Have you heard the song “Sexyback” on the radio? I’ve heard it while driving in the car about 10 times in the past few weeks. I didn’t think much of it, other than it was kind of dull and one of those songs that easily gets stuck in your head. (Although thanks to Sunshine Scribe I’ve had Sir Mix-a-lot’s “I Like Big Butts” stuck in my head since yesterday.)

I’m embarrassed to admit I did not know that song was by Justin Timberlake until I heard them mention it on the radio yesterday. I had to go home and look up the video, because I couldn’t figure out how the song was his. I knew he certainly didn’t have the deep male voice on the song, and I didn’t know who the woman was singing, either.

Before yesterday, I had actually asked co-workers who the woman was singing that song. (They just gave me blank stares. Should have realized the problem right there.) So I watched the video last night. There’s the problem – the “woman” I thought was singing was actually Justin. I thought for sure his voice was a woman’s. I feel totally unhip.

Justin, dude, you sound like a chick.

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The morning sickness is slowly easing up, thank goodness. I’m now only gagging one or two times a day, and as long as I keep a slow but steady intake of food going all day long, I don’t feel too bad.

The other day I found by accident my true “preggers” food. I think most pregnant women have that one weird food combination that sounds gross to many but they can’t get enough of. I had ordered food from the deli near work for lunch, getting a grilled chicken sandwich and mashed potatoes. They always include a pickle slice with every meal – not just a wimpy pickle slice, either – we’re talking half of a small cucumber.

This time they had placed the pickle in the same side as the mashed potatoes. I pulled out the pickle to have a bite, and noticed a little bit of the mashed potatoes stuck to it. Licking off the stray potatoes, the tastes combined in my mouth, and nirvana was reached. I can’t even properly describe how wonderful it tasted, especially comparing it to other foods right now, which all taste bad to me. It was the best thing I’ve tasted in months, and so I started scooping up the mashed potatoes with the crisp pickle and eating the two together.

My only regret was that I ran out of pickle before I ran out of mashed potatoes. I ate the remainder of the potatoes without a pickle, but not before the irrational part of me gave serious thought to running out to the deli to get another pickle.

If you’re pregnant and feeling sick, give pickles and potatoes a try.

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I have a new sister blog to compliment this one! It’s called Mommy’s Must Haves, and it is a collection of product reviews, book reviews, contests I’ve found, etc. Basically, it’s stuff that just didn’t fit in here with my ramblings about Cordy, pregnancy and my life. When I come across a good product, I love to tell the world about it, and if I come across something crappy, I take a wee bit of evil pleasure in pointing out why it sucks and telling people to avoid it. This seemed like a perfect solution for me to sound off about the crap I buy.

So, if you feel like checking out some recommendations every now and then, click over there and have a look. There’s not much there at the moment, but I hope to add a few new posts each week. Right now you can check out this fun contest to win all you need for a bake sale!

Oh, and putting this new site together reminded me that back in July, due to the stresses of getting ready for BlogHer and having our house broken into and trashed, I totally flaked on sending out the books to Mrs. Chicky and Dana, who won my book contest. Ladies, the books will be mailed out to you this week!

Recently I had applied for a few jobs that I happened to notice. I’m not actively job hunting, since I am pregnant and don’t want to give up the maternity benefits I currently have, but should an amazing job come along, something that would make life easier and/or pay more, I might consider jumping ship.

I don’t know if the same holds true for other cities, but here in Columbus it is close to impossible to find a decent paying part-time job. Most of the part-time jobs available involve fast food, retail, or jobs with the minimum requirements being a high school graduate or possession of your GED. Few pay any higher than $8.50 an hour.

I could write an entire post about how companies should consider more part-time, high-skill positions to help those moms and dads with university degrees and a strong desire to work but also to raise their young children. It would benefit the workers, who could have fewer hours so they could spend more time with their kids, and I think it would benefit the employer, too, who would have employees that were dedicated to their part-time work because they felt their lives were balanced. Many times these employees wouldn’t even need health benefits because a spouse working full-time would carry the benefits, saving the company even more. But, I digress.

So when I do see part-time jobs that fit my skills, I tend to apply. It’s good practice to keep updating my resume, and should a dream job land in my lap, all the better. OK, a dream job would be working from home again, but I’d settle for even a decent job with good money.

About a month ago, I applied for a position with another college. It was actually a slight demotion from my current position, but the pay was equal and the hours looked better. My current hours are dreadful: working 11-7 or 12-8 means I have no morning to get anything done, no afternoon, and by the time I get home in the evening, I just want to eat dinner and go to bed. This advertised position offered better hours, less responsibility, and equal pay.

I never heard back from them, figured that I wasn’t a candidate, and the job had fallen out of my thoughts, until Monday when I received a call at work.

HR guy: Hi, you applied for the position of X last month, and we were wondering if you are still interested in the position?
Me: (thinking back to job description) Oh! Um, yes, I am still interested.
HR guy: You’ve been selected as one of a few candidates. The hiring department wants to rush this along, so we’d like to have you come in tomorrow at lunchtime for an interview.

Note: If you’re in such a hurry to fill the position, shouldn’t you have started calling people right after the application period closed, instead of waiting a full month?

Me: Oh, well, I’m sorry, but I have to work tomorrow, and I have appointments with students scheduled, so it would be impossible for me to come in at that time.
HR guy: Oh, so you couldn’t make it tomorrow, then?
Me: I’m sorry, but no. I currently work part-time, Monday thru Wednesday 11-7, but I would be happy to come in around those times or Thursday or Friday if that is possible?
HR guy: Well, we only had interview slots open for this position tomorrow around lunchtime. I’ll have to get back to you to see if Thursday would work.
Me: Thanks, I appreciate that. I am interested in the job, but I can’t neglect the duties of my current job.
HR guy: Yes, I understand. I’ll give you a call back shortly. Goodbye.

Can you guess what happened next?

I never got a call back.

Yep, it seems that the part-time job market is so intense right now, that you have to drop everything you’re doing for an interview or miss your chance at a job. Of course, you might think that a devotion to your work would be something a recruiter would admire, but apparently not in this case. Too busy to show up with less than 24 hours notice for an interview? Well, we’ll find someone else, then – you part-time workers are a dime a dozen, and should be thankful we even called you at all.

I thought I’d be angry about this, but I’m not. I find the entire thing funny, and there is a chance that he will call back. At this point, I don’t think I’d take the job, anyway. If I did I wouldn’t be eligible for any maternity benefits, while I can get maternity leave pay at my current job. But I wouldn’t mind the interviewing experience.

So much for the thought that having a degree and a good skill set would give me any kind of bargaining power for a job. Hell, I can’t even bargain for an interview.

Future Self,

Hi, self. I hope you are enjoying life with two children. I’m guessing you are feeling slightly overwhelmed, but totally in love with Cordy and the new baby.

At this point, you may be looking at the new baby, possibly now turning into a toddler and leaving his/her babyness behind. You may miss that sweet new baby scent, melt at seeing the two children play together, and slowly begin the process of getting rid of that baby stuff. Your mind may be drifting to the thought of baby #3.

And if you do think of having a third child, I hope you will read this and put that thought right out of your delusional head.

Oh sure, you may think, pregnancy wasn’t really that bad. Newborns really aren’t that difficult to deal with. That’s nature playing her trick on you. You’re suffering from the amnesia that comes from giving birth to a child and surviving those first hard months.

So should you have forgotten what pregnancy is like, I’d like to refresh your memory of what it is like for you.

24/7 nausea – Your first trimester is not kind to you. The label “morning sickness” is probably the most misleading name for a symptom ever. For 6-10 weeks, you are in a constant state of being just sick enough that any food looks and smells like toxic waste, yet not sick enough to vomit, even though you wish you could. However, you must eat to feel even slightly better, even though the process of eating is so hard. It’s like a 6 week long flu.

Fatigue – You may not have been this tired when pregnant for the first time, but with a toddler who constantly seeks out doom, you barely have enough energy to do the necessary tasks this time around. Think about what a third pregnancy would be like with two children to chase after. The kids would win the battle, with you asleep on the floor while they dance around you, decorate you with markers, and give you a beauty shop hair-cut that only a child could achieve.

The belly – Again, the second pregnancy is so much different from the first. While you had no noticeable belly with your first pregnancy until the fourth month, your belly popped right around 7 weeks this time. Seven friggin’ weeks. That fetus is the size of a kidney bean, yet is already making room. If you try for a third child, will it pop a full month before you’re actually pregnant?

Lack of sympathy – Ah, your first time is always the special time. When you were pregnant the first time, everyone cared about how you felt? First time mom feeling some nausea? Here, have some ginger ale and crackers. It’s like a first time mom has a crown of roses on her head, and everyone falls over themselves to be extra nice to the new first-time mom. Pregnant with a toddler? Heh, reality sets in. Feeling sick? Get over it and change your kid’s diaper. Looking for some sympathy? You’re not going to get it. You’ve been through it before, and you should know what you’re getting yourself into.

Sex – Remember when you actually wanted to have sex? When you looked forward to advances from your husband? When a good night together ended in cuddles in bed and satisfied sighs? The ravages of the first trimester strip all that away. At this point in pregnancy, even though I love my husband dearly, I carefully monitor every action and word so that he doesn’t think I’m even remotely suggesting I want sex. Because with the pain in my boobs and the constant nausea, sex is the last thing on my mind. So, uh, future Aaron, you might want to read this too if we ever consider a third child. That might change your mind and solidify the decision for the big snip.

Spreading – This is something that will be even more important as this pregnancy progresses, but sadly the spread is beginning early this time. And while I can live with the appearance issues, the pain is starting to bother me. My lower back, right where the pelvis joins the tailbone, feels as if my pelvis is being pulled apart, with shooting pains down my legs. It is probably sciatic nerve pain, but whatever it is, it hurts and sometimes makes walking difficult.

And this is just the first trimester. Sure, it’ll get better in a few weeks, when I enter the “golden trimester” of pregnancy, but for now, it’s difficult and I’m really tired of staring at the inside of my toilet.

For other readers, this post may come off as whiny and dull. But it is important that I remind myself of why I don’t want to go through this again. Yes, I chose to do this again, and I am glad that I’m having another child, but I know I forgot a lot of this the first time. And we are both pretty sure we only want two children. But after you get past the most labor intensive part of babyhood, it seems way too easy to fall back into thinking, “what if we had just one more…”

So, future self, if your second child has been a dream child (oh, how I hope this turns out to be true) and you think a third might not be a big deal, please read this and reconsider. Resist the baby siren’s call. Spend time with other people’s babies to get your fix, and leave it at that. Leave yourself some sanity and free time, and remember, the more kids you have, the harder it will be getting relatives to babysit.

I normally like the clothing at Children’s Place. Cute clothes, without being too revealing, and usually no sayings like “Super Flirt” on their tees. Occasionally some of their items make me wonder what they were thinking, but overall, they have decent clothing for a decent price.

Their advertising has always been interesting, too. I’m used to seeing their holiday advertising pictures, usually with a little makeup on the older kids and some glitz to the whole ad campaign. Usually a little over the top, but not too bad.

Then I get their latest e-mail ad. Uh, Children’s Place, WTF?

With hair like that, this little girl looks like she belongs in an old Warrant or Whitesnake video.