Joining the one-handed typing trend

For those who have not heard the news, little Zachary James made an early appearance last week at 2am Friday morning...after, like, eleventy-two hours of labor.
So with the little sleeping peanut in one arm, and a cup of warm decaf in the other, I thought it might be good moment to slide the laptop across the table and dust off this here blog.
Thus begins my one-handed blogging days.
I hope to have some time in the near future to document the birth adventures soon. Especially before mommy-brain sets in too much and I can hardly remember any of it.
But for right now I'm going to keep this quick, partly due to how frustratingly slow this one-handed typing is going, and partly due to the poopy smelling diaper I believe my little one is currently working on.
Until next time, I leave you with a picture of the most intensive and precious project I have ever worked on:















And here's a little something my adorable husband worked on last night:

On working a different shift

Now that my primary priorities in life are split between being a house frau and a mother my daily routine has seen a major shift.
Obviously my days are no longer spent battling traffic at 8am to then wage war in the office, only to battle traffic to come home and spend the last few hours of the day with my husband.
Nowadays my time is spent doing things more central around the home. Which I love.
And given that my schedule no longer revolves around an inflexible work schedule I find myself planning errands around rush hour to avoid traffic and busy stores. Makes perfect sense.
But one thing I didn't realize was what kind of world it is out there during working hours - hours I usually was spending at my desk, or in meetings.
For example today I drew up a lengthy grocery list so as to stock our shelves for the next couple of weeks. The idea is to reduce the number of times I go to the grocery store to once a week at most. In the past I would sometimes go two or three times a week because I wouldn't bother to think ahead of what I wanted to cook for dinner for the whole week. So I would find myself stopping off at various stores throughout the week so we would have something for dinner on each individual night. Or, I wouldn't make the effort to check our pantry before going to the store and then find out we were out of coffee - after I had just been to the store - which would then send me to the store again the next day.
Because coffee cannot be lived without.
Heads explode.
Now that I'm home full time I feel there is no excuse - I have the time to sit down and draw up a menu for the week, check the pantry, and draw up a list.
Which I diligently did this morning.
And off to the store I went, fully expecting the parking lot to be empty and the aisles to be vast and wide and clear of crazy late afternoon shoppers trying to stock up for dinner and get home to their loved ones.
What I didn't realize is that I am not the only one who plans her grocery shopping around working professionals.
Old people are working the same angle.
Old people who drive down the center of the parking rows, rather than to one side. Which is ironic because while they can somehow drive directly down the middle of the lane, they can't seem to park their cars directly in the middle of their parking spot.
And they seem to have the same cart maneuvering skills while in the store.
Down the middle.
Slowly.
Stopping erratically.
And when they do leave their cart anywhere, it's random, in the way...and it makes my brain bleed.
But I'm patient. I'm not in a rush like I used to be in the evenings.
Sure, I've got things to do, errands to run. And sure it worries me a little bit that I might get boxed in between the frozen meat case, the butcher counter, and an erratically abandoned cart and then go into labor - only to find myself trying to get out of the store, in labor, stuck behind a pack of old people slowly pushing their carts. Being forced to delivery my baby next to the cereal and coffee.
But it would make for a great story I suppose - so I don't let it get to me.
It might take a little adjusting given that I'm more used to the fast paced environment that I'm coming from.
But pretty soon I'll have an 8lb dead weight slowing me down that will only get larger, heavier, and more challenging.
So perhaps I could learn a thing or two from the older more elderly generation and start slowing down now.
Before my head explodes.

YOU take it easy...I'm going to go get things done.

When I first found out that my company, being one of the most renowned employee-focused companies in the area, grants it's expectant mothers 4 weeks of pre-maternity leave before her due date, I thought 'great! I'll have 4 weeks to get a couple things done, relax, and rest up before the baby comes.' Because I was so sure that based on what everyone was telling me, by the time I got to 36 weeks I would be sleeping all the time and only able to fit into Trevor's sweats.
Clearly I don't know myself very well.
My first day of leave began on the first working day of the year - January 2nd.
And in just one week I have accomplished exactly 417 tasks, taken a Babymoon, and defended our house from an ant-siege...all while trying to come to grips with the fact that I am having a baby in less than a month and the only symptom I'm suffering from right now is the occasional sore hip in the middle of the night.
Now I have 3 weeks until my due date, and my task list is now down to 372 items. I have yet to take a mid-day nap, and the closest I came to wearing Trevor's sweats was when I realized my gym shirts no longer cover the vastness that is my baby-bump and had to pull out one of Trevor's t-shirts to wear to the gym instead.
In short, I don't think I'm having the most conventional of pregnancies at the moment.
And please, save your comments about 'taking it easy' and 'you should get your rest now while you can', because if you know me at all, you know that's impossible for me. I take it easy when my body wants me to. Really - I don't ignore my body when it's whining and cursing me for pushing myself too hard. But if I force myself to take it easy it only serves to irritate me and only lasts about 5 minutes before I need to do something with all the energy that I somehow accrue and store in vast quantities without even realizing it.
If I could bottle it, sell it, and take long naps in the afternoon in exchange, I would.
And if I wake up tomorrow with only enough energy to go back to sleep - trust me, I will.
In the meantime, I have to say I can't complain. Things are getting done around the house like they never have. And by the time this little guy makes his appearance I will be able to lie around and snooze and cuddle with him like I should without staring at the curtains and cursing myself for the procrastination that kept me from hemming them for over a year.
Which reminds me, I was planning on hemming the bedroom curtains this morning.
Let's hope that with a little determination I can actually spend some time blogging as well.
But for right now I should probably stop sitting around at the computer and actually check a few things off my list. For starters maybe I should catch up on a few phone calls that piled up while we were out of town for a few days. A post for another day.