On Leave

Yesterday marked the first day of my "baby bonding" leave.  I'm taking 10 weeks off of work to hang out with the Spawn all day long.  The E-i-C goes back to work next week, so we have a nice transition period this week.

So far, not so good.  Not so much because of the Spawn, who has actually been quite cooperative, but rather because I seem to have come down with a bug of some sort.  I spent most of the afternoon and evening yesterday fighting with chills and aches (but, according to the thermometer, no fever).  This resolved itself overnight with dehydration and consequent overheating, and after drinking a couple of glasses of water, pools of sweat.  I'm beginning to doubt the accuracy of our thermometer.  Today I had no chills, but some minor digestive issues.

Nevertheless, we've tried to be productive.  I sent out four or five emails inquiring about day care availability (note: in the local market, we're about a year behind schedule on this.  You're supposed to get on waiting lists before you actually get pregnant).  The E-i-C cleaned out her bedroom closet.  We've been to the local co-op about four times in two days.  

Oh, and I went shopping for a couple of things for the spawn, specifically a rain cover for the stroller, diapers, a pack of onesies that will fit her, and some formula.  Target supplied the diapers and formula, but I could not find a rain cover there, and the onesies they had were either in opened packages (which would have been rejected by the E-i-C) or had "made in China" stickers on them.  Yeah, yeah, what's wrong with made in China for t-shirts, right? Well, color me paranoid, but I heard something somewhere about formaldehyde and other unpleasant chemicals in clothing, and if I can't buy organic (which I can, if I look hard enough), then I'd at least like to avoid buying from scary industrial waste country.

So after that the Spawn and I went around the corner to Babies 'R' Us, which was completely sold out of rain covers (there having been a solid week of rain in the days previous), and had no plain white onesies of any kind in the Spawn's size.  

I went home, feeling sickly and frustrated, and spent an hour or so surfing the web for what I wanted to buy before giving up.  Some days I just shouldn't shop.

Yesterday was also the Editor-in-Chief's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Chief!  In celebration, she got to spend the day out on the town.  This mostly consisted of going from salon to salon trying to find someone who would cut her hair without an appointment.  She came home with the same hair, but she did at least get to go to the Imperial Spa to get her skin scoured off. A new birthday suit for her birthday!  Oh, I also got her some shoes.  Yet another tale of going to multiple stores to be turned away.  Bloomie's, Nordstrom's, Barney's, Neiman Marcus... none had that pair in her size. Yes, I am sure you cannot interest me in another color, I have specific instructions and to deviate from them would mean my imminent demise.  I ended up ordering them online from the designer's website.  Retailers take heed!  People are turning to the Internet in droves, because your brick-and-mortar stores don't stock merchandise reliably!  At least with the shoes, I had helpful customer service.  Looking for baby goods, I'm lucky if there's an available cashier.

Oh, today is Super Tuesday.  I voted for McKinney.  I am sad to see that Nader is in the lead in California - not because I don't like him, but because he's not running.  I mean, come on, McKinney is a former U.S. congresswoman with a campaign, a platform, the whole deal, and registered Greens are instead voting for a guy who is only on the ballot because of a "Draft Nader" movement that's trying to get him to run against his own wishes.  The poll results - which are hugely in favor of Nader - have got to be based purely on name recognition.  It makes me think that people aren't doing any homework, they're just going to the polling station, looking at the ballot, and saying "Oh, I know who that is..." and checking a box.  And if that's how my party is, I might as well be a Democrat.  I'm seriously considering changing to Undeclared.  When it comes down to it, the only time party registration matters is for primaries (oh, and so that party organizers can call and ask for money).  The GP primary was a farce; and in California, undeclared voters can ask for a Democrat ballot.  When it comes to the actual election, I can still vote to my heart's content.

Maybe Ralph will hand his delegates over to Cynthia, in the end.  That would be nice.