Life...

Life has been mighty busy in The Perillo House. My MIL has officially been in some sort of hospital type facility for two months today. As of the 9th she will be on a ventilator for two months. Needless to say the last two months have felt like an eternity. Rich has spent as much time as possible with his mother, which I totally believe is the best thing for both of them but it has been hard on all of us. Rich is exhausted from trying to balance work, family time, and sitting by his mom's side. The girls often miss their Daddy as we have spent a lot of time at my Mom's or just us girls. I have been running like crazy with the girls and still working my normal crazy days and hours. 

We continue to pray for Jackie's health and healing. We have seen a few improvements over the last week or so. We are hopeful this will continue. 

Right now the girls and I are all sick. We all went to the doctor today. The little girls have sinusitis. While Mommy has infected lymph nodes in my jaw area. In fact my face is swollen and in tons of pain. Why do I always end up with the oddest illnesses?  So we are all on antibiotics. In fact it is about 8pm and we are all curdled up in our own bed with our TV's on and medicines taken. We all hope to be feeling better tomorrow. We are all trying to stay away from Daddy as he can't see his mom if he gets sick and we don't want that. 

Our lives have been crazy and busy and stressful and full but we are hanging in there. Rich and I talk often about when and how we will ever get back to normal but somehow it is starting to seem like this might be our new normal. In my nearly 34 year life I have learned that it is best to embrace every season of life. While this is not the best part of life nor will it go down as my favorite season of my life, I have to say it has taught me a lot. I have learned that Rich and I have a true partnership and we truly are each other's rocks. We have now truly begun to live our wedding vows. For better, for worse have brought new meanings to the things we have seen over the last two months. I could have never imagined the things we have been through but the fact we have been through it all together is probably the most important thing. I hope that Rich truly knows I am his rock, that I will be there for him no matter what. That when things are at their toughest our relationship is at its best. 

I hope my next post, whenever that is, is on happier topics but this was my chance to just let my mind put its thoughts on paper. Thanks for listening, well reading but you get what j am saying. 

The Season

I know it has been awhile since I posted again but we have been in a very difficult season of our life. 

My mother in law was been very ill, she has been in the hospital since Dec. 3rd and in ICU since the 9th. We already know that we will not be having a normal Christmas. We have already celebrated Avery's 3rd birthday without her and it has been so difficult on all of us but especially my husband. 

My kids have stayed with my parents more than they have been home. Rich has practically run himself into the ground  staying by his mom's side. And I have tried to work and support Rich. As you can imagine we are exhausted. In fact the girls stayed at Mom's last night and I slept 11 hours and haven't done much today. I did finish Christmas shopping with my final run to Target. 

At this point we have no idea what the future will hold or when life will get back to normal. We don't know when Jackie will get better and that is the hard part. This is supposed to be a season of family, friends, and fun but I feel as though we have had none of that. 

I am grateful for my Mom who has helped me beyond measure and done everything in her power to make this Christmas Season special for my girls. She has done their Elf in a Shelf with them, bought and done their North Pole Communicator everyday with them, she has taken them and picked them up from school countless times, she attended Winter Concerts, and has helped us decorate our house or Christmas. I could never have made it through all this without her. 

Probably won't post much until our life is a little calmer and back to normal. In the meantime from our family to yours we wish you the happiest of holiday seasons!!!

Thankful

As usual for me my post is several days late, for this busy working Mama late is far better than never. 

This week I reflected on all I had to be Thankful for with Thanksgiving being on Thursday.  And that is when I realized I am blessed beyond belief. Here are just a few of the things I am so thankful for this week and daily. Hope your Thanksgiving as full of family, friends, and terrific memories. 

What I am most Thankful for:

My Husband. My Daughters. An amazing family. My parents - they truly are the best. My freedom, it is awesome to be an Americian. Great Friends. Health. A steady, well paying job. The opportunity to be a female leader in a Fortune 500 Company.  Our home. Spending the holidays with family. Living a life with minimal regrets. Love. Hugs and kisses from my girls. Time to spend with the girls. My husband's support. My recovery from my surgery. Spending part of Thanksgiving with my MIL. Cool weather. And a million more things that would take forever to continue to write. 

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend, go out and enjoy it with family and friends!

The end of the softball season...

So today was the last day of our fall softball season. I have to say it was a great time. Jolie made a ton of friends and learned so much about softball. Our girls improved and did amazing all season. I made some amazing friends as well with some of the other mom's and we even have a huge Mom's weekend coming up in two weekends, I am so looking forward to that. Here are a few pictures. 

Tis the Season

As you can probably tell by the number of post I have written this week I am back at work and I has been so incredibly busy. I will give you a little recap of the week Monday was a meeting with a Publix District Manager plus normal catch up. Tuesday was a trade visit with my regional VP. Wednesday was supposed to be another trade visit but they ended up elsewhere. Thursday was my one normal day of the entire week. Friday was deal with opportunities and problems leading into the holiday season and a meeting until 6pm. It was a wild week to say the very least. Now it is super early Saturday morning and I am up and getting ready for softball, pretty thankful this is our last game for the season. This Mama is just ready for some quiet in a season of craziness. 

Next week both Rich and the girl's will be home and will be sleeping in and finding fun Thanksgiving/Fall things to do as this very busy working Mom finds a way to lead and motivate a sales force to drive sales and in outlet execution. In other words this is one of those times of years that I totally wish I wasn't in my power career and could be off and stay home and play with my kids and enjoy the season. But I know the girls will be happy and having a ton of fun with their Daddy as well as my parents. 

Hope your holiday season is going well thus far and I will try to keep posting regularly. 

Last Day of Vacation

Why is it when you are on vacation and not working the week goes by so fast?  Yet somehow when I am working the weeks feel so long. I think it might be one of the great mysteries. 

Today was officially the last day I am off for 2013. Well except for Thanksgiving and Christmas but those are holidays not vacation days. But I digress and get off topic.  

Today I went to Jolie's school for her pizza party that celebrated all the children in the school that were on Principals Honor Roll and Honor Roll. From all the information I had received from the school I thought I was just going to be there for her 30 minute time slot, sit with her, celebrate with her, and then go home. However, I knew better. Things are never that simple when it comes to the school. 

So I arrived at the school about 15 minutes early with a delicious low calorie of course Starbucks drink in hand. I sign in and head to the MPR. I get there and there is one poor Mom trying to set up plates, drinks in coolers, and cupcakes all by herself. If course I jumped in to assist her and we ready for the kids as they walked in. Jolie was in the first group of children as they started with K and 1st grade as they had the party during their lunch. The kids loved it and even got up on the stage and danced all around to the music. I didn't get pics of Jolie breaking it down but I did include a sweet pic of Jolie and I as well as one of here and her best friends. 

Once Jolie's group was done I found myself yet again pitching in and cleaning up and resetting up for the next group. Then it was happening group after group until I had been at the school for more than 3 hours. When I was finally finished I signed myself out and then made a trip to Walmart to kill the last hour Jolie was in school. While at the Walmart I purchased myself a yoga mat so I could really get into the stretching and relaxation parts of yoga, my surgeon suggested this as part of the healing/recovery process. Then I picked Jolie up some great little long sleeve Danskin dry fit shirts. In fact I think I need a couple that them for me. But I think I will be adding them to my Christmas Wish List as I am on a self imposed anti-spending spree. But again I digress. Once done with my quick WalMart run I went back to the school and got in car line. I was only about 10 cars from the front so once the kids were out I got her quickly. In the way home we got her a milkshake at Chick Fil A and me a Diet Lemonade. Once home we did a 20 minute yoga workout together. I have decided she needs a yoga mat of her own because she basically hogged mine when we did our workout. So Daddy says she can have one but I think I am going to give her the one I just bought and get myself a thicker one.

So that sums up the final vacation day. Now it is another Saturday at the softball field tomorrow, we only have 2 games left in the season. Tomorrow and one more. Then it will be quiet and low key the rest of the weekend as I gear back up for work next week. I have l two days of Regional VP's next week so there is no slow returning. 

Time with My Girls

I have been on vacation this week, which has been so nice. I needed the break. I love my job but it is hard and demanding so time off is totally necessary. While on vacation I have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with both of my girls. 

Monday Jolie and I spent the day running some errands and getting mani/pedi's. And had some lunch together. It was really fun to spend the time with her, she really is so grown up now. It was especially funny having lunch with her as she lost both of her top front teeth over the last week so she is adjusting how she eats with her big gap. 

Tuesday evening Rich and Jolie were at softball so Avery and I got to eat dinner out together. Avery wanted McDonalds and wanted to eat at the restaurant so that was fun. She ate so well and was hilarious. As we ate I asked her what she did at school and she told me she needed to eat first. It was too funny!  She ate well though and even got an ice cream as a treat. 

I have really enjoyed my time off and extra time with the girls. Tonight will be all about the family. I am cleaning the house now and then making a nice family dinner and then maybe we can play a game or watch a movie, who knows. Without the pressure of work it is easy to be flexible.