Week 11: Ups and Downs

Ups

1. Morning sickness is pretty much a non-issue for me at this point and my energy levels are back up. I have a full social calender for the weekend, which feels great. I went with my friend Kelly to the ballet last night and as little as two weeks ago, a darkened theater and classical music would have put me to sleep long before the end of the first act. But with much more energy, I made it to nearly the end of the show. In all fairness though, Kelly thought it could have ended an act earlier and been just as good of a performance.

I'm off tonight to celebrate a friend's birthday (Happy Birthday Justin!) and the Persian New Year tomorrow. All my foreign friends are fabulous cooks and, thus, I'm happy to have my appetite back.

2. A near total stranger asked me out last week, which I found very flattering. I'd had a five-minute conversation with the colleague of a grad school friend during a break at a conference and was shocked to receive an e-mail from him the next day. I've been bemoaning my changing figure for a few weeks now and although Chris has been nothing but supportive, and I haven't been seeking confirmation from anyone else, it's nice to know I've still got it...even if just for a few more weeks. A friend suggested I write back, "Sorry, I'm busy until October having my husband's child. Perhaps we could all have dinner together after that." I did write him back and told him delicately that I'm married,(didn't he notice the ring?!) but decided it's probably difficult enough to work up the guts to ask someone out only to find out she's married. To learn she's also pregnant might have been too much. The incident was admittedly a boost to my ego and relaying the story to Chris had the added side effect of keeping him on his toes.

Downs

1. Chris, normally pretty calm, called me at work this week sounding agitated. Andersen Windows announced it would continue shutting down the entire plant one Friday each pay period for another ten weeks. Chris had taken the first announcement in stride. His five Fridays off would coincide with mine and two of the Fridays fell during planned vacations, so he was saving two - albeit, unpaid - vacation days. We also didn't know yet that I was pregnant. The financial hit he was taking seemed minor at the time, especially in exchange for some much needed days off given how much he's been working lately.

The announcement also came just a few days after Chris bought a new (well, used) car. Despite how much we're trying to trim costs and the fact that his former car was paid off, the car was requiring a lot of expensive repairs. We decided that buying a used car in good condition with low mileage would end up being a better investment. Now we have a newer car and an older car and won't be replacing two cars at once. And the new car is a four-door, which Chris realized would be a near necessity a couple of months from now when he's wrestling a car seat in and out of the car.

In the end, we realize the furlough days won't mean financial ruin. With ten percent of all workers in the U.S. subjected to mandatory furloughs, and another 11 percent being encouraged to take voluntary unpaid time off (as I did in February), Andersen is probably handling it the best by spreading the time out of pay periods and thus paychecks.