I Love the "Out of Office Assistant"

I'm sitting at my desk trying not to fall asleep as I proofread a paper for a colleague here on my last day at work before maternity leave. I'm not doing very well as insomnia has hit full force this week and despite being quite tired I have found myself wide awake for 2-3 hours each of the last three nights. Those 2-3 hours were during times that I would have preferred sleeping, or at least watching a better selection of TV shows, but there's very little of interest on between 1-4am. I am well informed on the Power 90 weightloss program, the benefits of the Jack LaLanne juicer, some investment program that could make me rich- not the one with Carlton Sheets, though, and I've caught bits and pieces of random B level movies that were interesting enough until the commercial then I'd start flipping again. For some reason I like the movie Deep Blue Sea. About the shark that gets mutated to human levels of intelligence and then manages to destroy a whole underwater sea lab where LL Cool J is the chef. That one wasn't on, but it's in the same genre as the ones that were.

Anyway, I wrote out my e-mail "out of office" reply. Anticipated return: November 5th! That's 15 weeks and 3 days from now. For 108 days I don't have to think about this place, or even drive by. Bliss. I can't turn on the out of office for about 5 hours more, but it's all set to go. My desk is all packed, someone will be moving me to a new office while I'm gone, my gym locker's cleaned out, all done.

It's so cute because the boys have been counting down with me all week. At my morning check-in call to home Hot Wheels got on the phone and said "Mom, today is your vacation day!" I told them we could go and get ice cream when I get home and they were very excited about eating ice cream before dinner. We'll be watching The Incredibles and having a pizza picnic. I've got about a hundred things I'd like to get done before the baby arrives but in reality, I'm big and uncomfortable and the temperatures are likely to be in the 90's next week. That leads to mom-on-the-couch, with a few trips to air conditioned venues. I've got some stuff to be done around the house, thorough room cleaning jobs that have piled up recently, and I'll give a good effort, but with 12 weeks at home after the baby arrives, I'll have time. I think. I know it will fly by and I want to make the most of it. If that means more time with the boys (and critter) and less time cleaning, so be it. Last time around, I'm going to make the most of it.

Maybe I should get back to work. Zzzzz.....

Pregnancy status: 23 days to go!