Tag: Help

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Is it the teeth?

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but Della has pretty much been a champ sleeper since she started sleeping through the night around 2ish months old. But lately something has really been throwing her snoozing out of whack.

It started a couple weeks ago. We do her usual bedtime routine – read a few books in her chair before bed, take her books and little toys to bed, say night-night to all the characters on her wall, she turns on her little musical/nature sounds thing that hangs on the side of the crib, then we put her blanket on and voila. Sleep.

Now, however, once we leave the room, the cries start. As soon as we get back to the living room and sit down we hear, “Mama, Dada, Mama, Dada….” And instead of trailing off as she falls asleep as they have in the past, her cries just get more persistent. So one of us will usually go in, rock her for a minute or 2 since she always stands up and says “rock” at that point, then she’s usually good for the night once back in her crib. Sometimes it does take a couple rounds, but most often if she cries like that it’s just once we go in and then done.

It used to be like this for her naps too, but fortunately those have gotten better. Now I can usually just put her down and that’s that, as it used to be.

I can’t figure out what’s throwing the little girl off so much. At first I thought maybe it was not having her daycare routine in place anymore and being home all day with me. Then I thought maybe it’s her 2 year molars, since all 4 of those have come in during basically this same poor-sleep time frame too.

Oh, she’s also started waking up about once a night most nights now too. That seems to have coincided with this crying bedtime routine window as well.

Any ideas? Do you think it’s her teeth? Growth spurt? Just annoyed? I’m all ears, because within the next couple weeks we also need to transition her into a big bed to get the crib moved into our room for Dv2.0. Hopefully that doesn’t completely make her head explode.

 

 

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The End

2 words. So simple, yet so final.

And my reality in just 1 week’s time.

As of next Wednesday, August 1, I will be unemployed. Yep, that’s right. J-O-B-less.

Unfortunately, I now know what it feels like to be fired. Well, technically terminated, but still. I’m out of a job.

Here’s the scoop…

I work at a hedge fund, and in a nutshell we’ve lost all of our outside investors. I say outside because I think all of the Principals have some of their own money invested, but you can’t really run a business with the employee base we’ve been carrying based solely on funds from the Principals. You need outside dough coming in, and that is one thing we’ve been severely lacking for a couple years now.

So they made the hard decision to close down our main investment funds and return all outside investors’ capital. In plain English, we went broke.

Now here’s the thing. This was no surprise. Those of you who know me well know that we’ve been living through this possible scenario for the past 4 years. Thankfully I survived every round of downsizing and layoffs until the end, so I do take that as a sign of my worth and standing as an employee. This was due to no fault of my own, and the Principals had nothing but praises to sing about my intelligence, work ethic, qualifications, etc., when the hammer finally dropped and I learned my final date. So that makes me feel a little better about everything.

Still, though, it means the end of a paycheck. The end of 401k contributions. The end of 100% employer-paid health insurance and medical benefits. The end of working in an awesome building with a full cafeteria staff who cooked us breakfast and lunch every day. The end of year-end bonuses. The end of working with people who have become good friends over the last almost 8 years. The end of my career?

That last one is probably the one that scares me most. This is the only “real” type of job I’ve held since graduating college – finance. And now, after a decade, I’m out. And I honestly don’t know if I’ll want to get back in when the time comes. I’ll be off at least the rest of this year, for who wants to hire a 6+ months pregnant chick who they know will be off for about 3 months with a baby shortly after she starts work? Yeah that’s what I thought too – no one.

Thankfully everyone is receiving severance packages, including continued health insurance coverage. And they did throw me a bone since I’m knocked up and extended my insurance coverage through the end of January instead of through October like most have been receiving.

I was really hoping to get just a couple more months out of the deal, since people are being let go in waves – July, August, September, and December, with a very small group staying for 1 year to get everything wound down. End of September would have been ideal. But such is not the case. In speaking with the Principals when I was given my final date they did say there’s always the possibility they could start something back up with a pool of their money, in which case I am high on their list of people they’d want back, but I’m not holding my breath on that whatsoever. I’m fairly certain that when I pull out of the garage on July 31, that will be the last time I see most everyone who’s left.

It’s sad. I’m sad. I foresaw myself working there for the rest of my career, however long that was to be. And for as much as it tore me up to send Della to daycare at 5 months old, I actually hate having to take her out now. She talks about her friends there constantly, she loves the teachers, and we love what they do for the kids. I hope I can keep some semblance of a social routine up for her once she’s at home with me full time. I’ve been saving their weekly lesson plans for the past couple weeks for ideas of what to do, and I’m planning on keeping their daily schedule in tact as much as I can at home, but I’m not going to lie. I’m nervous.

I have no idea how to be a stay at home mom anymore. What if she hates being home with me all day? What if I have no idea what to teach her or how to teach her what she would’ve been learning at daycare? What if she drives me crazy? What if I drive her crazy? What if we drive each other crazy and Ryan comes home to find 2 heaps on the floor, dead from all the crazy?

And then there’s the whole issue of a new baby coming in October. Oh yeah, that!! Someone, anyone, please tell me how to simultaneously (and successfully, mind you) take care of a 2 year old and a newborn all day alone. That is probably the part that makes me most frightened. I don’t know how to do it! The other day I was trying to remember what we did with Della and having her go to daycare when she was born, and then I remembered – she WAS the one who was born. DUH!! See, my mind is already partially gone. How am I going to survive the double kid whammy?

So you see, times they are a-changin’ at our house. Whether for better or worse, I have no idea, but it was out of my control. So it’s just happening. Fortunately, with the severance we’ll be ok financially for awhile. Thank god. And I am hoping to pick up a little freelance work between now and when the baby’s born to help tide us over too.

For those who don’t know, I’m an excellent proofreader/editor. Please check out that JEditing button at the very bottom of the page to be taken to my website for a little more info. And if you need any proofreading/editing services, EMAIL ME! I’m not just being egotistical when I say I’m good. I really am.

If I could do proofreading/editing work indefinitely after the baby’s born this fall, that would be ideal. I like it, I’m very good at it, I love finishing a project and knowing I made it correct, and I could do it from home. And if I were to get enough hours doing that, we could always send the kids to daycare once or twice a week so I could get large chunks of time in to work. Ahh, pipe dreams.

So, my friends, my days as a working mom are numbered. Like I said, I have no idea how I’ll be as a stay at home mom now, but I guess we’ll find out in a few days. Wish me luck!

 

 

 

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(Semi-)Blacked out to stand against SOPA/PIPA

Why the black bars up in the corners today? you may be wondering. A day of mourning? Not exactly.

Without completely blacking out my site (i wanted you to still be able to see me! well, and to give a little explanation of what’s going on, too), I’m joining thousands of others to put the Internet on strike for a day in an act of protest against the proposed Internet censorship bills SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act in the House) and PIPA (Protect IP Act in the Senate). SO-what?

Essentially these 2 controversial pieces of legislation aim to put control of the Internet in the hands of the government and corporations, namely the entertainment industry. They claim it’s to try to crack down on rogue foreign websites and Internet theft, but a core goal of these bills is really to get people to maybe buy more Hollywood movies. What the what? Yeah, I know, that’s what I thought too.

There are, of course, many more intricacies to and repercussions of these bills, and my synopsis above barely scratches the surface. Please watch this video for an excellent recap of what may happen if this legislation does pass.

If you’d like to join me in the protest, head on over here and here for details and to email Congress to stop the bills. For the sake of retaining my freedom to keep my blog as I know it, thank you!

 

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Beauty in giving

Remember a few weeks ago when I asked you to help one of my blogging friends Kelli and her family? I mentioned that, among other things, she was holding a Thirty-One fundraiser, with proceeds going to aid her niece and her family. Well I ordered a scarf from that fundraiser to help out, and it arrived yesterday. I love it!

It’s a fun, bright pink silk scarf with a design of circles. Being on the shorter side, I had to come up with just the right way to wear it so it didn’t look like a choker. Please remember, my creative skills are severely lacking, and unfortunately this applies to fashion, too.

Now for a little styling:

Not bad, eh? I paired it with that white v-neck tee and a casual black blazer, all worn with dark trouser jeans today.

Thanks, Kelli! My thoughts continue to be with your family, especially little Delaney.

 

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Help for Delaney

You guys, I know I’ve asked for your help before (like here and here), but I’m asking again. My friend Kelli over at Momma Needs a Beer has a beautiful little niece who is struggling for her life. I can’t even type out all the details because the keys are too blurry through tears. Whenever I hear stories like this I just can’t help putting myself in their shoes if the same were to happen to D, and I selfishly pray that it never does.

 

But please go read Delaney’s story here and see if you can help. She is on home-care hospice, and her little family could use any and all bits of assistance. You can straight up donate to The Delaney Rose Fund through PayPal, Kelli is hosting a Thirty-One fundraiser (i just bought an awesome scarf), or if you live in their area you can sign up to take them a meal (last name: Flatter, password: delaney). And if you can’t do any of the above, that’s ok – just please send them your thoughts and prayers.

 

This holiday season will probably be pretty tough for the Flatters, so I thank you for anything you can do. And even though I don’t know them personally, I think I can speak for them in saying they do too.

 

 

 

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Advice needed

Ok kids, time for a “help SM” day again. I’ve really been harping on myself lately for not at least trying cloth diapering. Why now, a whole year after D was born? I have no idea. Maybe it’s the 3 pack of reusable diapers I ordered before she appeared that has just been sitting in the drawer taunting me, or maybe it’s hearing about so many other people who can do it, so why can’t I? I don’t really know what the impetus has been lately, but I feel like I might want to give it a shot.

So here’s where you come in. I need help with these questions:

  1. How often do you do laundry with cloth diapers? Like I said before, I usually only do laundry once a week – 1 load of our stuff, 1 load of D’s or a combo load if she doesn’t have much that week. Having to face 4+ days of laundry is kind of off-putting right now.
  2. What kind do you use? There are so many brands out there, I have no idea where to begin. I don’t even remember what kind I have at home (gro-Baby? is that one? that might be what they are). And does each brand have its own corresponding inserts, or are inserts universal?
  3. Do these things size like regular diapers, or are they all adjustable up to a certain weight? I know the ones I have are adjustable, but again, I have no idea what the upper limit on them is. My luck we’ve already outgrown them anyway.
  4. How much money do you think you’ve really saved by using cloth diapers over disposables? I’ve signed up for monthly auto-delivery of 7th Generation diapers through Amazon, and with that we spend just under $30/month on diapers (more, obviously, if we have to run out for extras for any reason). I’ve also set up auto-delivery of 7th Gen wipes through Amazon, which come every 3 months for $25. I doubt we’d use cloth wipes if we ever switched to cloth diapers. Let’s not get crazy here.
  5. For anyone out there reading this and thinking of answering – do you work or SAH? The reason I ask is that I know our daycare does prefer disposable diapers. If you send your little cloth-bottomed one(s) to daycare, how did you get around this, or does your daycare just not care? (i think ours might allow them, but they do prefer disposables)
  6. Do you use cloth all the time, or do you go with disposables for certain occasions – travel, errands, etc.?
  7. How did you convince your partner to give cloth a chance? Or was he/she on board from the start? I have a feeling R will not be too keen on the idea when I bring up that I have a hankering for trying cloth.

See – I’m kind of at a loss here. So any help anyone can provide will be greatly appreciated!