Day In the Life

Yesterday was the first day that Josh was home, having been laid off Thursday. Yep, you heard me. Josh lost his job. On the one hand, we have been half expecting it for years- his company has had 2+ major lay-offs every year that he has worked there. On the other hand...well on the other hand it always sucks when your number is called. It's not exactly like Spokane is a tech-job meca, and in case you've been able to forget we are in a recession for...for as long as Josh and I have been part of the work force actually. In other words, there is a very real chance that this will force us to uproot our family- to short sale the home that I dearly love, and leave the city where I have built my life for almost seven years. Our friends, my mom's group, the non-profit I've helped birth, our church and the youth group we run...even the little things like our pediatrician and the park we always go to and the farm that we pick fruit in during the Spring sting a little bit.

Yes I've done it before- 6 and a half years ago when I came here.

But honestly the familiarity with the process just makes it harder. I know that it takes years to truly build a life, and how hard it is while you live without a support system in the meantime. I dont want to start over.

Our search is limited to this area for now but neither one of us are sure how long we can keep that luxury.

Anyways, life must go on and I had long planned to do a Day In The Life post.

And so I shall.

Mal and I woke up at 8:30, to find Josh and Zeke already downstairs and skimming the online job market.

Josh fed the boys breakfast, and I harvested some peas from the garden and took a shower (yay for fixed water heaters!).

After my shower it was time for the kids to take a bath.

They love to wash each other's hair- like teenage girls in a teenage boys' fantasy. When they were dried off and dressed they went outside to play.

And Josh trimmed the epic beard he has been working on for the past little bit to something that looks a little less homeless and a little more "hire me".

Around 10 I took the boys to their well-child check-ups, and Josh went back downstairs to continue the job search. Only Malachi ended up getting any shots, and he took it like a champ as usual. After my last post I had 2 foster moms I know tell me that they partially immunize/don't immunize their kids and never had any problems. I looked up the actual law (vs blindly listening to a social worker that obviously meant best but also obviously cant know everything) and found I can opt out my bio kids as long as I immunize my foster kids. So back to the old schedule we happily go.

It was some well-child visit, however. Zeke left with a pink eye prescription and Mal with a antibiotic prescription for his flaming double ear infection!? I knew he had a small cold earlier in the week but honestly he wasn't acting like he was in pain at all. I'm glad it came to light, though, because our insurance only lasts thru the end of the month.

Mal fell asleep on the drive home, there goes nap. And then they had chicken nuggets and apple slices for lunch.

After eating Mal went back outside to play ring toss.

And Zeke went into the toy room to play with his trains.

I did my prayer time, since I knew I wouldn't have time with both boys napping at once.

After I was done I filled their kiddie pool to warm up for the afternoon, and put Zeke down for a nap. I finally got hungry so I made taquitos for Malachi and I to share while we watched the first act of Les Miserable (the 1oth anniversary DVD). I decided that as loyal to this version as I feel, the 25th anniversary that came out this year is a lot better.

I woke up Zeke at 3 and he was very. Very. Very cranky.

We all four of us went to the store.

When we got home Zeke was still very very very cranky-though somewhat mollified by the jamba juice Josh bought him. We put the groceries away and went for a swim.

Soon it was time to start dinner, so Zeke got to watch Cinderella.

Malachi started to watch with him, but ended up falling asleep. I accepted the fact that I would be up until midnight.

Our friend Becca arrived, bearing gifts in the form of Josh's phone charger. He had left it at work the day before. They talked lay-off.

Soon after that our friend Jonathan arrived for dinner. They also talked lay-off.

Dinner finished cooking and Becca excused herself to go home.

We talked more lay-off but I was heartened. We talked about the dozens of people that have come up and offered to look for jobs for Josh, the handful that already had and demanded his resume for their boss. He is very well liked and respected in his business. We talked about the bright side of the situation, that we all know he would never quit his former job, and maybe this is opening him up for bigger and better things.

Jonathan brought gifts for the boys.

And very soon it was time for Zeke to go to bed...and for the rest of us to watch Harry Potter 7a in preparation for the second movie which we are all going to tomorrow (well except Malachi, he's not invited to HP7b...but then again he also fell asleep in the middle of 7a so he's not fully prepared anyways).