Nesting

I have often heard the term "nesting" as being the actions done prior to the birth (whether physical or through adoption, etc) of a child. Usually a parent sees the millions of things that need to be finished, done, cleaned and so forth before he or she could possibly bring this child to their home. Often times it's deep cleaning a nursery type room, or putting away a stack of photos from 1987, or bringing out the stroller and car seats (neither of which are going to be used immediately by said baby because it's the dead of winter...bad weather for strolling....or the car seat is not for infants....which indeed means you now need two car seats for a human who weighs less than the car seat itself!)

But I digress.......

Nesting.....to those who are parents already, you chuckle, I know, at the ideas of nesting. And I know why you chuckle. We claim it's for the baby's benefit, but it so isn't, is it? That baby can't see past it's nose, and really won't care one way or the other if you have a clean shelf for your entire Star Trek series! Nor will it care if your clothes are all clean and put away in the closet ready to be grabbed at a moments notice. Really, all that baby knows is damn this is soooooo not what I am used to!! PUT ME BACK!

Therefore, I have decided that I am going to be a techno-nester! That's right...my nesting is going to be for my benefit and sound mind (and I realize some of you may chuckle at that idea in and of itself....hush you!)

Techno-nesting: The art of preparing your techno world for a baby.

• Currently, I have filtered by 12+ emails so that there are very few emails that will actually go to my inbox, therefore requiring very little of the precious few hours left of being not a parent of a newborn!
  
• I have prepared all of my "vacation" notices so that no one is offended that I have not immediately responded. (Of course that is for the few people in my life I do immediately respond to. The rest will merely want to know why I haven't responded say, after a week or so!)
  
• My blogs have also been prepared to state the news that I am away parenting a new one.
  
• My voicemail will soon have the important information (Name, Date and Time of Birth, and that I won't be answering phone calls until our period of initial bonding is over).
  
• My work email and VM will not only state I am away from my desk, but it will not give a time in which I will be returning. ha ha on YOU!
• I am also in the process of buying a ridiculous amount of memory sticks because I want to be the type of new parent who shows a million pictures to every unsuspecting soul around me!
  

So you see, I am starting a new trend. Other in our house may be "normal nesting" but I have chosen a the route that makes the most sense to me! Just you wait.....you know you're going to wonder when I will be back....and you're probably going to want to see at least a few dozen of those pictures! You'll be glad I have taken such preparatory steps!!

Heart in your throat?

So, this past Saturday I attended a symposium here in Columbus. I had a great time, met friends (old and new), and enjoyed great discussion. I am really looking forward to next year's event. However, being "on high alert" for this big event of my life, I did have one small moment when I realized just how highly strung I have gotten over the last few weeks.

I had told every speaker in the classes I attended that I would have my phone on HIGH so I wouldn't miss the possible phone call announcing "This is IT!" My feelings, however, were that it wouldn't be today, so I was going to be ok today. I got up and moving early (checked in at 7 a.m. before leaving to see that everything was ok), turned on my cell phone, left a short note, and headed out. I got registered, met my buds, and went through the first session. It was great...informative and interesting. No phone calls, which I didn't really expect because my assumptions were that everyone was still sleeping.

We then moved on to the second session. It was an interesting session with great discussion. In the middle of discussion, however, my phone buzzed (I had turned it down when I went to the restroom and forgot to put it back on audio). For that 1.4 seconds, all blood drained out of my body, hands, brain, EVERYTHING! My heart, making up for the loss of blood, started this crazy pounding dance! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM At second 1.5 I let go of my breath, grabbed the phone and looked at the display.............I was ready to have my life changed FOREVER!

Can I tell you that I almost laughed out loud when the text read "We're having a yard sale today. You should come over!" Deciding I didn't need CPR or oxygen, I texted back that I was in a symposium and couldn't make it. Then I went back to engaging in the discussion knowing that I probably should go to the restroom again after session to throw a little cold water on my face and maybe get a coffee (my "nicotine" fix for everything!) to settle my nerves.

PHEW.....can I tell you, I'm not really sure what I will do when the true "ring" comes in! I guess I should be glad we are past the pager stage in life. Chances are, if I carried a pager that only one person knew the number to, I am pretty sure my first reaction would be passing out, instead of checking to see if it was a false alarm or the wrong number....or the real thing!!