Another Update

Brian's branch is being reassigned. Even though he maintains that it is a lateral move, I'm going to go ahead and tell everyone that it's a quasi-promotion. The new branch is an extra 5 minutes away (We love Vegas traffic). He's being moved from a medium traffic branch to a high traffic branch. At this new branch, he'll be the only licensed banker, meaning that he's the only banker able to handle investments and business accounts. So YAY.

For now, we've also decided to forgo daycare for Mia. Since Mia has stopped going to Kate's, we visited a couple of in-home daycares, but I still don't feel comfortable leaving her with a stranger (not to mention the fact that one stranger's house smelled like cats, and the other stranger's house smelled like curry - we did agree that curry is a better smell than cats...). My company isn't doing particularly well (financially - the healthcare industry has taken a big hit, insurance companies are covering about 30% of what they used to, it's not good), so my paychecks are often delayed by a few days (or weeks....), which has made our bank account levels kind of unpredictable. Read: I don't always know when I'll have wads of cash available to fork over to a babysitter. I have been taking Mia to work. EVERYDAY. It's actually been going well so far. She loves meetings, something about people talking between themselves rather than at her is probably soothing.

As I write this (see? I'm not terribly busy right now) she's napping in her Pack 'n Play. It's awesome, and everyone has gotten used to coming into my office and speaking in hushed tones.

Birthing Class and Softball

This past weekend, we had our Birthing Class at Spring Valley Hospital, where we plan on delivering. We chose Spring Valley because it is the only hospital in the Las Vegas area that has a Level III NICU, and although we are hoping not to have to use it, it is obviously an excellent selling point. Also, one of my co-workers is a night shift nurse in the nursery and promised that if we chose to deliver at that hospital, she would be the one to prick Mia in the heel for her blood tests, and that she would do it really nicely. The class was great, it was taught by a Labor and Delivery nurse who has been in L&D for 30 years. She also was really laid back and funny. Something I think I would appreciate while I am trying to get through contractions.

We learned that Las Vegas is a medically-conversative town, as far as Labor and Deliver goes anyway, meaning the Doctors and Hospitals are not-so-supportive of sticking by Birth Plans. So if anything is going wrong, there is a pretty good chance of delivering via C-section, or of being given hormones in the event that labor doesn't progress as rapidly as they would like it to. That is not great news, but at least we know what to expect if things aren't going smoothly. There were quite a few couples in the class, and I got the reassurance that I didn't have as big a tummy as some ladies who have the same due date as I do, although I still think my face is above-average in puffiness.

As part of our class, we got a tour of the entire maternity section of the hospital, including the delivery rooms, the recovery rooms, the C-section rooms, and all three nurseries. Everything looks lovely, and actually quite small, so we won't feel like we're in any kind of factory. As long at the babies are born healthy, they are not required to be in the nursery for any more than a couple of hours for their tests and their bath. It's nice to know that Mia will be able to be with us for the majority of time in her first few hours of life. It was great to take the class, and Brian and I definitely learned a lot more than we would have from  just reading the baby books. The nurse-instructor made us promise not to get induced just because we were uncomfortable at 39 weeks, but I crossed my fingers behind my back while making that one. 6 weeks to go!

On a totally unrelated note, Brian decided to join his Bank's softball league. Their first practice was last night, and I went along for the ride (with a folding lawn chair and my Kindle in tow). Brian seemed to have an excellent time playing, and I had an excellent time watching. The next morning, Brian confessed that his arm was a bit painful, and I reassured him that many of the other players were complaining of similar ailments while they were at bat. One had jammed her finger, another twisted his wrist, another his ankle. This is exactly what you get when you bring a bunch of 25+ year old bankers together and ask them to do what they all did at 17 years old, haha. I can't make too much fun, I am sure I would be in exactly the same situation if I had been playing. Next week, the games begin and I will bring a camera. Brian declined my offer to make t-shirts for the team so that they would all match... too bad.

Job Offer!

Brian was officially offered a position at Big Blue Bank in Nevada this morning! Evidently, Big Blue is expanding quite a bit out West, and they are extremely eager to have him start. Of course Brian is extremely professional and genuinely enjoys his new job, so I had no doubt that he would make a good impression. Brian has told them that a doable start date is November 1st, but we could come as early as October 15th, if they were in a bind. I hope hope hope they don't take the October 15 option, because that would be significantly earlier than I would like, but that's life!

I am going to be in Vegas from September 7 until the 13th for work, and we just bought a second ticket for Brian to join me during the weekend. We will make an appointment with an apartment finding company to find ourselves a complex to live in, so it should be a pretty hectic weekend. I'm excited for him to see the area, and he might even be able to get in a meeting with his new boss.

I guess it's time to get started on the moving!! I'm going to stop by target during lunch today and buy some plastic containers, so we can start filling them with the unbelievable amounts of junk we have in the apartment. Perhaps garbage bags are a better idea.

Yes, mom, I already called the realtor. Don't freak out. She is coming by either this weekend, or early next week to view the apartment. Oh, and the new washer/dryer was installed yesterday. It is beautiful, and extremely quiet. It should be a nice selling point.

Big Blue Bank Transfer

One of the big steps that we have to take before the 'move' becomes official is get Brian transferred from his branch in Evanston to a branch in the Las Vegas area. Brian was doing his habitual research on Las Vegas (seriously, he gets moving quote voicemails, realtor voicemails, relocation guides sent in the mail...), and found that there was a job opening at a branch near the UNLV campus that has a very high sales average. Of course, it is ideal that he can move from his branch in Evanston with medium to low traffic into a branch with high traffic. That means higher commission points, and more bacon to bring home!

Because of this opening, Brian wanted to approach his branch manager about the transfer slightly sooner than probably was ideal. We hadn't talked about an exact timeline, but we hadn't even gone over how he would approach the branch manager, so he wasn't as prepared as we would have hoped. As you can imagine, the branch manager did not react well... oops. Her response was: "You have to commit to a branch for at least a year before being able to transfer. You're going to have to apply for a job out there, but there are no guarantees." No Guarantees about what? About there being a job? About getting the position?

She's off today. He plans to give it another - more prepared - shot again on Friday. I am hoping that he if approaches her with more humility and deference, things might be a bit better. Also, I've met his manager, and she's a bit of a child. She wears bows on her hair, decks herself out in designer patterns (whether they are real or not is undetermined), and has one of those husbands who wears Ed Hardy and man jewelry. The Regional Manager I have not yet met, but according to Brian, is a much mroe reasonable person. I am hoping that when he talks to the regional guy, the response won't be given with such a 'you're on your own' attitude.

Cross your fingers for us. We really don't want to have to work something out where I am in Vegas while Brian is here, or to delay my start date in Las Vegas. We both are starting to feel like our time here is limited, and we are just in limbo, waiting for everything to be put together. But, I am not moving until December 1st (semi-officially), although there is a good chance of my having to travel there before then.

We are starting to plan on going to Las Vegas for labor day weekend. I will stay on for the rest of the week to get some work done, but Brian and I will spend the weekend looking at apartments and getting ready to sign a lease.