Working Girl

This week was my first week back at work. So Sunday I spent the day moping around the house, repeatedly lamenting about my last day at home. Monday I cried as Mac headed out the door with Megan, but despite the grief, the separation was somewhat freeing as well. After taking a long shower, I realized I could wear anything I wanted and not have to worry about what can and cannot be spit up on. So I headed out of the house in an outfit that made it obvious that I haven't been completely wasting my time watching What Not to Wear.Heck, I even had pointy shoes on!

I spent a lot of the morning catching up with people I hadn't seen in a while and then I moved on to reviewing bone marrow cases. This was surprisingly familiar even after four months off and much of my dictation just seemed to roll off the tongue. Fortunately, it was a light day so I got to go home early, which was great because I was craving some Megan time and my pointy shoes were really hurting my feet! Tuesday was an even lighter day at work, which was also nice because I again had problems with my fashion conscious footwear. My cute little ballet flats turned out to be a homicidal pair hell-bent on making me fall flat on my face as the left one would not stay plantarly planted!

In this week back I am especially glad to have my own office as it has made pumping at work much easier. Additionally, I had to remove my nylons to rectify Tuesday's shoe situation.

As the weeks wear on, I expect the morning good-byes will get less traumatic and I am hoping I can say the same for my shoes!

Get a Leg Up

It took Megan a little more than a month to "uncurl" from her fetal position to a fully extended state. Having now mastered laying flat, Megan has moved back to the feet-in-the-air stage, only this time it is of her own volition.

"Watch me lift my feet while wearing this groovy 70's outfit!"

"Sometimes I like to kick up my feet and chill in the tub. Note my absolute lack of modesty!"

"Watch out Winnie the Pooh; I can kick your a**!"

Swing Lo and Other Updates

Megan hits 16 weeks tomorrow and she has yet to spend a night in the nice crib we have for her. Up until now she has been sleeping in her carseat on the floor of her room, but it seems that our little hermit crab is now ready to shed that shell in search of new sleeping quarters. Megan now twists and writhes in her carseat and will only sleep in it for very short periods whereas she had been routinely sleeping 6 hours at a stretch. Unfortunately, the crib hasn't been the right fit either.

Here you can see Megan getting all bent out of shape. After a week of this we decided to put her in her crib. She lasted 45 minutes, almost all of which was spent crying. And when we finally did get her she was perpendicular to her original position. The next day I got a crib sponge-wedgie thingy that is supposed to make the baby more comfortable in the crib; she cried twice as hard but wasn't able to turn herself. So Thursday night when Megan fell asleep in her swing I told Mac to just leave her. She slept ten hours. In fact she slept so well, Mac and I actually lost sleep over it! Around 12:30 we both woke up surprise we hadn't yet heard from Megan (she had gone to sleep at 5) and by 2:30 when she had finally woken up, Mac had gone to check on her twice! I am sure this extra sleep (Megan's norm is 6 hrs, seven her previous best) and super early bedtime (again norm around 7-7:30) were a result of poor sleep the preceeding week, but when it came time to put her to bed last night, I didn't have to think twice; I put her in her swing! (she did seven hours - more than worth all the D batteries we will be buying).
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Today is my last day off of work. Come Monday, Megan will be headed off to daycare while I mope to work. There are 22 work days left until Mac is out for the summer. Megan is spending 8 of them in the Canby day care, 11 with my mom who will be staying with us for two weeks, one with us (we are both taking a day off for the house inspection on Wednesday), and the last two we'll have to get creative for. I spent much of the past week doing extra cuddle time.
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We went to Salem yesterday to work on the financing for our house. The summary goes something like this: fees, fees, debt, debt, more debt, and a pinch of fees. I know this is pretty standard stuff, but I feel like I have just mortgaged my first born. Things are a lot more complicated with two houses in the mix as well. Meanwhile both our Portland realtors cancelled appointments with us. One had a son get hit in the head with a baseball; the dad of the other had a heart attack. To the cynic (me), it seems like an awful lot of realtor tragedy to be coincindence, but of course, I was a polite well-wisher.

Sucker

Megan hasn't shown much interest in sucking her thumb but she sure does love those first two fingers!

Happy Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, I got a baby who slept till 9:30 (!!), a job contract (which is good since we had already made an offer on a house), and a necklace with a pearl and a garnet (Megan's birthstone). But best of all I got lots of smiles, tongue and all, from Megan.

House

Come July, we will be the proud owners of a home in Salem, nevermind that i don't actually start working in Salem until October. The house comes with a spectacular view and incredibly tacky 70's decor. Fortunately, we have lots of friends with experience fixing cosmetic problems in their homes that we can consult.

Now we have to figure out what we are going to do with this house as it is a great time to sell, but it is a much easier commute to OHSU from here than Salem.

Anyway, if you are ever in the mood to strip wallpaper, let us know!

Busy

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy. Mac's mom came for a weekend visit, then I took Megan to see my parents in Sacramento for a week, then we had a visit from Mac's grandma and aunt and all the while we've been meeting with realators about selling our house. Additionally, we've been to Salem twice to look at houses.

During our week in Salem we did lots of hiking with my mom. Moving the seat to the smallest setting proved to be the key to Megan's backpack comfort. In addition to several couple mile hikes Megan was a trooper for a six+ mile hike along the American River - whew, I was beat after that one! Additionally, Megan did great on both of the plane rides. As my seatmate noted, "She was an angel." Duh!

House hunting in Salem has also gone pretty well. We are preparing to make an offer on a house about ten miles south of the city. The house was built in 1979 and has only had one owner. Unfortunately, the owners never decided to update the decor so we will get to enjoy brown bathroom fixtures (sink, shower, toilet and even the jetted tub) and orange formica until we get around to replacing them.

Megan has also picked up a few new behaviors in the past couple of weeks. She now loves to have her tongue out and even smiles with a fully projected tongue. With the discovery of the tongue comes licking - Megan will lick anything she can get close enough to her mouth and can soak a bib, blanket or baby bjorn in a matter of minutes.

Also, Megan has fallen in love with that cute baby in the mirror. Just a glimpse is enough to get a smile out of her and can even quiet her from crying. And watching the baby dance in the mirror is one of two things that consistently gets a laugh (the other is fart noises with my mouth!).

I'd like to say things are going to calm down a bit, but we have plenty or realator meetings and a garage sale to keep us busy this week and then it is only one more week until I head back to work. :(