So. Much.

I know I've been absent for quite awhile. Believe me, we have been insanely busy. In the past month and a half a crazy number of big things have happened, and each of these things could easily be it's own post, but everything happened so fast that I'm resigned to just giving you the short version. Here we go:

Week of April 7th:
We find out...that we're pregnant! Super exciting! Also one of the worst weeks ever to cut caffeine from your diet because its the week of my biggest work event of the year. Which also means I am crazy busy.

The rest of April and the first week of May:
Life is less crazy now that my big work event is done, but the first trimester of pregnancy brings complete exhaustion. So tired. All the time. And work is hectic because 2 event staff (same position as me) have announced they are leaving along with 1 administrative staff. It's the busiest time of the year for us, so this is really tough AND there is a temporary hiring freeze, so those positions can't be filled right away. It's a long, complicated, story, but basically those positions are going to be filled in the next month or two, just not right now. The problem is that our busiest time IS the next two months.

On the 25th of April our sweet little C turned 2- unbelievable! We celebrated as a family with a trip to the zoo and a stop by the fair for an elephant ear. We delayed the birthday party a couple of weeks until my family would be in town.

At the end of the first week of May we head over to Michigan State to watch my brother in law graduate. C was extremely good and clapped enthusiastically at all the right times.

2nd week of May:
Lots of work meetings to kickoff the week and C's 2-year well child doctor's appointment. Everything went well- he's high on the charts for weight, a little low on height (though I'm sure he'll have a crazy growth spurt soon) and right in the middle for his head circumference. We round the week out with my parents and grandmas coming to down and we all go to my sister's college graduation on Saturday and then all of Hubby G's family coming over on Sunday to have a family birthday party for C. C had a blast- we got him the Melissa and Doug Deluxe Kitchen and it was definitely a hit! Unfortunately BOTH of my grandmas were sick- some kind of food poisoning or 24-hour bug. Not fun, but luckily they were both feeling better the next day when they had a 9 hour car ride back home.

3rd week of May:
The week started out rough- I attended a funeral on Tuesday for an amazing 7-year old named Oliver. I had come to know him and his family, mostly his dad, through work. Oliver's dad works at one of the colleges that I work closely with and over the past few years he has shared his story several times about being a Caregiver to Oliver through his cancer journey with neuroblastoma. Oliver was truly an amazing little boy and although attending his funeral was heart breaking, it was also something I felt like I really needed to do to support his amazing family and to celebrate his wonderful little life.

On top of that, I called my mom in the evening to wish her a happy birthday and learned that she was actually on the way to the hospital with my grandma. My grandpa had had an accident with his gator (if you're unfamiliar, it's kind of like a 4-wheeler, but with a mini-truck bed type thing). He was pushing it out of his garage into their backyard and since the yard is on a bit of a slope, it started getting away from him and he tried to jump in to hit the brakes. Unfortunately he couldn't stop it and he was half in/half out when it crashed into some trees at the edge of their yard. He was ok, but definitely needed to see a doctor. He insisted on pulling the gator out of the trees with his truck before heading to the hospital, and when the doctor told him he should have "just let it go- it's just a machine" he replied, "No. It's a JOHN DEERE". They found that he had broken a rib and had some internal bleeding near his kidneys. They decided to transfer him to the bigger hospital 2 hours away because he was also on blood thinners because of a major heart bypass surgery he had a few years ago. Obviously internal bleeding + blood thinners is not a good combination, so they had to take him off the blood thinners and keep a close eye on him. By a couple days later the doctors said everything seemed to be looking good and the internal bleeding had stopped and they sent him home.

On Saturday night around 10:30 my dad called- which is late and unusual for him. He said that my grandma had called while my parents, sister, and her boyfriend were at the wedding reception for a close family friend and said that she had called 911 because my grandpa was unresponsive. He had just been sitting in his chair and suddenly dropped the remote. My grandma called his name and tried to wake him up, but he didn't respond. My family left right away and arrived at my grandma's house while the paramedics were trying to revive him. They were unsuccessful though, and my grandpa died peacefully, at home, exactly the way he would have wanted to on Saturday, May 18th.

Since we had all thought he was on the mend after his accident earlier in the week, this was definitely very unexpected. It's definitely one of those times that's it's especially hard to be so far away. Hubby G and I worked to rearrange our schedules at the beginning of the week so that we could leave early in the morning on Thursday and head up to be with my family. On top of all the normal schedule re-arranging that we were doing, our house officially went on the market on Monday. Clearly this was not good timing, but we already had the process underway before all of this happened. Basically we're in a position that we don't HAVE to move, but there's a decent chance that we could sell our house for a profit and then move to a little bit bigger house. Anyway, it was hectic while we were up in the U.P., but we got to go with my family on Saturday to my grandparents farm (picture a big piece of land with trees and a pond, not a barn with animals) and spread my grandpa's ashes all over. It was exactly what he would have wanted and although we were all still really sad, it was also comforting too.

4th week of May:
We headed back home on Memorial Day and had another busy week of work and now the added craziness of several house showings. Add to the crazy: another one of our event staff announced they were leaving, bringing the total to 3 event staff now that we're short. Like I mentioned, it's our absolute busiest season of the year and at this point, there's no way that the management can cover all of the events that don't have staff now. So, now I'm picking up a 5th event for the year...and it's happening later this month.

We're almost up to current times guys!!

1st week of June:
It's event week for me! That means lots of event prep all week long in addition to a last minute evening meeting add on for the 5th event that I picked up as of last week so that I have a chance to meet the committee and team captains. My event is 24 hours beginning on Friday at 2pm and ending Saturday at 2pm, but since there's a lot of set up, I have my packed rental cargo van on the road to head to my event location that is about an hour from my house at 7am on Friday morning. The event went really smoothly. A unique thing about my job is that it's not unusual at all to sleep in the back of your rented cargo van during your event. I mean, the reality of it is that you're working 30+ hours all at once and you need sleep to be able to continue functioning until the end of the event. They're outdoor events so when all your supplies are unloaded from your van, that's your only personal space to change clothes, take a break, and get some sleep. I brought plenty of padding and blankets and got 4 hours of sleep during the night which is actually probably more than average for these events. I survived, made it back home, actually checked out a street party that had a band I was interested in seeing on Saturday evening with Hubby G and Caeden. By the time we made it home though, I was definitely exhausted.

2nd week of June- that's this week!!
Although I was exhausted on Saturday night, I had to get up early with C and volunteer in our church nursery on Sunday morning. I tried to soak up every second of Sunday though, because beginning Monday, I work 17 days in a row. And that FINALLY brings us up to today! Starting tomorrow afternoon I'm helping register participants for the 4-day, 100-mile run I staff for work and I'll be staffing that event Thursday-Sunday and my parents will be in town visiting for the weekend as well.

Next week I'm back at work prepping for that 5th event that I picked up which takes place next Saturday/Sunday (it's another 24 hour event). I'll head back into work that following Monday just to hit the road to Chicago for an overnight meeting until Tuesday. Thankfully, blessedly, after that, I'm on a much needed vacation for the rest of the week and the whole following week!!

So yeah....sorry for the crazy long post and packing so much in all at once. But that has been life lately- no way around it! I hope that I'll be able to post again soon and delve into some more of the fun details of this second pregnancy (!!) and some more of this house-selling adventure we're on.

Thanks for hanging with me!

Paying For Maternity Leave

Paying/planning financially for maternity leave is a topic that Laura suggested awhile back, so I'm taking a stab at it.

The short of it is this: it's different in every state and differs by your employer, so there's not one easy answer.

I can tell you my situation though when I was on maternity leave with C. My employer's policy is this: you have to use any sick or vacation time you have banked up and that's all you get paid for. So basically if you have 12 weeks worth of time banked away you'll be getting regular paycheck all throughout your maternity leave. Building up 12 whole weeks of time is no small feat though, so a more likely scenario is that you'll get paid for some of your time off and the rest you're outta luck or you just have to take a shorter leave time so you don't feel that pinch.

Either way (in my situation at least), maternity leave zaps ALL of your vacation time for the rest of the year. Which I don't really disagree with since you weren't at work doing your job for 12 weeks, but it also just really sucks because its not like you were sitting around eating bonbons with your feet up drinking cocktails during that time. More like the extreme opposite- sleep deprived, downing water as much as possible (if you're nursing), and frequently covered in spit up. Yeah...not having any vacation time for the rest of the year just sucks.

In my case I was told that I wouldn't be able to get any short term disability because the amount of time I wasn't going to be getting a full paycheck wasn't much thanks to 3 years worth of saved-up sick days plus vacation time. That being said, you better believe I was determined to work right up until I was in labor to maximize that time! I was fortunate to have a complication free pregnancy, so that was definitely do-able. The day before my due date I was at work (it was a Friday) helping organize our warehouse space. I took breaks to sit when I felt I needed to and when people asked, "when are you due again?" I loved seeing the looks on their faces when I nonchalantly replied, "tomorrow". I really was feeling pretty good though and there were no signs of impending labor, so really no reason to start my maternity leave.

The following Monday morning, officially 2 days past my due date, I still didn't have any clear signs of labor, but I just had a feeling that it was coming. So I texted my boss and said "no baby news yet, but I think later today! I'm going to officially start my maternity leave." And that was that. C was born that night.

Ok. So I realize that last part is probably pretty atypical.

But if you have a scheduled c-section or a complication-free and easy-going pregnancy you never know. It very well could be as simple as that.

Regardless of the state you live in, the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) is the same. Your employer must give you 12 weeks of job-protected leave following the birth or adoption of a child. Keep in mind that there is no requirement to pay you anything during your FMLA time however, so that explains why you may cut your time short. Also, if your employer is an agency of less than 50, FMLA does not apply, so be sure to check with your company policy regarding leave time.

When it comes to your significant other, again- there is a lot of variation. Hubby G banked up his vacation time and took off 3 weeks before heading back to work, but that was straight up vacation time he used.

When it comes down to it, the best thing you can do is schedule a good chunk of time to chat with a representative in HR for your employer or whoever is the most knowledgeable on your benefits package. That way if you are eligible to apply for short term disability or if there is any other paperwork or hoops to jump through you're proactive about it and won't get burned.

Or just move to Sweden. Or Canada if you don't want to go as far as Sweden. or really anywhere other than the U.S. to have a better maternity leave situation. For real- check this out:


Source

I hope the U.S. gets a better plan for moms and families soon!

Feeling the Blogging Bug

I know I've been MIA for a bit- spring is another intensely busy time at work, so I've had little free time. BUT as always, I miss blogging! So I'm going to try to do more posts via mobile. I've had BlogPress on my phone for a long time, but I never felt like it was a great alternative to posting from my computer because I didn't know how to insert links. But I've finally figured it out! So I'll see how this goes.

Latest updates around here: C is climbing EVERYTHING, we've tried a couple new breweries, and I've fallen off the wagon with my running routine.

Hopefully more posts coming soon!



Goofy toddler picture just for kicks.