Continuing the Kitchen

Well, we are continuing to make progress in the kitchen. However, it definitely feels as if we have been at this project FOREVER. It is good to look back at our "before" photos and see how great the changes really are that we've done. Last weekend the husband conquered the floor tiles. Even without doing any fancy designs he still had to cut something like 60 tiles. He bought a cute little wet saw from our favorite store (Lowe's)...I swear it looks just like something Fisher Price would make with its blue and yellow plastic bits :-)

I finally completed assembling all of the cabinets (14 in total) and we were ready to start hanging those beasts. Ikea does make things pretty idiot proof which is really nice when you are heading into a project for the first time. The upper cabinets hang on a metal rail that gets heavily drilled into the wall. This method is pretty popular in European countries, because people often take their kitchen cabinets with them when they change houses and the rail allows them to be movable. By midnight last night, we had manage to get three cabinets up: a pantry and two upper cabinets. YEAH! We did come to realize that being in a 70 year old house means that not many of the walls are plum anymore. So even though our cabinets are perfectly level. . . the walls/ceiling around them may be slightly off. I just say give everyone a beer when they get here and it will all look great :-)

Maternity Leave

I finally got around to contacting my job's human resources department to get the low-down on maternity leave...

Well, I have learned that United States is woefully behind the rest of the industrialized world in this area. We definitely compensate our new mothers and fathers the least and demand the return to work the earliest. US Federal law mandates that employer allow up to 12 weeks unpaid maternity leave. Um...most of the moms that I know can't afford this! WTH!

Here at my job, there is at least some comfort, but not much...like being given a washcloth when you ask for blanket to keep warm. Here, I get paid time off from when my doctor says "no more work for you" until she says "you're okay to get back to work." HR thought that this was on average 2 weeks prior to birth until 6-8weeks afterwards. However, this counts in the 12 weeks of federal unpaid time...so I can take additional time off up to 12 weeks, but it would be unpaid. Plus, our winter holiday time also is included in this 12 week period, and not an addition to (even though everyone is on holiday then and not just me). In the end, it still sounds a little sketchy that the big guys here aren't trying to be too accommodating to the pregnant females or anyone who ask for temporary disability benefits. The big kicker for me was that my work load isn't lighten at all for either the fall or spring semesters. This even pissed off most of my department pretty royally. This means I still have an overload in the fall as well as in the spring semesters. However, I might be able to negotiate it so that I am working less in February and more in April/May.

So, in the end, the little peanut is due at the end of November. I hope to work until I bust and take the time off (6-8 weeks) after the kiddie is born. This puts me at the end of January when I have to be back here. We'll see. This is all barring that there are no complications along the way and that I don't get put on bed rest (God Forbid!).

Yard Sales and Bras

Now that we own a house, the husband has lifted the ban on yardsale-ing and bringing home weird stuff. And there was much rejoicing! Yeah! (I have a bit of a problem of buying hideous things at cheap prices just for the humor of it and the good deal). Now this also means that I must make an effort to actually carry a wallet so I can stop and check out the merchandise. I'm hoping to find a newer crib at a good price so that we don't have to purchase one. Possibly a baby carrier as well. I have already found several too cute little outfits, a bouncer, and a play mat/gym. Currently, my baby finds are being shoved into the nursery closet because the room isn't finished yet. We must get through the kitchen first! One project at a time!

So as I was on the high from successful purchases at sales, I decided to head to the mall to find harnesses for the ol' girls now that they have increased in size. Well, in a short smidgen of time, my euphoria plummeted. I just need to accept that I am not the norm when it comes to the chest region. Nothing fit, maternity didn't fit, large shirts didn't fit, and I was completely bummed. As a girl, I promptly went home and had ice cream and a good self-pitying cry. The husband tried to be supportive and I know he loves me in all of my more-than-a-handful beauty :-) I don't think I would have taken it as harshly had not the baby hormones been working in overdrive. However, the internet is such a blessing...I went on-line and found chats of moms in the same boat as me. And I got some great leads on awesome websites for my size (www.figleaves.com). I got to try on my first undergarment armor yesterday and was completely flabbergasted at how well it fit AND how sexy it looked. Not to mention that the hubby was pleased as well. NEVER am I heading to the local retail stores again that make me feel so horrible! I am outside main-stream and (once again) proud to be abnormal!

Indiana Jones Movie

This movie is a must see for Indiana Jones fans! I was worried that the movie would be too far off from the originals or the producers would try way too hard to make it too similar to the originals. I was really hoping it wouldn't be too hokey and I really wished that Harrison Ford still looked so cute in that hat.

We went to an evening showing on Saturday night. The theater we headed to was showing the movie just about every 45minutes in on one of their screens, so we had no problem catching a good time and there was very few people in the audience. The movie was great! I loved it! I loved Harrison Ford and the cute guy playing the kid! It had just the right amount of hokey-ness to be similar to the earlier versions, but also had way better special effects :-) Funny one-liner jokes and some great nods (screen-shots, comments, etc.) to the previous Jones movies. Highly, highly, recommend this flick for a good summertime movie!

Second Doctor's Visit

On Friday I had my second doctor's visit so far. Have I mentioned how much I think my OBGYN is awesome? She nice and young and actually listens to her patients. She usually remembers that I am a biologist and she doesn't have to treat me like an idiot...yep, I already know that a whole lot of mitosis (cell division) is going on in my body...yep, I already know the stats for miscarriages and that they often are not the woman's fault...yep, I already know my blood type because we test that at school.

This time, I brought the husband along with me to meet her and to get a chance to hear the heartbeat. AND THAT WAS KICK ASS! Our little guy was squirming quite a bit so we had a few seconds of panic while she was trying to find the peanut. Then, loud and clear, we heard the quick heart beats for about a minute before the baby moved around again. Aww.... Smiles for everyone.

We left with information about deciding to do a Quad test or not. This is a type of genetic screening test for several of the common genetic disorders such as Down's syndrome. It uses a blood draw from me rather than from the baby directly and just lets us now the possibility for these disorders. We only have a few weeks window to decide about whether or not to test and what to do with the potential outcomes. I foresee deep late night discussions in our future...