10 For Tuesday With ?’s for You. Please Help!!

Posted on February 26, 2008 by Sara


1. Clearly, I need to find a new OBGYN. When I walked in for my 4 month check-up today, scheduled for 8:30AM, I was asked “you know Dr. F usually doesn’t arrive until 9:30, correct?” Um, no. I was unaware. Why then would they schedule me at 8:30? I sat for an hour and 5 minutes for my 5 minute appointment. So here is the question. Have any of you changed doctor’s mid-pregnancy? Is there any protocol? And why the hell aren’t you all here so I can get a good recommendation?? What should I do?????
2. Speaking of the appointment, it went well. I could hear the baby kicking all over when she listened for the heartbeat, which was good at 144 BPM, and I lost a pound. My Ultrasound is next week at the hospital. YAY! I was referred to a neurologist for my headaches because they are not stopping. Dr. stated that I may need a beta-blocker and a neurologist needs to prescribe that. They are making the appointment for me. Have any of you ever taken a beta-blocker either during or outside of pregnancy? I was assured they are perfectly safe but still……any new drugs make me nervous.
3. Short of being dusted, which I am doing this afternoon, my cube is spic n span clean. I have the requisite 2 photos (down from, oh say, 30) in frames, and nothing other than bank info hanging on my walls. It screams “I am a robot!!”. It was also strongly suggested that I put together a suit for Thursday. Sonofabitch.
4. Misty got the impression yesterday that we, as a family, would be ok without me working. I had mentioned that as long as my leave was paid for (I get 8 weeks fully paid maternity and up to 16 weeks paid time off before I deliver if it was medically necessary) I would be good, so it was my fault—I was fed up with the crap yesterday. I make pretty good money and have decent benefits—all things that are necessary when your husband is self-employed since his money is not guaranteed and benefits paid for completely out of pocket are very expensive. If my office does close, I am banking on a severance package and unemployment for a while. Honestly, the responsible person in me would take severance pay and immediately get another job. I also really like working outside of the home. I just wonder if having 3 kids will change that perspective any.
5. Speaking of my good friend Misty, on her recommendation, I ordered Barbara Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer” which finally arrived yesterday. I am only 2 chapters in and I LOVE IT!! So far, excellent book. I’ve been looking for something non-crappy to read forever. Thanks darling!
6. ED starts Tae Kwon Do tonight. I think I am more excited than he is.
7. Afterward, Hub is taking him home and I am grocery shopping by myself. Oh yeah!
8. I mentioned to Hub over the weekend that for Mother’s Day this year, I would really like a weekend away—as in by myself—not on mothers day, but another weekend. Later in the day when complaining about how our TiVo is old and only records one thing at a time I said you can by me a new one instead of my weekend away. His response: “you were serious???”
9. In every pregnancy I have dreamt about my ex-boyfriend before Hub. Never cheating dreams or anything like that, and there is always the knowledge that hub is in the picture, but he and I are just hanging out, talking. I had one last night, and we were sitting in the hall of our high school chatting like old times. It was weird. I wonder what it means and why it occurs in pregnancy. We were great friends and had a very strong connection even after we broke up, through college, and then eventually lost touch. I know what he’s up to though, and I have no “what if” type feelings. I just want to know what it’s all about.
10. I really had nothing else to say, but wanted to end this at 10. Have a great day!

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Rambling on About My Sucky Weekend and Corporate BS

Posted on February 25, 2008 by Sara

I think that I had mentioned that I was off on Friday, having worked the previous Saturday, so I did have a 3-day weekend, this weekend past. We didn’t do much on Friday other than going out to breakfast and finalizing our kitchen plans (it should be complete by the end of April!!! WOOT!!) Hub had a chiropractor appointment and I passed out on the couch for the better part of 3 hours, never even hearing him come home and go back out again.

We picked up the kids later than normal and stood around for a while talking with the assistant director about CA’s teacher (the one who came from the old center) who mysteriously disappeared, and ED’s “manny”, who we actually do like quite a bit now. (It turns out, Beck, that he actually does work there as part of a work/study program; he is studying to be an elementary teacher.) It was mentioned in passing that CA had a low fever at about 6:00 but since it was nearing pick-up time, they hadn’t called us.

The low-grade fever was actually 102 and she looked like death when we picked her up. We got her home and the coughing, sneezing and fever progressed through the night. The fever got up to 103 and we could not get her to sleep except for being propped up on me on the couch. I stayed with her all night, barely sleeping myself, medicating her on an off, just making sure she was comfortable. Thankfully, ED slept the night so I only needed to worry about her.

Morning came, and she was no better, so we had to cancel her very first gymnastics class and postpone until next week. She didn’t eat much and was lethargic and mopey. Hub took ED out to a train show that was in town and to get a hair cut, so CA and I took a good three hour nap. She woke up feeling much better, thank goodness, and after contraband Robitussen and some Motrin, she was behaving pretty much like herself. We decided to go bowling for a bit because being cooped up in the house hadn’t been good for any of us, so once Hub brought ED home and showered him (because he refuses to wear the cape at the barber) off we went for a bit. It was actually fun, and we were home after about 2 hours. The kids were in bed early and Hub and I watched some TV before going to bed pretty early ourselves.

CA slept on her own until about 5 on Sunday morning at which point I relocated to the couch with her. We slept until about 8 and once everyone was up, I got out the waffle iron and made some waffles. Hub did some running around while the kids napped and I folded a crapload of laundry. I braved my chicken-phobia and fried up chicken fingers for dinner, complete with a buttery hot sauce. They turned out well, but my breading kept falling off. The Bean rather enjoyed the hot sauce, and wiggled around for a good hour after I went to bed last night. My stomach did not enjoy it so much so I was up for a few hours in the middle of the night with horrible reflux. YAY.

Today I’m back at work dealing with the bunch of shit that accumulates when you take a day off, and keeping it in the back of my mind that I need to clean and take down my way too many pictures and kid’s artwork because we are being evaluated by a transition team this week, from our newly acquired company (yes, we acquired them, but we have to prepare for them to come in….what kind of sense does this make? NONE!!), which will determine my site’s future. Apparently, desks that look lived in and personalized will not do……our work environment needs to be sterile. We are also required to be in full business dress when the team does their walk thru on Thursday—which makes no sense to me since we do not see customers. I can tell you this though—I am not buying a maternity suit. I have a nice button down and dress pants and I will wear heels and stockings, but that is all THE MAN is getting. Official day one of this transaction occurs July 1st and I plan on being off preparing for the baby by 7/15. Here’s the thing—I do not care at all if they close my office, so long as I get my full maternity pay. If I never had to come back here……well, that’s a story for another day. There’s so much more to it than I can even get in to here anyway.

Ok, you’ve heard enough from me!! I need to eat lunch anyway.

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Excercise During Pregnancy

Posted on February 21, 2008 by Sara

I have been feeling like a moose lately which is odd because since I barely ate anything in my first trimester, I really haven’t gained any weight. What I’m finding though is that the baby bump is pushing up that fat left over from the previous pregnancies, and well, I just feel gross.

I started thinking about exercising which is not my strong point in non-pregnant life, so it’s for damn sure a long shot now—but as I thought more about it, it occurred to me that I actually do get a lot of exercise in any given day. Here is a sampling:

• Going up and down my basement stairs 6 times in the morning because I can’t stand any of my clothes.
• Sprinting the ¼ mile between the parking lot and work (coming in and going out, and also sometimes on my lunch break) because it is actually 2 degrees outside
• Vigorously rolling cat hair and coat feathers from my clothes for 5 minutes a morning
• Power walking from my desk to the bathroom 8 times a day.
• Chasing my kids through the halls at daycare (which is a complete circle) because they think it’s funny to each take off in a different direction and see where they meet up.
• Getting an aerobic workout in bed every night (no, it’s not what you think) what, with all of the tossing and turning
• Carrying a 25 lb 2-year-old or a 40 lb 4-year-old back to bed up to 4 times a night

It’s actually a pretty well-rounded regimen, huh

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S E V E N

Posted on February 20, 2008 by Sara

Ok, Carrie tagged me, so here it goes!!

The rules are as follows:
# Link to the person who tagged you
# Post the rules on your blog.
# Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
# Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

1. I am overly freaked out by feet—to a ridiculous extent. It took me years to be able to even touch my husband’s feet, and even now, seeing him barefoot, disgusts me. True story: a friend and I went to a new health club downtown (a few years ago) and took a tae bo-type class upstairs and then headed downstairs where we had signed up for a free martial arts lesson. When I saw all of the naked feet on the mat, I had a panic attack and could not go through with the class. What was worse was that I had to cross the mat with the naked feet in order to leave the building. It was horrifying and I am truly scarred for life from that one. (The exception to my foot issue is my kid’s feet—I have no problem with them at all.)
2. I am mildly obsessive compulsive about a couple of things in my life but none more so than my alarm clock which I obsessively set and reset no fewer than 6 times before bed. It goes a little something like this: set, view to see that time was set correctly, double check to make sure alarm is set to AM and clock shows it is currently PM, turn the alarm off, click it back on and repeat the entire process. Yeah.
3. I can not handle any type opf repetitive noise (think someone tapping their pencil or clicking their pen—or better yet the dinging in your car when you forget your keys or leave your lights on; even the microwave beeping at the end KILLS ME) OR any sort of repetitive blinking (think the light on the answering machine). It seriously takes me over the edge. I may have some sort of mild sensory integration disorder.
4. When I was a kid, I used to practice smiling in the mirror so that I would always look great in photos. Seriously. (It was time well spent though, my wedding photos being proof)
5. I loathe board games and puzzles. The thought of sitting down and going through the motions of any board game, especially monopoly, is worse to me than having to peel off my fingernails one by one. This carries over to all of those crappy kids board games too. (I’m talking to YOU Chutes and Ladders!!!) They actually make me feel claustrophobic and confined—like I’m in a straight jacket. There is one exception though, and it is Scrabble. I love it!!
6. I will only eat Kraft Macaroni and Cheese if it is doused in ketchup. If you haven’t tried it, you should!
7. I pretend to be pretty outgoing—especially at work, but typically I feel out of place and somewhat retarded in social situations. I can always be counted on to say the wrong thing in an awkward moment. In fact, I often create awkward moments.

Umm, here is who I tag:

Emily

Misty

Shelly (if she hasn’t been killed by a rogue realtor)

Bananafana

Mom of the Year

Shannon

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Deep Calming Breaths

Posted on February 19, 2008 by Sara

I figured I should take a few minutes and sit down and write because I have been on a horrific rampage here at work today. Note To Self: It is never acceptable to stand up and yell “Hey Ass-wipes!!” in the workplace.

I worked yesterday, President’s Day, in order to gain a future floating holiday. It was dead, and I did absolutely nothing. Glorious. I left around 4:30 though because I had a conference set up with ED’s teacher. Typically, I avoid daycare parent/teacher conferences, because, well, it’s weird—but I decided to do this one since it is a new school and I don’t get to talk to his teacher often like I did at the old place. I fully expected to hear that my son was a gifted genius, but all I got was “he is one of the smartest in the class……” I was pleased to hear, however, that ED is the best mannered 4-year-old she has ever encountered. We are big on the polite thing in our house (well, all of us but CA who seems to think it is acceptable to bark orders on a wide variety of subjects……but that’s a story for another day) so it’s nice to hear that he carries it over to school. The good things she said: he is very bright, he can count to 30 and identify numbers up to 99, he knows all of his colors (which he has since he was like 18-months old) both in English and in Spanish, he can identify a few words—his name, cat, dog etc by sight, he can write his name and the majority of his letters, he excels in computer class (seriously, you should see this kid at p b s dot com) and he gets along well with the other children. Her concerns: he is something of a know-it-all, shouting out answers before the other kids can and he holds his pencil in his fist rather than the right way. I asserted that it may have something to do with him being a lefty and she agreed. She is starting a name book with him where he can work on printing his full formal first name on dotted lines. First he’ll be tracing and then he will write it out on his own. In all, I think it went really well. It was nice to have a little one-on-one with her.

I picked the kids up then, a full hour early, and ran in to the CA’s infant teacher from the old center; apparently, her daughter goes there. She told me that she can’t believe how big CA has gotten, and that it’s funny to see how much the same, personality wise she is as she was as a baby. (She wants what she wants, when she wants it and will do whatever it takes to get it) She said there’s no word to describe her except to say “she is such a CA”. Indeed.

So, like I said, I’m reasonably miserable today. Hub has had the flu since Thursday and hasn’t been sleeping well, which means I haven’t been sleeping well either. My mother is having a jewelry party tonight, which I am skipping, because Hub has to work, but also because of my sinuses-I don’t think I can deal with the cigarette smoke, even if she didn’t smoke inside at all today.

Tomorrow I will be 16-weeks along, so maybe I’ll post another belly shot, for your enjoyment.

Toodles, for now!

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4 Reasons to Change Your Opinion Of Me Forever

Posted on February 18, 2008 by Sara

1. Barack Obama is a smoker. This is appalling to me. According to a news article we read this weekend, he is trying to quit. 20 years ago, heck, even 10 years ago, I don’t think anyone would have taken issue with this. I, for one, do. How do you expect to be in the public eye; be a role-model, and even consider smoking? I don’t necessarily feel that this is a reason to *NOT* vote for him—I actually really like him as a candidate, however, the smoking weighs heavily on me.
2. I’m on a roll with this smoking thing—one of the girls who works for me did not even try to quit smoking while she was pregnant. Admittedly, she never saw the need. She had a 5-lb baby who is now 2 and has severe asthma. Now though, because she and her husband are broke, she has quit cold-turkey. Because she can’t afford it. Hooray for you. I’m glad that the money is enough reason to quit, but your own child was not. I could even see quitting while you were pregnant with full intentions of starting back up again after delivery. That was never the case here though, and it disturbs me to no end.
3. The Melting Pot is the most ridiculous restaurant I have ever been to. In my life. Do you know that I spent $45 on just me there last night? The people who had drinks?? They spent $69 each. For 9 of us the bill was $592. Stupid. This is not to mention that our reservation was for 7:00 PM and we weren’t even seated until after 7:30. I got home at 11:20—it took for-evah! I will say that the California Salad was to die for, along with the chocolate at the end, but I don’t ever see myself going back. At least I can say I’ve experienced it?? Whatever.
4. This is really wrong but I am very leery of the new teaching assistant in ED’s class—a guy. I’m sure he is just as great as all of the girl’s there. This is a reputable chain of high-quality child care centers-even their assistants have credentials. Just ask my credit card—we pay for high quality. But honestly, when I see him, my head screams PEDOPHILE!! This is stereotyping on my part—hardcore and wrong on so many levels. I’m sure he’s not. ED LOVES him. But I can’t shake it.

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Posted on February 16, 2008 by Sara

I was going through my old diary account and came across this entry from when I was about 4-months along with ED:

I heard baby’s heart beat!!! Saturday, July 19, 2003
I did, I did!! it was 143 beats per minute, and per old wives tales, that means a girl. How fun!!
The midwife says it sounds like a very happy baby in there! She found the heartbeat EXACTLY where I always feel baby kicking me. How funny. I can’t wait until my ultrasound. I need to know what this bundle of joy will be!!
I treated myself to a decaf Starbucks on the way to work, and had an amazing day knowing for sure that baby’s heart was beating and that I wasn’t imagining those little kicks. It was a triumph. I only wish Ed could have been there; he was working out of town.
I’m going to a giant craft show with my parents tomorrow, and I’m pretty excited. I don’t get out and do too many things any more. Besides, they always feed me.
It’s funny how our relationship has changed since I’ve been preggo though. They always greet me and see me off with hugs and kisses. We haven’t done that since I was about 5.
On a side note, if my mother refers to my baby as ‘our baby'(our including her….) one more time, I’m really going to slap her. She wants to know if she can be called Nonnie now. I just roll my eyes in silence.
I think that’s about it, I want to organize my clothes so that m maternity clothes are accessible, and everything else is out of the way for now.
TTFN!
_______________________________________

It’s funny how hearing the heartbeat is still an amazing thing, even the 3rd time around. It further amazes me that I worry as much this time as I did the first time. I wonder if it ever stops. I know we’re ok, but I worry about this baby constantly. Will it be healthy? Will it end up in the NICU like CA did? Will it be gigantic like it’s brother? Will it be a champion nurser like both of it’s siblings. How will it change our family?

Of course, only time will tell. I just wish I could shut my brain off in the meantime.

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Further Proof That the Third Baby Will Kill You

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Sara

Here I am yesterday–15 weeks along

The jury is still out, but there may be a 2nd baby growing in my ass.

Seriously, my ass can’t be that big, right? Look at my legs in proportion–right?? It’s got to be the shirt. TELL ME IT’S THE SHIRT.

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Happy V-Day to You

Posted on February 14, 2008 by Sara

I picked up a valentine for each of the kids yesterday, a Spongebob one for ED and a Diego one for CA. Each came attached to a small box of chocolate. I had the kids in the grocery store with me last night and as they hounded me for candy, I repeatedly told them “no, you don’t need any candy.”

I left the valentines in the kitchen so that Hub and I could give them to the kids together before I left for work today. CA was asleep on the couch when I got in the shower this morning, but when I peeked my head out to check on her as I dried off; she was wide awake on the couch and greeted me with a huge smile. She climbed down and ran to the bathroom.

“You said at Tops we couldn’t have any candy but you buyed us candy!!!”

“What??”

“You did leave us candy on the kitchen table!!”

I got dressed and followed her to the kitchen where she showed me what I bought her.

“Diego for me! Spongebob for Eddie!! Can I eat it now??”

By this time ED was up and came out to see what we were talking about. Both kids were accosting me with “when can we eat our candy? Now?? Now?? NOW!!??” I told them for a snack after lunch.

When I was in the bathroom getting ready, I heard ED tell Hub “My mother said I could eat this for a snack after BREAKFAST!!”

Sigh. They are making valentine cupcakes with Hub today since they don’t go to daycare on Thursdays and will miss their parties.

In other Valentines Day news, apparently telling Hub I didn’t mind if he picked a job up tonight was the WRONG ANSWER. We initially planned on celebrating on President’s Day but due to volumes, my office is open. I decided to work because I get a floating holiday now, that I can add on to my Maternity Leave. I also work this Saturday, so I have next Friday off as a comp day. The kids are in daycare, so I figured we could do something then.

Again, wrong answer and apparently, I suck. Whatev.

I left him a card and a candy bar this morning so hopefully that makes up for it some.

Finally, because this is high school, we sold carnations at work for a fund raiser. I bought one for each of my 18 associates. I received one from my boss and from our site manager—pity flowers if you ask me. I never was the most popular girl in school……

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Vernacular

Posted on February 13, 2008 by Sara

Vernacular – ver’nak’u’lar: 1. The everyday language of the people in a country or region, distinct from the official or spoken language. 2. The distinctive vocabulary or language of a profession, group or class.

From the time I was young, vernacular, as I suppose you would call it, has interested me. I first took notice in the words my extended, and very Polish family spoke; words that were not spoken in our everyday life. There are many examples, but the first one that comes to mind is my grandmother referring to her couch as “the davenport”. When I asked my parents why, I was just told that different people used different words. Well, ok then.

When we moved to the town I consider “my hometown” when I was 11, I was first introduced to the term “Duh”. The kids I went to school with inserted it in just about every sentence. “Duh, I forgot my homework!” “And then I was like ‘OH DUH!!’” “Duh” was probably more widespread than I had realized at the time, however coming from a strict catholic school with children who were sheltered it was probably the least offensive of the words that I learned that year which I had never heard before.

The language of the town we live in now, is something else. If you are an old school townie—like my father-in-law, the words “this, that and the” are pronounced “dis, dat and da”. This phenomenon is actually something my husband is sometimes a party to (when he’s not paying attention) having lived in this town for more than half of his life. You won’t hear people say “Those are good cookies!” but instead “Them (or dem as it may be) are good cookies!” Sandwich is pronounced “sandridge” or “sanrich” and you will often hear “batteries” pronounced as “bat-trees”. You don’t go out for a fish fry; you “go for a fish”. The biggest thing is the use of “ain’t it” at the end of a sentence or in completely odd context. It is typical in our area to hear something like this: “We need to get some milk from the store, ain’t it?” Or in a conversation between 2 people: Person A says “That guy comes around here a lot” and Person B will respond “Ain’t it?” Seriously. Hub and I started inserting it in to our conversations years ago because we thought it was hysterical, and now, it is kind of second nature to us….regardless of how incredibly wrong it is.

You notice things like this in your travel as well. When we were in New Hampshire on our honeymoon, there were many, but the one that sticks out is people saying “How you are?” (or in the NE accent, “how you ahhhh?”) instead of “How are you.” When my brother lived in PA last year he was appalled at the dropping of “to be” in most sentences. People would say “the car needs washed” or “the dog needs walked” or my personal favorite, “the laundry needs done.”

Today I put the call out to you who live all over this country and Canada, those of you who have traveled extensively, or any of you that want to respond. Blow my mind with what you have heard. Better yet, blow my mind with what you have said!

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