Bye Bye Belly Ring

It's official. I am losing all my street cred. Not only is there three inches of grey roots on top of my head, but this weekend I had to remove my belly ring. This is the same belly ring that has been in place for the past 14 years. 14 years is a long time. I remember the day I got that piercing like it was yesterday. My roommate Dana and I went to some jewelry store in Fairfield, CT where we heard they were doing under-cover belly piercings (it was all so new back then).

The guy pierced our belly buttons with an ear-piercing gun. And we LET him!

At the time he said to me "Wow, there isn't really anything to pierce, your stomach is so flat". Ahhh, those were the days. Nothing like being 22 and going to the gym every single morning, and sometimes catching an aerobics class after work. Man I looked good. I also had a convertible that year. I would have to say those were really good times.

I am afraid that my belly is certainly not flat any longer. I can't blame it all on the pregnancy because I lost that six-pack quite a few yars ago. I guess it was around 32. Damn.

Maybe I can get those abs back after the babies are born? It's possible, right?

38D

Funny things happen when you're pregnant.

Need I say more?

Boys Will be Boys

And I am growing two of them right now. Yep, two little penises developing inside my womb. Ick. Sounds weird.

Ernie could not be happier.

He is already planning the first trick the three of them will play on me. He is already planning experiments to do on them. The pots and pans symphony is being composed as we speak.

My dad is hoping for one Dale Earnhart and one Yo-Yo- Ma.

My Father in Law can't wait to go fishing.

My Mother in Law is trying to figure out how on Earth we are going to live with four Adzentoivich men, three living under one roof.

My Mother can't wait to shop. She didn't care if she was going for pink or blue, as long as she knew one way or the other. Shopping is shopping afterall.

I am just very, very happy and grateful. So far every test and every ultrasound has been perfect. Knock wood.

They each weigh 7 oz and are about 7 inches long from head to butt. Don't ask about names because we have no idea. And if we did we wouldn't tell anyway.

My fears about my employer trying to squeeze me out of the company seem to be coming to fruition. Yesterday they rejected my Maternity Plan. In light of their "No Paid Maternity Leave Policy" I proposed a plan that I thought would benefit everyone in case of complications, etc. This plan included my working on special projects, contributing Blog entries for our company blog, doing sales proposals, and other autonomous tasks that could easily be accomplished from home using our company intranet (which was built for just this purpose)should I need to stop working early or require bed rest (already happened), etc. In the case of no complications I proposed spending some of the 12 weeks mandated by law actually working from home. This would allow me to contribute to the organization as well as continue to nurse the babies and care for them in their infancy. Well, I was told with no negotiations, that working from home for extended periods will not be allowed. Period. So I get the $175/week short term disability pay and that's it. Good luck paying two mortgages on that. Oh yeah, and caring and providing for two infants. Nice. After two years of dedicated service I get their message loud and clear.

So we are freaking out a little bit. Luckily we had an appointment today and got to see our two healthy squirmy baby boys. It helped put things into perspective. So what if we need to squeeze them and their car seats into the back of our two door Hyundai - I guess we won't be the first ones.

Cats and Bunnies and Other Furry Critters

Don't know if you read the story this week about the "Monster" Bunny in the UK who was eating many of the crops from the farms of one small village. This guy was really causing a ruckus! Nobody could catch him and the rutabagas were in danger! Every carrot and celery was fearing for it's life.

Well, they caught the scoundrel and here he is:


Now that's one big bunny!


(I chose to believe that he is being held lovingly by this fine gentleman and hasn't been shot dead or poisoned or something).


Here is the story on Yahoo!


Happy Easter.







Now for the cat part of our story.

Last night I had a very vivid dream. In this dream I quietly gave birth to a cat. Yes, a cat. Not really a kitten but a cat. This particular cat looked very much like my cat Chaplin who was black and white. Sort of a tuxedo style cat. Some of you may remember her.

Now in my dream this didn't seem all that odd. I went to my doctor and told him about the cat. And then I rationalized that of course I wasn't having twins! It was the cat we saw on the ultrasound and mistook her for a second baby! It all seemed to make so much more sense.

Until I woke up.

In the other furry creatures department: I don't really have anything. I just liked the title. But hey, it is spring. There are tons of furry creatures about. Why I have at least 6 squirrels who frequent my backyard on a daily basis. One raccoon that scared the crap out of me one evening on my front porch. And of course there are always deer - on the Parkway or Rte. 80.

Welcome Spring!

Movin' On Up!

Or out, anyway.

Yesterday I was laid off from my job. Yep. At 5+ months pregnant this was perfect timing. Out of the blue I was called into a conference room and handed paperwork stating that I agreed to this mutual severence of employment.

Excuse me?

My immediate response was:

Are you joking?

I really did think it was a joke. It sounds like a joke right? Ha, ha. Funny.

No funny. Nobody laughed. I felt the babies kick - hard. I think they were trying to reach out of my belly to kick the woman sitting across from me who was spewing this crap. And who could blame them? They're good boys, sticking up for their mommy.

I was then hovered over while I gathered my things and escorted to the elevator. Insult on top of injury. It felt oh, so good.

Then I carry my sorry grocery bag full of desk-top photographs of Mrs. Jinx and Godzilla, Ernie climbing some rocks, a bud vase (why did I have that at work again?) and various other sundries to the sidewalk. And there I stood. What exactly does one do when they have just been "let go"?

I called Ernie. I won't even get into that conversation. If you know Ernie or if you have been reading this blog for a while you can very well imagine his reaction. 'Nuff said.

Now I am sitting in my kitchen when I should be at my desk. I don't know what to do with myself. I have reactivated my resume on Monster and HotJobs. Checked the calssifieds. But be honest, would you hire a woman who is 5 months pregnant?

I am trying very hard to remain positive. Stress is no good for babies. So, collective Ohm, exhale....ahhhh better now.

My dad, in his ever-passive philosophy tells me "Don't worry about it"

What?

In all fairness, it wasn't only I who was let go. From what I heard on IM last night between Alias and LOST, there were three of us yesterday, and one last week. Seems the company is facing financial hardship. So let's lay off the pregnant woman who needs every lick of health benefits she can get right now! Sounds like a dandy idea.

But I digress.

I don't want to be a whiner, but too bad. Who can blame me right now. I am very much out of sorts and freaking out just a tad. And besides, how can they do this to me? Pregnant or not? I thought these people were my friends? We were in the trenches together for two years damn it. I helped them grow a start-up from 16 people to more than 50! This wasn't just a ho-hum job, I was personally vested and I thought they were too.

Business is business, no matter what it may appear. I guess this is a lesson I have still to learn. It just seems so cold and heartless to go to work every day thinking that every relationship and every conversation you have is a bunch of bullshit. That everyone is just vying for their job and you'd better be too. I just can't feel good in that sort of environment, and I suppose that is why I always choose to deny it.

Well, if anyone knows of an opening in Search Engine or Interactive Marketing, preferably in CT (but I can't be too picky right now, can I?), please let me know. In the meantime I might just have to call Mary Kay...

Really though, I did have a second interview with a great company in CT just the day before the lay-off. I had a feeling things were about to change and I wanted to be closer to home anyway. Things happen for a reason so they say. I have a good feeling about the interview and think this may just be perfect timing. It is just the surprise of it all that sucks.

Hitting the BIG Time

I guess I am. I am off of Bed Rest now and went in to work this morning.

Any of you who have ever commuted to NYC on MetroNorth will really appreciate this story.

This morning on the train platform, as the train was pulling into the station, people were jockying for position to be the first in the door to get one of the few coveted empty seats. I am standing there in my black raincoat (black is slimming, right?) and the two men in front of me turn around and look at my belly. Then they exchange glances with one another and part ways like the red sea. They actually let me on the train first!

I am sure I blushed as I passed by them muttering "thank you, thank you, thank you" over and over again like a well trained Geisha.

Luckily when I boarded the train there were many empty seats (a miracle in itself) so the two nice gentlemen were able to sit.

Moral of the story, I's a gettin' big....

Bed Rest

For those of you who asked after reading the last post, I am on bed rest right now, but only for a limited time. Not (God forbid!) until the end of the pregnancy. I can't even imagine the next 4 months staying still all day every day. Especially with spring coming. What torture would that be?

Bed rest is interesting. I find it is something I thought I would be good at but alas, am not. I found myself last evening in the kitchen whipping up a few quiches, one to freeze, while simultaneously making myself dinner.

This morning I awoke and climbed down the stairs to make coffee (for Ernie), a smoothy (for me) , a pound of bacon (to be used by either me or Ernie for breakfast, lunches, dinners, whatever), and a bagel. I then washed a sink load of dishes and meandered back upstairs to the couch that has become by daytime bed.

I can't actually spend these days of bed rest in the bed that I sleep in at night. That's just too much sameness for me. It is already so bad that at night I don't want to go to sleep. The last thing I want to do is crawl into bed. Ick. My back and hips are already so sore from all the side-sleeping (you're not supposed to sleep on your back when pregnant and not on your stomach for obvious reasons).

What I would like to do is go for a nice run in the bright spring sun. Now that sounds like a good time! Although I don't think I would even be able to manage tying the laces on my running shoes with this belly.

I think I may have gained a pound since I started this bed rest thing on Tuesday. I am certainly not eating as much as I usually do, but after I eat I am just laying there. Actually, I am laying down while I eat. So the food is just accumulating, which is I guess what we want it to do. I suppose the walking to and from the train, up and down subway stairs and to and from my office actually does burn calories. Who knew?

This Blog Sucks

I know. I haven't written anything interesting or witty in a very long time. Every time I read Anne or Josette I hang my head in shame. They are just so good at this thing...

Well, here I am on bed rest working from home for two days (so far) this week. You would think there would be plenty of fodder in my brain to dump something cool into my blog. But honestly, I have a one or two track mind these days; babies and work.

Babies - well I think it is obvious why I have babies on the brain. I have two quickly growing inside me as we speak. Creepy, but true. So I tend to find myself frequently thinking about things like tandem strollers, names that are cool but not too weird, whether or not two car seats will fit into the backseat of my two door Hyundai, etc.

Work - this is sort of baby related too. I wonder if my workload has been lightened lately because my employer is weary to give me too much responsibility because I am pregnant. If so this would verge on illegal, but it's not like they have fired me or anything. I am so damned bored at work and I don't know why. For the past year or so I thought I had the coolest job in the world. I loved it and I loved the challenges it presented. For the past few months it is as boring as any other job I have ever had and I wonder, do I want to commute two hours a day for this? And should I confront my superiors about my lack of assignments? It's not like it's any secret that I have been looking for work to do, yet none seems to come my way. In my defense I certainly never asked for a lighter load or any special consideration of any sort. It worries me since I am the primary breadwinner (at least the one of us who has a regular paycheck) and I am going to have two new family members to provide for in a few months. So this is what I think about.

These things are not interesting, nor are they funny. They are typical anxieties of any 30-something in the 21st century - work and family. BORING. I wish I had something more interesting to say.

We have been neglecting Adzentoivich Woods. We were there twice all winter. We lost power sometime between November and February. We had the power company come out and they cut up some felled trees that apparently were on the electrical wires. We need to put a new roof on the house this spring/summer. Ernie is playing in the pit of Landscape of the Body, starring Lily Taylor, which is every single weekend between now and June. So it looks like we won't make many trips out to the farm this spring either.

By the time summer gets into full swing I should be as big as a beached whale and it is doubtful that I will want to spend 3 hours riding in the little Hyundai. Ho - hum. Wo-is-me.

So that's it. Sorry for my lame excuse for an entry here. I will try to do better. I promise.

Steph is Engaged!

My cousin Stephanie got engaged this weekend to her boyfriend of one year "the Fabulous Peter". You can read the romantic details and see the georgous family heirloom ring here.

Congratulations Steph! I can't tell you how happy I am that you have found your person to love who loves you back just as much. It is funny how time changes so many things...

Knowing your family this is going to be one hell of a wedding! I can't wait.