FYI

I can't remember if I mentioned that I have decided to stop taking the pill. I had a mishap re-ordering through the mail this month, so I've been off this month and I noticed that I feel much better without the chemicals. Since we will might begin trying again in as few as 9 months, Eric and I have decided to use other forms of birth control. I'm not sure how much we will be relying on it for actual birth control, but I'm going to be charting my cycles again. I like knowing what's going on with my body anyway. So, just in case you are browsing through my side bar items and see that I'm charting again, I'm not on a secret mission to get pregnant. I'm actually trying not to get that way...yet.

Random Ramblings

I haven't updated much lately about the regular goings on of life. I feel like we've been busy, but I can't really think of anything specific going on.

I do know we've got alot planned for the near future. This weekend for the 4th my parents are coming to visit. I don't have much planned except for Fireworks on Monday. Luckily they don't really need to be entertained, they just want to see us. Friday will be the 6th anniversary of my engagement. Here's the story, just in case you are curious.

In between my Junior and Senior year of college I had an internship in Chicago for the summer. I only had a few weekends I was going to see Eric and because of the way it fell, we got a long weekend for the 4th, so I went home. My extended family always has this big 4th of July cookout. It's just alot of fun and our family is really welcoming, so lots of times in-laws come too. We invited Eric's Mom to come too. That Saturday morning Eric and his Mom showed up at my house. I was so excited to see him, since I hadn't seen him in about a month. We went to the party and after everyone had finished eating, Eric got everyone's attention. I don't remember the exact words, but his proposal went something like this, "While Jennifer has been away it's made me realize just how special she is and how much I love being with her. It's kind of ironic that as we are celebrating Independence Day, I want to commit my life to the woman I love." He then got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and said, "Jennifer, will you marry me?" Of course I said yes. The really cool thing is that my parents knew he was going to do it, so they brought their video camera and have the whole proposal on tape. They even played it at our wedding.

So after that random story, here's the rest of my upcoming plans. The weekend of July 9th, I have another GWO. As always, I'm really excited. This one will be at Samara's and imagining a big slumber party. I'm bringing Grace, so it'll be the girls and babies! Samara and I went shopping last weekend, so she's had a trial run at leaving the house for an extended period of time with the baby. I think there will be enough extra hands to help out!

Then I have a weekend off, but Eric and I are taking vacation at the same time July 18-23. We are going to go to Chicago with Grace and stay with Danialle Thursday through Sunday of that week (I'll send you my flight plans, Danialle :)

Then the last weekend of July, I'm heading back to Indiana (not sure if Eric can come with me), but one of my old highschool friends is having a baby shower on the 30th and then my cousin is getting married on the 31st.

Not sure what we're doing in August yet, but time just keeps flying by. Well, I'm sort of putting off packing. I have a business trip tomorrow and am staying overnight, so I need to get my bag packed. Imagine that, I only tend to blog when I'm procrastinating!

Oh, and one more thing...send a prayer out for my friend Erica. This month looks really promising and we'd really, really like for her to finally get that positive pregnancy test. Two years is long enough to wait, don't you think?

6 Month Dr's Appointment

We had Grace's 6 month check up on Thursday last week. It went pretty well and was fairly quick since I didn't have too many questions.

Stats: 18 pounds, 3 ounces (90th percentile) and 26 inches long (50th percentile). Her head circ. was average too. She appears to be reaching all developmental milestones and the doctor said it looks like one of her teeth is "close" to coming in.

I asked about feeding, as I think that she's ready for Stage 2 foods. Dr. H said that it sounds like we're doing the right thing as far as how much she's eating. She said it's fine to try out some Stage 2's. She said as she starts to want more, not to increase her milk intake, just add more solids, however, she should still take most of her nutrients through her bottles. Not quite ready to start a sippy cup yet, but I can give her water or juice in a bottle if I want to, but she doesn't really need it yet.

After seeing the doctor, the nurse came back and Grace got two shots. The first one seemed to surprise her and then the second one just made her mad! She stopped crying as soon as I picked her back up though, and even gave the nurse another smile before she left the room.

That was about it. I somehow had a credit on account, so I didn't have to pay the co-pay and the nurse gave us a free package of Infant Motrin and 5 sample size containers of formula, plus 8 $1-formula "checks." I think we came out ahead.

Progress Report

Today the day care sent home a progress report for Grace. I thought it was cute, so I thought I would share here.

Social/Emotional Development
Grace has a very strong personality. When she is content she laughs, coos, and smiles. When she wants or needs something she will let you know! (crying or yelling) She is very social and likes to be around others. She distinguishes Mom and Dad from others and responds happily when she sees them.

Physical Development
Grace is able to sit up on her own for a few minutes at a time. She is starting to pull herself up with her arms - She will be crawling before you know it! She reaches for and grasps objects & likes to put them in her mouth. She will stand up when held by an adult.

Language Development
Grace is making more sounds and becoming more vocal every day. She loves to hear herself laugh & listen to the sound of her own voice.

Cognitive Development
Grace is interested, aware, and attentive to her surroundings. She pays attention to what is going on around her.

And here are some pictures taken today.




Just to narrate. This was right before bed. She sleeps with the teddy bear and likes to chew on his arm. I guess taking the pacifier away didn't quite get rid of her need to suck at night.

More at Flicker.

New Pictures

Check out the Flicker link on the sidebar for some new Grace pictures. They include her playing with some toys and a couple of her first trip to the zoo on Saturday. I'll try to write more soon!

Ma-Ma

Grace is now saying "Ma-Ma." I'm not getting too excited because I know technically this isn't her first word. She is just learning to make sounds and has figured out "M", but it sure is something to hear that sound from my little one's mouth. It's so cute. She figured this one out on Friday and for some reason will only say it laying on the changing table. (Friday morning with me, Friday after work with Eric, Friday evening before bath-me, This morning-me, this afternoon at Samara's-me). I can't wait until she knows what that means!

Making Some Changes

A very good friend of mine got tired of begging for pictures and created a Flicker account for me. I've added the link to my sidebar and here it is again. I added some fairly recent pictures and I will attempt to upload them there as well. I didn't want to go too crazy, so I didn't add too many, but there are some good ones.

I also did a little updating to my sidebar. I updated Grace's weight from her last official appointment and moved around some of the blog links to the correct category and added some more that I read. Didn't mean to let this fall into such a state, but I've got other stuff going on!

Six Months Old

Grace turned six months old yesterday. I can't believe a half of a year has gone by since she was born. Time goes so fast. I am so in love with her now. I really can't describe how much that love grows. It doesn't seem possible that I could love her any more than I do right now, but I have a feeling I will. She is developing such a personality. She's so happy. She rarely fusses. When she does, she's usually hungry or tired or you just took a toy away from her, but she can always be calmed relatively fast. I think she's hit a growth spurt recently. She goes to the doctor next week, but I think we're probably in the 18-19 pound range. She now has solid food 3 times a day. Oatmeal or oatmeal with bananas in the morning with a bottle, a jar of fruit with her mid-day bottle, and a jar of vegetables before her evening bottle. Grace can now sit unsupported for several minutes at a time and I have a feeling she'll be crawling before we do our 7 month update. She can turn around on her belly and will find a way to get closer to toys or other things she wants to explore, usually by rolling or stretching. She will also entertain herself in an exersaucer or even with toys on the floor. She loves to bang things to hear the loud noises. She also loves interacting with people. She has a wonderful sense of humor and loves to give deep belly laughs when you act silly. Peekaboo is a new game she finds especially funny. She loves to be startled. I adore her laugh. I find life especially nice, now that we have a good routine. Grace sleeps wonderfully (thank you so much Dr. Ferber). She goes to bed without crying at all between 7:30 and 8 p.m. and sleeps until around 6:15 or 6:30 a.m. Saturday we went through her evening routine and then instead of putting her in bed, we went out to eat. She was an angel. She just watched everyone and then went straight to sleep after we got home. The waitress even commented that she was one of the best babies she'd seen.

Being a Mom is the best thing in the world. I think everyone should fill their lives with children. I honestly can't wait for more. I'm told it gets more fun when they get even older, so I can't wait to see what's in store.

Here's the milestones we've reached for 6 Months based on "What To Expect The First Year." The bold items we have reached.

By the end of the Sixth Month your baby:
...should be able to:
- keep head level with body when pulled to sitting
- say ah-goo or similar vowel-consonant combinations (Grace doesn't say "goo" hard consonants are hard for her, but she does say "na" "ma" or "da", so we'll count that)

...will probably be able to:
- bear some weight on legs when held upright
- sit without support

...may possibly be able to:
- stand holding on to someone or something (she'll stand if you hold her arms in front of her or beside her)
- Feed self a cracker (we've never given her a cracker to try)
- Object if you try to take a toy away (Oh, yeah)
- Work to get a toy out of reach
- Pass a cube or object from one hand to the other
- Look for a dropped object
- rake a raisin and pick it up in a fist(never tried a raisin, but she'll pick up a bottle cap from a bottle of water)
- Turn in the direction of a voice
- Babble, combining vowels and consonants such as ga-ga-ga, ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, da-da-da

...may even be able to:
- pull up to standing position from sitting
- get into a sitting position from stomach
Pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger(she picks up her rattle with her thumb and finger from a small piece that hangs off of it)
- say mama or dada indescriminately

A Day with Friends

Today was the day I planned to go over and help Samara with baby stuff and my main goal was to let her get some rest. Well, she didn't rest as much as I would have liked, but I'd like to think I was of some help.

A little background. Samara and Ava have been having some breastfeeding issues. Despite her requests in the hospital, she didn't get to see a lactation consultant in the hospital until day 3 right before checkout. As a result they weren't getting a correct latch (although Ava was still eating), so within days Samara had some major trauma to the area and on Thursday last week rented a pump and took a couple of days off to let herself heal. Monday she made an appointment with a lactation consultant to help her out. They had a fabulous appointment, but when they got home and tried it on their own, things fell apart and they've been having problems ever since. Because it's so hard, they've been doing alot of pumping and bottle feeding. Anyway, they spend a lot of time attempting breastfeeding, pumping, or bottlefeeding.

Today I arrived to help around 9:00 a.m. They were in the middle of a feeding attempt. I sat in the nursery and chatted for the next hour while Ava dozed in between attempts at feeding. At around 10:00 a.m. Samara had me give her a bottle while she pumped. Around this time she received a call from the lactation consultant who made them an appointment for 1:30 p.m. After pumping, Samara decided to take a shower while I held Ava. After the shower we went downstairs for a little while and then decided to try to feed Ava again at around 11:15 am. (we didn't want her to be starving for the appointment). While they were attempting, I did a load of laundry and took the dog out. After about 30 minutes, Samara decided to give her a bottle. It needed to be warmed though and while it was warming, Ava got her hungry cry, so Samara attempted again on the couch. They tried for a while more while I got lunch together. I ate quickly and then got the diaper bag and changed Ava's diaper while Samara ate lunch. Then we hopped in the car and headed to the appointment. We were at the center until 3:00 p.m. It was another good appointment. I think they might just get it this time. It also made me see just how difficult breastfeeding can be even with a healthy baby. I assumed we would have been fine without Grace's cleft palate, but now I'm not so sure that it still would have been easy. After the appointment, Samara stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up some feminine necessities, but as we pulled up Ava started crying. She ran in for a minute while I waited in the car, but after getting in a slow line, she decided she wasn't going to wait anymore and came back without her purchases. We hurried home because Ava was hungry! They had a successful breastfeeding experience. Yeah! And finally at 4:45 p.m. Samara got to take a nap. Ava slept the whole time too and I just held her until her Dad got home at 5:45 p.m. I left him with the baby and dinner and came home.

Ava is so sweet. I can't wait for her and Grace to meet and for her to get just a bit bigger so they can play. The next few years are going to be awesome!

Still Around

I feel much better now and my diet is going great this week. I should post about the weekend in Indiana or a variety of other things, but I should be cramming for my CPCU exam on Friday. I promise a nice post this weekend when the test is over. I'm hanging out with Samara and Ava tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll have lots of stories and picks about time with someone else's newborn.

Blah

I thought I'd post this here as well as my diet blog, because I'm pretty sure I've got more readers here, and thus maybe I'll feel more held accountable.

I feel really bad about my body right now. I think it's starting to affect parts of my life. I hate walking by a mirror for the off chance I'll catch a side angle. It's affecting my "romantic" life because I never feel attractive. And unfortunately, when I feel this way, I'm indulging more in bad food rather than doing something about it. I've actually restarted my "diet" several times, but then something happens and I stop.

I know it's possible to do something about it. In 2003 I did Body-For-Life. It was great! I felt awesome. I only lost 9 pounds, but I got fit and dropped from a size 10 to a size 6. I looked great too! I did the 12 week program from February to May and kept it up for the most part until I got pregnant in July 2003. After I lost the baby, I got depressed and didn't do anything to lose the 10 pounds I gained during those 10 weeks. After that I was consumed with trying to get pregnant and by the time I got pregnant with Grace, I had gained another 5 pounds. Now, I'm still 10 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight.

Here's my motivation. I want to look and feel better about myself. I know once I get going I'll have more energy and feel better in general. I'm running out of time. Once I get pregnant again, I can't call these 10 pounds "baby weight." It's entirely possible that I'll be pregnant again in a year or less (we're planning on starting again next spring), so I want to be sure I get back to where I want to be before that happens. I want to make it a lifestyle so Grace will be used to eating healthy. I don't want to make it hard for her to stay at a reasonable weight growing up or as an adult. Maybe if I start losing, Eric will decide to join me. Sounds like I'm motivated right?

Here's the challenge...time. I definately can find time to exercise, but it will involve either getting up early (5:30 a.m.) which I'm not great at or giving up part of my evenings after Grace is in bed (after 8 p.m.). We have DVR now, so I can't use TV as an excuse. Dinners are hard too, because Grace starts dinner (and the rest of her nighttime routine) at around 6:30 p.m. The key will be to have a plan and start dinner as soon as I get home from work, so we can eat before she does.

Tonight I'm going to plan for next week, so I can get groceries tomorrow evening. We are going to Indiana Saturday and coming back Sunday afternoon, so I won't have time to shop then. I am planning on cooking what I can (chicken, etc) on Sunday's so I'll have less prep time in the evenings. I will keep track of diet and exercise. I'll update my diet blog, but I also bought the Body-For-Life journal and will keep it up daily. It was $25, so that in itself will make me not want to quit. I don't want to waste my money, by stopping on Day 3 and not being able to use it.

So, the diet starts Monday. I'll be taking "before" pictures, weighing and measuring with updates every 4 weeks. Feel free to follow along in my diet blog if you want, but wish me luck and I'll really try to stay on track this time.

The Wait is Over

The baby is here!

Ava Emma-Lynn was born this morning 5/29/05 at 3:55 a.m. I was blessed and honored to be allowed to be present for the birth. It was the most amazing experience. I was so amazed by the sheer strength and determination Samara had. She was awesome through the whole experience. She managed contractions like a champ before her epidural, there seemed to be no end to her willpower during pushing, and she was awarded with the most perfect baby girl.

Wow. She weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 1/2 inches long. I can't wait to get back to the hospital to vist. But for now, here is one of her first pictures with Mom.



Happy Birthday Ava!

Waiting

I've been waiting all weekend for my best friend Samara's baby to be born. I know I shouldn't talk, it's tons harder on her!

Anyway, she called around 8 a.m. on Friday morning saying she thought she was in labor. She was having contractions and lost her mucus plug. I had a short day at work anyway, so we kept in touch and she wasn't heading to the hospital yet. By mid-morning they were regular and about 10 minutes apart but not painful. In the afternoon, things slowed down and we didn't end up going to the hospital.

I checked in first thing this morning and still nothing was going on. However, apparently around noon they started up again and now have become "uncomfortable." Samara's been keeping her doctor up to date and the doctor said if they established a regular pattern again she could go into the hospital to be checked. She called me around 4:00 p.m. and said the doctor gave her the go ahead to go to the hospital and get checked out. So that's where they are now. Until she's admitted to Labor & Delivery she's in the triage area and you are only allowed one person with you, so I told her to call me if they admitted her and I would head over. I tried to call her cell a little bit ago and got no answer. It's been two hours and it's killing me!

On a good note. If they send her home tonight, she is scheduled to be induced tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m., so Bean should definately be here tomorrow! I'll post pictures later this weekend!

File Storage

I'm working on upgrading for more daily usage space for my pictures. That should help with them locking out. I just need to find out how what I've already paid will be applied to the upgrade.

Milestone

Tonight we had another milestone. No, the tooth hasn't came in yet. Grace objected when I took a toy away. She has a duckie bath toy that she was chewing on during her bath. When we were done washing, I took it away so I could get her out of the tub. She protested with much crying and her face turned red. Ahhh, she's getting a temper.

In other news, Samara is still very pregnant, but now has a date and time scheduled for induction. Unless nature intervenes, Bean will be here on Sunday! I can't wait!

Pictures

Here are the pictures as promised. I think I need to purchase a larger file share account as my account is getting locked up again. Keep trying back for pictures.

Here is Grace with my brother Jeremy for the first time.



This is the 4 generation picture. My Grandma, Mom, Me, and Grace.


Here is Grace almost sitting.


Just hamming it up for the camera


Trying out the new highchair

Weekend with the Family

I had a great weekend. I've got some great pictures too, but I seem to have temporarily lost my camera. I took a picture this morning so it has to be somewhere. I'm hoping Eric decided to take it to work to show off some pictures. He's not home right now to ask.

Anyway, Friday we were very effecient and left town around 5:30 p.m. We drove for an hour and then stopped for dinner for all of us. After we got back in the car Grace fell asleep for the rest of the time. We got to Grandma and Grandpa's at about 9 Indiana time. Mom, Dad and Jeremy had went out to see friends, so they weren't home yet. We let Grace sleep in the car seat while we brought everything in and settled in. The rest of the family got in a little while later. Mom immediately got Grace out of the carseat and woke her up. She was in a great mood though. Jeremy wanted to hold her right away and I got a good picture of them together. Grace stayed up for about an hour, but then she had a bottle and we put her in the pack-n-play. She fell asleep with no crying.

Maybe it was the extra hour she was up, but she slept until 6:15 Indiana time. We got up and hung out for a little while until we left for the Bridal Shower. The shower was very nice. We got to eat Mexican (yum) and Melissa got lots of nice gifts. She looked so happy. I'm very happy for her and hope I can make it to the wedding at the end of July. We also got a very nice 4 generation picture with my Mom and Grandma. After the shower we stopped by an old friend from church's house. She wanted to see Grace in person. During this visit, I was distracted by a phone call from my friend Meg at work. She had a baby boy! After the visit, we stopped by the grocery store to get supplies for dinner. Then we went home and Grace napped while we made a couple of dishes for dinner. Later that evening we had a family dinner. My aunt, uncle and 2 cousins from Illinois came over, another uncle, another cousin, my pregnant cousin (37 weeks), her husband, and nephew. One of my other cousins had twin boys on Friday, so it was a weekend of babies (but not Samara's yet). We stuck to our bedtime routine and after a bath and story, she again went to bed with no crying. She did wake a couple times in the early morning hours though.

Jeremy seems to be doing well. He had a long slide show of pictures from Iraq. It's a little weird to see pictures of my baby brother with a big gun, but I think he's really proud of what he's doing. I don't think I've ever really accepted the fact that he's grown up too, but this weekend it struck me that he's a man now. It was strange to me that he was so interested in Grace, because I guess I thought he wasn't much of a kid person. He's an uncle though. Uncles have a special role. It will be his job to tease her and make her laugh and be the silly guy that doesn't enforce rules like eat your vegetables and no candy before dinner. I think that really means something to him. I hope they can spend more time together when he gets back.

Sunday we got up early (thanks Grace) and after a 5:30 a.m. feeding Grace and I took an hour nap. Then we got up and visited while the rest of the family got ready for church. They left for church, we fed Grace and hit the road.

Sunday afternoon, I met up with Samara at Babies R Us. She is really ready for Bean to just get here already. She walked and played with Grace and I shopped! Grace got a new high chair (I have a picture) and some new sleepers and a big girl toy giraffe. Then an exciting thing happened Grace's gums started to bleed. Now I feel bad that she was bleeding, but this means a tooth should be here anytime! I keep checking, but nothing yet.

I'll post pictures later (assuming my camera isn't permanently missing).

Awesome Day at Work

I had a great day today. This morning I had a meeting with our Office Head and discussed my concerns about not getting a promotion when officer positions were handed out this year and we discussed where I see myself on a 5 year career path. I think it's good for him to know.

Then this afternoon I made an incredible deal which will probably save my client about $200,000 over the premiums we presented to them on Monday! Yeah! They will like this revision!

Ear Infections #3 & #4

Grace wants to help with this one. Here is her contribution...

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Anyway, she went back to the doctor today because her cough from 2 weeks ago stopped getting better when her amoxicillan for her ear infection #2 ran out and is now getting worse again. Apparently she now has a double ear infection. They are trying a different medication. I'm thinking they may not wait another 6 months for tubes in her ears if this keeps up.

Well, I've pushed my luck. Grace is ready for dinner. Got to go.

Date Weekend

This weekend, Eric and I celebrated our 4th anniversary (technically it was Thursday, but we celebrated on Saturday). Friday evening Eric's mom came in from Indiana. She got in about 6:30 p.m. and got to observe our night time routine with Grace. We ordered pizza for dinner and caught up on some of the TV shows we TiVo'd this week.

Saturday morning Grace woke up at about 6:15 a.m. I didn't want to get her up until 6:30, so I turned the monitor down, and set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. When it went off, Grace had already fallen back to sleep, so I turned the monitor back up and went back to sleep until she woke up again at about 7:15 a.m. We got up and had breakfast. I showed Donna how to do her cereal and bottle, and then I let Grace play with Nana and I went back to sleep until about 9:45 a.m. (Thank you!). Eric and I both got up and Grace was taking a nap downstairs. I went to the grocery store, since we were completely out of food. When I got back, we showered, dressed, packed and left the house around 12:30 p.m.

We decided to spend the day downtown. We went to the mall first. Eric was in the mood to shop, so first we stopped by Victoria's Secret. I had a bra fitting, since I haven't been fitted after the baby. I am now a 36D. Wow! I sort of hope that stays that way even if I lose the rest of this baby weight. Then we went to Kaufmann's to look for some clothes for Eric. He purposely didn't pack any nice clothes, so he would be forced to buy something for dinner. They had a nice Men's section and were having a sale on dress clothes. Eric ended up buying 3 nice pairs of slacks, and 3 dress shirts, and a belt for about $350. I don't think he's ever spent that much on clothes. (He just got a bonus at work though, so thankfully it didn't come directly out of the budget). After all that shopping, Eric was ready to get out of the mall.

We walked back to the car (I parked at work, so we wouldn't have to pay) about 3 blocks and realized it was getting very windy and looked like rain. We picked up our suitcase and walked the block and 1/2 to the hotel. We checked in and hung out for a little while. I took a bath and shaved my legs, ironed one of Eric's new shirts and we both got dressed.

We had dinner at a new Italian place called Due Amici. It's very modern on the inside and has very yummy food. It was only about 4 or 5 blocks from the hotel, but it had started raining, so we took a cab. Dinner was very, very yummy, but didn't take us hardly any time. We had a 5:00 p.m. reservation and were out by 6:15 p.m. We got another cab and headed to the "Arena District" to a trendy bar/restaurant to pass about an hour until our evening plans began.

At about 7:30 p.m. we got another cab and headed to the Palace Theater to see Kevin James (from the King of Queens) in his stand-up act. It was very funny. Even his opener was good. The show lasted until about 10:00 p.m. and then we headed back to the hotel.

Probably the best part for me was sleeping in. Although, I woke up around 8 a.m., I kept making myself go back to sleep until we decided to get up around 9:30 a.m. We packed up and headed back to the house. We visited with Donna when we got back and she left around 11 a.m. Grace had been up since 6:30 a.m., so I put her down for a nap. She only slept about 20 minutes, so then I brought her into my room and napped with her until about 1:45 p.m. She got up had another bottle and then we got ready for the softball game.

Eric and I play on a church softball team and today was our first game. Overall it went pretty well. I started playing Shortstop and then moved to catcher (I tried not to take it personally, it has been 7 years since I've put on a glove). You have to have 5 girls on the team, so we had to recruit a girl off of another team (she took my place at shortstop) and we all got to play the whole time. I did get on base twice and scored one run. We had a great last inning (needed 2 to tie and 3 to pull ahead), we scored 5! They came back and scored 2, but we still won! Now I just thought I'd update and in 10 minutes, we'll start watching the Survivor season finale. Then back to work.