I’ve been working off and on for a while on a new look for Home with the Kids. I finally finished the update for most of the site last night and put it up.

I didn’t get everything I wanted to do with the update done, as some things just wouldn’t cooperate consistently. But I like that I was able to add links at the top to blog posts and current forum topics, to hopefully help people to explore those parts of the site. Here on the blog I just linked to my pages on popular blog posts, figuring that it’s not that hard to find on the blog itself what the new posts are.

Yes, that’s my family up top. My husband didn’t like my first notion for a header, which had me and the kids, but not him. Little did he know that I was asking him his opinion to see if he wanted his picture shown. In the past he hasn’t been comfortable with the idea.

I’m trying to talk him into getting involved other ways. I think it would be fun to have him blog on how it feels being the husband of a work at home mom. I made a log on for him and everything. We’ll just have to wait and see if inspiration strikes before he completely forgets I offered him the chance to post here.

Here I go along week 2 of having my husband gone all week. It’s rough being the only one home with the kids 24 hours a day from Sunday night through Friday evening, but for now that’s what it takes.

It really makes me appreciate how much my husband does around here.

It’s not like the days are all that different in some ways. After all, I’ve always been the primary caregiver, and at home all the time anyhow. But now there’s no relief, not first thing in the morning or in the evening. It’s allllllll me!

Brent’s always been a great daddy. Up with the kids in the morning, especially now that we have a baby still getting me up at night. Up in the middle of the night if either of the other kids needs a parent. A lousy housekeeper, but good at working in the yard and getting the kids out of my hair when I need a break.

I don’t have that right now for 5 days a week. I am so ready to get this move done and over with!

These past few weeks with my husband laid off from his job have been interesting and stressful. Having him right here all the time completely throws off my routine, but he’s definitely getting a better view of why it’s often hard for me to accomplish much during the day.

Even with him here, the kids would far rather bother me than him. Habits, you know.

He’s had some good job interviews. One we’re hoping to hear back from could see us moving about an hour and a half north of where we are now, or out to Phoenix. We’ll just have to see how that one goes. The job sounds really good in a lot of ways. 3-12 hour shifts or 4-10 hour shifts per week. My husband actually likes the idea of longer shifts with more time off, although the 12 hour days are a bit longer than his ideal. But the pay is good.

Normally he complains if I stay up later than he does when I want to get more work done. But right now he has a fair understanding of why I do that. Doesn’t exactly delight him, but we both know the need is there for now.

Having him here has forced me to really work on some of my working habits. Some of my work time is now dedicated to assisting in his job hunt, but when I am working, there’s a lot more motivation. Someone has to bring in what money can be brought in, after all.

I am getting a tiny bit better about working with him next to me. It’s still rough… just knowing that he can read what I type as I go makes me more self conscious. Which is why I’m typing this while he’s at our son’s speech assessment.

We’ve also discussed how to handle things if he ends up with a job where he would work at home. He had been considering one, but it was commission only and no paid training, and we decided we weren’t up for the risk just now. If we had more money saved up, gladly. But now we know what we’ll do with the office to make working easier for both of us should another such job come along.

The kids are getting used to having him around too. As I said above, they’d still rather ask me for things. But they’re getting more fun time with Daddy, and he’s helping out more. Gage started out pretty stressed about the changes, but he’s accepting it all as routine now. No doubt that means I’ll be coping with a stressed kid again when my husband goes back to work.