The End of an Era

Back in 2003, I landed an interview with a little company called Argon Engineering. Even at the time, I remember thinking that it was an incredible opportunity, and I worked around the clock for several days preparing for the interview. I even remember listening to music on the drive to the office to psych myself up for the interview.

Seven years later, I am proud to call myself an employee of Argon ST. I've seen so many changes along the way. When I first joined, the company was called Argon Engineering and had just 300 employees. Since then, they've acquired a handful of companies, changed their name to Argon ST, and have more than 1000 employees. When I first joined, I worked in the training group. I learned all about the systems we sell. Then, I moved into HR, and for the last five years, I've been recruiting employees to work at this awesome company.

Argon gave me tremendous opportunities; I learned a ton about our industry, the corporate world, and even myself. I've met and cultivated friendships with amazing people and was given the opportunity to continue working from home even after Tom and I started our family. I mean, really, what company says, "Sure - go ahead and work from home 7 hours a week! We'll see ya when we see ya!" I couldn't be more thankful and appreciative for the mutually beneficial relationship I have with this company.

Today, Argon ST was acquired by Boeing. The company as I know it will be changing and because I just had a baby, am full of hormones, and more than a little bit weepy, I figured it was worth a blog post. I think this is good news for Argon ST, and I am excited to see what happens next.

Cole's Schedule at 8 Weeks

At this point, I've pretty much decided I'm worthless at scrapbooking or any other non-electronic form of record taking. For that reason, I went ahead and ordered a copy of the blog from last year and had it printed into a book. I'll do the same thing each year, and our family will have a record of what happened during the year. It's not exactly like a baby book, but I guess it's as close as I'm going to get.

Anyway, Cole's on a decent schedule now, so I think it's time to get it posted. Then, in the future, we can look back and see how much progress we've made.

6:00 Wake-up, feed, and diaper change
6:30 Playtime
7:30 Nap
9:00 Wake-up, feed, and diaper change
9:30 Playtime
10:00 Nap
12:00 Wake-up, feed, and diaper change
12:30 Playtime
1:00 Nap
3:30 Wake-up, feed, and diaper change
4:00 Playtime
4:30 Nap
5:30 Wake-up, feed, and diaper change
6:00 Playtime
7:30 Diaper change, feed, and bedtime
2:30 Diaper change, feed, and bedtime

It's an exciting life we live - don't be jealous.

Busy, Busy Day

Wow! Today has been an incredibly busy day, and it's only 2:00 pm. This morning, Grandma B came over to pick up Syd. They headed off to the playground and library, while I took Cole to the doctor's office for his 8-week check up. It turns out that he is gigantic! At 8 weeks, he's 12 pounds, 6 ounces and 24 inches long. His head circumference is 16 inches. Wow! And - all that growth comes despite symptoms of what we think may be reflux. So - the doctor sent us on our way with some reflux medicine and a bunch of vaccines. Boo!

On the way home, I picked up the prescription while scheduling my preoperative interview. I have another kidney stone surgery coming up next week, and I got to schedule this one ahead of time (the other two were emergency surgeries). Anyway, it turns out that when you schedule surgery ahead of time, there are a bunch more details to work out. For example, I had to get some blood drawn today, and I have this interview on Friday. I'm really crossing my fingers that this is my last surgery for a long time.

Once I got home, I returned a call from a general contractor who will be visiting to give us an estimate on moving the dirt pile from the front of the house to the back. They'll also be moving some wood chips from the next door neighbor's property to ours. We will get that playground finished before the end of the summer!

Sydney just woke up from her nap. We're going to watch Cinderella for the first time! Can't wait!

Happy Father's Day!

Well, Sunday was Father's Day, and we celebrated with - what else? - a pool party. Tom said he wanted to make hamburgers from scratch (we usually just make the frozen variety from Costco), so that's what he did. Per Tom's request, we also made bacon so that the burgers could be bacon cheeseburgers. Anyway, they were really, really good. He needs to be careful, I may ask that he start making burgers from scratch more often!

Sunday was *very* hot, but the pool is the perfect temperature right now. Everyone got in - even Gamma and Papa! And, I think the Fathers really enjoyed themselves. There was plenty of food and drink and a ton of doing nothing!

He Smiles!

After much anticipation, Cole has finally cracked a smile! And, I'm pretty sure it's not a smile caused by gas. I can almost get him to smile on demand now. Check out his sweet smile! He's headed to the doctor's office on Wednesday for his 8-week check up, so stay tuned for more updates.

Crock Pot Chicken Sandwiches

My friend Shannon recently made these sandwiches for us. They were spectacular, and I can't wait to make them myself!

1/2 c chicken stock
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1/2 c ketchup
Sliced onion
Black pepper
Enough chicken to feed your family- boneless skinless breasts or thighs work best

Place chicken in crock pot. Sprinkle with pepper and top with as many onion slices as desired. Combine rest of ingredients and pour over onions. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours.

Serve on a potato roll with a slice of cheddar cheese.

Feta-Topped Chicken

By popular demand...

1/2 c creamy Cesar dressing
2 T chopped fresh oregano
1/2 t lemon pepper seasoning
4 chicken breasts
3/4 c feta cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking dish with foil. In a small bowl, combine dressing, 1 T of oregano, and lemon pepper seasoning. Mix well. Place chicken in lined baking dish. Pour mixture over chicken. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle cheese over chicken and cook for 10 more minutes. Sprinkle with oregano before serving.

Cole is Baptized!

Yesterday, we gathered with family and friends to witness the baptism of Cole Thomas. It was a gorgeous day (maybe a wee bit humid) for a baptism and celebratory pool party! Our church's Deacon did the honors, while Mr. and Mrs. Chabot were kind enough to agree to be Cole's Godparents. The ceremony went off without a hitch. Cole didn't even cry when they poured the holy water on his head! Then, we all headed back to the house for some pool time. We had a great barbecue, and everyone got to soak up some sun and play in the pool while Cole took a well-deserved nap!

Click here for the video montage.

Sloppy Joes

Ground beef
Sweet onions
Tomato soup
3 T Brown sugar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T Vinegar
Buns

Brown meat and onions. Drain fat. Add remaining liquid ingredients (add tomato soup until you get it the consistency you like). Serve on buns. I like to serve them on hot dog buns because they're a little less sloppy. :)

She Told Me So...

Right before Cole was born, I went to the doctor for one of my last checkups. While I was there, Dr. Park said, "Julia, now - you know that since you've had a kidney stone while you're pregnant, you're more likely to have them from now on." At the time, I said, "Really"? But - I was thinking - yeah, right. I've never had kidney stones before, this is a total fluke.

Well, she told me so. This week, I had another emergency surgery to remove another kidney stone. Plus - BONUS - when they were reviewing the CT scan, they found another stone waiting in my kidney. Then, when I went for my post-surgery follow-up appointment, the doctor found yet another stone. So - the final count so far is four kidney stones, two surgeries, two removed, two remaining. The only good news - if you can even call it that - is that because we've discovered these two stones early, I can schedule surgery at my convenience (in the next month). Wow - how wonderful.