My Inner World

Munchkin and I were playing "I spy"

I said I spied something Yellow.

Munchkin's first guess: "Your teeth?"

Ehhm, Thanks Honey!

Yesterday afternoon, we received an e-mail to all be present in the largest meeting room at 16:00 hrs. They were shutting down the lines to facilitate this meeting... This set off my alarmbells straight away. The lines are holy, Service Level does not get compromised unless it's something BIG.

And, it was.

We all gathered there to see the general manager walk in with a very solemn face. He proceeded to read from an earlier prepared statement.
I work for an outsourcing company and we take care of the customer service for a VERY large software company. (Yes, that one) and this company decided to pull their business and give it to another company with a larger presence globally.

This means that as per the end of June, Mieneke is out of a job.
This is two weeks before my maternity leave is to start. Going job-hunting when you are very much pregnant? Somehow I don't see myself being all that successfull. Finding a part-time job that pays as well as this one did after my maternity leave? Snowball's chance in Hell.

Most of the people in my job are only in Ireland for a year or two anyway. They don't have families here and can pretty much do what they want in regards to finding a job. As my sanity was starting to cave, the faces around me were not too worried. The average age is about 22.... they all went to the pub afterwards to have a "redundancy piss up" (Only in Ireland.)

One very sweet colleague, who knows about the baby was very concerned and even offered to drive me home. I got the feeling that the rest of them thought I was overreacting. Yeah, 4 months pregnant, a three year old at home and just lost a job of 5.5 years that provided a steady income.... Overreacting is right...

On top of that, there was talk of Paddy's job cutting over 70 jobs, too. Can you imagine what it would have been like if that had happened? And it's still not certain that it won't.

Stress and pregnancy do not go well together, so I am forcing myself to chill. Things will go as they are meant to. The Universe decides...

I know that everything happens for a reason, but at the moment I am having a very hard time thinking of what the reason for this could be. It will all reveal it's self though....

When my friend was over last week and we went out and about, I once again noticed the amount of tourists that flock to Ireland. I love this, it makes me realize how lucky I am to be living in a country that many people pay good money for to visit.
However, what get's me sometimes is the sheer sillyness of some people.

I have had German people start asking me something IN GERMAN. Now, I happen to speak German. But I was sitting on a train, had not spoken a word when they asked me where the stop for such and such a town was. How were they to know I could understand them?

I was standing in a pharmacy on Henry Street once, looking at eye make-up when two Dutch "ladies" starting talking about me in Dutch. Saying that no amount of make-up was going to fix that mug.
I told them they were being ignorant and that that kind of stupidity would get them in trouble some day, in Dutch. They apologized but I knew they were sorry for being caught, not for what they said. And told them that, too.

When I lived in my MiL's village, I heard a story of an American lady asking a cab driver if he knew if a lady called Mrs Murphy (can't recall the exact name used) had lived there at the beginning of the 1900's! Like the cabbie was going to know!

When we were in Glendalouch, we met a group of American ladies who stood in a ruin, holding hands in a circle. (which is fine, I am all for connecting the the surroundings, centering yourself) expressing their gratitude of being back in the land of their ancestors and then proceeding to sing a SCOTTISH song together....

It makes me laugh sometimes... So go on, tell me, what's the silliest thing you have ever seen/heard a tourist do?
Do your fellow countrymen/women ever make you cringe?

There is a show called "Father Ted". It's of a certain comedic calliber that is very much appreciated by Paddy's bunch of mates. (Including his brother) and they tend to refer to each other as "Ted". "Ted, going for a smoke?"
"Going for a pint tonight, Ted?"
Then I got pregnant on the Munchkin and somewhere in the proceedings, the baby started to be called: "Little Ted". And it stuck!
Although I am not so sure whether I like my babies being referred to in a context of a show that has "Drrrrrrrrrink, arse Feck!" as a key frase, but some things are just the way they are!


For those not familiar with Father Ted:



It's worth having a look at the other Father Ted clips on You Tube, too!

Right, as the title says: She's back. Ish.

As per my previous update, the first trimester hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no idea how lucky I was with Munchkin's pregnancy until I became pregnant again! After a days work (where many blogs are blocked) there was no way I was going to log on when I could be hitting the hay! Going to bed at 20.30 - 21.00 hrs is not unusual anymore!
Then, when my body decided to cut me some slack, my very close friend came to the realization that her marriage is beyond salvation. Her husband is having a very hard time accepting this and has made life extremely difficult for her. She has even come to Ireland for a few days to get away from the toxic situation at home. So, I have been trying to help her through this nasty situation as best I can. I am very saddened by the fact that he seems to have decided that his hurt feelings go above what's good for their three children.... (Namely a pleasant home-life.)
But all I can do from here is support her and the children by listening and sharing my thoughts on the subject...

On a lighter, happier note. Paddy and I went for our first scan yesterday! I was very nervous as there is no guarantee that the lady will say all is well. But, thankfully, it is. The baby was having a blast in there, somersaults gallore and waving his arms and legs like a good thing! :-)))
The heart was beating strongly which was an amazing thing to see. The lady did some meassurements and it would seem I am 5 days more pregnant than I first thought. It doesn't make any sense if you go by my average cycle but I am guessing the scan wouldn't lie! So, the new due date is July 31. This happens to be a date that I have not been able to get out of my head for weeks! Now we know why! Also, I was thinking "Girl" all allong, but when I saw the little one on the scan I thought "Boy". So now, I genuinely have no clue anymore! ;-)

One thing that could possibly present a problem though, is that the placenta seems to be at the front, rather than at the back. This does not have to be a bad thing, unless the placenta starts to cover the cervix opening. In which case it will require a planned c-section. To determine this, we will be going in for another scan at 34 weeks.
I am not worried though, even if it does turn out to be the case, and I do need a c-section. It will not be the worst thing in the world. As long as the baby is healthy, I will do whatever is needed to keep it that way. There's people that have to endure a lot worse. My preference would ofcourse be a natural birth, but if that's not on the cards, so be it

So, without further ado, I present to you: Ted 2 (Naming to be explained later)

The head is to the right, then the pretty round tummy, the white stripe is the bone of the upper leg and then the rest of the leg.