New year....new work schedule!

With the start of 2014 came another blessing that we have been hoping for.  My agency finally expanded their part-time program (work from home) and I found out I was accepted into it at the end of last year.  There was only 12 people in the program for the last 5 years.  Over the last two years I have been regularly speaking to the administration and our union president about my desire to enter the program.  It actually came to fruition at the end of last year as I applied to one of four slots and got in.

Cody and I had planned for me to cut my work hours after Grant is home because the last thing I wanted to do was put him in full-time daycare after missing the first 2 years of his life.  I would have had the option to go back to my Office in Alexandria to work part-time hours instead of working from home.  But that didn't make too much sense once you factor in the 35 min. commute, the cost of the parking garage and time spent of me having to actually get ready in the morning.  So I've been waiting for them to expand this part-time work from home program and the timing couldn't have been better.

So what's my new schedule?  I was approved for Fridays off the first quarter of this year (32 hrs/week) and then starting on April 1st I will have Mondays and Fridays off (25 hrs/week) which is the schedule I will keep permanently after maternity leave.  We know we are so very blessed to be able to afford me working only 3 days a week.  I know that is a luxury that many families do not have.  We had these plans when we were house hunting 1.5 yrs ago so we made sure to not by a house with a mortgage that couldn't accommodate my part-time schedule.  I am so thankful we had the foresight to do this.

Since Cody works a flex schedule where he is off every other Friday we decided to have some fun on the first Friday we both had off and went to a ski mountain.  We went to Liberty Resort which is just over the Maryland border into Pennsylvania.  Because we were there on a Friday it was pretty empty and it felt like we had the whole mountain to ourselves, perfect for Auden's first skiing experience.

 

  


Getting geared up!

Cody was anxious to use his teaching skills from when he taught kids how to ski in college at Tussey Moutain.  As predicted, Auden couldn't have cared less about learning how to stop, he just wanted to ride the big chair lift and go down the mountain fast with Daddy.  So, we chalked the day up to just exposing him to it and getting comfortable wearing skis and had a great time.  Cody got the work out of his life holding Auden in between  his legs (under Auden's armpits) and doing run after run down the big slope.  Auden had a blast riding the chairlift, watching the snowboarders do tricks underneath us and going super fast with Daddy down the mountain.  Mommy had fun brushing up her skills (intermediate at best) and loved that there was hardly anyone there.

Alright forget the bunny hill, let's go to the chair lift!  We tried to explain to Auden on the lift how lucky he is to have two parents that chose to work for the government instead of at big law firms.  We may not have (nearly) as much money choosing this path but we have opportunities to both be off on Fridays and be on a ski mountain instead of working!  He didn't understand....but hopefully one day he will:-)

It was an awesome day with lots of great memories made.  Cody is hoping to take him a few more times this winter and we are already excited for next winter when we can put Auden in ski school and it will be Grant's turn to fly down the mountain with Daddy:-)