Feelings

I cry enough to know that I'm going to love my baby with my whole heart and will protect him at any cost. I'm so darn sensitive and emotional with my pregnancy. I see a baby on TV and I will have to blow my nose for the next 30 minutes. My husband, who tucks me in every night, will say, "good night", which means he's going to leave the room and let me sleep, causes me to cry because I don't want to be separated from him. It's all hormonal from being pregnant. Normally, I'm sensitive, but I'm not about to cry if Scott leaves the room for goodness sakes. But even with all these emotions running through me, there are days when I forget that my life is going to change dramatically in 8 short weeks. I am completely terrified of my life changing. I can't tell you enough how much I love my life right now. My husband and I have a wonderful marriage. We are happy. We love being together all the time, we love being home, we are selfish with our time together and we cherish the quiet of our house. It's wonderful to have kids parttime. We absolutely love having Austin and Grace in our home. They make it special, they make us laugh. But its also nice getting out with Scott alone. Dinners, the movies, cuddling in bed, playing Yahtzee. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. But soon, very soon, that will all end and I can't tell you how terrifying that is for me. And then of course I feel hugely guilty that I'm not different. That I have these feelings. In 8 short weeks someone tiny and breakable and loud will be depending on me every minute of the day. "Jaime" time will cease to exist and I will have to dig deep to find the courage to accept such huge changes in my life. Thank god I have Scott and he's been down this road before.

3rd trimester

I thought I would be more diligent about writing about my first pregnancy. But with my new job, I haven't spent much time doing anything online. I can't remember the last time I checked out MySpace or FaceBook. I get home and I have no intentions of getting back on a computer except for an occasional game of Internet Backgammon.

My second trimester was uneventful. I had a weeks' worth of swelling which was mainly due to some unexpected and unnatural humidity in September and October. I combatted that with more water and kept my feet up if I could and voila, no more swelling. But I really do believe it was due much more to the fact that it was so hot and humid those days. I had a weeks' worth of difficulty breathing. Mostly due to a congestion cold than anything else, because here I am, much fatter, breathing normally (just don't ask me to do stairs). My second trimester also brought along the realization that my IBS wasn't going anywhere. A friend of mine said her IBS was dormant throughout her pregnancy. Mine, on the other hand, came out of dormancy and reared its ugly head in pairs. I had to modify my eating again. I went back to plain foods, nothing high in fat, nothing processed, no vinegars, no spices or sauces, and no sweets. Now, that's not saying the full truth. Did I eat these things on occasion...yes. Cravings haven't really been my thing. I've had few cravings. But on occasion, your body just tells you what to eat. It could be a salad and that salad most definitely needs some sort of dressing - whose main ingrediant is vinegar. And with the holidays, including Halloween, all inclusive of my pregnancy, I ate my share of sweets. But each time, I paid the price. A price I quickly realized was not worth it. So, for the most part, I kept to a simple diet and avoided sweets. Luckily, I have not really craved much in the wave of junk food. A piece of chocolate here and there, but if you knew me at all, you would realize the magnitude of this difference in diet. I eat fruits mainly. For what I would consider the largest change in my diet, I now eat citrus fruits like I would have previously eaten chocolate. I am NOT a fan of peeling oranges or tangerines or eating peaches, but my baby has a mind of his own. So I eat fruit in large quantities. This baby better love fruit in a year from now! :)

Now, 3 weeks into my 3rd trimester, the largest change is my belly and my ability to eat all day long. I wouldn't consider myself huge. I wouldn't consider myself one of those pregnant women most people think are cute because they are all belly and their size 4 frame makes it impossible not to want to touch their stomache. But for those who know my basic size XL size, they can tell I'm pregnant. I believe I would be considered "all belly", as I do not feel like my ass has grown or my thighs have grown or my face has rounded out too much. I"m sure a few pounds have been placed in each of these strategic locations, but for the most part, the 20lbs I have gained thus far resides in my midsection where Jameson turns and twirls like a dancer most days. I also find that I can no longer eat large quantities of food in one sitting. The food gets stuck and the pressure at the base of my esophagus is unpleasant at best. Small portions every 2-3 hours seems to work best for me.

And lastly, peeing. Peeing during the day is fine, but at night, it's quite a task. Rolling out of bed takes a lot of effort now and waking up every 2 hours is no fun. I sometimes have to push my husband to leverage my large ass out of bed. So he wakes up too. It's a group process. But he never complains and is always back to sleep before I can say Thank you. Some nights, i wonder if he even remembers how often I've woken him up.

it's my birthday

Yeah, I'm 31. Thanks to pregnancy hormones, I have spent the day crying. Not so good considering I've been at work since 7:40 am this morning. And I can't control the crying. I bet there are few 31-year olds who care as much as I do about birthdays. And having a birthday so close to Christmas, especially if you are someone like me who is major sensitive and feels like birthdays are incredibly important, really stinks. Trust me, I wish I didn't care so much about birthdays. But that's just not how I tick.

ER

Scott and I made a trip to the ER last night at 10:30 pm. Don't worry...the pregnant lady wasn't the one admitted. My husband, though he might kill me for writing about this, cut off one of his skin tags and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Scott has many skin tags. Some are in irritating areas that eventually just needed to go. So a few weeks ago we went to Walmart and bought some over-the-counter "freeze off" stuff. Normally, a dermatologist or a physician would do this for you, but Scott doesn't visit his doctor often. So Scott tested the stuff on a skin tag located between his shoulder and neck. Not a very sensitive spot for Scott, so it was a good place to start. It certainly wasn't a miracle treatment, but after one or two "freezing" applications, the skin tag puffed up (like a marshmallow does when you put it in the microwave), then shriveled and then died off. I can't remember if Scott "assisted" that first skin tag or not, but a couple of nights ago, he wanted to get rid of another skin tag. This time, though, it didn't shrivel up and die, and it became increasingly bothersome, so Scott cut it off. Now, not to give a false impression here, Scott had cut off a skin tag before. Once you freeze it, the skin almost cauterizes itself so when it is cut, Scott basically was only cutting off the dead skin that failed to fall away from his body. No drama there. This time, however, the skin tag was larger and more resistant to the freezing compound and it didn't cauterize itself. But there was no way to know that ahead of time. So, bandaid after bandaid and soaked-through gauze pad after soaked-through gauze pad led to a mildly panicked Jaime. After 4 hours of changing his dressings and applying pressure to no avail, I wanted to go to the ER. The doctor almost laughed when Scott said he had an "accute case of the stupids" and then proceeded to tell us this was his first "i cut myself on purpose" case. He gave Scott a shot of something to stop the bleeding and within 20 minutes he did finally stop bleeding. We had to wait another 40 minutes just to get a bandaid and our discharge papers, so we didn't get back home until 12:30 am. But I was relieved that my hubby was not bleeding anymore and slept quite soundly thanks to that lovely shot!

kicking

OK, so there's no such thing as a "light flutter" in my pregnancy. I waited and waited to feel my baby boy move inside me. I was told that I should start feeling him around 19 weeks. Nope. Not me. By 22 weeks I was starting to panick until a friend of mine told she didn't feel her baby move until 25 weeks. And of course, I got a lot of "oh, the baby moved but you probably thought it was gas". Not me. I paid attention hardcore to the happenings inside my belly, and I am certain I didn't feel any movement. And finally, this week, week 23, I felt my baby move. And there's no mistaking it. And there was NO light flutter for this mom! My baby waited patiently until he was strong and mighty before making his move. He wanted to make his mark the first time out. He pushed down hard right on my full bladder. I almost peed my pants. And since that moment, he continues to choose him moments wisely (or untimely as I see it) to put his full force into my bladder. I will not complain though. It's so miraculous feeling him inside me knowing he's kicking and moving and growing. I wouldn't change that for the world, even if it means I now travel with a second pair of underwear and pants in case of accidents. :)

Travelers

I've been at my new job, working for Travelers Insurance in downtown Hartford for 2 weeks now. It's a large company, approx 33,000 employees. What does this mean? STABILITY! yeah! It also means that I have a LOT to learn and many subject matter experts available to me for many, many, many projects. What do I do here, you ask? It's actually kind of cool. I basically build Computer based training courses on safety because I'm in the Risk Control business section of Travelers. My department is responsible for building CD-Rom e-learning courses that are self-paced so that our clients can gather information based on safety guidelines and procedures they should follow at their business. Sounds boring, but I've learned a lot about fire safety and water leaks and biohazzard polutants in just 2 weeks. Our clients can take these courses to lower their insurance premiums with us. My dept. also builds internal training to keep Fire Investigators and other "field" officers up-to-date on the latest guidelines and restrictions out there in many facets of our insurance industry. OK, that's boring to read, I know.

It's been a crazy transition. Going from working at home in my sweatpants to finding maternity clothes that are dressy enough for the office environment here. Going from driving no where to driving in downtown Hartford, parking in a parking garage and then walking a couple blocks to work. From eating cereal for lunch at 2 pm to preparing my lunch a day ahead of time and making sure I pack enough nutrients for my growing baby boy.

And the job itself is SO different. There are So many resources here and projects are completely really fast. I'm used to doing everything myself and being on ONE project for 3-5 months. Now, I have to manage my projects, dividing up the work between graphics and audio scripts and videos and development. Can you believe my group goes out to client sites and takes video on, let's say, "the proper way to load a flatbed truck"? How odd and cool is that? There are so many departments here that I can be here 15 years and still use the sentence "what do THEY do?".

Swelling and pregnancy

OK, so women are GREAT about the details of pregnancy. My friends who have been previously pregnant have been awesome about giving me much needed advice, from clothing to eating to what to expect during the long 9 months. But no one, NO ONE ever mentioned swollen feet. I have had a fairly uneventful pregnancy. I had a few eating issues for a couple weeks, but once I switched my mindset to fruits, fruits and more fruits, all was fixed. But I think where I will pay the price will be my feet. They are already swollen, some days much worse than others. I am only half way to the end zone. A couple nights ago, my feet were so swollen, I could barely walk. So once again, I will have to revise my eating. It's hard. I have to break some tough habits, like sitting crossed-legged on the couch and instead I will need to use our new recliners and keep my feet up all night. Funny thing, though...shoe shopping. Scott, my wonderful husband, took a half day yesterday to spend with me before I start my new job and we completed our baby registry. But he also took me shoe shopping. I ended up with 3 pairs of Dr. Scholls shoes! Normally, I wear an 8 wide or an 8 1/2 regular, depending on the shoe style. Yesterday, with swollen feet in tow, I fit into 9 1/2 wide! That's my new shoe size for the next 4 months! But I now have sneakers I can wear and 2 pairs of dressier shoes for work. This baby is worth the sacrifice all the way, though. :)

JOBS, continuation

I have been officially offered 3 jobs: ESPN, Travelers, and The Hartford. I declined ESPN a couple weeks ago after a large internal debate because it would have been a far drive and only contract work for 1 year. Then, i sat in wait for 2 very long weeks for Travelers and The Hartford to get back to me and hopefully offer me a job. The Hartford was my top choice, but I wasn't theirs. Travelers came back to me within a week of my second interview and offered me a job, paying me an extra 2k annually than originally offered because I stood up for myself this time around. (Travelers is a great company, but I have to pay for my own parking in the city, which will cost me 2k per year.) The next day, The Hartford finally came back and offered me a job. After many, many, many tears, I have decided to work for Travelers. I start on Monday, the 29th, and I am excited to have a stable position close to home. It was very difficult turning down the offer from The Hartford as they were my first choice for the past 5 long weeks. But in the end, it felt like Travelers was the job for me, despite a less flexible work schedule and a costly parking experience. I felt really comfortable at The Hartford and they have a wonderful flexible schedule that would have allowed me to work from home on occasion. But in the end, I realized that The Hartford didn't want me as much as I wanted them, and being 5 months pregnant, I needed to be in a place where I could "make my case" so that my pregnancy wasn't seen as an issue. And the benefits at Travelers is kick ass. It starts day 1, I get an awesome maternity leave, and I get 20 days off a year, which is unheard of for the first year of working. So I'm very excited, and very nervous. New jobs always suck at first but it's still exciting.

BOYS

OK, for those of you who are shy, you may not want to read this. I'm carrying the 14th zillion boy baby in our family. I think Leslie is the only one in a long line of pregnancies to have had a girl on the Pelletier side of my family. There was Brian, Eric, David, Mark, Cameron, Aidan, Devon, Ari, and then Mallory, then Lincoln, and lastly Jack. I think that covers it. That's a LOT of boy babies. And I am carrying a boy as well. As much as I was secretly hoping for a girl, I am thrilled beyond belief to be having this baby boy. He wasn't behaving for the ultrasound technician yesterday, but he behaved perfectly for his mama! He spread his legs wide for all to see his big baby penis. Even an untrained eye like myself could tell he's a boy! His little heart was beating and he was moving lots and lots, and he's got arms and legs and little fingers and toes. It was so darn amazing! And though boys are cheap in my family (a poker reference, people!), this baby boy is so damn precious to his mama. We are still working on names...suggestions are welcome!

October already...

Is anyone else surprised that it's October and the holiday season is just about here already? Soon, I will be as big as an elephant and I'll be wrapping xmas gifts! And here in CT, its humid and 86 degrees out! Not the kind of weather that screams Halloween for sure.

Kid nation

Have you seen this new TV reality show on CBS? At first I was appalled at sending kids to this desert location to live on their own. As a parent, I don't think I could send my kid off for 40 days for this type of "adventure". The ages are from 8 to 15. But like most new TV shows, I had to tune in and check this out. While I still have my reservations, there are a few kids on this show that make you believe in humanity. There's this one kid, Michael, who's 14. His parents must be proud because he's so awesome. He's polite and smart and level-headed. And he loves his family and respects people. He won a $20,000 gold star for his hard work and he was asked what he would do with the money. He said, with no hesitation, that he would give his parents the money because they deserved it. Isn't that a great kid?

Interviews

So I've had a few interviews in the last week. I have a couple more in the next few days. I have left my interviews feeling great, feeling like I kicked ass, feeling like I hit it out of the ball park. But the companies I'm interviewing with have an enormously long hiring process. It's been 5 days since my interview with a company I really want to work for, but I've heard nothing from them. It's very frustrating having your life on hold at age 30, waiting for your life to move forward, but knowing its out of your own hands. It's starting to get stressful as the month of September comes to an end and March gets closer and closer. Maybe that's another reason why I can't sleep tonight. UGH!

No sleepies

I realize that once baby girouard arrives, i will be deprived of sleep for a very long time. But I didn't realize that this would start BEFORE the baby was born. I've had a few too many nights of waking up at 3 or 4 am and not being able to get back to sleep. This is more than rare for me. I'm totally a sleeper. I've always had to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but I always fall back asleep right away. This morning I awoke at 3 am STARVING. I'm craving an apple like you would not believe, but I also know if I eat it, I'll have major heartburn in 30 minutes. I tried for an hour to fall back asleep, but nope...this baby wants an apple! :) I guess it's time I give in, huh?

Santa's Village mini vacation

At the beginning of August, Scott and I took our very first family vacation with Austin and Grace, meeting up with Todd, Katina, Devon and my parents a couple of weekends ago. Put together by my brother, who decided it was time to do something as a family before we got old and rickety, we all met up in Gorham, NH, halfway between Santa's Village and StoryLand. As a young child of 6, I remember taking a similar family vacation (our ONLY family vacation), with the entire Pelletier clan. It was awesome! So Scott and I quickly got on board with the plan. We had a few set-backs along the way. We couldn't squeeze out an additional day with our kids, so we had to jam-pack our fun into a Saturday-Sunday timeslot. Then, Todd got held up in North Conway due to a car accident. The damage was minor and no one got hurt, but the man who hit them didn't have insurance, so the police had to be called and a couple of hours were lost. But once we all finally met up at Santa's Village, it was a great vacation!
Thanks to my forgetfulness, I don't have pictures of Storyland. I forgot our camera!!! AHHHH! Mom gave me pics of Santa's Village after our first day, but I still don't have pictures of our second day at Storyland.
Here are a few great pictures of our day at Santa's Village!

Baby Girouard - 16 weeks

I had my 16-week appt. yesterday and was able to hear the baby's heartbeat again. So excited. So reassuring. I guess I'm abnormal, but it's hard to "feel" pregnant when my body really hasn't changed much and I can't feel the baby inside me. I know that will change soon enough, but it's always a wonderful relief to hear the baby's heart beating fast inside me. October 15th is the day we will have our next ultrasound and hopefully the baby will cooperate and we can find out "boy" or "girl". I saw the cutest bedding at Target a few weeks ago, and if the baby is a boy, I'll be putting that on my registry immediately. With all the negative in life these days, I'm grateful to have this baby who keeps me on my toes, makes me want to stay positive, and makes me so happy to be in this moment. I'm still doing well, blood pressure is really good, weight gain is only 2 lbs at this point, and the baby's heartbeat is approx. 150 beats per minute, which is also good.

weekend

Despite small anxiety about my job hunt, Scott and I had a wonderful weekend. We were extremely lazy and it was wonderful! Scott had to work on Saturday morning, building his real estate clientelle, and I had brunch with Mary Anne and her sister, who were in town from California, and with Judi. Judi and Mary Anne were my college roommates for 2 years. Mary Anne had never been to my home before, so Scott and I were up early cleaning. It was needed and with good teamwork, we had "Jaime-cleaned" the entire first floor. It was a good feeling after we were done. After brunch, I took a nap, having been up since 6 am, I was really tired. Scott got home and we spent the afternoon playing board games and relaxing. Sunday was much of the same, except for the addition of FOOTBALL. I'm an addict. It's awful. I never thought I'd be such a football fan, but I have a feeling I won't be missing one Patriot's game this season. At least it's not like baseball, where there's one game every night. With football, it's only 1 game a week. With Scott working so many hours with his new job, it was nice to spend the weekend alone together.

Birthday Compromise

We have decided to have Austin's birthday party in Newington, where he and his friends live. Austin rarely asks for anything, and this year, he asked for a bowling party. He also changed his mind and instead of wanting just 3 friends, he had a list of 6. So to cart 6 kids from Newington to Manchester, about 25 minutes, would have been less than convenient. Scott and I have had a few laughs at Austin's expense though. He certainly is NOT Grace. He wanted 6 kids to come, but only provided us with 4 phone numbers, 2 of which were "out of service". HAHAHA! So, in the end, Austin will have his bowling party in Newington, and he'll be lucky if 2 of his classmates go! Lucky for us, we'll also have his cousins Lauren and Jenna to join the party. But Austin is one of those kids that won't even notice that his 6 friends weren't there. He's so easy-going. And while at first I thought Scott and I were failing at parenthood by not being able to get more than 2 classmates to Austin's birthday party, I found out that Austin's mom didn't even have a birthday party for Austin last year because he didn't get her any names in time. Phew! I feel better knowing that!

As for Grace, only time will tell. She will certainly NOT settle for a small party. And it makes sense for her mom to throw the larger parties as she lives in Newington and has more access to Grace's classmates. But we still plan on doing an ice skating event for her, even if it's just us and her cousins.

Jobs

So I got laid off from my job on Friday. A product of company mergers, new upper management and changing technology. Though a profitable department, we were seen as old fashioned, I guess. Our department wasn't where the new company wanted to go, so "off with our heads" as the Queen of Hearts would say in Alice in Wonderland. My entire department was let go. At 4 months pregnant, this is certainly not how I imagined my life would turn out. As it seems today, the risk we took with Scott changing jobs is not paying off and we are left with no medical coverage after September 30th. Although Scott's job holds potential in 4-6 months, that seems light-years and an apartment in downtown Hartford away. So if you believe in anything, please say a silent prayer for our family. We could use a blessing or two right now.

Birthdays

Another question posed to my friends. Here's the issue: Birthdays. I've got an ex-wife who's not friendly or compromising. But I have 2 step-kids that love birthday parties. As they get older, Scott and I struggle with how to deal with these parties. In the past, we've always had smaller parties with our family here in CT, but now that we have a social butterfly (Grace), who's in 1st grade, she wants tons of friends over. Her 6th birthday, in January, her mom had a party for her with about 12 kids. Grace's bday happened to fall on our weekend, so instead of starting up WWIII, we allowed the ex-wife to go ahead with her big party on our day, and Scott and I went to the party. Because Scott and I are the more mature people, this worked out fine. Heather (the ex), took care of the cake and the pizza, and Scott and I brought drinks and snack foods. A pretty decent split. The birthday location was at the Judo place where the kids go, so it was a more "neutral" location. But Scott and I still ended up having a smaller party the next day because Scott's family didn't attend Heather's party. So still, we ended up with 2 parties. As Austin's birthday approaches, we have a similar issue. His birthday falls on our weekend and Austin asked to have a bowling party and so far he has only given us the name of 3 friends. I honestly don't know what the right answer is here. Picking up 3 friends in Newington and driving them to Manchester (about 25 minutes), isn't bad. But what if Austin decides to have 12 kids at his party? Will those 12 kids' parents be OK with transporting them to Manchester? And what about Heather and her parents? Honestly, I don't have a good solution for this issue. If we break it up in 2 parties, does that make most sense? Heather can take on school friends and Judo friends and do a big party in Newington, and we can do a smaller party for our family and Scott's family in Manchester? The more I think about it, the more that makes sense. Of course Heather won't compromise with the dates. She doesn't understand that a child's birthday can fall on ANOTHER day, other than the actual birthday, which means that every other year, we'll lose our weekend with the kids. In other words, take this year for instance. Heather could easily do a big party for Austin the weekend before or the weekend after his actual birthday, but she won't. So if we hosted the big party this year at the bowling alley, that would be fine, but it would cost us a LOT of money, and keep in mind...we have no connection with these kids normally, so getting names and phone numbers is VERY difficult. I actually like the idea of doing smaller parties. Inviting 2 or 3 of Austin's friends and doing something fun, like bowling. And for Austin, that would work out great. he's not really the kind of kid that likes big parties. For Grace, that will be more difficult, as she LOVES big parties and has so many friends. She has already told us who she wants to invite to her Ice Skating party. :) God I love that girl. She's a riot. Anyway, any suggestions?

Hypothetical

So let's pretend. Let's pretend your kid(s) is heading into puberty. I realize most of my friends that read this have kids much younger than this stage, so fast-forward a few years. Puberty hits us all at different ages, correct? And in the end, there's no rule or big neon sign that let's us know in advance of when that time will arrive. But due to growth hormones in our milk and preservatives in most foods we eat, we, as parents, must realize that some time around 9 or 10, our kids will start showing signs of puberty. While hair may not grown on their face or on their legs, there are signs. And when those signs start to flash, we must take action, correct? Whether we are ready or not, we have to do what is right by our kids. So, hypothetically, if your kid is 3 weeks shy of 10 years old and has shown repeated signs of puberty, would you say it's time to take action? Or wait, maybe you should hold off because you feel your child is too young. And I'm NOT talking about a conversation about the birds and the bees here. I'm talking basic hygene. Use Q-tips after every shower to avoid wax build up, use nail clippers to cut fingernails on a regular basis, wash private areas better because their body is changing, and use deoderant if your body says USE DEODERANT!!! Who wants to have their kid be the stinky arm pitt kid? At least that's my philosophy. But, hypothetically, would you teach your kids how to deal with their changing body? I think most sane parents would. And you would adapt that "teaching" or that "conversation" to the child. Each child grows up differently, and sometimes their body grows up faster than their mindset, so you adapt how you teach. But I'd like to know, from you, my friends, would you make a call to your pediatrician if your child has stinky arm pitts in order to get the Doctor's approval for deoderant? Or would you have a discussion with your kid about hygene and go to Wal-mart and buy deoderant? Comments are welcome!

Santa's Village mini-vacation

Scott and I took our very first family vacation with Austin and Grace, meeting up with Todd, Katina, Devon and my parents a couple of weekends ago. Put together by my brother, who decided it was time to do something as a family before we got old and rickety, we all met up in Gorham, NH halfway between Santa's Village and StoryLand. As a young child of 6, I remember taking a similar family vacation (our ONLY family vacation), with the entire Pelletier clan. It was awesome! So Scott and I quickly got on board with the plan. We had a few set-backs along the way. We couldn't squeeze out an additional day with our kids, so we had to jam-pack our fun into a Saturday-Sunday timeslot. Then, Todd got held up in North Conway due to a car accident. The damage was minor and no one got hurt, but the man who hit them didn't have insurance, so the police had to be called and a couple of hours were lost. But once we all finally met up at Santa's Village, it was a great vacation!
Thanks to my forgetfulness, I don't have pictures of Storyland. I forgot our camera!!! AHHHH! Mom gave me pics of Santa's Village after our first day, but I still don't have pictures of our second day at Storyland. Here are a few great pictures of our day at Santa's Village!

Pregnancy, the first trimester

So by now, I've known about Baby Girouard for 6.5 weeks. Early signs of funky stomache and tenderness alerted me to the possibility. Then an expired home test showed 2 pink lines: pregnant. A week later, off to the doctors, where I peed in a cup, gave 16 gallons of blood and received a whole boat load of instructions, guidelines, prenatal vitamins, and confirmation of baby to be. I was also told I was 6 weeks along with baby to be born on or around March 2nd. Although proof exists that I did not get pregnant before I was married, or even during my honeymoon, I still secretly pray Baby Girouard does not arrive before February 26 (9 months to the day I got married)!

The first 7 weeks were great. Slightly more tired. Mostly I tried to make a conscience effort to get to bed by 10 pm for the health of the baby. But I felt great. Minus extreme tenderness, I really had no signs of being pregnant. Scott and I bought our first onesie. Just one, until we find out the gender of the baby. Then Mom came for a visit. It was perfect! Having just found out we were pregnant, she, of course, wanted to buy one baby outfit and a baby book for me. Mothers are the best! (Dad's too!)

Week 7. According to my new book: Week by Week (which is awesome!), the baby doubles in size this week. And boy did it effect me! Like walking into a brick wall, the exhaustion slammed into me hard core. Two naps per day for the next couple of days kept me functioning, but I was greatful that work was slower paced and I wasn't traveling. Also, my need for food vanished. Nothing was appetizing or appealing. I would have gone the whole day without eating if it weren't for my insane need to eat healthy during my pregnancy. Thankfully yogurt and oatmeal went down smoothly. And Scott made me some plain pasta, which was fine as well. I ate a lot of fruits; blueberries, kiwi, strawberries, and bananas. I tried an apple. Bad idea. I'm slightly allergic to some apples. My lips get a bit puffy. But this pregnancy has made me hypersensitive to my food allergies. Itchy eyes and an itchy throat put an end to eating apples for the next 8 months. Sweet things aren't appealing, which is unheard of for me. I tried a variety of foods, but really, nothing tempts me.

Week 8. I had a bad run of nausea for a few days and I have learned a few things. Foods high in fat, drinks with fake sugar, and chocolate are my nemisis in this stage of my pregnancy. After my 8-week appt with Dr. Hancock, I would say this is a great thing for me and the baby. I eat lots of yogurt, fruits and bland proteins and carbs. My appointment went really well. My blood work came back all positive. My liver, kidneys and proteins are all great. I am immune to chicken pox and 5ths disease, which is also good news. My concern for high blood pressure and gestational diabetes (due to my lovely genes and my weight) has prompted my doctor to take a few extra tests and stay on top of these things. So far, I'm in great standing. However, it is imperative that I keep my pregnancy weight gain to a minimum. It's going to be a long road for me, especially when I am past the nausea stage and move into the "I want to eat all the time" stage, which I know is inevitable. I also had an ultrasound this week. It was to determine the exact gestation of the baby so that I could have a first trimester test done. The baby, though only 1 inch, was zoomed in on, and has a HUGE head...must take after daddy. :) Actually, at 8 weeks, the baby is pretty much only a head and a body. Legs and Arms grow next week! Scott and I also got to see the heartbeat...so fast! 178 beats per minute!

Week 9. The nausea has just about subsided. I still have a hard time with vegtables. Except for corn and salads, I can't seem to get any of them in front of me. Everything smells weird, or should I say, smells BAD! I don't even like the smell of our new car! Dinner is still a struggle for me. While I don't have the constant all day upset stomache, most foods do not tempt me in the least. I can now have chocolate on a small scale, but no matter what I eat, it leaves a horrible aftertaste in my mouth. I chew gum all the time because my mouth constantly tastes bitter. It was a stressful week with our car breaking down, buying a new car, Scott starting his new job, and going to court to get more time with Scott's kids. I sure hope baby Girouard is hanging on strong. I haven't been a very good mommy this week, between all the stress and no veggies.

Week 10. Same ole Same ole. I eat a lot of cereal and toast now. I'm tired of yogurt as I have lived on it 3 times a day for the last 4 weeks. Dinner is limited to 4 food items; plain, boring, tasteless, and bland. Still have the perpetual bad taste in my mouth. My house is a cyclone because I have absolutely NO energy to clean, pick up, or do dishes. If my husband doesn't get to it, it doesn't get done. Please, no visitors! :) I would be completely humiliated if someone walked through my door right now. oh well. I'm pregnant. At least I have a small excuse. Time is crawling by. Days move so slowly, I swear they are moving backwards. My prenatal vitamins are horrid and make me miserable. I have stopped taking them for a few days and feel like the worst mother ever. I'm such a peach this week, huh?

Week 11. I am finally starting to feel better. More energy and more like myself. Yeah! It's been a long 3 weeks of hating food and feeling lethargic. My appetite is slowly growing. I still eat a lot of bland foods most of the day, but I can eat more of a variety, which is wonderful. I still chew gum almost every night before bed to get the bad taste out of my mouth, but other than that, I'm much happier with the way I feel. Just in time, too, because the next couple of weeks are very busy for Scott and I as we are taking the kids to Storyland and Santa's Village and then we have them at our house for a full week, which is always awesome.

Week 12. FINALLY! YEAH! I can officially tell everyone I'm pregnant. Most importantly, Scott and I have told the kids they are going to have another brother or sister. I am feeling great this week too. Food is glorious. Yeah! (I gained 3 lbs this week). The baby is so much bigger now. Real appendages and its body is filling in so the head isn't so predominant (though, really, the baby still has a very large head). I heard the heartbeat this week. That's the coolest machine ever! 160 beats per minute. Took the Doctor a while to find it, but when I finally heard it, it was amazing! It's so awesome. I should probably post this now before I blabber on and on. It's just so cool.

skunks, anyone?

So by now, if you've read some or most of my blogs, you might have a small understanding of the luck that Scott and I have - um, DO NOT have, I mean. Most of the time (though I will write sarcastically about most of these events), Scott and I laugh it off because what else are we going to do.

During a warm spell early this spring, a lady skunk decided it was time to find her mate. She sprayed in a most unopportune location - under our 3-season sunroom. The smell was unbearable in our house. It was very much like the skunk sprayed in our heating vents. The stench lingered in the air and it took WEEKS for it to dissipate fully. Worse yet, a fews days after the skunk sprayed, I was to make a trip to northern Maine to visit my family. Along the way, I picked up a lady and her daughter and drove them to Bangor. We "hooked up" via mutual friends and I liked the idea of helping out this very nice woman from the county. But my van reeked of skunk. It was humiliating to meet this woman and impose the nasty smell upon her and her 8 year old child. But what was I to do. Not only did our house smell bad, but our vehicles did as well. I can't imagine what friends or passerbys thought of us. We learned a lot about skunks after that. We hired a man to come in a trap the skunk, which of course did not work. The skunk came and went, lingering long enough to let us know she was in heat. What we need to do, but cannot afford to do at this point in time, is to build a wire fence that digs 5 feet below the ground and surrounds our sunroom to keep the skunks from making a home under there. However, a repeat spray 2 nights ago may change our minds quickly. Luckily, the spray was only in our backyard, so the smell was gone the next morning. But to be safe, we've left our lights on in the backyard because skunks are nocturnal and don't appreciate the bright light. This isn't very energy efficient either, so we'll have to figure out what to do before spring comes. The joy of homeownership!

Reprieve

It's been unbearably humid in CT for a few weeks now. You walk outside and a wall of warm air you can barely breathe in hits you and almost knocks you over. At least that's how Scott and I feel. We are not fans of this heat and we suffer in this type of humidity. Yesterday morning I noticed the wind in the trees was blowing fairly strong, so I opened the door thinking it would be nice to have fresh air in my home. HAHAHA! The air was anything but fresh. It was surprising how little air there was considering how hard the wind was blowing. Today, though, is absolutely gorgeous. You can't get better weather than this. Still on the hot side, upper 80's I'm sure, but the humidity is gone. Who knows where it went, but the wind is cooler and refreshing. It would be a fabulous beach day. Of course, it's Thursday and we're all working. :)

de-stressing

So I haven't made time to write lately, so this is going to be my brain dump. I need this as my de-stress. Last week was hell. Car broke down. Scott started his new job. We took his ex-wife to court. Nothing went well. Scott was going to fix the Subaru so that we could trade it in for a measly $200, but that didn't pan out. The car is a complete dud. Car shopping was OH SO MUCH FUN. We hadn't planned on swinging 2 new car payments so soon, but I wasn't about to buy another heap-o-dung and have to worry about towing Scott home or putting dollar after dollar into another fixer upper. So we went small, efficient, and standard. We ended up getting more car than we wanted because we got a really great interest rate for the more expensive car. The difference of $2000 (which we put down on the car in the end anyway), was worth the MUCH lower interest rate. We ended up with a Nissa Versa. It's silver. Yeah, not so exciting (we saw a blue one we loved, but they offered us a 12% interest rate...what a JOKE!). Finding a standard transmission was difficult, so we were limited to silver or silver. :) But the new car was worth the 3 days of car shopping, the 3-hour wait, and the bigger price tag. It's got a lot of bells and whistles, including a sun roof and a blue tooth system so now we don't have to worry about headsets while in the car. We can talk directly through the car stereo (which to our surprise has a subwoofer!).

Scott's new job has turned out to be great. So far so good. Although one of its biggest pluses was that he started at 9 am and left the house a full 1 hour later. Which meant that we could have breakfast together and sleep in past 6:15 am. But that only lasted 5 days. His new work hours are now 8 am to 4 pm. So he gets home nice and early, but we're back to the 6:30 am wake up calls. And no more cozy breakfasts together. :(

Taking ex to court has proved to be my biggest stress thus far. We got beaten down last week, details of which I won't relive again, but I will tell you that it's going to be a long journey. We thought we were asking for reasonable things from his ex, but she's got her fists clenched and she's going to disagree just for the sake of pissing us off. We did manage to enforce the divorce decree which states we get the kids once a week for dinner. So now we have them on Thursday nights, which has been great. As for the rest of our requests, well, we'll have to go back to Family Services and keep fighting the good fight. Hopefully at some point, we'll get in front of a judge who will hear our plight and see reason.

Resignation

So Scott resigned from his job today. I'm scared as all hell as to what the future holds, but deep in my heart I know his new job opportunity could mean great things for our family. He had been selling steel for an old-fashioned company for over 2 years and finally received a spit of a raise. But with so little time off and such a rigid atmosphere, we both knew that Scott's dreams of being a full-time realtor would never happen. One of our groomsmen, a man Scott and I both trust dearly, offered Scott a job as an Office Manager for his company, Carefree Products. Scott will be responsible for building the business into Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as well as scheduling jobs and vendors, and chasing down leads via the Internet. The base pay will be the same as he was making at his old job, but Scott will have flexible hours so that he can start building his real estate business. In addition, he'll be able to work from home every once in a while, especially during the winters. And there are many other bonuses to this new job as well. The ability to make commissions, which of course is a must, the ability to be home by 4 pm when its needed, and most special - the ability to pick up his kids after school and go to their school concerts or awards ceremonies during the day. The ability to have a stronger presence in his kids lives is definitely worth making this leap. So pray for our family while we make this scary, but hopeful transition.

Banking...does anyone else come across these issues?

So I have to ask? Have any of you, my friends, found the same level of service in your bank? 1 year ago, Scott and I joined our bank accounts. Easier to add myself to his account, Scott and I met at lunch early last spring. We headed over to his bank and Scott signed all the appropriate paperwork to approve me as his "joint account". We kept his checking account but added two savings accounts at the same time. One savings account would be tied to our checking for "overdraft" protection. The other savings would be for our wedding account. This proved to be too much for the bank supervisor. It took me 3 weeks of waiting, and then 2 phone calls to finally get some checks and my ATM card. Then, in our newness of getting used to each other's spending habits, we over drew on our checking account. I transfered money from the savings account to the checking account to be safe, but I was a day late. I wasn't really worried because we had plenty of money in our savings account to cover the overdraft. HA! Fees and Fees later, I realized that our checking wasn't connected to our savings. Another phone call to fix this issue. It wasn't fixed. I had to call a month later with an angry voice to get this issue finally resolved. A few weeks later, I used my ATM card to withdraw money. this time, i wanted to withdraw from my savings account. No such luck. Our ATM cards were never programmed to work on our savings account, only our checking. I ask myself...isn't this a question that the supervisor in the bank should ASK their clients before assuming that they don't want the ATM card attached to their savings account? Oh well. 8 months went by and no more issues until, yet again, I needed to change the account. This time, my name change. I showed up to the bank with my marriage license in hand and asked to change my last name on the account. The lady, a different supervisor, took all my paperwork and made copies. Then she told me that my husband would have to sign off on this change. Because we had a joint account. How dumb is that? NO, Scott doesn't want me to have his name, which is why I spent 3 hours changing it at the DMV! So I run over to Scott's workplace and have him sign 3 copies. I run back to the bank and she says, "great, we're all set". Umm, hold on. So I ask her, "Well, are you going to order me a new ATM card and order us new checks?". She says, "oh yes. not a problem." So I ask her, "do you need any more information from me? I'd like the checks to say, Scott and Jaime Girouard on one line, please". She replies, "Oh, well, typically, they put each of your names on separate lines on the checks. " That's annoying. I know I've seen checks with the names on one line. But of course, I give in, like always, and reply, "Please make sure Scott's name is on the first line then. Do I need to write this down somewhere?" Because I'm standing there, not even invited to sit down, and she's not taking notes, and she looks lost in space. But she assures me she's all set. Maybe she's smart and efficient, and I won't doubt her. Until 3 weeks pass by and I run into some issues with using my ATM card at the stores because my name on my license is different than my old name on the card. So I call the bank. Wondering how long it typically takes to receive new checks and a new ATM card. The woman on the other end tells me 7 to 10 business days. Well, it's been 17 business days. So I ask her to check on my order. What she tells me doesn't surprise me. My ATM card and checks were never ordered. I'm so angry. What is wrong with these people? So she makes sure my new name is in teh system, and surprise! It is. So she ordered checks to be sent overnight. Then she tells me that I can drive to the Cromwell location and get my ATM card immediately because they have a machine there that spits them out. Yeah! So tell me...why wasn't I told this 3 weeks ago, when I was at the Cromwell location ordering my new ATM card and my new checks? I don't understand why a person has to go through so many hoops. I'm not taking out a small business loan for $500k!! My husband, who's wicked smart, and works right around the corner from that bank, goes to check the bank for me, to see if he can get my ATM card and avoid the excess drive. They tell him ONLY that he's not able to do it, I have to come in myself. So I have to make ANOTHER drive to Cromwell. I get to the bank and the teller, who Scott talked to 1 hour earlier, tells me that I'm at the wrong location. Even though if you access my bank online, there is only ONE Cromwell location, I guess there are two. She tells me to take Route 3 to the Main Street Cromwell location, where the ATM Card making machine is available. I am completely confused. Route 3 takes me into Main Street Middletown, not Cromwell. And as far as I'm concerned, there is no other Cromwell location, so I have no idea what to do. Scott gets the phone number for the Main Street Middletown bank and I call them to ask for directions. That's where I find out that there is truly another Cromwell location and she tells me that I need to take Route 372 to 99 to get to the bank. These directions work out fine and once at the bank, the process of getting a new ATM card is ALMOST done. The teller here can't find me in the system using my new name. She searches for me via SS number. I'm now Jaime N GOROUARD. But yet my husband, and joint owner of the account is GIROUARD. The intelligence is outstanding. The teller fixes my name in the system and checks on my order, because I certainly don't want my checks coming in as Jaime GOROUARD. The checks are fine, she assures me. She prints out my new ATM card in minutes and has me test the card in the ATM machine. I wait some more because another teller JUST took the ATM machine offline. After testing the ATM card, I'm good to go and I'm happy to have my name changed with the bank. Today, in the mail, I receive my new checks. 2 boxes! One box, with a starting number of 1100 says Jaime N Girouard. Perfect! Yeah! The next box, again, with a starting number of 1100 (pretty stupid!), says Jaime N Ouellette. Please tell me I'm not alone in the world with these types of issues!

becoming Mrs. Girouard

Holy Cow! A worthwhile endeavor, but who knew how much effort it would take?! My first "duh" was thinking my religious marriage license would be valid for the state. Ha! I had NO idea there was a different license out there, waiting for my $5.00 check, at the town office. I also had NO idea that a marriage license has an EXPIRATION date! Jeez! Once I finally got the license(s) from my mom and dad, who did all the leg work for me, I had the proper paperwork required to go to the Social Security office and to the CT DMV. I chose a day in the middle of the week to get it all done. And, let me tell you ...it took ALL day. A long drive over the bridge to East Hartford (the next town over, but I got lost, of course!), took me to the Social Security Office. A 30 minute wait and 4 minutes at the counter, and I was done. It was free! And it was simple! yeah! Off to the DMV. Department of Motor Vehicles, or Department Most Vile, however you name it...that place is the worst. I thought it was bad in Massachusetts. HA! Doesn't even compare to how bad it is in CT. The thing is, I just have to change my name on my license. That's it. Simple little change. It's even free of charge! So, you walk in this huge building with 45 hallways filled with room numbers. Each room has a description for its purpose, "New licenses", "Drivers exams", "Registration", etc. But none of them say, "Change name" or "License changes here". I'm confused, and certainly don't want to wait in a line of 30 people to find out I'm in the wrong room. There's no one available at the "Help" desk, of course. So I go inside one room, where there's only 3 people in line, and I wait patiently to ask where I should go. 5 minutes later, I was able to ask the young guy behind the counter and was told I had to go to room 164. The guy was young, which means he wasn't burned out like all the other DMV workers, so he took the time to give me some great advice; if i grabbed my car registration, the DMV would change my name on my registration for free as well, all at the same time. Of course! Why didn't I think of that?! Probably smart to change my name on my car registration so that the next time I get caught for speeding, my name on my license will match with the name on my registration! So i run back to my van, grab the registration, and am feeling so good about the productivity of my day. It's 2:15 pm. I walk into room 164 and am shocked by how many people are in line. There's at least 40 of us in this very small room. I'm almost out the door, into the hallway. There are only 2 people working at the counters. But I know I'm in the right place, with the right documentation, so I'm actually patient. The line starts moving at a good clip and now I'm 20th to go! It's 2:45 pm. And then...the blonde lady shows up. I cringe as I remember her fluffy, feathered hair. Instead of getting behind the counter and taking care of those of us in line, she goes through the line, asking each of us what we are here for. And you know how your inner voice talks to you? Well mine kept saying, "don't take me, don't take me!". The line was moving fast. She sent like 5 people to a different room because they were in the wrong place, and I was only a few short minutes away from getting my name changed. But oh no. She asks me why I was there and I tell her, to change my name on my....and then she cuts me off and says, "follow me, we'll get you 5 in and out quickly". Guess where I end up? The same room I started in, but this time, I'm behind 8 people. The blonde lady tells the two workers behind the counter that she has brought us over so they can process us. It's now 3:00 pm. By 3:30, I finally get my turn at the counter. Yeah! The young guy looks over to me and says, "you should be in room 164. we can't process registrations here, only your license." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Let's skip the part where I cry out of frustration, and move past the point of where I almost march up to the blonde lady, who disappeared behind the counter, trying to look busy. Luckily, the lady behind the desk felt bad for me, so she brought me back to room 164 and told them of my bad fortune, and they let me cut the line. Yeah! I made 30 people waiting in line behind me OH SO HAPPY by doing this. So I get called next in line, and of course, I get to be helped by a lady who is new, and has NO clue! First she tells me that I don't have to change my registration. That I can wait a year and renew it when it expires. I look at her and say, "And if I get caught for speeding and my license and my registration have two different names on them, do you think I'll get arrested?" She responds, "oh, i'm sure it'll be fine". but then, knowing she's wrong, but won't admit it, she takes my marriage license and while photocopying it, she asks her supervisor what she should do. Guess who was right? So, after 10 minutes of THE slowest typing ever, she finally hands me my new registration. I no longer own a Gray minivan. but now i own a Brown station wagon. ???? Tell me how this gets messed up? All she has to do is change OUELLETTE to GIROUARD. I even kept my middle name. Only me! So she shoos me over to the side of the counter to get my new license, while, instead of fixing my registration, takes a new customer. Gotta love it. So, I find out, they'll be taking my photo over. Yeah! I've been crying and i'm angry, so I'm SOOO ready to get my picture taken. I sign my license and stand in front of the camera awkwardly. Smile! The boy taking my picture then says, "oh darn". HAHAHA. More good news. He screwed up and used my old name, Ouellette, for this picture. And he canceled the print job too late, so he's got to wait until it's done printing before he can take my picture again. Well, I take this opportunity to ask him if my registration was all set. He went back to the lady who hadn't gotten to it, but lucky for me, her supervisor took over the job and fixed it. I now have a new registration. I sit and wait. It's now 4:10 pm. I retake the photo and wait for it to finish printing. The boy comes over to me in the waiting area. I thought he had my license. Nope, he came over to tell me that because my hair was up in a ponytail today, that he had to wait for his supervisor to come back and approve the new photo. My previous picture, taken only 8 months ago, was taken with my hair down. I guess this is how the life of a criminal starts. Changing their hair do on their license photos. Of course, while waiting the 20 minutes for my first, incorrect license to print, the boy didn't have the smarts enought to tell me that I should take my hair out of the ponytail to avoid this whole mess. Nor did he feel it necessary to get the approval of his supervisor then. Nah. He wanted to wait until she left the room, so I would have to sit and wait another 15 minutes for her to come back, say Yes, and get my license. AHHHHHH! I left the DMV at 4:35 pm. Oh so happy to be Mrs. Jaime N Girouard.

A grand stay

i woke up yesturday morning three days into my 2nd week stay in New Jersey, and headed for the shower. My first clue as to the day i was about to have should have been when I couldn't locate the plush bath mat. Removed, but not replaced, I made due with throwing a towel on the floor. No biggy. I hopped in the shower, only to find that my expensive, re-bottled (for 3 oz travel allowance) facial wash was not in the shower, where i had left it the morning before. It had been thrown out by the over-zealous cleaning crew, along with my bar soap. I was furious. This wasn't your $3.00 Suave facial wash. In addition, I now had to wash my face with citrus body soap (so supplied by the hotel) for the next three days, which, as I presummed, has caused a huge breakout on my face and a new location for the US to drill for oil. Out of the shower, I called room service and ordered oatmeal and an english muffin. The time: 7:15 am. I had an 8 am call with my boss and coworkers out in India, and then needed to be at the client site by 8:45 am. I quickly got dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, anticipating a knock on my door. I pulled out my outfit for the day...it was wrinkled as expected. I headed for the closet to pull out the ironing board and iron. To my utter annoyance, there was no pad on the ironing board. Now, i'm no suzy homemaker, but i'm pretty sure that i need some sort of covering on the metal ironing board so that i can iron my clothes. So I call the front desk and ask for another ironing board. In the meantime, I realize that the time is dangerously close to 8 am. And still no breakfast. i make another call to the front desk. "oh my god, you haven't got your breakfast yet?". We'll get it to you in 20 minutes". hmmm. i don't think so. "actually", i say, "i need my breakfast in 5 minutes so i can eat it before i have to head out for the day." 5 minutes later, there's a knock on my door. it's my....ironing board. yeah! i get on the phone with india and struggle through 40 minutes of conversation i can't understand. in the meantime, i iron my outfit for the day, and my breakfast finally arrives. to the utter dismay of the nicest room service server, he can't believe i've waited 1.25 hours for my breakfast. he apologizes profusely as i scramble to put my headset on mute so India doesn't hear him. i sign the slip and tip him well...it isn't his fault, i know. so as i'm on mute, i try to inhale my breakfast. it's now 8:25 am and i am still not dressed. my oatmeal is cold, not surprisingly. however, it gets weirder. i turn over my english muffin so i can add jelly to it, and lying in between both halfs, no lie, is a tie wrap. Those wire things with paper on them, that are used to close the bag of english muffins. this tie wrap is browned, like my english muffin. How does this happen? How does a tie wrap get toasted with my english muffin without being noticed? only me. i swear only these weird things happen to me. my call finally ends at 8:40 am. i race to change my clothes, brush my teeth, put some makeup on, though i have to skip a few steps due to time, and run out the door. But in case you thought that was it, i'll list the rest for good posterity: my dinner that night turned up without cole slaw, my burger burnt to a crisp. i skipped breakfast the next morning to keep my sanity, but my dinner arrived over an hour late, with the wrong dressing, and the wrong side dish. a stay to remember for sure.

pros and cons of working for...

So my latest gig is working for a company, in which i will not name, based in New Jersey (per previous post). The building i am in is awesome. it's difficult to describe, but here goes: though the company logo is a predominent symbol everywhere you look, and its (the logo) color takes a predominence in each conference room and office space, there's not one area in this building that doesn't shout unique. There is money in a building that can afford to buy 12 different types of carpeting and 15 different styles of large tile (both glossy and matte finishes) and then lay them down in a quiltwork pattern, interchangeably across every floor in the building. There are 5 conference rooms down stairs, each named a different letter for an acronym that stands for one of their main "power" words for the company. There are 10 conference rooms upstairs, each with a "power" word attached to the door, such as "Innovation" or "Culture". Each of these 15 rooms has a different patter of the 12 types of carpeting. Carpetting cut into squares and triangles and rectangles and layed out with an indifference to coordination or matching. Purples next to dark blues next to red next to turquoise next to yellows. Mostly bright colors that make you a bit dizzy. Some carpetting is patterned even. There is no rhyme or reason to the wall colors, the room shape and size, the texture on the walls, or how the areas are divided. it is a maze of color and design techniques and it took me a few days before i didn't get lost finding the restrooms. If you are scheduled to meet in a conference room upstairs, you get free drinks and treats. If you are downstairs, you must purchase drinks and snacks out of vending machines, like most companies. However, there is one thing that does not deviate from the rule. All members of this company dress in business suits, each wearing the company insignia pin on the left lapel of their suit jacket and when the owner shows up for a visit, you can be sure that no one is caught snaking, drinks are put on the floor, and suit jackets are doned and buttoned. it seems military-eque to me, but it's nice to see that they take care of their workspace, they care enough about their customers to present themselves professionally and there is a true sense of respect for the work they do. They have definitely made the work week fly by with their humor and kindness.

Travel, not for fun

So it's less than 3 weeks from honeymoon bliss and I'm already apart from my hunny. It's work calling me to New Jersey for 2 weeks. A flight to Philly, a rental car drive to Mount Laurel, and a long stay at a bare minimum hotel. Yippee! Week one came and went in a blur of long meetings, bad sleep on a springy bed, late late dinners, and way too much typing. It is now the middle of week two, and i have no idea why i am typing this out now...i have been typing since 8 am this morning, and other than lunch break and dinner, i haven't stopped working on my laption for 12 hours. Week two is better because i am at Marriott. Newer beds, softer, comfy bedding, clean bathrooms, and ROOM SERVICE are required amenities when you live in a hotel. I am lucky that I had Saturday and Sunday with Scott back at home. But with a delayed flight on Friday night, and arriving home at midnight, Saturday morning was lazy and uneventful. We did manage to play golf, using my new (used) set of woman's clubs!!!, and scott using his new (new!) set of men's clubs. and we played a full-sized course, and walked it! it was gorgeous weather out. I spent the rest of saturday in a blur of tv, napping, and catching up on emails. I was a zombie. The work week in New Jersey had finally caught up with me. Sunday we visited Brian and Yelena's new home (NOT a town house!!!) and i dreamed of dark hard wood floors, real kitchen cabinets and LOTS of countertop space! Then we had Holly and Matt over for steak and corn on the cob, compliments of chef Scott. Matt brought over the DVD of our wedding and reception and i relived my favorite day! Thanks MATT! Then, as we wrapped up our game of Pitch, I got a surprise call from US Airways. My flight to NJ the following morning at 7 am had been canceled (due to "scheduling conflicts with the flight crew!!!). I, like 200 other Monday morning commuters, called US Airways in hopes of getting onto the 5:30 am flight from Hartford to Philly. No luck! There were NO flights for any airline either Sunday night or Monday morning. The earliest they could offer me was a flight at 3:40 pm on Monday afternoon. What a joke! My meetings started at 10 am! So, what do you do when you have no flight options? You hop in your car at 4:45 am and hope like hell that the George Washington bridge isn't backed up at 6:30 am, and you don't get lost driving through NYC the first time ever. I was extremely lucky I will admit. I got to my destination in NJ 45 minutes ahead of Mapquest time, and 2 hours before my meetings even started. And due to driving, i was able to bring 4+ ounces of hair gel, facial wash, body lotion, and other such wonderful liquids because my minivan doesn't have TSA limitations. So another 2 days and another 4 hour drive back to CT, and I will be home for what looks like 3 whole days! yeah! I'll be back next week for more New Jersey fun!

Our wedding day

I'm not sure if I can even describe this day. For most of you married folk, you don't need me to describe how I felt, the emotional rollercoaster ride the day took me on, or the complete joy I feel at being married to the most amazing partner in life. I am blessed. I am truly happy. And I love being Jaime Girouard. But for my own selfish reasons, I need to put in words the events and emotions of my wedding day. I actually slept well the night before. From 11 pm until 7 am, I slept soundly. It was the first decent night of sleep in a week. I checked the temperature outside first. Hoping and praying desperately for a temperature somewhere in the 70's, I was surprised to find that the air finally cooled off. The wind was gusty, but refreshing and welcomed. The clouds were dark, almost black, and the sun rising behind the clouds made the sky seem poisonous. It looked like there was a tropical storm breezing in, but to my utter amazement the clouds broke and within an hour the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The weather was perfect. Windy, but perfect. Ironically, I wasn't nervous at all. I had a schedule and things to get done, and before everyone arrived at 8 am, I needed to get all my stuff packed and ready to go so that Scott and the kids and I would be ready to depart the next day on time. Joy came over to wish me luck and to give me hugs. It was great to see her as this long-time friend of mine and I hardly ever see each other or chat with one another. Mom and I tried desperately to get some quality time in but that didn't happen. Too many things to do, and Dad was off completing his "daddy-do-list" which I created for him the night before. By 8:15 am, my mom's room was buzzing with hairspray, hot rollers, hair pins, and anxiety. I knew my hairdresser was going to die when she noticed my hair was cut short and the up-do we had practiced and agreed upon 2 months earlier just wasn't going to work. But also for the past 2 months, I was worried about my veil. A worry I'm sure not many brides worry about to the length that I did, but well, that's just me. I knew my veil would give me grief and my hairstyle was the one thing that could make or break the annoyance of that 50lb veil. (slight exaggeration, but still, it was heavy) Holly's hair was up in hot rollers quickly and then Teri was in the hot seat. Knowing the photographer would be arriving by 11:30 am, Teri and Holly got into their dresses. So beautiful. I loved the red color of the dresses and all my bridesmaids looked so beautiful, each in a style that fitted them best. Finally, with my hair in a style that suited me best, perfect with pearls that were borrowed and added the perfect touch, I was ready to get into my dress. The morning went by so fast, it's a blur that we were all able to get ready on time. Dad was kicked out of his bedroom, so he got dressed in Todd's old room. Todd came in and got dressed at the house too. It was so wonderful to have Todd there. There are memories in my life that I tuck away in a special place. Having Todd at the house while I was getting ready on my wedding day, was one of those special times. He gave me a sense of calm. He didn't have to say anything, I just felt his brotherly unconditional support, and he'll never fully know how much that meant to me. All of a sudden, it was 11:30. Where did the time go? I had make-up to put on and a bridesmaid literally stuck in the mud. I didn't panic. Thanks to long-time neighbors and close friends of my family, my bridesmaid was saved and on time. Her husband and 4 kids, on the other hand, were left behind to find their way out of the ditch. It was a full house. Devon was perfectly handsome and darn cute holding his ring bearer pillow. Grace. Goodness! She was dropped off at 10 am and was so quiet. Very unusual for Grace! She was bright-eyed and a bit lost in the sea of women, make-up, hair-dos, and lots and lots of dresses! Her hair, 10 inches shorter than I've ever seen it, was so darn cute in curls and a tiara. She couldn't wait to get in her dress. She probably asked me 5 times if she could put it on. But Grace is a dirt magnet, god love her, so we waited until the very last minute. Despite the tropical storm-like winds, we headed outside for pictures. Mom, Dad, Todd, Devon, Grace, and all my bridesmaids. By 12:15 we were done and it was a waiting game. A few sips of water and then it was time to put my veil on and head out. Holly played chauffer as we all hopped into my Aunt and Uncle's new minivan and drove the .25 miles to the church. The butterflies started to stir. We walked into the church and hid in the "bride room" and then the nerves kicked in full force. Holy shit?!?! Was I really getting married? Now? My maid of honor started to cry. I started to cry. I made my Dad start to cry. OK, had to get a hold of myself. Deep breath. The song started and Grace and Devon made their way down the aisle. They were amazing. Devon was so handsome and so well-behaved for a 4-year old. Then Stef, the Leslie, then Katina, then Holly. Slowly, but surely, I was losing all my girl-support. Then Teri was walking down the aisle. It was just Dad and I. I still couldn't quite believe this was my moment in time. I had been waiting for this day, for this moment for a long time and here it was and I still couldn't believe I was here, in my church, getting married. Then my song played. It was time. I grabbed hold of my Dad for dear life and walked down the aisle, determined not to blow a gasket. I saw Scott approaching the alter. His Scottish Tartan pinned to his right shoulder. He was handsome and proud and secure. And he wore his glasses for me. And then, the nerves went right out the door as my organist played and played and played and played. Dad and I were done walking. Dad was waiting for the sign from the priest so he could give me away. Scott was standing to my right, waiting patiently to take my hand. But we were frozen in place as we waited and waited for my organist to finish the song. And we were all watching the priest intently as he kept making small gestures, with his eyes and his head movements, towards the balcony where the organist was. But there was no stopping my organist. It was hilarious! And then finally the music stopped and my Dad gave me away, and my Scott took my hand and led me the rest of the way to the alter. And then the priest welcomed us all to the ceremony. And I was introduced as the "son" of Rudy and Nancy Ouellette. HAHAHA! And so the ceremony went on. Scott and I exchanged our own personal vows. His were SO much better than mine. He even memorized his vows. I, on the other hand, had Teri hold mine for me, and then pass them off to me like a school girl writing notes in study hall. And yes, I will admit this only once, Scott completely "out-wrote" me. His vows were thoughtful, compassionate, sincere and genuine. Then we exchanged rings and I forgot all the words I had to say. HAHAHA! Then Grace, Austin, Scott and I all lighted the Unity Candle together. It was a wonderful moment. And then Scott kissed the bride. yeah!The rest of the ceremony I barely remember. A few more great songs, some prayers, and a wonderful homily by Fr. Roland, in which he blessed Scott and I with a beautiful Crucifix. A few more kisses and then the mass was over. I wanted to Jig down the aisle, but I contained myself.

MR & MRS SCOTT GIROUARD!!

Our reception was great. At least Scott and I enjoyed ourselves. Our song, "Feels like Home", by Chantal Kreviazuk was how I felt at that moment, and every moment I have with Scott. He calms me. He balances me. He supports me. I am blessed to be married to him.

The day before our wedding

Friday. The day before the most wonderful day. It was 98 degrees in Van Buren Maine. Literally crushing the record high temp for that time of year. Of course. This is NOT good news for Scott and I. My digestive system does not do well in these types of temperatures, so i was mostly a mess on Friday. But luckily, the reception hall which we had to decorate was air conditioned. A true blessing. Another early morning fury of showers, breakfast and running around. Luckily, timing was perfect and at 8 am we got a call from our neighbor, Mrs. Ouellette. Her
husband graciously charged up the battery to their grandsons' battery-powered Jeep so that Grace and Austin could enjoy. And for an hour, enjoy they did. Grace was a maniac. She somehow managed to do a 180...it was hilarious...i almost peed my pants. What a riot she is. Even Austin came inside after 15 minutes or so and said, "Grace wore me out". HAHAHA!

By 9 am we were off and running. In Van Buren, there's really only once place to have a wedding reception...the good old American Legion. To make it a bit more elegant, I chose to rent round tables and white linens. The rental company were supposed to arrive at 9 am at the Legion so we all made plans to meet there. While the tables showed up 2 hours late, my friends and family didn't disappoint. I had quite the crowd of helpers bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to be directed, ready to wash vases, pack up and store the 30+ rectangular tables, and then unload and set up 28 round tables. We hustled from 9 until 12:30 and in the end, the reception hall looked wonderful. Tables only housing white linens, a vase with a deep red gerbera daisy sitting on top of a deep red cloth underlay, and favor cards. A few white lights, a few well-situated red gerbera daisies, and a hand-painted sign (an 11th grader in my mom's high school class) that hung above the head table completed the decorations. Simple but elegant. Hard work was rewarded with pizza, and then we all decided some fun was in order, and we headed back to Tastee Food for more ice cream (it was SO hot) and more playground fun for the kids. The play area at Tastee Food is amazing. 2 playsets, a large dollhouse, and a giant-sized chess board were a hit for the kids. Then an hour to just chill until the rehearsal at the church. The rehearsal was quick and efficient, except that Scott and I left the church puzzled as to when we were to "kiss the bride" in our ceremony. Our priest said he doesn't like to plan out that moment in advance, but would let us know when the moment "came to him" in the ceremony. Not really knowing when we should kiss, and not wanting to miss "the" moment, Scott and I ended up kissing 3 times in our wedding ceremony. Leave it to us to bypass our priest and express our love our way. hehehe

The rehearsal dinner was great. Thanks to the hard work of my family, both Ouellettes and Pelletiers, we had a ton of amazing food and service with a smile. It was relaxing and casual and it was Air Conditioned! yeah! The kids had a huge area outside to play and run around. Grace was even "baptised" with a diet coke. You'll have to ask her to explain that to you. Sometimes there's just no explanation for the things kids say. But you can determine the amount of fun kids have by how dirty they are at the end of the day...Grace and Austin had an amazing day!

And so did we! THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you who were part of making this day so amazing, from start to finish! There was a lot of hard work and a lot of sweating, and Scott and I are very grateful for everything!