Friday, November 6, 2015

Life Lately

Anna returned to the hospital this week for a follow-up surgery appointment, which included a kidney ultrasound and a meeting with her urologist.  The main reason for the ultrasound is to ensure that her kidneys are still functioning like they should.  One of the potential complications from the deflux injection is blockage between the kidney and the bladder.  She hadn't shown any signs of this happening (no fever, pain or blood in the urine) so the ultrasound was simply precautionary.  After, when we met with her urologist, he pulled up a screen shot from the ultrasound on his computer and pointed out the deflux injection and what he had hoped to correct.  Based on the ultrasound, he believes that the injection worked and her reflux will be a thing of the past.  There's that word though.  Believes.  We won't know for sure until another procedure with an x-ray is performed in 3-4 months.

Anna can be a stickler with certain things but man, can this kid roll with the punches.  After her surgery, she insisted on attending CCD class that night.  What kid doesn't try to get out of CCD?  Rich co-teaches their class so I figured if she wasn't going to make it through, he could just call me to come pick her up.  When they arrived back home after class, I asked her how it went.  "Dad caught me falling asleep."

11.6b

Thank you for the words of encouragement and shared different perspectives regarding work/life balance.  The day after I published that post, I randomly came across an article discussing this very topic and how it is currently so widespread.  Never before has the percentage of families with both parents working full time been this high.  Interestingly enough, (according to that article) work/life balance causes the most stress amongst those with college degrees.  It was speculated that those employees are usually salaried and expected to work outside of the 9 to 5 workday. 

There is some comfort in knowing that I'm not alone with these frustrations.  Rich is in the same boat with me as well.  Although, I think the guilt factor hits me harder.  Rich has chaperoned field trips, been guest reader on multiple occasions (and will be one again very soon!) and attended school meetings without me during my busy seasons.  Last week, he had already registered and paid for a seminar which left him unavailable for school stuff. 

As for the girls being in the same classroom, they would absolutely hate that.  They understand that by being in three different rooms, Mom and Dad can't do everything.  We are actually in a good place right now as their three teachers are teamed up and do a lot together, including that field trip last week.  If Anna had said that she didn't think she'd be able to handle the walk, I was going to request that Anna and a friend or two join Allie's class and not just Anna.  Anna actually didn't really care that we couldn't accompany her.

Rich and I do have a Life Plan in place.  (It's not really something I can currently detail out in a public forum though.)  Not to say that I drifted aimlessly but after I had the girls, my views on life and work began to slowly shift.  I was also in my mid-thirties.  When I was younger, it was easy to assume I would 1. work as employee and then 2. retire at retirement age.  When I was completely stressed out a few years ago because of a crazy, control freak (evil) boss, Rich and I began to think about alternatives.  (Seriously, work became like a game of Survivor.  Outwit, outplay, outlast.  And I won!)            

Considerations to a Life Plan:
  • Retirement 
  • Regular 
  • Insurance (health, dental and life)
  • College 
  • Mortgage
  • Vehicles

From someone who's been working for 20 years, there's one piece of unsolicited advice I'll give to all of you new to or just entering the workforce:  max out your 401(k) contributions! 

11.6a

So one good thing has come from this time change.  The sun has been setting at 4:30 and with the expansive view of the city from my workspace, there have been some gorgeous sunsets.  I was thinking of way to set up my camera in one of the windows on a makeshift tripod (aka storage boxes.)  The lens would have to be pressed up against the glass to avoid the glare from the office lights so that eliminates my wide angle with the bubbled lens.  I wish it wasn't such a hassle to bring my camera with me to work or I would carry it with me everyday.         

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once the reflux is gone, will she go off of the daily antibiotic?

Sarah said...

That's what I'm going to push for. I don't like her on daily antibiotic.

Anonymous said...

But the last time she stopped taking it didn't she get a UTI?

Sarah said...

They put her on a daily antibiotic when we started cathing her around 15 months. When she was 3, they took her off it. She had a UTI after that but she didn't go back on daily until she was 6 when she had a really bad UTI that spread to her bladder.

Anonymous said...

Would you mind explainig what you mean by a "bubbled lens"? Not being a photographer, the word is greek to me.

Marcia (123 blog) said...

Hi Sarah, I read the other work/ life balance post, this one, and then I went back and read the comments on the last post again.

One thing I want to throw into the mix is a book you may have heard of - I know how she does it by Laura VanderKam. Now there are many things I don't agree with in the book, but she does have some interesting thoughts. One of these is about narratives, i.e. the stories we tell ourselves.

Right at this point of the year, I'm studying for an industry exam and I'm launching a new (insurance) deal in 6 weeks, so work is quite hectic.

There are many things I can tell myself but after reading that book I'm telling myself this studying at night (when I'm not commenting on blogs! :)) will be over after the 19th, and yes, while I have some more pressure, I know I can do it and it's good to be pushed like this for about 4 - 5 months a year :) because it means I'll reach my new business targets and that is less stress (and a nice bonus).

Could you "tell yourself" a different story? Like I'm choosing this because the alternative is something else I would hate more?

Just a thought.

I don't know how you feel about this but that book also mentions a split shift. Many working women work at work, come home for family time (dinner/ bed/ baths/ stories) and then get online and do another 2 - 3 hours of work. Personally (maybe it's my personality - ESTJ), I don't like the idea of my life and work all blending into each other, but if it's palatable to you, maybe come home a bit earlier/ go on more field trips and the like, and then get some work done after the girls are in bed. That way you get the best of both worlds - kids happy and your work requirements sorted too.

Or use your commute to get work emails done? Just thinking out loud.

Hope this helps.

If you want to perhaps look at getting more tips, I do write a lot about time management and such on my blog at www.organisingqueen.com

Sarah said...

Bubbled lens - it looks like a rounded piece of glass that has been stuck in the end of the lens. It does have a lens hood on it but that is scalloped.

Marcia - Thank you for your comment. You bring up a lot of good points. I'll have to check out that book. It's hard for me to work from home b/c I manage and work with so many people and when you're not in the office but everyone else is, it can be quite difficult. Plus we still have a lot of paper - not paperless yet!