Cuddle party

Until I was pregnant, I was never much of a napper. I just find nighttime sleep to be more than sufficient, and napping always made me a bit groggy. Plus, I like to accomplish things, and you can't accomplish much while sleeping.

This weekend opened my eyes just a bit wider to the joy of napping. I'm pretty sure that taking a nap while cuddling a baby is one of life's sweetest pleasures.

My new favorite word

It's "polterwang". I had to look it up when I saw it on Go Fug Yourself.

I can't stop cracking up.

EEOC, part 2

I've decided to at least explore whether or not I have an EEOC case against my employer, and have called to open a file. The first step is pretty innocuous - you give a person some basic information over the phone, both about yourself and your employer, and they mail out a questionnaire which asks for additional detail. I have not officially filed a claim until the EEOC field office receives this document, either by mail or an in-person meeting. In New York State, I have 300 days from the initial action taken against me to do so. The person I spoke with is an "impartial party", so was not able to give any reaction as to whether or not I have a case here.

The reason for my taking this step? I called our disability insurance company to inquire as to why I have only received four weeks of disability pay thus far, and was told that our coverage is only for a total of six weeks if a woman delivered vaginally and eight weeks for a Cesarean delivery, the first week of either of which is completely unpaid. I reread our handbook, and really feel that the language was misleading. Technically it doesn't say that we are covered for 90 days, but I really believed that to be the case. So I was pretty angry and decided to do something about it. Hence, the call to the EEOC.

Santa

The Bug saw her first Santa Claus at Stew Leonard's yesterday. She absolutely hated him. She did the full-on lower-lip pout and started to cry. I couldn't even get her to go to him, and she loves people!

We picked out a tree while we were there. It's a really good one, although for some reason I was feeling like a smaller tree than we usually get. This one is about 8 feet tall; we usually go closer to 10. But with an Exersaucer and a Jumperoo vying for space in our little condo, it seemed wise. I know that the Bug won't care either way, but I cannot wait for her to see it covered in lights and ornaments!

First Feast

The Bug had her first "solid food" on Thanksgiving morning. I use the term loosly (and in quotes) because rice cereal appears to be neither "solid" nor "food." There is clearly a reason that rice cereal is not part of the adult diet. Thus far, the Bug is less than thrilled with "solid food." Day three and we seem only to succeed in placing about six spoonsful in her mouth, the majority of which just squishes back out and onto her chin. I hope that better culinary alternatives increase her enthusiasm. Apple sauce is going to seem like a party in her mouth by comparison.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy this little clip from the archives of "The Show with Ze Frank". For those who are unfamiliar, this guy did an awesome video blog every day for a year. It was great. He opened every show with "Hello Sports Racers..." and had the sports racers themselves contribute their own openings during the last few months of the show's run. Anyway, this video seems to capture the holiday quite well, with a lovely little political bent.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Portnoy's Complaint

Before reading Portnoy's Complaint, I'd read two books by Philip Roth: The Plot Against America, and American Pastoral. I really liked them both, although I preferred the latter. The former is about the life of a New Jersey Jewish family in the 1950s, during an alternate reality in which Lindbergh was elected President of the United States. The latter is about the life of a New Jersey Jew during the explosive 1960s.

Needless to say, when I picked up Portnoy's Complaint, I had absolutely no idea that Roth could be funny. And in this book, we're talking laugh-out-loud funny! The entire book is told in the first person to the psychiatrist of a very sexually-disfunctional Jewish guy from New Jersey (trend here?), the root of whose problems probably lie in his boyhood relationship with his mother. Regardless, it's a funny, funny book. I am wildly impressed with the versatility of Roth's writing - this was an unexpected pleasure.