Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Farmer's Market Gig
Today I was officially hired as the new Wenatchee Valley Farmer's Market Manager! I am excited and nervous about the job...as one usually is about a new job. I think it is going to be a very good addition to our family socially, and financially. Wish me luck and if any of you have any suggestions for me about what a good market manager should be, please let me know!
Monday, August 21, 2006
When It Rains...It Pours!
I wasn't even looking for a job. According to "Dear Abby" I already have a handful of positions as an at-home mom that could receive an annual salary of over $100,000/year!! I am about to get a "promotion" of sorts, being 6 1/2 months pregnant...so additional, out-of-the-home, work wasn't a top priority for me.
Then I heard about this opportunity to help a pottery studio get up on it's feet out at the Tierra Learning Center, a retreat center celebrating cultural diversity. I spoke with their interim director and had meetings with the staff. It looked as though I might have a part-time job!
When I returned from my visits in Maine, I had emails and calls from friends involved with our Farmer's Market. The market manager had resigned and the position was open...many folks thought I would be great at the job. I initially thought, NO WAY!! But, as I read more of the job description, then shadowed the interim market manager, hadn't heard from Tierra in a number of weeks...I decided to apply. The board decides tonight and it looks as though I will have a part-time job beginning Saturday.
This afternoon I had a call from the director at Tierra. They are still interested in getting me involved with their pottery studio! When it rains, it pours! I had a brief discussion with them about my availability and it looks as though we'll work something out....very, very part-time...teaching a class here and there in the pottery studio!
I really wasn't looking for a job, but I found some very positive opportunities I can't decline.
Then I heard about this opportunity to help a pottery studio get up on it's feet out at the Tierra Learning Center, a retreat center celebrating cultural diversity. I spoke with their interim director and had meetings with the staff. It looked as though I might have a part-time job!
When I returned from my visits in Maine, I had emails and calls from friends involved with our Farmer's Market. The market manager had resigned and the position was open...many folks thought I would be great at the job. I initially thought, NO WAY!! But, as I read more of the job description, then shadowed the interim market manager, hadn't heard from Tierra in a number of weeks...I decided to apply. The board decides tonight and it looks as though I will have a part-time job beginning Saturday.
This afternoon I had a call from the director at Tierra. They are still interested in getting me involved with their pottery studio! When it rains, it pours! I had a brief discussion with them about my availability and it looks as though we'll work something out....very, very part-time...teaching a class here and there in the pottery studio!
I really wasn't looking for a job, but I found some very positive opportunities I can't decline.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
New Things
Yes, as mentioned in my last post, there were many new things in and happening at my house when I returned from my trip. Some new items, new looking things and new behaviours!
Tonight was a first in bedtime history! I read Sam two books, sang him two songs, kissed him goodnight and left the room with him AWAKE...and not a peep from him!! He just went to sleep on his own. Absolutely amazing for me! I knew that Matt's mom had achieved this while I was gone, but I was not sure that he would do the same for me. I am so happy that we have reached this milestone! Thanks Pat!
Now, for the new things!
This is the deck with our amazing view from the backyard.
Here is a close up of the deck. I tried to find a before picture, but couldn't...so just imagine a pale gray, weathered deck! Much improvement!
My new laundry line. I love it!
These are the brick steps that Matt's dad built for us during a previous visit. It is pretty bare around them now, but try to imagine nice flowers and greenery around them!
We had a volunteer pumpkin plant grow from the compost. We have about six pumpkins this size and more to come. I am so excited!
Tonight was a first in bedtime history! I read Sam two books, sang him two songs, kissed him goodnight and left the room with him AWAKE...and not a peep from him!! He just went to sleep on his own. Absolutely amazing for me! I knew that Matt's mom had achieved this while I was gone, but I was not sure that he would do the same for me. I am so happy that we have reached this milestone! Thanks Pat!
Now, for the new things!
This is the deck with our amazing view from the backyard.
Here is a close up of the deck. I tried to find a before picture, but couldn't...so just imagine a pale gray, weathered deck! Much improvement!
My new laundry line. I love it!
These are the brick steps that Matt's dad built for us during a previous visit. It is pretty bare around them now, but try to imagine nice flowers and greenery around them!
We had a volunteer pumpkin plant grow from the compost. We have about six pumpkins this size and more to come. I am so excited!
Monday, August 14, 2006
WHEW!
WHEW! That is the only word I can think of to express how I feel after the last month. I don't think I have even processed everything enough to write about it in depth. I feel like a different person...more adult, more like a "woman", more like the mother I imagine others to see me as and less like the mother I saw myself as (in a good way...just more grown up...seasoned).
Some highlights:
Some highlights:
- I flew home to Maine to help my mom and dad adjust to thier lives after my mom's stroke. The stroke left her unable to speak and with difficulty communicating through words (though she is getting better at it). I was there almost 2 weeks, the longest I have been away from Sam.
- While there I went through a myriad of emotions ranging from fear and sadness so strong I vomited to guilt for leaving Sam to elation after hearing my mother say my name. The days crept by and the weeks flew by.
- I flew home the day after the terrorists were arrested in England...needless-to-say my travelling experience was far from relaxing and uneventful. 24 hours after I left Maine I arrived in Wenatchee to Sam running across the train station parking lot screaming "mama" in a half happy, half scared voice. His smile wiggled on the edge of frown. I am still not sure how I feel about being apart from him for so long. After Matt's mom and dad left this morning, Sam is still quite confused about who is supposed to be here and who is not.
- When I arrived at home major changes had occurred... a newly refinished deck, a new laundry line, a new toaster oven. All wonderful gifts, but my house felt very different. I am certainly not complaining about the changes, I just haven't settled in yet.
- I started teaching a one week art camp at our local coop preschool today. It is only an hour and a half 4 afternoons this week, but it feels like so much of my time is consumed by it. I am enjoying it so far, but am glad that I do not teach elementary art full time anymore!
- I am meeting with our Farmer's Market director tomorrow morning for an informal interview for the new market manager's position. This position will be 3, 1/2 days a week, May-October, and pays very well. I think it will be a great part-time job for me with some social time away from Sam and he will only need a sitter one morning a week. We'll see if I am hired, but I have a strong feeling I will be.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Life Changes
Isn't it crazy how we can barely remember, or even remember less and less, about our childhood as we get older? Life keeps changing...we graduate from high school and the years fly by with major life changes. Maybe we go to college, maybe not....meet a lover (or two, or three ..or more); get married, have babies, buy a house, sell a house.....in my case move around the country every 3-5 years.
Life just keeps changing and it feels as though as soon as I have adjusted to one change another comes along. When do we stop adjusting to changes and just live? I asked Matt this question and his answer was, "Never!" I guess he might be right. He asked me, "What do you qualify as a life change...something as gradual as entering puberty, or as sudden as moving or having a new baby?" I started to see his point.
My mother had a sever stroke on Monday night. When she entered the ICU on Tuesday morning she couldn't swallow, see with her right eye, use her right arm; she was on oxygen and she couldn't talk. Now, 3 days later, she has regained all of the functions lost except her speech and she still has some trouble swallowing very thin liquids. She can write, but her handwriting is not always legible and she has a hard time communicating...using only 3-4 words to convey an entire thought. My dad has been amazing and we're all figuring out how to deal with this life change.
On Monday I will fly to Maine, alone, to help readjust my mom and dad as my mom returns home from the hospital. My sister will join us and for the first time in 7 years we will be together as a family. I am scared and nervous to see my mom, though I know I will feel better once I am there. I am anxious to help...it is killing me to be so far away.
Matt's mom is flying in on Monday to help take care of Sam and Matt while I am away. I am so thankful I have such a supportive mother-in-law. It is amazing how family steps up when they need to.
The last few weeks have been so crazy with Sam and I just returning from 2 weeks in Maine, then this. I don't feel like myself at all and I have so little time to think about this pregnancy. I keep forgetting I am even pregnant...other than the lack of mobility and the ever constant kicking from within!
I am scared to be away from Sam for so long. Up until this trip, our longest separation has been 5 days...this will be about twice that. Having Matt's mom here makes me feel better about leaving, but I know I will miss he and Matt incredibly.
When I return from this trip I will be 6 months along and only 3, or so, months away from another life change.
Life just keeps changing and it feels as though as soon as I have adjusted to one change another comes along. When do we stop adjusting to changes and just live? I asked Matt this question and his answer was, "Never!" I guess he might be right. He asked me, "What do you qualify as a life change...something as gradual as entering puberty, or as sudden as moving or having a new baby?" I started to see his point.
My mother had a sever stroke on Monday night. When she entered the ICU on Tuesday morning she couldn't swallow, see with her right eye, use her right arm; she was on oxygen and she couldn't talk. Now, 3 days later, she has regained all of the functions lost except her speech and she still has some trouble swallowing very thin liquids. She can write, but her handwriting is not always legible and she has a hard time communicating...using only 3-4 words to convey an entire thought. My dad has been amazing and we're all figuring out how to deal with this life change.
On Monday I will fly to Maine, alone, to help readjust my mom and dad as my mom returns home from the hospital. My sister will join us and for the first time in 7 years we will be together as a family. I am scared and nervous to see my mom, though I know I will feel better once I am there. I am anxious to help...it is killing me to be so far away.
Matt's mom is flying in on Monday to help take care of Sam and Matt while I am away. I am so thankful I have such a supportive mother-in-law. It is amazing how family steps up when they need to.
The last few weeks have been so crazy with Sam and I just returning from 2 weeks in Maine, then this. I don't feel like myself at all and I have so little time to think about this pregnancy. I keep forgetting I am even pregnant...other than the lack of mobility and the ever constant kicking from within!
I am scared to be away from Sam for so long. Up until this trip, our longest separation has been 5 days...this will be about twice that. Having Matt's mom here makes me feel better about leaving, but I know I will miss he and Matt incredibly.
When I return from this trip I will be 6 months along and only 3, or so, months away from another life change.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Yoga and the ER
After 2 months or more of time away from my yoga class, tonight I returned...boy, what a change...or should I say, how has the boy changed me! I didn't do yoga when I was pregnant with Sam. It never felt right. This time I enjoyed it early on (before the nausea set in) and tonight it was amazing. I feel so centered and connected to my baby boy. Don't get me wrong, the poses were all a lot harder to do having to adjust for my growing belly. I still gained so much from the class and look forward to my next class next week. During Savasana (which was majorly adjusted with piles of wool blankets creating a sort of bed for me to lay against....wonderful) I reached down and put one hand on where the baby's heart might be, and my other hand on my heart. Immediately tears came to my eyes and I felt a strong connection. It was magical.
Yes, the ER. I have a feeling I will get to know the ER well over my years as a mother of two boys. On Thursday evening, as we were all relaxing and watching a movie, Sam decided to climb/jump from the coffee table to the futon sofa and fell (of course) and smashed his head and ear on the wooden arm. He didn't cry right away, but instead started shaking his head and breathing funny and I knew that something was wrong. It turns out he had split his ear at the top. It swelled and started to bleed immediately and we couldn't tell if he had split it through the cartilage or just through the flesh...thus the trip to the ER. It was horrible there, as Sam wouldn't hold still for the tech to clean it. He screamed and we had to pin him down. The tech wanted to wrap him in a sheet and hold his head down. I did not want that at all. So we took a break and a doctor came to put the steri strips on his ear. He had just ripped the flesh, fortunately, and did not need stitches. Anyway, 4 days later you can barely tell it was such a freak experience and it is practically healed! He talks more about the "owie" (blister) on his foot than the really big "owie" (I would think anyway) on his ear. Go figure.
Yes, the ER. I have a feeling I will get to know the ER well over my years as a mother of two boys. On Thursday evening, as we were all relaxing and watching a movie, Sam decided to climb/jump from the coffee table to the futon sofa and fell (of course) and smashed his head and ear on the wooden arm. He didn't cry right away, but instead started shaking his head and breathing funny and I knew that something was wrong. It turns out he had split his ear at the top. It swelled and started to bleed immediately and we couldn't tell if he had split it through the cartilage or just through the flesh...thus the trip to the ER. It was horrible there, as Sam wouldn't hold still for the tech to clean it. He screamed and we had to pin him down. The tech wanted to wrap him in a sheet and hold his head down. I did not want that at all. So we took a break and a doctor came to put the steri strips on his ear. He had just ripped the flesh, fortunately, and did not need stitches. Anyway, 4 days later you can barely tell it was such a freak experience and it is practically healed! He talks more about the "owie" (blister) on his foot than the really big "owie" (I would think anyway) on his ear. Go figure.
20 Weeks
Finally, for those of you who have been wanting a belly shot...here it is!! I finally figured out my image upload problems...so you can also see an ultrasound image in "IT'S A BOY!". I am at 20 weeks in this photo and looking pretty cute...I think! I certainly haven't been feeling cute all of the time, but every now and then I do.
We have chosen a name....Arlo! I think it is final. It seems weird to still have 4+ months before he arrives and we know his gender and have a name...but, I like it this way...this time. I am glad we waited with Sam. We still can't decide on a middle name...maybe that will be the surprise...or maybe we'll all be surprised and an Isabel will pop out!
He moves a lot and I started having Braxton Hicks contrctions last week while travelling. They seem to be very frequent and strong if I am too active (like carrying a 32 lb. boy in a sling all day while travelling around airports). Over the last few days I haven't had as many.
We meet with the midwife again next Monday and we have found a doula! Her name is Sara and she is completing her needed birth hours for certification, so she isn't charging us anything. She is a good friend of mine and friend of other women I know and trust AND she has worked with our midwife... as well as had our midwofe catch both of her girls. She is also a certified massage therapist! BONUS! She's good too...having a 90 minute prenatal rub from her a month a go, I can atest.
I promise to be better about posting now that my image issues are over...I love having the visual aspect.
We have chosen a name....Arlo! I think it is final. It seems weird to still have 4+ months before he arrives and we know his gender and have a name...but, I like it this way...this time. I am glad we waited with Sam. We still can't decide on a middle name...maybe that will be the surprise...or maybe we'll all be surprised and an Isabel will pop out!
He moves a lot and I started having Braxton Hicks contrctions last week while travelling. They seem to be very frequent and strong if I am too active (like carrying a 32 lb. boy in a sling all day while travelling around airports). Over the last few days I haven't had as many.
We meet with the midwife again next Monday and we have found a doula! Her name is Sara and she is completing her needed birth hours for certification, so she isn't charging us anything. She is a good friend of mine and friend of other women I know and trust AND she has worked with our midwife... as well as had our midwofe catch both of her girls. She is also a certified massage therapist! BONUS! She's good too...having a 90 minute prenatal rub from her a month a go, I can atest.
I promise to be better about posting now that my image issues are over...I love having the visual aspect.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
