.Take a big gulp of air before you jump.

I mentioned a while back that Cheyenne's "hetero-lifemate" Dave is getting married in Kauai this winter {February}. We've had all summer to go over the logistics of this and after hours of talks and weighing pros and cons we together decided that Amelia & I would stay here in Portland {the idea of a 2 year old on our laps in a very confined space for that flight was the number one reason but there were other contributing factors}.
Have I also mentioned the chaos that reigns in my house every year from mid-November through February 1st? We have Thanksgiving {which we host}, Christmas {which we host}, Cheyenne's birthday, New Years, & Amelia's birthday all in a 9 week period every year {which is why I will do everything possible to make sure any future children are born in the spring or summer}. Madness. It's a wonderful madness and I thrive on it every year but adding a trip to Hawaii - even if it's just one person - right after that {like, a week after} isn't exactly helpful.
So a couple of months ago I started tossing around the idea of me getting a little temporary weekend job around the holidays to help make sure that we can enjoy the season in the way that we have become accustomed and not have to have an underlying stress. I weighed the pros and cons and logistics and decided that it could work. I brought it up to Cheyenne who was of course hesitant at first but we talked about the things that caused us both to worry and how it compared to the positives and decided that it would be for the best.
Since neither Cheyenne or I like the idea of having a babysitter for more than one MAYBE two hours at a time and insist that said babysitter be either grandparents or godparents {side note: Amelia has never spent more then 2 hours of her waking life without Cheyenne and/or myself present} we quickly realized that the only real option would be for me to work only Saturdays & Sundays so that Peanut can be watched by her Daddy {I can see my soapbox begging me to stand up on it and lecture but I'll save everyone from it}. Another concern was hours. I needed enough hours for the whole thing to be worth it but not so many that I missed out on all family time. We decided that I should look for something that I could be assured wouldnt have me working after 7:00pm so that I would still have time to come home and snuggle with my baby, give her her bath and put her to bed without feeling rushed - both she and I need that & how this would affect her played heavily in whether or not I would even take a job.
So now I had my parameters: Saturdays & Sundays only, no earlier than 9:00am but no later than 7:00pm, and something that I could leave after January 1st without any issue. I also wanted it to be a job that I could mentally leave behind once my shift was done. This is my favorite time of year and the job is just to help make that easier - I didn't want it adding stress. Looking at all of those requirements I quickly realized that the easiest place to start was at my previous place of employment. I loved my time at Elephants and although I very happily left to become a stay at home mom and never once doubted that choice, I knew that it would be kind of like going home in a way. Having worked there for so many years I've grown to think of many of my old coworkers as family {for example my boss was the one to officiate our wedding}. I bounced the idea off of Cheyenne, my mom, and Amanda and the more I thought about it the more it just seemed like the logical choice.
I sent an email to one of my very favorite people in the whole world, my good friend Margie who happens to be the buyer for their amazing housewares dept and she quickly said that she would be thrilled to have me work with/for her and everyone else seemed delighted with the idea of getting "one eye" {best nickname ever - go ahead, be jealous} back in action, even if it was just for 10 weeks.
So there you have it folks. Starting November 5th I'm joining the adult world...if only on the weekends and only for a couple of months. I have to admit, I've got a mix of emotions; I'm excited to have my very scheduled life mixed up a little bit, this time of year was always my very favorite at Elephants so I'm happy to be throwing myself back into the throng of energy, but im also a little melancholy thinking about Cheyenne & Amelia going to music class on Saturdays without me, I'm bummed that I'll have to watch my football via laptop after the fact, and I'm just going to miss my cuddly cozy family weekend time. Oh the joys of being a grown up.