Baby boy is scooting around the family room floor using a combination of rolling and pushing backwards. It won�t be long now. I watch him draw himself up on all fours only to drop down to his belly and swim to no avail. He gets so frustrated but the only things I can do are watch and wait. My Darling swears that Baby Boy is saying Mama. Darling has been working at getting him to say Mama but of course Baby Boy is just parroting and has no idea that Mama is me. He smiles at me and I melt,

Today I had hoped to get the placed tidied up. I swear I clean constantly and yet the place never seems to be clean for more than a few minutes. The clean kitchen lasts only to the next meal and with me working nights the dinner dishes wait till the next day to be washed. Darling will load the dishwasher and from time to time wash the dishes but he has so little time with Baby Boy I don�t begrudge him spending his evenings playing with his son rather than doing housework. He now must work 10 hour days 5 days a week as well as 8 hours a day on the weekends. That�s a lot of time away from your family. I only work 20-25 hours a week and though it�s busy I have so much time at home free to take care of things I don�t ask him to do stuff around the house when he gets home. If I worked as many hours as him I would insist that he do his share but I�m part-time waitress and part-time housewife so it�s only fair I step up and do my part.

Tax refunds have been processed and we did fairly well thanks to my favorite little deduction. The house didn�t garner us any benefit because we didn�t pay on it long enough to itemize. Still we should be able to catch up, pay for a short vacation and put hardwood or Bamboo flooring in our living room. Not too bad. If we refi this year and consolidate our debt we should be in a good place for the next few years.

It rained today a nice change from the snow that has made its home here for the past few months. Perhaps we might even see a little sunshine soon, the warm kind as opposed to the cold light the sun provides in winter. I look forward to feeling the warmth on my face. There will be much to do with the coming of the sun but I look forward to it.

I spoke to my lawyer yesterday and he has decided to file the case for gender discrimination. I am not looking forward to that as I know there will be a lot of lying going on and my friends could well be forced to betray me in favor of their jobs and how could I blame them? Still what they did was wrong, it sets a bad precedent. I was fearful of taking a maternity and as it turned out my fears were realized. How many other women go through the same fearfulness and will companies become more brazen in discrimination when they see it goes unpunished. Like it or not it is still only laws that prevent this type of discrimination. Even with the laws to protect us many women find themselves on the �mommytrack� skipped over for promotions because they are viewed as not fully invested in the company. It will take forever but one day maybe I�ll find justice for the short shrift I received after my year of devotion to the company. I am always fully invested in my job. I never do anything half-a$$ed so it is particularly disappointing to be treated poorly.

Well, as much as I would like to sit here and chat I have an hour or so during Baby Boys nap to shower, clean and get ready to run some errands after he wakes. Hopefully I�ll get out of the house today, yesterday was a bust. Today is my Friday at work and tomorrow I must bring Baby Boy for his sixth month well baby appointment. I have lots to do in the next couple of days so I can spend the weekend with My Darling (after he gets out of work).

Toodles.

I wish you Peace

~alison~

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