Team Peak

We have some news.  Charlie has been job hunting for the past few months, applying for everything from sign-holder to delivery person, to sales, management, food service and more.  This economy has made it difficult to find a family wage position (or any position really) that would include such things like benefits and time-off.  But after much patience and many prayers, he as found a new job working with Sierra Communications as a cable installer. 

The job is right up his alley in many ways because of his networking background and so far he has found it to be pretty easy.  He is working a strange but welcome schedule….six days a week for now, twelve hour days.  Really, he could work twelve on day and then only six the next, it will vary greatly depending on when orders come in. 

He has been home with Liam for the past few months but playing Mr. Mom can be hard so he is actually enjoying being around adults again and there is a little spark in his voice when he talks about his day.  I am greatful. 

This job has opportunity for advancement as well.  They have offices in Utah and plan to open a location in Oregon in the next year or two.  With his background in managment and networking and the experience he will build doing install, there could be an option to relocate back north sometime in the future. 

With Charlie back to work and grandma and grandpa out of town, I took this time to use some vacation days and stay home with Liam.  I have been so excited for this much needed time off and ultimately have been enjoying it.  It has come with a few bumps though.

Liam is a creature of habit and routine….apparently.  He seems to be struggling with the changes to his day and this has been a source of frustration for him, and…well…ME.  He has been grumpy and unconsolable at times.  I really wondered if there was something physically wrong with him because he has been crying so much.  He spent two hours straight crying on Monday morning.  This is so not his personality. 

Last night was the whopper though.  He woke up from his nap grumpy, Charlie had gotten off pretty early yesterday so he was home and we distracted him somewhat and he was ok until dinner, that is when it all broke loose.  He started fussing and crying as I got things ready and proceeded to cry through dinner, bath, and play.  About two hours worth.  Then it was bedtime (which he usually loves and goes to willingly with no fight) and continued to cry for another 45 min. 

Finally Charlie said, call your mom (who is out of town in Oregon) but I did.  It was decided that something was definetly wrong because it just wasn’t like him, so we did the unthinkable and we went into his room and let him get up with us for a few minutes.  He was instantly fine, giggles replaced the tears and a graham cracker and water followed.  As we sat on the sofa together as a family we realized that we had been had.  He must have needed the extra re-assurance right now so I guess it is ok, but how frustrating. 

It gets worse.  We called it a night and went to bed, all of us, and he went right to sleep this time, the way he usually would have.  About three AM he woke me up with his cries (another abnormality at this point he usually sleep straight through).  I went to check on him and he was crying and shivering, it was only 59 degrees in our house!  Somehow our heater got turned off.  I turned it back on but he was ice cold so I did the second unthinkable thing of the day.  I put him in bed with us.  He was good for a few minutes, seemed to be relaxed and enjoying the warmth of us and our fluffy covers.  Then out of nowhere, he rolled over toward Charlie and I hear a giant RASPBERRY!  So much for special allowances.  We were all cracking up at this point and realized that there was NO way that he would be able to stay in bed with us.  By now the heater had picked the temp in the house up a few degrees so I put an extra pair of socks on him and and extra blanket in his bed and back he went.  The little devil had successfully “gotten” us twice. 

It is hard because I know his little world is being rocked by these schedule changes, and I want to reassure him.  It just makes it difficult to believe him when he flashes that little smile at you that lets you know that he is up to no good.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 1:26 pm and is filed under Charles, Liam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.