sloth, thy name is tbooty, or why i haven't posted lately

all kinds of interesting things have been happening out in seattle. (ok, not really, but there have been a select few.)

mostly the reasons i haven't posted can be boiled down to this:

1. i'm just generally feeling lazy the last few weeks. i've been told this is normal.
2. i often THINK about doing something (posting/laundry/errands) and that's as far as i get. this does not bode well for my post partum period. LOL
3. i've found that while the extreme exhaustion of the first 16 weeks of pregnancy has not returned, i AM more tired than i was from weeks 17-30. case in point, i wake vrock up in the morning for work and go back to sleep when he leaves around 8am. then? even though i went to bed at 1am? i end up sleeping until around 11am. unless i'm going somewhere where i have to leave/arrive at a certain time. weird.
4. i'm already feeling overwhelmed about the baby's arrival. we don't have all of our "gear" yet. no stroller/car seat (although that's just a matter of mom & i going to target together.) we have a bassinet. we have a pack 'n play (that we may just have him sleep in for the first few months due to space issues). we have a crib mattress, but the crib is still at my brother-in-law's. but there are still quite a few things we registered for that haven't been purchased yet. it's kind of stressful.
5. i am SO UNCOMFORTABLE at this stage. between the HUGE belly, the hip pain (so. very. hard. to. walk!!!) and the intermittent ankle/foot swelling, i am PAST being ready to reclaim my body.

the baby shower was good. none of my bridesmaids showed up, including the one who threw the shower, but 2 of the 3 had valid reasons. still, it REALLY upset me. UNTIL. my best friend in the world surprised me by flying up from utah for the weekend. BEST FRIEND EVER! after that i didn't really care about who hadn't shown. her being there made up for it more than 100 times over. of course, she made me cry though. bitch. LOL (don't worry, i TOTALLY got her back when i wrote out THAT particular thank you card. LOL) we got a fair amount of stuff, but of course not everything that we actually NEED. LOL go figure. it's ok. i've still got about $250 in gift cards/cash (not including whatever amount my brother is sending) to get the necessities that we don't yet have.

i'm up to chapter 13 of 18 in the transcription class, which means after i get back the chapter 13 submission, i have 4 graded transcripts left before the final. i'm not sure if i'll be able to start work before the baby is born, but we'll see. it'll be cutting it close, what with me only being 44 days away from my due date. it'd be nice to be able to start before he gets here.

i also had a job interview on monday (long story), and while it seemed to go well, the sacrifices it would entail (2 months unpaid leave, paying for childcare, no guarantee of job being held) make it so that i've never wanted to NOT get a job offer before. they were interviewing all of last week, so in theory i should hear something by wed of this week. like i said, it'll be one of the few times in recent memory that it won't hurt my feelings if they go in another direction. LOL

and i THINK that catches us up. the next 6 weeks are going to be an interesting ride. i'm ready to reclaim my body for myself. LOL let's see when this little boy decides to make his debut. i'd like him to wait at least until 36 weeks (7/14) but ANYTIME after that is totally fine with me! (plus, that would negate the 10 family birthdays in august that we're looking at currently. LOL)

i swear i haven't fallen off the face of the earth....at least not yet

i believe i owe you a post about the trip.



the trip was fantastic. it was the first time in TWENTY (count them!) years that my entire immediate family (all 4 of us. LOL) were in hawaii at the same time. both my brother & i have managed to go see our grandparents while our parents have been there over the last 20 years, but this was the first time we'd all managed to be there together. and it was awesome.

between vrock totally loving my grandparents (they love him too!), asking my grandpa for his blessing to name the baby after him (of course, he's THRILLED!), and talking about my brother & his fiancee's wedding next year, PLUS celebrating my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary AND mother's day, it was just an AWESOME trip.

it was a little too warm for me, what with the humidity and the whole "i'm growing a person so my internal thermometer is all out of whack", but vrock loved the weather, even the humidity! we didn't "do" a lot while we were there, until my brother got there. most of our days were fairly lazy, with the most strenous things we did being walking downtown throughout the shops and eventually going to the beach. (my bro & his fiancee' ended up coming in later than planned because her grandmother died a week or so before the trip. that was a major bummer, but i'm really glad that they decided to come anyways. i think it was therapeutic for her.)

the highlights of the trip were these gems:

• vrock, my bro, dad, & grandpa having daily "cocktail hours" starting around 3:30pm complete with each one smoking a cigar. (vrock & my brother do not normally smoke AT ALL and dad only smokes pipes/cigars every once in awhile.) grandpa was definitely in his element as he held court with the boys.
• everyone hanging out in the pool room at my grandparents playing pool and just enjoying the family time.
• my brother & his iFlip getting some of the best sound bites EVER from grandpa!
• and of course, seeing grandpa's reaction when we asked for his blessing to name the baby after him. it was priceless and something i'll never forget.

vrock is ALREADY talking about next years trip. he wants to make sure that they get to see the baby in person. i love my husband!

seriously????

i know, i know. i haven't written about the trip yet. i will, promise.

i just need to vent about this first.

when we first got pregnant, i was worried about the normal things: my age (37) being an issue, genetic abnormalities, miscarriage, etc. things that just about every woman is concerned about until she knows that there's nothing to be concerned about.

so we opted to do some genetic testing (first trimester testing & completely non-invasive) to "guide" us in the right direction. fortunately for us, the tests came back with no worries of any abnormalities and we were able to end that particular journey there.

that was in early february. while we were on vacation, i received a call from the billing department of that particular hospital. (not the one i'm delivering at, as that one is too small to have a maternal-fetal medicine clinic that does the genetic testing.) the guy proceeded to say that i had an outstanding bill ($30) after insurance had paid and wanted to know when i would be paying it. i'm in hawaii, and have no recollection of seeing a bill for that amount, so i told him that i was on vacation, if the bill had come prior to leaving i'd have paid it and since i'll be gone for 10 days, i'll have to look into it when i get home. fine he says and i figure that will be the end of it.

so we get home. i get the mail and sort it out. bills in one pile, etc. at this point, (about 2 weeks ago) i'm still not receiving my unemployment yet. vrock is working (huzzah!) but it's only part time. so while we do have some money floating around, there's not a lot that's leftover for extra bills. i put the bills on the desk in their spot and turn to other things.

i get a phone call a few days later from this guy again. telling me again that i still owe $30. now, i'm 27+ weeks at this point and my memory has become more faulty than i'd like to admit (HELLO list writing!), so i inform him that i have NOT received this bill and that i don't care that his system tells me they mailed it, i don't have it and therefore it will be hard for me to pay it. he says they'll send it again. fine. (of course, a day or so later as i'm preparing to pay bills i find it. but it's for $45.08 and NOT $30, so it's not completely my fault.)

meanwhile, vrock's job has become FULL TIME & BENEFITTED (woo hoo!!) and now i can pay the bills knowing that there will be more money coming in. great! so last week i write a check for this particular account and a few other non-monthly bills (we're STILL paying medical bills from his sinus surgery in oct) so that i can mail them in. i check our bank account online about every other day, so i'm glad to see that the check for this particular account has cleared. YAY! no more phone calls from this guy. right? WRONG!!!

this morning i'm sleeping in. (with vrock working full time now, the alarm goes off at about 6:45 and he gets up about 7:20. this wouldn't be an issue, except that 1) the alarm is on MY side of the bed, which means i'm the one hitting snooze and then rolling over to make sure he's awake, 2) i've done this every morning this week because i'm afraid if i don't sort of wake up with him that he'll fall back asleep and be late for work, and 3) last night/this morning i stayed up until 4:30am finishing a book because i'd had a 2 hour nap yesterday.) my phone is almost always on vibrate overnight, but because i'd grabbed it and put it by the bed this morning when vrock left for work, i hear it buzzing.

normally, i don't answer if there's no number listed. this one pops up as "private call". now, i know it's not my mom, because she left earlier and her cell number shows up on my phone. the only other "private call" that i know of for sure is my almost 38-weeks pregnant friend who lives about 8 minutes away. i'm her emergency ride to the hospital and since yesterday she was dilated to 1cm, it could be her. so i answer. it's the guy about the bill. he starts his spiel and i'm already PISSED because i KNOW that the check has cleared. i'm civil, barely, as he spits out the info about the visit date and the amount owed. and then i inform him that not only did i ONLY get the one statement (when they were supposed to send me a 2nd since i didn't recall getting a first) but that i've PAID it and IT'S CLEARED THE BANK! (there are few things that irritate me more than someone who doesn't have all the facts getting ready to "tell me off".) he then asks me to FAX him proof of payment.

um FUCKING HELLO??? just how am i supposed to do that? 1) i paid by check you asshole. i'll be DAMNED if i'm going to go to the bank and ask for a copy of the cancelled check because you can't be bothered to CHECK YOUR FUCKING SYSTEM to see if the payment has applied. (the check CLEARED on 5/22. i know monday was a holiday and all but seriously? it should be in your system by now!) 2) i don't have ready access to a fax machine and all i'd have to fax you is a copy of the statement. so i'm PISSED now. i explain to him that it's paid, cleared the bank, etc. he can tell i'm pissed because he then says "i'll just note your account paid then."

good idea asshole. of course, now i'm awake, so that annoys me even more. oh well.

i suppose i wouldn't be so mad about it if i wasn't already irritated from yesterday when the cop pulled me over.

more on that later.