Space of my own...

I have consolidated all my blogs into my own domain. From now on, I can be found at My Level of Awareness.

The Secret Diaries...

Like I said, I don't use this blog much since I started my "myspace" blog. The Myspace blog, while not as elegant, is a bit easier to maintain. But I am discovering the utility of multiple blogs. I actually have four - but I am not saying where they all are.

Sometimes I have things I just need to get off my chest that the myspace forum is a little too "public" for. Probably 95% of the time, there is really nothing I would say that I wouldn't say to the face of the person involved. The other 5% of the time are cases where:

1. I know I am probably being unfair and biased, but need to vent.

2. I am working things through in my head and need a place to test out ideas where nobody is taking anything as gospel. I think out loud - well, I think through my fingers. Writing is my way of seeing my ideas and turning them over and shaking them and testing the arrangment. Unfortunately, some folks get bent by my experimentation.

3. Nobody else but me is interested - sometimes it's about my job, my adoration for my kid, things that get old to a "captive" audience.

So this blog is my cheap substitute for therapy. I know that my Diaryland blog is probably a better forum, but the format annoys me.

So, Here I Am.

Many miles since then...

If you notice the date on my last post, it's 10 days before my life changed forever. A little lady named Katrina blew through my happy little existance, dropped me like a stone in Arkansas, and blew out. Harry's room, documented in those earlier, happier posts, is now sitting on a pile of debris in a landfill somewhere, along with the dreams of countless other families in New Orleans:







Harry, thank God, is quite safe, and has been the little boy that has been the shining light at the end of my tunnel.

Since the great displacement, I keep another blog at http://www.myspace.com/broinnfinn. I update that pretty regularly. But I am keeping this blog open. It has become a bit more personal, someplace I am keeping to put down the raw sorrows and joys of a life interrupted. Stay tuned.

Holy cow, I am a crappy blogger...

It has been over a month since my last post. Harry has grown like a weed - he is up probably close to eleven pounds and cute as heck. Doesn't seem like the same baby! I have one more week of maternity leave, and then back to work. UGH!

I interviewed for my dream job this week. Bit of a paycut, but it would be worth it to be on hard money. It would be running a microarray lab - interesting work, if a bit repetitive, and the hours would be regular. I want to call them up and beg "HIRE ME! HIRE ME!". I was relieved to get the interview. It was the first I have had since spring.

No more waiting!!!

Wow, big delay in posting, but the waiting is over! Harry is here!

The ten days between my last post and his birth on June 29, 2005 were a bit crazy. First, I was really, really sick. As it turned out, when I went in for my appointment on June 28, they discovered that the threatened pre-eclampsia they had been worried about for a couple of weeks was making its ugly appearance. I had a BP of 168/98! Harry was doing fine, but his amniotic fluid was low, so it was decided that he really needed to come on into the world.

After 15 hours of hard, induced labor (during the middle of which my epidural disconnected - that was a real fun two hours before they got that working again), Harry wasn't making the progress we hoped, so he was finally delivered at 9:56 pm by emergency c-section. Here are his stats:

Hieronymus Gabriel
6 lb., 6 oz.
19.5" long - all arm and leg!
Born 9:56pm, June 29, 2005

My husband has a page with all of his nursery photos:

http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~kkoenig/

I got this from my best friend's blog...

I thought it was pretty interesting. Aside from the first one, they are pretty dang accurate, really. All things considered, I am rather predictable and boring:

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved.

You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic.

Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred.

In this moment, you think of love as commitment. Love only works when both people are totally devoted.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

Only of interest to you parents...

We finished the nursery this week. We wanted something different and not cutesy - little bears and nursery rhyme themes make me gag. And we wanted something we weren't just going to have to repaint in a couple of years. So, we went with the Hawaiian thang (no surprise to anyone who knows us).

Well, to save space, Kris and I made this drop-down changing table (he got the idea while sitting in the restroom at Babies 'R Us, go figure) shaped like a boogie board. He did the construction work; I am just the painter.

Here it is, folded up:



And here it is folded down and ready to go:



Boring to all of you folks sans kids, but we are pretty proud of it. When he gets past that poopy-diaper stage, we will lower it and he can use it as a desk.

Woohoo.

I am going out today to get a beach scene poster to hang above it, and then the room is done. If my family back in New York every come up with the swing they said they were getting him, everything will be ready and waiting for the big day. D Day.