There's a first time for everything - part 2

I've been down this road once already back in April, but when my boss called me first thing Monday morning (1/12/15) and laid me off, I was completely devastated...again! I had no clue it was coming and could hardly believe what she was telling me. My exact words to her were "this makes me SO sad!" I really loved my job and loved the flexibility of it.

Back in August I had a heart to heart with my boss. I basically told her that I was going to have to quit (after only working there for a month) because I couldn't find affordable childcare for the boys. It was just a part-time job and I wasn't making a ton of money (that happens in the nonprofit world). All of the childcare options we found that were suitable were fairly far away from our house and also would take up almost half of what I was making each hour. We decided that it just wasn't worth it.

My boss informed me that she didn't want to see me go, she really valued me. She came up with the solution that I would job share with one of the other candidates they interviewed for my position. They really liked her, but she didn't offer the long-term stability or experience that I offered, therefore I got the position. This other candidate was going to do my in-office hours (about 15 hours a week) and I was going to do 8 hours a week from home with 2 hours on Wednesdays in the office for team meetings. A neighbor of ours had offered to watch the boys for those two hours each week so it was perfect.

My boss did inform me that we would try things out until December and then reevaluate. Well, December came and went and she never said a word to me so I figured all was well. She never led on that she was struggling trying to manage two of us, etc.

The reason for letting me go that she gave me was because it was too confusing to have two administrative assistants and that those we worked with (other staff and volunteers) were confused and never knew who to talk to.

At the time I didn't say much because I was in shock. After everything had time to sink in, I started having feelings of frustration and confusion. I debated whether or not I should speak with her one last time to get my questions answered. I ultimately decided to have a conversation with her because later in the day on Monday my boss's boss emailed me with a job offer. I knew that I couldn't even begin to think about this new job offer with all of those emotions building up inside.

We chatted on Friday and I was able to ask her the questions I wanted answered. We had a fairly close relationship so I was hurt that she didn't come to me in December to tell me that it wasn't working for her. I voiced to her that I would've appreciated her coming to me and saying this is what I need from you (X amount of hours in the office, etc.) and if you can't do this, then we need to let you go and give your hours to the other AA. Miles starts kindergarten next year and Dave is off for the summer beginning in four months. Had I been given an ultimatum, I might have decided that for four months it would be worth it to put the boys in childcare in order to keep my job. I LOVED this position, loved my boss, loved being in the nonprofit world again, loved that it was part-time, loved that the working hours were fairly flexible, etc. etc. I would have tried my hardest to make it work!

She agreed with me and told me that she was sorry. She told me that she looked for a brand new AA for four weeks to replace both myself and the other AA so she'd have one person who could do exactly what she needed (because the other AA has some limits as well since she works another part-time job that she won't give up). She couldn't find that perfect person so she decided to let me go and stick with the AA who was already working in the office.

The other AA is fresh out of college and has a husband who is applying to law school all over the country so her future with United Way is definitely unknown. My boss mentioned to me that if this AA leaves, I will be the first person she calls.

It has definitely been an emotional roller-coaster ride for me the last couple of weeks. The other position that I've been offered is a full-time administrative assistant position for my boss's boss. One of the girls that I worked closely with last summer and who I was hired to be a backup for is leaving at the end of April. Since I already know a lot of her job and since they seem to like me there, they have offered her job to me. They are going to change the position a little bit in the process. They would like for me to start on April 20th and have offered $1 more per hour in wages. The job is tempting, but I HATE that it is full-time! I haven't felt rushed to make a decision since April is still a ways off, so the debate continues.

Mid-April is a bad time for Miles to be switching from his current preschools to a daycare setting and so I've asked my mom if she would be willing/able to come stay with us for 1-1/2 months to finish out Miles' year at preschool if I decide to take the job. That way he could finish what he started and really not have any interruption to his life if his mom goes to work full-time. Being the wonderful mother that she is, she has agreed to help. Then, Dave would be home with the boys all summer which would give us time to figure out what to do in the fall when Miles starts kindergarten.

In the meantime, my boss's boss has given me some contract work. He has three projects that he would like help with and has hired me to do these projects. One of them is due on 2/12 and the others he would like done by the end of Feb. I just feel so blessed that they value me enough to offer opportunities like this to me. All of this can be done from home as well!

And...one last comment about the job offer...midweek last week the job went from a 40 hour/week position to a 35 hour/week position with it increasing to 40 hours/week during the busy time of the year which is mainly the fall. He also thought maybe those extra 5 hours could be done from home! It feels good to be valued so much that he's willing to be a little flexible with me. We'll see what we come up with as a decision.

Beautiful flowers from my hubby to help lift my spirits

Oliver's first "official" hair cut

After Oliver and I dropped Miles off at preschool on Tuesday, Jan. 6th, we headed to Lehi for Oliver's first official haircut. 

We've driven by a store called "Cookie Cutters" many times over the years. Being the dessert lover that I am, I thought it was a dessert store until I looked it up online. It's actually a hair salon for kids! Their website made it look like a really fun place so I thought I'd give it a try with our busy 1-year-old. The video on their website made it look like Oliver would get a certificate for his first haircut with a clipping of his hair.

He didn't get a certificate, but she did save a clipping of his hair and was super patient the entire time. He's got the cutest curls in the back and I'm not ready to cut those off, but I wanted his hair trimmed up around his ears and his eyes. She did exactly what I asked with a very wiggly little boy! He'd turn his head to look at every. single. sound. She definitely earned her pay.

He got to sit in an airplane & watch a movie & then got a sucker & a balloon at the end

The curls in the back

Trimmed up around his ears & eyes

After seeing the pictures and hearing the stories, Miles wants to get his hair cut there too!

Christmas Vacation

Since it snowed all day on Christmas Day, the day after Christmas proved to be a perfect day for sledding! I stayed home with Oliver so he could take a nap while Dave and Miles went sledding. There is a little sledding hill at a park nearby that they went to. I think both boys had a blast. Miles keeps hoping for more snow so he can go again.

We didn't do a whole lot over the Christmas break while Dave and Miles were off of school. It was nice to just spend time together and relax. We did manage to squeeze in one trip out of town though.

We normally don't celebrate New Year's because it's too hard for us to stay up that late and then get up early the next morning with our early birds. This year was different though. We found out a few days before New Year's that one of Dave's sisters and her family was in Utah visiting from Washington. They invited us to one of Dave's brother's houses in Logan for a New Year's Eve party. We knew we had to go!

I didn't take any pictures. I guess I was too busy chatting and chasing Oliver around a non-baby proofed house. We had a blast though. Miles loved playing with his cousins, Oliver loved exploring Uncle Dan and Aunt Tonya's big house, and Dave and I loved spending time with some of his family. It's always a good time catching up! We even made it to midnight, but got awakened at 5 a.m. by Miles. Ugh! We're getting too old for that!

In an attempt to keep Oliver happy in the car on the way up to Logan, we turned his seat around temporarily so he was forward facing. He had moments of unhappiness, but overall it wasn't nearly as bad as it has been traveling with him lately. We only stayed one night in Logan. On the way home on New Year's Day both boys fell asleep in the car. Starting the day at 5 a.m. and playing hard with cousins led to two tired boys. Oliver only slept for 29 minutes, but it was a blissful 29 minutes for Mom and Dad!

While in Logan we got a belated Christmas gift from Tonya. She's so talented! She found an old spring mattress at Dave's grandma's house (Tonya is the sentimental type) and decided to make all of the siblings wreaths out of it. Who'da thunk? It's amazing and so beautiful! I was excited to hang it up on our wall and love the way it looks.

Over the Christmas break we also decided to get Miles a new bed. When we first moved back to Provo we tried putting both boys in the same room and it didn't last long. They both kept waking each other up and no one was getting any sleep. We decided to put Miles' mattress on the floor in our room and have had it that way since August.

I was finally done with having Miles in our room and decided we should try the boys in the same room again, but maybe with a different bed for Miles this time. After searching the internet for ideas, we found a fun bed at Ikea that we thought might work. It's like a loft bed but not quite so high like most of them are. It also has a tent that can be added. We thought that would be the perfect solution so that Miles could "hide" in his bed and not be seen by Oliver.

We took Miles to Ikea to look at it and he fell in love. He was SO excited to get a new bed! He also loves the "cave" that is under his bed that he can play in.

So far things have been going pretty well. Miles is able to sneak in and out of the room when he has to go potty and it hasn't bothered Oliver too much. I'm crossing my fingers things continue to go well.

Christmas family picture

I completely forgot about this picture we took Christmas morning after all the gifts had been opened until now. It was taken with my actual camera versus my phone so I didn't see it when I did our Christmas posts. Enjoy!

Making my blog private

I'm tossing around the idea of making my blog private. I think I'm leaning towards this decision because of social media. I like being "friends" with old high school classmates, past coworkers and bosses, former neighbors, etc. on Facebook, but I'm not entirely positive I want them reading my blog. Make sense? I like the idea of my blog being available only to close friends and relatives.

I'm hoping that I've been able to delete the program that automatically posts on Facebook when I put a new post on my blog (I'll see with this post if it worked) so that will help some. Only those who care about my blog and think to check it will see when it is updated.

If I do decide to go private, I'll just need an email address from you if you'd like to have "permission" to see my blog. You'd then have to log-in using that email address to see it. I know this is sort of a hassle, but it will protect us and give us some privacy.

I haven't officially made the decision yet, but I'll let you know if/when I do!

Christmas Day

I thought with the excitement of it finally being Christmas that Miles would get the day started super early, but he actually slept until his normal time of somewhere around 6:30. I think Oliver was awake before Miles, which has been the case lately.

We didn't do much on Christmas Day. We opened our presents, ate our traditional breakfast casserole, played with our new toys, watched the snow fall, and ate a yummy ham dinner. It was a nice relaxing day. That evening we decided to venture out in the snow to look at Christmas lights, but our trip didn't last long when we got stuck going up a hill and were forced in to turning around and going back down the hill. It was an adventure!

Our cute little elves!

Opening presents

Miles was super excited to get this book

A big truck and tractor from Grandma

Oliver checking out his gift from Miles

Santa brought Oliver a drum

Santa brought Miles a trash truck

Miles was so excited about the gift he got for me - a very beautiful necklace with matching earrings

New cooling racks!

New shoes!

Miles' stocking stuffers

Oliver's stocking stuffers

Playing with his new toys

Watching the snow fall

Our present theme this year was "useful things." The boys already have tons of toys and we've been frustrated with the way Miles has been treating his toys lately, so we decided not to buy lots of toys. They both got a couple of toys, but manly they got things they needed. Miles got new church clothes, pants because his all have worn out knees, and a couple of books. Oliver got warm pajamas, sippy cups so we can wean him off the bottle, and spoons, forks, and a bowl so he can start learning to feed himself. I got useful things for the kitchen like cooling racks and nice metal measuring spoons. Dave got new tennis shoes because his old ones had holes in them and were falling apart. We also got money and gift cards from our wonderful extended family.

Even though I wish we could've spent the holiday with extended family, it was nice to have a low-key celebration at home. We definitely are very blessed!

These three boys mean the world to me and I'm so lucky that they are mine! It brings me such joy to experience holidays like Christmas with Miles and Oliver. Kids make everything more exciting!

Christmas Eve

We spent all day Christmas Eve Day getting ready for Santa! Miles helped me make and decorate sugar cookies. I also made some fudge. Dave and I don't like nuts in our fudge so once a year I have to make some without nuts for us. We also made a pizza for dinner and just munched all day long.

Cookies & fudge

My decorating companion

Silly boy!

Our finished cookies in the background

At Miles' preschool Christmas party, his teacher gave him reindeer food to sprinkle on our yard. We decided to sprinkle their food in our front yard before it got dark. Miles was so excited for the reindeer to eat what he left for them!

Reindeer food

A picture with his dumped reindeer food (he was cold)

I made sure Dave went out later and smashed up his pile of reindeer food so it'd look like they ate it. We woke up to snow on Christmas morning though and it hasn't melted yet so we didn't really need to smash it up I guess.

 

After dinner was over we let the boys open up their traditional Christmas pajamas gift. I knew Miles would be disappointed, like he is every year, so we let him open up one small toy gift as well. I'm sure most of you saw his disappointment in the video I posted on Facebook! Miles also wanted Dave and I to open up a present so fortunately we had both gotten each other some pajamas/comfy clothes as well.

 

Pic with their pajamas

The box and wrapping paper were more exciting

Mater saved the day!

Dave's Griswold pajamas from Miles & Oliver

New sweats!

Oliver likes heavier pajamas to sleep in so we didn't put his on him until Christmas morning so Miles got to pose alone in his new pajamas on Christmas Eve - I couldn't stop laughing! I love the elf pajamas!

After the excitement of new pajamas wore off, we watched a video made by our church about the Savior's birth. Miles loves movies so I thought it would hold his attention better than reading from the Bible, etc. He gets so excited about Santa and presents and we've tried hard to teach him about why we have Christmas. I think the fact that it's Jesus' birthday is starting to sink in a little bit. We also read a short book that I bought several years ago that talks about what Christmas is. It's a cute book that talks about how fun Christmas is with Santa, presents, cookies, Christmas cards, Christmas parties, etc., but the real meaning of the holiday is to celebrate Christ's birth.

Once the boys were in bed we did our final preparations for Christmas morning (made our traditional breakfast casserole to sit overnight, stuffed the stockings, ate the cookies and drank the milk Miles left for Santa, and put the gifts under the tree). We then watched the movie Elf and went to bed.

Santa came!

Fun at preschool

The last week of preschool before the Christmas break brought lots of fun for Miles! Tuesday, December 16th was Miles' Christmas party. Their party had a Polar Express theme so Miles got to wear his pajamas to school. He was in heaven! The parents were invited to the last 15 minutes of class so they could show us their Christmas program. Miles never seems too interested in participating in the singing, but he sure looked cute up there with his classmates dressed up in different costumes.

I LOVE this picture! He looks so thrilled to be wearing that nose and antlers.

Cute little Santas

On Thursday, December 18th Miles went on his first field trip. His teacher had arranged for them to visit one of the local fire stations. Miles was so excited to see an ambulance and a fire truck up close and personal. Due to his preschool's insurance policy, the parents were responsible to transport the children to and from the fire station. This meant that Oliver got to go on his first field trip as well. Both boys had a blast.

Miles learned all about what to do in an emergency and what a firefighter looks like all dressed up in hopes that they don't look scary if one ever shows up at their house because of a fire. The firefighters told his class about children hiding from them during a fire because they are scared of them in their funny gear and oxygen masks. A couple of times Miles' teacher had to remind the firefighters that most of the children in the class are four so they shouldn't make things sound so scary for them. Hopefully no one was traumatized!

I left with a renewed determination to help Miles learn who to call in an emergency and what to do in case there is a fire in our house. We definitely need to work on those two things!

Learning about the ambulance

 

He loved climbing around the fire truck!

 

What firefighters look like all dressed up

Everyone got Fire Chief hats, including Oliver

The North Star Preschool visits the fire station!