off at the end of July. A blessing in disguise? Pete has a stable job and I was able to be back home with Jack while searching for another opportunity. Or so we thought...After 9 months of struggling with a company trying to find their own path, Dolce let Pete go, 1 week before Christmas. "In order to meet the owners financial needs for 2010, your position..."

So, in summary, here we are...facing the tough road ahead, again. This is the second time within 1 years time that Pete has been laid off and once for me. It makes me so thankful to be where we are. If we had stretched ourselves too thin with a home and more financial obligations, there is no telling what position we might be in...foreclosure, debt collectors, drained savings, etc. Pete and I talk about this at least once a day, we have pushed off buying a home until our Savings and finances are "just right" and because of 2009's events, we are very thankful that we have waited. We have both worked so hard to build a savings for a down payment on a home and we both would be devastated if it was wiped out during this tough time.

This past year has definitely been trying for both of us. We are ready to get our lives on track and find jobs that will support that. I know our time will come but in the meantime, we will continue to make the best of the best and enjoy the one great thing that 2009 did bring us...Lil' Jack!

On a happier note, let's talk about Jack...he is just over 10 months old and continues to surprise me each day. He has been standing alone, like it is a piece of cake, and taking steps like a champ. I wouldn't call anything a full fledged walk, just yet, but he is definitely taking steps. I think that the only thing holding him back is that he knows he can go faster if he crawls :)

We had our first snow today, Jack's first snow! It isn't enough to really play in, just enough to coat the ground and make everything beautiful. Still we couldn't resist the opportunity to get out there and get some pictures of Jack playing. It is hard for me to believe that it was less than a year ago, 4 days before Jack's birth, that I stood in the snow, 9 months pregnant.