ss_blog_claim=b1c8a347d19acb6069e7726e485dcc4d

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Thoughts: Unemployment, New Job, Moving and an 8 wk old baby

Sanity? Seriously?
(I type this as the - "I do not believe in sleep away from Mommy's chest baby is in a front carrier.")

On June 16th (at 8 months preggo) I wrote:
It was about six months ago while eating lunch with my husband that I told him that I could not be any more perfectly happy. We just bought our first house in November. It had been over two years of really wanting to get pregnant and having it just not happen.

And now...

We moved in November 9th a wonderful weekend complete with menses. It was that cycle, and Thanksgiving night that God deemed we deserved my little AppleBlossom. This house is just where we were meant to be for this time in our lives. Apparently this will be the house I spent my pregnancy in, and just about only that...

Early on we got a false reading on an u/s dealing with nucal fold and had to endure several scary expensive specialist visits. All worked out, and as we were starting to relax into this pregnancy, my husband came home one day to tell me he had been laid off. In a division merger, the company that we always thought was fabulous and a dream to work for let go about 90 people in closing a division/merging it into another. With two months to go in my pregnancy, my fairy tell that had been shaken already by medical threats to my baby was just a bit worse.

In attempting to manage the stress... hoping that all will go well at this point... At 27 1/2 wks pregnant, I was diagnosed with
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus. Woohoo. So my ultra sensitive non existent appetite was now even more restrictive. I had to eat when I did not want to eat, I had to carefully observe what I ate and how much and what was in it and basically dissect everything. Just watching the food was not enough, so then I had to take a medicine that would drop my sugar too low and send me into fits that almost put me to fainting with horrible shakes and dizziness. Not to mention pricking my finger every four hours. All this for my last trimester of my first pregnancy. What a dream. (Yes, the end result is worth every drop of blog and sugar plummet).

After getting "notice," DH worked for two more months (mandatory to get the severance) and then has been home for two months. He spent those four months looking and interviewing. Every time we got a little sicker of hearing, "You really fit perfectly, but we're going to hire from within the company." Finally, one day we got two incredible offers on the same day. Our decision is a great company (better than his previous job even!) in Memphis, Tennessee.

Side Note: I love having him around, and having his help at the end of my pregnancy and first almost two months of AppleBlossom's life has been incredible and I would not trade it for the world. God knew what he was doing and I can definitely see the good in something that looked like there would be no good. And even though bits of my pregnancy was stressful and painful, she is perfect and worth it. (And that's not even going into my delivery story, go back to a previous post for that, oh and if you want more details on the u/s fiasco.)

*sigh* (Daddy gracefully removes baby and offers to hold her a while for me. Yay! Wow that's what 10-13lbs lighter feels like...)

So. Now. DH has a new WONDERFUL job! Yay!! It's in Memphis. Um. Okay. Adventure! Both of us were born and lived our whole lives (before college) in the same house in Georgia. Backgrounds fairly similar, but in GA. Now, we will both be moving out of state for a brand new experience that is both exciting and scary. With the idea of moving, what does my husband do? Well he has decided that he hates my cats.

After three years of marriage, and five years of a relationship with nary a word, he now hates the cats and has "no plan to move with them again." What they come with the house to the new owners? Are you kidding? GET OVER IT. *sigh* Am I suppose to give in? Is he being unreasonable? I want to make him happy. Is this one of those compromise issues, which one of us should compromise. HK has been in my life since I was in fifth grade. Yes, that means he was there through the awkward middle school, depressed high school, and roller coast college years. Now you want me to ditch him? He's 13 years old for goodness sake! Patches, she was born on the day we met and given to me as a gift from my friend for my 20th birthday. Yes, sometimes she decides that she would rather use the litter box for urine only and put her feces anywhere else on the carpet, yet she still likes to snuggle. *sigh* Nobody would take them if I tried anyway, (I half heartedly did try). In way of a response, I stopped trying to talk through it and started the preparations for taking them (up to date on vaccines - we were two months overdue due to oh wait, no money - and tranquilizers for the drive). Now he kinda talks about them as if they'll be there too...

Unemployment. It will take a while to trust that the job will be there. Also a month or some to get debts back in order. It's amazing how the only money in money out thing works, yet even when there is no money in, money still has to go out... Stupid Emory. That's another story for another time and a pittance of $19,000 that could have been spent elsewhere. (Did I mention my one semester was more expensive that his five years playing around in college???)

New Job. Very excited. Better benefits and a great salary. Life will be good and get even better.

Moving... I already touched on the stress of moving with the cats. Been there, over that. As mentioned we bought this house in November last year. It is our first house. We really kinda bought it in August, but did not get it until November (go back to previous posts to read about that). That was such an event that we were certain that we would not move again for several years. In the end we ended up with an incredible deal and really paid about 90k less than what the house should have sold for and planned to keep it for years and then one day make some of that money back. Well now it's on the market and our Realtor does not seem hopeful. Fabulous. I'm losing my 28,000 sq ft, 4 bed, 2.5 bath, with HUGE bonus room Craftsman style home. Why?! We cannot buy another house until this one sells and right now that's doubtfully soon. So we're off to rent a house or apartment.

We spent this weekend (Sunday - Tuesday) looking for rentals. We found one in our price. Much smaller but fabulous! It was the first one we looked at. Tuesday morning we called to say we wanted it. Well guess what. Someone who looked at the house a couple hours after we did is going to buy it. Well great. We spent the rest of Tuesday looking at refuse. Anything else in our price range is set at 2 bed 2 bath and previous smokers home. Great. Now it looks like we will have to find an apartment. Awesome. I now have to figure out how to put my almost 3,000 sq ft belongs into a 1,000 sq ft apartment. I no longer will have my mailbox meetings with the mailman. I no longer will have door bell rings from my deliveries. Nope, back to apartment life. You assume that's over once you buy a house, but no, it's back. Back to neighbors encroaching your personally space. Good luck getting that baby to stay asleep.

Now for the fun part. The movers are coming in 12 days. My life is going into multiple boxes in 12 days. I have no idea when I will see my books again. If we're in an apartment, DH said I get one bookshelf. HAVE YOU MET ME? Have you seen my TBR pile? And you're taking it away from me? Oh, and the quilts, the quilts are all going in storage. Well, that will get me to complete them. My UFOs apparently will stay UF (un finished objects).

What about my book reviews? How will I read books that I have no access to? How long will forwarding take? If they are coming UPS/Fedex they won't forward. Will we have time to come back to check for packages?? Are my publicists going to black list me for being late? How long will it take for me to catch up? *sigh*

I have 12 days left with my normalcy. I have 12 days left to figure out what baby clothes/items to keep out. How do I keep them out? How do I survive? Will we be living out of suitcases? Will we remember which boxes we need sooner rather than later? Oh... wait. One more thing... Where are we moving?? That's right, no destination as of yet. Well. Huh. So when the movers get here in 12 days, where are they going to take our stuff? When they called yesterday to set it up, they said, "So all we're missing is the destination address." Well. Huh. Me too.

Oh and for reference. No cloth diaper stores and no quilt shops.

Oh, and btw. AppleBlossom is now screaming her head off. (Yay for inconsolable gasey babies - DH is trying this shift...) Yeah that's right. Read all that remembering, there is an 8 wk old baby involved. Woohoo!!!

9 comments and creative thoughts:

Rel said...

Oh, Margaret! I do feel for you and know what is like having crazy things going on around you with a small baby! I know you will get through it all and am praying the mountains before you really end up being mole hills :) Love and hugs

Unknown said...

Wow, Margaret...I really feel for you. Hubby and I just bought our first house in April, 2008 after living in an apt. Relatively the same amount of space, but I could not imagine going back to an apt. And I don't have cats, but I do have dogs, and I totally understand you wanting to bring them with you.

I will say this...I live in the Memphis area (Cordova), and when we did our apt. to house switch, we actually saw a decrease in the monthly payment. Not huge, but noticeable. Also, our house is in the county, not the city of Memphis, so we don't pay nearly as much in taxes...another thought for you if you decide to go the house route.

If you have any questions about the Memphis area in general (I've lived here almost my whole life), feel free to email me (orca0024 at yahoo dot com). Meanwhile, I'll keep you in my prayers that things will start coming together for you. Oh, and that your hubby lets you hold on to your cats. :o)

Ruth King said...

Hugs, prayers and major moving commiseration coming your way. I just got my bookshelves back the way that I like them (i.e. properly categorized instead of books haphazardly thrown on shelves) and that has made me so much happier...even if I don't have time to read very much yet. Life is just now starting to have a sense of normalcy again, which is such a relief after feeling like someone took my life, put it in a box and shook it pretty vigorously for about six weeks...

I totally feel for you guys, and will be praying for you A LOT. Also, the best idea I had in my moving-chaos-ravaged brain was to write "IMPORTANT STUFF" on boxes that contained, you guessed it, important stuff. I started out with a super-organized color coding system with a complete inventory of each box, but when it got towards the end and we were just chucking things in boxes without labels, taking that moment to somehow notate that there was something I'd need in that particular box saved my sanity many times over after we moved.

CherryBlossomMJ said...

Rel - I so appreciate your prayers. Too bad I'm not moving to Australia, 'eh?

Ruth - I invited my mom to come over the day the packers are here to watch AppleBlossom. This way I hope to follow the packers around with a marker to mark boxes. I have already attempted to "slightly" organize books into more dire need sooner than later. We'll see how well that works...

Christy - We're looking at the Germantown, Cordova, Collierville area!!!! Small world! Can I have an instant friend??

Unknown said...

Absolutely, Margaret! :o)

Angie said...

Oh my..you have a lot on your plate now. ((hugs)) I'll be praying for you.

Sheila Deeth said...

Wow. So many stresses, but it's great that he has a job to move to. Hoping you all find your security again soon.

Jaedyn said...

I've had this post up all day waiting for a moment when I could sit down and read through the whole thing and reply, lol. You have a lot going on!

Apartment life: It stinks, but be praying that you get a nice one (I will, too) - they aren't all terribly bad. Compared to a house - yes. lol The apartment we found was pretty much a God thing, it's been decent raising the baby here. We've been here two years and so far no horrible or loud neighbors. Nobody complaining about baby crying, etc. So there's hope!

So exciting moving! I'm sure God has great things in store for you guys. :-) Tennessee is gorgeous, too - I've been there once. So gorgeous in Autumn so you'll be going at the perfect time.

The cat thing had me laughing. My husband hates cats. Or any pet at all, actually. I don't want any pets in an apartment so I don't complain, but when we get a house we are so getting a dog. :-)

TeamOSM said...

LOL! My stint at Reinhardt cost more than Levi's four years at Berry. That's only because his brain is gigantic, and he had that awesome scholarship, though. =P Our hubbies are nerds! =D

Praying the move goes smoothly. And hey, you can always buy CDs online, and you can connect with quilters there, too. I also agree with the others...pack your own box or two of I NEED THIS IMMEDIATELY DON'T TOUCH IT MOVERS!! boxes, so that you have everything you need.

Blog Archive