William transitions, taxes, tired...
Last Friday, I finally completed our federal and
state income taxes and submitted them electronically via TurboTax. I had
originally intended only to "practice" doing taxes with Turbotax this year and
have our actual taxes filed by our old tax accountant in Chicago, but I had
spent so much time collecting numbers and figuring out stock cost bases that I
didn't think I'd have time to do taxes by e-mail, mail, and fax with the
accountant, so I just submitted what I had. We are supposed to get ~$2600 in
refund from the IRS, and we paid ~$1500 to the
state.
Last week, I got really
exhausted, emotional, and fed up with Heather traveling so much, leaving me
alone to take care of both boys so that I'm not only tired every day but sleepy
when I drive them to and from daycare and also too tired to do my own paying job
effectively. I let loose on Heather for a day, though I bought her roses by
that evening. Still, it's motivation enough for her to talk to her boss. Our
current hope is that she can reduce her work hours, moving to part time, for the
next few months at least until my job review so that, hopefully, I'll have a job
next year. (This year is crucial, as my job reappointment is not supposed to be
"automatic" this year.) Naturally, I'm worried about the loss in income, since
she gets paid more than I do, but we can probably make up some of the shortfall
by exercising stock options, a good chunk of which will expire next year
anyway.
William began his transition to
the 4-5 year old classroom (Dragons) this week. He's so smart and eager to
transition. Plus, he's the oldest kid in the 3 year old class (given that he
recently turned 4), and the 3 year old class (Cubs) is not only full of girls
but also has some <3 year olds who aren't even potty trained yet. At first I
was a little reluctant to see my William growing up so fast, but it's clear that
he's grown out of the Cubs class.
James
continues to grow and to charm me daily. He can "cruise" around, and I can see
he's on the verge of walking. He had an ear infection, for which he got a shot
of antibiotic last week. His followup appointment this morning showed his ear
clear.
Posted: Fri - March 24, 2006 at 02:45 PM