elizabeth_mn

A day of meetings at work because Jail Inspection, much faffing with paperwork. Missed some calls from M, who finally texted instead to tell me that the baby had been throwing up all morning. He kept an eye on her for the rest of the day, and she kept getting sick, and at around 3 he told me that we might need to take her to the hospital. 

So, I knocked off work, stopped briefly at the store to pick up waters and pedialyte to make sure she didn't get dehydrated, and then headed home.

By the time I was home, she'd been vomit-free for about an hour. She was in a great mood, not acting sick at all, and M said that he suspected that she'd eaten a big mouthful of diaper cream and that was likely what was making her sick. -_- She didn't vomit at all once I was home, guess she saved that all for her dad, who was exhausted from following her around the house all day and cleaning up messes. 

She kept asking for food, so we gave her some plain cheerios and plain chex, and other things that would be easy on her stomach. The rest of the evening was uneventful, and she went to bed without fuss.

Spent the remainder of the evening cleaning dishes and trying to get the kitchen squared away. It took several hours, and there's still the utensils left soaking in the sink to finish off today, but it's much better than it was. Since we didn't have a pot free to cook dinner in, we ate a couple of canned soups. Not super satisfying, but at least it was filling.

So glad this week is nearly over, because it has been...a lot.

Yesterday was derailed spectacularly. I went home for lunch as usual, to find M in an absolute rampage with the vacuum cleaner. He was fuming over the fly situation, and was attempting to clean every surface in the house with what is basically a glorified dustbuster. (It's a Shark vacuum geared toward people with pets, a pre-kid purchase.)  It was overheating, the baby was upset because daddy was Big Mad and also because she hates the vacuum cleaner, and the furniture was all cattywampus. Have I mentioned that he doesn't handle stress well?

He begged me to stay home the rest of the day, which I did, and I took over cleaning duties so he could go back to work (he had a half-dozen accounts land on his desk.) Since the vacuum was malfunctioning, I just swept everything up as best I could, then went in with Lysol and paper towels and scrubbed the floor afterward. All the big furniture pieces were moved in order to find any hidden treasures (like goldfish crackers and cheese cubes) that the baby had hidden away (there were many), and everything was scrubbed multiple times to eliminate food residue. 

M managed to find our large bottle of bug spray, so he did a perimeter sweep and sprayed all the entrances into the house that the flies could be using to get in. 

Baby went down for her nap, and I took a bit of break to have some lunch, then cleaning recommenced. I think the living room is probably the cleanest it's been in a while, and we've vowed to remain vigilant about crumbs and sticky messes so the flies have nothing to be attracted to. Now we just need to get the kitchen squared away, and the main part of the house will be done.

Had leftover roast and green beans for dinner, with another noodle box to supplement. Not enough roast left for dinner tonight, so I'll have to come up with something else. 

Yesterday was a stupid day with a stupid face, and I'm glad it's over. Everyone at work was losing their minds because of our upcoming jail inspection, which means they were suddenly asking for dozens of old documents and were panicking about getting stuff turned in, and because I am The Holder of Documents, everyone was in and out of my office all day long requesting stuff. It was hectic, and I barely got a break to eat lunch, and I was cranky by the end of the day.

Things didn't improve upon going home. The baby wouldn't eat anything I gave her, and I tried everything - fruit, cheese, noodles, roast, green beans, you name it, she didn't want any of it. But she kept giving me the "hungry" hand sign. Bah! She needs to acquire more words, I hate the guessing game.

Little things kept going wrong all evening. Went to make mashed potatoes with dinner, discovered our brand new bag of potatoes was full on rotting and was infested with fly larvae. *gags* Had to clean that up, but I had bacon on the stove, and what's all that smoke? OH NO. So burned the bacon and had a house full of smoke, had to open the windows to clear the room, which let in all the outside heat. Burned myself on the bacon pan. -_- 

Second batch of bacon started. Made a noodle box as a second side instead. Bacon worked out this time. Baby sitting in middle of kitchen crying inconsolably. M says she did not nap, so she is clearly overtired. Attempt to put baby to bed, she has a monumental meltdown. Take her back out to the living room. She says she is hungry. She still doesn't eat any food. -_- 

Attempt to make gravy. Put clean pot on stove. Attempt to get jar of bouillon open, but it is welded shut. Try not to throw jar across room in frustration. Decide to skip making gravy, grab clean pot to put it away. OW THAT BURNER WAS ACTUALLY ON. Burn myself on superheated pot. 

Attempt #2 to put baby to bed. Cue second cataclysmic meltdown. Hide myself in my own bedroom to escape heat and screaming. She eventually exhausts herself and goes to sleep. I eventually cool down. M has fallen asleep without eating dinner. I eat a plate of beans and noodles and go to bed. 

Terrible night sleeping, so no chores before work. Got gas on the way in, got to downtown to masses of new construction that made me late for work. *sigh* 

Really hoping the rest of this week is much quieter.

Had a fabulous 5-day weekend, which was very nice even though it was very busy.

Thursday was mostly uneventful except that I had an ultrasound for my colon. I had scheduled it in the early afternoon because I knew that M would want to sleep in, but I didn't realize it would be a fasting appointment, so by the time the appointment was over I was ravenous. Thankfully, I had leftover pizza, which I ate as soon as I stumbled back through the door.

Friday was quiet, with M working only a little and me and the baby just relaxing at home.

Saturday and Sunday were filled with chores for M, mostly getting the taxes done for his business, celebrating a friend's birthday, and doing some car repairs. My big accomplishment for the weekend was finally getting M to hang the bedroom curtains, achieved by just finally get fed up and starting to do it myself, which he then intervened in and said he would do it himself. Hehe. Now the baby no longer fights her naps in there because it's dark enough for her to sleep, and M has stopped complaining about the morning light waking him up. Only took a damned year to get them up.

Monday was busy, and I had to be up early for a telehealth appointment with the genetic councilor. It went quickly and smoothly, and then we were off at 11 to the hospital for the in-person appointment. We had hoped that we could do the amniocentesis that day, but some membranes were not fully closed that needed to be for the procedure to be successful, so we scheduled another appointment for two weeks from now. The baby started crying the minute I laid down on the ultrasound table and didn't stop until I was off of it and could comfort her again. Her dad's cuddles were just not doing it, she was too worried that they were hurting mommy. 

She passed out for a nap as soon as we were home, and so did M. Both of them woke up a couple of hours later, after which M got ready for his job interview. He does not handle big stress gracefully, so he tore through the house like a bull, which upset the baby again. I suggested that I take her out of the house during the interview since she was having such a rough day, so when it was time, I loaded her up and took her to the library for an hour, where she charmed everyone and made friends with whoever she met. 

When we came home, M was in much better spirits, saying the interview had gone well and that the guy seemed to like him (confirmed later by his friend who is currently on the team that he'd be assigned to if he got the job.) The next interview will be a panel interview, and we're waiting to hear about scheduling. A good bit of news was that there are two openings on the team, and the guy basically said that if M wasn't a fit for one role, he'd be good for the other, so he has a really solid shot of landing a job either way.

Waking up this morning to the alarm was not fun, but I got up early enough to get a roast going in the crock pot and to make the baby's breakfast. I didn't clean a dish the entire long weekend, so the kitchen is once again a disaster, which means I'll be having some early mornings this week to catch up. 

Our yearly Jail Inspection was announced for next Wednesday, so I came back to work today to everyone losing their damned minds. It's going to be a long week.

Various minor crises over lunch yesterday that had to be dealt with. We have a fly problem that is growing, so I scrubbed down all the food prep/eating areas while I was home to try and deal with it. Meanwhile, M went over to the main office to talk to them about the rent situation. They said they were trying to figure out the problems with the new website, they discussed all the miscommunications that have happened (like everyone being told the office was closed until the 6th, even though they opened it back up at the beginning of the month, giving everyone the wrong website address when they sent out notices, etc.) and they gave us all the info to pay by money order for this month. 

So, on the way home I had to stop and get a money order, which sounds easy and fast but absolutely was not. I tried first at Walmart since it's close to the house, but they kept declining the debit card when I tried to pay. I called PNC's customer service in a mild panic since I was on a time crunch, and the guy said he didn't even see the attempted transactions, we had plenty of money in our account, and it was well below our daily spending cap, so he was flummoxed. 

Called M, who gave some suggestions, which were things I'd already tried, then he directed me to a Western Union inside a Walgreens up the street. Friends, there was no Western Union, and the cashier had no idea what I was talking about.

So, M found me an Ace Cash Express, which finally, finally worked, though they charged some stupidly high fees and had to split the amount into two separate payments. -_- I made it back to the apartment office 20 minutes before closing. Their payment system is still not up and running, so she couldn't give me a receipt, but she signed and dated the money order stubs and we kept all the receipts in case there is any fuckery with our account balance next month.

I was sweaty and exhausted after all of that, so we ordered some pizzas since I had stackable coupons, and ended up with two extra larges for $15 total, which pleased me greatly. 

Poked around in some online fashion magazines from the 1830s and found a pattern for a canezou in The Ladies' Penny Gazette from 1832. I also found an embroidery pattern that I liked which seemed like it would translate well to chain stitch, so now I just need to actually make the dress and whatnot. Need to figure out my cap situation, too. I want something frothy and absurd!

Home early yesterday to take care of the baby while M had his job interview. It lasted a surprisingly short time, and he said afterward that since he was a referral, the first interview was basically a formality and just some basic HR questions. Round two will be upcoming.

I had my virtual doctor's appointment after that, which was disappointing. I was hoping they could just prescribe me my usual diverticulitis meds and be done with it, but they want to get some images of my colon since with pregnancy it may or may not actually be diverticulitis. (I am 100% positive it is, I've been dealing with this stupid disease for nearly two decades now, I know what a flare feels like.) So, I have an ultrasound appointment on Thursday afternoon. Meh.

After that it was a normal afternoon. The baby was in pretty good spirits, but she had slept late again and had skipped her nap, so by the end of the evening she was a bit cranky. She went down at her normal time, and then M went out and picked us up some hamburgers for dinner, since I was too tired to cook.

M read an article that said that orange juice has become so costly to produce and demand has fallen so much that in 5 years or so it may be considered a specialty item and no longer and staple. Not sure if that's true, but it did make me add an orange tree to the list of garden plants to have once we have a house. 

Anyway, hit snooze too many times this morning and so only got a couple of things done before work. Cleaned the cat boxes and made the baby's breakfast, and then was out the door. Will attempt to make soup for dinner tonight, thought I'm not keen on having the stove on for as long as it will take to simmer the soup. May switch gears and make something else instead. ~shrug~