You like me! You really like me!

These days have been very hectic - we're all settling into the new routine of me working full time. But this afternoon, my mother in law passed on instructions from her friend Dianne that I had to update the blog. Honestly - I only thought that like, three people read this thing, so I didn't feel any pressing need to update. Mostly I do this so I can show it to Jackson some day - so he'll have these snapshots in time where he'll know exactly what we were thinking about, and how excited we were about having him in our lives. But the fact that people are reading, and insisting upon updates - Yay! To quote Sally Fields, you like me. You really like me. Well, you really like Jackson. I can't blame you. He's pretty awesome. Some ruminations after the jump.

Now that I'm back to work, the morning routine is going better than I could have ever imagined. Jackson wakes up around 5:00am, and we give him a boobie snack. He goes back to sleep usually, and then wakes up again closer to 6:30 or 7:00 for second breakfast. This gives both Jesse and I a chance to get showered and ready for work. I do everything but put my clothes on - the one day I do get dressed in advance of leaving is the one day Jackson will yak all over me. Anyway, we have plenty of time in between to get lots of Jackson smiles and laughs. We have good family time. Then, around 7:30 Jesse leaves to take Jackson to day care, and I head off to work or finish tidying up from the morning. I leave work at 5:00ish to pick up Jackson, and when I get to day care Jack and I have some bonding time before heading out and getting home around 6:00pm. We have some dinner and some laughs, and then we do the bedtime routine for Jackson at 7:00pm. We don't get a lot of time during the weekdays. I'm happy to be back at work, but I very much wish I could have more time each day with Jackson.

Because of the crappy economy, many businesses are struggling. In lieu of letting yet another person go, they've instituted a 9 day work period instead of 10 days. The office has been divided into two groups, and each half of the office will be off every other Friday (and we all got a 10% pay cut as well). While it's going to be challenging financially, I'm looking forward to getting to spend the time with Jackson.

I'm also toying with the idea of starting an event planning company, to plan things like retirement parties, special events, weddings, and possibly even corporate meetings... I just helped my mother in law put together some things for a friend's retirement party. I had a really great time looking for favors, and putting together the invitations and return address labels, and I remembered how much I liked doing those things. So, why not try to make up the difference in salary with doing something I really enjoy? It's still in the infancy stages of planning, and I'm not sure I want to do it... but if you know anyone who needs an event planned, give them my email address or phone number!