So I come home from work the other night and there is a Kirby vacuum cleaner sitting in my living room. My husband has this defeated look on his face. I can tell it hasn't been a good afternoon.
Fun story:
Russell had just put the baby down for an afternoon nap. He had a project deadline coming up and was going to try to get some good work done while the baby slept. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Russell answered it (mistake #1). A very nice sales guy asked if he could do a vacuum cleaner sales presentation. Russell told him we don't have any money to buy a vacuum. The guy said, "that's okay, I get $20 just for doing the presentation." Russell asked how long it would take and the guy said 15 minutes. Russell thought, I can give up 15 minutes of my time to help this guy make $20. He let him in (mistake #2).
It took the guy 15 minutes just to put together the vacuum cleaner. Russell didn't tell him his time was up (mistake #3). Instead, he listened to the presentation for AN HOUR AND A HALF. Not only that, but about halfway in, the vacuum WOKE UP THE BABY. He was a nice guy, but apparently one without kids, because he made no apology for waking up the baby. What he didn't realize was that not only had he robbed Russell of precious work time while the baby was napping, but he also made it impossible for Russell to get anything done for the rest of the evening, because the baby was cranky from having been woken up early from his nap! Aargh.
To top it all off, when the presentation was over, instead of packing up his vacuum and leaving, he told Russell he wanted to leave the vacuum here so that I could try it out, and that he would come back at noon the next day to talk to both of us, because (you guessed it) he gets even more credit if he pitches the husband and wife together. Russell let him leave it. (Mistake #...what are we on? I hope it doesn't sound like I was upset at Russell. I wasn't. I was super peeved at the salesman and the way he had taken advantage of Russell's kind nature.)
Well, whatever he thought was going to magically happen overnight to make us spend $2100 on a vacuum cleaner DIDN'T HAPPEN. Don't get me wrong, it's a great vacuum. It got all kinds of crap out of my carpet. He even cleaned a spot of tar out of the carpet with his carpet cleaner (that alone made me feel much better about the whole thing). If I had the money, I would buy it all. But the truth is that right now we have very different financial priorities; things like the mortgage, utilities, food, and clothing. A new vacuum is so far down the list I can't even see it with a telescope.
I steamed about it for hours that night. I couldn't sleep. I wanted to really tell the guy off. You come in here, make up stories about getting $20 just so we'll let you in, lie about the length of your presentation, take my husband away from his work, wake up the baby, ruin the whole afternoon, and now you want to talk about 12 months same-as-cash financing? YOU DON'T GET TO WASTE ANY MORE OF OUR TIME. We should have just not answered the door and kept the vacuum, no? Would have served him right.
I was much nicer than all that. I made Russell promise to stay in his office. Vacuum guy rang the doorbell, and I told him, "I'm really sorry you had to come back today. I'm not going to listen to your presentation." Of course, then it took him 15 minutes to pack up his vacuum, during which time he tried to make friendly conversation, and I remained awkwardly untalkative. No, I didn't use the vacuum. Yes, Russell is here, but he is working. Yes...Russell is pretty nice, isn't he? I'm sure he left thinking, poor Russell. He has to live with that b!@#%y woman, and he's such a nice guy...
I know. Most of you didn't know I could be like that.
Does anyone have any advice for me? Have you done a long flight with a 10-month old (who may be walking by then, and will NOT want to sit on my lap for 7 hours)? Have you done a long vacation like this with a 10-month old? Will the 3-hour time difference be very hard for him to adjust to? Can you recommend a good electric pump? Do you think it is even possible to pump that much milk above and beyond what I already pump (I would need 7-8 extra ounces a day if I start NOW--I know I couldn't do it with my hand pump, but maybe with an electric one?)?
Conversely, if I leave my baby for that long, will I do damage to our relationship? Will he wean himself if he is exclusively bottle-fed for two weeks? What if I supplement with formula? Will I just be a basket case, unable to enjoy my vacation because I am constantly missing/worrying about the baby? Also, he isn't sleeping through the night yet, and I don't know if he will be by then, which adds one more factor to the argument against both bringing him (I am fantasizing about 12 nights of uninterrupted sleep...) and leaving him with my mother-in-law (who probably doesn't really want to get up with him 2 or 3 times a night....)
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