Half awake on Saturday morning, I could hear Jonah in other room practicing some new words with Ian with the patience of a licensed speech therapist. “Poop. Pee. Ear Wax. Eye Wax. [??] Diarrhea. Vomit. Puke….” He pretty much hit all the bodily fluids and then started from the beginning again.
Lots of craziness in the past few days. It was good to have that early morning belly laugh.
Lots of ups and downs with my future employment. Class canceled for the fall, because of low enrollment. But they might want to hire me full time this fall. But Ian’s not ready yet. I’m still struggling with the logistics for getting him tucked away into a little bit of daycare for the fall. I spent some good time on Friday trying to figure out how to get him from his pre-school to the daycare. Plan A, the school bus, just went down the tubes. And I’m still not even sure if Ian is going to be able to handle daycare. In the midst of the logistical nightmare, I kept asking myself, “why am I doing this?”
Especially since Steve’s hours at work just got cranked up again. He’s now going to miss out on the nighttime routine and may not even see the kids awake for days at a time. His job is giving him a pile of cash, but we never wanted this kind of lifestyle. Still, these new responsibilities can’t be passed up. Careers are like sharks. Unless you keep moving forward, you get fired. So, we’re having to figure out ways to revamp things around here. We’re both totally over worked; our high minded, self-sufficient life style just isn’t working anymore. It’s time to start delegating and freeing up time for more chilling out in Central Park on the weekends.
It’s all good. We’re a bit stressed about all these changes, but at least we’re not panicking about paying the rent or fending off attacks of the cockroaches in the kitchen. We’ve kept our expenses pretty minimal, so that major changes can be made if need be. And we’re trying to keep a semi-detached, amused eye on all of these events.
Apt. 11d 
Good luck figuring everything out. I’m experiencing a similar scenario in my life after a crazy year as an accidental job seeker and then a summer spent as my husband does his own job dance.
I hope you figure out a good situation for Ian.
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I’m not really whining too hard about our little shifts in fortune around here. They keep giving Steve way too much money for his efforts. I’m continually shocked what they pay people outside of academia. We’re very lucky in most regards. We just need to make some adjustments, and I’m not sure which ones are going to happen yet.
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I’m there with you on “what they pay people outside of academia.” The peak salaries at my state u are lower than the min paid to partners in a local law firm I’m familiar with (and we’re not in NYC).
But, it’s a tough trade, isn’t it? When they’re paying you that much, they do feel they have a right to you whenever they want. The scenario where the dad doesn’t get to see his kids for days on end (and the kids don’t see their dad) seems worth whining about to me.
bj
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“When they’re paying you that much, they do feel they have a right to you whenever they want. ”
His regular salary is actually pretty reasonable. Somewhat close to what he would be getting a research university. Their trick is that they give you bonuses over the holidays, which even after taxes is pretty sizable. The bonuses are never known until the last minute and you feel like they are doing you this huge favor, so you have to say “yes’ to every demand for six month. Then the last six months of the year, they dangle that bonus over your head and make wild promises.
“The scenario where the dad doesn’t get to see his kids for days on end (and the kids don’t see their dad) seems worth whining about to me.” Yes, it isn’t what we planned on, but he just can’t switch careers again, so we’re just going to sock away those bonuses and figure out how to make things work.
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