It's been another mostly lazy weekend, well, other than the time yesterday spent shopping for the things we needed to be as ready as possible for Noah Maxx. A year ago I would not have imagined how cute I now find all the things we buy for him. We finally bought him a couple of little toys. We got all his grooming supplies. Nerdstar even had to get him some of those jean diapers for if/when we travel. We're good to go on cloth diapers, I think I've washed them enough and got them ready to use. Really, the only thing left to do is wash all his blankets, sheets and clothes.
I have an evil brain. And in 42 years I've mostly learned how to deal with it, when to pay attention, and when to ignore the hell out of it. Friday it really got bad. I ran across a couple of blogs by women whose babies had been stillborn. That just sort of got stuck in my brain. I won't elaborate, but it takes me a lot of energy to fight off those types of thoughts.
As I've mentioned before, Nerdstar is great about not worrying unless there's something concrete to worry about. I'm getting better at absorbing her calm.
That said, we do have a potential thing to worry about. She found out late Friday afternoon that her last day of working on this current project is supposed to be July 1. The problem with that could be that she's supposed to work until July 6 to hit the one year mark. We'll find out much more tomorrow (hopefully) about insurance continuance and short term disability and FMLA and all that good stuff.
We're not too, too worried about the money/job stuff. But it's not so fun waiting to find out exactly how things are going to go.
He's been head down for a while now, with his back and butt on her left side and arms and legs on the right and at the top. I keep telling her he's all squished in there. I try to rub his back and pat his little butt sometimes. I hope he doesn't find it annoying.
Here's a bonus pic of Ramen with Jo (our friends' little girl). He's always been great with little kids. He just takes it and then sneaks in licks of their hands and face when he can.
Day two of this and things are looking decent. It's possible this current project will last four or five more weeks, but there's really no telling what's up with the government. Not sure if they have a different company lined up to take over the project, and if they do, if that company has linguists ready to start working right away.
She talked with HR today and they did confirm that as long as she's employed with the company, even if not actively on a project, then benefits will be in effect. So that's good.
Her company is also working to find her a new gig that would kick in after maternity leave.
That's pretty much all we can ask at this point. We've been in similar situations in the past, that's how we've ended up moving around the country. Of course, before we didn't have a mortgage or a baby on the way. But again, we knew the choices we were making when we made them.
We've got a good six months worth of expenses saved up, we'll tighten our belts until it's safe to losen them again.
I think I've mentioned that one of the best things about Nerdstar is her ability to not worry. I generally do all of the worrying for both of us. But she's kinda influenced me, so I'll be like her and not worry until there's something concrete to worry about.
In the past few days, Nerdstar's job situation has become kinda crazy. Being a contractor usually means no real job security. Well, there are one year at a time contracts that can be renewed. Her current job started last July, and it's always been in the back of our minds that she might not have a job to go back to after maternity leave. Yes, her contracting company should hook her up with something even if a current job ends, but you just never know what they'll have available. We don't generally worry about it too much, because there are several contracting companies in this area always looking for people. Agencies like CIA, DIA, and NSA hire tons of contractors with language/analytical skills through several big private companies in this area. There are always projects being bid on and the contracting companies are always trying to line up personnel in case they get the contract.
But, last week the government agency she's working for got serious about having some projects consolidated and re-bid by the contractors and such. Her private company informed her on Wedneday that her and the two other linguists she works with would have to take a new language test on Friday. Also, that the government was also going to start requiring a special type of polygraph test that is rarely given. Yikes. Nerdstar's always had to do the language tests for the Army, but this one is very different.
Last night after she got home from work it all started going south. Her and another linguist didn't pass their tests. She was surprised, it had a lot of science terms and she didn't have that kind of dictionary with her for the test. As for that type of polygraph - it would take months to schedule and get the results from. Her private company really dropped the ball on that part, she asked them about it a year ago and they blew it off.
So, now we have no idea how much longer she'll be working on this current project. The reason that matters is for insurance and short term disability for her maternity leave. Technically, she has to work until June 6 for short term to kick in. Ugh. How long she stays on this project is up to the government management. We have no idea what they're planning. (Yes, it sucks having two sets of managers.)
She was on the phone with a couple of the managers in her private company all last night. It seems they're really trying to work things out for her.
But, in addition to even working on this project a few more weeks - long enough for insurance and short term disability to be fine, there's the whole problem of having a job to go to after maternity leave. Again, her private company is looking for some options, but who knows what exactly will happen.
We're not overly worried yet. We know this is the life of a contractor. It's also why I was so concerned with the IRS paying up on that home buyers credit. We've known we needed to have some money saved up for this possibility.
As if all that wasn't fun enough, there's also her status with the Army. It's currently "pending discharge" and we have no idea when that will happen. Because of her language skills, she gets a decent amount of money every month being in the reserves. We don't know when that will end either. (Her last year of military service has been stupid, it would be a whole different long post.)
So with 49 days until Noah Maxx is supposed to be born, this starts to unfold.
Hello everyone! It's Nerdstar again and we are headed towards Noah Maxx's delivery! He has been really active and his head has also been pointing southwards so that means that he's getting ready to get out of the belly. I have no idea whether or not he'll come early or later than his due date, but as long as he's healthy and delivered safely, I won't be that worried.
Am I anxious about the delivery? Of course! This is something that I've never experienced before and not knowing what my pain/discomfort threshold is, you bet I'm feeling some anxieties! We did not opt to take childbirth classes due to the fact that our hospital was not offering them and also we didn't want to go through the trouble of traveling somewhere further to get these classes. Besides, there had been plenty of babies born without the moms having been through these classes.
I've been quite lucky so far in regard to how easy this pregnancy have been. I've never had any morning sickness, had to go on bed rest, or had to be monitored closely due to medical reasons, and so most of me is expecting that Noah Maxx's delivery will be smooth too. I'm not saying that I've not had any discomfort. I have swollen ankles, bouts of low energy, and just a few weeks ago, a massive allergy attack of my skin, but really nothing that bad.
Thanks to the GF, she had been letting me take it really easy and doing most of the driving on weekends when we'd go somewhere. Not only that, she has also been doing most of the reading on childcare and education whereas I have simply been working and growing Noah Maxx :-)
Needless to say, we cannot wait to see and hold our boy!
So far I've read two books, The Happiest Baby on the Block and then Babywise II months 5 through 15 (I think it's 15.) I have The Happiest Toddler but haven't read it, and am waiting on the Babywise infant book from the library.
In some ways these two sets of books are opposites. So it was kinda funny/brain hurting to read them back to back.
The premise of Happiest Baby for infants is that babies need a 4th trimester, but due to head sizes of humans don't get it. Therefore, for really fussy babies - and the book seems to be mostly for fussy/colic babies more so than happy ones - you need to do these 5 magic things to get them to self calm. The idea is that until about six months it's impossible to spoil the baby or set bad habits, so make the baby happy.
Babywise is all about moral development, I gather even in infants, and the parents setting the schedule and rules. It reads a little cold, but there does seem to be some good practical suggestions in there. It's written by Christians, which I suppose could annoy readers who aren't. Then again, with some of the ideas, the few Christian parts might not be the most annoying parts.
But really, until Noah Maxx is born, and we know what his personality is, there's no way to know what's going to work best for him.
Because it only took a few hours to read them both, I'd say it was worth the time.
Hooray!! We finally got to see our cute boy! Of course, he had his fist planted in his eye 80% of the time. Then, because that wasn't enough to hide behind, he added his legs and feet up by his face, too! Wow, to be that flexible!!
Here he at least moved his hand to upside his head...
And here he's trying to put his foot up his nose.
He's measuring perfectly dead average for his age. That's good. Next time we see him he'll finally be outside the belly. We can't wait!
