Well, it has come to this point where I need to ask myself and my blog readers if it is time to end Triumphs and Challenges.  I have to admit that keeping up this blog has sometimes been more of a hindrance or obligation than it has a release for me or a place to update friends and family on our lives.  It started out as a way to keep up with everyone without having to write tons of emails all of the time.  Then it merged into a sort of journal about my journey with breast cancer, my ramblings of a first time working mother and then it became Ethan’s blog about his adventures told my me, his mother.  It has now become a place where I tend to write or upload pictures only about twice a month.  So I am asking you my readers, should I continue or is it ok for me to end things here?

Some things that I would like to note for right now as to where we are as a family and also where Ethan is developmentally are:

* Jimm started a new business called Assurepath with our friend Tom and they have been extremely busy.  They are doing systems management with small and medium businesses and already have several contracts.

* I have been at Metropolitan Family Services now for almost 10 months and am truly enjoying it.  It took me some time to “come around” with this job and get comfortable but it finally happened and I can say that there are many rewarding things about this job.  However, I did almost get laid off again in June, but all is well as long as the state mandates my program!  Oh, and I also just recently got offered another job with an adoption agency that I used to work closely with.  They contacted me and I “interviewed” over the phone (basically asked them some pointed questions) and decided to turn it down.  It just wasn’t a better offer.

* We have been struggling with making some other changes in our lives (don’t worry everything is fine), that will hopefully in the end be better for all of us.

* Ethan is just pure joy.  He is obsessed with trains.  We took him to the train restaurant a few weeks ago and he still asks daily to see the pictures from there.  My friend was selling her son’s Thomas the Train things (the big table, tracks, trains, buildings, etc.) at a garage sale but I emailed her about them first.  She is giving us everything for a very reasonable price that we couldn’t pass up.  So we’re going to pick everything up this weekend!  My little boy is going to be in heaven.

* Ethan’s vocabulary is growing by the minute.  I swear it seemed that just this past weekend he started talking in complete, really long sentences.  He was giving his dog Sammy and Sammy’s cousin (a bear we pulled out of the closet when Ethan got sick last week and threw up all over Sammy!) a ride in a little wagon and Sammy’s cousin fell down.  He said clear as day “Oh, no Sammy’s cousin fell down now.  Help.”.   So cute.  We also have to be careful what we say around Ethan because he repeats EVERYTHING we say.  This is not an understatement.  For instance:  We were all sick last week and at one point I told Ethan to please get off of my stomach because mommy is still not feeling good, I’m sick.  He looks at me and says “No, mommy’s poop all gone now.  Mommy’s all good now”.  Nice.

* Ethan is learning everyone’s “real” names in our family.  He knows mommy’s name is Pam Shepard, daddy’s name is Pam Shepard (seriously, don’t know why but he struggles with remembering Jimm.  He can say it, just can’t remember it).  He also knows Grandma and Grandpa’s names, and Grammy and Papa’s names.  Although it can be confusing to try to explain to a 2 year old that mommy’s name is the same as Aunt Pam’s and that Papa’s name is the same as Uncle Bob’s.  Leave it to the Shepard’s.

* Ethan truly enjoys spending time with his grandparents.  I am so thankful for the relationships that he has with each of them.  He has also grown very close to this cousin Tim on the Shepard side and Lucy on the LaMar side (my mom’s side). 

* We hope to be able to start thinking about moving into a bigger home toward the end of 2010.  Why then?  Because we will hopefully be close to being out of debt.  It will have taken us 5 years, but it will be worth it. 

* Many people have asked about Ethan having a sibling.  I have no problem telling you where we’re at with that.  I consulted with my oncologist a few months ago and he told me that if we wanted to try this would be the best time.  Well, we were anxious to get a move on but with sicknesses, possibility of a lay off for me, etc. we haven’t really been all that anxious to move forward.  But if God blesses us with another child in the near future, we would be more than overjoyed.  Especially if she/he would be anything like their big brother!  There is a possibility that I will not be able to have children due to the chemotherapy that I endured.  I have read up on it and the stats are a 38% chance that I will not be able to have children.  So better odds than it could be, but we’re not getting our hopes up.  Prayers are appreciated and welcomed for this, though, as we would love to have one more.

So with that said, let me know your thoughts about this blog.  If there is an overwhelming response to keep it, I will.  If not, I might continue at a later date.

My long time friend, Heather, got married on Saturday.  We have been friends since our freshman year in college (1991) and we all still hang out as a group whenever we can.  Although miles and daily living activities separate us, we have found a way to keep up our friendships.  I love these girls!

On Thursday and Friday I took some time off from work so that I could attend my friend Heather’s bridal shower and do some fun stuff with Ethan.  On Friday we went to Tyler’s Tender in Indiana with my parents and my aunt Judy.  It’s a great restaurant with a train theme.  Ethan was in heaven!  He had some of his favorite people with him and he was surrounded by trains….what could be better!!?!?! Here are some pics.  We ended the day with going to the park and Grandpa went down the slide with my little Cubs fan too!

Another virus hit the Shepard household full force the past 2 weeks.  Of course little man got it first and then Mommy and Grandma were hit.  Somehow Daddy escaped this time and Grandpa was also spared.  As I sit here typing I am still coughing and hacking, hoping that it will soon stop.  Ethan had a cold, eye infection, double ear infection, cough, sore throat and high fever.  How this happens in summer, I will never know.  Oh, wait.  Is this summer?  Yes, according to the calendar it is, but not the weather outside.  So maybe that’s part of the issue.  Anyway, we’re all on the mend now so hopefully we’ll be back to normal soon.

Ethan must have realized that he was sick for awhile and needed to get some of his stinkerness out of him.  Ever since he’s been feeling better, he’s had about 10 timeouts!  Every day is a new word, phrase and we even had our first real sentence the other day (of course I can’t remember what it was now, but I remember being pretty impressed).

I still have a job.  Due to the state budget crisis I was laid off, offered another position, trained for the position and assigned cases, told to stop calling clients, and then was hired back to my original position all within one week. Lots of fun in the world of social work and incompetent politicians!

I am currently sitting at my friend Marlana’s house in Indy enjoying a very rare girls weekend.  I got here late last night after work but we still had time to enjoy a sushi dinner.  Marlana had never tried it before and wanted to go with someone who could introduce her to it but not make her feel uncomfortable….so I was hoping to be that person!  And she loved it.  I also got to try a couple of hand rolls that I never had before and loved them.  We had one with asparagus, cream cheese and some other items that we’re not sure what they were, but they were yummy all mixed together! MMMMM.

Jimm’s new company Assurepath was officially launched a little bit ago, but the president (our friend Tom) is now working full time.  So we are hoping that this company really flourishes!

I will post pictures of Ethan soon and maybe I’ll have some new ones waiting for me when I get home tonight!?!??!

This past weekend we had a BBQ at my cousin Sara’s house with our friends, the Augsburgers and our other friend Jenn.  Us girls all used to work together as social workers several years ago and have been great friends ever since.  We were all excited to see Jenn because she has been living in Kentucky and is now back in Illinois!  This past week Ethan and mommy went to the hair salon and got their hair done.  Mommy got color and Ethan got a shorter cut that mommy has been experimenting with the past few days!  Hey, I won’t be able to do this anymore once he gets old enough to make his own decision!

All I did was put some of my hair product in it and spike it up a little…no biggie!

Ok, mom can we just go already?

Ethan was ready to make a prompt return to mommy’s lap as soon as Isla appeared!  Jealousy…

But he does a great job holding her and taking care of her!

My cousin and I sure make some cute kids, don’t we?

Here’s Sara and Jenn having a good conversation about ….bottles?  dogs?  not sure.

And here’s cute Caleb showing me his new “say cheese” face!

Ethan kept calling “Duffy, come here Duffy” But as soon as Duffy would get near Ethan he would run away.  Baby steps..

Evidently Gavin didn’t want to be part of the Augsburger family?

This was about as close to playing together as the boys got…but we’ll take it.  They did pretty good.  Only minor “no, that’s mine” or I think my son pushed Caleb at one point….I think he was trying to play, but kids don’t really understand that at 2!  They were really interested in all of Isla’s baby toys. Go figure.

Here are some pictures from our annual family reunion on my mom’s side of the family:

Ethan with his cousin, Isla.  Mommy was holding her and he told me “I have it”.

I love how he’s looking at Isla in this picture!

GG’s grandkids: Lucy, Ethan and Isla!

He didn’t want to let her go and was very protective.

My cousin Becky’s baby, Marissa.  So cute!

Ethan wouldn’t let a little rain get in his way of having a good time!

Ethan definitely gravitated toward a familiar site…”Ampa’s truck” (Grandpa’s truck).

And this is what happened on the way home…..

“nummy” mommy.  Gotta love grilled corn on the cob!!!  Food of summer..

As you can see by the title that I chose for lack of a better word I’m going to update on “stuff”.  First and foremost, Ethan is doing great.  He continues to amaze us with his language growth and comprehension.  Some of his cute phrases are “yeah, sure”, “oh boy”, “oh gosh”, “that’s funny”.  He also now knows that mommy’s name is Pam and that his last name is Shepard.  It’s so darn cute to hear this.  Although I would prefer that he not call me Pam…I still like mommy.  Whenever we talk about Jimm’s grandma, he calls her “Doogan” instead of Grandma Doogan.  It’s so cute.  We pulled up in front of her house last week and said “Doogan’s house!  Here we are!!!”.  He speaks pretty clearly too.  Most people can understand what he says with the exception of a few words andn sentences.  We have daily conversations in which Jimm and I have to be the voices of Sammy and Elmo.  Elmo usually lives at Grammy’s house but came to visit us last week for a few days.  He is now back at Grammy’s but we missed him last night and had to call to make sure he was ok.  Ahhh…the life of a 2 year old.

On another note, I almost lost my job due to the state budget crisis but I was offered another position at the same agency in a different program.  It was such a relief after a few weeks of updating my resume and looking for jobs yet again.  They had to wait to find out whether they would be able to fill the open position due to the cutbacks and financial strains that this non-approved budget has caused.  I know many people…friends and family both that are out of jobs or could potentially be out of a job soon due to this craziness.  Please pray that our politicians in IL will get it straight sometime soon!

Jimm’s company, Assurepath, is taking off now.  His business partner recently quit his full time job in order to pursue expanding this business.  We’re excited to see what’s going to happen in the future with this company.

That’s about it for our lives right now…..as if the possibility of losing my job wasn’t enough excitement in our lives, right?

So a little belated, but still heartfelt.  Jimm was actually driving down to southern Illinois on Sunday, so we celebrated Father’s Day at my parents house.  This isn’t the greatest picture in the world, but at least we’re all looking at the camera!  Ethan enjoyed hanging out with my parents, Uncle Mike and my Aunt Judy.  He had fun playing with all of his newly acquired garage sale items that my parents got him last week.  New cars, a little janitorial cart so that he can help grandma clean, and a table/chairs.  So much fun!