Thankful Friday 10/21 ~ Shoes Edition

[oldbaylover1024]

A new shopping center with a brand new shiny DSW opened close by, and I'm having all the shoe feels LOL

TGIF!

Hope you had a fabulous week!

If not, what happened? Vent here. Maybe we can help...

Maybe you want to share what you're thankful for this week.

Or what you're happy to see in your rearview window.

Annnnnd go!

[oldbaylover1024]

I'm really glad I have my thanksgiving plans worked out. Granted, it's still a bit of a crazy plan and involves a good amount of driving on our part, but we'll see the ILs and my family. I get two meals! Yay!

Our wedding anniversary is on Monday and my SIL offered to take J Saturday night! Date night! What am I getting MH you ask? Well, I'm planning to surprise him with subs from our favorite place. This sounds like NBD, but it's going to take some effort. SIL is an hour away, the sub shop is about 35-40 minutes from her house, so it's an extra hour+ of driving for me. Believe me... it'll be worth it.

::: current PG mentioned :::
I'm glad this week is over. I'm annoyed with my coworkers and future meetings we're going to have about my maternity leave. I'm afraid (and expecting) my maternity leave to be unpaid, and I have no idea how much time I'll get to take off. With J I took 12 weeks and I ended up being paid about 70% of my salary. This time, because of the timing, I don't think it'll be paid at all and I may have to go back much earlier. Like working from home at 6w postpartum earlier. Ugh.

[oldbaylover1024]

The short answer is yes, @boxerific . It's a small office, so FMLA doesn't apply. However, I have no fears about my position being eliminated, so that's not the issue. I could take 12 weeks and they'd accept that.

BUT (and this is so not meant to sound ungrateful in any way) my EDD isn't great. I'm in an extremely seasonal profession, and handle about 80% of our work during tax season, so being out from mid-February through mid-April is pretty much awful for the firm. J was born in May, so taking 12 weeks leave was fine - it didn't interfere with tax season at all, and I had time to work OT (i.e. save more cash) to afford a 12 week ML. I wasn't expecting at all to be paid, but Boss paid me 70% of my average base salary which was a HUGE surprise.

This time it's all up in the air. Boss told me to take as much time as I want. Manager is not being as friendly. Coworkers are being so-so about it. Plus, frankly, I need the cash. I assume this ML will be unpaid, which sucks. And being the breadwinner means we need my income. Ugh... FX these meetings go better than expected and Boss offers a partially-paid leave. Or I'll seriously be working from home at, like, 4-6 PP.

If I think about it too much, I cry and then want to yell and then cry again.

ETA: The ONLY thing that saves my sanity when I think about all this is that MH gets 16 weeks of paid paternity leave, and he's taking it all, so he'll be home with me. Worst case scenario, I work upstairs in my office while MH stays in the living room with the baby. I'd nurse when he needed it, but MH could bottle train (we sucked at bottle training with J), I'd pump upstairs... ugh. It sucks, but I'd get maybe 5-6 hours of work in per day and still be able to help with LO#2 and J when she got home from school.

[oldbaylover1024]

Right, @boxerific?! I mean, hell, that needs its own line item:

I am thankful MH gets 16 weeks of paid paternity leave. SIXTEEN WEEKS! And they are BEGGING him to USE IT!!!

And I'm blessed that I have the option to WFH. Like no appearances at the office required. So if I have to start WFH at 6w PP at least I can be my same boobs out, milk stained, swollen self without having to see real people LOL

I imagine this when I think about it:

[chknma]

Ugh @oldbaylover. That sucks. I hope the meetings go better then expected.

And wow for your DH's company! His benefits are amazing!

[megrae12]

oldbaylover1024 I hope the meetings go better this week.

I'm thankful that fall has finally come to the Deep South. It is so wonderful to open up all the windows and doors and let the fall breeze in.

W is showing signs of more mobility so I guess I need to baby proof(ish). Also, we have hit toddler level temper tantrums. Have I mentioned that he is only 8 months? I thought I had more time to prepare for that (i.e. stock up on wine). I love my kid, but sometimes, I wish he wasnt so smart about things he knows should and should not do. I'm amazed every day watching his mind work (minus the epic tantrums). Mostly, every day is a marathon and I'm exhausted by the end. He is very high needs in that he needs to be entertained/conversed with/something new needs to happen or meltdown ensues.