Goodbye for now coworkers

Finally! It's the end of my last day at work. And it couldn't have happened any sooner. I walked into work this morning hoping for a nice, stress-free day to just glide through and leave early. That isn't quite what I got. I got a note on my desk from our CIO to have something done by the end of the day and I had a ton of email for emergencies that needed to be fixed.

Oy.

So I didn't get to go out to lunch, I didn't get to take it easy. But I did get it all done, amidst all the the inquiries as to why I was still at work. Everyone was trying to kick me out! But it's all done now, I couldn't have left with dumping it on someone else's lap, that just isn't right. So I was able to leave with a clear conscience!

Seriously, it shouldn't be this deep, I guess it was just weighing on me.

That and I'm all depressed because today is the last day at daycare for 3 of Jack's closest friends. They all start kindergarten next week. I just feel bad because Jack thrives on being around the older kids but now he's going to be the oldest one there (by a few months, but still). I just know he'll miss them and I feel bad.

This poor kid has had so much changed for him lately. New house, potty training, losing friends at school, and now there's a new baby coming. Oofa.

But I digress.

Here's a couple pictures of me (and Eric) at 38 weeks. Oh, and one of Jack making his new favorite face. Thanks for teaching him that Eric.

"I like to mow"

That's my boy! Always the little helper. Now that we have a lawn Jack is adjusting to the fact that mommy and daddy need to go out to do yard work. He wasn't quite sure what to think the very first time Eric started the lawn mower but it was all good. The next time he wanted to follow Eric around with his wagon in tow. That's when Mommy had a brilliant idea. Didn't he get a toy mower for Easter!?!

So down to the basement we go to find the box with the lawn mower in it. Thanks to my last surviving brain cell I actually remembered where it was! How's that for a miracle. I can't remember what I went into the kitchen to get but I can remember what plain brown box I packed his toy lawnmower in over a month ago.

What followed was the cutest thing I ever saw. He was THRILLED to be mowing with Daddy. He didn't care how hot it got, how dirty he got (well, he IS a boy) or anything. He was his father's shadow. When they took a break to drink some water Jack realized that Eric was wearing work gloves and declared "I need gloves!" Thank goodness I know my son well enough that I bought him a pair the same time I bought them for Eric and myself. He was so proud.

So now it's a weekly thing. On the weekends he just walks around saying "I like to mow" or "I mow with daddy"

Oh, and as a side note, please pay no attention to the patchy, weed-riddled lawn that the previous owner left us. We'll be working on that this fall.





(note the work gloves!)

Ever watch a "Remember When" moment happen?

You know, one of those things that always comes up when families are sitting around and go "Remember When...." Remember when Joey hit that baseball right into the coach? Remember when Tina tripped during the ballet recital and fell into the orchestra?

Well, we had our own personal Remember When story unfold upon us last night.

When Eric got home from work Jack and I went out to the garage to greet him. After the initial hug that Jack had to give Eric then he ran over to this bucket of sand left by the previous owner and pulled out some sort of wooden ball-type-thingy. He took it out to the driveway and was trying to make it bounce so Eric and I were explaining that it wouldn't bounce and he decided to start throwing it instead. No biggie.

Our neighbor Rich was outside too so he wandered over and we were all talking for a few minutes. Rich had even mentioned that he tells his wife what a happy kid Jack is and he's such a good boy.

Well, it was time to go in so we told Jack to go put the ball back in the bucket. He decides to give it one more throw towards the lawn. Well, it didn't go towards the lawn. It must have rolled out of his hand funny and flew towards the garage instead... where our cars were parked. It was kind of surreal actually, watching this all happen in slow motion.

BOOM!

And that's when the back window to my car disappears in an explosion of glass. And I do mean explosion. There was glass everywhere, including around Jack and I who were outside in bare feet. Seriously though, if glass manufacturers are going to make windows that shatter, can't they at least engineer them to just sort of tumble straight down instead of exploding in all directions? We get inside to get shoes without incident and the first thing that crosses my mind (besides turning the burner off under our dinner on the stove) was to check the weather to see if it was going to rain the next day. Of course it was. We've had rain-free days for weeks, the day I have no window on the back of my car there is 80% chance of rain all day.

So Rich comes back over (he had never made it inside before hearing my window break) and we all set to cleaning it up. Poor Jack just didn't quite understand the magnitude so he wanted to help with everything. We had to keep telling him not to pick anything up. Eric goes in to get a trash bag for the glass and Jack had to have his own bag. Eric goes in to get the vacuum to clean out the back of my car and Jack had to have his vacuum. He so desperately wanted to help. So he vacuumed the driveway while we did my car.

During the whole thing I just kept laughing.. you know, that sort of nutty laugh that you can't help let out when you're exacerbated. It was just one of those things. No one was hurt so you just had to laugh so that you don't have any sort of "opposite" reaction.

And amazingly, in our favor, Eric's parents were coming down to watch Jack today since Miss Linda is on vacation. So I was able to take Eric's car to work, Eric took his dad's car to work and his parents are at the house to meet the glass people who are making a trip to our house to do the work for us. Thank goodness for small favors. Otherwise I'm not sure what I would have done because I can't drive my car as it is in the rain and I can't take any more vacation days before my maternity leave starts after next week.

Jack is just lucky that he's only 2 1/2 and that it was truly an accident. Otherwise it's entirely possible that the world would be short one very cute little boy this morning.

Still waiting

I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow. Officially full term. I have very mixed feelings about this. First of all, I'm SO ready to not be pregnant anymore, but second, I don't know if I'm ready to juggle two kids yet. Especially since our 2 1/2 year old has entered the world of tantrums like never before. Of course he saves these all for when he's alone with his parents so anyone else that spends time with him will probably think I'm making it all up.

But anyway, back to Grace. Lots of back pain, lots of feet swelling, lots of being tired. But not enough time to do everything.

I think it would be nice if she'd at least hang on in there until after my last day at work (8/22) so that I can have a day or two to rest first. But I guess we'll see.