Category Archive

Tomorrow Mr. E and I will travel back to Western MA to attend graduation at the college I used to work at. I left tire marks on my outta there, but, that does not mean that there aren’t students who I adore and want to see as they achieve their goal. I attended every graduation while I worked there, but this year is different. This year the class I started with is graduating. The “kids” I welcomed on the day they moved in, the kids whose parents and grandparents left their kids, while saying tearful goodbyes four years ago, will walk across the stage and claim their degrees. It almost makes me miss working in my field, but I am far (very far) from being ready to return in any capacity. But I digress.

It took me two hours to pack for Mr. E and I and we’re only going for one night. I did manage to get all our stuff into just one suitcase. I am hoping to be on the road by 9am, or as soon as he is ready for his morning nap - the idea being that he’ll sleep the whole way. He’s getting better in the car, but still isn’t a huge fan. We have some errands to run at BRU, oh how I miss the convenience! I need to stock up on Mam pacifiers (one of the few that are plastic-safe and no where to be found on the Sand Bar), teething rings (again in search of some not made in China), and cotton swaddle blankets for the summer. Simple things really, but not available here. I also have a Crai.gs List find to pick up (clearly I have an issue because I checked the WMass CL knowing I was going there- our CL leaves much to be desired). I am hoping to get to the school in time to see one of my favorite students final presentation. And then just bounce from office to office hanging out with old friends. If there’s time I’ll hit Target, just for the hell of it. I missssssssssss Target.

I am excited to go back and see folks and graduation always makes me emotional. I am also a little apprehensive about going alone. A is not coming with me so I will have sole Mr. E duty, which is exhausting. I wanted to leave him home but did not have the time to pump enough milk in advance. And my former co-workers would have KILLED me. We’ll see how it goes.

I got up early and made it to my doctor’s walk in hours. I still managed to wait almost an hour to see him, but I am just always so thankful that they take walk ins from 8-8:15am (the first doctor’s office I had here made me wait three days once, with a tension headache, before I could get an appointment. Thus I switched to this practice solely for the walk in hours). He said it didn’t look like any classic pregnancy rashes so it’s probably one of the random pregnancy rashes. Great. I am using cortisone 1% for the next couple of days and then if that does not help I’ll fill the prescription he gave me for a slightly stronger cortisone. If that does not work he wants to see me again. I may also consult my midwife before going back to him. I don’t want to keep paying co-pays if I don’t have to.

The rash is no better now than it was last night, but the cortisone helps soothe the itch. I am not supposed to apply it more than three times a day, and I’ve already hit that, so here’s hoping I can make it till tomorrow morning. If not, I’ll be putting more on. This seriously sucks.

Tomorrow I go off call after having been on for a week and we are heading out of town for the long weekend. My sister in law’s father is visiting from Germany and we’ve never met him! He’s been here two or three times since she’s been with my brother, but we’ve never been able to meet him due to work conflicts (bro and sil’s wedding was small, A. and I were the only family there). I am pretty excited to meet him after hearing so many stories about him and to finally put a face to my nephew’s Opa (German for grandfather).

He visited this summer and Nephew had not seen him since he was six months old (doesn’t really count) but they video chat over the computer quite a bit. I was told that when Nephew saw Opa in person, he went up to him, rubbed his face, and exclaimed, “Opa has a face.” He loves his Opa. We’re also going to meet up with Adrienne this weekend. I can’t wait to get away. This is our last get away, for real this time. A. won’t have any more weekends off from school (save Thanksgiving and Christmas) till the second weekend in January. And um, we’ll be having a baby then…

p.s. I am 24 weeks today, which means I need to do my biweekly belly shot, but A. is in school Thursday nights, so my belly shots will be delayed…but 24 weeks sounds big and we are moving right along with the viability factor. Crazy.

A. and I returned home yesterday after our relaxing get away. It was so nice to get away together and have time to ourselves. We spent a good deal of time both on our way out of town and on our journey home taking back roads to enjoy the foliage and the mountains. The leaves have hardly begun to turn at home, so the vibrant colors up north were a nice surprise, though they are still a couple weeks from peak. We stopped at an outlet on the way to our destination and gave ourselves permission to splurge on some baby items. So fun!

We were both excited to arrive at the Inn and were tired from our day of shopping and traveling. Not long after checking in I went down stairs to get a glass of water, when to my shock and surprise, I saw one of my supervisees checking in with her partner! I was paralyzed with the thought of my two worlds colliding and also a bit sad that my work world had permeated our get away weekend. They were only there for that one night, which was great for us because I felt much more at ease when they’d left and the feelings of my work world following me left with them.

A. and I achieved our goal of extreme relaxing (we really could teach courses in relaxing) - we spent hours at a cafe knitting and reading, then returned to the inn to knit/read in front of the fire before we went out to dinner. All in all we had a wonderful weekend, relaxed a lot, enjoyed scenic drives, watched the sun set, and spent lots of time talking about the impending arrival on Moon. Moon, by the way has been kicking up a storm! Yesterday after we got home we were lying down and it started. A. was feeling my belly and at one point she lifted her hand and could see a kick as the baby kicked so hard my belly moved up!

I was jolted back to work this morning with my first commitment at 7:30! It was a far cry from the relaxing long weekend we’d had, but all good things must come to an end! However, I was a bit annoyed when my supervisor called me after receiving an email from me to inform me she did not think I was coming back to work till tomorrow! Oh how I wish I’d known that, we sooooo would have stayed away one more night!

p.s. there are a few pictures from our trip on Flickr.

Yesterday A. and I returned from our week on the Cape. We had some great beach weather and some not so great beach weather. This is an annual trip we make, with several rituals. We’ve come to treasure this time as we indulge in summer’s magic. We did not make it to our favorite beach. I am a little sad, but as I told A. it’ll be there next year (but will we?).

As we enjoyed day after day after day (yes three gorgeous beach days in a row) I remarked that we should appreciate the time even more than usual, since next year there will be a little babe and, well our beach time will either be nil or perhaps spotty while watching after Moonbeam. It certainly won’t be hours on end of warming our feet in the sand while consuming books and jumping in the water to cool off from time to time. This was my first (of many) “last” experience- knowing this was the last time I would truly enjoy the beach as I have come to know it. There were so many other thoughts like this. Eating out, late night trips for ice cream, sleeping in, taking off unscheduled for hours on end, etc. My mother will most certainly jump on any and all opportunities to watch the babe while we enjoy time away, but it will not be the same. God willing I’ll be breast feeding…and well, ya know that ties you down, and I know we’ll always be thinking about the babe, and then there’s the fact that mom’s a work-a-holic. So while this summer’s vacation was my first dance with “lasts” I am comforted to know next summer’s vacation will be full of new and exciting “firsts.”

I am glad to be home. And I think the kitties are glad to be home too. Today is Lou’s 6th birthday! Old man. A. is at school and I have a list of things I need to do. I’ll be happy if I make it grocery shopping and manage to pack away clothes that no longer fit my expanding belly. One of the websites that I read informed me my uterus is the size of a large grapefruit - and my pants are very much aware of this fact. I have about a week and a half before I return to work - where did the time go? I am dreading going back as August and early September are dreadful times at work - too much to do in too little time. I’ll just look forward to mid September when A. and I are (hopefully) going away for my rescheduled birthday get-a-way / trip as close to a baby moon as we’ll ever get. Just thinking about it makes me happy.

I know summer is here because I’ve transitioned into my summer schedule. Wake up, eat, run a brush though my hair, lather on sunblock and get into beach gear, pack the cooler, go to the beach, sit for hours on end doing nothing but watch the water, come home, shower, relax. Don’t worry, I know how lucky I am.

My trip to my parents was supposed to be a few days to visit family, but then father’s day was approaching so I decided to stay, and then perfect beach weather was rolling in so I decided to stay longer. And A. is in class 5 out of 7 nights. I am going home Thursday until some time next week when I will head back here to the Cape for most of July.

Here are some shots from the beach today. I got there while the tide was still out and enjoyed watching it make its way in. If you look to the jetties (rocks) you will see the water level increase. I am starting to think my fondness for the beach is really an obsession. I am my most peaceful sitting there and I never got bored of it.

A. and skipped out of work early on Friday to get a jump start on our long weekend. We ended up leaving later than we anticipated - think crucial bike rack part, sadly falls into a sewer drain, and after several attempts to make the rack still work, the 100 degree weather pushed us over the edge and the bikes stayed home…We made it to the Cape with only one extra hour of travel (not bad for a holiday weekend). Once there we relaxed all weekend. My fatigue has only worsened, and I spent a lot of time napping. When I was not sleeping, I was eating

On Saturday we took our nephew to the beach. It was a gorgeous day. We didn’t stay long because we hadn’t planned a beach weekend (no beach gear), and because with out beach gear, this prego couldn’t stay in the hot sun (all of a sudden I’ve realized my summer may not consist of long relaxing days at the beach, I’m trying to deal with that). Nephew was adorable and had a lot of fun throwing rocks in the water and playing.

Sunday a friend came down to visit and we took another ride to the beach, then out to dinner. Monday we were up early and took our friend to Provincetown, his first time there! It was fun to walk the streets and feel the energy of summer’s opening weekend.

A. and I took today off so as to avoid the horrendous Cape traffic. It was the perfect amount of time to be there. Sadly, I started to feel sick on the way home, and continue to have this annoying queasiness in my tummy. I go back and fourth with how I feel about these pregnancy symptoms. On one hand, I am just happy and grateful to be pregnant and hope I don’t sound like a whiny bit@h and at the same time the sick, tired, and hungry feelings reassure me that I am still pregnant and things are going as they should be. If I felt fine, I’d worry about the development. But on the other hand, do I have to feel so effing horrible? I have no energy and feel sick. A. is wonderful and is supporting me so well. I really hope the second trimester is as good as they say it is, cause the first just sucks.

Back to work tomorrow. Only seven more days of work until I’m on summer break. I am sooooo excited!

Well two and a half to be precise. No this has nothing to do with the apple seed growing in me, it’s my count down till my summer break!!! Two weeks from this Thursday is my last day of work till August. Graduation was Saturday and the students moved out on Sunday. I love this time of year, when we have the campus to ourselves and we can sleep with the windows open with out hearing students walk below our windows. And the effing bell has stopped ringing - a graduation rite of passage here. After students pass their thesis they ring the bell…and keep ringing it…and ring it in the middle of the night. It gets to the point where you can’t tell if the bell is ringing or not. But now, it’s so quiet so very very quiet! Ordinarily once the students leave we’d enjoy a beer on our deck, but not this year.

I am soooo ready for this break! This school year was really difficult. We opened over capacity with hundreds of students in temporary housing - both on and off campus. I had two new supervises. I also went form having 250 to 500 students. My first on call weekend was the second worst/busiest in three years. Monday morning I turned my pager off for at least three months and waved good bye to the few remaining students. Some how we all made it to this date, when we can start to relax as we try to tie up all the loose ends before heading out for the summer. Per usual I have another years worth of crazy stories but the I think the best story of this year was learning some of my students were collecting road kill to skin and then make a fur-lined keyboard. I kid you not. It was gross. And the carcasses were discovered the same day we had our first adoption home visit, thank god the inspector did not see them!

A. and I are getting away for this weekend. The first of our summer travel plans. In a couple more weeks we’ll head to Maine for A.’s brother’s high school graduation and then on to New Hampshire for a little birthday / wedding anniversary get away. Once home from that I head to the Cape for the summer, with A. joining as she can. She hates that I leave her, but maybe this summer she’ll be happy since she won’t have to take care of my pregnant self so much! Have I mentioned that I am tired and she caters to my ever need? Love that woman.

I made it. My flight landed early. I found my way to the shuttle to my first of three hotels. I had to stay at an airport hotel last night because the hotel I am booked in for the conference was sold out for last night. It was clear that I was a party of one upon check in, yet the desk person gave me two keys. I told him I only needed one and he said “keep it, just in case.” In case of what? In case I picked someone up? I was confused. I made it to my room and then went downstairs to have a glass of wine. I stood at the bar forevvvvvvvver before going to the front desk to get someone to pour me a glass of wine. Then when it happened, they were out of wine glasses so I got a plastic cup, and the bartender insisted I drink some really quickly so she could top off my glass, thus finishing up the bottle. It was a weird hotel. And I slept like crap.

I called in a reservation for a cab to take me from hotel a to hotel b. The taxi driver showed up 30 minutes early and tried to drop me off at the wrong hotel, which really messed up the meter…I’ve never paid so much for a cab ride, but I also don’t take them often. Checking into hotel b makes me feel like someone I am not. This is way expensive (work is paying) and is by far the fanciest hotel I’ve ever stayed at! It does not even feel like a hotel, that’s how nice the furniture, etc. is.

There is an amazing outdoor pool and today was a great pool day. Sadly, I spent the day in a huge room with no windows interviewing candidates for an opening at my college. I got most of them done today so hopefully I’ll get some pool time in tomorrow! Oh, and since this is a some what dressy affair, I wore dress shoes and now have two huge blisters, one on each of my big toes, so much for dress shoes— I’ll be in sandals for the rest of the conference! The conference officially opens with Al Gore as the keynote speaker tomorrow night. Then there’s two and a half days of workshops. But somehow, I question my ability to attend workshops with a pool, that I have to pass all day long…eeek!

I am having fun and reconnecting with lots of people. Folks from grad school, and others that I’ve meet along my higher ed career path. It’s fun to be so far from home and run into people I know as if I am walking down the main street in my town. Each year I meet new people at this conference and it’s cool to reconnect with them from year to year. Right now I am waiting for my grad school buddy (aka potential KD #1 - I’ll ovulate while here, I know that is such a bad idea!) to arrive.

Sorry for this pretty boring post. I’m not too inspired.

Is it wrong that I was still downloading music onto my MacBook while driving? The traffic getting over the bridge provided the opportunity for me to slide a few cds in. And I didn’t upload them to my iPod till I got to the airport… I took A.’s car and it was not till I was already on the road that I realized her music was in the car and hell, maybe I’d like to have some of it! (Sorry hun, you’ll have to do with out Bruce and Bob for the next ten days…I really was too far along to turn back.)

And I am so happy about this WiFi at the airport!

I am leaving for Florida tonight. Since my plane does not depart till 7pm, I left all my packing till today…bad idea. Here is what I’ve learned:

• I don’t own enough underwear to go away for 10 days
• Last minute packing makes me feel like an anxiety attach is waiting around the corner - and thus makes me go from one task to another, completing none of them
• Packing for work and play is not easy
• I needed to wash my summer clothes…three loads and counting
• I still have to get things from my office before I leave
• My wife is going to be pissed when she realizes I took all the granola bars except the maple sugar flavored ones (or when she reads it here)
• Packing a carry on with FAA regulations in mind is a pain in the ass
• Checking email while packing is a bad idea - I nearly had a heartache when I got an email from my mom with the subject: think about it, she’s been so into recruiting sperm donors, that I actually feared she had talked to the latest guy - thankfully it was just a forward
• I still have music I wanted to get on my iPod
• My cats want to come with me: