We’ve been traveling a heck of a lot recently. Although, I supposed any amount of traveling would seem like a lot when you have a seven month old in tow. A few weeks ago, we were in the U.S. for Passover and to visit family (I haven’t made time to blog about these adventures yet, sorry). And last weekend, to celebrate Jan’s birthday, we went to Andorra and spent a couple of days at the Caldea.

Neither of us had ever been to a real spa before and the Caldea is the most famous spa in Andorra. Filled with jacuzzis, lagoons, Indo-Roman baths, saunas, steam rooms, and more types of massages than you could shake a stick at, this place was exactly what these worn out parents needed. The only bummer was that Jan and I had to go in separately since someone had to stay outside with Emily. It’s a shame, too, since this was the perfect romantic atmosphere. Oh well, next time.

On the first day, we each had a lovely three hour treatment. My favorite parts were definitely the eucalyptus filled Hammam steam room and the Roman baths. There were a bunch of people chilling out in the hot section of the Roman baths which are maintained at 36 degrees C (97 F), but nobody dared to enter the cold section which was kept at 14 degrees C (57 F). I must have spent a half an hour there alternating between eight minutes in hot and one minute in cold. And it was damn cold! Mind over matter. It just made the hot seem that much hotter afterwards 🙂

Jan had a super-special four hour birthday treatment the next day including the ever popular Traditional Thai massage. Emily and I made the most of the day by strolling up and down the high street window shopping for all of the tempting tax-free goodies on offer. It took all the strength I had not to walk away with a Nintendo Wii. Luckily we passed by some beautiful fountains were Emily and I hung out and ate some bananas for a couple of hours. She was totally fascinated by the fountains. She loved it when I held her over them and she was able to reach out and touch the water. She found it so amazing that she had to keep turning to me and smiling as if to say, “Did you see that?! I touched it! And it was wet!!!”. It doesn’t take much to impress her yet.

Emily, getting used to the good life
in her four star crib

And that was our weekend. Batteries recharged and bodies rejuvenated, we’re almost feeling normal again after a wonderful yet exhausting trip to the US – it took Emily an entire week to get over the jet lag when we came back to Barcelona! Next stop: Jan is taking Emily and me to Paris in two weeks to celebrate my birthday. Let them eat cake!

Things have been pretty crazy as of late, and not totally unrelated to the fact that my manager now has a new manager at HP who has decided to shake things up a bit by conducting a massive reorganization of the marketing division. One of his goals in this shake up was to eliminate all of the freelance contractors that currently make up about 50% of his marketing team. I, myself, being a freelance contractor, have spent the past few weeks in the most uncomfortable state of vocational limbo.

Word was first passed to me while I was vacationing with the family in Florida. I received an email from a friend at HP (also a contractor) relating the tale of his recent meeting with the new big boss where he was told of the changes about to take place. He was also told that, as of June 1, his services would no longer be needed. It had begun and he simply wanted to warn me of potential impending doom and financial ruin.

I was scared. I’ve only been working at HP for seven months now and I think I’ve finally found my groove. The pay is great and the flexible hours are an absolute godsend. We can afford the luxury of having Jan stay home with Emily full time and I’ve actually begun my first ventures into the world of serious financial planning. I wasn’t ready to give this up.

My fate was to take the form of one of three options:

1. Lose my job
2. Keep my job (unchanged)
3. Keep my job, but be forced to sign on with an employment agency, not effecting me personally, but making my continued employment less desirable to HP as the agency’s markup would make me “more expensive”

If they decided not to keep me on, my manager would then be responsible for both her duties and mine.

When we finally returned to Barcelona, I made a point to meet with my manager to see if she had any idea of what the future held. She promised to meet with her new manager to see if he had already decided what he wanted to do with me.

Now would be a good time to tell you about my manager, Nuri. She’s the best. I get on very well with her and I love her philosophies. She’s an avid photographer, she loves horses, and she’s a straight shooter. Plus she seems to really appreciate the value I’ve added to my position in that I’m dependable, efficient, and I’m able to take a lot of the heat off of her position. Nuri’s definitely someone you want in your corner – especially when you job’s on the line.

Apparently, Nuri’s meeting with her manager went something like this:

Him: Is Joshua absolutely necessary?
Her: YES!!!

And that was good enough for him.

So all is well… for now. I’m happy to be working under the same conditions as before the reorganization, but the freelance contractor position is definitely lacking in the field of Job Security. But my position is a very interesting one. Of the literally thousands of people that work in the Barcelona HP center, I am the only one who is currently capable of doing my job. Most of my direct dealings are with the Data Team in Boise, Idaho. Sure, almost anyone can learn to do my job, but that training time is expensive and they’re happy with my performance. Plus, Nuri is eager to have me assist her on new projects that are coming up in the near future to “broaden my horizons”. I may be here for a while 🙂

Happy seven month birthday, Emily.

Month seven: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Never have Emily’s smiles been brighter nor her screams louder and more painful. So, where in the world is Emily this month?

• She’s spending time with family. After spending an entire week with Jan’s parents at our place in Barcelona, Emily is currently in the middle of a two week tour around Florida, meeting many members of the wackier side of her family for the first time.
• To arrive in the Land Of The Free, Emily had to take her very first trans-Atlantic flight. 18 hours from door to door (including a 10 hour flight from Milan to Miami) was a real test for our little girl – and for us! Having firmly woken up on the wrong side of the bed at 4am to start the trip, sleep deprived frustration allowed for more than a few crying spells on that fateful Alitalia flight. But I can also safely say that, thanks to her winning smile and animal magnetism, Emily definitely made more friends on that flight than enemies. We’re not looking forward to the flight back.
• Emily is now sporting two teeth in the lower half of that gummy smile of hers. But it was only after the second tooth came through that the teething nightmare began. At first we weren’t sure if she was just practicing her impression of a 90 year old man, but her lip smacking, massive drooling, coughing fits, crankiness, and runny nose were actually hardcore signs of the imminent dental bombardment. The worst of it started once we had arrived in the U.S. – just in time to introduce our lovely new daughter to the rest of the family. Emily spent no less than three whole days doing nothing but screaming her head off in agony. She yelled so much that she actually lost her voice! Luckily the worst of it seems to have passed (for now) and we are left with what sounds like a seven month old Kathleen Turner.
• The doctors suggested we introduce new foods to Emily one at a time to be able to diagnose any possible food allergies. We have successfully introduced apples, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, and rice cereal into Emily’s regular diet. We unsuccessfully attempted to introduce some other type of cereal. Luckily we were eventually able to diagnose what was not agreeing with her and triumphantly put a halt to the four full days of crying and discomfort Emily was suffering. If you’re keeping score at home, between the two isolated fits of teething and negative food reactions alone, Emily spent one quarter of this entire month wailing like a banshee.
• Along with the introduction of solid foods comes the appearance of solid poo. That was a surprise.
• Thanks in no small part to the wonderful inner tube that Jan’s parents brought for Emily, our little girl is finally becoming a minute-sitter. Before this month, Emily was not able to sit for more than one minute at a time without taking a nosedive thanks to some inadvertent body jerk or the slow-but-eventual triumph of gravity. The force of gravity still comes out on top every once and a while, but now not only can she sit for extended periods of time unaided, but she is also making every effort to sit up on her own from a lying down position. Brow furrowed, eyes wide open, jaw locked slightly ajar, and hands held in fists, she’s probably about another month away from actually sitting up on her own. It’s only a matter of time before she’s doing abdominal crunches.
• You know how, when they want to be picked up, babies lift up their heads, open their arms really wide, and thrust their bodies forward? Well Emily isn’t doing that yet. But almost! She has mastered the “reach for things that you want to hold” movement, and she has started gesturing towards people when she wants them to pick her up, but hasn’t quite worked out how to effectively communicate this. Look for an update next month.