Recap of 2009: Quite possibly the worst year EVER

It's now 2010 and I realize it's been a year since I've blogged. Never mind that 2009 has been an atrocious year save for the birth of our beautiful little Eve.  Here's a a quick recap:


And baby makes 4:
Found out we were pregnant in February 2009 - a big shock, Joe lost his job in May, then in August, we were told we had 60 days to move because our landlady was going into foreclosure.  The budget crisis temporarily took away our Healthy Families insurance for the kids, so for awhile, we had no insurance for them and ran up quite a bill at the medical clinic.  I began teaching as many hours as possible to keep up with bills and fill in for Joe's lack of income.  Being hugely pregnant made it a challenge, but I got through it okay - in fact, I kept begging to go full-time, but knew my boss wouldn't have it while I was pregnant.  Complete discrimination, of course, but par for the course there.  My income doesn't come close to Joe's anyway.

Moving:
Then we moved - another horrible experience.  We found an older 4-bedroom home close to my mom's - not the greatest place in terms of upkeep - the landlady is sentimental but broke - but it was available and we were desperate.  We moved less than one month before Eve was born.  A difficult experience moving at 9 months pregnant.  But we did it.  Lost our entire deposit to the management company at the old house who decided to use our money to recarpet that crappy house so the desperate owner could sell it.  Not fair, pretty sure it's not legal either, and completely despicable behavior from people we go to church with.  Add it to the pile of crap we were handed.


All Hallow's "Eve":
After Eve arrived on Halloween morning, I just sort of withdrew into that special mom-baby place where I could cuddle and sleep and nurse and feel like everything else in the world was just unimportant for awhile.  It was wonderful.  Stayed in our comfy chair for days on end, or so it seemed, while friends brought us food and family came to visit.  Eve is beautiful (I mean, really beautiful) and sweet and easy.  Thank you, Lord.  We couldn't have survived cranky.  Our nerves are shot and our stress level the highest it could be.  Our hopes of buying our own home were dashed with Joe's layoff, and renting a house in which we found more troubles than we bargained (toilet and shower overflowed in the first two weeks of living here) has been depressing to say the least.  The holidays were lean but the kids never noticed.  We put up the tree and decorated around our mess of moving boxes.  It was lovely.


Back to work (well, one of us anyway):
Went back to work in late January to find that I still could not get on full-time.  Had an angry meeting with my boss (and his boss) to argue my point and was told there was nothing available right now.  Lies.  They had already hired someone while I was on maternity leave and now couldn't justify hiring me.  I went back to work and Joe stayed home with the kids - settling into his house husband role very well.  The kids love having him home and he manages to keep them occupied and get dinner ready everyday.  I spend most of my time taking care of Eve and resting between classes.  We are almost out of savings now and the unemployment has also been affected by the economic downturn.  So many people on unemployment, Joe's checks keep getting screwed up.  Sometimes they come, sometimes they don't, sometimes he has to fill out more paperwork, sometimes he has to go down to the EDD office.  My grandparents helped us out, which was a blessing, but it is all going into savings for the "just in case" times.  Just in case Joe doesn't get a job, just in case we can't pay the rent, just in case one of the kids ends up in the hospital with a 104 fever or a broken bone or worse.  Joe has applied for everything under the sun - no one is hiring, and those who are, aren't willing to pay him.  He has too much school, too much experience, and the only job he's been offered is less money than his unemployment.  Combine that with the  cost of childcare and wow...we'll never make it.  Eventually I will get a full time job at school because I won't give up until I do.  I will drive my boss crazy if I have to.


April showers bring a New Job!
Joe finds a job - ohmigosh, praise the Lord - after almost a year of unemployment!  An industrial company that makes window screens and security doors just happens to be based in Visalia and also happens to need a graphic designer in-house.  They have always outsourced their design work.  Now they are looking to expand to the public and need a face.  Enter Joe: the new face of marketing and design.  He is a one man art department now and he loves it.  Much more relaxed than advertising.  Pay is good - a little more than he was making at Lockwood, and the hours are nice 8-4:30.  I gotta go back to working part-time nights now - and after all that pleading - oh, well.  Joe and I switch roles again - I am home with kids and teaching at night, he works days and will teach at COS in the fall.  His new job offers flexibility - wonderful.  We were able to take a day off to go to Lily's 8th grade promotion, and another day to take the kids on a long weekend to the cabin. Life is feeling better.

Still...

We want to buy a house, we want the kids to have their own place to grow up - not someone else's place.  I realize they don't care, but we do.  Eve is now crawling, Olivia will start kindergarten soon, and Lily enters high school.  It's going too fast... can't slow it down.... and always feel like there is never enough time to enjoy it all.

Harry and the Cat

Home today with my little man and a bad case of strep throat. I'd been feeling good and then this hit me on Monday morning. Harry decided to sleep a little later today, which was nice, and I rested. I'm watching him play in the backyard now with the newest addition to the family - a black and white "tuxedo" kitty who has taken up residence here. He's a sweet cat - might have once been someone's pet because he's very friendly. He lets Harry and Olivia pick him up, chase him around, and even allows Harry to "pet" him - which means Harry smacking him on the back. Now the cat is lying in the grass and Harry is sitting next to him - almost on top of him - and petting his tail. It's kinda sweet. Maybe this cat will help Harry learn to be more gentle - if that's possible. I'm learning quickly that boys don't really understand that word - especially when they're two and a half. the cat doesn't run - just hangs with Harry, which is more than I can say for Priss. She's not crazy about the kids, but then again, she's a mama kitty who rules the roost. She's also not too keen on this new cat, but he doesn't seem to care. Her hissing hasn't deterred him. He's younger than she is and not fixed - something we'll have to do very soon if he's going to stay.

The sun is shining today after a few much needed days of rain. I like the rain and I'm always sorry to see it go. But it's nice that Harry can play outside this morning. I am waiting for my antibiotics to kick in and make me feel better - or at least make me feel like doing something. I'm sitting here typing because I can't bring myself to get up and do the dishes. I'm too tired. But I have to teach tonight, so I need to at least get myself psyched up for that. Luckily it's just one class. We are supposed to go to the coast this weekend too - spend some time in Cambria with the kids. The weather doesn't look very nice though - clouds on Saturday and rain on Sunday. Not exactly beach weather.

Harry has just come in and he's filthy. Looks like he sat in some mud. His new haircut makes him look like a little boy now rather than a baby. He looked up at me and said "Hi!" when he walked in. He can be so darn cute. Then he turns back into the wild animals and starts chasing Priss with one of the dryer balls. She's desperately looking for a place to hide. Time to step in.

An update

We went to the clinic early on Friday and Harry has a bad ear infection - as I suspected. I also have an ear infection on top of a sinus infection and a bronchial thing that has caused me partial laryngitis. That sounds bad, but honestly, the worst part is my plugged ears. My hearing is actually decreased by about 50% because of all the fluid build-up in my ears. The doc says it won't go away for at least 3-4 days. In the meantime, Harry and I are suffering through together, and last night was particularly bad. He was up at 3:30 crying in pain and it took an hour (and Ibuprofen) to calm him down. I'm just waiting for those antibiotics to kick in and heal us! Harry is not in the best mood - crying a lot and not eating much - typical sick kid behavior. I'm just trying to deal with the hearing loss. It sounds as if I am underwater and everything is just muffled. I can't hear the phone, the timer on the oven, or a lot of what Joe says to me. He thinks that's funny, of course. I felt like one of my ears was clearing up last night, but then it was completely plugged when I woke up today. Joe took the girls to Nana's this morning to make gingerbread houses and I stayed with Harry while he slept. I have so much to do around the house and not much energy. I want to get the tree decorated, the laundry done, and get the house somewhat in order. I had planned on Joe helping me while the kids napped today, but he is gone to Mike Yates' house to teach him how to play Axis and Allies - another geek recruit.

The Big Thanksgiving Feast at Gramma's

What a day. Our crazy Thanksgiving dinner was a lot of fun and a bit odd at the same time. It was a mixture of old and new - nostalgic and forging new ground. It was just funky enough that it would have made a great holiday movie. Both my parents were there: Dad and Karin, Mom and Steve (who did the cooking), and all the kids and their significant others including Danielle and Alan, Sarah and Rocky, and even CK and Ryan, who made a late appearance. The most interesting addition to the group was Taylor - our poor displaced cousin. He had nowhere to go this Thanksgiving with his dad and mom both miles away, so he came and stayed with Mom. It was great to see him and hear all about UCLA dental school. He's all grown up now, but still the same old Taylor - making friends wherever he goes and never at a loss for words. The adults ate at Gramma's big dining room table where we used to sit years ago when I was a kid. I can barely remember the last time we ate in there, but it was probably just after my parents split up when I was 11 or 12. After the feast, everyone had a chance to say what they were thankful for this year. Most of us teared up, and Nonnie was mentioned several times. By the end, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I think only Karin was a bit confused about the purpose of the toast, and said some odd things about my dad's libido - I'm still trying to work that one out. Grandad also seemed confused, but in a much different way. He was fine early on, but then didn't seem to know what was going on later in the evening. The little kids especially seemed to befuddle him. I watched him following them around, picking up after them, and asking who they were. Mom thinks the whole event might have been too much for him. It just makes me sad. I hope we can do it again next year, but I won't hold my breath. Even with the sometimes strange moments, our Thanksgiving was definitely one to remember. With everyone together at the same time, it was truly a wonderful sight and an amazing accomplishment.