Hmm… ok, not completely different – we’re back to the work life balance question. It just feels a little different… maybe… Well, it feels effing overwhelming is what it feels…
Oh right, the point.
So last week my husband came home and told me that he’d just heard on NPR that furloughs were on the way. Apparently the number of days of furlough would depend on how much you currently make starting at 3 and going up. I am deeply suppressing my tangents on this and will just say his is 5 days.
It’s unclear to us what 5 days means – 5 of his 24 work days or 5 8 hour equivalents (about a week’s pay v. 2.5 weeks pay). And there’s so little info available as he hasn’t heard it directly yet. I’m going to refrain from shooting my mouth off here to blow off a lot of steam in deference to him / his work, as that’s not REALLY what this post is about. I’m just giving you a framework to work in here before I start on the path.
So here’s the framework – he’s got a furlough coming (oh, a furlough means you don’t work/don’t get paid for some amount of time. So rather than just cutting your salary by 2 or 4 or whatever percent, they pay you that much less, but you also don’t have to work), so we’ve been looking at our finances and our plans anyway. He’s been talking about getting a part time job in addition to fire fighting. He’s even considered quitting and going back to consulting full time.
Of course, if he works 5 or 6 days a week, what does that do to our current daycare amalgam – where I work 3 days and have the baby the other 4 (usually 2 or 3 with him), he works 2 days and gets her on his own 2 and his Mom watches her one day. We weren’t sure we could bring his Mom up to 3 days a week – she might not want to do it / it might be too much. So we talked about whether I should quit (I don’t really want to. I don’t always like my job, but I like the balance) or what we need to consider.
And then…
Reorgs are coming at my office. Due to some M&As, we likely don’t need as many support staff (I’m in finance) as we have and the role I currently have is probably on the chopping block. But I’m a good worker and I’ve known my boss a long time and he thinks there might be some other options for me. But part time? That doesn’t seem too likely – at least not short term.
He mentioned a couple of options. In another life, one of them might actually have been of real interest to me. Maybe it still is… but really, right now (right this second), I like getting some good quality time with my baby and just working 3 days. Maybe I could get into the stuff I’d be doing, but the idea of leaving her hurts my heart a little.
Always the negotiator, I suggested that maybe I could jump into that role full time for a couple of months and then once I had the hang of it and had reorg’d that team a little bit to better use their strengths, maybe I could go part time. He agreed to present that version to his boss. But… whoa…
I mean, it’s good to be wanted and to have a good reputation. It’s good to have a job (the other option is that I’d be losing my job in a couple of months). But it feels like we’re really getting hit with a lot.
And…
Even though he’s going to float the full time for awhile transitioning to part time idea by his boss, there’s no guarantee on that. I may get into and determine – yeah, this is really a full time job. And then I’m screwed and working full time. Maybe I’d get lucky and find something else, but I probably wouldn’t even make as much as my severance package would have been in that time.
It all makes my head (and heart and stomach and…) hurt.
Anyway, thank you for listening. I just needed to throw this all out there to the universe. Please say a prayer for me or send me good vibes or whatever. Thanks!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
An idea as smooth as a baby's bottom... I hope!
OK after my last post dissing pampers (I apologize to my good friend who works for P&G, but seriously, man, you didn’t see my baby’s butt!), this seems like a fitting next post. Stephanie at My New Life As Mom is hosting a “Fluffy Bottom Cloth Diaper Event” form June 1-30.
As we were going through the “what are we going to do” ugh of the diaper rash issue, I mentioned to my husband that if we didn’t come up with another solution, I wanted to try cloth diapers. He was totally opposed. I believe the exact quote was – I’d prefer to let her go naked and just clean up the furniture/rugs later. (um, ew!)
I think a big part of the problem is neither one of us really has any idea how cloth diapers work (to this point, I’ve found disposables to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century!). We didn’t wear them. No one younger than us in our family wore them. I’ve heard stories – you rinse them in your toilet? Who knows what else? But none from anyone who has ever used them.
So I’m kind of excited by this event – because it’s not just giveaways (yes, I do love those too!). It’s also some education about cloth diapers – styles, price comparison, misconceptions, etc.
Anyway, if you’re at all interested too, go visit herhere and find out more.
As we were going through the “what are we going to do” ugh of the diaper rash issue, I mentioned to my husband that if we didn’t come up with another solution, I wanted to try cloth diapers. He was totally opposed. I believe the exact quote was – I’d prefer to let her go naked and just clean up the furniture/rugs later. (um, ew!)
I think a big part of the problem is neither one of us really has any idea how cloth diapers work (to this point, I’ve found disposables to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century!). We didn’t wear them. No one younger than us in our family wore them. I’ve heard stories – you rinse them in your toilet? Who knows what else? But none from anyone who has ever used them.
So I’m kind of excited by this event – because it’s not just giveaways (yes, I do love those too!). It’s also some education about cloth diapers – styles, price comparison, misconceptions, etc.
Anyway, if you’re at all interested too, go visit herhere and find out more.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Doesn’t the name Pampers imply some level of … pampering?
When the monkey was born, the hospital had Pampers Swaddlers – they gave us a bunch to take home and we’d gotten a bunch at the baby shower. They seemed like a good choice. But we did also have some Huggies – I think some free samples and maybe some from friends. We tried them and it seemed that we had far more leaks / explosions / ew moments with Huggies than with the right size Pampers (my husband had an uncanny ability to open the bigger size packages she hadn’t yet grown into and think they were the right ones in those days).
So while I’ve never been much of a person for brand loyalty (people loyalty sure! Brand – um, is it on sale?), we became Pampers people. And for 13 or 14 months, we felt a loyalty here. Sure, Costco sold Huggies for cheaper, but remember? They leaked. Not worth it. And there were the non-name brands – but didn’t that seem risky for my little munchkin’s caboose? No, Pampers people we were.
And then a friend of mine mentioned that she thought that Pampers had changed their diapers – to some new “dry max.” She said the box looked the same, but the new diapers were thinner and she thought that they might have even caused a diaper rash.
I didn’t think too much of it. I didn’t even realize that they’d changed. And then, I started to notice a diaper rash on the monkey – maybe a little over a month ago. OK, these things happen. She’d never really been prone to it before, but ok – we need to get on top of changing her more often and lube her up with diaper cream. I’m on it.
Except that didn’t seem to do it. It would get a little better, but the second you didn’t cover her in an inch thick layer of diaper cream for one or two changes (usually it would be that I’d be out and didn’t have it on hand), the rash would be back. I mentioned to my husband that maybe we should see a doctor, but he brought me back to the point I’d been making for a week – what will the doctor tell us? Change her more frequently and get cream on her every time. We just need to do that.
Until one day, I went to change her and her butt looked horrible! I mean, it looked really painful. It was all red with lots of angry looking bumps. I called the doctor right away and in we went. He told me that what had started as diaper rash had opened the door to other opportunistic infections – staph (but not the bad kind. The kind that is always on your skin.) and a yeast infection. He gave me his “recipe” for diaper cream, called Dr. Bill’s Butt Paste – it was equal parts A&D, Lotrimin AF and Neosporin. I went to get the ingredients and, though not a brand girl, went name brand on all – creating a tub of $20 diaper cream.
A week later she was still all red. It wasn’t as bad. But it wasn’t good. We went back. I saw the other doctor and she gave me a prescription. She mentioned lots of possible causes – any change in diet or soap or cream and did mention that some people thought the new pampers could be the cause of this. I began to wonder… But didn’t switch her out yet as I had the new prescription.
In our overzealousness, we ran through the whole 30 day supply in a week. And really – her rash wasn’t gone. It was better certainly – but she was still red and a little bumpy. We went back to the doctor – he gave us another script (telling us to only use this one twice a day, not every time – apparently not all of us were listening when this advice was given (ahem)) and we mentioned we’d switched to Huggies the day before. He told us – you’re actually not the first parents to make this connection. I can’t tell you if it’s true, but you’re not alone in thinking it.
A week later was her 15 month appointment and, of course, we did another check on the rash. She looked a ton better, but her skin still looked a little discolored. The doctor looked and said that discoloration actually wasn’t diaper rash, but the healing skin. The rash was gone, but it could take up to 6 months (SIX MONTHS!) for the color to go away and the skin to be entirely normal.
UGH. So we are no longer Pampers people (this is what I get for brand loyalty!). And the internet is implying that a number of other people are going that same way – though Pampers official statement is still that this product was well tested and is not an issue. We’ve given away the rest of our size 3’s (it was of course the ONE TIME we were totally stocked up!) to friends not having the issue.
Is anyone else having any issues with the new Pampers? Do you have a specific product for which you have unshakeable brand loyalty?
So while I’ve never been much of a person for brand loyalty (people loyalty sure! Brand – um, is it on sale?), we became Pampers people. And for 13 or 14 months, we felt a loyalty here. Sure, Costco sold Huggies for cheaper, but remember? They leaked. Not worth it. And there were the non-name brands – but didn’t that seem risky for my little munchkin’s caboose? No, Pampers people we were.
And then a friend of mine mentioned that she thought that Pampers had changed their diapers – to some new “dry max.” She said the box looked the same, but the new diapers were thinner and she thought that they might have even caused a diaper rash.
I didn’t think too much of it. I didn’t even realize that they’d changed. And then, I started to notice a diaper rash on the monkey – maybe a little over a month ago. OK, these things happen. She’d never really been prone to it before, but ok – we need to get on top of changing her more often and lube her up with diaper cream. I’m on it.
Except that didn’t seem to do it. It would get a little better, but the second you didn’t cover her in an inch thick layer of diaper cream for one or two changes (usually it would be that I’d be out and didn’t have it on hand), the rash would be back. I mentioned to my husband that maybe we should see a doctor, but he brought me back to the point I’d been making for a week – what will the doctor tell us? Change her more frequently and get cream on her every time. We just need to do that.
Until one day, I went to change her and her butt looked horrible! I mean, it looked really painful. It was all red with lots of angry looking bumps. I called the doctor right away and in we went. He told me that what had started as diaper rash had opened the door to other opportunistic infections – staph (but not the bad kind. The kind that is always on your skin.) and a yeast infection. He gave me his “recipe” for diaper cream, called Dr. Bill’s Butt Paste – it was equal parts A&D, Lotrimin AF and Neosporin. I went to get the ingredients and, though not a brand girl, went name brand on all – creating a tub of $20 diaper cream.
A week later she was still all red. It wasn’t as bad. But it wasn’t good. We went back. I saw the other doctor and she gave me a prescription. She mentioned lots of possible causes – any change in diet or soap or cream and did mention that some people thought the new pampers could be the cause of this. I began to wonder… But didn’t switch her out yet as I had the new prescription.
In our overzealousness, we ran through the whole 30 day supply in a week. And really – her rash wasn’t gone. It was better certainly – but she was still red and a little bumpy. We went back to the doctor – he gave us another script (telling us to only use this one twice a day, not every time – apparently not all of us were listening when this advice was given (ahem)) and we mentioned we’d switched to Huggies the day before. He told us – you’re actually not the first parents to make this connection. I can’t tell you if it’s true, but you’re not alone in thinking it.
A week later was her 15 month appointment and, of course, we did another check on the rash. She looked a ton better, but her skin still looked a little discolored. The doctor looked and said that discoloration actually wasn’t diaper rash, but the healing skin. The rash was gone, but it could take up to 6 months (SIX MONTHS!) for the color to go away and the skin to be entirely normal.
UGH. So we are no longer Pampers people (this is what I get for brand loyalty!). And the internet is implying that a number of other people are going that same way – though Pampers official statement is still that this product was well tested and is not an issue. We’ve given away the rest of our size 3’s (it was of course the ONE TIME we were totally stocked up!) to friends not having the issue.
Is anyone else having any issues with the new Pampers? Do you have a specific product for which you have unshakeable brand loyalty?
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Mother's Day
I mentioned last week that we went away on Friday and Saturday. What I didn’t mention was that the combination of pollen and screaming (when I was awake. I can’t account for the blacked out parts…) pretty much destroyed my voice. On Friday afternoon it worked – sort of a sultry low voice. My husband kept asking me to say something sexy – like 'you can hold the remote.' But Saturday morning, it was just plain gone. I actually didn’t feel too bad – I just couldn’t speak much. You’d think this could work out well for my husband’s weekend, but instead he spent a lot of time hearing angry whispered “yells” from me telling him to STOP MAKING FUN OF ME!
We got to his parents house to pick up the baby and his family noticed my lack of voice right away. The husband looked at them and said, but don’t make fun of her for it – you’ll get in a lot of trouble.
And would you believe his Mom started making fun of me for it!?!?! Even noting, it’s OK, I won’t get in trouble / she won’t get mad at me. (!!!!!!) Ok, now NORMALLY I really love my mother in law. She’s (well, usually!) a very sweet lady and always very nice to me and doesn’t try to tell me what to do or how to raise my child or things I should do for her son – or ANY of those typical “mother in law” type things. But, dude, SERIOUSLY! You’re going to rank on the laryngitis! When your son just forewarned you about this.
Actually, she only did it once. Maybe she saw the look I shot her son as she whispered and faked sign language to me.
Anyway, we went to bed pretty early again (I was feeling wiped) and got to sleep through till 7:15 when the monkey decided it was time to be up! After her breakfast, my husband bundled her into the car to go buy bagels (my breakfast of choice) while I went back to bed. We finished up and got ready to go to church for 10:30. He was about ready to go (and laughed that I changed the baby from the jeans, red socks and colorful pink sweater into a little party dress. It was mother’s day after all!) when we noticed the baby looked exhausted. Church was NOT going to be fun. So we put her down for a nap and promptly fell asleep ourselves with plans to go at noon.
Well, thank goodness the “noon” mass is actually at 12:15, as I woke up at 12:14 with a SHIT! As I saw the clock (I like to throw in as many expletives as I can to celebrate the Sabbath… Yup, I’m an overachiever that way). We ran to get back out the door and then drove like “Catholics late for mass” (my husband’s universal expression for really, really horrible and impatient driving) and made it there horribly late – but it was our last church option, so we went with it. (It’s been a lot of years since I’ve slept through a noon mass – oh, I miss those days… ;))
Our afternoon was pretty low key. We FINALLY put up the baby gates on our stairs (something that will perplex the dog to no end for days to come!) and hung out till we met my in-laws for dinner. Late. As always.
I think we just might not be very good at low key…
Tell me about your Mother’s Day. Or how you have managed to combat the ever ongoing battle with late! (We won’t discuss how this post topic is a week late…)
We got to his parents house to pick up the baby and his family noticed my lack of voice right away. The husband looked at them and said, but don’t make fun of her for it – you’ll get in a lot of trouble.
And would you believe his Mom started making fun of me for it!?!?! Even noting, it’s OK, I won’t get in trouble / she won’t get mad at me. (!!!!!!) Ok, now NORMALLY I really love my mother in law. She’s (well, usually!) a very sweet lady and always very nice to me and doesn’t try to tell me what to do or how to raise my child or things I should do for her son – or ANY of those typical “mother in law” type things. But, dude, SERIOUSLY! You’re going to rank on the laryngitis! When your son just forewarned you about this.
Actually, she only did it once. Maybe she saw the look I shot her son as she whispered and faked sign language to me.
Anyway, we went to bed pretty early again (I was feeling wiped) and got to sleep through till 7:15 when the monkey decided it was time to be up! After her breakfast, my husband bundled her into the car to go buy bagels (my breakfast of choice) while I went back to bed. We finished up and got ready to go to church for 10:30. He was about ready to go (and laughed that I changed the baby from the jeans, red socks and colorful pink sweater into a little party dress. It was mother’s day after all!) when we noticed the baby looked exhausted. Church was NOT going to be fun. So we put her down for a nap and promptly fell asleep ourselves with plans to go at noon.
Well, thank goodness the “noon” mass is actually at 12:15, as I woke up at 12:14 with a SHIT! As I saw the clock (I like to throw in as many expletives as I can to celebrate the Sabbath… Yup, I’m an overachiever that way). We ran to get back out the door and then drove like “Catholics late for mass” (my husband’s universal expression for really, really horrible and impatient driving) and made it there horribly late – but it was our last church option, so we went with it. (It’s been a lot of years since I’ve slept through a noon mass – oh, I miss those days… ;))
Our afternoon was pretty low key. We FINALLY put up the baby gates on our stairs (something that will perplex the dog to no end for days to come!) and hung out till we met my in-laws for dinner. Late. As always.
I think we just might not be very good at low key…
Tell me about your Mother’s Day. Or how you have managed to combat the ever ongoing battle with late! (We won’t discuss how this post topic is a week late…)
Monday, May 17, 2010
Is it a good sign or a bad sign that I am not the only one in the family cooing over baby ANYthings?
My husband got home from work about 8 on Friday morning and heard a noise in the front yard - sort of a crying / hurt animal noise. But he didn't see anything, so he came in.
About 9:30, we were headed out and then he saw it - a baby raccoon was at the bottom of our tree in the ivy (or the #$%@$ ivy, as I prefer to call it), looking like it wanted to climb up, but couldn't. We stopped to look at it for awhile, took pictures of its cuteness and then wondered... hmm... you don't usually see baby animals all by themselves...
We decided that mama must be gone and this little orphan was left alone on the lawn. My husband asked what we should do. Pragmatically I said, we should go to the appointment we were now late for and think of what to do about this when we got home, as it would surely still be there if mama was really "gone."
We got back around 11:30 and didn't see "Rocky" (or Roxanne. I never really got to know the little furball *that* well). But then we went out to the store a few hours later and I realize he (or she) had just moved a bit and was now about 3 feet from the tree on the other side. We also noticed that there was a second baby over there, but it looked like that one hadn't made it. So we were left wondering what to do again?
Now here's the thing - if this were a full grown raccoon, we'd be giving the thing a damn wide berth. I might be calling animal control for that, but for very different reasons! But this one was... cute!
So we called animal control who gave us the number of some rescue operations in the area. We left a message and headed to the store. All the while my husband was saying, "we can't adopt a raccoon" (in that voice that says - I'm trying to think of how we can adopt this raccoon...). The rescue people called us back and offered to pick it up. They also confirmed that we shouldn't feed it (they have very sensitive stomachs as babies) and we should be careful about touching it (keep the baby and the dog away), as they can be born with rabies and it can be transferred via fluids.
So when we got home, my husband put on his fire gloves (to protect if it bit) and set up a little "home" for it - a cardboard box with newspapers, a hospital blanket and a hot water bottle. Apparently, when he picked it up (by the scruff as mama would have), it barely reacted at all. And we waited for the rescue people to come by. (Side note - when he called the first rescue number, he got the "rescuer's" husband who said - she's taking ANOTHER raccoon?!)
After a little while, my husband went to check on the baby (he'd left the box outside) and it was gone! There was a big scratch (from the outside) in the box and the little raccoon was gone along with his/her sibling on the lawn. Mama came back! Or so my husband assures me to prevent the inevitable - did something come and eat the baby raccoon? - conversation.
Now all this is cute and Disney. But just wait for my blog in a year or two - and those #$~!% raccoons are in my garbage again! ;)
So am I the only sucker who tries to save baby animals (that will later destroy my yard!) or do you do the same?
About 9:30, we were headed out and then he saw it - a baby raccoon was at the bottom of our tree in the ivy (or the #$%@$ ivy, as I prefer to call it), looking like it wanted to climb up, but couldn't. We stopped to look at it for awhile, took pictures of its cuteness and then wondered... hmm... you don't usually see baby animals all by themselves...
We decided that mama must be gone and this little orphan was left alone on the lawn. My husband asked what we should do. Pragmatically I said, we should go to the appointment we were now late for and think of what to do about this when we got home, as it would surely still be there if mama was really "gone."
We got back around 11:30 and didn't see "Rocky" (or Roxanne. I never really got to know the little furball *that* well). But then we went out to the store a few hours later and I realize he (or she) had just moved a bit and was now about 3 feet from the tree on the other side. We also noticed that there was a second baby over there, but it looked like that one hadn't made it. So we were left wondering what to do again?
Now here's the thing - if this were a full grown raccoon, we'd be giving the thing a damn wide berth. I might be calling animal control for that, but for very different reasons! But this one was... cute!
So we called animal control who gave us the number of some rescue operations in the area. We left a message and headed to the store. All the while my husband was saying, "we can't adopt a raccoon" (in that voice that says - I'm trying to think of how we can adopt this raccoon...). The rescue people called us back and offered to pick it up. They also confirmed that we shouldn't feed it (they have very sensitive stomachs as babies) and we should be careful about touching it (keep the baby and the dog away), as they can be born with rabies and it can be transferred via fluids.
So when we got home, my husband put on his fire gloves (to protect if it bit) and set up a little "home" for it - a cardboard box with newspapers, a hospital blanket and a hot water bottle. Apparently, when he picked it up (by the scruff as mama would have), it barely reacted at all. And we waited for the rescue people to come by. (Side note - when he called the first rescue number, he got the "rescuer's" husband who said - she's taking ANOTHER raccoon?!)
After a little while, my husband went to check on the baby (he'd left the box outside) and it was gone! There was a big scratch (from the outside) in the box and the little raccoon was gone along with his/her sibling on the lawn. Mama came back! Or so my husband assures me to prevent the inevitable - did something come and eat the baby raccoon? - conversation.
Now all this is cute and Disney. But just wait for my blog in a year or two - and those #$~!% raccoons are in my garbage again! ;)
So am I the only sucker who tries to save baby animals (that will later destroy my yard!) or do you do the same?
Thursday, May 13, 2010
When I really have nothing to blog are knock knock jokes acceptable?
As I've already whined in earlier posts, I'm a little under the weather this week and therefore everything I'm coming up with is starting to sound all whiney and annoying even to my own ears (eyes?). So rather than post those things, I wanted to direct you over to Ian at the Daily Dose of Reality who is sponsoring Mission Monkey, a raffle to raise money to help his friend whose young daughter was diagnosed with cancer.
While I've never experienced this (and pray to God I never will), some good friends of mine have (with a happy ending, as their daughter is doing very well now) and can only imagine how rough this is for that family, so I wanted to spread the word to the blogging world. Thanks!
Click on monkey to donate...please help!
While I've never experienced this (and pray to God I never will), some good friends of mine have (with a happy ending, as their daughter is doing very well now) and can only imagine how rough this is for that family, so I wanted to spread the word to the blogging world. Thanks!
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