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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Employee of the Quarter

I was surprised this morning in my office by two ladies from our Employee Relations Team. They showed up unexpected and asked to speak to me because they had news to share. They presented me with a letter from the CEO of the Hospital congratulating me on receiving the honor of Employee of the Quarter! I was surprised and a little embarrassed and very pleased that my co-workers were nice enough to nominate me. The ladies even said when the CEO was signing my letter that he told them it is “well deserved”. After almost 10 years of working here I must say that it feels good to be recognized as a valued employee…even if it is only by those closest to me.

The more exciting part of the honor is the things that come with being the employee of the quarter. I get a luncheon thrown in my honor where I choose the invitees, they present me with an award and flowers and I even get a parking spot! Of course since I don’t work in the Hospital I will use the spot for when I actually drive over there and my lucky husband can use it when he comes in to work.

It honestly is an honor that my co-workers would nominate me and they always tell me how great I am. I take it with a grain of salt because who agrees with something like that first of all and I am just coming to work each day and doing the job I have been hired for. Have I taken on more and more over the years? Of course I have. Anyone with a good work ethic would do the same and I was raised to give my all each day. It’s part of who I am and I can’t imagine not doing a good job at work. It’s an exciting day!

Monday, March 18, 2013

The Contest

I have a co-worker who keeps badgering me (in a good way) to become a stand up comedian. I shoo her out of my office constantly as she leaves articles about comedy shows and female comedians on my desk. Whenever I tell a story she interrupts me half way through and tells me I need to add it to my “act”. She’s not giving up anytime soon so as long as I have to work with her I will continue to tolerate her. Sometimes I wonder if she just wants me to quit and try something new…which is actually not such a bad idea…

A couple of weeks ago I took Nate to Staples (because who doesn’t love browsing office supplies?) and I found a cute notebook. I had decided that if I was going to let Marsha enter my brain even a little than I had to break down and start taking notes. I get a lot of ideas while driving which is a real pain so I usually email myself the topic really quick or will use voice memo to record a quick rant. I hate listening to my voice so the latter is really torture for me. I find it amusing because other people seem to like my voice. I am the “lady” on the voicemail for my office and the hospital and in a couple of days I am recording something for a radio commercial. I guess I should embrace the voice I was given and forge ahead with my new career!

Marsha keeps telling me to go to local comedy clubs and write material and go to an open mic night. She had no idea that I have stage fright. I still can’t believe I danced in a 5th grade talent show…thankfully video cameras weren’t popular back then. I have been writing and I have been open to maybe one day doing something that people may see. Saturday morning I was flipping through the channels and a commercial came on for “Joan and Melissa” which I love. Joan Rivers is someone that I admire so much and if I could be fortunate enough to have a fraction of her talent I would die. At the end of the commercial there was a clip promoting a contest that they are running…

So, I grabbed a pen and wrote down “Joan Knows Comedy” and grabbed the iPad. Entries must be 90 seconds (no big deal right?) and have to be submitted by next month (good for procrastinators like me). I grabbed my notebook and started writing. I wrote about this crazy job I had before I got married. I think it’s funny and I did a test run and it was 90 seconds. Not so bad. After reading a little I decided to write some more. This time I changed to a pop culture/music theme. I like the material much better and have decided to tape myself. I’m going to go for it and hope to win a trip to NYC to meet Joan…now I just have to find a quiet spot and hide away like a criminal to tape myself!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

My Little Man


On a daily basis Nate makes me laugh, gets me angry and makes my heart melt. You just never know what is going to come out of the kid’s mouth and you really never know what kind of mood he’ll be in. My favorite side of him is the cuddly mama’s boy who wants hugs and kisses and says, “Mama, you are my first love”. How could you not want to cuddle all day in bed watching cartoons with that kid? I also love how smart he is and how he can tell me things about sea creatures that I would never know because he pays such close attention to the Octonauts. I love sitting at the kitchen table coloring with him, but only the pictures he tells me I can color. He is very particular about things.

I wish that Nate was a perfect little man all the time but I also realize that it’s not realistic. Kids are a pain in the ass sometimes but we still love them. He has his good and bad days and fights to get his way. I sometimes wonder if I feel like the bad outweighs the good sometimes because of the actual amount of time we get to spend together. He’s not going to be happy to see me at work after spending an hour in the car knowing that he has to get in my car and drive another hour to get back home. He’s not going to be happy when I tell him I can’t play because I need to cook dinner and clean up. He’s not going to like going to bed when he wants to watch one more show. He’s going to hate me when I wake him up at 6am and demand that he get dressed and tell me what he wants me to pack for his lunch. It would be easier if Love were there to balance it out but his work hours require us to each parent alone for a portion of the day. Love also gets some alone time at home which I do not have.

Basically it comes down to me wondering if all of Nate’s behavioral issues stem from my lack of quality time with him. Love takes him to the park and I have to fight with him to take a bath. No fair! Our lives have changed a lot since last fall and there are more changes to come. I just hope Nate can handle all of them. We have our meeting at the school next week to discuss their recommendations for Nate and I hope that we can get some help. I’m hoping for positive changes!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Tough Times

I started to write this last week but I had to stop and I finally went back to it today…if I can help even one woman going through the same thing then it is worth sharing my pain…

2/28/13

I am having the most stressful morning that I have had in a very long time. I was up early, have a raging headache and can’t take my normal Excedrin to knock it out. I am waiting for the most important phone call that I have ever waited for and I’m not sure what my reaction will be when I do get the call. I am practically shaking and I am coming out of my skin!

Nine days ago I peed on a stick and found out I was ovulating and that set everything in motion. When you have fertility issues getting pregnant is not fun. For most couples getting pregnant requires having sex and peeing on a stick when you miss your period. For me and far too many other women it is a completely different experience. For us it is a stressful, painful and emotionally wrenching period in our lives, that if we are lucky produces a beautiful miracle baby. I am one of the lucky ones who were able to get pregnant and birth a very special little boy. Now I’m hoping for a second miracle.

My cell phone rang and I jumped when I saw the number. A co-worker was in my office so I asked her to close my door because I needed to take the call. I picked up and very calmly the doctor told me that he received my results and I didn’t ovulate. He continued that I needed to come in and see him for a Clomid check during my next period. He was very matter of fact and not at all comforting. It reminded me of how much I miss my doctor who helped me get pregnant with Nate. I hung up the phone and tears started to fall.

I had selfishly convinced myself that I was pregnant. How stupid of me to think that one IUI was going to do the trick. Had I forgotten the months that ticked by while trying to get pregnant 5 years ago? I texted Love because I was afraid of crying even harder. I needed to pull myself together so I could open my office door again before people started asking questions. Then Carry On by fun. came on the radio and I really lost it. I never really paid attention to the damn song before and the timing really sucked. I finally pulled myself together and prayed the next hour would go by quick.

The next hour was really bad and I had to keep distracting myself. I then walked over to the Hospital for my weekly massage. A week earlier I had to tell my masseuse that I had IUI because there are certain areas you need to be careful of even in the very early stages of pregnancy. I walked into the massage room and was greeted by her ear-to-ear grin which made me very upset. She was hoping for good news and I had to tell her. She assured me that it would still happen and she was very comforting (unlike the damn doctor ugh!) even telling me to let it all out as she worked her magic.

I am so glad that I got the call before my massage because it was such a freeing experience which is such a bizarre thing to say. I cried for a good 10 minutes and then was very calm and haven’t cried about it again since then. It was such a wonderful experience and it helped me to let go of the pain and move on. I am now prepared to start the next step in the process and am hopeful that someday soon I will be able to say that I am expecting miracle baby #2!