Cinco De Mayo!

Cinco De Mayo is perhaps one of my favorite (based solely off of my affinity for Mexican food) under appreciated holidays. In fact, the people of Mexico don't even celebrate this holiday because why would anyone ever celebrate winning a battle and basically losing the war? So here's the skinny on Cinco De Mayo and why this is a holiday worth your attention. While the United States brother- against-brother tensions were building, Mexico was fighting France over unpaid debts. France was not too happy with the leader of Mexico at that time, Benito Juarez, for ignoring these debts SO they decided to launch an attack. Mexico's forces were far outnumbered by France's forces, but in the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862) the Mexican forces were victorious over the large French army. So yea they won the battle! Then a year later the French occupied Mexico and in 1864 the French booted Juarez and instilled Emperor Maximilian I (who was of the Hapsburg line- man they just rule everywhere) as ruler. Many other countries weren't too keen on Emperor Maximilian I and refused to recognize his newly acquired power. Following the Civil War, the United States put pressure on the French and they withdrew their forces. Benito Juarez took back his power and Maximilian I was executed.

Historically this battle is very significant, this is the last time that the Americas were invaded by another continent and just like when thirteen baby colonies were able to pull together to hold off the British until they could receive assistance, Mexico did the impossible and defeated the vast French army, who up until that point had not had a military defeat for 50 years! Now that is something to celebrate!

What do I think is the best thing about Cinco De Mayo? It gives people a chance to come together and celebrate the Mexican culture and I think now to truly appreciate the impact that culture has had on the United States. So whether it be food, music, movies, art or dance make today a day of celebration for the underdog and an appreciation for the rich culture of Mexico.

Welcoming Baby Prinze

Yeah SMG had her baby girl and I am so happy to announce the baby's name is Charolette Grace Prinze. This is like an insane fan's dream!

Cabin Fever

Gone are the days where I can be satisfied just sitting around doing nothing. Today was pure torture, almost everything I wanted to get done involved a little manual labor and therefore had to wait for Stan, I couldn't go outside because our steps are icy, and I quickly grew tired of just blankly staring at the TV screen. I did get the laundry cleaned and now all I have to do is sort it all and put it away. I would make such a poor shut-in. Fortunatly my dad has offered to come down tomorrow and hang out with me (he has been craving some time away from the doggers). I was thinking we could go to the movies or something since those will be few and far between once Wyatt makes his entrance. I know that I am just stir crazy because I am so excited to see the baby and to finally get to hold him in my arms. I am also not going to lie it will be nice to be able to lay on my back again because my hips are getting super sore. I keep trying to persuade Wyatt to be born but I guess he isn't as ready as I am.
Tomorrow I am taking Sugar to get groomed so she looks all nice and pretty for us when we get home, and I have to call the pediatricians office and speak with the lactation consultants. I also have some craft projects I have been planning so I may make a trip out to Target in the morning to get all my supplies.
Work called me three times today so at least I know I am missed although it makes it all the more tempting to just go back to work until the baby is born. Perhaps if he isn't born by Thursday I will just break down and go back to work until he comes. I already miss everyone and have been thinking about how lucky I am to be hired at such an amazing workplace.

I just can't believe I am sitting here on the edge of it all about to have a baby. I don't think I have fully grasped the magnitude of it all. That at some point very soon I will be a mommy. Pretty crazy. I am lucky to have so many great people who can help me sort out all those baby questions. I keep reflecting on my own experiences with Baby Annabelle and Baby Sarah and wondering how the experience of this being my own baby will differ. I have all these amazing memories of them throughout their infant/toddler years and remember these huge breaking moments like when they first crawled, walk, spoke. Each moment was so amazing and I was so glad to be a part of it all. I just can't wait until I am a parent. I am also really excited to see Stan with Wyatt, and how he will be as a father.

Where Am I Going To?

I know it isn't for good and somehow I still volunteered to be working on a project while I am on maternity leave but I am still feeling very sad about leaving today knowing that I won't be returning for many moons. I just have my space here and my life here that has been something that has brought me so much joy and to leave it all behind temporarily feels wrong. It is so nice to be at a place where I feel accomplished and appreciated. It is so rewarding to be working with people who bring so much support and joy and food into the office. By far, Terri has been the best boss. She has been a person who I can learn from and who welcomes our growth (both inside and outside of the office). I love how she fosters our dreams and encourages our continnual persuit of education. I don't think I realized how sad this day would actually be for me. I guess I assumed that the "break" would be more welcomed but I can't help but wonder what is going to happen now? How will my committment to my work or my performance differ from its current position? Will I be able to balance work and home now that the baby will be present (c'mon now we all know I am not good at switching focuses like that)

Thanksgiving and more

So to celebrate what is prob. one of my favorite holidays we went to my Grandma Peggy's house. My mom, my Aunt, and I prepared the dinner for everyone to feast on. It was a great time! My dad led us in the blessing this year which turned out to be the most hilarious prayer to date. I believe he thanked God for him and my mom "muddeling along" and same with my Aunt and Uncle. It was too funny. Then we all ate way way way too much food and sacked out on the couch. We also celebrated my Aunt Carol's birthday with a chocolate cake (made by moi) and lots of dessert. The whole day everyone was waiting for me to go into labor. Lucky for me all I had to get through was some gas pains last night (which is no different from anyone else on Thanksgiving.)
This year we have so much to be Thankful for and I was really just using the time yesterday to reflect on all of that. Over the course of the year I found a job that I really enjoy doing and was able to learn the ins and outs of the job enough to become a mentor to others, I had lost a great deal of weight, explored acupuncture which has led to the suppression of my cysts, and of course going through a pregnancy and being on the verge of motherhood. In fact this time last year was our unsuccessful IUI. I remembered being so excited as I was finally able to go through the whole process and how upsetting it was to find out that it wasn't successful. Little did I know that thanks to the ovulation monitor I bought, the alternative medicine treatments I was recieving, a committment to weight loss, and everything we would be able to concieve a couple of months later. This may sound funny but I am thankful for the whole experience. To be challenged to get myself to a point where my body would be ready for this, to mature as an adult, to explore the human body and how it functions. I learned a lot about my body and became more in-tune with why my body produces the cysts and why they stick around a little longer than most. I learned about managing my body for a better life and why health has to be a focus (Its like I finally understand the whole Cabaret plot-just kidding).

Now, I am surrounded by things that will be used in the next coming year. Each item stikes a prediction for the year to come how many changes I will see come out of our son, getting to see our son, and growing into yet another stage in our lives-parents.

Following Up

Going back to my last entry I realized how absolutly right my Nay Sayer was. Oh the amazing time I had at this past meeting. In the middle of the night I remembered that I had forgotten to print out the forms where the scientists take their notes. Fortunatly Sonya is always in by 6 am so I knew that would be no problem at all. Next thing I forgot was to bring my own power strips. This is a fairly new procedure in the IC so I wasn't going to sweat it but I do have to remember for all my meetings coming up that the power strips are supplied and laid down by us and so the hotel will not do it for me. Actually it turned out to be more than ok that I forgot the power strips because I would have had to lay them all by myself and I am physically unable to at this time. Now onto what I feel was the worst part of my entire meeting. I was supposed to have a trainee there to assist me in the set-up of my meeting. I was actually pretty relieved despite our recent problems with the new people. I mean it was just nice to know that in an emergency I had back-up. After waiting outside for her in the cold for 10 minutes I decided to describe her to the concierge and the parking staff and to have the front desk let her know what room we were in. I went downstairs with all my meeting materials and began my set-up. As my meeting approached I decided to call Sonya and see if she had heard anything from the new person. And wow what a shocker there was no news. I was freaking out thinking this girl is prob. dead somewhere or really sick or something crazy bad. Then I get a call back from Sonya and guess who had just walked in the door. Oh yes, I was hot. I mean so mad I immediatly called our team leader and lost it on the phone. The worst part of it all is the girl was blaming me for not giving her the information for the meeting in e mail form. Oh I am sooooo sorry miss I have absolutly no work to do and don't have the good sense to be an adult who looks out for myself and ask a person what information I need to know. I mean of course I who has to be keeping track of my jobs, mentoring in contracts, and getting ready for my meeting should stop everything because I need to reach out to you. I don't know I was just livid. After a little bit of thinking time I decided that my job is not to be mad but to make sure that the IC has efficent ESAs so I called back and invited the girl to leave now and meet me at the meeting. I let her know that I will take responsibility in the sense that I did not reach out to her enough however she is an adult and needs to take initive because in the IC people are busy and focused on their jobs and responsibilities and may not be looking at what is concerning you. In addition my door is always open, e-mail always checked, and phone lines answered so I am available if she needs something but she has to come to me because my mind may not be in the same place as hers at that moment. I also explained to her that you can find meeting locations for everyone in the system and they are also written on our tracking board in the back and on top of that everyone else knew where the meeting was and how to get there so asking them would have helped her as well. I also explained that my inital reaction came from a place of worry which transformed into anger when I realized that she had been at work and didn't bother to call my cell phone to let me know of her decision (my number is right there on the wall next to her telephone). But this is an issue of miscommunication and since we have pinpointed it we both have learned what we need to do to ensure that this would not happen again. On that note I let her know that she was more than welcome to come to the meeting which hadn't started yet.
She gave me the biggest attitude on the telephone. She was just passing off everything I was saying which then really pissed me off because my attempt to be diplomatic and to say we both took fault but let's move forward was just passed off. After that I have to say I am pretty much done with her on any kind of social level. I will however still try to remain nice to her and just try to move past all of it not because I feel guilty at all but because she needs to learn and we have already discovered that she is a slow learner so I need to be patient and help her in any way I can.
In the end my meeting went well and I was able to get through this week pretty much unscaithed so I am pretty thankful for that.
A little back info. with our little troublemaker, she actually has been causing quite a bit of trouble around there and I don't know whether she falls into this stuff or if she is purposly causing it. I would like to remain positive and say that it is all accidental happenings but over the past couple months she has started a lot of fights. I just really hope something happens for her that makes her realize that this job is pretty nice and the people we work with are really great. It takes time people have shaky starts sometimes but that she can change that if she would like.

In other worlds, I have been really winding down this past week and have found myself pretty much unable to walk at times because there is a lot of pressure down there. He has dropped into the birth canal and is now just awaiting his time. Sometimes I will be walking along and feel that pressure and it sykes me out making me feel like he is just going to drop out while I keep on walking (ok I am so not that lucky to have a birth like that). Still the stage is set and all of this is just his little dress rehearsals. I am just hoping I can make it through my last few weeks of work. Actually I have 8 working days exactly--pretty crazy!!

A Long Days Night

I have been going crazy this week trying to get ready for my meeting tomorrow. After working late tonight I am looking forward to getting it all finished tomorrow. This meeting has been such a worry for me since I inherited from a former employee but now that I am standing on the verge of the actual event I am starting to already feel the relief. I have gone the extra mile to ensure that things are organized and I am hoping that all of that paid off. Of course I need to keep fighting that Nay Sayer inside that keeps telling me that you can never be too sure and soon enough I will know what it was I forgot. I think everything is in line but just in case I am going armed with a positive can-do attitude so any emerging problem will be solved gracefully and effectively.

A wonderful opportunity presented itself at work today. We had a representative from the Work-Life Center come out and give us the low down on Individual Development Plans which are plans that we come up with along side our supervisor (optional) to help us to advance to the place that we would like to be. Whether it be through positioning yourself to succeed within your current position by developing skills that you are weaker in or increasing your talents by continnuing to build those skills or it could be that you would like to seek something outside of where you are currently and what skills/requirements you will need to have in order to position yourself for that transistion. I think it is nice too because you begin with anaylizing your goals within the next 1-2 years and then from that point you come up with some goals for the next 3-5 years. By assessing these goals and matching them with the compentensies you will be able to build your way to success. The representative also plugged the work-life office and its ability to career council so I know I am going to check it out. I just love working at a place that fosters that growth and desire. And I love working with people who are willing to help you in anyway to get to where you would like to go.
In other news, we have started making a lot of headway with the baby stuff. There has been so much to build and wash and organize but I think Stan and I are really getting there. It is good too because I feel him being a lot lower than he was before so I am thinking that we have a limited amount of time before Baby Wyatt makes his first big appearence. We still have a lot of preparations but it is nice to see things start to filter out of their boxes and to have these physical representations of the baby. All of a sudden it feels so real which is so...surreal. Stan and I have been making a big effort to get everything clean and situated the best way possible for the baby and actually for William. I have such a blast when he comes over and plays with the toys we have so we are getting a little play area for him set-up here too. That way he knows he is always welcome to come over and play with Uncle Stan Aunt Grace and Cousin Wyatt.