projects

Now that I'm not working, I have projects, as if having a toddler, managing our household, and being pregnant weren't enough.

One project is looking for a new job. I know no one will hire someone who is 18 days away from delivering a baby, but I'm still looking. I have 2 other big projects, both of which involve the boys, as the two of them consume my life these days.

Baby carrier (project accomplished)
We have a Baby Bjorn and a sling from when Nate was a baby.

I liked the Baby Bjorn once Nate was big enough to not need the head support. He didn't like the head support part; he wanted to be able to see around. But once he could ride in it facing forward, he was content in it. I would not have survived our trip to England/Kenya last summer without it! Also, I lost an inch off my waist and hips during that trip, which I attribute to carrying Nate in the Baby Bjorn for all those endless hours in the airports.

The sling is the type that was pulled off the shelves last year because if a baby is cradled in it, they have no head/neck support and can't breathe. Some babies died. When I put Nate in it as the instructions showed, I could tell he was having trouble breathing, so I didn't use it that way. Once he was too big to be comfortable (for me) in the Baby Bjorn, I used the sling as a hip carrier. He loved it like that, even more than the Baby Bjorn. You know how a dog goes crazy if you touch their leash because they think they're going out for a walk? That's how Nate reacted if I went near the sling. So if I didn't put it away as soon as I was done using it, I had to wait until he was not in the room.

All that to say: we don't really have a baby carrier that's good for a newborn. If I go out alone with both of them, I will need Nate in the stroller (he loves to walk but can't be trusted, especially if I have my hands full of BB), and BB would be best in a carrier. We are hoping to get a double stroller, but BB won't be big enough for it for a few months. I decided I wanted a wrap. Then I decided not to pay all that money and to just buy some knit fabric to use as a wrap. Hobby Lobby had some very turquoise jersey with brown polka dots on sale. I got 4 5/8 yards (recommended was 5 yards, but there was a hole in the fabric, so that's the longest piece I could get, unless I would choose plain brown fabric), and cut a 20" strip off the side. I learned the classic front cross carry last night. Even with my big belly, the fabric is long enough to wrap and tie, and I can fit a teddy bear in it.

Diapers (project in research phase)
I actually really like using disposables. However, it makes more sense to use cloth in Kenya. They have disposables you can buy, but we're beginning to think we don't want to create that much trash in Kenya. If you've been to Mombasa, you have seen what becomes of trash there. So I've been reading a lot on the internet, learning all kinds of things about cloth diapers. It was overwhelming at first, but I think I'm sort of catching on. I am enjoying the learning aspect so far.

We will stick with disposables for the immediate future. I'm not prepared to buy a bunch of cloth before BB is born. I think we'll start making the transition for him once he's out of the newborn stage.

Nate has no patience for having diapers put on him anymore. He is demonstrating more and more aspects of potty training readiness, except that he doesn't have regular BMs, he doesn't care if his diaper is wet (if I ask him if he needs a dry diaper and he isn't too busy playing, he will say "n'do" and run to the changing table), and he doesn't have words for anything related to the bathroom, just "die-die" for diaper. He loves sitting on his potty, though, and is amazed by watching himself pee. Anyway, my point is, I don't think we'll buy a full supply of cloth diapers for Nate. He may still need overnights when we get to Kenya, but I expect him to be fully in training pants or undies (a lofty goal) during the day. And since he has more tolerance of standing still for me to pull up his shorts than laying still for me to put a diaper on him, I am definitely ready for him to be in training pants. I don't have much energy for wrestling him these days.

QOTW: If you ever crawl inside an old hollow log and go to sleep, and while you're in there some guys come and seal up both ends and then put it on a truck and take it to another city, boy, I don't know what to tell you.

an addendum to my previous post

I do like being spontaneous. I just couldn't get everything done that way when I was working. However, I tried as best I could to keep our weekends available for spontaneity. Besides buying groceries "sometime" on Saturday and going to church Sunday morning, we were free to do whatever we wanted on the weekend.

responsible procrastination

I've begun to realize that, as an unemployed mom, I've kind of taken on a different persona than I had as an employed one. My new persona is kind of lazy.

When I was working, I didn't procrastinate. I couldn't afford to. If I didn't do something right away, or in the time I'd allotted to it, it wouldn't get done. I couldn't put it off until later because later, there would be no time to do it. Being home all the time, I do actually have time to get things done later. The problem is that I'm not very disciplined in my procrastination. I say I'll do something later, then I never get around to doing it.

When I was working, I had time scheduled to exercise, to read a book, to read blogs, etc. Being home, I just assume that I'll eventually do one of those things when I feel like it. Nate works his hardest to make sure that I don't get to do those things. When I was newly unemployed, we were still getting up pretty early in the mornings, and we would take long walks to get some exercise. We haven't done that in a long, long time. Also, we sleep much later these days. Even Nate sleeps later.

I used to plan our menu for a week at a time, use that to buy groceries, and cook 3 times each week. I don't know how often I cook now. I cook when we have no leftovers left. I don't always know what I'm going to cook when I buy groceries. Our menu for next week is thus: something with chicken, leftovers of chicken, something with beef, leftovers of beef, thaw some chicken tortilla soup on a cold day, maybe pizza. Nice, eh?

At least I am keeping up with our chores calendar/schedule. I definitely feel like I'm being lazy, though. One thing that will help me to feel like I'm not lazy will be to initiate a "get up" time, rather than sleeping as late as Nate will let me. I'm ok with having a looser schedule since I have nowhere to be most days of the week. However, I will feel more productive, and probably be more productive, if I have some kind of daily schedule.

Also, when I say I'll do something later, I will actually have an intended time when I will do this thing. I'll call it responsible procrastionation.

a day in my unemployment

You know, apart from the whole no paycheck thing, being unemployed is pretty awesome.

We went ahead and paid for this whole month of daycare. That way, I have someone to watch Nate while I look for jobs and go on interviews. This is what my day looks like today:

We slept in until 6:30. Rodgers got up with Nate while I pretended to be sleeping for 30 more minutes. We took our time getting dressed and left around 8. We dropped Nate off at daycare, then Rodgers and I went for a brisk 3 mile walk. I think he likes me being unemployed because we can exercise together in the mornings. We averaged 10 minutes per mile, which is my goal, but I never make it that fast when I have Nate in the stroller. Then, we came home and took showers. Since we have a meeting at church tonight, we decided to go ahead and do our MasterLife study together this morning. While we were doing that, Rodgers got a voicemail, which he saved until we were done.

He has an interview on Friday. I'm not sure I want him to get the job, though. I don't know how he feels. It is slightly better pay than his current job (less per hour, but more hours) and might have insurance. After he returned the phone call, I went with him for a drive-by to see where the office is. Then we went to the Post Office to get international postage stamps.

When we got home, it was time for early lunch, then Rodgers left for work. I washed and dried a load of laundry (haven't folded and put away, but they are laid out neatly on the living room chair) and started a second load in the washer. I applied for two jobs. One is an entry level design job that I don't really want, but at least it's something. The other is a marketing and communications job that requires some design experience. It might be a good job for me. Then, I went to get Nate from daycare.

He fell asleep in the car, so I put him to bed when we got home, and he's still sleeping. I put the second load of clothes in the dryer and mixed up a batch of cookies, which have just finished baking. They're going in the freezer tonight.

Last year, since I was increasingly more pregnant as the holidays approached, I decided to do my holiday baking early and freeze it. I really liked the way that worked out, so I'm doing it again this year. The only recipe I'm repeating from last year is blueberry cheesecake bars. The others weren't worth repeating when I have hundreds of cookie recipes to choose from. Last week, I made some chocolate oatmeal cookies, which are ok, but not great. Today, I made something like double double super chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I'll call them DDSC^4. (That's not the real name.) They aren't cool enough to taste test, but the dough was quite yummy deliciousness. Next on the list to bake is some kind of yummy stuff that has a graham cracker crust and melted chocolate and peanut butter chips and drizzled chocolate on top. I am now realizing that everything on the list is chocolate, with the exception of the blueberry cheesecake bars.

So, now to fold and put away laundry and wait for Nate to wake up so we can play.

obligatory cute baby picture

unemployment here I come

I realized this morning that my last blog post was last week's WMW post, and I really try to have an unprompted blog post each week. I've been distracted lately, though, and haven't felt like it.

Tomorrow is the day. Because of budget cuts, tomorrow is the last day I will be working at this job. I've known about it for a few months and have been looking for a new job, but lots of people are looking for a new job right now. I apply for several jobs each week, and so far the only feedback I've gotten is a few "thanks but no thanks" emails.

It's frustrating and disappointing.

The thing that I am most anxious about is actually not how we'll pay the bills while I'm unemployed, but what to do about Nate's daycare. The bills will be fine. We have Rodgers' income, we have savings, and we should have some unemployment benefits, too. But daycare, we've paid through the end of October. We are assuming I'll find a new job and not be home, unemployed, for very long. We're assuming that I will need to take Nate to daycare for a few hours each day to do job applications and interviews until I do get a new job. But I don't know what we will do come the end of October if I'm still not working. Do we pay for more daycare that we aren't really using? Do we stop paying and give up Nate's spot in the infant room? If we do that, what if I get a new job the next week, and we have no childcare? What will we do then? These questions would drive me crazy if I continued thinking about this.

For now, I'm trying to remain positive and optimistic. God always has something for me. Who knows what it is this time? Surely he will continue to take care of us and work things out. We'll decide what to do about November's daycare tuition when the time comes to pay it. Until then, we wait and see what happens, and I continue applying for jobs.