On my mind

1. Ethan can sound out and write all of his letters now. So instead of "spelling" by yelling out a stream of random letters, he's working hard to hear each of the letters in the correct order. I love that he works so hard! He's even managing to read a few short words by sounding out the letters!

2. Edward backed off on wanting to use the potty for a while. But the interest seems to be back. He saw a potty at Target last week and fell in love. (It's frog shaped.) He's been sitting on it multiple times every day. No success yet, but the dry diapers all day and the overfull ones at night indicate that he's learning some control. We'll get there.

3. Please don't tell me how thin I look. I'm very aware. My pants are hanging off of me and all the baby weight has disappeared. (Wish the extra skin would too!) Even my face is thinner. This was not an intentional weight loss. It was achieved by a combination of stress, too little sleep, frequently eating only one real meal a day, and lots of Dr. Pepper to keep the blood sugar up and the headaches at bay. I am looking forward to gaining some weight back in Dec. Then losing it in a much more healthy manner.

4. So happy for John. He's loving his new job. It's exactly the type of growth opportunity he was looking for, and they need him there so badly. He jumped right in, meeting with people to figure out what he needed to learn, interviewing someone to do their SEO, and scheduling a business trip to get some hands on experience. Nine months was worth the wait!

5. Think I might attempt to fold the many, many loads of laundry and clean a bathroom or two before having to go to work. Better get started...

Ummm... I think I forgot to mention...

We've been crazy busy this last week or so. Much, much busier than usual. All because we're making some big changes around here.

It all started when JOHN GOT A JOB!!!

That's right. After almost 9 months of unemployment, my husband will start his new job on tuesday! Can I tell you how relieved and excited I am?

We've been getting the ball rolling on a few major changes during this final week of joblessness. I'll be sure to let you know about them as they happen!

Working Two Jobs

I've been avoiding talking about work. Not because I don't like it, but because I'm not adjusting as well as I'd like.

The paying job is great. The people I work with are intelligent and fun to be around. I enjoy the work.

The problem is that I can't give up my mom job. (Not that I want to, but you know what I mean.) John lets me sleep in a little, so I get enough sleep. But as soon as I'm up, I'm on the job. I have a 15 hour work day. 5 days in a row. Every week.

Those of you in TX, may have noticed that I've practically fallen off of the face of the earth. I apologize. Once we hit summer and I can get a mother's helper a few days a week, or some regular playdates lined up, I promise I'll pop my head into normal life a little more often.

For now just know that work is going well. But I'm exhausted.

Whirlwind

My typical day goes like this:
- Get up a little after the boys do and let John get out of the house
- Run errands, play, or if Edward's in a good mood, take care of some chores
- Lunch
- Put Edward down for a nap, Ethan in front of the Wii, and take a shower
- Get ready for work and sneak in another chore or two
- Hand-off the kids to John
- 8-hrs on my feet in the lab
- Come home and crash into bed

Working every evening is creating some problems that I'm not sure how to deal with. Notice two things. I only have time for a small handful of chores each day, and usually most of them involve loads of laundry or cleaning up after the last meal. And there is no down-time for me.

My house is becoming progressively messier and I just can't spend all weekend, every week, cleaning.

And I've started cutting back on sleep to get a few quiet minutes every day. Not a good solution.

I'm not complaining. I really enjoy my job and know that it's what I'm supposed to be doing right now. And part of the reason this job is right is because it allows me to be home with my boys for much of their day.

But after two weeks, I'm seeing that we're going to need to make some changes around here. It's been a whirlwind. I need to feel like I have my feet under me again.

Any suggestions?

A Job! A Job!

That's right. I'm going back to work full-time. Starting next week, I'll be the bread-winner around here. Same thing I've done before, in the lab, but at the central lab for a chain of clinics instead of a hospital.

We're excited to have some real money coming in again. And it will give John the chance to find the right job instead of something to just pay the bills and cover health insurance.

For those of you worried about the kids, I'll be working the 3-11 shift. I'll be home with them for most of the day. While John is contracting and job searching, he'll take over for me at about 2. When he needs to do something in the afternoons, or when he finally goes back to work, we'll only need to find babysitting for a couple of hours. So most of the time, the boys will be with one of us.

Honestly, as worried as I am about how I'll manage everything at home on this new schedule, I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty again. (Figuratively.) I've actually been feeling a little bit lacking as a mom. I'm not innately good at it and it's burning me out. The prospect of doing something that I'm really, really good at is energizing.

So that's the big news around here! I'm spending this last week of freedom getting ready. Making lists of easy and make-ahead meals that John can have on the table in under 30 minutes. Figuring out a new daily chores schedule for myself. Buying new scrubs. Finding out who would be interested in babysitting when we need it. (Anyone? We can't pay much, but our kids are fun!)

The transition is going to make for an interesting few weeks. Wish me luck!

:(

No job. Like I told my sister, we had a little pity party and then got over it.

Here's what happened. This company fully intended to hire John. BUT, just last week they received a call from an applicant who had been working for their competition. Apparently she hadn't signed a non-compete agreement, and was very interested in this open position. Unfortunately for us, she is just as qualified as John and has much more relevant experience. Ouch. But we understand.

There is an up-side, though. The woman he met with felt really bad about having to turn John down. And she happens to be a relatively big name in their industry. So she took John out to lunch and talked about how she can help him. He came home with quite a few leads on companies who may be hiring in the near future, names of some other people to talk to, and an invitation to an event with industry executives where she will introduce him around. (He also learned that the salary range for his particular niche of marketing is much higher than we'd thought. Yay for specializing!)

We kind of wish this had been a short story instead of a potential epic. But we know that there is a reason he didn't get this job. We're not giving up.

An extra bonus, John has found some contract work through some old friends. So hopefully we'll have at least a trickle of income soon.

The Scary Part

John decided to publicly break the news about his job last night. I was waiting to see how his interview goes tomorrow. But I told the whole Relief Society while teaching a lesson on Provident Living, so it's not really a big secret. (I've enjoyed your guesses as to what's wrong. Right now, I would rather be pregnant. Scary, right?)

So, John has been unemployed for two weeks. My first reaction was, no biggie. We've done this before. And he already had a jump on things with several interviews already scheduled. (He wanted out.) Then I started to look into it.

In the past, I was working. Not so this time. I immediately applied for every MT job available in the greater Austin area. There were 3. Apparently, even the hospitals and clinics are being hit hard. I'm still waiting to hear something, but I don't have my hopes up.

In the past, we didn't have kids. It's amazing how they add to every single bill. We would probably turn off the heat all together (it doesn't really get cold here) if not for them. We could live completely off of our food storage if they didn't need the whole milk and dairy for growth and neural development. And gas! Just getting Ethan places so that he still feels like life is normal drives up our gas bill.

In the past, we had savings to cover us for several months. This year, we moved, went to disney (which was unpaid time for John), and flew out for two family emergencies. Our savings account is pretty worthless at the moment.

That gets us to the scary part. We've never been in a place where we had no income at all and lots of expenses. Even cutting out nearly everything we can, we run out of money in about a month. I've been quickly learning about all of the government and private aid available. Did you know that the forms to apply for food stamps are horrendous? And that they can make you reapply EVERY MONTH if they want to??? I've discovered that there seem to be an infinite number of Medicaid options. And that the people at WIC are very nice. Biggest of all, I've learned that having zero income actually excludes you from some aid. Weird.

We have started to see little blessings. Like the notification that a medical procedure Edward had done way back in Boston was actually supposed to be covered by insurance. So we'll be able to get our money refunded. And the many people who heard and immediately called to say they had some food they wouldn't be using. (Seriously. We could buy only milk and dairy for at least a month.)

The big thing we're watching out for is lessons. Being in a position where we don't know how we'll keep a roof over our boys heads is opening our eyes. The stress is all encompassing and we feel like we understand the worries of others more. The sudden need to cook and eat as cheaply as possible, and stretch what we have, is forcing me to learn quickly. Overall, it is helping me focus my calling towards the immediate needs in the ward rather than planning for future problems.

(John's biggest lesson so far has been realizing what he's good at.)

So, we're hanging our hopes on a big interview John has tomorrow (tues.) He knows the members of the marketing team there, and (because of a tip from one of them) he was able to sit down with them before the job was even available to discuss what they would be looking for. Essentially, they're looking for John. As long as they don't have a candidate with the same qualifications but more experience, we think they'll have good news for us. We're preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. Keep us in your prayers!