Whew

These past few weeks of training my replacement at work have been so exhausting. Training is one of my least favorite things to do in a job. Luckily Thursday is my last day, so the end is finally in sight!

Here's something I've been thinking about lately: As a woman, mother, wife, friend, sister, etc. How are we supposed to do it all? From being a good mom (with all it includes), to being a good wife (ditto), providing a clean home, providing nutritious meals, being a good employee, spending quality time with friends and family, fulfilling my commitments as a volunteer, when do I find the time to do the things I'm supposed to do for myself?

I've been so sick this winter. I am currently battling my eighth cold of the season (no, this is not an exaggeration). There is no good reason I should have been so sick this winter. I eat relatively healthy, I take vitamins, I'm wash my hands often, my home is clean, so why have I been so sick? My answer: stress. This winter with Nathan turning one, the holidays, travel, work, changing jobs, and the regular every-day stresses has me totally maxed out ... and I didn't even realize it. It took my body trying to force myself to rest for me to realize it.

So even though it's a bit late to start anything for Lent, I've decided to try to do something for myself once a day. I have to force myself to relax. But how do I find the time? There are always better things to be done, bathrooms to be cleaned, Nathans to be played with. I guess it all comes down to the guilty feeling I have for having someone watch Nathan for me ... again. My sister watches him one day a week, and my mom watches him one day a week. A lot of my evenings are taken up by meetings, so he's home with his dad. I feel like weekends should be reserved for time with family.

I'm really not asking you all to solve my problems or answer my questions. This is more of a therapeutic post which will hopefully put things into perspective for me. So, starting this week, I vow to do something just for myself at least three times a week. Be it something huge like a massage at a spa, or small like reading a magazine and lighting my favorite candle. Hopefully this will give me the energy to be all the things I want to be, and stop the sickness.

Where is the line?

So I was faced with a rather difficult predicament this week. I was informed by my boss about a major change he wanted to make concerning one of our employees. I don't know why he told me what he did. It wasn't any of my business and I really didn't want to know. But this change would not only affect this employee's salary, but also benefits, position, etc. My boss planned to drop the news with no warning at all.

I consider this co-worker to be a friend. Not a close friend, but I feel like we're more than just co-workers. We've done things together outside of work a couple of times and we have fun at the office too. This is going to be devistating news. So do I say something or not?

And of course, I couldn't post without these:

He loves talking to his bears on the Pack 'n Play mobile. He'll talk to them, smile at them, and play face games with them. They are his friends.

Tummy time!

Am I the only one?

Yes, I am at work today. The Monday before a holiday. I'm such a loser. And of course I'm bored out of my mind.

So here's the deal. I've been struggling with things to write about. My life seems so utterly boring lately (besides all the pregnancy stuff). What I want to know is what you would like to know about me. I want you to inspire me to write stories that I haven't thought of, ask questions of me that you've been curious about. If you know me in real life, then please help me out here and remind me of a fun experience in my life that I should write about.

All questions are welcome.

For example:

You: Lori, how many fingers do you have?
Me: 9 9/10 ... ask my sister about that one, it's all her fault.

You: Lori, where are you from?
Me: Nowhere and everywhere

You: Lori, how come your toes look so weird?
Me: I would blame it on all the years of dancing, but my sister's toes don't look like mine and she danced too. So I just don't know, that's a question for God.

So now it's your turn, ask away my friends! Ask away ...

I just told off my boss.

I'm shaking in my boots (actually I'm not wearing boots, but rather some very cute black espadrilles, but that's not the point here).

I hate it when I have to do that, but sometimes it's just too much to handle and certain people have to be put in their place. I haven't been very tolerant of other people's stupidity lately.

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BSC and I try to attend church on a regular basis. We find that we usually get more out of our spirituality by questioning our faith and challenging our beliefs on our own and with friends who have similar convictions. But every once in a while we'll show up on a Sunday morning at one of the few non-LDS churches here. The people are really nice and we've met some great friends there. Granted, we haven't been in attendance much over the past few months because of my constant nausea and exhaustion, but I figure that God is ok with us taking care of our unborn child for a while.

This past Sunday we went to church. The one thing I enjoy most about our church is all the children. We have TONS of them, and they tend to overtake the entire auditorium. Before they're all dismissed for "childrens' church" you're bound to hear one of them make a fart noise during the prayer or yell at their parents that they have to pee during the announcements ... I LOVE IT. But what I enjoy most is watching when the dads, who are used to the moms taking care of the kids, show up to church without Mom. It's quite comical. Usually these moms are prepared with all sorts of things to keep the kids occupied: coloring books, crayons, fruit snacks, and other toys to keep the children quiet and occupied.

This particular Sunday BSC and I sat behind a dad sans the all-prepared mom. The service hadn't even started yet and his son, who looked to be about four years old, was already getting restless. I knew we had chosen the right place to sit when I saw the dad give his son an energy bar to keep him quiet.

Wait ... did I just see that? Did he just give his son an energy bar in order to keep him quiet?

It worked for the first five minutes, until he finished eating his snack. Half way into the announcements the kid was hanging from the ceiling and foaming at the mouth. His eyes looked crazed and he was making strange noises. We had a front-row seat to the entertainment of trying to watch this dad control his four year old without disrupting the entire service. At one point I was laughing so hard, I had to put my head down and pretend I was praying.

So if there's any reason to attend our church, come for the kids. They're bound to give you a show.

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Now I must publicly thank my good friend Sarah for having mercy on a friend by bringing me a crunchy potato burrito and a vat of salsa from Taco Bueno after her trip to Tulsa. Dinner will be so freaking good tonight. Ole!

I can have my pie* and eat it too

*I don't eat cake, so I had to change the title a little to fit me.

Sometimes things can only best be described as kick-ass.

Like some of the shoes I have are kick-ass. Not only because they are cute, but also because they are comfortable and were purchased on clearance.

Some days I have are kick-ass. Like yesterday. Not only was I able to accomplish a lot around the house, but we ended the day with a barbecue over at some friends house. Good times, it was kick-ass.

And some situations are kick-ass, and that is what this whole post will be about.

I was a little nervous about telling my boss I was pregnant. For one, I wasn't sure how he would react because another girl in the office is pregnant too (only four weeks ahead of me). And also, there are no company-written rules about what I would get for maternity leave ... it's all up to the boss. When I told him, he took it ok. He just looked at me. No congratulations, no smile, no reaction at all. He just looked at me.

Ok, better than getting yelled at.

Another thing I've been a bit stressed over is what will happen once the baby is born. Quitting work is not an option. We need the money. My very last choice would be to put the child in day care. Full-time daycare is outrageously expensive and I'm sure once the baby comes I would have a very hard time letting him/her leave me every day for 8-9 hours to be taken care of by strangers. I was hoping to avoid this option totally.

Another option would be to work from home part time. I wouldn't mind putting the child in day-care part time. This would put my mind at ease so much more than having him/her in day-care full time.

The third option was almost not an option at all. I would take my baby with me to work. I knew it probably wasn't feasible at all considering my office situation and the fact that I wouldn't want my baby around my office environment every single day. And remembering how my boss reacted to finding out that I was pregnant didn't exactly push this option to the top of the list.

Here's the kick-ass part:

My boss doesn't want me to leave. He doesn't want me to find a new job. He knows he can't offer a lot in terms of child-care and maternity leave, but here's what he did offered me the other day:

A brand-stinking new office with adjoining room to turn into a nursery.

Yeah, that's right. Do I need to say it again just incase you didn't get it the first time? I get a brand-stinking new office with adjoining room to turn into a nursery.

This office is SO AWESOME. I am far away from everyone in the company (which is a good thing), I have my own bathroom, two closets (one for the baby, one for office supplies), I get to pick out all-new furniture for my office, and move over there before the baby comes. Can I tell you how awesome this is? Complete and total privacy so I can get my work done, and if the baby cries it won't disturb anyone else at all.

One less thing to stress about in my already stress-packed life. This is KICK-ASS!