Sunday, January 17, 2010

Busy busy busy

I figured I should let you all know why you'll be seeing even less of me soon. I just picked up another job. An old client emailed me asking if I want to do contractor work for his company (which in turn provides analytics for other companies). I had worked with them before for about a year while I was still consulting and I remember them favorably. I'll work from home and the pay will be about 6 times more per hour than my B&N job, and they say it'll stay under 10 hours a week (I'm dubious about whether or not that's how much I'll work or just how much I'll bill). It's an awesome opportunity to make lots of money quickly, I'm very flattered that they reached out to me with such a generous offer, and I'm thrilled to once again use the 3/4s of my brain I devoted to web analytics knowledge, but... working from home was hard (there was a reason I quit), and I'm already feeling that nagging sensation whenever I'm at home of "are you sure you shouldn't be working right now". Not only that, but with my B&N job I've already been as tired, busy and sore as I've ever been for an extended period of time. I'm going to try to do both as long as possible- working at B&N is good, it makes me happy, and if I keep at it I could get health benefits at last, saving us about 600/month. It's also more predictable in the long run than consulting. So I'll continue doing that in the evenings, about 25 hours/week, then somewhere I'll squeeze in 10 hours of consulting, 168 hours of babies watching, and hopefully some time with my husband at some point...
As for plans for the future... we're clueless. We know that we don't want to get pregnant until we know where we'll be 9 months later (and whether or not we'll have insurance), so it may be a while before our family expands (a plan I will admit I haven't adjusted to very well, logical though it may be). Kenny is currently searching for teaching jobs- mostly in Texas, Oregon and Washington. Unfortunately very few schools will post opening before February or March. Once we know where he'll teach next year, we'll make the decision of whether or not to move. Even if he teaches locally, we may still downgrade so we can save up to move out of Texas in a few years.
Daniel is so much fun. He's currently under the weather, but today aside he's just been a blast lately. He's a great helper, and loves watching sesame street on the computer or movies upstairs (unfortunately he has learned how to pick out which movie he wants, and it usually ends up being the stupid Super Mario Brothers cartoon from the early 90s). His speaking isn't progressing much (I think it may have actually gone backward a bit), though I'm pretty sure he doesn't speak because he spends all his time with me and I understand his grunts/gestures well enough he doesn't see the point in verbalizing. All the same, if things don't change in the next few months we'll go in for a screening and some advice on how to get him talking before he turns 2 in april. Also, if any parents out there want to reassure me that it's perfectly normal for a 21-month-old boy to have a very limited attention span for mealtime, library story time, or church, it would help me out a lot.

In other news, I have about 3 months worth of news, videos and pictures to post. I promise I will someday. Oh, but this is fun. Kenny bought me this Goomba bag from Hot Topic:

It makes me happy.

11 comments:

Lori said...

Good update post jen. Way to get 'er done. I wish you the best of luck with your many new undertakings.

Julie said...

You sound crazy busy, a much better excuse for blogging than I have. As for Daniel not talking/paying attention that's totally what my boy did. They have about a minute of attention for every year they are old, so he should be good for about two minutes.

Spencer picked up gobs of words when he was 18 months and then just kinda puttered out for a little bit because he was busy developing other skills but then it picked right back up a few months later. However, if you feel the need to screen him do it. Mom always knows best and it will makes you feel better to know either way. I hope this helps!

Anonymous said...

wow, you are amazing! i couldn't do all that without having a melt down. :) you work hard for your family and i really admire that. also claire doesn't really talk either. but out of the blue she'll randomly say things (like pizza, wonder where she gets that...). i wouldn't worry about it. two of my nephews didn't say a word until they were three and they speak perfectly fine. i think you're right about understanding grunts and gestures. claire doesn't need to talk to anyone but me, so she doesn't really say anything. i bet one day he'll just start babbling sentences at you. :)

Mbeth said...

There should be a free birth to 3 clinic in your area that provides a bunch of therapies and evaluations. If you guys live a bit closer I would totally hook you up with the free speech therapy if he needed it. And the attention thing, Julie's right, there may be kids out there with longer attention spans, but generally speaking, you should expect about a one minute to one year ratio.
Sounds like you have a ton on your plate right now. It is so hard to be a mom and a wife and work. I've tried not to bring any work home with me because if it is there, I feel like I should be working on it. Stupid paperwork.

kevandcan said...

As you know, Jeremy had plenty of speaking issues early on. Candace engaged some local service through the schools and Jeremy received free speech therapy for about a year. It definitely helped.

Something to check into. At the end of the day, he'll turn out perfectly fine. Remember I wasn't really the worldest finest talker until about 8 years of age...if then! :-)

Chris Kline said...

Good luck with juggling. As far as working at home goes, after doing it for years, I can recommend strongly that you find a place that is your working place and try to only be there when you're working. The more you stick to that rule, the more your brain will know when it's supposed to work and when to give it a rest.

I'm confident you can fit all those things into your schedule. Keep your head up. Life is fun when it's busy. :-)

Melissa said...

Michelle was a little slow too in talking so whenever we go down for naps/bedtime, we say "bye bye couch, bye bye light," etc until we say almost everything in the room. She learned what things were real quick. Then I started playing kid's songs in the car and singing lots of songs. . .that helps too. I'm so proud of you for working so hard. . .you're awesome :)

Becca said...

It's perfectly normal for a 21-month-old boy to have a very limited attention span for mealtime, library story time, or church. Take it from a Nursery Leader. ;-)

Love you, Jen!

Anonymous said...
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angie said...

Yeah!! I have found you again:). I lost your blog address for awhile, and your sister-in-law posted on my blog today...which led me back to you! I am SOOO happy:).

Yes, a 21 month old does have a VERY short attention span. Owen bounces from toy to toy to toy:). He's so much fun!

Best wishes to you in your new journeys!

Nishant said...

I wish you the best of luck with your many new undertakings.
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