End of an Era

Well, in case you haven't noticed, I am waaay behind on blogging and commenting on blogs. In a way, it's a good thing though. It's because we've been so busy moving and getting the next stage of our lives in order. Both James and are going back to school this fall to pursue what we really want to do - teaching for him and linguistics studies for me. It's super exciting and extremely hectic all at the same time!

Sunday morning brought an official end to James' time at Target. He worked the night shift for the last time Saturday night and came home to a little celebration - Snoopy and Charlie Brown chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs!

Of course, we had to have balloons and donuts too!

Ian thought they were great. (Excuse the mess...we're still moving in!)

Mmmm...yummy! Daddy should transfer jobs more often!

I'm really proud of us for all that we have accomplished over the last few years. There has been a lot of soul searching and having to take the harder route while figuring out what we wanna do when we grow up and how to get from Point A to Point B. We're finally in a place though that we are actually pursuing what we both want to do with our lives, rather than testing different options or biding time waiting for an option to become available.

We are also both quite relieved to be done with the crazy split shift schedule we worked this last year that included one overnight shift a week for James. It went like this:

Monday - James worked 7a-3:30p; I worked 7p-12a.

Tuesday - James worked 7a-3:30p; after 6 months of working 8p-12a, I finally switched my schedule so I didn't have to work Tuesday nights.

Wednesday - James worked 7a-3:30p; I worked 7p-12a.

Thursday - James worked 7a-3:30p; I was off

Friday - We were both off, but James took an afternoon nap so he could stay up until 5 or 6am to get ready for his Saturday night shift.

Saturday - I was off; James slept until noon or 1pm, took a nap from 4 or 5-7p, and then worked 9p-7am (often stayed until 8 or 9am).

Sunday - James slept until 3 or 4pm; I worked 7p-12a.

Whewie!! That was tough stuff. Even though we were both very thankful for the opportunity that James had to work at Target, we are looking forward to having a more regular schedule. With our previous schedule, we had no normal days where we were both off and didn't have to adjust for a sleep schedule. It was a huge blessing not to have to put Ian in daycare, but it was really, really hard to keep that schedule going. I am really proud of James and thankful for all the sacrifices he made over the past year so that I could stay home most of the time with Ian, and now I am really glad for the opportunity for us to have days off together!

We will still both be working, but not that same schedule. James is also eligible for a GI Bill from his time in the Marines that pays for housing, tuition, and a stipend while he goes back to school. While we know this year will have its own set of challenges, we're looking forward to moving on with our goals!