December 2005

You thought my maternity leave couldn’t get worse?? Well, you’d be wrong! I knew my company was going through a merger and it was possible that I would lose my job. Well, lucky me did! At least that is what I was initially told. I was worried, but did have a 6 month package and was hopeful that I could find another job in that time. Unfortunately, I was not sure that I wanted to remain in south Florida. I was looking to move further north within Florida (perhaps Jacksonville or Orlando). So where did I end up? Texas! No, there is not a city of Texas in the state of Florida. I am now (today is May 3, 2006) living in Plano, TX (just north of Dallas). The day after I started back to work, I flew to Dallas to interview for a position with the newly merged company, which is headquartered in Dallas. To make a long story short, I accepted the job in Dallas. I had wanted to get out of South Florida before Molly started school. I also didn’t think that the job market was very good in the Fort Lauderdale area and there were other things turning me off about the area. I do miss my friends terribly, but think that the move is good for me and Molly. Now if I could just get my friends to move here!! Other news (I’ll get back to the move to Texas in later months), Molly started to take some steps around Thanksgiving, but took even more at Christmas. By her first birthday, she was getting steadier and steadier! She had quite a busy time at Christmas. We traveled to TN, where Molly met my brother, John, and his wife, Christina and my grandfather. Of course, my parents were there too! She didn’t quite understand how to open all the Christmas presents (which she had a ton of!), but did understand how to play with them! The day after Christmas she was baptized. Family was there to celebrate. Molly enjoyed yelling in the church – I think she liked the way her voice echoed. And she enjoyed playing with the baptism water – she loves to splash! She wore her white traditional Chinese dress for the baptism and looked beautiful. We then went back to my grandfather’s house and celebrated her Baptism and her first birthday. She loved her smash cake – most of which made it into her tummy, but there was still a lot on her face! Once we got back to Florida, we celebrated her birthday again with a few close friends with another smash cake – two cakes are better than one anyday! That night, Molly also celebrated her first Hannakuh and New Year’s Eve! She partied until almost midnight at Shannon’s house and ate all of Shannon’s applesauce with her fingers. She also tried to eat everything off of Shannon’s plate (sorry Shannon!)