Things are going pretty well. The diet is successful so far, even when I"m not 100% at following it. I haven't noticed a difference in my clothes yet, but my wedding ring is spinning around my finger, so yay baby steps.

Morgan got dance lessons for Christmas, so we took her to a allet class and a hip hop class to see which she wanted to do, and she chose ballet. No surprise there. She's enjoying it and even practices at home. We need to work on her flexing her feet, though, since all the toe-pointing might cause her feet to relapse. She's also been getting piano lessons from Mom. I finally set up the keyboard I've had since high school (and haven't had room for since then). She's shaping up to be quite an accomplished young lady.

Alan is going back to school, taking the one class he needs to finish his Bachelor's. I'm so proud and excited for him. Part of me misses school and is a little jealous. Okay, it isn't actually school I miss so much as just learning, studying something I find interesting. Alan is sojazzed, he's already read half his textbook. I'm also envious of his speed-reading ability. Seriously, my husband is like Superman. He's amazing.

Liam's doing all right, too. He's a little behind on some developmental milestones (crawling, babbling), but okay on others (fine motor skills like picking up his binky and putting it in his mouth). We've been making our own baby food with the Baby Bullet we got for Christmas, which is fun for us and he seems to be enjoying most of what we make. He isn't a big fan of rice cereal or milled oatmeal by themselves, but if we mix them with some fruit or veggie he'll eat just about anything.

It's tax time, so I'll be working again. It'll be nice for the budget, but challenging since we live farther away and still only have one car to get Morgan to school and ballet, both Alan and me to work, and Alan to school (thank goodness only one night a week). And obviously someone has to be with the baby at all times, so yeah. My fantastic Mom is helping by coming up 2 or 3 times a week. I wish we could keep her around all the time, but I think her husband would object ;).

So I'm now in the third trimester. Things are going well except it seems my left kidney is going, "Aaaaagh, too much work!" and has me at a pretty constant pain level. Not debilitating, not really interfering with life, but I do shift around quite a bit trying to find a comfortable position. Sitting, standing, laying down, doesn't matter. At first I thought it was my back, but application of heat packs and massage from kiwifruitbat don't do a _thing_, and the location is consistent and specific. My NP says the best thing to do is flush it with lots of water (as if I'm not already drinking a ridiculous amount of water every day), and lay down as much as I can as it's easier for kidneys to function in that position. Didn't know that.

Unfortunately, laying down almost invariably leads to falling asleep, no matter what time of day it is and what is happening around me. TV when I'm on the couch, Alan on the computer in the bedroom, broad daylight, doesn't matter: I zonk. Not quite as bad as the first trimester, where I felt compelled to nap all the time; now at least as long as I stay upright I'm good, but if I lay down I'm out for the count.

Speaking of, my nurse now has me doing kick counts, and the first night I did it, I followed the instructions that say to "lie down on your side in a quiet room without distractions." Oops. I got to eight and then I was OUT. So I do my counts sitting up now. Still try for minimal distractions because I understand it's also kind of the first stages of bonding with the baby.

Morgan is still super excited. She snuggles my belly when she crawls into bed for morning hugs, and today while we were up visiting Dad, whenever I told him I felt a kick so he could feel it, she'd rush over and put her tiny hands on my belly before he had a chance to. I had to remind her a few times that she gets to feel the baby all the time and Grandpa never had yet, which she would take in good grace, but then promptly forget. I think she's going to be a great big sister, as long as we can keep that possessiveness in check.

Part of the reason for the trip up the hill was to get Morgan's old baby stuff out of the storage unit, so we could clean it up, take stock of what we already have so we know what to register for, etc. Dad's unit is in the way back of the facility, and there's about a foot and a half of snow on the ground that had yet to be driven over or walked on or anything. So of course we had to have a snowball fight. The snow was perfect for it, too. Nice and packable so it didn't just disintegrate mid-flight, and yet exploded beautifully on contact and didn't hit too hard. Yay for the forethought to wear our hiking boots, and for Dad having tons of extra gloves and mittens and shell jackets handily laying around. Morgan's jeans got wet up to her knees but she didn't seem to mind at all. I swear she got her father's thermostat. And Dad deliberately fistailed the car on our way back through the facility, which was fun (once I realized he was doing it on purpose and did in fact have control), though I suspect our tracks are going to make the next person to come through nervous. ;)

Work is... work. By the time I come home and vent to Alan about the latest drama with our new tax program or whatever else is going wrong at the moment (something new every week at least), I don't have much energy to blog it, so y'all are spared teh dramaz. I'll just say that working for a tax preparer at this time of the year is probably everything you could imagine it might be, and leave it at that.

Now to sit on the couch and _not_ fall asleep while I do tonight's kick count.

The office had our Tax Day dinner tonight. Much fun was had, yummy Itailan food was eaten, and very very yummy sweet & fruity pink martinis were drunk. Except by kikimo_1405, who had lemon drops with my mom. It was a fantastic excuse to get a new outfit with fantastically sexy strappy black shoes which are surprisingly comfortable. So I was a _little_ overdressed in regards to everyone else at the table (except for Katy's oldest son - ten years old - who was duked out in a sport coat and tie, albeit a clip-on), but I go out so seldom and haven't bought myself pretty new clothes in a while.

Oh, and while I was out shopping, I got my ears pierced again. By a girl who _totally_ looks like Alyson Hannigan. I hadn't really thought about it until like two days ago, but ever since then I've been like "hmm..." so while I was in Claire's I saw this cute 2-pair of earrings, shiny black round studs and thin black hoops and that inspired me. Now, I was like six or seven when I first had my ears pierced, so I had forgotten that one has to leave the piercing studs in for six weeks. Oops. So I didn't get to wear both of my new pairs of earrings tonight, but someday I will and it will be super-cute. Also, yay that my hair is long enough to put up with hair sticks again! Wish I knew where my old ones were...

moon_very_thin makes me laugh:

Araniell says: How are you?
Sierra says: 'm good, making personal phone calls for my boss *grin*
Araniell says: Are you meant to be workin? Tut!
Sierra says: this is working, she asked me to: "do some research and find out where I could get temporary manpower to help my parents move and clean up around their house"
Araniell says: Well, if I say "I don't know, but I'll ask around" does MSNing with me count as work too? *smile*

*snicker* Yes, dear, you tell me what you find out over there in Ireland.

Always nice when unexpected humor brightens up work.

Seriously, though, this seems like a deceptively simple task. I don't need to find the laborers themselves, I just need to find where in the phone book to find them. Umm... *shifty look* let's try "Labor" or "Employment Agencies" or "Employment - temporary"... easy, huh? Took me like five minutes, and that's just because I'm picky about my handwriting and thus took my time writing out what I'd found.

Note to self: floor-length skirt + rolling chair = all bad.

Am wearing my "birthday skirt" today, because it's the last working day before my birthday on Sunday. And it's _so_ pretty - it's long and black, with pleats that go all the way down to the hem. It's chiffon-y on the outside, so it flares out nicely with every step, and the lining makes a pretty swishing sound. But, as mentioned, it is perhaps not the best thing to wear to work. *sigh*

I have nothing else of substance to say at the moment.

Man, yesterday was the day of b*$chy customers at work.

* I get a phone call from a lady who had a five-night reservation earlier this month, and had _forgotten_ to call and cancel it. The charge showed up on her credit card. I explain to her that it's standard hotel policy to charge the credit card used in a reservation if it ends up being a no-show. We did, after all, hold the room for her all night, and were unable to rent the room to anyone else. "Well, you can't do this to me!" Umm, yes, we can. That's why we have a cancellation policy, and why we get credit cards when making reservations. "You just can't do this to me, it isn't fair. I forgot to call you; my conference was canceled." So I sent her back to our manager who does Accounts. She calls back a few minutes later, "The person you sent me to didn't answer their phone." Did you leave a voicemail? "Well, yes." Then they'll call you back when they get your message. "I just can't believe you're doing this to me, this is unbelievable." And she hung up. Sheesh. How do you _forget_ that you were planning on staying out-of-town for almost a whole week?

* Lots of wedding parties this month (surprise), and for some reason, wedding guests tend to want to check in early. Real early. As in, like, eleven thirty in the morning (check-out isn't until _noon_). I had a family try to do this yesterday. "When would we be able to get into the room?" I explained to them that we had a full house the night before, and the housekeepers were working as quickly as they could, but since check-in is at 3pm, the _earliest_ I could hazard to guess for them was 2:30, maaaybe 2 o'clock. They seemed to be okay with that, so they left and it seemed like that was the end of it. They came back at 2:15 (right during the shift change) and their room was still not ready. They were kind of miffed. "We were told it would be ready." Thankfully, my relief went to bat for me. "No, check-in is at 3 pm. That is the only time we can guarantee that rooms will be ready. If we can get you in earlier than that, that's a special favor that should not be expected." Oooh, they didn't like that. They got very vocal and demanded that she give them her name; that they'd be "speaking to Customer Relations about this." _Very_ scary scene in the lobby.

* A lady walks up, wanting a room for four nights. Okay, it's a Friday, and Memorial Day weekend at that. We have been booked solid for _weeks_. Apparently that's not an acceptable answer. "Well, I'm in town on business this week, and I need a place to stay." I'm sorry, ma'am, we're sold out. "Well, where do you suggest I go, then?" So I make several phone calls for her, during which time a line is forming at the desk and the phones are going crazy. My General Manager comes out of the back to help out while I can't do anything but pander to this one unreasonable woman. And it wasn't just a matter of finding somewhere with availability (which no one had, anyway). She _had_ to have a continental breakfast, and she _had_ to have maid service every morning. "I'm a very busy person and I don't have time to be making the bed in the morning." (So sleep in an unmade bed, like you do at home!) So I can't find _anywhere_ for her, which she still doesn't seem able to understand. "Well, I need somewhere to stay, so what am I supposed to do?" (Umm, call ahead next time? You had to have known in advance if this was indeed a "business trip.") I give her the list of area hotels that we regularly call for rate and availability, and suggest she call the ones she thinks she'd be interested in, and finally get back to helping everyone else at the desk. A couple minutes later, she comes back to the desk, but this time goes to the other desk agent working with me, who was about to force-sell her a room, just to get her out of our faces. When the woman hands over her ID, though, we realize that this is the woman we received a phone call about earlier in the day. She apparently had been kicked out of another hotel in our area for "inflicting damage," and the police had been called, but she'd left before they could get there. Yikes. No way we want this woman on our property, either. So my colleague tells her the computer won't let her book the reservation. "Fine, call me a cab." Ooh, with pleasure. Five minutes later, a cab shows up and she heads outside. Big sigh of relief. But then she comes back in! "He says he can't take me downtown." Umm, bull$#!7. That's the cab company we call for _everybody_, no matter where they're going. Unless she was wanting him to take her up to _Nebraska_ or something, there shouldn't have been a problem. So, just to be safe, though, we call a _different_ cab company, which takes TWO AND A HALF HOURS to arrive. Having her in the lobby was like waiting for a bomb to go off. I just wanted her the heck off my property before she caused a major incident. _Finally_, right as the shift was changing, the cab came to get her, and I held my breath while I watched him drive away, then I frantically called the hotels she had said she'd try, to warn them about her. I almost felt bad for conspiring, but _dang_, some people...

But wait, there's more! The next shift got a call from the hotel this woman had tried to get into. They said that she claimed she had a reservation with us (why she'd tell them that, I have no iea), and were calling to verify. So our girls set them straight, and then the guest started saying that she had left her debit card here, which she hadn't. So she comes _back_ to our property, claiming to be looking for her card (one of the guests who had been in the lobby the first time she was here remembered watching her put her card back into her purse, and was willing to testify if it came to that), and even saying that we had kept it. So she calls the police to report her stolen card and ha!! They have an outstanding warrant for her arrest, for the damages inflicted to the hotel that called me at the beginning of this whole thing. So they come and get her, and wherever she is right now, it's rent-free and courtesy of the county (wink).

Never knew the hotel business could be so exciting, huh?

Well, my first day went all right. The training computer was acting up, so they had me stand out at the desk (wish I'd worn better shoes). But they'd changed their computer system the night before, so the two people who were up there with me didn't really know their way around it. Not the greatest learning situation, but tomorrow will be better; they assure me that the training computer will be working and that's what I'll be doing most of the shift.

Morgan woke up at midnight last night, and cried for a solid hour. Not sure what's up there, but I'll make sure Johnnie has her medical card in case she's sick and he needs to take her to the doctor.