Notes from a Woman with a Bump: Adult Conversation

Thanks to the school's "Kids' Night Out", M and I got to have 3 uninterrupted hours of adult conversation.  We chat about A some, even less about the baby girl.  Then talked about kitchen stuff, work, and the universe.  Like adults do when there is no kid around!  Gosh I had a good time just having a conversation with my M!!  Especially knowing with two kids, moments like this are going to become even more scarce.
Speaking of two kids, it was as if it dawned at me just today that we are going to become a family of four.  That suddenly feels too mature.  Something that feels a bit scary actually.
What is certain: life will change dramatically.  A change to embrace.

Notes from a Woman with a Bump: Sleepless Nights

Lately, I dread the sleeping hours.  There is no position I wont feel uncomfortable in the bed (already given up on feeling comfortable).  My bump is absolutely on the way, it presses on my weakened stomach and gives me heart-burn, and my hips pain under all the extra 42 lbs of weight they have to endure.  Plus I get hot and thirsty and if I drink water, there is no way I can get back to bed without even more acid reflux.
I have a body pillow to support my hips, I have a bottle of Thums beside my bed, and a couple pillows to prop my torso in a seated position when laying on the side wears out.  Yet, the combination of all don't help more than 2-3 hours.
Then, I just get up, pacing in the house, drink some water and pace some more, and eventually turning on my laptop and work some.  Or blog some.  Like now at 2:31AM while I have been up since 1:50AM.
I feel truly welcomed to the 9th month of pregnancy!

Notes from a Woman with a Bump - Maternity Photography

This one was one that I was not too sure about.  In the end, we decided to do it.  After all, this might be our last chance with a bump and this bump, thank God, looks pretty nice.
It was a fun session actually despite my hesitations at first.  A tried to be a good sport and when not acting silly looked pretty awesome.  M seemed to have some fun too even though I know it was too long a session for him.
We will see our photos in two weeks.  In the mean time, I do recommend the experience.  I think timing it right is the key.  I wanted to have full round belly but not swollen hands.  So end of week 33 worked out pretty nicely, at least from a couple sneak peeks into the results.

Wisdom of Country Music :)

God is Great
Beer is good
and
People are Crazy
Sometimes this wisdom helps one goes through the day ;)

An Afternoon for Me

A friend of mine is throwing me a baby shower with two others participation. So sweet I smile with the thought of this kindness.  I like to celebrate this big belly with them. Just us!

Broken to Pieces

It was toward the end of a mild day, getting chilly by the minute. The valley underneath was glowing orange from the setting sun. The sky of the east was already darkening with purple and pink cloudseven though  the sky of the west was glowing fire.
She pulled the shawl around her shoulders tightly; couldn't convince herself to walk back. Not yet.
She started walking again along the edge, looking down at the valley occasionally. She liked to be able to look at the setting sun and the loving sky around it. But the weight of the pain in her chest made her head fall down. She was looking in front of her steps. Wondering what it all meant.
All the memories flooding back to her. How they met. How they mingled. How through her she got to know herself better. When they became special in each othes' life. When they fell apart geographically but never in her heart. How she trusted her.
How she said all those words.
She thought so highly of her, she couldn't believe her words.  Just couldn't believe it. The only evidence was her broken heart.
The sun had set.
May be there will be another day for new words.

Book: Managing Right for the First Time

By David C Baker
Finished the book in two days; I needed to as I had only two days. But then also in the preface of the book, the author himself suggests to finish the book in a couple sittings.
I feel grateful that I got to read this book before my first day. I realized I didn't know somethings; moreover, I had wrong assumptions or understandings of some other things.
I will give the book 5 stars in the review; the main thing I can say about it is that it felt real. No fluff, no useless statistics, practical, to the point. If you are interested in some takeaway, here you are:

• There is no connection between "doing" and "managing"
• Management is having a vision and forging ahead to make it happen even when the answers are not obvious
• Take risk. Make mistakes. It's better than inaction.
• Management can be lonely.
• Misunderstanding is inevitable. Be prepared.
• Be prepared to be wrong.
• Set expectations early and clearly.
• Benefits of content employees is that they are swayed to join you, more likely to stay, then consistently do better work for you and your customers because valuable mental nervy is not spent on protecting their own interests.
• Don't pretend you are one of then cause you are not.
• You are managing a person only if you are part of the group defining their compensations and you are providing with their performance review.
• In a nutshell: management is to know what you want, find the right person, make sure they understand what you want, reinforce and model this behavior, then talk about how well the employee is doing.

To Manage for the First Time

I had managed technicians before.
I am managing an Associate Product Manager now, whom I really am happy with his performance thus far and think of him as an asset.  I actually brought him on board myself after his initiation.
But starting Monday, I will be managing the first person I have hired myself.
I must admit, the hiring process was a humbling experience.  Up until then I thought going to an interview was a difficult task, to get a hiring manager be able to see your abilities in 30-60 minutes.  However, when I was on the hiring shoes this past time I found that equally or even more so challenging.  I needed to figure out the abilities of an interviewee in 30-60 minutes!
I am excited and anxious about it.  I ordered two new books from Amazon and just received them:
Managing Right for the First Time by David Baker
Becoming Resonant Leader by McKee, Boyatzis, Johnston
I have two days to study them.  Grabbing a Orange Blossom drink, opening the shades, and sitting in the backyard reading the books.  That will be my weekend plan.

Notes from a Woman with a Bump - Finding Baby Name

It's a huge deal for us; name of the baby. We like the name to be Persian, meaningful, strong, and global. We want it to pronounce well and mean good, at least not bad, in most common languages. We want it not to be too popular, too foreign, too old, too new. We want the name to have our parents approval in the end.  We want it to be short and sweet.
It's a project by itself.
I realized that we had more possible options with the name of my son compared to a girl's name. One theory I have is that Persian girls' names, even though meaningful and strong, but hard to pronounce in English. For example, some of my favorite names: Mehrangiz, Saghi, Shaghayegh.
There are several websites with name ranking and name meaning, and several forum asking for suggestions (not my kind of thing). But I found this website the best:
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/
It provides with the name's meaning, other names that rhyme with it, some statistics, and different  prononciation and spelling. What's really cool is that you can search for names that rhyme with another name, for example an older siniling's name.
It's a cumbersome yet fun project in the end. Kids deserve pretty and meaningful names. Good lunch finding yours!

Mom's Day Back Home

Happy Mother's Day to all moms! Many of my friends are moms now.  Amazing! Alhamdolella!
Above all, happy Mother's Day to my mom. For all her love and patience and wisdom I adore her for ever!