It's a thing

Worst pregnancy brain day ever. Pregnancy brain is a real thing, I probably use it as an excuse more than is appropriate, but it's real. Let me tell you about yesterday.

Caleb had a birthday party to go to in the morning that was 45 minutes away. I did so many dumb things while trying to get us both ready but was proud of myself for only being 5 minutes late and remembering the present. But Caleb was a disaster half way through and we had to leave.

He fell asleep in the car and I took advantage of the nearest drive-thru Starbucks. I ordered a tall half-caff. Maybe I should have actually said coffee but it took the cashier a minute to realize what I wanted. My fault or his? I don't know, but I felt stupid and frustrated.

We were supposed to take my parents out to Benihana for a late Father's Day dinner. He was really excited about it. But I completely overlooked making a reservation. At 4:30 I tried calling for a same evening reservation. Ha. Not going to happen. But they'll try to seat walk-ins so we went anyway.

Driving to my dad's house I missed the freeway exit. I don't know how many times I've driven there and never missed the exit. There are 7,492 things I could have done next to still get us to my dad's house on time. I did none of them. We were late.

We got to Benihana and, after paying for valet because there are exactly 4 parking spots in the whole lot that aren't assigned, we discovered a 3 hour wait. Of course. I don't know why we even tried. The attendant got my car which was parked for less than 2 minutes and wasn't sympathetic at all. He also didn't get a tip.

After a long evening we all came home and went to bed. I forgot I was on call for work and didn't take my phone to bed with me. I never heard it ring. Seven times I didn't hear it ring. Finally they called Brian's phone which he heard and I got ready in a panic and drove to work at 5am without brushing my teeth.

I'm awesome at this.

I have the time... somewhere...

I've been working a lot, and by that I mean a lot of days, not necessarily a lot of hours or doing a lot of actual work. When patient volume is high we "flex" out and work less hours than our scheduled shift to keep productivity high. I'm already losing hours every Tuesday when I come in late so I can take Caleb to day care/preschool. I actually worked an entire extra day, 8 full hours at one of the clinics, on top of my regularly scheduled 40 at the hospital and still only ended up with 34 hours this week.

I shouldn't complain. My manager is extremely flexible when I need to leave early for a doctor's appointment or when I said "Oh hey, I'll be coming in over an hour late every Tuesday and I can't take call during the week anymore." I don't know where else I'd get that kind of cooperation. It helps that I've been there 7 years, I don't give him a lot of trouble, and I pick up the slack a lot and do extra stuff without extra pay. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

I just feel like going in for an extra day, even though it's not actually extra hours, still feels like over time. It leaves me one day a week to grocery shop, get errands done, and see my family without rushing t get dinner on the table in time. I have to plan out my to-do list so far in advance or I end up trying to cram everything into one day. Caleb has a birthday party to go to tomorrow and I actually had to pull out my planner and schedule a day to buy a gift. The only time slot I could allot was 3 weeks ago. That's insane. At least I won't be running around tomorrow morning 30 minutes before the party, scouring the aisles of Target to find a gift. Except that I don't think I have any birthday wrapping paper. For the sake of my own sanity he might get a present wrapped in snowmen and candy canes.

Are we done yet?

It's been a long couple of days. Our schedules have been crazy since Brian started working the midnight shift and he left Friday morning for his drill weekend in Tucson. Being a single mom for the weekend isn't as bad as when he's gone for two weeks. But it's never easy. Especially when I have a headache 24/7. I went a while without any headaches and I thought that phase (I've been told it's a normal "phase" some women get) of pregnancy was over. Then they came back with a vengeance. I hate taking so much tylenol, I know it really isn't good for me or my liver, but the headaches get debilitating.

Caleb has been so good while I'm curled up on the couch with a pillow on my head. I really couldn't ask for a better kid. We went to the Safari Park this morning and he exceeded my expectations, so well behaved. He deserved a special day after spending nearly 3 days straight with babysitters and at day-care. Then he took a wonderful 4 hour nap. And so did I.

The Fly War

One day last week-ish we came home to find flies in our kitchen. Not 2 or 3 flies as if someone left the back door open. More like 40+ flies having a party we weren't invited to. Brian grabbed the fly swatter and I got the vacuum with the hose attachment.

The next day we came home and there were as many, if not more, again in our kitchen. Where are they coming from!?! We thought we got them all. But to be sure we put up some fly paper (gross) and thought we'd try an old home remedy of sugar water with a funnel in it so they can't get out. Neither worked. We got more flies. You know what works? A 3 year old with a fly swatter who likes to smash things.

It was like they were hatching from somewhere inside the house. Yes. Hatching. I found pupa along and underneath the baseboards in my kitchen and eggs under the dog's water bowl. Turns out that Caleb was playing with a cardboard box in the yard and left it there for a few days. Brian brought it in to recycle it and there were little dots all over it that no one noticed until we went on the hunt for the source of the flies. They got into the water dish and then migrated to the baseboards to morph into flies.

After scrubbing the dog dish and surrounding area with bleach, vacuuming and scrubbing the baseboards and arming my son with a fly swatter in each hand I think we finally won the fly war.