The first week

My first week back to work was short... thank goodness. The week started with the removal of my crowns and placement of my new permanent teeth. I debated over showing the picture of my teeth... Doug begged me not to, but I just think it's funny. So here they are. My new teeth are awesome... so much better than my original permanent crowns.

Tuesday was my last day off, and it went fairly well... I was still a little headachey from all of the Novocaine the day before (at least I thought so that day). That evening we all went out to eat at a local burrito place and I reminded the girls that I would be going back to work the next day. Leigh frowned and continued to eat, Meron smiled really big and did the fist pull down thing that usually means "oh yeah!" I have to admit that hurt. I realize that I am the more strict parent which usually means that the girls like to "hang out" with Doug more, but I did not expect that reaction from Meron. We had actually had had some really great days in the week before this night and had spent quite a bit of time together just goofing off... Leigh told Meron "that's mean, what's with you?" when she did it Meron just laughed. I just ignored it and went on with what I had to say. I have no idea if she was intentionally being mean, or if that really was her response to my going back to work. It's about 50/50 chance to be either, and I have no idea which I would prefer it be, they both seem equally negative for different reasons.

Wednesday was a bit rough. I spent most of the morning getting ready on the verge of tears and was super congested. I got ready first, then woke the girls. Immediately I knew it was going to be one of those mornings with Meron. She took forever to get out of bed. I tried to joke around with her to get her a little more motivated, but she just glared at me and told me to leave her alone. Eventually, she got dressed and came down for breakfast, but just sat there staring at her food and by this time it was nearly time to leave. Leigh was fully ready by this time, and Doug stepped in with Meron to try to get a little more compliance... Finally, at about 5 minutes before I needed to have the girls in the car to take them to school, Doug and I got fed up. I got down on her level and asked her why she was having so many issues this morning and explained that it was really important for her to move more quickly. She looked at me with the biggest tear-filled eyes I have ever seen, and said, "My stomach hurts." I felt really bad at that point. I'm fairly certain that her stomach hurt when she first woke up, and she just didn't tell us. I don't know why she didn't say anything initially, but I am so happy she finally told me before I took her to school. I gave her a big hug, checked her quickly for a fever (none), sent her back up to bed, and took Leigh to school.

Work was pretty good that day. I got a gazillion hugs, and lots of encouragement, then they informed me of all of the changes... The Senior Manager for my group took a different position. I was pretty disappointed about this; he's been a great boss. This leaves his position open (to be filled very soon) and my direct manager (also fantastic boss... not kissing up, I have seriously lucked out in this area over the past couple of years) is likely to take the position. If he does, that will leave his position open. I also got notified that the other senior member of my group (P.I.A.) has left the group for another position at the company. This was good and bad news. We had actually been working together fairly well since the falling out a year ago, but the relationship has been a bit tenuous. So, in her new position, I will see her from time to time, but we will not be working as closely together. With her position now also open, it is likely that I will be the only one in my group applying for my manager's position once it is open. This is does not mean that it is certain that I will get it, but I think it is pretty likely. I would be happy to get the position, but not overly disappointed if I did not depending on who did get it. I have to admit that it would feel like a slap in the face if one of a few certain individuals got the position over me.
The bad actually came in with the notification that I would be taking over the project that P.I.A. had been working on over the past year. It's a project that is probably 90% political and about 10% technical... all that know me know that this is not an ideal situation for me. I despise office politics. I'm not good at the game... and I love the technical side of my job. So, to work almost completely on a project like this kinda stinks; but, of course, I will deal... They also told me that I had a big meeting about the project later that day which ended up being a little party for me. It was really sweet. They gave Ben a little monkey stuffed animal/teething toy and a large gift card to BabiesRus (which will be super helpful given how fast this kid is growing... he's such a chunk).
Not long after the little party, Doug called and told me that he was tweeting updates of Ben and that Meron had thrown up on her bed and the middle of her floor. I felt so bad for her, but he said she was already feeling better. I had heard about a 24 hour stomach bug going around town and had hoped that was all she had.

The rest of my work day went fairly well and when I checked my mailbox I got a surprise. A while back I won a small photography award in the company contest and they had used one of my photographs in this year's company calendar (picture in last post). By the time it was time to go home, I had a huge headache and missed little Ben like crazy. There is always a little guilt when I feel that way. I do miss Ben more than the girls, but it's because of his age and I accustomed to being away from the girls while they are in school. Plus Ben is changing so quickly. I know that I am missing so much while I'm at work and I am likely to miss some of the big stuff like his first time rolling over & first steps.

When I got home, the girls were finishing dinner and Ben was just finishing a bottle and Doug said he had been fussy all day long... not eating or sleeping well (I think he missed me). The girls were happy to see me and Meron was feeling better. Ben was thrilled to see me and gave me a sweet smile as soon as picked him up. He then drank a whole bottle and went right to sleep. It was the longest I've been away from him and I wonder if he questioned whether or not I was coming back. I think reading all of those adoption books has made me a little more sensitive to that type of thing.

Thursday sucked! I woke up with a sore throat and Leigh woke up with a stomach ache, too. Meron was feeling better, but we didn't want to send her to school because it hadn't been 24 hours since she had thrown up. I felt so bad leaving Doug with all of the kids for the whole day... especially since he had had such a difficult time with Ben the day before. I had meetings all day, and Doug sent me tweets periodically to keep me updated with their day. By midday I knew I was coming down with something and started running a fever. By the end of the day, I felt like I had been hit with a truck. Since all of my leave was used up with having Ben, and I had just come back from work, I knew there was no way that I could take any time off with whatever I was coming down with. So, I went from work to the Urgent Care.

I lucked out at the Urgent Care. There was no one in the waiting room, and, as soon as I got the paper work filled out, they examined me. The doc said I had sinusitis and a lower respiratory tract infection. He put me on anti-biotics, steroids, and said I should take musinex. I went strait to the pharmacy afterwards, and didn't get home until the girls' bedtime. Doug said Ben had been much better that day and that the girls had been really good (Yay!). I donned a mask so I could hold Ben for a couple of minutes, then took my meds and went to bed.

Yesterday, was so much better. The girls were both well enough to go to school and my meds were definitely helping. Unfortunately, though, I am now dealing with an auto-immune reaction to either the illness or the meds (or possibly Ben's vaccinations from last week, who knows?). Also, Ben is now very stuffy. I am hoping that is all he gets... I'm paranoid about sick babies... I had a nephew who died at six-months of age from SIDS. He had a cold/congestion and my step-sister had taken him to the ER (she had no insurance) the night before. They checked him out, said he was fine, and released him. The next morning, my sister put him in his crib at 6am and by 7 he had passed. He would be 14 years old... So, this, plus all of my lost babies due to miscarriage, has left me one neurotic mommy...

EDIT: you can see Doug's tweets here.