Oh Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Hello out there!  (Or as the Dynamo would say from the top of his outdoor play set, "Hi Up Dare!"  (even though he is the one "up") and I would answer, "Hi, down there!"  And then we would reverse it.

I thought I would drop in for a quick update!

We are doing really well!  My new work-from-home job is awesome.  I feel really, really lucky to have landed this job.  It's challenging and a lot of work and I love that.  I feel productive which is a nice switch.  And I don't think I have to tell anyone the benefits of working from home.  I mowed the back lawn the other day on my lunch hour. 

And before anyone asks (although my readers probably know better), YES, the kids are still going to daycare.  When they are home, I can barely walk into another room without them needing or wanting something so there really is no way I could work if they were here with me during the work day.  I am amazed by how many people have asked me this and even mothers and a mother of twins!  My routine is great - I take them to daycare ("school") in the morning, come home and start my work day and then pick them up at the end of the day.  It's a nice separation of home/work life too with the added bonus of my own bathroom, kitchen, office (with windows that open), super casual clothing, and noise control.  It's a dream so far.

And speaking of work, I have to get back to it so I will leave you with some photos.  I've been trying to keep up/catch up on your blogs but not commenting as much as I should.  I will try to do more commenting soon. 



Waiting for Elmo and Sesame Street Live to begin!

 

At one of our favorite places: the local children's museum.

 

Reading stories before bed.

Crazy Hair Day at school.  (and a photobomber!)

MeAndBaby Bits

• The twins and I ended up with no plans this past weekend after a playdate was canceled and the weather was a little too cold to play outside.  This makes for a long weekend.  And, the boys have decided that they are no longer napping on the weekends.  (More on this below)  This makes for an even longer weekend.  When it's just the three of us from Friday night to Monday morning, and two out of three of us just turned two and a half, it can be challenging.  From now on, if we do not have plans, I am putting them in the car and we are going SOMEWHERE.  Even if we have to just drive around, we are getting out of the house. They need to blow off steam and I need for them to blow off steam.  I'm embarrassed to say I lost my cool and Sweet Potato now knows how to say 'God dammit'.  Not a proud mommy moment. 
• I'm not ready for the boys to be done with naps on the weekends.  They are not ready either even though they may think they are.  When they graduated to toddler beds, we stopped trying to nap in their room and went to bean bag chairs and blankets in the playroom.  And it worked for awhile.  Over the past few weekends, it has gone from only one day for both kids to one day for one kid to no days for no kids.  They are great at going to bed at night and staying there.  I tried last weekend getting them to nap in their beds again and that was a no-go.  They nap great at daycare on cots.  I was thinking of bringing their sound machine back into the room to see if music might help but I can't find it!  I had to take it and everthing else out of the nursery and have slowly started bringing things back.  Thoughts?
• I have two days left at my current job.  My new, work-from-home job starts Monday. (I have Friday off to finish getting my home office in order and run some errands.)  My plan is to really give this new company all I have professionally (something I failed to do at this job since I was so frustrated with the schedule and started looking for something new practically from day one).  I really hope this new job works out and I can do it and like it and they like me.  Stay tuned.
• My mom has been gone for almost three weeks and sadly the boys haven't asked about her.  Her visits had slowed down in the months before she moved away already so that's probably part of it.  I have been talking about her to them and hope to get Skype set up so we can do some video chats. 
• I belong to a food allergy support group for Sweet Potato's allergies and this weekend they are having a food-free movie night at the church where the meetings are held.  I'm excited about going - it will be the boys' first experience with the "big screen" and I hope they sit still.  We are to bring camp chairs or blankets.  I'm debating whether or not to bring their Thomas the Tank folding chairs, camp chairs for all three of us or just a blanket.  Little decisions like this can make or break an event.  Not to mention I have to carry it all and walk them up and down stairs in the basement of the church.  Wish me luck. 
• It seems March is the month of events.  Along with movie night, Grandma's birthday and my birthday, we also have tickets to see Sesame Street Live on St. Patty's Day.  (Thank you, Sarah, for giving me the idea!)  I have enlisted a friend to come with us for the 11:30 AM show and I think I am more excited than the boys are. 

Action Plan?

Last night I fell down the basement stairs carrying a box of books and pictures frames in preparation of converting my guest room into my home office for my new job.  I slipped on something I left on the side of the stairs and skidded down them on my back dropping the box with a loud crash and sending pieces of glass everywhere.  I hurt my back and it's sore today. I'm okay but it scared the shit out of me.  The twins were asleep two floors up with their door closed.  I was in my PJs and didn't have my phone on me.  What if I really hurt myself and couldn't move?  It would be a good twelve hours before anyone missed me.   

I lived alone for twelve years before the twins came and didn't give this a second thought.  Now that they're here, everything is different including me trying to take better care of myself for them. (and being less careless!)

I know it's impossible to predict something bad happening and the reality is something really bad could happen at any time.  How does one take precautions for their children just in case?  Is it possible?  Do any of you have any kind of check-in/action plan in place?  I'm not talking about a will (although I still need to finalize that).  I'm talking about an immediate need for help when you can't get to a phone.  This time of year I don't see my neighbors much.  I doubt they would notice if my car didn't leave the garage one morning.  My thoughts are all over the place today.  I think this back pain is making me nuts...

Thank you for the supportive comments on my last post.  I have a new job and start in two weeks!  I will be working from home and am very excited!

Potential Opportunity!

Last week I had two job interviews.  TWO.  With two different companies.  This week I have had two more interviews with one of those companies.  Over the past year I have had a handful of call backs for new positions, mostly from recruiters with jobs that either still entailed on-call/after hours work or that didn't pay enough for me to keep my house. 

Last week was the first actual in-person interview I've had since the one I had for my current job almost two years ago. 

I've been reluctant to say much to anyone about these possible opportunities because of the whole jinx factor.  The jinx factor was strong for me when TTC and, as silly as it might be, it has carried on to other parts of my life too.  But I can't keep quiet.  I might get an official offer TODAY from one of these positions! 

I would take either one of these jobs if offered to me and the one I haven't heard back from and that is slow moving likely doesn't pay as much as I would like/need.  I don't know the exact salary but they are a not-for-profit and when asking me my desired range, indicated that it was "slightly" high.  (But she said slightly like 3 times so I don't think slightly describes it.)

I'm sitting at my current job (with very little to do) writing this post and willing my cell phone to ring.  I've spoke with the two owners and the sales person and the person I would be reporting to spoke to one of my references yesterday and indicated they were very close to making me an offer.  This potential position would be a work-from-home opportunity with another software company.  They seemed pretty anxious to fill this new role for their growing-fast company and I would be thrilled to be able to tender my resignation and 2-week notice here today.  Thrilled. 

• If this was to work out, I would no longer be required to be on-call the week of March 18th which would be through my birthday.
• If this was to work out, I would no longer be required to be on-call for the weeks of Memorial Day and Christmas and I would no longer be the back-up on-call person for the week of the 4th of July.
• If this was to work out, I would no longer work one evening shift per week plus one Friday night per month in which Awesome Sitter has to pick up the boys from daycare.
• If this was to work out, I would no longer be required every 4 weeks to be on tap for middle-of-the-night-come-into-the-office software installs that no one told me about at my interviews.
• If this was to work out, on my lunch breaks from home I could take my shower, do laundry, pick-up the house, and even run to the grocery store saving a ton of evening time spent doing these chores.  Evening time much better spent with the twins or sleeping!
• If this was to work out, when the boys start school in a few years, getting them on and off the school bus might be easier.

Now before you think that I might be being petty about the on-call stuff since that is not uncommon in my field, let me explain the abuse of on-call that this company has.  On-call for this company means required weekend non-emergency work.  It means maintenance procedures that should/could be performed by other departments.  It means non-emergency administrative stuff that can easily be done during normal business hours.  To me, on-call should be emergency issues only: keep the customer running, answer customer calls, work customer high priority issues.  Only.  I was the only person on-call for my last job 24/7.  I did do some things from home after hours but I had a big window of time in which to complete them and the emergency stuff where I had to go in on a weekend or at night was rare because it was for true emergencies only.  Here, documentation (for statistics purposes and analysis) is required to be completed during off-hours.  A friend of mine who is a long-time partner for a consulting firm agrees - this is not what on-call should be.

If this was to work out, I might actually start to feel productive again and be happier and less stressed.

If either of these jobs works out, it would be a very good thing.  Stay tuned!