And Now For Something Unexpected…

I am not sure why this photo is looking so desaturated, but its late (funny how my definition of late has changed in the last 14 weeks) , and I’m too tired to deal with it. Its as good as its going to get for now.

Anyway, Three turned three months last weekend. He’s loosing that newborn look, and quickly starting to look more and more like a little boy. Momma isn’t sure she’s ready for this!

Anyway, first the big news. I’m sure you are all expecting me to start freaking out about my impending return to work tomorrow. But, well, plans have changed.

Two weeks ago tomorrow, my boss called, and extended my UNPAID maternity leave, because the company has hit some major financial problems. In theory I will be going back to work in January, but even that is up in the air at this point. We are having a meeting sometime this week to discuss what further changes are to come, and after that, the husband and I will be discussing how best to make this work for us. So, we’ll see. I don’t deal well with being in flux, so these past two weeks have been a challenge to say the least. Just when I had started to come to terms with the idea of going back, I had to switch my thinking.

So, I am trying to figure out what Plan B is in the event that I don’t have a job come January. The last time I was out of work, it was just after 9/11, and I can’t say that I am looking forward to looking for a job during a recession again. Most of Plan B, C, and D at this point require some finality in my current job in order to avoid political messiness. Limbo sucks.

But on the upside, I get seven more weeks with Three that I wasn’t counting on. So, there in a blessing in this mess somewhere. Although, I was starting to look forward to not getting spit up on for 8 straight hours, getting to see his smiley face is not a bad alternative to the spit up free life. The last few weeks have been filled with some great moments. He smiles so much more now. I love getting him out of his crib in the morning and having him smile when he sees me. He started rolling over last week. He’s still not consistently doing it, and I’m not entirely sure he means to do it when he does, but either way, he gets over. Makes a Momma proud!

So tonight when I go to sleep, I won’t be worrying about leaving Three tomorrow all day with the husband for the first time ever. Instead, I’ll be stressing over what I do next, and trying to figure out what exactly I want to be when I grow up. Funny how quickly life changes, huh?

Happy Halloween!

I am so not into Halloween. I can’t stand it actually. But, we got Three a costume anyway, because that’s what mother’s do. And man he looked freakin’ adorable!

At least with Halloween out of the way, we can get onto the holidays that really matter - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and MY BIRTHDAY :)

We started our Christmas shopping yesterday. I’m so excited, I can’t even tell you.

Three finally met his other aunt and uncle today. I sucked it up and seized the opportunity while it existed. He’s almost three months old, its high time he’s met them, me thinks.

Only 2 more weeks until I got back to work. I’m totally freaking out. I’m sure once I go back, all will be okay, but the anticipation is killing me, and filling me with much dread.

Bitter Betty

I’m not going to go into a whole thing about who I am voting for, because really, no one cares. Three however (thanks to some help from a Great Aunt in Seattle) feels the need to broadcast to the blogosphere who his preference is. We’ll leave it at that.

I lead a pretty charmed life. I have a fabulous husband who is my best friend. I have an adorable baby that I love despite how much he throws up on my beloved Banana jeans. The husband is busier work wise than ever, and I have a job to go back to in a few weeks. We have a roof over our heads. Thanks to some planning, we can pay our bills every month, even during my unpaid leave. I’ve traveled more in the last couple years than some people do in their lifetime. I have it really good. I know that.

Having said that, I really would like either of the candidates to throw me a bone.

When we bought our place 3 years ago, we needed an upgrade from our one bedroom apartment so that the husband could have an office. So, we bought our two bedroom condo. Its certainly not the nicest place in the county. It was cheap, even if it was expensive as all get up to us then. We had the unfortunate timing of buying pretty much right before the housing bubble burst. If we sold our place now (assuming we could find a buyer) we would loose money. We would probably clear enough to cover what is left on the mortgage, but we wouldn’t have enough to pay the agent. We have no equity in this place. Looking back on it now, buying was not such a good idea, but as they say, hind-sight is 20-20.

When we applied for our mortgage, thanks to our good credit the banks threw money at us. They offered us mortgages with monthly payments that were more than our take home pay at the time. We had the good sense to look at them, and realize hey, that’s a bad idea. We got a place that at the time was a stretch, and now allows us to save some money (or afford daycare as the case may be now).

So, all that makes me really mad when I hear all these plans to bail out these homeowners who bought more house than they could afford. It makes me mad when the candidates talk about renegotiating mortgages not at a lower interest rate, but at a lower principle for people. If I had known that, I would have gone and bought the $420,000 townhouse that I lusted after. I would have gotten into trouble and then the government would have renegotiated it down to 300k or so and I could afford that mortgage. Yes, I know all the arguments for it. The banks were predatory, and all that. But at the end of the day, the homeowner signed that mortgage. If you didn’t understand it, you shouldn’t have signed it. And I know there are other people that have had terrible circumstances happen to them. I feel for them, and I also know they are not the ones that are pushing the foreclosure rates to new highs.

Just once I would like one of the candidates to admit that I totally screwed myself for being a responsible citizen and not being too greedy. I know they aren’t going to do anything for me, but I would just like them to acknowledge that I am getting boned because I did the smart thing.

That is all.

Oh, and I would like this election to be over. Its exhausting me.

I lied, one more thing. If you don’t know that GOP = Republican, you should not be allowed to vote. I’m looking at 25% of you that live in Seattle according to ABC news. We’ll assume that Great Aunt we mentioned earlier is in the 75% who have a clue ;)