I'm free!!! Sort of.

My last day of my (paying) job was Monday and it was liberating like the last day of school.  I spent 3.5 hours training the new person, chatting with the lovely computer geeks in IT about transferring all of my emails and the whole laptop to the new person, and going through files with my boss.  It was nice to have it all wrapped up in one day and to be able to walk away from it all with no strings attached.  I would have been happy to continue the job in the fall, after a few months off, but since that wasn't an option anymore (the grant that supported my job needed to go to a proper PhD student and one showed up at the last minute), it is nice to catch up on all of the loose ends at home instead of being buried in work emails all the time.  Now I can do little things like laundry, cooking, and relaxing when Dahlia is alseep, and perhaps go to bed before 11pm.  What a treat!

But, just in time for work to be done, baby brother is managing to fill my free time from his cozy place in my belly.  I have been in a good deal of pain, thankfully off and on, but on enough to cause me to be limping and cranky much of the time.  He is getting big enough to really wear me out and I am having a hard time keeping up with the level of activity that Dahlia requires all day long when it is a chore to even go up and down the stairs.  Chasing her at a park is a pain-inducing disaster, as is carrying her for very long.  And she really has a knack for desperately needing to be carried on every outing that I neglect to bring the stroller.

We only look remotely happy here because this on on the way IN to the zoo, not on the death march to get us OUT.

The picture above is from a recent zoo trip (I was 35 weeks pregnant); a place where Dahlia has always wanted to walk all by herself and seems offended by the presence of a stroller.  I opted not to bring it because it is hard to deal with that and keep up with her when she isn't in it.  Of course, this was the one and only day where she was suddenly incapable of walking and needed to be carried from the farthest possible place from the exit all the way to the car (nearly half a mile).  Thankfully, I had thought to pack the sling which does a great job of easing the burden on my arms, but not so much on my back, super sore pelvic joints, and feet (not to mention that she is basically sitting on my belly, not so comfy).  Ugh.  I was cranky, she was cranky, it was a hot mess.  We needed to stop for some fries (for her) and a milkshake (for me) on the way home to cheer up.