It’s reaching that time of the year where all the trees stand naked, it gets a little cooler outside, everyone is having their holiday parties, the malls are filled with ridiculous amounts of shoppers, and the germs start to fly. Unfortunately, this month I got the all-inclusive “man cold”. Yes, I said it - I got the “man cold”. However, I can honestly say, I’ve never had a cold this bad and it sucks royally. I’m on day 11 with this freakin’ cold that doesn’t want to go away. I’m not sure what’s worse, the fact that I feel miserable, or the fact I purposely avoid playing with the kiddos so I don’t get them sick. The problem with both of those scenarios is that it doesn’t stack in Sarah’s favor. But needless to say, my wife is a champ when it comes to taking care of two kids on her own. Lately, I haven’t been home as much as I’d like to because not only was I working my regular job 40+ hours, I was also doing dispatch part time at another 20+ hours to help make up for funds while Sarah was out on maternity leave.
Just this past week, Sarah has returned to work with both little monsters. It makes me both happy and sad at the same time because for the past 12 weeks, I have had the pleasure of working from home on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s to help Sarah with Teagan and Hadley. While Sarah was on maternity leave we had Teagan only going to daycare part time (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) since we knew we probably wouldn’t be able to afford Teagan going full time. On the bright side I got to see both Teagan and Hadley on those days. But now, we are back in the full swing of things and having life return to, what Sarah and I consider “normal” status.
At the end of these 12 weeks, I have also hit a milestone myself - I have finally finished my training as a dispatcher. I was recently granted permission by my boss to work on my own. This is a huge achievement because you are only allowed to work on your own if both your co-workers and essential department heads feel confident in your abilities. However, I’m never really by myself, because the town of Acton is fortunate enough to be able to have two dispatchers on at all times. It is definitely an awesome job and I really like everyone I work with. It’s rewarding in a sense that I feel like I am doing something great for a community.
I never look at the cold months as winter, but rather as snowboard season! I love to go snowboarding. However, my age is starting to show in the fact that I can usually only make it through a half day at the local mountain before my calf muscles are begging for mercy. I guess that just means I need to stop being a fat ass and get out on the slopes more. With that said, Teagan is turning 3 this December. It’s my plan to try and get her on a snowboard this year with some lessons. I’m not positive it will work out so well, because anyone that has a 3 year old knows that their attention span is that of a goldfish. I’d also like to get her on ice skates, but I suppose we should probably take it one step at a time. Ideally, I’d love to see her play girl’s ice hockey, but I guess we shall see as Sarah has other plans for her. Be sure to check back for the follow up blog post on those adventures.
On top of it being snowboard season, it’s also the holiday party season; from Thanksgiving, to work holiday parties, to family get togethers. I always find this time of the year to be rather special because I feel like everyone is in their happiest of moods. It’s something about the holiday season that I can’t explain that brings out the best in everyone. Minus “Black Friday”, those people are loony. Just kidding. I’m rather excited for the annual Horman / Barrett family Christmas party this year because Teagan now has an understanding of Santa and how that magic happens. We are lucky enough to have Santa take some time out of his very busy schedule to make a special appearance to my family’s Christmas party. I cannot wait to see the look on Teagan’s face when Santa shows up to my parent’s house. She was also given an “Elf On The Shelf” this past weekend by my parents. I think she has some idea about “Santa watching” but I guess we will wait and see.
For those of you who look forward to these updates, I’m sorry I cram so much into my blog posts. Life is very busy for Sarah and I all the time and I try to take some time here and there to take notes on what to update about next. One of my many New Year’s resolutions is to try to update this blog more often, but I guess we will wait and see what next year brings before I make any promises. If I don’t have time to update this blog before Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, Boxing Day, etc, I hope all of you and your families have a very wonderful holiday.
