From March to August

Real Dad and I lived apart for five months. To be honest, it sucked, for both of us, and for poor Real DS. The only ones that didn't care too much were the twins, because they were too young, but being away from them during this time of major changes was hard on Real Dad. During this time I did a lot of applications, a lot of soul searching, a lot of praying, a lot of internet surfing... trying to decide what I wanted to do.

Real Dad knew that the decision to give up my career had to be completely my idea, I needed to own it, or it wouldn't work. (Honestly, I still have issues even though it's been awhile, hence this blog). During the time apart I was able to fly out with DS twice, once in April for a long weekend and then for a longer trip over the 4th of July. Real Dad visited us for a long weekend over Memorial Day for the twins baptism and again the week before our move to help with packing, loading and moving.

August 12th was my last day as a professional in a career I loved and had been in for 11 years, and the beginning of a new adventure. One I was not completely on board with, but knew needed to happen. Now Real Dad had offered on multiple occasions to quit and come back, but he had the better job, with promotion potential in a better location. I had a rural location, a dead end job in my current position, and not much potential for promotion for either of us in that location. I made the best decision for our family, even if it wasn't the best decision for me.

The start of our time apart...

Real Dad and I packed him up and he began his move without the family on St. Patrick's day 2011. We took Real DS with us to the local coffee shop (our favorite place), and when I had to go to work Real Dad said good bye to the two of us and began his trip. I dropped Real DS off at daycare (he really had no clue that he wasn't going to see daddy again in person for awhile), and went to work.

I tried very hard not to cry at work that day, luckily I had a real office with a real door (not a cubicle) and was able to work behind the closed door for most of the day. Real Dad and I had not been apart for more then a week in the entire time we had been together (9 years at that point).

Real Grandma had moved in with us right after Real DS' birthday to help during the last part of my pregnancy and was able to stay to help with the kids while we lived apart. She understood considering she moved home with her son when Real Pop-pop was stationed overseas.

When I picked up Real DS he wanted to know where daddy was when we got home. I had to keep telling him that daddy had to go bye-bye for work and we would only be able to see him on the computer (once Real Dad got set back up, Skype is a wonderful thing). I had to stay in view of his bed that night (and every night after that) because he was afraid I was going to disappear too (Real DS was 2 at the time).

How it all started...

The decision to become a stay at home mom was definitely not an easy one. The Monday after Thanksgiving 2010, just a few weeks before the twins were born, my husband was fired from his job. Luckily we were double ensured through both of our employers and my insurance had already covered the majority of my pregnancy (okay, all of my pregnancy). Real Dad's words were "Hi dear, got fired, guess I need to start looking for a new job". We lived in a rural town without very many options, but he applied for anything remotely in the IT industry. Also, while applying for jobs, he started his own company fixing computers for people. We put an ad in the local advertisement newspaper with his business name and contact phone number. I was completely supportive because self-employed looks a lot better than unemployed on a resume.

Since we both had time on our hands because he was now home and I was on bedrest, we began discussing what we wanted in our future. We decided that now would be a good time to relocate for better opportunities for our family and hopefully our careers. We made a list of different cities and regions that we would be willing to relocate too, and we began applying for jobs in those areas.

I got an interview for one of the jobs I had applied for (I was in the to 10 of 200 applications). Unfortunately I did not get the job. Real Dad began applying in that area during the same time, interviewed, and was picked for the job. Normally you have 24 hours to decide if you are going to accept, he was given til close of business that day. We made the decision for him to take it and hoped that I would be able to get a job as well...