The Unforgettable First Year of Grayson's Life: Part 1

When Grayson was two months old and Kay was about to go back to work there was no way we could afford full time daycare for two. The great recession was killing the architecture firm I was working for and the entire staff was only getting half pay. Kay and I had survived up to that point by pulling Kenzie out of daycare sometimes and doing part time at other times. We had also received many well timed blessings.

I was faced with what may have been the toughest decision of my life. In retrospect it was an easy call, but there was so much uncertainty then. The architecture field was devastated and I thought I would never find a full time job in the field if I l left. I was also afraid to put myself out there. I don't have a great portfolio. I haven't worked on many big projects. I thought it would be hard to convince someone I could do anything besides small remodel projects. Besides I knew the firm would recover eventually.

We had borrowed some money from my brother and I was planning to use that to pay for daycare for a couple months. Then the first of the month came. We were not going to get paid until more money came in and that was a few weeks out. I took a hard look at where the firm was and decided it would be at least March before they could recover to full pay. In architecture the Christmas season is always slow even in good years. We only had enough money to cover daycare for three months. So shaking and crying I decided to have them lay me off.

The next day I packed up the kids – it was an off day from part time daycare - and headed in to the office to get laid off. At the time I just thought that had to be the strangest day of my life. Kind of still do. How surreal is it to tell your employer to lay you off. My bosses were completely understanding and just like that I was unemployed. Having gotten through the fire I started to feel better immediately. Things would be good. Besides I was going to be the thing I had wanted to be for at least five years – a stay at home dad.

Being home with the kids was completely awesome and exhausting. I can't say I loved every minute of it, but now that it's over I loved every minute of it. I would have liked it to go on for a few more months. I have so many good memories from that time. Like the time me and Kenzie sat on the kitchen floor with Grayson beside us in his bouncy chair and we snapped green beans for supper. I missed them both very much when I went back to work. I'll tell that story in part two.

beingbill2.0

I've had many starts and stops on this blog, but this was by far the longest time without writing. My last blog was on November 16, 2010. According to timeanddate.com that is nine months and 18 days or:

• 291 days
• 25,142,400 seconds
• 419,040 minutes
• 6,984 hours
• 41 weeks (rounded down)
  

The reason I was not blogging? Grayson James Page. Who incidentally turns one year old today. The first year of Grayson's life has definitely been memorable and not just because of my awesome little boy, but I'll get to that later.

I was so excited when we found out the baby was a boy. Good thing too. We'd mentioned the name Grayson James to Mackenzie and she ran with it. The baby was Grayson James. She always said both names.

I didn't think I would be that excited about having a boy but I was. I walked around saying boy boy boy for at least a week. He entered the world at nine pounds. I think Kay wanted to kill me when she heard his weight. Probably the only thing that saved me was my insistence they do a second epidural. Because of that she had in her words her best labor ever and I was forgiven for the whopper of a little boy that had to come out of her.

Gray has grown fast his first year. They always do. I called him melon for the longest time because his head was enormous compared to his body. At twenty five pounds plus he's grown into the thing now. He's already walking, has six and a half teeth and enough hair for two kids his size. He has a big laugh and laughs all the time. He loves his sister and the dogs. I am just happy and blessed to have such a great boy.

So does this spell a nice steady stream of blogs from this point forward? I have a wife, two kids, a job in architecture, two dogs and I'm about to start studying for the Architectural Registration Exam. Next Year's blog will be titled beingbill3.0.