Life's Simple Pleasures

#1 on Kathryn's list is ice cream.

On this particular day, Kathryn is enjoying a chocolate peanut butter sugar cone and cup--yes, both. The delicious mess was courtesy of her favorite Granny. You'll notice the photo progression leads from almost clean to total disaster.

Still figuring out how the cone works.

Now she's got the hang of it.

Moving on to the cup.

All that's left of the ice cream...and the table.

I should mention that at the conclusion of this adventure, I took her into the bathroom to wash her off. She took one look at herself in the mirror and started crying hysterically. Apparently, she was so messy, she actually scared herself. But it was worth it.

A Lovely Night At Work

Between the hours of 11:00pm last night and 8:30am this morning, NewBaby made me sick more times than Kathryn did during my entire pregnancy. Keep in mind, Tuesday night is my 3rd shift night. So, I spent the entire night trying not to think about how miserable I felt, when all I wanted to do was sleep. I think NewBaby is not going to be as well-behaved as Kathryn. Which is scary. Unless it's the opposite: NewBaby is more rebellious in utero and a perfect angel once born. Somehow I doubt that.

Anyway, my night at work started by me finding out that our business office manager had been fired. Technically, her position was eliminated, but it all comes down to the same thing. They actually had a representative from our parent company come in at the end of the day last Thursday to tell her. She had to pack up and leave the grounds immediately. This woman had been with the company for 5 years. Doesn't that sound like the kind of company you'd like to work for???

The interesting part of all this is that even though they "eliminated the position" her responsibilities still need to be done. So, the human resources person (who worked under the BOM) is taking over her job and they're hiring someone new to do the HR aspect, which to me sounds like they just wanted to fire the BOM. As a result, there's an HR opening that I might apply for. It's a much better job, but it's full-time. That's a major downside because it means putting Kathryn in daycare 3-4 days a week. I'll let you know how it goes.

Must Be A Sign

Our DVD player isn't the highest quality, but it gets the job done. In fact, it has worked with relatively no problems (that I can think of) until recently. Now, it has done the same thing twice. Let me explain...

Although it is not technically an HD DVD player, it still plays every disc we try. Until the Pulse disaster. We tried to play that disc and it would not work. Thinking it was the disc and not the player, I returned it for another copy. This went on until the third disc of the same movie, when we finally decided to get a non-HD copy. Now, you may recall that this particular movie was not worth all the effort. In the end, we were fairly disappointed in having spent so much time trying to get a movie that didn't impress us. So, when it happened again, we decided to forget the movie altogether.

This second time was with Babel. I'd heard mixed reviews going into it, so the decision to give up on it wasn't all that painful. If anyone has seen it and thinks I should reconsider, please let me know. Otherwise, we are taking it as a sign that we should not waste 2+ hours (not to mention all the days needed to get a new copy) on it.

In happier movie news, we recently watched and enjoyed the following:
Flyboys
Alpha Dog
The Pursuit of Happyness

When is the best time, when it's never the "right" time?

I haven't yet told my employer that I'm pregnant again. I have several reasons for this. Here are a few, in no particular order:

• It never seems like the right time.
• My maternity leave is going to fall immediately after a co-worker takes three weeks off to visit family in TX, which already has my boss scrambling to fill shifts.
• Last time I had a baby, something happened...oh yeah. They FIRED me.

So, perhaps you can see why I'm a little hesitant to share my good news with them. In my defense, I'm just starting my 7th week today, so it's not as if there isn't time.

My plan is to wait until after my first doctor's appointment on June 4th, when they will give me an estimated due date, although I've already narrowed it down to January4-11. I figure this way I can tell my boss the dates and then it will be a little more concrete than my predictions. (Of course, my last prediction was only a day off.) By that date, I'll be just over 8 weeks. Now, in your expert opinion, does that seem sufficient notice?

To thank you for your time, here's a little reward:

The (Surprising) Joy of Swimming Lessons

This morning I spent a full 45 minutes with no nausea. I know, I know. It's hard to believe, especially given how miserable I've been over the last few days, but it's true. The trick, it appears, is being in a swimming pool.

I was really nervous about going to Kathryn's swimming lesson--so nervous I convinced my mom to come watch in case I had to jump out quickly and needed someone to take Kathryn. It was our first lesson since my nausea has really set in. We couldn't go on Tuesday because neither one of us could breathe with our awful allergies. Instead we both went to the doctor. I got a fantastic recommendation of Sudafed, while Kathryn actually got a prescription for Zyrtec. Needless to say, after two days, she's feeling much better than I am.

Anyway, so we went to her lesson and I fully thought I'd be sick right in the middle of it, but I actually felt pretty good most of the time. Except, of course, when Kathryn had a fit about kicking while on her back and twisted around and started kneeing me in the stomach. That brought on just a bit of queasiness, but not so much that there was a problem.

Now you might think that I just got lucky for a few minutes and that the pool had nothing to do with it. You might be right. But, in the pool's defense, by the time we got to the locker room--a full two minute's walk at most--I was nauseous again.

The Trouble With Early Pregnancy

It's just plain exhausting.

I have two posts that have been "saved as drafts" and at least five more in my head, and I'm just too tired to take the time to insert pictures and create links. I think I failed to consider how much energy Kathryn takes up when conceiving again. At least with her, I only had a part-time job to contend with on a regular basis. I could easily sleep 15 hours a day and not have any trouble. And California weather is very relaxing in the fall. Now I have a part-time job and a full-day schedule of running all over the house/yard/playground/pool, trying to unpack and settle into the new house, and fight off morning sickness--which is also starting earlier this time around.

Do me a favor. The next time I'm thinking about getting pregnant, please remind me that pregnancy is not kind to me, and I should plan a month-long vacation at the start of it. Preferably someplace with ridiculously beautiful weather and a lot of white beaches. And also remind me to hire a nanny to go with me. Or, to convince one of my fabulous sisters-in-law to take over that responsibility for free. Wait a minute...isn't one of my sisters-in-law also a nanny??? Hmm... You'd like to spend a month at the ocean with Kathryn, NewBaby, and me, wouldn't you?


Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Happy Mother's Day!