Aylin 7 months, and Reflections

The last 2 weeks have brought with them a lot of changes to our lives. About 3 weeks ago I interviewed for a Replenishment Analyst position at Walmart. A week ago this past Thursday I was made an offer and promptly accepted. This is a big step for me, but brings with it lots of changes for our family. I will now be management, and not hourly. So I will be required to work longer hours. As well as 1 Saturday morning a month. This also means more income for our family. In addition it means that I see my daughter less.

In amongst the big job change, we also are transitioning Aylin to staying home with daddy. The daycare has been gracious enough to let us stretch out our already paid for month, into next month and move her to part time on Tues/Thurs thru 10/15. This means Jeff has Aylin at home Mon/Wed/Fri. This was our first week, and things went fantastic. This also means that I don't get to see my daughter as much because I don't get to spend my lunch break with her. But she seems to be doing so much better at home with daddy, than in daycare. She takes better naps, I think she may even be eating better (it's hard to tell), and most importantly; she gets to spend good quality time with daddy. With this change, Grandma Adrienne/Aunt Melinda/Granny (Virginia) have volunteered to watch Aylin when work comes up for him that is either not on a Tues/Thurs, or once we are no longer part time at daycare. (THANKS GUYS!!!) This will be a huge help, and we are very thankful for their willingness.

We have, as most people in the present economy, found ourselves financially unstable. So far we have managed things well, but we never seem to know where that next chunk of money is going to come from that will keep us from disaster. But He has been faithful! Either work for Jeff has come available right in time, or like this past week: I received a check from Walmart from their associate in critical need fund. I had never thought that I would have been a candidate for the fund, I assumed this was for people worse off than myself. However I was highly encouraged to apply. The fund is designed to help an associate cover mortgage, or utilities in circumstances exactly like ours (any many others too). All I had to do was fill out a form, provide copies of the bills, and 4 days later I had a check. Praise God! It was just in time for the mortgage, and also allowed us to fill our propane tank for the winter!

I have also had the unfortunate experience of seeing the ugly side of people once again. Which always seems to be so hard on me, becaues I tend to always try to find the good in people. But I saw the ugliest side of my boss yesterday. I had been told by my boss that if I finished a very important (import) project by the end of this past week then they would release me to my new job starting Monday. So all week long I worked my tail off, recruited help outside of my department, and managed to get the task complete by 3pm Thursday. I sent my celebratory and FYI this project is complete email. In addition to calling my boss since she was not at the office. She told me first thing Friday morning she would talk to my new boss and see about getting me switched over. I was also supposed to go and meet my new team at 9am Friday. So in the time that I was using the Mother's room immediately before the meeting, and then the 1 hr team meeting that I attended my current boss (who sits next to me) sent me an email that told me my new start date would be 10/10... no explination just 1 sentense. So I gave her the benefit of a doubt and thought OK maybe she means thats when I won't be tansitioning any more and I won't be asked to help train their new person after that date. I waited for a bit to see if I could discuss with her in person. But she was no where to be found. So I emailed her and asked if that meant transition, or what? Then I left to use the restroom. In that time (2 minutes?) she came back responded to my email, no your start date is 10/10, and was gone again... so then I was mad. I had been promised one thing, and now it was not happening, and I felt like I was being used. So I wait impatiently for her to get back to her desk so we could discuss. She finally returns and is promptly on her phone... see a pattern yet? I'm being avoided. So once she is finally off her phone I ask her; "So what's the story here?", she responds: "What do you mean?". I explained that she had told me if I completed the project that she would release me to work with my new team. She looks at me blank and said: "I never made that commitment, I'm sorry if you got that impression, but that's not what I said"... WOW I was blown away! I told her that actually that was what she said, and that I worked my ass off to get the project done because of it. Then I was told "Well that's what is expected of you any how", to which I responded "I realize that, but I would never have recruited the help outside of my department to complete it, if I hadn't been told to get it done in that time frame. Because it would not have been necesary if I was going to be around for another 2 weeks I could have completed it on my own. To this she responded "I really don't appreciate this attidute after all that I've done for you"... Again WOW I felt like she had just thrown it in my face that she had assisted me in the right contacts to help me apply for the position I am going to, but I also felt that she was throwing in my face her help in the check that I received for assistance. It was just rotten all the way around! I was also told that she had to look out for the interest of her team, and that she needed me to be around to train the new person... the new person whom she wasn't even sure if she would be starting Monday or not. I explained to her that there wasn't much in the way of training that I could do in 2 weeks for someone (who may or may not be around) who did not have access to our systems, and was not familiar with them already. But that doesn't matter, because I'm pretty sure she hadn't even thought of it before I brought it up. Somewhere after our confrontation she decided to "see what she could do to move me over to management for this Monday, but I could come over for 1/2 days to help train when the new associate started". Who knows if it actually happened or not, because at this point I obviously don't trust anything that comes out of her mouth. Needless to say I can't wait to start my new position. It would not have been such a huge deal if she just wan't able to make the change happen, and just told me that... But she told me she never made that promise in the first place, like she had no intention of even trying! People can be so horrible some times!

Now on to happier things: AYLIN!

She is now 7 months old. She sits up beautifully on her own. She has 2 teeth! Both on the bottom, the first arrived Labor Day weekend, the second started about a week later. We think that she is starting to know that mama is me, and dada is Jeff. Alto she has multiple associations for mama and dada. She makes the most hilarious wounded dinosaur noises. She'll growl and gurgle really low sounds from the back of her throat really loud, but they are happy sounds! She CHEWS on EVERYTHING, she especially loves glasses (like the ones on daddy's face). She loves to be out and about, Walmart, the mall, the fair, anywhere there are new people she loves it. She's eating babyfoods with meats in them, but doesn't much care for the chicken and noodles kind. We got very mad over that one. She does like the sweet potatoes and turkey, and spagetti w. meat. She also LOVES her baby mum mum rice crackers and her veggie flavored corn puffs. She's also learning to use a sippy cup. She loves it, even tho she makes a mess and hasn't quite figured it out yet. We usually give her pedialyte in it and she'll kind of play with it. But she loves anything that she can do on her own (rice crackers and sippy cups especially). She is a very independant little booger. She's thinking about scooting a little. When on her belly she pivots to one side or the other. And occasionally sticks her bottom in the air, or raises up really high on her arms. But hasn't done both in combination yet. We tried real banana's once, but really didn't like those. She watched her first movie: Milo & Otis and loved it. It was a great distraction while we were teething w. tooth #2. Her hair is starting to get thicker and longer. But is still as wild as ever. It stands on end at all times. As soon as it's dry after a bath it poofs up again, no matter how much I brush it flat! But it's adorable so I'm not worried about it. Daddy calls her his little dandilion. She also (if you can imagine) has a temper like no other. When she gets mad or frustrated there is no turning back. Watch out world! These tempers are usually associated with trying to get our bib off She HATES to wear a bib now, and pulls and pulls until she gets it off. If she can't get it off then full blown tantrum ensues. She also managed to get her shirt off at daycare. Apparently once the bib was off, the shirt had to go too... not looking forward to the I-wanna-undress-myself phase... isn't this a little early for that? Pictures soon to follow!