two big changes

Though 2012 was off to a good blogging start, I got distracted. I do, however, have a good excuse, since in February we were sorting out two big changes -- both of which we found out about on February first, coincidentally. 

#1. The HR office way back in Washington, DC (yes, sometimes we do remember that we have a big HQ back there) reassigned me to the political section. Another junior officer had decided the foreign service just wasn't a good fit for her, leaving her job unfilled. Though various rumors swirled about how and who would fill it, in the end, the bureaucracy decided: me. The reason they gave? I'm an economic-coned officer who has done three years of consular work and have a similar transfer date to the officer who left. Meaning, the position would be good for my career development and - perhaps more importantly? - assigning me to the position wouldn't disrupt the people flow too much (though it did leave the consular section down one person right as busy season is peaking).

As I was talking with the HR officer at post about my reassignment, she finally thought to ask - are you OK with this? Most people just assume that junior officers will hate consular work ... but in truth, though I've certainly had my bad days, I didn't mind it. It's not where I'd like to spend a career - but found enough projects over the last three years to keep me engaged and intellectually interested. 

I actually am happy with the reassignment as it moves me closer to what I want to do - and five years of doing something other than what I want to do would be a really long time. But, just to play devil's advocate, I asked what would happen if I wasn't. The HR officer answered truthfully: not much since you serve at the needs of the service. She supposed under extenuating circumstances I could appeal, but we didn't get into the theoretical, since I had another appointment. My new job started mid-Feb. 

#2. My next appointment ... revealed that we're having a third baby. I had been suspecting something was up (after all, I've been pregnant twice before), but not having any "normal" early pregnancy signs, I wasn't sure. The weekend before, I had purchased a pregnancy test at the corner drug store for $2. Yes, $2. These things cost $15 in the US, so I wasn't sure if I could trust it. 

Turns out, I couldn't. The little line that's supposed to appear if you're pregnant? It was dashed. What was that supposed to mean? Maybe I was pregnant? Yes, well, I already knew I was maybe pregnant.  Not wanting to waste any money on a second dashed line, I just made an appointment with an OB. She found an embryo with a heart beat and ... well ... there were the beginnings of  Baby Number Three, floating around happily. 

That evening, Greg summed it up: "Pam, if you have any more surprises hiding up your sleeve, you might as well let me know now. Just rip the band-aid off all at once!" 

So, the last six weeks I've been swimming up stream learning about my new job, figuring out how to best arrange for the birth of #3 (I'll deliver in the US this time, given the proximity of my due date to my sister's wedding), and still trying to get repairs on our condo complete so we can rent it out in a timely fashion. 

Just this week I feel like I have a good mental grip on what's going on: I've written a few memos for work with good feedback from my boss; the lease for our temporary rental in Capitol Hill is signed for August - October; and the contractor is supposed to start repairing our floor on Monday. 

Keeping fingers crossed we have no more big surprises before our time in Manila is up. This last month and a half was a little too much at once.