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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** This is my family updates blog. I'm sorry to say that it's moved to Facebook. If you would like to continue to read about my life, you need to be my Facebook friend.  |
| This morning I went to the Robert Andrew spa and salon to get a massage and to get my hair done. What a nice luxury! I have never had a massage there before, and it was as good as everyone said it would be. I expected to feel really sleepy afterwards, but I was actually quite alert...just relaxed and calm also. And all the aches and pains from being 9-mos pregnant were gone. I think getting a massage every week would cause it to lose its charm, but once a month...I mean, if I was independently wealthy or something...I would definitely consider it. Then I got my highlights retouched, and I actually really enjoyed my colorist this time!! The last two have been too quiet for me. I like to sit and chat the whole time because it feels awkward to just sit there and not say anything. And one of the ladies before was like, "I don't talk when I work with chemicals sorry." She said it kind of mean too. So I'm going to have to remember Cindy because she was nice and chatty and worked really fast. The funny part was that after they put all the color on my hair, a water main broke outside and the water was shut off. They had to rinse my hair with distilled water they had in the back. LOL They had to reschedule other folks, so I'm glad I got mine done. Cindy definitely agreed with me that I should try auburn this fall because it would look so nice with my skin tone. So come October...I think I'm definitely going to do something very autumnal like that. This week is going exactly as I wanted it to. I have gotten a lot of housework done, but I have taken a good bit of time relaxing. Next week is going to be pretty hectic as Chris and I will be adjusting to our new schedules. BAH has sent me a bunch of benefits and security paperwork, which I have been tackling piecemeal throughout the week. Other projects:  I started a new afghan just for the heck of it. It has a neat wave pattern which I love. I'm still reading the 5th Harry Potter book but I'm longing for some nonfiction to break up the magic. I got Final Fantasy XII and started playing that a few days ago. I play RPGs as slowly as I read books and make afghans, so it probably will be a while before I finish it. Pretty fun game so far. I have plans for a new collage which I want to get started on today or tomorrow. It was inspired by a New Yorker article on bonobo apes, and that's about all I'm going to say about it right now.Yesterday I went to the OB and she said I was 36 weeks along. Really? That far? I mean, I definitely feel that pregnant, but it seems to have gone by really fast. Baby Cheddar is head down and his heartrate is fine, so all good news there. They were a little concerned because I keep having dizzy spells and really bad nasal congestion. I mean, pregnancy can cause nasal congestion for some people...for me in particular...but usually it's not as bad as making you so stuffy you get headaches and dizzy spells. To be honest I'm not 100% convinced that the dizziness is connected to the nasal congestion, but whatever. I was a bit frustrated because they were just like, "Well, keep taking your nasal spray and lay down if you get dizzy." Ok, thanks, that's what I was doing, so whatever.  Speaking of doctors I have the very important job today or tomorrow of finding a new pediatrician. I'm really excited that we no longer have to take Jack to a Navy doctor, but I'm a little nervous about having to make my own choice for a pediatrician. Everyone I know who has kids seems to be in the Navy and they don't have much of a choice of providers, so I don't have a lot of people I can ask for recommendations from. I guess it will kind of be a trial and error. |
I am not sure why I haven't updated my blog sooner. I had plenty of time last week, but was into doing other things. The summer plague finally dissipated. I have been slogging away at writing this romance novel, which is pretty fun. Building sexual tension between characters is an irresistible challenge. I do feel utterly out-of-practice at writing. Plus I chose to write about 1930s Hollywood which I pretty much know nothing about, so I'm kind of making stuff up as I go along and hoping to fact-check later.  Chris and I were able to go shopping last week for work clothes. He starts his new job today, and I start next Monday. We have been trying to figure out how we're going to work out benefits and stuff like that. Chris is so much better at the money than I am. They say a wife should know more about the household's finances, but I'm just so bad at it that I would rather him figure it out and tell me after the fact. I appreciate money in that it buys food and stuff, but damned if I know what to do with any of it. If it was just me, I would probably have the remainder split between buying frivolous stuff like jewelry and stuffing the rest in a hole in my mattress. Ok...I'm probably not that bad. Hehehe...but still... We even caught a couple movies - Harry Potter and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. They were both pretty good. I'm still reading the fifth book of Harry Potter even though I have already seen the movie. There are so many more details in the books than the movies that to not read it would be missing out on a lot. Since I read a couple chapters before bed, my dreams seem to have a distinct Harry Potter theme. Hehehe... I have been taking witch classes in my dreams and flying on broomsticks and occassionally fighting Voldermort. I did actually take witch classes once when I enrolled in the WitchSchool.com. They were actually not as cheesy as I expected them to be. They focused a lot on how to meditate and concentrate your mental energy in finding problems in daily life...or more accurately being open to solutions. I always thought Christianity lacked something in self-motivation. That was about the same time I was into reading Emerson. I love that transcendental version of diety, very in tune with nature. It actually helped me accept some of the tenets of Christianity to view things this way. Anyway, that's very deep for a Monday morning. I got a email from my brother in Taiwan. He just flew there to become an English teacher. He says no one speaks English and he's still getting his bearings. That would be pretty freaky to just be plopped into another country where you know nothing of the language and have to figure out how to live. I wonder if he gets to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches there. I would probably go through withdrawal without those. LOL Starting next week means I have this week to do stuff. It's a bit intimidating to have so much free time to myself. It makes me nervous that I will waste it all, and I really want to get the most out of it. This brings out an uncontrollable urge to schedule a whole bunch of stuff to make sure I'm not just sitting around. I'm trying not to do that to myself because I haven't been up for a bunch of running around the last couple of days. Cheddar has been pulling levers and pushing buttons and punishing me for any over-exertion. This usually means I start to feel crampy or have Braxton-Hicks contractions or get dizzy or just am so exhausted I can't move. *sigh* I hate the last month of pregnancy. It's like purgatory. Not quite hell but still damn uncomfortable. I'm actually hoping this new job will take my mind off of it. I suppose it's time to get started on my free week. |
| Jack's summer cold turned into some full-blown viral montage. We thought the Amoxil was working, but by Thursday he seemed to be getting worse. On Friday and Saturday he was sporting a not-so-attractive fever of up to 103. The chest congestion seemed to get worse. Yesterday the fever was gone but he developed a blotchy rash all over. So back to the doctor today where we learned that one of his ears was still infected despite the antibiotic. The fever/rash combo was most likely roseola, although he couldn't rule out rubella or fifth disease. He told me to inform my OB doctor that I was potentially exposed to those, but the chances of any of it causing problems was rare. It's been a long week taking care of the sick kid. Of course, Chris and I seemed to get a little of what Jack has too. Over the weekend the apartment was like a sick ward. Hopefully, it is all on its way out though. We were planning on going to tehTodd's for a BBQ yesterday, but cancelled because we all were still under the weather. The bite of it is the weather has been so beautiful. Not too hot...just breezy and warm. The perfect kind of summer day. I was so enthusiastic that I forced us all out on Saturday, thinking perhaps we just needed some fresh air. But we didn't have the stamina. Jack was pretty cranky the whole time, and after he took a spill on a slide (he tried to go face first), we high-tailed it home and all of us took nice long naps to recover. I felt really bad about the slide too because I was trying to watch and keep up with him, but he was just too quick for me. Before I could right him, he slid face first into the dirt. Fortunately, it wasn't a big slide and the only damage done was because he bit his lip. I tried to tell myself that he is a boy and I won't be able to stop every single scrape and bruise. On the up-side I did get the offer from BAH as a "Level II Senior Consultant," although it seems I will mostly be working on technical writing projects. It was about 10K more than I expected or needed even. ZUMA!! Needless to say, I plan on taking the job. So exciting!! |
| Jack seemed to be getting a summer cold over the weekend - coughing, runny nose, that sort of thing. I didn't think much of it until yesterday morning when he woke up with puffy, goopy eyes. Conjunctivitis is a big no-no at daycare, so I went ahead and scheduled a doctor's appt. After wiping his eyes, it seemed much better, and he didn't seem that sick except for the cough. He only had a 99 temp and was playing with his toys as if nothing bothered him. Chris took him to the doctor since I had my interview to get ready for, and when he got home, he said that it was a double ear infection. Hmm... That was slightly unexpected. This is Jack's 2nd ear infection, and the 2nd time it was a complete surprise. Apparently, 50% of the time pink eye comes with an ear infection because the same bacteria can cause both. Of course, this means a two-week round of pink Amoxil...or more accurately bubble-gum flavored milk since that's the only way we can get Jack to take medicine. No apparent pink eye this morning, so I packed Jack off to daycare and worked on some of the cleaning, business stuff I wanted to get done yesterday but didn't. That includes writing thank-you notes to the folks who interviewed me yesterday at Booz Allen. It was a long afternoon as there was five people to speak to. I was losing my voice by the end of it because it was so much talking. It went well though. Everyone was really enthusiastic about getting me onboard. One guy even wanted me to start immediately after I separate, but no one was really sure how that would work with my maternity leave. There was some confusion about how much short-term disability they could give me after only working a month at the company. LOL The idea of starting up with them Aug 1 has a lot of obvious benefits. Supposedly, I would be getting paid a salary while on maternity leave, so that's a plus. The whole time I was on leave they would also be getting my accesses and accounts set up within the Agency which usually takes a lot of time anyway, so when I go back to work I could actually jump right in instead of sitting around waiting for that stuff. Of course, it's also a little nerve-wracking...trying to leave the Navy and start at a new place at the same time...and having a baby. So we'll see what happens... It never ceases to amaze me that people allow me to reinvent myself. Nothing in my educational background prepared me for being a cryptologist, but the Navy took me anyway. I can't point to any job where I have been a de jure technical writer, but the people I interviewed with yesterday weren't at all put off by that. In my resume and interviews I just tried to play up the writing experience I did have, and it seemed to satisfy them. They said all the skills I don't have - particularly with Word formatting and graphics - I could learn. True that! |
| I sounded awfully whiny in the last entry. Poor Craig! It's too bad my last day was Friday. He could have been my arch-rival...except he doesn't seem to care enough about anything for that. I haven't had an arch-rival in a while. I am almost done checking out of the Navy. I still need to get my last Fitness Report, turn in my badge with the security folks, and get my DD214. People have been asking me if I'm excited. I thought I would be more excited. As it is, I'm just kind of cruising along...riding the waves. I love the idea of starting a new job, but since I have to deliver the Cheddar first, I have a few months before that is imminent. The time off will be nice too, but there's a lot I want to get done so I have a feeling it will go by fast. My interview with Booz Allen Hamilton is tomorrow. I'm not really that nervous about it. I keep thinking that I should be more concerned about whether or not I get the job, but I'm not. They seem really interested in me, so that's always a good sign. There's plenty of other people hiring, so if it doesn't work out, no need to panic. I think it's part of being so close to having a baby...other things just don't really stress you out that much. I feel like I have a priority to worry about that first and then everything else...especially since Chris already has a job. I actually had to go yesterday and get clothes to interview in. I pretty much tried to find the cheapest maternity suit I could, and managed to buy everything on sale. I felt a little ridiculous being so pregnant and trying on suits. If it was up to me, I wouldn't be interviewing until after the baby is born, but the offer to have a job lined up this early is too good to pass up. Our apartment is looking much cleaner as we pack up more stuff. We have two bathrooms, but since we only really use one of them we turned the other into storage. It saves $150 we would be paying for an equivalent storage place, and it's colocated with us in case we end up needing something we put away. We've already cleared out Jack's room and the living room of extra junk. I plan to clear out our room in the next couple of weeks, so we can go ahead and get a bassinet for the Cheddar. This is a much better alternative than trying to bend over backwards rushing to settle on a house. Last night we met with some friends of ours to watch a movie. It was nice because the couple hosting had a baby just a couple months younger than Jack, so they were sharing toys and went to bed at the same time. Friends with babies are so nice!! The movie was only kind of good though. "Sexy Beast" - some kind of heist movie which didn't really show too much of the heist...and didn't really elaborate on the nifty title. I thought it was going to be funny, but it wasn't. Today we finally got a new printer. Our inkjet was pretty much on its last legs due to the fact that Jack kept messing with it. I think he actually stuck something in there that caused it to jam sometimes. We got a lazer jet this time which is super fast and quiet, and we put it way out of reach so hopefully it will last. The recents Parents magazine had a section about different toddler personalities. I see Jack as the "Explorer." All his energy seems to be spent examining things, getting into stuff, and figuring stuff out. More and more lately he wants to figure things out for himself, and he will only ask for help after he has exhausted all of his own efforts. When he really wants to learn something, he gets incredibly serious. I think he will be a good learner when it comes to school because of this curiousity and studiousness. |
| I fly back from Denver. Thank god! Denver seems like a perfectly nice place, but I really wasn't in the mood to come here in the first place. I told them for two years I needed to come here, and they don't send me until my last week. What rubbish! I have never seen a place so flat before. I thought Denver was in the mountains, but not so much. The grass stretches right up to the Rockies on the other side of the city. Never before have I been to a place where it is completely obvious what the place looked like before people started building on it. The work was good. Craig, the new guy, got all the info he needed from the folks out here, and it was good that someone (not sure it had to be me) was with him to answer questions about what our office is all about. So yeah, yesterday was fine. BUT I just can't stand being around Craig anymore. He's a completely pleasant person, but I have nothing in common with him. NOTHING!! So all of our conversations are awkward pauses. Example: Q: So what do you do in your spare time? A: Watch movies Q: That's it? A: Pretty much Q: So what's your favorite movie? A: Don't know...I have a list of favorites Q: So what's your favorite comedy? A: Probably Dumb and Dumber or maybe Joe Dirt *repress audible groan* I mean, if you're going to be a movie buff, at least be smart about it. Other examples of complete incompatibility... He says skiing is the best thing in the world, but I have never tried it. He doesn't play video games...at all...except he owns an old NES that he thought about connecting to his TV. He's single and doesn't want kids. His goal in life is to make a lot of money. I told him how I'm researching how to write romance novels. He smirked and dismissed the genre as stupid. I'm not saying it's great literature, but I don't think I can stomach that from someone who's favorite movie is Dumb and Dumber and says he "pretty much never reads." But that's his attitude towards nearly everything. It's all stupid...and then he smirks and laughs. I thought it was a nervous thing...like he wanted to be agreeable while calling something dumb. Now it just bugs me. It reminds me of President Bush actually. I saw him on TV this morning. He was giving us the Iraq Report Card. I had never seen someone smirk and laugh while saying "IED's and suicide bombers." Craig says he wants to go to Iraq "to be where the action is." SO READY TO GO HOME! And be rid of this TEDIOUS company! So glad I don't have to work with this guy after Friday. |
| Yeah, the owners of that house backed out of the deal. We sent them the contract to sign, but they sat on it for four days before telling us they signed some other contract. What freaks! They got someone to offer over listing price which is pretty much retarded in this market...in my opinion. I mean, the house is nice, but it's not perfect. There was a lot we would have had to do to make it our perfect house. So now we're kinda like...whatever! We're staying in our apartment for now. We figure our chances of finding a house, settling, and moving in before the new baby comes is pretty much slim to none. We might as well cool our heels until November when I can start working again. I would rather do that than feel rushed. It sounds like that Booz Hamiliton job is for a technical writer working with different projects within the Agency. Coolness! It would be awesome if they actually hired me. It would be the quickest job search EVER...in the world! We're watching Live Earth concerts online. Pretty cool! Dave Matthews just finished up in New York. Now it's Kelly Clarkson. It looks like Rhianna is coming on in 15 mins in Japan. I have been playing LOTR Online. It's a fun game and has gorgeous graphics. My main character right now is a Hobbit Burglar. It's rather fun to sneak up on people, but it doesn't seem to have the DPS that the WoW rogues have. Still being a hobbit is awesome! The Holiday was nice. We spent the 4th with some friends of ours and their kids. We went to their community pool. It took Jack a while to get used to the cool temp of the water, but he got into splashing and loved the wading pool. On the 5th Jack's daycare was open, so we took the opportunity to go out to lunch and catch a movie. We saw Live Free or Die Hard, which was your typical kicking ass sort of movie. I enjoyed it. I was in the mood for some ass-kicking explosions after hearing about losing out on that house. Apparently, an ex-boyfriend sent me an email yesterday. That's random. It's pretty easy to find me here since I have had the same portfolio for years. Still it's a little weird because...it's just the past...and I'm not really into reliving the past...especially my early-mid twenties. LOL I mean, what a mess! At least he didn't leave a forwarding address, so I'm not tempted to reply. Jack is working those bottom molars in. What a trooper! Well not really...he screamed for an hour this afternoon. Hehehe... And there's nothing you can do but wait for the Motrin to kick in. He finally calmed down when Chris gave him half a bagel to gnaw on and he ate the whole thing. Maybe he was hungry too. LOL This morning he was in a good mood, though, and we went to one of the local parks where he wandered all over the place and found a free tennis ball. Then we went to ToysRUs to spend his birthday certificate. He found this riding toy that has a mini piano on it. He loved it so much, he cried when we took it away from him to pay for it at the store. |
| I bought a cheap romance novel today. I have never read any of these, but I thought maybe I'd try one to see if I could write something like that. I figure that in a couple weeks I'll be out of the Navy and officially billing myself as a "writer." And even though I'll be getting hired as a technical writer, I figure I might as well try my hand at just about anything else requiring some kind of wordsmithing. So my coworkers suggested writing romance novels which are supposedly formulaic and easy. Thus I bought one just to see if it would be easily replicatable. Nothing else happened today. I turned over most of the stuff for my job to the new guy. This morning I pretty much told him it was all him from now on, and that I would answer questions but let him do the work. ZUMA!! So...yeah...I spent most of the day redirecting questions to him. Hehehe... Jack threw a fit this morning when I dropped him off at daycare. He has been getting clingy lately, but usually he toddles right off to play with the other kids. I think maybe he knows I'm going to have another baby soon. Or maybe those bottom molars are finally coming in. Who knows!?!? We are totally getting that Victorian house. It's sweet! I think we got a good deal on it also. We go it for almost 30K under what comparables were selling for 6 mos ago. Booyah! Today Chris got everything set up for the Navy to move our stuff at the end of July, which is totally essential since I'm ridiculously huge and Chris doesn't want to risk throwing his back out again. The apartment leasing office was notified. We got to use the military clause in the lease since our lease really wasn't up until November I think. It's all just super happy fun! |
| I realize that my blog must be pretty blah lately. It's all just this-happened, that-happened updates. I haven't been very creative lately because of how much stuff is going on. But my creativity always did come in waves, so you never know when that will turn around. I'm hoping it will be soon. Work finally slowed down this week, and my replacement says he feels comfortable enough to be on his own. Yay!! I have two weeks left, and they won't even be real work weeks. Next week there's a mid-week mini vacation in the middle because they are giving us the 4th and 5th off. And only half the people in my office are actually showing up on the 6th, so that will be a nothing week. The week after that I'll be gone 10th-12th in Denver, showing my replacement around with my liaisons out there. And then I'm done!! ZUMA!! It's hard to believe it's already been four years of the Navy. What an awesome time! I mean, really! I can't say I have been in love with the Navy every single second, but it didn't do me wrong. Plus I got a good husband out of it. Good deal!  And so...on to the next thing... I actually had a phone interview with Booz Allen Hamilton today. It's a fancy government contractor. A friend of ours works there, and he wanted me to put my resume in even though I won't be able to start working until November. His team really said they could use me, although they didn't say for what. Hmm... I'm curious to see what the job actually is. I did tell them I wanted to do technical writing or something along those lines, so hopefully they took that to heart. I'm almost done with my technical writing class also. I only have a couple more lessons and the final to do. I'm hoping to whip most of that out this weekend. I really enjoyed it. It taught me a lot of cool tricks of the trade which I would otherwise had to figure out on my own. We ended up scraping the offer on the townhouse and going with the stand-alone Victorian. We have some neat plans for it. Some of the rooms will have to be painted. There's the Nemo room which is currently a radioactive orange. Not sure what they were thinking there. The basement is painted half silver, half dark royal purple. Um...no...that's not happening. And the living room is a tan faux stucco sponge-job which is way way too dark for the room. But other than that, it's a cute little house. It will be really kickass once we update the kitchen and put in a deck. It looks like we'll be able to close end up July and start moving in a couple weeks. Awesome!! Baby updates...well, Cheddar continues to kick and ride high. Bit of a pain in the back today. In a flurry of nervous energy today, I was cleaning a bunch this afternoon, so that's probably what did it. We've been trying to resolve the late afternoon cranks with Jack. Between 4 and 5pm he is just a little bear. I think he's hungry because once he eats dinner at 5, he's perfectly fine and goes about his business no prob. It's hard because he doesn't quite understand that you have to be in the kitchen to get his food, so he sits at the kitchen baby gate and cries and whines unless you pick him up. *sigh* My friend told me to try giving him a snack on the way home from daycare or something, so maybe I'll give that a go. |
| Friday we put an offer on our favorite house, which turned out to be the townhouse on the lake. But it seems the people who live there now are not so keen on negotiating. Plus they don't want to move until mid to late August. Ideally we would like to move end of July. So if that one falls through we'll probably try making an offer on the Victorian we really liked. It's not on the lake but it's only a block away. There's another townhouse on the lake that we liked that we might look into again also. Chris finally received an offer from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. It was 7K more than we expected, so we are so excited!! I mean, he really wanted to go with this place despite the likely possibility of not making as much money, and the fact that it's really not much less than some of the high-paying government contractors in the area makes it that much sweeter. I have been feeling very heavy lately. Weighed down by the Cheddar. He is so high right now, it makes it hard to breathe and eat and all those good things. Just a little over two months left though. And maybe he'll drop sooner, so I can at least breathe better. LOL Meanwhile, I have started taking walks in the morning before work and in the evening after dinner. Somehow it seems to keep my energy up. Work has been very busy, which is frustrating, because I have other stuff I have to do to get the Navy separation stuff good to go. My office are still insisting that I go to Denver my last week, which I think is a retarded idea. Besides the fact that I'll be big and pregnant and in no mood to travel, I just hate the idea of having to cram all of my check-out into two days. I find that I can't wait to leave. I feel like I have put in my time, and I'm ready to do something else. |
| Chris and I took the afternoon off to go house hunting today. We actually saw like 15 homes. It was a marathon. LOL I think from what we saw, we were able to narrow it down to a really adorable Victorian single family and a really nice townhouse on a lake. I'm torn between the two right now. There's pros and cons to each....so I think I'll just have to sleep on it. Our realtor wants to show us a few more, but I think we know what we want enough to make a decision this week or next. We want to make an offer soon, so we can get the ball rolling and get settled. On the news this morning they said that a state trooper died on the highway close by to where we live trying to flag someone down for speeding. Maryland State Troopers do this all the time. They set up some kind of road stop where there are three or four Troopers. One officer will run radar while the others flag offending cars down by stepping out into the road and waving you over. When I first saw this, I was like, "Are you kidding me? Do you have a death wish?" Having worked at police depts in GA I couldn't believe they did this. It's SO unsafe! So I have been saying all along that someone could get killed doing this. And sure enough, someone did. The lady driving didn't see him step out into the road and wave her down. The dent in her hood was pretty telling. The officer lasted a day in ICU in critical condition before succumbing to head wounds. I'm surprised he didn't die on impact to be honest. I hope they change their policy because I hate to see people get killed like that. Sad news I know. I feel like I should have called up the police department and said something because I always thought that was a grossly irresponsible policy. If I see them out on that highway again running radar like that, I think I will call them up because that's ridiculous. Anyway...my head is still full of house stuff. So all of the houses in Maryland seem to have stairs. I grew up in ranch style houses, so I'm kinda leery about walking up and down to get places. Like today I nearly killed myself tripping on a flight of stairs in one of the homes. Now my ankle and knee feel all bunged up. Oh well...never said I was the most graceful person. I saw the Pirates movie yesterday. Was enjoyable. I didn't have much expectations so was pleasantly surprised. It was a little hard for me to keep track of who had what agenda, but really who cares...I just wanted to watch a pirate movie. |
| Was unmotivated at work today. Blah! It's hard to care when you're going to be gone in a couple weeks. It doesn't help that there's a lot of other stuff to do, so I have been distracted. We met with the mortgage lender yesterday and got our preapproval. Yay! We start actually looking at houses on Monday. I'm really excited! It's going to be so nice to have more room. There's something about apartment-living which makes you feel not as settled. I know it's Maryland, but it's nice to have a place. I feel more at home just by making the decision to stay here a few more years. Funny how that is. I have started reengaging with friends I thought I was going to have to leave behind. And of course with the home search we've been learning a lot more about the local area...more than we already knew. The mortgage guy was really great yesterday. He went over the different plans and how to do our taxes and how the closing costs will probably break out. It was just really nice. I was a little nervous about the whole business, but now having him explain it to me I am much more comfortable with how the process works. Ahh... I finished reading this neat book my Mom lent me called The Brendan Voyage. I really enjoyed it. It's a great mix between adventure and history. It's amazing what some people do. I mean, seriously...I can't imagine myself every jumping in a little leather boat and sailing across the ocean with just a couple folks. That's pretty damn ballsy!
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| I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. A lot is happening. Now that we have decided where to live, there's all sorts of stuff to do. At the urging of some contractor friends, I am starting my job search now. They said that I might as well get something lined up whether I start in December or start in August and take maternity leave. It would be good to have a job offer lined up. (1) It would help resolve the daycare issue for Jack because he can only stay in the place he is now if Chris or I is working on the army base as civilian or DoD contractor. (2) It would help knowing how much I'll be making because we're looking for a house. And that's a whole nuther story! I'm finding the journey to our first home quite nerve-wracking. There's just so much to do and know and look at. Even with our very helpful realtor and mortgage broker, crunching the numbers and narrowing down the choices is a lot for me to process right now. It was nice to find out we will be preapproved for what we need/want. But so many listings!! Everything starts to run together, and we haven't even started going and looking. Maybe that will help clear things up. Then there's all the admin work we still have to complete to get out of the Navy. And the technical writing class I'm taking...that I have to get caught up in. I saw the OB today. Cheddar is moving nicely. She said I was in my 27th week!! I couldn't believe it. Time is just flying. Another 13 weeks and a new baby will be here. It just doesn't feel like very much time.  I really need to start meditating more or practicing my breathing exercises or even blogging more often because I feel a little frazzled. I haven't been sleeping well at night. The cumbersome pregnant body doesn't help much. I'm officially in the stage where being comfortable is a near-impossible goal to strive for. LOL Jack graduated to a Pretoddler at the daycare. Hehehe... This doesn't mean much since he's still in the same room and I pay the same amount. His primary caregiver has changed and they can take another infant in that room though, so I guess that's why it matters. Oh, and he can play on the playground more. I think he may be teething those bottom molars in because he was really cranky tonight with a small fever. If that's true that would make 12 teeth!! He's got a pretty good set up chompers there. |
| The grocery store only had paper again today. *sigh* I suppose I won't go into that again. The bagger I had was all excited that we were both 6 months pregnant and having boys. Then she went on to say that she was only 18 and she lost her virginity to her boyfriend and the condom broke because it was the extra thin kind and her parents kicked her out but she was living with an aunt who took her in so she's working as a bagger for tips and maybe the guy will help her out when the kid is born. And all I could say was, "Well, I hope you don't mind, but all I have is $1.50 in quarters." She shrugged and said, "Money is money." Man, that was a long walk to my car. What was I supposed to say?!?! I mean, shit happens. Stuff like that happened to people I knew when I was that age. I can't say I made the best decisions either. You just get on with it and work at making something of yourself despite your horrible decisions. Live and learn ya know. I know...I'm a horribly cold social darwinist who can't bother to give this poor girl a hug or at the very least scrounge around for two more quarters to make it an even $2. Really, I'm just trying to blog away my discomfort with situations like this. There's a reason I'm not a shrink. I write poetry and stuff to deal with my issues, and everyone else's crap is just that - their business. I don't know...maybe I'm not that bad. Maybe the girl walked away thinking I was nice for just listening. That doesn't the change the fact that it kind of stressed me out. It's like the doctor's office this morning... Chris and I have been trying to get our separation physical done. Yesterday apparently the lab took the "wrong" blood. I mean, we fasted and they took our blood, but maybe they put it in the wrong kind of vial or some stupid thing. So last night we fast again (not an easy thing for me BTW) and show up this morning for another vein prick. We're sitting there in the waiting room watching the Religion Channel. I'm guessing that was what it was because it was like a morning show with two people talking about God and stuff. Then they cut to the infomercial about African children dying - cut to skinny babies with flies buzzing around their eyes. Aw come on man!! Give me a break! Can't we just watch the Today show? I mean, they're probably talking to Johnny Depp about pirates or showing cute bathing suits or something nice. Nevermind the precarious church/state issues that someone might bring up with a military clinic showing the Religion Channel. Turns out their TV was broken. Oh well...suck! I pride myself in being pretty well-informed, but every now and then I see those things and wish our global awareness wasn't so...depressing. I'm just an ordinary happy person trying to stay upbeat. I smile at passers-by. I wish that would solve their problems but it doesn't. I know that. I just wish they would amuse me and play along. |
| It's been a while since I have been writing and even longer since I have read anyone else's blog/stories/etc. I don't even think I've answered my email. The last week or so has been kind of busy since my Mom came in and we went to Ocean City. The beach was fun. It was different with Jack. You can't stay on the beach as long because sand is only entertaining for so long and the waves are down-right scary. You can't relax at restaurants because sometimes you just need to scream and throw food around. Splashing is the best part of the pool, and riding the elevator is the best part of staying in a hotel. It was a good time except for the last day the room next door was partying. I complained but when the security guy went up to check on them, they hid everyone out on the balcony and got real quiet so the hotel didn't think it was them. So then of course they woke Jack up and it's midnight and I complain again, and this time the hotel gives them a pre-eviction notice after this back-and-forth for an hour. Damage has been done. Jack by this time is so tired he is just screaming for thirty minutes straight. Ironically, the room next door is perfectly silent by this time. Serves them right! I hope listening to a screaming baby made them feel a little guilty. We decide to checkout at 2am so Jack would sleep in the car, which he did. At least we didn't hit any traffic on the way home. The birthday celebration was spread out over several days, so he could open one gift a day. It seemed less overwhelming that way. His favorite gift has been hands-down the Noah's Ark Little People set which came with a whole bunch of animals. Jack's walking well now. He hardly holds on anymore and can go all the way down the hallway by himself. At his 1-year check-up he weighed in at 19lbs 15oz (25 percentile) and was 31.5 in long (95 percentile). So he's still tall and skinny. They also made me hold him while they drew blood, so they can test him for the common food allergies since he has issues with dairy. We have decided to stay in Maryland. Chris has a really nice offer from a small contracting company. It's employee-owned and has really great benefits. He has another week to accept the offer, and the only thing he's waiting on is an interview Monday with the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He's interested in that one because he would get to do more programming work, they let you take John Hopkins classes for free, and we wouldn't have to move far from where we live now. If he takes the other job, we would have to move to the west side of the Beltway where we would be centrally located between the different government agencies he would have to work at. I am fine with staying here. I am excited Cheddar will be born in the same hospital as Jack because it was such a nice (relatively speaking) experience last time. Cheddar feels very big now. It's getting harder to breathe and bend over and carry Jack and other useful things that once were pretty easy. I was awarded the Joint Accomodation Medal yesterday at work. Was cool! I don't really put stock in awards and medals and stuff like that, but it was neat that everyone in my office got to see it pinned on and they were all appreciative and stuff. It's nice to know they think I've done a good job for the last two years. |
| This morning I volunteered at the Special Olympics. It was kind of hard to tell what they want the volunteers to do, so there was quite a bit of standing/sitting around while they got set up. I was hanging around with a few of the other officers that had come too, so we were just sitting chatting. When they finally got started at 1030, it was much more obvious what was going on. Basically, our job was to walk around and make sure people were able to get where they needed to go. Of course, we weren't entirely sure at first where things were happening either, but we started to get the hang of it. It was pretty cool talking to the coaches and kids and cheering them on. It reminded me of Field Day when I was in elementary school. I would have stayed for the whole day, but I have to pick up my Mom at the airport. Yay! I think this weekend will be fun. I took tomorrow off to relax, and then we go to Ocean City Friday for the long weekend. And of course, it's Jack's birthday on Saturday, so that will be fun!Jack has been bearish lately because he's getting his molars in. I even picked him up yesterday from daycare, and he had a small fever. He came home and fell asleep until dinner. I was beginning to think he would be under the weather for all the fun this weekend, but this morning he woke up all happy and ready to go. And the crowns of the molars is through the gums, so hopefully the worst of it is over. |
| Well, the rest of this week just flew by! After getting home from Atlanta, there was a lot of stuff to catch up on at work and at home. We to BabiesRUS today where we picked up a new carseat for Jack. He'll be a year old a week from today. We also scoped a few other things that will be necessary in a couple months. The double-child stroller will definitely be a must-have. We looked at all of them, and I like the double-wide instead of the double-long strollers. We also need to decide what we're going to do about sleeping arrangements. Jack won't be big enough for a toddler bed in September. Having looked around the baby store, I think we would do better buying Jack a crib that converts into a toddler bed instead of buying Baby Cheddar a bassenet and hoping he won't outgrow it too fast. Baby Cheddar is moving around a lot lately. He has started kicking me in the ribs. This pregnancy is going by so fast that these things have crept up on me. All of a sudden yesterday he was kicking me ribs, and I was thinking "What? We're doing that already?" We've pretty much decided to name him Lincoln Michael. If he's tall and skinny like Jack, he'll look like a Lincoln. The last couple of days I have had a return of morning sickness symptoms. Not to the point where I'm throwing up, but just the yuck feeling sometimes. I have also been tired a lot. I slept a lot this morning, so I must have needed the sleep because usually I'm up bright and early. Jack is getting better at walking. He can take quite a few paces on his own, although he still likes to hold my hand. He looks so much like a little boy now. I am trying out the Lord of the Rings MMORPG. It's nice to try something new. Pretty graphics - a lot like Oblivion. Seems a bit weak for people who like caster characters since the only mage is a nature-based druid char. I guess that's because in Tolkein's world there was only 8 wizards and not many magic characters. I am also taking a online Technical Writing class. I need to work on a portfolio since most of the TechWriting I have done so far has been classified. It looks like we will probably be in Maryland a little while longer since Chris has job offers here. That will be very good for me and my job chances. But who knows...by the time I'm ready to start working again, one of the Seattle companies may have finally come around and hired Chris. LOL |
| It's been a while since I've been to Atlanta. It's weird coming back here now that I'm older. I grew up always wanting to move away from Georgia because I didn't think I was meant to live here, but coming back every now and then makes me realize just how familiar the place is. All the pine forests and red dirt...the GMC trucks on the road...the accents. It really is like home because of that. Yesterday I went to church with my Mom and grandparents. That was different too...at least at first. It took me a while to get into the mood, but after a while, that became really familiar too. I just wish the organ music didn't overpower the singing so much. My first Mother's Day was pretty cool. It seemed like everyone was handing out flowers - the grocery store, the Outback Steakhouse where we ate, and the church. I was surprised, and it was very flattering. The highlight was hearing from Chris and Jack of course. Today was a long day. It was the Emory Graduation for my brother. I was glad I could be there for him, but it was too frustrating an experience to be truly enjoyable. First of all, I didn't like how Emory did it. At mine it was at the Basketball stadium so all the graduates were in the center and family in the stands looking down...so everyone could see. At Emory they had us all on this massive quad and everyone was one lever so you could see nothing. You could hear but that was it. Plus everyone was milling around. It was very casual but very distracting. The Ushers didn't do anything to direct and make it somewhat organized. To top it off they insisted on calling all the names. I mean, they had the main University ceremony and then each of the colleges broke off to hand out the diplomas. That's nice and all but with so many graduates it really is a bit much to hand them out individually. They didn't do that at my college, thank goodness! And again, everyone was milling around and talking and only paying attention when their person was called. Then of course we wanted to go to a restaurant afterwards because we had been sitting all morning and it was passed lunchtime. The first restaurant we went to didn't serve us because they forgot about us, and so we ended up at some Mexican restaurant which was good but by then it was like 2pm and I was so hungry cardboard would probably taste pretty decent. LOL Oh, and I got sunburned on my shoulders because I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and I didn't realize how long I would be sitting in the sun. So by the time I got home I was really tired from walking around and the sun exposure and the heavy food. I slept for an hour and a half. Ah...much better... |
Or maybe it's just a rough day. I spent most of the afternoon in traffic trying to get to my OB appt and then coming back. Some lady almost ran into me on the Beltway, of course, which is disconcerting. And in the middle of all that Chris calls to say Amazon is going with someone else.  Meh!At least Baby Cheddar was deemed healthy. They actually think I might be due a week earlier than they have been saying. He measured a bit bigger than expected at the ultrasound, and my belly is measuring a week and a half bigger as well. So I guess we'll see about that. It's so hard to tell why a company doesn't hire you, so I'm trying not to think too much about the whole Amazon thing. I know Chris was a good candidate since they flew him out there and everything. It's still disappointing. I like having options, and not having the Seattle door wide open with two months to go until we get out is disappointing. I'm pretty sure if Chris had gotten an offer from Amazon, we would be moving for sure. I just keep telling myself that staying in Maryland has benefits also at least in the short-term. And there's other companies in Seattle too, so there's that. I'm not sure I like the idea of moving without knowing there's a job waiting there for one of us. *sigh* My head hurts. It's been such a long day. I decided to go to Todd and Jaime's tonight too since hadn't been in a while. Of course, Jack puked his whole dinner up in the car on the way there. It was the worst baby puke I had ever seen, and I was sitting in traffic (again) when it happened, so I had to pull over and try to clean it up as best I could before going on. Luckily, Jack was feeling better after that. The evening went by pretty well although Jack didn't get to sleep until 9pm (2 hrs later than normal). Yesterday I was tired too. I was so done at 8pm last night. I could barely keep my eyes open until then. It was pretty ridiculous. This week has just worn me out. Vista hasn't solved my computer problems either. It tried to update itself Tuesday night and now it doesn't boot. Go figure!! I can't get it to repair or restore to pre-update. Such rubbish! I'm waiting until Chris gets home before I go and try and reinstall again.Alright, enough blog...I'm going to bed. Tired chubs! |
| I guess I'm back to blogging once a week. Hehe... It was nice to have Chris back last week, but of course, he's gone again. He interviews at Amazon tomorrow, so I'm sending him good-luck vibes. I think the other two days he is in town will be spent scouting living arrangements...and probably hanging out with his brothers. He asked me if living near his brothers would bother me. Hehehe...why would that bother me? I guess you can be too close to your family, but as I have no context for that sort of thing I don't know. If we lived closer, maybe we could get them to babysit. For some reason they seem to think changing a diaper is hard. Friggin teenagers!Somehow I got scammed into receiving TIME magazine. *sigh* The one I got this weekend had 100 most influential people in it. Sorry, but the whole exercise seems a bit dumb. "Most influential." There's no reliable way of measuring influence without hindsight, so the list is a concoction of a media that likes to think it's an authority on...well, the world.One person obviously missing is Bush...Mr. POTUS himself. Who made the cut - Obama and Hillary of course - the Democratic front-runners. Nancy Pelosi of course...that one I can't argue. The Pope - right ok. The Queen of England - um...what the real one or the one that got the Oscar? Osama bin Ladin, Condi, and Gen Petraeus. So we have all those folks, but the guy with the veto power, the one doing the most to keep us in this awful war...um...nope, he's not there. Interesting. Tyra Banks under Heroes and Pioneers - man, someone drank the koolaid. I mean, I know she does humanitarian work with girls and stuff, but do we all have to worship the woman as much as those freakish girls on her show do? In case Tyra doesn't do it for you, TIME included a whole fold-out section of philanthropists who presumably didn't make the top 100 cut. Feel free to rip it out and hang it above your bed where you will have the choice of dreaming about Angelina Jolie or Bill and Melinda Gates. Zuma!! Al Gore under Scientists and Thinkers...yes, because delivering a powerpoint presentation is a science. I did enjoy the other selection of scientists. Some people get to do interesting things. My favorite is when they couldn't get an actual picture of the person mentioned in the article, so some probably non-influential artist did a quick sketch of the person. LOL Looks a little noob. I wonder if I could name 100 most influential people in my life. I don't think there have been that many. Even if you count the family members, friends, and bosses who have changed the direction of my life...it probably would only add up to 50 at the most. I haven't lived long enough. I have probably changed the course of at least a few people's lives...but not sure how high that puts my influence meter. LOL |
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But I am happy about those Cardinals! The same Cardinals that I'd written off as possibly the worst playoff contestant in history just three weeks ago. Now look at 'em! I'll be pulling for them in the Big Game!
Stupid Ravens.
