My Name is Jennifer. I am a Slacker Blogger.

As many of you know, this year has been one kind of crazy. Last year at this time, I would have laughed out loud if someone would have told me what was in store for us. I believe I was of the mindset that I was done moving and done having kids around that time. Life lesson #1: Never say never...especially when married to Jason Chiodo. :) Since my last post in July, I've been a wee bit busy. Growing Baby #3, packing and selling and moving, making decisions about a new construction house, having Abby start kindergarten, and then chasing Ben away from the emergency room the rest of the time. Oh, all while working the night shift at Yale two nights a week. Never mind the cooking, cleaning, laundering, driving, and everything else that moms do on a daily basis. All that to say....my deepest apologies that I just couldn't seem to fit blogging in there with the rest of it.
There were many a day I wanted to sit down and type out my quirky thoughts. And I would look at other blogs and be a wee bit jealous with all their cute and thoughtful posts they somehow managed to write several days a week. The truth of the matter is this: the time that I have to sit down and write is around 3 a.m. when I am at work on a rare night that we aren't busy with patients. But then I hesitate because I'm not quite sure my ramblings would make sense at 3 a.m. And I tend to lose my filter when I'm tired and thinking about random stuff in my head. Lord knows I can get in big trouble when my filter isn't in place. :)
Today I'm sitting here letting my kids watch one to many Max & Rubys so I can sit and actually blog. And it's 3:30 p.m., not a.m. I have realized that I haven't put hardly any pictures on here (sorry, Mom!). I do good just to get the dang pictures uploaded to my computer and put a whole season of them on Facebook a few times a year. But I will put some pictures on here soon....
So how is life right now? I'm 7 months pregnant, and so thankful that this baby girl is healthy and not causing me any problems. I think this has been my easiest pregnancy to date. I'm just too busy to pay much attention to her. I feel like taking my prenatal vitamin daily is a good accomplishment. So I swallow it, pat the belly, and say, "There you go, baby girl. Thanks for hanging in there with me." Haven't picked a name yet...we're down to about 3 choices. I think I'm overanalyzing them a wee bit too much.
We put our house on Blueberry Lane on the market this fall, and it had an accepted offer within 2 weeks of listing it. That wasn't really in the plan, but it was a good problem to have to deal with. So we sold it the end of October and found a little house to rent in Trumbull for 6 months. It's close to Abby's kindergarten and our construction. Abby and Ben are sharing a room which is 80% great and 20% crazy. I think they like it so much they are going to want to share a room in the new house. Maybe I'll end up with a spare guest room after all.
The new construction house is starting to finally pick up. There were some very slow-moving days where I had one too many hissy fits to get something done. I will admit that I was not ashamed to blame it on pregnancy hormones when I needed to. :) But after the long process of getting zoning approval, applying for demolition and building permits, finalizing a houseplan (holy moly)....the new foundation has been poured, the old house has been demolished, and there are currently 2 new walls framed as I sit here. Yeah for progress! I'm finding that the way to a construction worker's heart is through their bellies. So I'm throwing on the apron and whipping up some baked goodies with some hot coffee. Might as well make them fat and happy while they work.
The kids are great. Abby loves kindergarten and she is enjoying ballet classes and Girl Scouts. Ben is very close to being ready to potty-train. I would love to tackle that before March.
Okay, I think that's enough ramblings for now. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I get asked here and there, "Are you really doing okay?!?" Truth of the matter is this: I really am. Working the night shift makes me a bit of a zombie, but it's so much better than working 10 a.m.-10 p.m. and missing my kids so much I would cry on the way home from my shift. I don't mind working...I have good friends there, the money and benefits are good, my brain gets used, I talk to adults, and my Love Bucket is all ready to get filled up again when I get home. I do have days where I feel like I'm doing the best that I can and it's just not quite good enough by my own standards. I'm late for this or that, dinner is sometimes a store-bought rotisserie chicken, and the house is definitely not perfect. But my husband thinks I'm doing awesome and I definitely couldn't do it without him.
Okay-until next time (which will be sooner rather than later). :)