Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Exciting News!!!

I am pleased to announce that as of April 1st, my husband will be (Drum roll, please!)... On the day shift!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And no, this is no April Fool's Day joke:-) After 6 years of him working nights and/or evenings, this should be a pretty amazing treat!

I could go on and on about the things that I'm excited about. I'm most looking forward to having the hours after the girls go to bed to unwind together. Right now John uses that time to catch a nap before work because he doesn't sleep very well during the days. I can't even imagine how it will feel to go to bed together, either. That's just not something we're used to! It will be wonderful for John's exhausted body to get some normal rest, too, because he pretty much runs on fumes all the time. I feel awful for the poor guy.

We're not really sure how long this whole day shift fantasy will last... His department bids shifts so that means that someone with seniority over him could out bid him next time. This bid was for April through June so we know he'll at least have this luxury for three months. There are like 3 or 4 people that could bid days and get it before he would but they haven't bid days in years. You never know when someone will change their minds, though, so we're not getting too excited or thinking long term... That way we won't be too discouraged if he gets bumped off in July.

Oddly enough, I think this new shift, as wonderful as it seems, will be a bit of an adjustment. Right now I'm spoiled because John gets home in the mornings just in time to sit with the little girls while I run Brooke to school. I'll have to bring them with me every morning, which will make mornings that much more stressful. He'll also get home around 3:30 or so in the afternoons (which is early, compared to most of my friend's husbands) but I'm used to him being up between 2-2:30. These changes will be MORE than worth it, for sure!

It's so ironic that just a few weeks ago I posted about my frustrations and challenges with John's schedule. I am so thankful that God has answered our prayers in regards to John's exhaustion and that he's getting a much needed reprieve. I am so looking forward to some more normalcy for our family. Now, if he could only get holidays and weekends off... Haha. I'm not naive enough to believe that would happen!