Saturday, December 18, 2010

The big news!

If you’ve been following this blog for about the past 6 months to a year you know I’ve posted many things about how unhappy I am at my current job. 2 different bosses and still things continue to go downhill. I’ve even recently been demoted within my group simply due to my age and inexperience with Catia V4.

Also I’ve made it no secret that I’ve been looking for a new job. After the last round of random layoffs in my office that search got put into high gear. I’ve thrown out resumes to places all over town with no luck. Then I started applying to jobs out of state. Specifically up in Washington where there seemed to be a lot of engineering openings. The first job that I was considered for I  got to the second round of interviews  but got rejected. This is about the point that W and I started getting down about things.

Then I applied to another job opening at the same company and got asked to attend a job fair in Seattle WA. So I made arrangements and went up there thinking that this was just the first step in a long interview process. After a delay at the hotel I got to my interview right on time and as soon as I sat down was told that I would be told that day if I got the job or not.

The interview went well but I felt like I struggled with a couple of questions. I felt good about it but my nerves were shot after the hour long interview. Then came the hard part; waiting to find out if I got the job or not. After about 45 minutes of waiting I was finally called back. I got the job!!! I was told the job offer would come within 3 weeks and then I would get my start date and the exact location of where I would be working. I immediately called W and shared the news. To say he was floored was a complete understatement. What we had been working so hard for was starting to pan out!

The official offer letter came on Monday to our amazement. The letter contained a few details and confirmed that I will be working in Everett WA. Since then we have been busy looking at places to live and talking too many of W’s old friends about the area. We have also told our immediate family. Some have taken it better than others which we expected but everyone knows we are doing this for us and nothing else.

Since getting the official offer its been a whirlwind of things going on. We've been looking at apartments and I've been doing all of the standard pre-employment things. We are contacting friends in the area that might be able to help us. I should be contacted by the relocation office once my background check is complete which we expect to be here soon.

So that's the big news. We are officially moving out west sometime in February!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

To Butters after a long month

It’s come to me to write something to Butters. One day I'll be able to explain all of what is going on to him but for now it will reside here.


Dear Butters,

The past month has been really rough. We started out just thinking you were having a little problem speaking but it turns out things were much worse. Most nights when you go to bed it all hits me. How hard we have been working with you and how hard you are trying. Your dad and I struggle to understand you and make sure that we are not being too hard on you while still making sure that we push you to talk and act correctly.

I was one of the worst people though. I kept saying that you were just a normal 3 year old boy. You didn’t talk too much because in all honesty you didn’t need to. You are very much like your dad in that at times you are just quiet. You’ve always been outgoing in your own way and over time we have just learned that your interactions with people are just your own.

Over the last few weeks we have learned that you have been having seizures. There are drop or atonic seizures that only last for a few seconds. You never seem very phased by them and for so long we just thought you were clumsy like I am. The day of your occupational therapy evaluation when we found out about the seizures I just felt horrible. I of course beat myself up for not understanding that these things were not normal.

Over the next weeks and months there will be more tests. There will be changes in your routine that are going to throw you off of your norm. All I know is that even this process is going to be challenging it will get better. We will be going back to see hockey games once the team gets back in town. I promise you that. I also promise that once all this maddess of testing is over you will be able to start playing sports with other kids.

We will continue to let you see numbers and be completely amazed by your abilities. You learn in a very unique way and while it may be more difficult for you to understand things that other kids do so easily trust me it will come. Just trust me that your dad, sisters and I will do everything we can to make things easier for you to understand.

One thing I can tell you is that you surprise me every day. You are amazing in the unique way you see things. No matter what the end diagnosis is you are still you. At times you drive us mad with your unique ways and others completely surprise us with the things you have absorbed. At this time I know no other 3.5 year old that knows about half of the UAH hockey roster!
Just know that no madder what we love you and will be here through all of this.

Love,
Mom