I communicate via Reunion.linkedin.facebook.blogger.center'd.com

I probably can not complicate things anymore than I have now. I have wanted to write since I was 6 years old when I won my first writing contest. I was awarded because of my creativity on writing about preserved tongues... Yuck... Then, about six years ago my friend, Mary turned me on to blogging. That was fantastic until I started traveling for work a lot and having a baby. I left all of that behind and even stopped checking my personal email account until just a few weeks ago. At some point for professional reasons I joined Linked In, then Reunion.com, now Center'd which is very cool and even face book because everyone except my husband has a face book page. How am I to keep up with my friends and family that I see week to week if I can not communicate via face book? If I never wanted to be found by any old friends or pen pals, I just made it really, really hard... I am so easily found and transparent at this point.

Maybe this time I will do better.... Maybe.

Right now my problem is that I can not sleep. I have a lot on my mind when it comes to work, my son's birthday party this weekend and getting all of my personal and professional projects organized and up to date.

I was laying in bed tonight thinking about all of the communication tools that I have... I have a Blackberry I affectionately named "Crackberry" so I have work email with me all the time. I have a personal cell phone that is web enable so I can log on personal email or IM whenever I want. I have three email accounts, that new face book page, Linked In, Center'd account for all of my organizing needs, this blog site as well as a purely writing blog site and who knows what else I have forgotten... You know what would be really cool? If I could log on to a dashboard like I do with my financial information and have a list of all the email, blog and communication accounts that I have and be able to access them with one click in one place... Maybe that nifty little application is already out there and I just have not found it... I am going to look for it though. I would even be willing to take the time to set it up- much better than I have my face book page which I am going to work on right now... Because I still can not sleep.

The Ghost of Wonder Woman

I have been a mom for almost 6 months. I have changed well over 300 diapers, given several hundred bottles, and washed lots of baby clothes. However, I have mopped my house 4 times, I do laundry throughout the week and when we are desperate, I really clean the bathrooms one week and surface clean them the next. I dust when I remember and sweep twice a week instead of every night. This is all because my son is not crawling. I will become a floor clean crazed woman when my son starts crawling. And to top things all off, I can only write every two months if I am lucky. What is my problem?

Before my son was born I thought that I would have everything together. I spent the last couple of months that I was pregnant getting my house and my life ready for a baby. I started organizing the house, getting rid of things, organizing how I would take care of him and take care of me. All of that has been thrown out the window, the door, down the tubes, something. Things are not what I thought. Not close.

Work has been completely out of control for me. Two nights this week, my son was in bed asleep before I left the office and my floors have not been mopped in a week now.

My mom carted around three children, kept a clean house, helped my dad, volunteered in the Art Council, Cancer Society and took art classes.... WHAT THE HECK????? I wish I knew how my mom did it. She did not make it look as hard as it is....

The other things I have noticed is that my husband and I have started talking to each other through our baby and referring to each other as "mommy" and "daddy". Creepy a little. What do Wonder Women do? And how? I don't have it and I am not sure when I will. One thing is for certain- I do have a beautiful baby boy who is the light of my life. He is sweet, smiles a lot, laughs, grabs my hair, looks in my eyes and grabs at our dog. I may be a mess, but he is the most wonderful little life in the whole world.

Messy me...

Confessions of a Mad Mom

I have set out to be the perfect mom. I see this image in my head of me dressed in one of my nice work suits driving into the driveway with my son the same time my husband gets home, you know Simpson style. We make our way into the house to be greeted by our excited and sweet dog, we prepare dinner, eat together with our son sitting in his high chair and we spend the rest of the evening playing board games or watching TV after we tuck a sleeping baby into bed.....

Ok, that is when the doorbell rings for the pizza delivery, while my son is giving me his cranky chat in his swing because he wants my attention... The dog is in the back yard barking at the neighbor who wants to spray her with a water hose, I have 7 messages to return and I have just realized that I started the wash this morning before I left for work and I never put clothes in it.... Brilliant

I really want to know how super moms do it and I want to know how I can join that club. The first few weeks after my son was born I thought things would easily fall into place. My mother-in-law stayed with us one week, my mom the next and by the time they left I was getting into a groove. We started our days with dad, we went for a walk when he went to work, I did upper body workouts while my son took his mid morning nap. I shopped with him during the early afternoons and had dinner ready by 6:00 PM..... Then I went back to work and all of that just went out the window.

My first week back at work we had take out twice, no laundry was done, no mail was sorted. My second week back at work, I got a stomach virus, watched things pile up on my dining room table and used the kitchen table as a launch pad for the day. My briefcase was laid there every evening, my son's car seat found a home on the table, along with his daily logs from school that I swore I was going to file away. My third week back, I went on my first over night trip for work, got really behind in my work because it was left at the office every day and found myself working very late the night before a big presentation. Needless to say it looked as though I was floundering.

I finally got a a clue and took inventory of a few things. The most important thing is my son and his well being. He is loved, fed well, bathed, has clean clothes, rarely lays in a wet diaper and is beginning to babble, coo, squeal and smile at me. The laundry may only be done once or twice a week, my dining room table may be my project center for now, the dog needs to be groomed, I have not mopped in a month, I have not dusted in two weeks, but I have a happy baby and I have caught up to a respectful level of being behind. Life is good and some day I will get the hang of things. For now I will take one day and one room at a time. I may not be super mom, but I am a happy mom.

New Look, New Mom, New Mission

Life through a Kaleidoscope. That appears to be my life now. Before my son came along I compartmentalized everything. I am not sure that is going to be so easy to do now. So, it seems that as I go about the day everything turns, twirls and changes in different shapes, colors and patterns. Thus, the rebirth of my blog and the new name. While I keep up this page, I am going to still try to work on Polished Rocks, and who knows, maybe there really will be a book of short stories on my shelf one day named graced with the name.

I kept the entries from the old blog and it will continue to change over time. I hope you will visit again and enjoy.

Sugar Rush

Well judging by my visit this week it looks like I do have Gestational diabetes that went undiagnosed. That explains why folks eyes pop when they see me from the side, why my baby probably weighs almost nine pounds right now and why I have two and half times the amount of fluid for the little rascal to swim around in right now.

So, to make things better, our midwife recommended that I go into labor on my own in the next two weeks.... Hmm... Can I order that up, schedule it on my calendar? Or can I just take a pill for that. She has recommended a pill; Evening Primrose oil to be exact.

Before I ran out and bought a bottle of it, I read about it online and there are some strange ways to take this stuff. From what my midwife said she wanted me to take it orally. From what I read online there are much more affective ways of using this herb. I have yet to do any of them. The goal here is for my cervix to be ready to go. Right now, this kid is not going anywhere. I am still carrying him pretty high, my Braxton Hicks are not painful and I have yet to have any sign of a real contraction. A lot has to happen in two weeks. Now, just as a side note, Evening Primrose is also suggested as good treatment for premenstrual conditions, as indicated on the bottle.

So, in addition to the Evening Primrose, I have been banned from sugar entirely and that is a hard thing for me. Sugar is by far my downfall. I think I must have the worst sweet tooth there could be. I was doing great all day yesterday, but early in the evening when I got home, I wanted something sweet so badly. So, I made a blueberry cobbler with Splenda... Well, it is a start. And just to make things worse, while I was on the way to work this morning I drove up beside a Dunkin Donuts truck and I thought it was only because I can not have sugar that I am seeing this. Well, just to twist the knife in my chest, while I was sitting next to the Dunkin Donuts truck a Hostess Cupcake truck went through the light in front of us. I knew that someone was trying to torture me. I have never even seen a Dunkin Donuts truck before this morning. I think these next two weeks are going to be more difficult than I thought.

So, I do not want to hear or see anything else about Twinkies, Ho-hos, Swiss Cakes, Brownies, Chocolate ice cream or anything else that is sweet... My fat little man and I can not have it.

Hee, Hee, whewwwww

Greg and I have successfully completed the birthing class, or the right of passage better known as "Get Ready To Get Scared Out Of Your Mind". If you are interested, the first thing I learned is that ten centimeters is soooooo much larger than I thought. Our name tags were ten centimeters around and our instructor told us that you can not even begin pushing until you reach that size. I wanted to raise my hand and ask if I was really going to become that size. I mean, seriously, that whole dilating deal would have been very helpful during my first experience with intercourse... Well, let me take that back. I think any change in size in that area is just painful no matter what. Sometimes it sucks to be a woman.

Breathing- This is incredibly important and so is distraction. I am hoping that I can have a circus in my delivery room or a famous comedian. If I have to lay back and think about the watermelon that I am trying to pass I might not make it.

Birthing Coach- Dads, friends, moms, whoever these are- you must be the best and here is your job description; Must love babies, have strong hands for massaging, soft bones in your fingers so that when mom squeezes, your bones do not break, ability to breath "hee, hee, whewww" without passing out, no aversion to blood, crying, moaning, cursing or the placenta. Quick with the ice chips, no sign of a camera until mom is fully rested and has applied make-up. Door Bouncer is a must! Keep all visitors out while mom is doing the additional labor intensive job of learning to breastfeed if that is what she elects to do. Do not, under any circumstances tell her to relax. You might end up with a black eye.

Natural childbirth- Complete and total crap. I won't even go there and I won't even try it. I bow and applaud every woman, such as my own mother who delivered without a cocktail or some form of pain management. I, however want nothing to do with it and I am not ashamed to admit it. I do not like pain, try not to put myself through it so I will be asking for narcotics or whatever they will offer me when I begin passing a watermelon through a hole the size of a lemon.

C-Sections- Every bit as scary as vaginal births. Why can't they just knock us all out when we deliver babies??? That would be so nice.

30 Hour labors- If I have one, someone will pay and pay dearly.

Birthing Ball- Gift from heaven, right after that happy hour you can have when you get to the hospital.

Self inducing labor- Good luck! Walk a lot and have lots of sex the last few weeks.

Swelling- It never stops.... My hands and feet have gone from 4 times there normal size to 10 times their normal size... I need some new shoes and I can no longer make a fist. But, hey it is not my face that has swelled this much so I should not complain.

Reward for all of these things- A beautiful, healthy baby. I am ready to meet mine

Total Geekdom

I have felt since I graduated from college that my field was special. And when I say special I mean that it is full of dorks. I use to tease my husband because he is an engineer by training and trade. I have since learned that I never should have gone there. I am sure that my field is full of more Bugs Bunnies and Daffy Ducks than his pocket protecting engineering crowd.

In this day and age, I think most folks know a thing or two about GIS (Geographic Information Systems), thanks to the folks at Google Earth. Google has shed a whole new light on an industry that is over thirty years in the making.

So, a colleague of mine sent an email out today with an interesting link. I read through most of them and just shook my head. Unreal what is out there. I think most of the kids who use to play Dungeons and Dragons are GIS Geeks. See for yourself-

What happens when GIS and Tolkien nerds collide