Upskilling

*sigh*

So, being a stay at home mom seems to be unattractive to prospective employers... Which, sure, fair enough, I wouldn't like to be a development manager trying to rationalise to my stakeholders either: "She used to be first class, but hasn't worked in years. We can train her of course, or we can just employ this up-to-speed person instead."

I have been seriously looking for work for 2 months now. Maybe more. Something must be done.

Next week I am doing a 3 day course in the sexiest sector of my skillset. After I finish I should be able to step out in pride and command my worth!

Holding thumbs....

Your Royal Fix

No jobs yet, although I am getting quite a few phone calls in response to my applications and have a potential interview on Friday. Perhaps that is why I am wide awake at 1am... while I have confidence in my skills and I interview quite well, I still find the whole experience nerve wracking!

King and Princess are in daycare on Mondays and Fridays now, and as places become available on the other days I will snap them up. Princess still has Kindy on Wednesdays and Thursdays during school terms, but their opening hours (9am to 3pm) just aren't possible once I am working full time.

Yesterday was the kid's first day in daycare. They both did really well, thank goodness! I have found a place within walking distance of home so it is easy to walk them both there pushing the pram, leave the pram and jump on a bus to the city. Then do the pickup in reverse at the end of the day.

Mom will be looking after the kids on the other days of the week. And Milord of course, while he is still job hunting!

It is 2 weeks since Princess' eye surgery and her eyes are still straight. The redness is healing up nicely. So far so good!



Puddles!



Paddling pools.



Playgroup.



Trains.



Daddy's hat!



Mummy's shoes!



Telly.



Show me your eyes, baby. Ooooh!



Post-nap snuggles.

Beach Babies!

We don't go to the beach much. Too hot, too sandy, too far etc etc.

Over the Easter Weekend we made an effort on a not-too-hot day and found a lovely beach not too far away. It is a "harbour" beach as opposed to an "ocean" beach. This means it's almost a lagoon and there is no surf and it's a little warmer than the outer water.











No one wanted to leave at King's naptime, and we shall be back as soon as Princess' eyes have healed up a bit more.

Awesome.

Squint Surgery Take 2

Still no jobs. We are officially running on our credit cards now and will be talking to the bank about pausing the mortgage. I am over my rage and settled into a numb acceptance.

Milord is applying for loads of jobs now. I should be, but I have been very distracted by Princess' second round of squint surgery.

Back in November Princess had surgery to correct her cross-eyed squint, but by December her eyes were beginning to wander into a wall-eyed thing. Turns out her brain didn't get the message to keep the eyes straight, but instead uses one at a time and the one not in use wanders off outward.

It looks awful!

The doctor hasn't seen this before - it is a very rare result. It may be related to Princess' overall low muscle tone and gross motor delays, they don't know.

However, the only available solution is to now weaken the outer muscles of her eyes and hope the brain locks on to both eyes while they are straight. Or if not maybe Princess' eyes will drift inward rather than outward which is far less disturbing to look at.

Before.



Waiting.



Heading into theatre. Poor Princess went to pieces at this point. I had to hold a struggling screaming little girl while they gassed her to sleep. Not. Fun.



Recovery. Princess slept on me for ages while coming around from surgery.



After. Straight eyes! Please please please stay like this!



Since Princess' surgery I have been sleeping like a dead thing. I think I was more stressed than I knew - and I knew I was stressed!

Now I can concentrate on getting a job. Bring it on!

Another Uncle Gone

Another of my Dad's brother's, the youngest, succumbed to cancer today.

He has had a long tough battle, and I hope he is in a better place, perhaps with 3 older brothers to laugh with.

His family certainly is not in a good place right now. My heart goes out to them. It has been a tough couple of years for us all.

3 years old and 3 feet high

Still no jobs. I'm applying for about 2 a week. Milord has given up on his course and has applied for a job or two too. We are being kind to each other.

For Princess' 3rd birthday I gave her an actual real digital camera. A kid's version, but still a real camera. This is what life looks like at 3.5 years old...

(In very good light the camera takes a decent shot. In low light it struggles with a child's motion.)

One Month Later...

Here we are, one month after Milord chucked in his job without consulting me.

I am no longer in denial, I am now quite cross most of the time.

I have not been able to find any part time work and am now looking for full time contracting work. Milord is apparently also applying for jobs, while struggling with the course he wants to complete before getting serious about jobhunting.

I am investigating local daycare options for the kids, because while Mom will help out all she can I don't expect her to be a stay-at-home-gran.

That's my dream job.

Fuckit.

Hanging in there...

We are in a holding pattern here. I'm finding it hard to blog because everything comes out bitter!

Milord is having trouble finding time to study his course, and won't jobhunt until it is done.

One of the reasons he is busy is because he is doing some paid work.

Not enough paid work to cover the mortgage and bills though. We do have enough savings for about 2 months survival though...

Until Milord gets work I don't know if I need to look for full time or part time work myself.

I am still very annoyed but am doing my best to be nice and not nag.

Princess needs another eye operation because her eyes are now doing this:



King has discovered walking and is very chuffed with himself.

All Change Please!

Yesterday Milord chucked in his job. It is a shock as he didn't speak to me about it first, but not a surprise as he has been progressively more miserable there.

Of course we are now a family of 5 with no income and a huge mortgage. It's a bit stressful.

I have polished my resume and am looking for part time work, and Mom has agreed to look after the kids on the days that I work. Milord plans to do a short course and then job hunt.

Part of me is excited by the idea of getting back into the workplace. The rest of me is mostly annoyed!

On a lighter note, a Royal Fix:

Aircon

My air conditioner died at the end of November. Yesterday the ridiculous heatwave that has been frying the rest of Australia reached Sydney and we got to 42C. It was like being in a furnace - we hid indoors where it only got to 32C. Yikes.

Today a cool weather change arrived. So did the aircon repair guys. Typical!