Moving Day Tomorrow!

Aug 28, 2008 By Natasha Rosenstock in Life

Tomorrow is moving day. Tonight I came home to the house 99% packed up by the movers. Fantastic! Well, almost.

Items packed, although they knew we were staying one more night:

My clothes for tomorrow

Toothbrush and toothpaste

Toilet paper

Wet towels from the bathroom

Bathroom soap

Laundry bag

Not packed:

Shower cap

Dental floss

Soap in the kitchen.

Bliss body scrub

Comb

I opened a couple of the boxes marked “bathroom,” and found my toothbrush, toothpaste and the soap for the bathroom. Of course, because I’ve got my suitcase purse I have Kleenex and antibacterial stuff in it so I was never in huge danger of going dirty. And before I found the box with the containers of facial wash and body wash (with only a drop left in them so I specifically requested they stay unpacked to just use up before we go) I saw that my Dr. Bronners in the kitchen was about to come in handy. Again, good thing I’m so crazy and have lots of soap everywhere!

And tomorrow, once again I get to go to work and show up in the afternoon when the movers have put everything in the house. And to think I’ve been stressed about UNpacking! So I’ll count my blessings and not be annoyed that the painters chose to take today off instead of actually finishing the entire inside before we moved in (and three weeks behind schedule). And the light fixtures are mostly lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. It should all be fixed in the next few days. And even if its not, the gorgeous paint colors I picked will make up for a slight delay.

Okay, time to stay awake for the first time all week for these convention speeches. I can’t believe this is the last night of my life in a rental apartment!

Places lived before college: 18

Places lived during college: 4

Places lived after college: 5

Places I intend to live for the next 30 years: 1!

Delirious 9 month stream of consciousness

Aug 27, 2008 By Natasha Rosenstock in Politics, Pregnancy Tags: Democratic Convention

I can’t believe how little of the convention I’ve watched. We got rid of our cable last Friday in preparation for our move tomorrow. We had some cable news channels anyway for a few days but now they have disappeared. I thought NBC might have coverage but only America’s Got Talent is on right now. Just found some coverage on public television. I’ve been too tired to stay up and watch the speeches. I’ve been training my maternity leave replacement this week. Its fun because I know her and love her, but its hard to take everything out of my head and give it to someone else, while also trying to get other work done this week. I wish I could say I haven’t been watching the convention because I’ve been busy packing. Instead I’ve been coming home at almost 8, exhausted, eating something, showering, putting my feet up and then its 9pm. Then I’m ready for bed. Working on throwing out old magazines right now. The movers are coming to pack tomorrow and move us on Friday. Scott is overseeing the whole thing while I work. I have nothing to complain about. But I do wish I could be here and help. I do feel badly he’s doing all the work and I do think I could be helpful, even if I’m only supervising. It’s only a week or so of chaos that the move will bring and then we should be settled enough to be sane. And then I have a couple more weeks to do everything I want to before the baby comes – which is not much considering we’re not “making a nursery” or buying much except a couple of essentials. But it feels like a lot to me. Two weeks or…I should say…I’ll have a half hour each night by the time I get home from work and before I collapse asleep. Eek. Just remembered I have to pack a bag of stuff to have for myself tomorrow night that the movers won’t pack tomorrow. I need an overnight bag for my own house! I just want to go to sleep…

Nothing brilliant to say today. Except that I’m determined to make my first million soon so I can buy a $5000 Tempurpedic bed. I tried one at a store this weekend – not my first time – I try to visit them occasionally…. It was the first time in months that I was happy and comfortable lying down. I could even lie on my back and breathe. They should be a government medical benefit for all pregnant women! It was a heavenly experience. Someone suggested I at least treat myself to one of their pillows. I don’t know…might be too big of a tease. I need so many pillows right now and I’m still not comfortable. We got a list of things to bring to the hospital from the midwives yesterday, including two pillows. I have this vision of my caravan of suitcases and things that I will need to bring. There are so many things I’m being told to bring. Birthing (medicine) ball, pillows, clothes for labor, clothes for after labor, clothes to go home in, stuff for the baby, my iPod, my iPod player – and then I need my 7 birth books because I don’t know what resources I’ll need. Oh and won’t I need a breastfeeding book? And what about a baby care book? Only I want to take a library to the hospital! Maybe we should photocopy the pages I want ahead of time? Oh and then all the papers and pre-filled out forms and pre-registrations…. I’m remembering why I was trying to talk Scott into a home birth for three seconds before he laughed at me… Oh and on the checklist we’re supposed to learn infant CPR. Oh my goodness. The good news is that I just ate Butter Pecan ice cream out of the container and didn’t feel badly about it at all!

Since when do I listen?

Aug 20, 2008 By Natasha Rosenstock in Pregnancy, Washington, DC Tags: Metro

I was just thinking about that nice friend who warned me about starting a blog as I am in the last stages of preparation to birth, feed and take care of a baby (all without buying anything ahead of time of course!), prepare for maternity leave from my office, and set up a new house that needs lots of work before we can move in…Maybe he had a point.

Nevertheless, here I am! Speaking of coming towards the end here…Monday when I went to the metro I was determined to fight for a seat. Excuse me, to demand a seat. No one can believe it, but the entire time I’ve been pregnant, not one person has offered me a seat on the train. Granted, I only take it a couple of times per week, as we don’t live in the suburbs yet. But not one time??? That seems a bit strange to me. When I lived in Chicago I was offered a seat just because I was a girl going to work in heels. And with my feet, I took it! But…if an older person or someone pregnant or disabled came along, I jumped up and offered them my seat right away. That’s just what a menschy person does. Fortunately for the innocents on the train, everyone is on vacation this week and there were plenty of seats on the train for me.

Last week, as I was arranging my bags at my feet and trying to find space to hang on to the pole in the car with two hands (one is not enough to balance me these days) I was trying not to get very angry at everyone around me. I even heard someone (who was standing or I would have given it to them!) behind me talking about how “civilized” the DC trains are compared to other cities. I know everyone loves to talk about this. I do appreciate that the Metro is cleaner than the EL in Chicago, but what is more uncivilized? Eating and drinking fastfood on a train or refusing to offer a 9 months pregnant woman a seat?! I always tell myself that if I really felt I couldn’t stand anymore I would ask someone for their seat. Luckily on those days I’ve found one. Other days, when I’ve felt the steam start to come out of my ears I’ve been able to find a seat right at that moment. Not because anyone gave it up, but because they got off the train and no one else got to it first.

As I was standing there last week, with the steam building up inside my head, I was thinking about a conversation I’d had with a friend that day. We were talking about people who are just so negative and sure everything is a conspiracy and everyone is terrible that they do not have any close friends. I don’t want to be that person. I want to always see the best in people and not complain that everyone on the Metro is just a big meanie.

So where do I go from here? Because we’re moving in 10 days, just as I’m going to be in the last few weeks of pregnancy and work, I will have to start taking the metro every day, both directions. Okay, DC, you’ve got 10 days to condition your feet so that you can stand and I can sit! Now I’ll just need to make it 40 minutes door to door without a bathroom break…