SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday 19 August 2019

18 months to become a homemaker!

I haven't really mentioned much about Nick and my plans for our upcoming maternity/paternity leave.  It all seemed like such a distant dream but we are officially getting down to the last 2 weeks before baby arrives and as unreal as it seems, everything is full steam ahead!

It is annoying because you can't file for mat/pat leave until the baby IS born so I have this constant feeling like someone is going to tell Nick, "NO! you cannot take that much time off" but realistically I know that's not going to happen, I just can't believe we are both going to be off work for such a long time - concurrently!

In Canada you can take a paid mat/pat leave for up to 18 months, this has been in the political talk for quite a while and I was waiting for it to go into effect before we had any more kids.

I think it officially started in Spring 2018 or sometime around then, Noelle was still quite young so we had some time to think it over.

It's not an easy decision to make because although you get 6 more months off work, you actually don't get any more money than if you had taken a 12-month leave.

People are already stretched thin on mat leave as it can work out to be about half of your paycheque vs physically being at work.

If you're lucky you get a top-up, my work tops up our mat leave to 93% of your paycheque for 17 weeks and then you drop down to the EI portion only which is like I said, about half your regular pay.

Nicks work tops up for much longer, Nick can take 9 months off work (pat leave) and receive 93% pay for that entire time.

As parents, we had 12-18 months to play with for mat/pat leave and we can share, split, take separately or overlap that time off.

We decided Nick will take 9 months off 93% paid, I will take the 17 weeks 93% paid and then I will take the remaining 14 months off as leave without pay.

Confusing, I know lol

There will be around a 5 month period where we will only have Nicks 93% income coming in.
(After that he will return to work and can pick up some overtime to balance my missing income on the remaining months)

That's a scary move, we're millennials we've had student loan debt and poor housing markets, high cell phone bills (lol) for as long as we can remember, saving mass amounts of money or choosing to be a stay at home parent isn't exactly an option we ever thought we would have.

But at the end of the day, we both decided we could work through a tough few months of budgeting, downsizing etc because it will be sooooo worth it in the long haul.

Getting that time with the kids will be irreplaceable and let's be real, 3 kids, daycare costs, it hardly makes sense to have 2 working parents in that situation. 



18 months!
What are we going to do with 18 months! (Nicks only getting 9! hahah sucker!)

I really want to take this time to enrich my life.
I could very easily sit down and watch Netflix for 18 months, call it a day!
(obviously, I will also be taking care of the kids lol )
But, since I do have a small case of adult ADHD I know that won't be enough.

When Elliott was born I started the blog.
When Noelle was born, I still did the blog and I started insta-stories.

Both of those things bring me so much joy, I know some won't see blogging or "influencing" as a great talent but I am telling you, I put a lot of time and work into this little slice and it fills my creative outlet in ways I didn't know I needed.

I can't imagine what I would be doing all the time if I didn't take the leap to start this bloggy, the post office is fine but it wasn't exactly my life long dream (papercuts and parcel pushing lol) and fueling any creativity...just a 100% NO WAY JOSE.

Since I've grown the blog/social media angle, I'm ready to develop some more personal habits/hobbies.



Reading!
I can't wait to get back into reading, I've always loved books, I love holding them, smelling them, turning the pages.

I haven't had much time in the last few years, if I read anything its usually a blog but I am determined to read at minimum 6 - 10 books while off work.

I already finished my book about Laci Peterson.
It was written by her mother and she felt a little bit like she was cashing in on a terrible tragedy by writing but she donated the money to a victims charity and used the book as a platform for victim services/awareness which I thought was very sweet.

I already knew EVERYTHING about this story, its one of those never forgotten stories, she was so beautiful, 8 months pregnant, seemed like an all-around lovely wonderful person.

For that, I give the book an 8/10 because I just couldn't put it down,  the personal details lead me to know both families so much better.

But if you do already know the story inside out, you may find it a little bit draggy, there are no bombshell moments, we still don't know exactly what happened to poor Laci.

If you are interested, you can buy the book here >







I am DYING to learn how to knit!
You saw me sew those little leaves on the anniversary gift Nick had given me many years ago and my pathetic little stitches are something else...

It looks like the Etsy shop where Nick bought the anniversary tree is still up, its called Tailorbirds.
Search on Etsy or click right here for the link.

My Nanny is great at knitting and I can't believe she hasn't passed down that talent to ANY of us!
She use to make me so many sweaters and hats and mitt sets growing up, I loved it.

I still love it!
At 85 she just made Noelle this ear warmer last week and I want her to make a matching set for me and the new babe!

She can't see very well anymore and can only do patterns from memory >>>>>






Marley and Me walking in Newfoundland wearing my Poppys horse sweater that my Nanny had knit him years ago.



Cooking/baking is also high on my to-do list!
I'm not bad at these things, I just don't have the time!
So, I'm hoping we can work out a better meal schedule, maybe even make a food calendar we can loosely follow to simplify the stressful "WHAT'S FOR SUPPER?!!?!" routine.

I made this blueberry lemon cake last week, you can find the recipe by click-a-licking right here!



Ok, what else should I do on this little post office hiatus??
I need to finally live up to my Holly's Housewife Life namesake and do the damn thing!

What would you learn/do if you had the time???

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