Today Jessica is working a private event for El Gaucho at the University of Washington. This is her first time working since having Elise so it’s a big day for us. She won’t be going back to work on a regular basis for another month, but they needed help today and she stepped up. What we didn’t realize until last weekend was that they were going to need her there at 1:00pm. Luckily my manager at work is super cool and allowed me to work from home today. In the end I wound up working 11 hours, which is more than I would have done had I gone into the office, especially on a Friday.
For the past week I’ve been writing software tests at work, which isn’t something I normally do, but it needed to be done in order for us to get some new features ready for the application we’re building. Software tests are little programs that test the various different functionalities of an application. Before you can release an application you need to know that it’s working correctly, and software tests are vital in making that verification. I volunteered to do it, knowing that the tests needed to be written in a language that I have no experience writing. There was a pretty steep learning curve but after a couple days I pretty much had the hang of it. I didn’t really think much of it, and ended up enjoying the work quite a bit, but my manager was really impressed and gave me some nice public praise. One of the software engineers who reviewed my work told me I should consider switching career tracks and focus on writing software tests. He meant it as a compliment but I thought it was funny. Although I love what I do as a web developer, and don’t plan on changing career paths anytime soon, it’s been nice to learn something new and know that I have other talents related to the tech world.
With Jessica being gone all day that meant that I had to take care of Ava and Elise while working. I was a little nervous about how this was going to play out. The three of us haven’t spent this much time alone together but everything ended up going great. There were a couple funny moments where I found myself holding Elise in my left arm, feeding her a bottle which I was using my lips to hold steady, while typing work emails and coding with my right hand. It was challenging but I think its important to cherish times like these and not get too caught up in the moment. No matter how difficult having two very small children can be, I know it won’t be long before Jessica and I find ourselves longing for the days when the girls were so young. It’s important to enjoy every stage while you can because it won’t be here for long.
In addition to getting a ton of software tests written today (284 to be exact), I was able to unload the dishwasher and clean up the play room. I still haven’t found the time to shower or make dinner for myself but that’s how it goes. Jessica told me she expects to be home around midnight, and I’m going to do my absolute best to wait up for her and see how the event was, but I can’t make any guarantees. Coding for that long makes your eyes hurt and your brain numb. After I finally eat dinner it’s going to take everything I’ve got just to keep my eyes open.
Since today was all about work, tomorrow will be all about school. As expected, the further I go with school the more challenging it becomes, but I’m starting to learn some pretty cool stuff. I can finally say that I’m actually enjoying the curriculum, plus it’s starting to help me out at work, so that’s good. Now that football season is here I’m doing everything I can to keep Sundays completely free. I don’t care how many hours I have to work Monday through Saturday, I just want to be able to relax at home on Sundays with my family and watch some football. One of my favorite Sunday traditions during football season is to start a crockpot with something delicious in the morning, let it cook all day while I’m watching games, and then have a nice dinner at the start of the night game. Although Jessica doesn’t love watching games like I do, she’s always very considerate and wants me to enjoy my day off. I don’t think she minds the home cooked meals either…
Next week we’ve got more visitors coming into town. Amy and Tom are flying in from Florida on Wednesday, then Amy’s parents arrive from Iowa on Thursday. We don’t have room for four visitors so they’re staying at a hotel nearby. I’m sure everyone is getting excited to see the girls, especially Elise since none of them but Amy has seen her in person yet. I think their visit lasts a week, but Amy is sticking around to watch Ava the following weekend while Jessica and I spend the weekend in Whidbey Island for her friend’s wedding. We’re bringing Elise with us so that Ava and Grandma can have lots of fun playing together.
As usual, the train keeps chugging along and we rarely find ourselves with any dull moments. My Mom is planning on coming out for a visit in October, then again in November when we celebrate Ava’s second birthday. It was great seeing Rick and Chris last week and I’m looking forward to seeing more family next week. I’m sure there will be plenty of new pictures coming soon.