The last few months have really been crazy. I know that this is a totally relative term, one persons crazy month is another persons vacation. However, I am confident that once you read on you will agree.
Back in November, the 28th to be exact, I got a call from my manager at Washington Mutual where I had been contracting for the previous 9 months. He told me that the upper management had made the decision that all contractors were being released effective at the end of the month. Having just come off the Thanksgiving holiday I was confused and thought that I had a couple of weeks left. No, that would be two days left of work. Nice. Happy holidays everyone. While I felt bad for myself and was a little depressed since I liked the job and some of the people I worked with were great, I really had to feel bad for a couple of the other contractors, some of whom had moved to the area for the gig and had been there a much shorter amount of time.
So two days later I was unemployed again. I took the month of December off so that we could concentrate on the holidays and then resume my search. For the last couple of years we have wanted to live in the Olympia area. The community has a lot to offer us, a homeschooling community, a fair amount of natural markets/resources as well as some friends of Christy's. The difficultly is that Olympia is in Washington, which is the land of Microsoft. Being an Oracle guy in a Microsoft centric area is like being a house fly at a spider web conference - its bleak. At the end of February I finally got an interview with an Olympia Oracle shop in the Department of Ecology. I went to the interview, which turned out to be a group interview, and it was horrible. I would say it was the second worst interview I have ever had. I was pretty sad afterwards. But the interview day had a lot left to it as we had a pediatric neurologist appointment to attend.
You see, a couple of weeks before the interview, on Christy's birthday, Ainsley had two seizures. Out of the blue, no warning, no previous experiences. It was a real shock. We spent Christy's birthday in the ER getting a battery of test done to prove that it was nothing serious. Everything came back but we still had to confer with the neurologist for a follow-up. It was a very scary event. Despite the doctor using terms like "ticking time bomb" we opted to stop further testing and followed our parental gut instincts and know that it was a fluke.
Anyways, the next day we learned that Christy was pregnant. Talk about a suprise! This put the shock of the seizure in distant second on the list of 2006 surprises. Yikes! Since everything happens for a reason I got a job offer from Ecology the next day, just two days after the horrible interview. Mmmmm insurance. Whew...
So we made an appointment for an ultrasound so that we could determine when the baby would be born (and conversely when it was conceived). The technician was talking to Ainsley asking her if she was excited about being a big sister...of two babies? What? Two babies? I looked up at the monitor and very obvisously displayed were two little babies. The room grew suddenly hot. Very hot. I began sweating and technician asked if I was ok. She then left to get me some cold water. I needed a seat. How could this happen, I mean don't you need to have twins in the family or have friends that are twins are something. I mean really, how does this sort of thing happen? Jesh. The appointment finally comes to an end and we learn that the babies are due October 23rd. Alrighty then.
We eventually make our way to the...lobby. We couldn't go any further without sitting down and making some phone calls. They all pretty much went like this:
Us: Hello
Them: Hi
Us: We found out the due date
Them: Great, when is it?
Us: October 23rd
Them: That's terrific...a halloween baby
Us: Oh yeah, and it's twins
Them:
Us: Hello, are you still there
Them:
Us: hello...?
Them: (breathing)
Them: Are you serious?
Us: Totally..
The pause varied from person to person but it generally lasted about two hours or so, maybe less but that is what it seemed like. While I didn't think it was possible, everyone seemed to be more excited about having two babies than the one. Which is nice because I think more than ever we are going to need all the support we can get. A good supportive family is really a special gift and we appreciate all of them. Over the years they have supported us in a lot of different ways (help building a deck, installing new windows, baby sitting so we can go to a movie, cheap rent) and I am thankful for all of it.
Years ago my friend Howard and I were having a conversation regarding life changes. He mentioned that there are really three major life changes: moving, new job, new baby - and you should never do more than one of these in a single year. It is too much. Well we have violated two of these rules already and are attempting to violate the third as I write. We are trying to locate a new house in the Olympia area to complete our transition and fulfill our desttiny. Alright, a small over statement. I think we are actually adding a new branch to the rule as we are also trying to buy a new car...a minivan.
After the news of the two babies sank in (not that it really has fully) we started to think about what this really meant. Neither of our current cars will fit three carseats - in fact we don't even own enough carseats. We are in the evaluation process and have so far determined that we want/need an eight passenger model. This really narrows down the field. So we are looking at the Sienna and the Odyssey. Both of them have things we like and things we don't. I would like to piece the two together. Obviously that isn't an option.
So as you can see, things are really changing for us. All of it is good though...it is just trying to keep up that is the toughest part.
Back in November, the 28th to be exact, I got a call from my manager at Washington Mutual where I had been contracting for the previous 9 months. He told me that the upper management had made the decision that all contractors were being released effective at the end of the month. Having just come off the Thanksgiving holiday I was confused and thought that I had a couple of weeks left. No, that would be two days left of work. Nice. Happy holidays everyone. While I felt bad for myself and was a little depressed since I liked the job and some of the people I worked with were great, I really had to feel bad for a couple of the other contractors, some of whom had moved to the area for the gig and had been there a much shorter amount of time.
So two days later I was unemployed again. I took the month of December off so that we could concentrate on the holidays and then resume my search. For the last couple of years we have wanted to live in the Olympia area. The community has a lot to offer us, a homeschooling community, a fair amount of natural markets/resources as well as some friends of Christy's. The difficultly is that Olympia is in Washington, which is the land of Microsoft. Being an Oracle guy in a Microsoft centric area is like being a house fly at a spider web conference - its bleak. At the end of February I finally got an interview with an Olympia Oracle shop in the Department of Ecology. I went to the interview, which turned out to be a group interview, and it was horrible. I would say it was the second worst interview I have ever had. I was pretty sad afterwards. But the interview day had a lot left to it as we had a pediatric neurologist appointment to attend.
You see, a couple of weeks before the interview, on Christy's birthday, Ainsley had two seizures. Out of the blue, no warning, no previous experiences. It was a real shock. We spent Christy's birthday in the ER getting a battery of test done to prove that it was nothing serious. Everything came back but we still had to confer with the neurologist for a follow-up. It was a very scary event. Despite the doctor using terms like "ticking time bomb" we opted to stop further testing and followed our parental gut instincts and know that it was a fluke.
Anyways, the next day we learned that Christy was pregnant. Talk about a suprise! This put the shock of the seizure in distant second on the list of 2006 surprises. Yikes! Since everything happens for a reason I got a job offer from Ecology the next day, just two days after the horrible interview. Mmmmm insurance. Whew...
So we made an appointment for an ultrasound so that we could determine when the baby would be born (and conversely when it was conceived). The technician was talking to Ainsley asking her if she was excited about being a big sister...of two babies? What? Two babies? I looked up at the monitor and very obvisously displayed were two little babies. The room grew suddenly hot. Very hot. I began sweating and technician asked if I was ok. She then left to get me some cold water. I needed a seat. How could this happen, I mean don't you need to have twins in the family or have friends that are twins are something. I mean really, how does this sort of thing happen? Jesh. The appointment finally comes to an end and we learn that the babies are due October 23rd. Alrighty then.
We eventually make our way to the...lobby. We couldn't go any further without sitting down and making some phone calls. They all pretty much went like this:
Us: Hello
Them: Hi
Us: We found out the due date
Them: Great, when is it?
Us: October 23rd
Them: That's terrific...a halloween baby
Us: Oh yeah, and it's twins
Them:
Us: Hello, are you still there
Them:
Us: hello...?
Them: (breathing)
Them: Are you serious?
Us: Totally..
The pause varied from person to person but it generally lasted about two hours or so, maybe less but that is what it seemed like. While I didn't think it was possible, everyone seemed to be more excited about having two babies than the one. Which is nice because I think more than ever we are going to need all the support we can get. A good supportive family is really a special gift and we appreciate all of them. Over the years they have supported us in a lot of different ways (help building a deck, installing new windows, baby sitting so we can go to a movie, cheap rent) and I am thankful for all of it.
Years ago my friend Howard and I were having a conversation regarding life changes. He mentioned that there are really three major life changes: moving, new job, new baby - and you should never do more than one of these in a single year. It is too much. Well we have violated two of these rules already and are attempting to violate the third as I write. We are trying to locate a new house in the Olympia area to complete our transition and fulfill our desttiny. Alright, a small over statement. I think we are actually adding a new branch to the rule as we are also trying to buy a new car...a minivan.
After the news of the two babies sank in (not that it really has fully) we started to think about what this really meant. Neither of our current cars will fit three carseats - in fact we don't even own enough carseats. We are in the evaluation process and have so far determined that we want/need an eight passenger model. This really narrows down the field. So we are looking at the Sienna and the Odyssey. Both of them have things we like and things we don't. I would like to piece the two together. Obviously that isn't an option.
So as you can see, things are really changing for us. All of it is good though...it is just trying to keep up that is the toughest part.
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