The Insanity Continues

My absence from blogging after committing at the beginning of the year to blogging MORE, can only be attributed to the complete INSANITY that is now a constant at our house.  Let's do a quick rundown of what happened after 2 weeks of Will being home half days with Mommy while she worked...and after getting the boot (officially) from daycare...

• Once he was kicked out of daycare Will was home with me full days for about 3 weeks.  Our neighbor helped out when she could and we had one other friend who was able to come for a couple of days, but aside from that...it was just the two of us.  Juggling conference calls and work duties and a 3 yr old, super energetic boy?  Yikes...
• I spent a lot of time on the internet...and a lot of time just THINKING about what to do next.  Keeping Will home full time and trying to work full time wasn't good for me...nor was it fair to him.  We needed something else. 
• I chatted with a lot of different daycare people...some in-homes, a couple of other centers and some nannies.  Many of the in-homes scared me or seemed 'shady'...or were concerned about taking in a child who had some behavior issues.  The thought of putting him in another center seemed like we were ignoring the root of the problem and throwing him back into a similar environment...which most likely would result in the same unhappy ending.  Most nannies were WAY out of our price range...$700 per week for ONE (we are keeping Lili at NH since she will be going to kindergarten in the fall) child?!?!  Are you kidding me?  
• I finally found and talked to the woman who would eventually become Will's new nanny.  Her name is Emily and she started YESTERDAY!  I could tell just from her emails and her background that she was going to be a perfect fit for us.  Of course it's expensive to have a nanny in addition to paying full time daycare for a 2nd child, but it's at least something we can AFFORD...and knowing that Will is safe and happy and well taken care of?  Yep...definitely worth every penny!
• I signed up as a Thirty-One consultant on January 15th and had my very 1st party a couple of weeks ago!  I'm trying to build up my business and have a couple of other parties booked for March.  I love the products and it's been a fun side thing to do, but I don't know how far I will be taking it.  With everything else going on, I don't have a whole lot of time to focus on convincing people to host parties!
• In all my 'free' time...which basically means in the evenings after the kids go to bed...I've been busting out some canvas art.  Although scrapbooking is my absolute favorite pasttime, doing canvases is definitely 2nd on my list!  It takes my love of paper and embellishments and gives me an opportunity to blow things up...throw on some paint and Mod Podge...and voila!  Masterpieces!  With my new found love of canvases, I have decided to open up an Etsy shop and even signed up for a small craft fair on March 6th!!  I can't even believe I did it!  It's just a local show with about 80 vendors and is only 2 hours long.  I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to get a feel for craft fairs and what it's like to be a vendor without overwhelming myself.  I will be selling Creative Memories AND my canvases, under my new business name of...*drum roll*...LiliWili Designs!  I'm SO excited to see where things go with this and just hope that my friends and family will help to get my name out there!
• My 1 year contract with the company I've been working for will be cut short by about 2 months.  The end of our project is nearing and my last day will now be March 31st, rather than May 31st.  While I knew this day would come, I will still hoping they would keep me on for the full year.  Our financial plan for me to be able to stay home when it is over really counted on those last 2 months.  This has given me some seriously cold feet...which has pushed me into taking a full time, permanent position with the company.  The manager of a department I have been working with throughout this project offered me an amazing opportunity and I almost feel like it would be stupid not to take it.  While I do still want to try being a SAHM in the near future...I don't want to jump ship and then freak out every hour of every day because we didn't plan well enough financially.  It would be one thing if I lost my job and was forced into making the SAHM thing work...but since I DO have a job and can be a little smarter about 'when' I make a career change, I feel like I need to take advantage of that.  So...my new position starts April 1st!  I will still work from home 100%, no travel, flexible hours, better work/life balance, an awesome new boss, coworkers who I have worked with for many years in the past, good salary, great benefits (especially compared to my last job!)........too good to be true?  Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see!

I think that about sums up what has been consuming my time lately.  Right now, I'm trying to get my life organized...integrate Emily and her 4 yr old son into our family...finish up the project I've been working on for the last 6 months in my current position...blah, blah, blah...  I know this is supposed to make me stronger...and I know I'll be just fine when all is said and done...but it's definitely a whirlwind of activity and stress!  I can't wait for things to settle down and to get through all of the insane changes coming my way!