The Answer to Our Prayers?

Mike got a much needed promotion at work! I'm SO incredibly happy for him!

In the same respect, this will mean that he will now be transferred back to 1st shift from 2nd. As he is currently our daycare provider for the majority of the day, this becomes a rather large hiccup for us in terms of childcare and finances. While the raise does come with a 3% base salary increase and the opportunity for yearly bonuses (which he previously would not have been eligible for) amounting to 5.5% of his salary, he will essentially be losing his current shift differential compensation of 6% for a net decrease in salary of 3%. Also, daycare costs would increase pretty dramatically for us.

Even though he was contemplating turning down the promotion due to these circumstances, I know that he was very excited for the new opportunity - to say the very least- and as it offers great opportunities for career growth in the future, there is just no way in heck that I would let him turn the offer down. Not to mention, he would plan on returning to school if he accepted the job as a degree is necessary to advance to any other positions within his company. Again, I would rather eat ramen and shop at Goodwill than have him turn down the job.

After some long discussions, he accepted the position and will start May 17th.

We completely lucked out in that one of my co-workers has decided to become a SAHM and open an in-home daycare starting June 14th. Her and I were pregnant at the same time and her daughter was born only 4 days after Abigail. The best part of this arrangement is that she only charges $25/day for full-time care. Seriously, this is a godsend for us as there is no way we could afford to pay for full-time care at a center. While we've attempted a few playdates in the past, I'm thrilled for our little ones to become the greatest of friends. It will be so nice for Abbey to have someone to play with as she gets older.

This arrangement with my co-worker will leave us with approximately 4 full weeks of overlapping schedules where we need to secure full-time care for Abbey. Luckily, my SIL (who currently watches Abigail from 2-5 pm each day) has graciously agreed to watch her for us during this period of time.

In the meantime, I had submitted a rather lengthy proposal to my boss this past Wednesday asking to have my work hours reduced to a part-time schedule. Not only will it help to save us money towards daycare costs, but it will also allow for me to spend more one-on-one time with Abbey. As you know, being away from her on a full-time basis has been something I've been struggling with since my return from maternity leave. While the specifics have not been hammered out just yet, we have set a deadline of May 21st to get this accomplished. I figured that since I do not need my company's benefits (I can just be added to Mike's) that this was a very viable option for me and will, honestly, make me much happier than I've been over the past month and a half.

I'm already looking foward to all of the things Abbey and I can do together this summer!