Interview is approaching...

Hazen has his interview with the Helena Police Department on Friday. We are very hopeful, but we also know that this economy is unpredictable and he could be against some really tough competition. We know that he has done his absolute best to get on with them, though, so we just need to wait and see what happens. He has interviewed with them before but still had almost 8-9 months in the military, so they were unable to hire him. He has been on ride-alongs and has been in contact with the Captain for the last 2 years (he was a Lieutenant when they started communicating). So yes, we are hopeful.

IF he gets this job, we are considering buying a house. We are a bit up in the air about whether to do it or not. We wanted to pay off our Nissan before buying, but if we buy before November 30th, there is a $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit; that would pay off the car much more quickly than we would be able to otherwise AND we would be in our own home…it’s tempting. We’re trying to make sure we have everything in order first and that, financially, it’s the best decision. We have been talking to a realtor, and she has been SO helpful. I think she genuinely cares about her clients and it’s not completely about making money.

I’m struggling with the fact that Ian will be going to daycare full-time for awhile. Ian absolutely loves daycare for the few hours he gets to go a week, but it’s very hard for me to put my child in there for 9 hours a day. I’m a very strong believer in why have children if you’re going to give them to someone else to raise? He will have to go while Hazen is in the academy from September-December (yes, I’m being very optimistic!) because I will have to continue working then. However, HPD does 5 days on, 3 days off, so most weeks Ian will only have to be in daycare for 2-4 days, depending on what shift Hazen is on. There will be the occasional week where he will work Mon-Fri, and therefore Ian will have to go all 5 days, but they will be pretty rare. That makes me feel better to know that a parent will be with him for 3-5 days a week most weeks. We are hoping to be able to put the majority of my paychecks in savings so that we can pay off the bulk of our debt (it will be just the Honda after we buy a house…and my student loans, but we’re not overly worried about those) so that once baby #2 finally arrives, I can stay home full or most time. My hope is short-term sacrifice for a long-term gain, and thankfully Ian really does like the opportunity to “play” and be around other kids (I don’t know how he’ll feel about it when it’s 9 hours a day, but we shall see!).

I was debating on when to do my tube removal surgery, but it looks like we will probably go ahead and do it next month (assuming I agree with my doctor’s reasoning for doing it in the first place!). I considered waiting until after the first of the year since if Hazen gets that job, he will be in the academy for three monthsr, meaning there is no chance of pregnancy anyway. Plus Ian needs his umbilical hernia surgery this year as well, so that would be two surgeries and possibly buying a house in a very short span of time. However, Hazen pointed out that I will need to heal afterwards, so it makes more sense to go ahead and do it before he goes to the academy so I can have that time to heal up and we can start to try again when he comes back. We’ve already met our deductible anyway, so we may as well take advantage and get all the surgeries out of the way now.

Now we just need to get through that interview on Friday—any positive thoughts and prayers would be hugely appreciated!