J had to quit his job and I am furious

J was asked to resign from his job on Tuesday. He has been the assistant manager for over two years and bounced through 4 different stores. He has run two of those stores without a store manager. And they ask him to either resign and leave on good terms or go on unpaid leave and wait to meet with his regional manager. Awesome, because we don't have two little ones at home and because I'm currently not working. He was asked to resign because he picked up a part-time job. He had a second job last summer so that we could save some money because I was getting ready to go on maternity leave. Well, that didn't fly with the district/regional managers because apparently as an assistant manager J could not have a second job. It would interfere with his current work schedule and he might slack on his current duties (BS if you ask me). So they gave him a raise if he would quit the second job. Not a problem because my maternity leave was over and I was heading back to work. In January we decided that it would be best for us financially if I quit my job and stayed home with the girls. We were spending too much on daycare and often had to rely on family members (who bailed quite often forcing me to call off anyways). So things have been going fine, bills are getting paid, we have food on the table but we are still scraping by. So again J picked up a second job that would work with his current schedule (again, we cannot afford daycare). He worked the second job on his two days off and then 3 mornings when he would be working nights at the other job. He had a sit down discussion with his district manager about the whole situation. She told him that if he planned to keep his second job then he could be removed as the full-time assistant manager and made a part-time employee again. They've been telling J for over a year that in order to be a store manager he basically needs to 180* his personality. He needs to make sure all of his employees like him and not worry so much about making money for the company. I'm sorry but I worked in retail and we were told that we needed to focus on customer service and sales and worry less about whether we were all BFFs. Now, I know it makes the workplace more enjoyable but it also makes people think that they can suck it up at their job and not have any repercussions. And J has been doing all of the store manager duties (since that store currently does not have one) with less hours. Store managers are required to work 44-55 hours a week to guarantee they get everything done (because they're salaried) and J has to do that much work in 38-40 hours (because he's not salaried).(Sorry, tangent). So, J told his DM that he was not quitting the second job, that it would in no way affect his work performance, and that if they wanted him to quit then make him a store manager since he's already doing the work of one. Obviously that meeting did not go over well and J was told that his duties and sales better not slip. ***Enter the stupid, angry customers who have late fees*** Tuesday J's DM comes in while he is getting the store ready to open. Talks to him and informs him that he had a customer complain about the way he handled his late fee. The DM let him know that things were not going to work out and he could either resign immediately and leave on good terms or go on unpaid leave and see how things go with the regional manager. So here we are. J is still working the part-time job and looking for a better paying position. The thing that irritates me most about this whole thing is that there is one woman who works at that same store who has been rude with me, rude to other customers and had several complaints against her but she gets a slap on the wrist each time and told to work on her customer service skills???????????? Unbelievable.

Bug's 9 Month Checkup

Yesterday was Bug's 9 month checkup and it went a lot better than I thought it would. Other than the fact that the peditrician and his staff are slower than molasses. It should not take two hours at the pediatrician's when you are the only patient. But anyways, back to the appointment.

Bug is doing well developmentally but the doctor is concerned that she is not crawling yet so he told me to give her extra tummy time. Her weight also dropped from the 10th percentile down to the 5th but again he is not too concerned considering BooBoo is tiny for her age and J and I were both very small and skinny when we were little. I mean Bug eats like it's going out of style so I just have her chalked up to a high metabolism like my brother and sister (they are both a good 30 pounds lighter than me). I felt better that he had taken mine and J's growth into account instead of lecturing me on my diet and how much milk I am producing. The best part of the visit was that Bug did not need any shots! But she does have to have routine 9 month lab work done so that is what we will be doing later today. Now for the month you have all been waiting for....*drumroll*....BUG'S STATS!

Height - 26 1/2 in (1 inch increase)
Weight - 15lbs 14oz (2 pound increase)

I think that Bug is growing just fine and since every baby grows at different rates, she may be back up in the higher percentiles at 1 year. We'll see...

Wordless Wednesday - Outdoor Play

Happy Mother's Day!

I just want to wish all the mothers, mommys, mamas, and moms out there a wonderful Mother's Day! Whether this is your 1st or your 50th Mother's Day, it is nice to have a day of recognition for all the hard work we do. I like to consider every day Mother's day because I am a mama everyday! Have a wonderful day ladies! You deserve it!!!

I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why am I so excited? Well, because my sister is PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, I'm going to be an Aunt, again. My sister has been trying to get pregnant for 8+ months and last month was the month they did not bother trying and...BAM! Insta-baby!!! My sister and brother-in-law also have my 5 year old nephew at home and he is dead-set that his new sibling is going to be a boy. There is no other option for him. I am just so excited that the baby will be here right around the new year. And since J and I have officially started trying for #3, my sister is insistant that I get pregnant ASAP so that we can "get fat together".

I love that all of the cousins are going to be close in age. BooBoo and my nephew are only one year apart and Bug and my niece/nephew are going to be less than a year and a half apart. I, personally, love the closeness in age because my sister is only 21 months younger than me and we are super close. It is nice having someone close in age who can relate to what you are going through.

So stay tuned for a Part #2 post coming in July (that's we when we learn the sex!)!