I’ve started to get to know Rachel through the Mamavation community recently, and I’m so glad. Rachel is a warm, caring, supportive friend to have, both personally and physically. She writes at To Hab and To Hold (a play on her last name) about her family, her incredible weight loss and triathlon training. She also does awesome giveaways and shares her tech knowledge with her readers.

Rachel is a true inspiration, amazing virtual cheerleader, and wonderful person in general. Thank you so much for sharing your expectations with us, Rach!

My expectations: How I think things will go, or more importantly should go. After all I am a girl who is most likely running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, while having a panic attack. I don’t like surprises or the unexpected. I want to know how things are going to work out.

For instance, I was never one of those pregnant moms who could wait until after many hours of contractions and labor to find out if I bought the right color clothes and car seat. I had to know the moment the wand and that annoying cold jelly hit my whale sized belly. I really didn’t plan on finding out that Aiden was on the way only six months after I had recovered from the traumatic experience that was called Hailey’s birth!

When Adam & I got married I didn’t think things were going to be unicorns and rainbows. I knew that he and I wouldn’t be living out our happy ever after in a castle. I am a planner but not a delusional one! I just didn’t think that there would be moments that I would question if we were going to make it.

Most of all though, I didn’t expect one of the biggest changes that came only a few days ago. 

Almost three and a half years ago our family packed up everything we owned, loaded it in an enormous U-Haul and moved more then ten hours away. Leaving behind our families, friends, and any comfort of being “at home”. Adam had just graduated, and got an engineering job.

My first moments in Wisconsin were spent looking for cows and farms. All I knew about Wisconsin before we moved here was the it was the definition of “midwest” and was known as the “dairy capital of the world”. I grew up in the city, I was not prepared for being surrounded by farms. Thankfully our house is less then five minutes from Target, so everything in my world was as it should be!

The first couple of weeks we were here, a lot of people were not friendly freaking rude to us once they found out the company he accepted a job at. Little did we know the company he was going to be working for JUST laid off hundreds of people. We had no idea. Insert huge waving red flag! Fast forward a few years. The same job that we moved out here for, just let Adam go a few days ago.

To say the least I am angry, frustrated and completely caught off guard. We have almost no income, we won’t have health insurance in a matter of a couple of weeks and no idea what is going to happen next. In the little more then three years that he was there, a lot of things occurred. Now that the shock and panic is starting to wear off, I totally feel like this is for the best. This is an opportunity for Adam to move on and to have a better work environment. This is an opportunity me to go back to work and to finish school. I have put school and going back to work almost completely on hold since we go married. I accepted a job offer a couple of weeks before Adam was let go from his.

Part of me wishes that we never moved here for this job, especially given everything that just happened. I wish I had these three years living close to my family, and that I saw them more then once a year at best. Without this job and moving here though I would not have met some of the best people, made the best friends and been given the opportunities that we had.

Life in Wisconsin isn’t fabulous right now, but hopefully soon it will be! Funny that I now say that living in Wisconsin is fabulous! I now know that there is more to it then cows, cheese and farms. More importantly there are the Green Bay Packers, Clay Matthews & the best hiking & skiing places!

We will be ok. Maybe not right now, but eventually. In the mean time my expectations need to calm down & shut up!

Show Rachel some love, then go follow her blog, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.