Long Time No See...

Since no one actually reads this thing, probably no one even noticed that I was gone for a long time. But now I'm back just to put a couple of things out there.
These last couple of months have been pretty hectic. Since last January, I've been training to take over my boss's job as manager where I work. That's been very time consuming and tiresome. I've had to learn a lot of processes and duties that that position entails while trying to extricate myself from the day to day duties that I had as a department supervisor by training the person who was taking over my job. Well, all of that is done now and I officially took over the position at the beginning of June. Since then, I've been on my own and I'm constantly feeling like I'm forgetting to do something. It's just taking a little while for me to adjust to not having someone there to coach me. It's good though as I'm slowly getting used to what I'm doing.
To add to that, in May, we decided to move out of our apartment. We found a nice house about 1/4-1/2 a mile away from our old place and it's (near) perfect. The heat is more bearable since we are no longer on the upper story, there is a lot of storage space for all of the stuff that was piling up in our small apartment, there is a yard in the back (and in the front) for BBQs and general outdoor/backyard activities and there is a small deck to hang out on in the evenings. Our neighbors are also really cool and they have kids that are about Hylah's age so there's no problems with letting her go over there to hang out or vice versa. So, needless to say, we are very happy with our move.
Now, the 2 (or actually 3) things that I've broken my silence for are (in order of importance - best being last):

1) Hylah passed the Deep End Test:
Hylah has always had 'issues' with water. Just like Jane, if her face is submerged, she sort of panics and doesn't know what to do. After years of swim lessons, this is still the one thing that she hasn't gotten over (or I should say was). Over the last few weeks since Summer began for us, Hylah's been wanting to swim in the deep end of the pool. There's a test, as in all public pools, to be able to get into the deep area of the pool. At the beginning of Summer, she did not pass this test, which discouraged her and she pretty much resigned herself to failing that test for the remainder of the Summer. Well, after a boat camping trip that we went on and a few visits to the pool and some encouragement and practice initiated by myself and Jane, Hylah passed the deep end test this last Wednesday and she received an A+ mark, which gives her access to the deep end. We were very proud of her. She was pretty pleased with herself as well.

2) Hylah got her Orange Belt:
After over 18 months, Hylah finally passed her Orange Belt test in Aikido. Hylah has been training for about 3 years now at our local dojo and after waiting a year and a half she finally got her test. It was not due to merit, but her Sensei is very busy and travels a lot to give seminars and visit other dojos. Hylah's Sensei is also going through some personal issues so it's understandable that Hylah's test kept getting put off-she kept saying that she was going to test her, but then it wouldn't happen and then after a couple of months she'd say it again. I finally spoke with someone at the dojo to notify them of the oversight and they were very surprised that it had taken that long to give Hylah her test. Anyway during the last week of June, Hylah was tested and received her Orange Belt. Again very proud.

3) Last but not least:
To top it all off. The cherry on top as it were. We just found out that Jane is pregnant. Not much to say here but that. She took a pregnancy test a couple of weeks ago, but those were negative. Then, this last Monday, she took another one and this time it was positive. Then, another one on Tuesday and this last one was really positive. So, yes, we are now expecting. We haven't made a huge annoucement yet (besides a few people), because we had a little scare this week. Jane was feeling some abdominal pain and we had to rule out the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy, but her hormone levels seem to be increasing at a normal level and the pain seems to have subsided. So, even though she is still being monitored, it looks like this one is actually happening. We are all crossing our fingers and we are all very excited.

Anyway, that's all for now. I will try to be a bit more regular with my postings, especially regarding the pregnancy. See you all later.
T