2 Weeks Notice

I go back to work on November 1st.  Crazy!  Time has flown so fast!  For over a year, Zac has been trying to get into a different job.  We have thought about ALL avenues we could think of.  He has applied over and over to places, and only obtained 2 interviews.  The economy is so bad, that there would be over 100 people applying to these jobs.  Zac was able to take a month off right when I had Lily.  It was so nice - that time flew by too!  The first day back to work for Zac was literally HELL for him.  I won't get into those details, but as soon as he got home, we started going through our finances.  We have figured out a way to have Zac be a stay-at-home Dad for the next five years.  We have constantly had the stress of what Zac needs to do - go in the military? get a paralegal job? retake the LSAT and try for law school again?  As soon as we made this decision, we have felt great!  The weight seems to have lifted off both of our shoulders.  I've had comments from some neighbors even saying the mood in our house is lighter.

I am so excited for this to happen.  Obviously, we would rather have ME be the one staying home, but the way it is right now, by the time Zac makes what I make financially, the kids will be in school before I am able to stay home.  This is the right decision for our family.  Here are the things I'm looking forward to:
- only getting myself ready in the morning, and not all four kids
- commuting - my work pays for a UTA bus pass, and there is an express bus that picks up by my house and drops me off right in front of my work.
- homework, cleaning, and grocery shopping will be done by the time I get home
- we can actually spend our weekends DOING something rather than cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.
- Having the kids sleep in past 5 am, and being able to play with their friends around the neighborhood.  They have never been able to do this since I have needed to take them to daycare since they were born.
- the kids won't get every single sickness that is going around the daycare

There are more, but those are the major points.  Zac put in his 2 weeks notice on Monday.  It blind sided everyone, which is what he was hoping for.  The best part is that another employee put his 2 weeks notice in a couple hours before Zac, and we had no idea.  Carma.  That is all I have to say about that.  Zac is really excited to stay home.  He has asked me to put together a cleaning list, meal list, etc, of what I expect to be done during the day.  Done!  Gladly!  He is planning on taking the girls to story hours at the library, getting another family pass to Thanksgiving Point, etc.  We feel like by Zac leaving his job, he can pretty much do anything!  He wants to go back to school and get a 2nd Bachelor's Degree in those five years.  He can do courses online, at nights and weekends.  It has been a kind of bittersweet feeling around the house.  Zac has been counting down for the last 2 months for November 1st, while I have been trying to forget how close it's coming.  It has been really nice being home.  I have a great routine down with the kids and the house which I hope is easy for Zac to pick up.  It has been so nice to have the biggest stress of my day be "what's for dinner?"  So different from life at work.  Yes, it's busy taking care of the house, but I'm used to doing BOTH.

Last weekend was Fall Break for the kids.  We took the kids out to eat at Macaroni Grill and then Zac went to his Mom's while I took the kids to Jump on It.  I should have thought about taking a 2 year old with a nursing baby there.  When I had to feed Lily, that was precisely the moment that Jennifer decided it would be fun to jump with the big kids.  I can't exactly go run after her.  So then I watched Eric and Aubrey try to wrangle her down back to the tots area.   At the end of the hour, Aubrey got kicked in the eye by Eric (accident of course), Eric got 'road rash' on his foot, and Jennifer had bonked her head.  So maybe this is why Zac hates trampolines so much?!  Also during the weekend, Zac decided to extend our driveway out.  He has been collecting bags of cement for awhile now - he buys the ripped bags at Home Depot and Lowes for a discounted price.  Our neighbor was kind enough to let him use his cement mixer, and Zac was able to pour 35 bags of concrete.  He has about 20 more bags to go, and is hoping to finish it up this weekend.