Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

I'm not gonna lie, this year has been a bit rough.  But I still have plenty to be thankful for.  Let me just preface this post by saying that I pretty much had this entire post written in my mind late last night when I was trying to sleep but of course, I'm sure I won't remember half of it.  

First off, this year was Elizabeth's first year and it was the best.  She is so wonderful and joyful and perfect.  Everyone loves her.  Aaron loves her and she is so in love with him.  I am thankful for my daughter for sure.

Aaron has started preschool with the Head Start program and it's really been great for him.  AND for me, of course.  He's growing so much and so fast.  This past year has been a bit difficult for him too.  He's started a new school, has had to realize that he's not the only baby anymore and has had to deal with his dad's new job.  But I'm hoping his new found attitude this year is a phase.  He's learning new things at school though, including how to socialize.  But he's my big boy now and I'm thankful for my son.  

If you've been keeping up, you'll know that Josh lost his job earlier this year because his plant closed.  When he couldn't find a job in Sacramento after a few months and we were in a pretty bad spot, I encouraged him to look outside of Sacramento.  We've been talking about living close to the water, so why not look, right?  

Josh applied for a job with Tesla and he was really wanting to get it.  For the first time in the 10+ years I've known him he was actually excited about a job!  We were all rooting for him and he got it!  Josh got a job with Tesla in Fremont, CA which is 2 hours out of Sacramento.

At first the job was temporary and we agreed that we wouldn't think about moving until he was brought on permanently.  He stayed in Fremont during the week and because we need the money, he has also been working the overtime on Saturdays.  So he comes home for basically a day and a half before he heads back again.  This has been hard on all of us, but Aaron the most (hence the new found attitude mentioned earlier).  Of course seeing this and also the fact that I knew Josh would be brought on permanently, I was looking at places anyway.  

And then we realized that the South Bay Area and the East Bay Area are both double in rent than what Sacramento is.  So the search has been tougher than expected.  We've not only tried Fremont but Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mountain View, Livermore, Dublin, Pleasanton, Concord and Palo Alto.  We even applied for a place a few weeks ago but they gave it to someone else.  

Honestly, the whole process has been rather discouraging.  But I still have faith that things will work out for us and for that, I'm thankful.  And I'm thankful for my husband Josh and that he has a job in the first place to give us this issue to work on!  And so the search continues......

I am so happy to have my little family.  We have issues and fights and bad days just like anyone else, but at the end of the day we love each other - Josh and I are best friends - and we both love, love, love our babies.  And the dog.  Don't forget our first baby!

So while we've had some bumps in the road this year, like I said earlier, I still have plenty to be thankful for.  

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and yours!  I hope you are all having a year to be thankful for as well.

 

I just turned in my SAHM card (gulp)

I am a huge ball of emotions lately.  I knew that when we moved to California, part of the reason was that we would be close to my parents so that I could look for some part time work when I was ready (which is totally laughable because I would never be ready).  And so, being that the economy sucks, the job market in California is ridiculous and Josh seems to be in job that is permanently temporary (ie, low pay & no benefits) I applied for a job.  I only halfheartedly applied for it seriously knowing it was low pay and thinking that they wouldn't even call me back.  WRONG.

Not only did they call me back, they had me interview three different times.  THREE.  The entire time span between interview 1 and interview 3, I was going insane trying to balance emotions and logic.  The entire process seemed like trying to catch and control a runaway train.  Do I take it or leave it?  Wanting to take something and knowing you should, are two completely different things.  Yes, the pay is low (that alone makes me want to cry because it's seriously almost HALF of what I made at UW) and yes, the hours are closer to full time at 32 hours a week, but they do offer insurance, which we are lacking.  And it seems like a welcoming environment.  I think they were a bit confused as to why, after looking at my resume, I'd apply for a job like an administrative assistant.  They asked me in each interview if I was OK with doing these "menial" tasks and if I was sure I wouldn't get bored and leave after 6 months.  They had good reason to think this I suppose.  But my focus has changed, and my priorities are at home now.  I love being at home with Aaron.  And someday, we'd like Aaron to have a sibling.  For me, that means less focus and time at work and more at home.  So in that regard, this job works out just fine.  Part of me still wants to plant my feet on the ground and stomp while screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" at the top of my lungs.  I'm sure on my first day at work, you'll see scratch marks on the walls and door frame of my apartment as I'm being dragged out of the front door.  BUT, I feel (hope, pray) that this was the right decision.  I'll guess we'll all find out together........

In the mean time, Aaron is growing and talking (talking talking) more and more.  He loves music, loves to sing and dance (though he can be shy at times).  He's so smart and he amazes me everyday.  Currently, we're hoping to get him a new, big boy bed.  I thought about a toddler bed until I saw how small they are and knew Aaron would be out of it in a New York minute.  So I think we're going straight to a twin bed.  He's still not potty trained, but I am SO ready to be done with diapers.  Seriously.  I think he's ready to be out of his high chair too, though we've had to prolong it because we have a high table and he can't sit in these chairs (think stool height) on his own.  So that means we'll be shopping for a new table as well.  Yup, this boy is definitely growing.

Now I feel like I'm going to miss out on a lot of his growing, but I'm relieved and happy to know that he'll be taken care of by family.  And he loves his Grandpa Howard & Grandma Yvette.  He asks practically everyday to go over to see them or his tia Eva.  To him it's like they're one entity sometimes!  It's more like "Can we go see grandpagrandmatiaeva?".  And anytime I'm on the phone he's practically screaming "It's Grandpa?!  It's Grandma?!".  It's adorable. 

Well, we're definitely in for a new chapter in life and changes for all of us.  But change usually equals moving forward, so it's got to be good, right?

Hope you're all well out there in cyberland.  Have a wonderful 4th of July from our family to yours!!