The rest of the updates

While B had a shiny new job that he was excited about, 3 weeks in we got some awful news. He used to work for that department at a different hospital, and when he left he stayed on-call. He worked one shift while on-call. However, it turns out that either HR or his old boss didn't process the paperwork correctly and didn't record him as on-call, they recorded him as gone. That meant he wasn't an internal candidate, so he wasn't eligible for the job he'd had for 3 weeks. The only option - to re-post the job, and if ANY internal candidate applied he'd be laid off. It was a VERY VERY long week. Thankfully in the end no one applied! However, that was about 3 weeks ago and they STILL haven't officially hired him, which means they are shorting him 30 minutes of pay per day and $3 per hour. They say they are working it out, but it's still unnerving.

I was also one of 6 people chosen for Leadership Development Team at my work. It's a year-long program that involves a 2 day retreat at the coast, a 3 day leadership training, lots of meetings, and a year-long project as a team. The problem is that it's a few hours per week, unfunded (which really means my boss pays for it out of her grant funds). She isn't thrilled to have to do this, but she agreed since she knows this is a good opportunity. The flip side is that she wants to delay the promotion. She's worried about the time commitment of LDT plus adding on the responsibilities associated with the promotion. In the end, she is right and trying to make sure I'm not overwhelmed. I have 2 new employees I'm training, and the promotion will be much easier for me when I have them up and running to take over some of my duties. I'm bummed, but it's a wise decision to delay things. In the meantime my boss is giving me a few of the new duties to get my feet wet and we'll reevaluate the situation in the summer.

As for the birth control (KT, I knew you'd see that...and my fingers are still crossed for you!), I was just tired of the hormones. I've battle bad skin for years, and I was noticing that my skin was best the "off" week. When the day came to start the next month, I decided I really didn't want to use birth control anymore. I talked it over with B, and he was supportive of my decision. We're not trying to have a baby. We decided about a year ago we'd decide one way or the other when I turn 30 (late June). We're both still on the fence. Not the 100% no that we used to be, but still not close to deciding yes. For now, I've learned a ton from the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility (highly recommend it), and I'm enjoying being hormone free. So far my body seems to be doing just fine. It's strange after 12 years to not take a pill each day (or put in the new ring - Nuva Ring is great if you're using hormonal BC). No plans for baby, but maybe that will change.

Hopefully I'll update before then, but if not, we're off on a Mexican cruise for 9 glorious days at the end of Feb over B's birthday. We couldn't be more excited about 9 days, away from work, alone together. Neither one of us has ever taking a vacation that long with a partner, and I've never taken a vacation that long period! So looking forward to it!