Thoughts Of Returning To School

As much as I hate to think of leaving Elliana and going back to work ( I know I just posted about how much I love being a SAHM) sometimes I get stressed out over money and feel like I should look at getting at least a part time job.  I don’t want to leave her, but I realize our financial situation would be so much better if I did return to work.

We’re making it on a tight budget right now due to the fact that Hubby has been out of work a lot because of the weather this winter, but we’re making it.  I know that we don’t have to worry about him being out of work 2-3 days a week now that the snow has pretty much moved out, and that’s a big relief.

With that said, I know we wouldn’t have to worry about a budget if I did go back to work.  We wouldn’t have to be quite so tight with our money, and we could make some of those purchases we’ve been wanting without having to wait for tax time to roll around. I know it would be tight for a little longer, but I could go back to school. Then I could eventually get a better job than anything I can find right now. I could go back full time to finish my biology degree, I could take some classes related to my love of computers and design, or I could even go to medical assistant training school. The 3rd choice would probably get me a job in a field that I’m interested in a lot quicker than the other 2, but I find myself still saying “I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.”

This is one of those battles I deal with mentally a lot.  I’ve mentioned to Hubby that I might like to go back to school, but I’d probably start with some online classes for now.  That way I can go to school and not have to leave my baby girl as often.  Plus I’d still have the same outcome in the end.  It’s definitely a lot to think about!

Lots Going On

I know.  You don’t have to remind me how slack I’ve been.  I realize I haven’t posted in 2 weeks, but things have been busy around here as usual.  I’ve been doing the typical mommy stuff, running Elliana to the doctor for her 4 month wellness exam.  I posted the results of that checkup here just in case you’re a family member who hasn’t stumbled upon that post yet.

We’ve had some beautiful Spring-like weather, so we’ve spent as much time as we can outside.  That weather has disappeared again today for what I’m hoping is our last snow storm of the year.  At least the bad weather is giving me a chance to catch up on some of the cleaning I haven’t done during the nice weather.  I’m going to start by sorting the mail while Hubby and I watch a movie together during Ellie’s nap. I’m tired of seeing the pamphlet laying on the top of the stack telling me I need to start thinking about funeral planning. I know things like that should be planned out in advance in case anything ever happens, but I just don’t want to think about it right now.

Anywho, this has definitely been a very wet winter, and we’ve seen more snow that usual.  I’m not complaining as I love snow, but it has caused Hubby to miss quite a bit of work.  It will be nice when Spring arrives, and he can start getting full paychecks again.  We’ve been struggling a little, but we’ll be able to start building the savings again come Spring.

Of course, our tax check will help with that, too.   We did our taxes Friday, and I was totally shocked at what we’re getting back.  I did factor in the fact that we have a dependent now, but it’s still way more than expected.  I was hoping we’d break even since we normally pay in a couple thousand and maybe have a few hundred to catch bills up.  To my surprise I’ll be throwing a large chunk in savings, finally replacing my broken stove top, taking care of bills, and I’ll still have enough to get some decent flooring down before Ellie starts to crawl.

The floors have been a major concern for me because I feel like our old floors are icky.  Then again this entire house is covered with old linoleum from the 70s, and no matter how much you clean the floors they don’t look clean.  I didn’t want Ellie crawling around on that.  Lowe’s has some laminate hardwood exactly like I want on sale right now for .78/sq ft, so I’m not passing that up!

Feeling Busy & Icky

Thank goodness it’s Friday. Busy day number 3 is currently in progress, but I have the weekend and a babysitter tomorrow night to look forward to!  I’m just taking a short break to type out a couple posts while I eat some lunch.  Elliana was late going down for a nap, but at least she actually went to sleep this time.

My dad stopped by in the midst of all the chaos, and he offered to put her to sleep for me while I ate lunch, but it just wasn’t happening.  She is a total boobie baby, and she won’t go down for a nap without nuzzling and sucking.  She spit the bottle out the second he’d put it in her mouth. I ended up sending him away to run his errands while I put her down with the “mommy time” she wanted.  He said he’d come back to see her after her nap, so that’ll give me a bit more time to get some stuff done while he’s playing with her.

I’ll probably take advantage of that time to jump in the shower.  I had a bath with Elliana last night, but I just don’t feel clean right now.  I think it’s because I’ve been stressed out, so my face looks like a pizza again. Plus I haven’t been eating exactly the healthiest of foods this week. We’ve had a lot of pizza because it’s been the easiest thing for me to grab and eat on the go.

Plus this time of the year I tend to get these nasty looking bumps on my chin that are HUGE. Hubby has nodular acne, so I’m wondering if that’s not what this is, too. My whole chin will turn into a huge pimple. There’s never a head on it to pop, so I just keep putting meds on it until it finally disappears. Sometimes that can take weeks. When I was a teenager my doctor told me it was probably allergy related since it happens at a certain time of the year, but he never gave me a definitive answer. Now that I think about it maybe I should get it checked by a dermatologist. Then again that’s just one more thing on my list I don’t have time to do right now.

Ready To Sleep

Ugh.  I was totally right when I said I didn’t think Elliana would stay asleep when she went down at 8pm.  She slept a total of 20 minutes before she woke up again.  I fed her and tried to get her back to sleep, but it just wasn’t working.

I handed her off to Hubby for a bit so I could grab a bite to eat, and then at 9:30pm I gave her a bath thinking some Johnson’s Bedtime Bath might help her drift off quicker. I’m not buying anymore of that stuff because it totally doesn’t work for her.  I try to follow their little 3 step bedtime bath, bedtime lotion, and quiet time routine, but it just doesn’t work.  Baths tend to wake her up instead of putting her to sleep, so after I got her dressed I spent well over an hour rocking her and feeding her before she drifted off again.  Even after she fell asleep I stayed in the rocker for awhile to make sure she was good and asleep.

Now I’m not certain she won’t wake up again.  I decided I’ll sit here reading fat burners reviews for a bit, and if she doesn’t wake up within another 30 minutes I can probably safely say she’s down for the night…or at least until 3-4am. I’m crossing my fingers and praying she’ll stay asleep because it’s been such a long day.