Yesterday's Highlights Today - February 22, 2008

I seem to be falling into the nasty habit of waiting until the next day to hit the Thursday highlights. Oh well. At least that way you get the full day and not just backwards from whenever I felt like typing.

So, here’s how it started. I started by taking Langston over to the Staybridge Suites to pick up Tricia (who is visiting from Chicago and works for our PR agency, Peppercom. I have worked with her for the nearly 8 years I’ve been at Steelcase, so she is a friend as well as a “colleague.” She always wants to check in with Langston, so I thought this was a good opportunity to have her see him but not do anything too prolonged where I might worry that Langston will puke on her, or start screaming, or similarly embarrass me.) We got there a little early so I took Langston in and we checked out the hotel together. Langston was totally jazzed by this. He could wander up and down the long hallways…only occasionally trying to knock on a random room door or steal the USA Today from the front of another…and then going “boneless” when I tried to steer him back to the lobby. Good times.

It’s a pretty nice hotel. We checked out the breakfast bar (tasty!) and the TV room (comfy!) and the library (plants! chairs!) while Langton squealed with delight at each new thing.

Tricia found us and after hugs and squeezes, we all headed out to drop Langston at daycare on the way to our morning PR meetings.

After all the excitement, Langston wasn’t so excited to go into his classroom. He didn’t cry…just the boneless treatment again…this is becoming a nasty habit.

We visited the Learning Center breakfast bar (blueberry bagel…and donut “nub” – if you just hack off a bite, does it really count? - …and glass of ice water…ever since I became pregnant I crave ice water…seems very strange to me, but I guess I’ll just go with it) and then the meetings began. We are spending a couple of days meeting with all the product groups, service groups, design teams, research teams, etc. to find out what will be going on in the next year that will require PR. Without my blueberry bagel to comfort me it would have been a pretty long morning I tell ya.

And then our meetings were over and it was lunch time! Yay…it’s chili Thursday at the Learning Center!!

After lunch, Tricia headed for the airport and I headed for the doctor’s office. It was my first real appointment of my pregnancy…two weeks ago I met with the nurse, but that’s just for health history, blood work, etc.

So, the first thing I had to do was get weighed. Of course. Blech. It has been a tough first tri-mester…where basically the only thing that kept my nausea at bay was, curiously, eating, so I was fearing the worst. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. Turns out I am 10 pounds heavier than I was before getting pregnant with Langston. So, not great…but not to despair levels yet. There’s plenty of time for that. Especially since I spied my records and I could clearly read the notes made during my previous pregnancy “watch weight gain.” Sigh.

Then the nurse took my bp and the doctor came in. First of all, he says, what’s up with my high bp? Oh good grief, are you kidding me??? I don’t know if you remember last pregnancy, but my last tri-mester I got this insane bp that resulted in me having to spend 3 weeks on bed rest, having an oxygen mask on me during my whole labor, and having to “push” while laying on my left side…and after all that having to have a c-section anyway. Good times. Anywho, two weeks ago when I met with the nurse my bp was perfect – 120/70…today, it was over 140. Eek!!! Yeah, the doctor was concerned that with my previous history and that it has gotten this elevated prior to 20 weeks…well, they are going to have to monitor it very closely. But, there’s not really anything I can do to stop it. It’s gestational hypertension and I’m hoping it was just an aberration and that it will be normal at my next visit.

Next he tells me that I now have some new antigen in my blood that I didn’t have at my pre-Langston blood tests. This means that I got it from either a) being a prostitute or b) getting a blood transfusion. Since I could honestly rule out a), that means that the transfusions I got after Langston’s botched c-section came with a little something extra. He was going to do some additional research on this “E-antigen” but it seems like it’s something similar to having negative blood when the baby has positive blood. The danger lies in my and baby’s blood crossing…I would view the baby as an invader and start attacking it. Again, it looks like it’s just something they are going to have to monitor with a bunch of blood tests throughout the pregnancy to keep track of the levels.

It seems like my body does a bait and switch with me…on the one hand it can’t wait to get pregnant but then as soon as I do, it starts making things as miserable as possible.

Oh well. At least none of this appears to mean much risk to the baby, so that’s a good thing. Mom will just have to be tough. And complain a lot. And require more than the average dose of chocolate…and pity.

I also got to see the baby since I looked to be “higher” than seemed right for my current due date – he thought I might be further along than they originally thought. So, they pulled out the ultrasound machine to measure the baby. Hey! There’s really a baby in there! And, thank you Lord, just one! But there it was just breathing and heart beating and floating around…hard to believe that he/she is only a few inches big at this point. He wanted to measure the “head to rump” distance but, as he is not a professional tech, was having a little difficulty being totally confident he had found the rump…so, he took the measurement several times just to account for his “fudge factor” and, I’m actually right where they thought I was…about 14 weeks. The real ultrasound will be at about 20 weeks…so in about 6 weeks I hope to know if we are having a boy or a girl. When I told Jeff about it he asked if they could tell the sex yet…I said, Jeff, the man wasn’t sure he could find the butt…I doubt he could hone in on the various pieces and parts J

Back to work. Nothing happened. I got scheduled for a 4:45 conference call on our aviation department…web surfed while “listening” in on this riveting conversation. Then headed home.

Fabulous microwave dinner followed…lasagna and garlic toast…hey, I got home late, sue me!

After dinner Langston got a bath (which he LOVES) and then ran around the kitchen in his pajamas…literally in circles…he was reminding me of a dog chasing its tail. He was holding on to a favorite truck, running in circles until dizziness forced a fall, then some wailing, then back up again to repeat the whole thing. It was hilarious. He is in a phase where the more tired he gets the punchier he becomes. By the time our Bible study people showed up he was dancing around the living room laughing maniacally. Of course he cried when I put him to bed. But only for a few seconds…then his eyes lost their focus and he practically fell asleep in front of my eyes.

Bible study pooped me out. Long day, I guess. The apple cinnamon bread Mike brought was yummy. Took the plates in to the kitchen. Washed my new “old fashioned hot dog roller grill.”

I bought this on a whim for something I wanted to do for Jeff…I was trying to be a good wife and give him some extra TLC (I think the last few months have been hard on him too). I know that he is bummed that he is not going to make it to Spring Training to watch a Dodger’s game their final spring training at Vero Beach (before they move to Arizona) this year. So, I thought that on the date of the final game at Vero Beach I would try to create a “baseball experience” to commemorate it. So I bought this grill thing. But now it looks like that will fall through anyway…so, I had decided to take it to work for Friday’s (today’s) summer themed potluck. (Can I say that the thing worked like a charm? Very fun. The roller things worked, the hotdogs were great, the aroma of sizzling hotdogs filled the office. What could be better?)

And then off to bed. Boy, sleeping sure feels good. I could just do it for hours.

Yesterday's Highlights - February 14, 2008

I guess better late than never...here are yesterday's highlights:

Well, the morning started early. Way too early. I had an 8 o’clock meeting that I was leading across town and I also needed to pick up some things for it on the way. So, I ended up at headquarters at 7:15 and then wanted to stop and pick up some pastries for the meeting on my way there. When I was about 10 minutes from my final destination, I got a call from Brad. He had heard from 2 other people that they couldn’t come to the meeting now and should we just cancel. Um…hello…I got myself to work at o’dark-thirty and picked up treats and we are DEFINITELY having this meeting. I was also kind of peeved that these people didn’t let me know – since I was the meeting convener. I just thought it was rude. But, the meeting proceeded with those who could attend and it actually went very well. A reschedule with the other 2 people is now on for next week. But I’m not bringing treats. Ha.

Then it was back to headquarters and one of the worst discoveries I’ve ever made at work. It nearly devastated me. My heart was in my throat and for the first time in 8 years I seriously considered quitting my job. It was Sherrie who broke the news to me: our favorite website, televisionwithoutpity had been blocked by our IT department. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! What will I do now with my lazy afternoons? The long, boring summer? Ack! My favorite work time waster is now gone. In a total fit of hysteria I wrote to Jeff to tell him that I might have to quit my job. His “don’t panic” email gave me several suggestions of how he might help me beat the man and live to indulge my time waster again. I can only hope. Really.

I lost all motivation to go out to lunch and ended up just reading a book downstairs in the cafeteria. But not before I had gone out and moved my car to a better parking space. I’m just that petty.

After lunch I looked out the window and despaired at the snow. Spent a few more minutes wondering how long it will be until summer…I settled on about a year.

Long meeting followed where I was told that the VP of a certain department was really struggling to come up with a viable global strategy for his area and that maybe as his communications person I could work with him and help him develop one. My answer: Um…he’s a VP making like 5 times what I make…can’t he come up with his own strategy for his own department? Good grief.

Even though the afternoon crept by, eventually it was time to go get the little boy. I stopped first at Ludema’s floral to get some flowers for my sister, from Langston. It was PACKED!! And was apparently being highly promoted on the local Hispanic radio station. They were doing a live remote and the place was full of Mexican guys. And also full of incredibly overpriced flowers. Jeesh. What a rip off Valentine’s Day is. I decided instead to get her a flowering plant, which was less than half of the price of the cheapest vase of roses.

Then it was on to CVS. I wanted to get a couple of valentine’s candies for my friend's kids when they came over after dinner. I have never seen such bare shelves! I had no idea how much people bought for valentine’s day…there was literally tumbleweed blowing down the aisles! I found a couple of sad strawberry cream hearts…who even knows if they’ll like them…but it was either that or the one last bag of store-brand conversation hearts. Oh good…they also had one last coconut cream heart too…my favorite! Sure, I’ll be my valentine!

Then I picked up Langston from daycare. He just looked beat! Apparently the wild valentine’s party just did him in. And, if his clothes were any indication, there was a significant amount of candy involved as well…so, I think I caught him during his sugar crash. Did I mention Langston’s hair? Yeah, last week I noticed his hair was getting pretty long and so I just trimmed it quickly back over his ears…giving him…yes, a mullet. I had no idea what I was doing! Poor little guy is “this close” to having a rat tail hanging down his back. That’s it…he MUST get a real hair cut this week-end! Otherwise people are going to start calling him Jimmy Bob, and that’s just not acceptable :)

I got home planning to make something really simple – omelets and fruit salad. Yeah, over an hour later I was still chopping fruit! Why must it be so hard to eat healthy food??? So, my “simple” meal ended up dirtying just about every knife, cutting board, aluminum bowl in the house and it took about an hour and a half to make. Sigh. But the fruit was really good. At least there was that.

Then everyone started arriving for Bible study. I lit a quick paper log in the fireplace (it’s nice even for the effect), Jeff got the coffee started, and I heard from my friend that there was a “lice incident” with her daughter – several girls from school all got it…including her. Oops. It brought back my own lice incidents from childhood. I was a repeat offender…or carrier…or victim…whatever. I remember that my parents discovered it once when we were up north…since we were quite a ways from a town they decided to go with the old fashioned remedy….wait for it…kerosene. Yes…they doused their small child with a can of kerosene. Imagine how nice that felt on a flea-bitten scalp! And massaged through my waist length hair. Good grief…there are camp fires up there! What if a stray spark had ventured near – my whole head would have exploded!!! And sometimes I doubt if I’M a good parent.

So, I involuntarily shuddered for a couple minutes and then it was on to more chatting and then to more serious topics.

Once everyone left and I got the place cleaned up and Jeff & I had finished watching Survivor (OK, it’s our one guilty pleasure…so sue us!) I decided that I missed my son. So, I went and pulled him out of bed (still sound asleep) and spent some time rocking him. He’s such a big boy! It’s a lot different rocking a 30+ pound toddler. But still so sweet. He just smacked his lips and sighed and snored and fidgeted and at one point broke into this huge smile.

And then some reading for me and off to bed. All in all a good day.

Friday Highlights - February 8, 2008

I don’t know if you heard but we had a huge snow storm on Wednesday! It was totally fun and for some reason filled me with unwarranted happiness as I drove home in it from work. Once I got home I was compelled to take Langston outside with me. I thought I might shovel the walk and maybe part of the driveway…I just felt inspired. Probably because I am a new parent and always think that I’m doing something wrong, I had not really taken him out for snow frolicking. But Wednesday I just had to do it. Well…he LOVED it! He was literally spinning in circles giggling. It was very cute. He ate the snow…he blew on it…he sat in it…he punched it…he caught snowflakes in his mouth…he marveled at the neighbor’s snow blower…he got soaking wet and freezing cold and still bawled when I brought him in the house. It was probably the first time that I’ve seen a glimpse of how fun it is going to be to really play with him as a kid. It was probably THE highlight of the week.

My friend brought a blueberry cobbler over for our Bible study on Thursday and it was AMAZING! It was at least half cobbler…which I am a total sucker for. And there was even ice cream to put on top. I was in heaven….cobbler heaven.

I was invited/mandated to attend an all day meeting with an advertising/marketing firm that is going to be handling the messaging and collateral on our new product launches. I didn’t have a problem accepting…I mean, nobody looks forward to an all day meeting…but it did seem like I needed to be there. Then I found out that the meeting is in SANTA MONICA!!!! Oh baby. I’m not sure anything at my job has ever made me happier. I have been so bummed and depressed this winter and there really wasn’t a way presenting itself for Jeff and I to have a little sunshine escape and remain within our “do not exceed” budget. So, we checked and Jeff can get a free airline ticket from some frequent flyer miles he had…and with me being out there for work we will only have to cover 1 night’s hotel. It will be a very quick trip…but so incredibly nice to be in the sun for even a little while.

I heard from my very random hair stylist that he had changed styling locations. You may or may not know that my relationship with this guy began about a year ago when, downtown dropping off some reporter at the Amway and filled with despair, I thought to myself, if I encounter a hair salon between here and home I’m just going in and getting my hair cut. Well…I happened upon this place and they took me as a walk-in and I’d been working with Eddie ever since. I always felt like he was perhaps one hair cut away from being homeless. His stories were always very alarming and entailed things like chauffering someone who had lost their license due to a DUI because they would let him use the car and he couldn’t afford one of his own…or sleeping in someone’s closet because the rent was cheaper. I really felt like I had no choice but to keep going to him. Plus, he gave a pretty good cut. Well…my ill advised decision to grow my hair out one more time had left me lank, aged, depressed, totally lacking in sass. So, when I heard from him that he had switched salons but was moving but was also available to cut my hair…well, I gave him a call back and scheduled a life changing cut. Turns out that he is no longer working at the old place and trying to get out of his new place and possibly moving to another city…and the long and short of it is…could I just come to his house for the cut. Well…of course I can. So, I headed to the house he shares with like 8 other people and was met with a kitchen chair alone in the center of the dining area…next to it…a single pair of scissors, a comb, and a cape. I washed my hair in his sink (although he did offer to shampoo it for me…that just felt way weird in an already sketchy situation) and he commenced cutting. There was a lot of “stand up,” “turn this way,” “sit down”…cause, you know, it was just a kitchen chair. Then there were the stories of how he had lost his last job at the salon because they thought he was stealing…and how they were now telling all his clients that he was a cocaine addict…and, oh Eddie. Oh my. And, of course, there was also no mirror. So, I had no idea how this mood altering, whole new ‘do was coming along. He went upstairs to retrieve a hair dryer and some aqua net hair spray (his own?) and commenced styling. Of course he told me that when I do this at home I should definitely use a round brush and some product…but “Lucky you…I can do this without all that…” Anyhow, this other random guy came in toward the end, waiting for his cut, and he assured me that it was looking “very nice” …as only a random 50 year old man sitting in some strange guy’s living room watching a stranger get styled could say. Well, I walked over to the hall door, where a mirror was mounted, and actually liked what I saw. He did a great job! It is a whole new me! Although Eddie assured me that even after he moved he would likely be coming back every month or so for his clients here…I just sense that this was perhaps our last strange encounter.

So, those are the highlights for the week.