Cliffs notes

Ok, a whirlwind post, because I am tired and want to go to bed, and because Kid A could wake up any minute, and I'm gone again. This is about as bullet-point-y as one of my posts is going to get.

Dad update. Let's see, he went home on Wednesday (the day his 100% Medicare coverage ran out), and is still battling an infection in his foot (feet? and legs?), and is still in a lot of pain. He came up with his own, very comprehensive, plan for help and support (the very nice man and his daughter -- complicated, and unnecessary for me to go into details), which is a good reminder for me in my work that folks can almost always come up with better plans for themselves than I could. I just have to get out of the way! Apparently, though, one of the pins in his ankle is wiggling around a fair bit, which is contributing to at least the pain and possibly the infection, so the surgeon may have to remove the pin(s) and put the foot in a cast. The other worrisome issue is the mountain of debt hanging over his head, and whether he's in good enough shape mentally to deal with it. LB reports that 1) the realtor is supposed to come to the house soon to measure and appraise, so it looks like Dad really is moving forward on that, and 2) the very nice man's daughter is going to help Dad prioritize the big ol' spreadsheet of debt that I worked up for him, so hopefully Dad's going to have some debt-wrangling help. He's not very good with money. Oh, and his dog came home today! I'm sure the two of them are super happy to be reunited.

Kid A and I had a lovely day together yesterday. I needed some new shoes, and I had to return a defective baby monitor, so we went shopping in Walnut Creek. Kid A did great. She only lost it once in Target -- the electronics section was way too much for her, so loud and busy and overstimulating -- and she held it together really well while I browsed the outdoor mall for clothes for her and tried on shoes. She became inconsolable just as I was paying for my shoes, so I headed out of there as fast as the salesman would let me, and whisked her up to Nordstrom to feed her in the 3rd floor bathroom. It was a lovely outing, and I realized that shopping is actually a great place to take a 10-week-old baby, because there's just so much for her to look at and be distracted by. Or maybe she just really likes shopping, in which case I'm really in trouble.

Work. It seems as though I have been assigned to my permanent position, and the fact that I know about it is highly unorthodox. Typically, new workers are not notified of their positions until the very end of the 8 weeks of training; tomorrow is the beginning of week 3. So although I am not counting on anything, I have been told that I will be in the Emergency Response unit in the district office in which I interned last year. While ER was not my first choice of unit, the district office was much more important to me, and I am thrilled to be there. In addition, I am simply thrilled to know where I'll be working, and in what capacity. It makes the training much more relevant, because I am looking at everything through the lens of an ER worker. I know that's partly why they don't tell new workers until the end, because they don't want them to tune out the other parts of training that they think won't be relevant. Oh well. Too bad, if they decide to move me to a different assignment! But I'm hopeful that things are settled.

Ok, last story and then I'm off to feed the cats and go to bed. I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a funny story about pumping while out in the field. So this other breastfeeding mother and I are out investigating a referral at a hospital. Because it involves a newborn, we are in the labor and delivery wing of a small regional hospital. It's approaching 4 hours since I last pumped, and I need to do so again, so we ask the staff if there's someplace for me to pump. They're nice enough to let me use an empty labor and delivery room, so off I go. I have this hands-free contraption that I can hook up to my bra, so I'm sitting there, getting milked, and I drop something. I lean over to get it, and I spill milk on my skirt! Ack! So I get up, still pumping, and go over to the sink, and start trying to clean up my skirt, so I don't walk around all day with a big old milk spot on myself (and mostly so I don't smell like milk all day). Ok, I'm pretty well cleaned up, and I head back over and I notice that something else is on the floor. I've learned my lesson, right? Don't lean over. So I decide that it's perfectly okay to squat down to get it, but unfortunately I have to lean over just enough to spill milk on myself AGAIN. Genius.

By the way, thanks for all the sweet offers for weekend babysitting. We will definitely be hitting you all up in a few months. Right now, my time with Kid A on the weekends is just too precious to pass up, and it's working for now to try to "do it all" in 48 hours. Eventually, though, I will be just too tired to do it all myself, and I really appreciate knowing that I can rely on you for help! I feel so lucky that Kid A has such an awesome village, with all manner of cool and interesting and wonderful aunties and uncles (and Nanas!).