sigh

I wasn't really sure what to title this entry. I thought about "not feeling positive anymore." But I am positive about one thing... stress is eating me up. I've now lost my appetite and am just forcing myself to eat. I still haven't made any additional progress at all on my pre-baby to-do list. And that stuff NEEDS to be done, b/c I'm not a kangaroo who can just put her baby's development on pause until times are better.

And I'm still waiting for times to be better. It's been two weeks since Tim put all his eggs in the Pizza Hut basket, and that egg has not hatched yet. His former boss is under the impression that Tim quit without notice, but when Tim was working cleaning pools, his hours early on were such that he couldn't work at PH as well, and he told PH that he'd need to take some time off until things stabilized. Then when things DID stabilize in the pool business, he called PH to get back on the schedule, and was told that the position was filled.

He is going to meet w/ his former manager on Monday at 2:00 to discuss things. That store is the one that has a current opening. And if it doesn't work out, then the next opening at a different store wouldn't be until mid-September. I am hopeful, but VERY cautiously so, that the face-to-face meeting will clear up any misunderstandings and Tim will be able to work there again.

But even with Pizza Hut, even at the assistant manager level, it will not quite meet our monthly needs. And there have been no leads or searches or anything for a morning/early afternoon job for Tim.

Meanwhile, I've been applying to various transcription companies. The (general, not medical) transcription that I've been doing for over two years is with a company that has peaks and valleys, and even in the peaks, it only yields me $150/month. The valleys yield $0/month. So I'm looking for something that's a little more consistent over time. So far, I've found one that will bring in about $12/day. I am waiting to test and waiting on test results for a couple of other companies, and late next week (depending on how/when I hear from my pendings) I have another several that I can apply to.

And I have decided NOT to try to potty train Lydia. I've finished reading all my books, and decided that she's not ready. There are four areas of "readiness" and she's ready in three of them, but WAY behind in the physical area, so I'm waiting. I'm at the point where I'm going to ask about it at her 3-year visit, unless she "magically" trains herself before then.

an update of nothing

I haven't done anything on my to-do list yet, but will definitely be starting up on it next week as the transcription winds down. I've also set a date for my attempt to potty train Lydia -- August 31. I'll give it that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then if it doesn't work, she goes back into diapers until sometime this winter, after we've all adjusted to the new baby.

New baby is doing well. On Monday, I'll have just 7 weeks left until my due date. While it's still August, I still "feel" like I have two months left, but those months are getting shorter and shorter.

Hubby has quit his current job. He does not yet have a new one lined up. He quit yesterday, after he spoke with someone at Pizza Hut and they scheduled him for an interview this afternoon. He was THAT confident that he'd get a position. He feels that working at PH, he'll at least be bringing in SOME income, and he'll have more time during the day to job hunt and go to any interviews (of course, to do that, he first has to HAVE interviews) that come up. When he turned in his items at Reliant, they told him he was welcome back at any time.

So the interview came today, and he came home and told me that they would start him off as a driver, and would be a team leader after that, and a minimum of six months before he'd be an assistant manager. He also said that they told him there were several positions in the area, and they would need to look at the different stores to see where his best fit would be and would call him Wednesday. So I asked him if that means that he's definitely hired but they just need to find a spot for them, and he said that he hopes so. That answer did nothing helpful for my stress level. Wednesday seems so far away, especially with nothing going on Monday or Tuesday.

daily to-dos turn into weekly to-dos, and job stuff, and toddler cuteness

I had been doing a daily to-do list, and found it helpful initially, but now that transcription is picking up quite a bit, I've found that I don't have time to go through each day's whole list. So from here on out, I plan on making a weekly to-do list, including items that don't get crossed off, but instead are "as-needed" such as laundry and dishes. I will include in these weekly to-do lists items from my "big" list. Here's the original list, as a refresher:

- continue hoping and praying for Tim's job situation to get more stable before baby arrives
- pack up Lydia's outgrown clothes
- install infant carseat
- clean out corner of our bedroom where crib will go (includes going through craft stuff)
- move small bathroom cabinet into hallway
- move changing table into bathroom
- sew a bunch of newborn gowns
- dye some infant diapers
- move craft supplies into spot in Lydia's room that used to have the changing table
- move rocking chair into our bedroom
- move crib into our bedroom
- get bunk bed pieces from our friends' house
- assemble bunk bed for Lydia
- wash out chlorine buckets and cover with contact paper

Here's what I've completed:

- pack up Lydia's outgrown clothes
- clean out corner of our bedroom where crib will go (includes going through craft stuff)
- move small bathroom cabinet into hallway
- move changing table into bathroom
- dye some infant diapers
- move craft supplies into spot in Lydia's room that used to have the changing table
- move crib into our bedroom
- get bunk bed pieces from our friends' house
- assemble bunk bed for Lydia

And here's the new list, with a few things added, and sorted in order of priority:

- continue hoping and praying for Tim's job situation to get more stable before baby arrives
- finish working transcription peak season
- install infant carseat
- move rocking chair into our bedroom
- attempt to potty train Lydia
- sew a bunch of newborn gowns
- wash out chlorine buckets
- transfer play food crochet patterns from chicken-scratch notebooks into a nice printout from the computer
- make one of each play food item and take pictures and put on Facebook fan page
- cover chlorine buckets with contact paper

I'm sure there are a few things that I'm forgetting. And I don't know if all of this will be done before the baby arrives, but that is my goal. Everything after "wash out chlorine buckets" is a low-ish priority, and it would be wonderful if it were done before baby comes, but I wouldn't be heartbroken if it wasn't.

Regarding potty training Lydia, I am continuing my research and mentioning things to her. One of the things I'm trying to get her to understand is whether her diaper is dry or wet (we use cloth diapers w/o a cover at home, so it's easy for me to have her check). Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to "get it" yet. I'm hopeful that she will realize the difference between wet and dry sometime before we do the potty training in a couple of weeks. I don't understand what's different about her diaper, b/c she totally knows the difference between many other things that are wet/dry. I am thinking that I will pass on the 3-day method that I mentioned in an earlier entry, and instead use the method outlined in this book instead. The latter method is a little more involved on the parent's part than the 3-day method is. I am still keeping the "three days" though in that that is how much time I will devote to it right now, and if it doesn't work by then, it's back into diapers she goes until sometime this winter, when we'll give it another try.

Hubby has had a few tiny leads for a new job. I'm cautiously hopeful, but interviews haven't even been scheduled yet and it's not even a guarantee that those will happen. But he has made more contact w/ a few places besides just the initial application, so that is encouraging.

Lydia received a bag of hand me down clothes the other day. I hadn't told her what was in the bag, but she explored it anyway and unloaded the contents onto the floor. Then she tried on random pieces. At one point, she stood right in the middle of the pile and looked around and said, "hmmmmm...... I need a..... hmmm... I need a jackiet!" And she grabbed a "jacket" and put it on. (Really it was an airy crocheted shirt that goes over another shirt).


She also ate a raw biscuit the other day. I was baking a can of them, and had lined them up on the baking tray, then turned around to wash my hands before sticking them in the oven. When I turned back around, a biscuit was missing. Lydia had run off with it and taken a bite. And she must have liked it, because when it was swallowed, she asked for another one.

The transition to the big girl bed is going well. I've shortened her nap from 3 hours to 2 hours, and I think that is helping. For the first several days, she would get up early and open her dresser and unload all the clothes, and I scolded her for that. I think it's finally sinking in that I don't want her to do that, though, because of what she said the other night when I put her to bed. I was giving her the bedtime instructions ("Ok climb into bed, pull up your covers, give me a hug and kiss") and she added her own and said, "and do NOT get up and get the clothes out." She was so serious when she said it, too. It's hard to not laugh. :)