ABD Mommy

Poor ignored blog...

2008-09-26T21:59:00.002-04:00

You know you've completely forgotten about your ABD blog when...

You get your Ph.D. and it takes you five days to post it!

I'm having some weird post-dissertation letdown. It's hard to put into words right now, but I was told to expect some depressive-type feelings and that is definitely happening. Everyone is congratulating me and saying things like, "You must be so relieved!" But what I am experiencing right now is mostly exhaustion. It's been a crazy push to get to the finish line for months now. As if the diss weren't enough, I started adjunct-teaching, and that is its own brand of overwhelming - it's lots of work to put together lectures every week. I really want to just curl up and sleep for a few weeks, but I just can't. My kids need me, my class needs teaching, etc. etc.

Life just goes on I guess.

Fathering 101

2008-05-18T21:38:00.003-04:00

Taking care of baby for your wife is easy. Just be sure to find a safe and secure place for him to sleep. In a pinch, try office furniture.

What? It's comfy! Dad swears he won't let me fall.

76 and counting...

2008-04-29T08:59:00.003-04:00

So now that the little guy is nearly 8 weeks old (!) I am slowly getting back to work. I've found that Caleb loves to nap nestled against Mommy in a sling, and that Mommy can type with both hands while he does this. I've been editing in 15-20 minute bursts here and there, and so far it's working for me. I'm making some progress.

And best of all, I have 76 participants in my study! My proposal calls for "a minimum of 75", so technically I am DONE with data collection...but I wanted to have at least 80 so I am going to keep the study going for another week. It's a huge relief to know that I don't have to worry about not having enough data. And soon I get to analyze it, which is the fun part.

Shameless picture sharing

2008-04-16T19:43:00.003-04:00

Brand new:

Big sister is amused...
href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U0Qwwypd7oc/SAaPlKOYZqI/AAAAAAAAACs/zEu_sJWn530/s1600-h/amused.JPG">
One month old

Extra chin, big ol' grin...

Welcome, Caleb!

2008-03-10T12:10:00.006-04:00

Sheesh, they put me on a pink blanket. Yet another side effect of being second-born. At least I'm not in girl clothes...

For anyone who is interested, here is how the labor went down...

I awoke this past Thursday morning at 5:25 AM to find that I was having contractions roughly every 10 minutes. I stayed in bed until around 6:30 (by then I was convinced that maybe I was actually in real labor) and I got up and got dressed. Leia woke up 20 minutes later, so I got her ready for school between contractions.

"Mommy, why aren't you dressing me? Why are you just standing there?"

"You'll have to wait a minute, sweet pea, Mommy's having a contraction."

"Oh."

At 7:30 I got three in a row that were nearing 5 minutes apart. I woke Jeff up and called Jeff's parents and asked them to come get Leia (she doesn't go to school until 9, and I wasn't taking chances.) Then they slowed down to 10 minutes again and stayed there until 9:30.

At 10:00 I got into the bathtub (tubs are great for dealing with contractions). Jeff wanted to get going but I wanted to stay in the tub. I got out at 11:00 with contractions coming every 4-5 minutes, and we headed for the hospital.

Riding over in the car was less than fun for me. The contractions were way more intense than I remembered them being with Leia. I got myself through by making sort of a low humming/moaning noise (must've sounded bizzare but I could not have cared less) and dreaming of drugs.

When we got there they made me wait downstairs for 10 minutes. I continued moaning through my contractions. Then some woman says, "Come sit down in my office and I'll admit you." I'm thinking, "Are you KIDDING me lady????" but I take my intermittently moaning self into the office. She takes FOREVER to get me admitted (what is she, blind?) while I sort of hold on to her desk for dear life. She slaps a bracelet on me that says 12:01 AM. She tries to explain the admitting packet to me. I want to murder her. Jeff steps in and I go off with the person who showed up to take my upstairs. I refuse a wheelchair, because even though by now contractions are showing up every 2 minutes or so I know I am better off getting there on my own. I hobble down the hall, pausing to squat when contractions hit. There are people waiting for the elevator, who blessedly let us through.

Once we are upstairs, I am hit with yet another contraction and have to stop in the hallway. When it subsides I tell the aide we need to make a break for it, and I waddle as fast as I can to the L&D unit. I walk into my room at 12:12 PM. The nurse takes one look at me and says "Oh my, you mean business. Let's get a gown on you. Can you give me a urine sample?" I tell her I will do my best.

Once inside the bathroom I sit down to attempt a urine sample and my water breaks. (How convenient...no mess.) I yell out to the nurse that my water broke. She comes in to help me into the gown. Then I get hit with the worst contraction ever - 10 times worse than any of Leia's - and I say, "Holy..."

The nurse says, "Go ahead. Let it out."

I proceed to spew every expletive I ever heard. Jeff said it sounded like I had an attack of Tourette's. Then I hobble out of the bathroom and inform Jeff that I am absolutely not making him any more babies, ever.

Then another hits. Jeff steps toward me. I hiss, "Get out" and wave him away. (Poor Jeff.) He moves out of my line of sight and says, "I am here if you need me." Meanwhile the nurse is begging me to get into the bed so she can check me. I tell her I can't, but somehow do so anyway.

She takes one look at me and shouts, "Fully dilated and effaced!" I inform her that I am sorry but I have to push RIGHT NOW. Jeff peeks in and sees the baby crowning. The nurse yells for an obstetrician. Mild chaos erupts as my doctor is not on the floor. They pluck a random OB who was on her way to surgery and she catches my baby about 2 minutes later. Jeff says I held off on pushing him out until they told me too, but I have no recollection of this.

By now it was 12:20, and little Caleb has made his debut. 7 lbs 13 oz, 21 inches long.

I have to say, as great as it is to get delivery over so quickly, it is also highly disorienting. It took me a while to take in that yes, I had him, it was done, and I'm not going to wake up in a few hours still pregnant.

So that is my tale, floating around in cyberspace for posterity. The little guy is sleeping now and I am tired of typing. I am going to take a nap!

Coming soon...

2008-03-01T08:15:00.002-05:00

I'm only freaking out a little bit...

On the ABD front, I am happy to report that I am nearing the halfway mark in data collection. And I've gotten some good feedback from my chair on my writing so far. End in sight!

Very scary...

2008-01-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

To have only 70 some-odd days left until the little guy makes his debut...I'm 30 weeks.

I'm scrambling to get as much writing done as possible in the absence of data (I won't really get any until the spring semester is underway). I'm also putting together the nursery and sorting through little clothes and baby things I haven't looked at in three years. Luckily we got a nice pile of loaner clothes, since Leia had maybe three unisex items in her entire first-year wardrobe.

Oh, and Leia informs me that she also has a baby in her tummy, and likes to have me feel him kick. Here is another conversation we had a few days ago:

Leia: Mommy, how did my baby brother get into your tummy?
Me: (praying this will suffice) Well, Mommy and Daddy made him, and we put him there until he gets big enough to come out.
Leia: How will he come out?
Me: (hopeful since the first pseudo-explanation seemed to fly) We'll go to the hospital and the doctor helps Mommy get him out.
Leia: How?
Me: The doctor helps...
Leia: But HOW???
Me: (so much for lame euphemisms) Well...he comes out through Mommy's vagina.

Silence.

She considers this for a few minutes.

Leia: When you and Daddy go to the hospital, can I come too?
Me: You'll stay with Me-Ma and Papa Bear and then come see us once the baby is out. How does that sound?
Leia: Well, I want to go with you. I want to see what happens.

Always the skeptic. Who can blame her?

These are the days of our lives...

2007-12-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

IRB approval!

2007-12-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

I am happy to report that I got my IRB approval today, after minimal revisions. (Basically they made me re-word stuff...gotta love red tape!) Now I am free to collect data!

Overdue Halloween pic

2007-11-14T20:39:00.000-05:00

Here is Miss Leia in her Cinderella outfit (minus the tiara, which lasted for maybe 5 minutes). She loved trick-or-treating, and if she hadn't been sick with a cold and wheezing like crazy she could have gone on for hours. Oddly enough she had the exact same illness last year, and I kept her in, but good luck keeping an excited three-year-old from the magic of Halloween!

On an unrelated note, my IRB stuff got submitted today. Now all I have to do is anxiously await approval...

Yay!

2007-11-05T19:07:00.001-05:00

I finally had my proposal meeting today, and I passed! That means my topic is approved, and pending IRB approval I can collect my data. Unfortunately the University's IRB approval process has gotten much more complicated since the last time I had to do it.
You see, it used to be that the "IRB" was one professor - you filled out a 2-page form and gave him a copy of the materials you were using, and he approved you. Now it is a proper IRB committee, replete with deadlines and procedures and all that nonsense. Oh well. I am a little stressed about that, but hopefully I can get it done relatively quickly.

I was right...

2007-10-25T08:39:00.000-04:00

It's a boy!!
(That's his hand, for those who may be ultrasound-image-reading impaired.)

Oh my...could it be?

2007-10-23T20:36:00.001-04:00

Could I actually graduate?

In this lifetime??

I found a third committee member, and I have a proposal date tentatively set. It is in less than 2 weeks! Once the proposal goes through I can collect my data, and then analyze it and write it up and...dare I say it...FINISH!!! I can't think about it too much or I get nervous.

Oh, and tomorrow we find out if it is a girl or a boy. Assuming the baby decides to give us a good view, of course.

News

2007-09-11T14:25:00.000-04:00

Now that I've heard an actual heartbeat, I figure it's time to fill in those who don't already know about my latest deadline: March 18!!! And I am convinced it's a boy.

Leia's big day

2007-09-05T13:16:00.000-04:00

Hi Mommy! I'm ready for my first day of preschool!

Check out my Ariel lunchbox!

Mommy can't believe how big you're getting...

Jeff gets a bite!

2007-08-17T11:44:00.000-04:00

For those who may not know, Jeff finished his manuscript and has been sending out queries. The way it works is you send out "partials" of varying lengths to agents, and based on that small piece of your work they either reject you or get interested and ask for more. He's been accumulating the usual pile of rejection letters (10 and counting)...but this morning he also got a request for the whole manuscript!! Especially on the heels of the rejections, it is very affirming for Jeff that an agent finds the book potentially interesting and wants to see the rest. I, for one, am excited. We'll see where it goes from here...

OMG, there is a kitten in my engine.

2007-08-06T16:28:00.000-04:00

So this morning I heard loud meows coming from my garage, and both my kitties were looking at me in my kitchen. I opened the door to the garage, and saw a tiny kitten under my car!! He was stuck in the garage all night, poor guy. I opened the garage door to let him out, but he didn't go out, he disappeared. I looked all over the garage, still hearing the meow, which sounded like it was near the car but I couldn't see the little guy anywhere.

So I popped the hood. And saw a little kitten head staring back at me. Which then promptly disappeared as he burrowed himself deeper into the engine. Now what? After a few minutes of searching the engine and poking at it with an umbrella I couldn't find him, so I thought maybe he ran out. I closed the hood. About a half hour later, I took Jeff into the garage with me and he opened the hood, just to be sure, and THERE HE WAS, right on top. Had I been expecting it I could have grabbed him, but he wriggled off into the depths of the engine once more. We decided to leave some food out and leave the hood up in hopes that he would come out. I was trying to go to the gym I just joined (free childcare!), so I had to lug the car seat out of my car and wrestle it into Jeff's.

When L and I came home, the food had been eaten, so I *guess* this means the little bugger found his way out. But I am petrified to start my car. I really needed a visual confirmation on this one, you know? Let the paranoid checking begin...

Cutie and the Geek

2007-07-14T09:02:00.001-04:00

It's all in how you dress 'em.

Stupid genetics...

2007-06-14T13:46:00.001-04:00

So Leia was with my parents, and she ate a small amount of cereal that had peanut butter in it. (It was my nephew's Reeses Puffs...don't get me started on the fact that he was eating *that*, but anyway...) She develped hives and later started coughing and wheezing pretty badly. After a few phone calls, my father rushed her to the doctors office and she ended up needing an adrenaline shot. Ugh. So now we need to carry an epi-pen and join the ranks of parents with a peanut-allergic child. I am thankful that she does *not* get the "throat closes up and you die" kind of reaction, but it is still scary. I swear, she inherited all of her daddy's genetic anomalies. (He is not allergic to peanuts in particular, but is definitely the allergic type, and toted around his own epi-pen for years.) She even has his feet. Poor child.

Niagara Falls

2007-06-04T12:24:00.000-04:00

For our 8th anniversary (yikes!), Jeff and I drove up to Niagara Falls for two nights without the child (that alone is a vacation in and of itself...the destination is just gravy). Here is Jeff in the smurf suit they give you for the Maid of the Mist

American falls from the boat...Jeff was determined to get a shot with a bird in it.

After Jeff told me I smile like a dork for pictures.

Here are Jeff's hives from being on the Maid of the Mist. He's a freak of nature, I tell you.

All in all, it was a great little trip. There's lots of campy tourist stuff near the falls that is fun to do, and the falls themselves are one of those things you really ought to see at least once in your lifetime.

Rant...

2007-05-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

Since Jeff has left the full-time workforce, we have had to foot the bill for our health insurance directly. This is not a small bill, and since we are paying out the ass for coverage I have decided to get everybody current with their checkups. Last week I had an appointment with a dermatologist to have my skin checked, and I had to have a couple of biopsies. Yesterday I got "the call" from Oxford...the one where they are "just wondering" if I might have some "other" insurance coverage so they can weasel out of paying my claim. They then proceed to withold payment until I verify that I'm not forgetting to charge my secret backup health insurance company instead of them. Heaven forbid Oxford should have to, oh, I don't know, PAY for something. Honestly, this happens every time I go to the damn doctor, and I am really sick of it.

Rant over. Oh, and my skin is fine :)

Spider Man 3

2007-05-04T16:25:00.000-04:00

A Synopsis:

Particle Man, Particle Man
Particle Man hates Spider Man
They have a fight
Spider Man wins
Particle Man

How did I end up on this track???

2007-04-30T13:37:00.001-04:00

I have been really struggling over the past several months with the dissertation. I've been researching and reading and writing but I am not really getting anywhere, which I am very frustrated with and seem to deal with primarily through avoidance. (And crochet...wait until I post pictures of the blanket I am finishing up for my Mom for Mother's Day...but that will come later.)

Part of the problem is that I am so removed from the community at school. I live far away, and everyone I know has already graduated. But I think the real reason involves the little epiphany I had last night: Ever since I became a mother, I don't take myself or my potential career all that seriously, and as a result, neither does anyone else. Oops...I've mommy-tracked myself. I have been reduced to continually reminding everyone involved that yes, I still exist, and yes, I do intend to graduate someday. It's not unlike running inside a hamster wheel and it's predictably exhausting.

I'm not sure what my point is in posting this, and I'm not sure how I intend to climb out of this little hole I seem to be in. I just needed to put it out there, I guess. It's been on my mind for a long time now but I couldn't put it into words.

Lazy afternoon

2007-04-25T17:22:00.000-04:00

Leia settles down to paint, while Max hangs out to watch.

Of course paint feels great on your nose.

And your face...

And your eyes...
Maybe now would be a good time for a bath.

Crochet on display

2007-04-14T12:15:00.000-04:00

Recently I taught myself how to crochet, and it turns out I like it much more than knitting. So much so that I have to limit myself to evenings only, lest I hook my way through writing time! Here are some pictures of things I've made, on the only model in my house that stays still:

R2 in his Garden Scarf

R2 Rocks the Granny Shawl

He he...I'm such a dork :)

Freaking out...

2007-04-05T19:35:00.000-04:00

I just found out that a group of 4th graders beat up a kindergartener on the school bus in my neighborhood. The child was apparently found unconscious in the back of the bus and had to go to the hospital. WTF is wrong with those kids? And their parents??

I am just so shocked and upset by this. I mean, part of why we moved here was for the excellent safe schools. And the presumably safe school buses. I know, mine is still little, but still...it's scary.

Jeff's New Digs

2007-03-25T19:53:00.000-04:00

We spent the weekend moving Jeff's office into the guest bedroom across the hall. We did this because that room is bigger, so it will accomodate a home office plus a futon for guests. Plus if we ever have another child we won't have to hear the "But why is HER room BIGGER???" argument (the other 2 bedrooms are identical and significantly smaller). Also, Jeff wanted a fresh start for the writing. Hmm...maybe I should scrap the plans for Leia's bedroom and claim the old office for me...

I painted the room on Saturday and today we moved about 75% of his stuff in. We still need to move around some bookshelves and whatnot in order to finish, but it's close enough for now. I'll post a picture once I hang some stuff on the walls.

Yay! Procrastination Rules!!

2007-03-21T13:33:00.000-04:00

New day, new template! How exciting...

Spent this morning getting ready for my in-law's couch to arrive...they are giving us their old L-shaped sectional because it won't fit in their new house. Since we've always wanted more seating in the family room, we were glad to take it off their hands. Anyway I spent the AM vacuuming under , in, and around the ol' Purple Couch and Big Purple Chair. I found a box's worth of crayons plus many assorted game pieces. Then I got to play House Tetris to find a place to stash the current couch and chair before we figure out what we're going to do with them. Then the movers showed up and tracked mud all over the universe so I had to clean the floor, and clean up the new/old couch and rearrange more furniture.

This is all WAY better than, oh, I don't know, actually WRITING or something. Having a great day so far! What else can I clean?? Off to do laundry...

Oh, my poor abandoned blog...

2007-03-19T13:06:00.000-04:00

How I've apparently not missed thee all that much...but I clicked on my dashboard bookmark by mistake and now I feel compelled to update.

For those of you that a) still visit this link (maybe? somebody?) and b) do not know this already, the husband up and quit his job so he can take a stab at making it as a writer. This is good news! I am very excited for him, and I am secretly hoping that he inspires me to write some more myself. I am slogging along revising my proposal. Still need one more prof for committee (first choice for third member is too busy right now so I have to find someone else). But I have a solid lit review going and if I can just get out of my own way I ought to be able to propose before the semester is out.

In other news, my cat Max almost died a few weeks ago :( but he is OK now. Turns out he is diabetic and was ketoacidotic (code for: nearly dead) and had to be hospitalized for four days. But now he is on twice daily insulin injections and an all-new diabetes friendly diet and is looking 1000 percent better. Later this afternoon we have to wrestle him into the box for a vet visit to see how he's doing on the current insulin dose. And I do mean wrestle. He was always a beast about getting into the box but now it is much, much worse, as he thinks we're going to leave him there again. Poor guy.

I'd promise lots more regular updates but I don't want to set myself up for feeling guilty if I flake out again. So on that note I say goodbye for now...

OK, here are some pictures!!

2006-12-18T20:44:00.000-05:00

Leia with her new Hanukkah guitar (courtesy of Jeff's father).

And in her favorite hat (that she never seems to actually NEED due to global warming)

If you've got time on your hands...

2006-11-06T14:17:00.000-05:00

Try these:

Weffriddles!

These are addictive. I'm currently stuck on level 35. I won't let Jeff play lest he zoom past me and ruin the fun for me. (As he tends to do with puzzles and, well, games in general, but that's another story.)

Don't blame me if you get sucked in.

She Blinded Me With Science!

2006-10-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

This week on VH1 they're doing the Top 100 Songs of the 80s. Ahhh...I've died and gone to 80s heaven. If you're a sucker for all things 80s like Yours Truly, I highly reccommend!!

sick baby :(

2006-10-30T12:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening Miss Leia (who has had a cold with ear infection for the past few days) started wheezing and developed a fever. Today we found out that she has a case of bronchiolitis (totally guessing on the spelling) and is going to need to take medication via nebulizer for 10 days. Fantastic. Brought home the machine this morning after doing one round in the office. She is not exactly crazy about it - she has to wear a little mask and breathe in the meds for 10 minutes or so every 6 hours. She's out of day care for the week, too. I'm supposed to have a phone meeting with one of my committee people this afternoon, and Jeff is working from home so he can watch L for me while I do that. Leia herself is doing realtively well otherwise - the fever broke, and she's eating and playing as usual, so at lease she is not too miserable. Am getting used to the fact that this week is going to be totally derailed for me. Makes me wish I'd been more productive with writing last week when I actually had the time. Blargh.

One down...

2006-10-24T09:15:00.000-04:00

One to go! Got one professor on the committee, now I just need one more...

update

2006-10-16T20:39:00.000-04:00

OK, so it's not exactly a weekly update, but cut me some slack, I'm entirely self-motivated here (or non-motivated, as the case may be).

Operation: Form Committee is underway. Currently I am on a reconnaissance mission to find out which professors are good to work with and which ones I ought to aviod. I'm drawing up a list of people to ask and have been gathering courage and little pep talks here and there. And, I am learning all sorts of little details about what you can and can't do as far as committees go at my school that I am wondering why I never knew before, but that's another story...

I can't wait until this part is over.

Ugh, I have to deal with the D thing.

2006-10-05T09:54:00.000-04:00

OK, so I really enjoy blogging about the Mommy thing, and apparently about my backyard as well (which is finally fenced on all sides, btw - very nice to have boundaries!) but I think I need to focus a bit more on the All-But-Disstertation stuff. And this is why:

I need to select a committee. For those who may not know, that entails asking two professors (I already have a chairman) to serve on the committee for my dissertaion. I am petrified of doing this. Absolutely petrified. It's classic fear of rejection, and not particularly rational of me, but it's there and I am having a lot of trouble working up the courage to ask professors to be on the committee.

I'm putting this out here to help me move past it. I figure the more I talk (type?) about it the more likely I will be to just shut up and do it. Afer all, I'm not going to get very far without a *&^%# committee!!! So I am going to update this blog weekly in regard to this Committee Conundrum I seem to have. There, I have set my intentions. I shall now go forth and eat some breakfast.

Far too long

2006-09-29T20:18:00.000-04:00

Good grief, I can't believe I negelected my poor little blog for so long :(

Well, life is increasingly chaotic so there is lots to blog about. We made the decision recently to put the little one in day care three days a week, since the babysitter thing was not quite working for me (Turns out I can't stand having to hide out in my own house). If I ever expect to become something other than ABD I need to find a way to get more time to work, and this made the most sense. So far it's working out OK, except for when I drop her off and she says things like, "No, Mommy, I want you! Stay with me!" But yesterday I picked her up and she started to tell me about some of the other kids in the class ("I play with Ka-tee-na!") so I think that's a good sign.

And, tomorrow we're celebrating Leia's second birthday! I went full-on girly and bought her a play kitchen. I went nuts over the &*(%$ kitchen. I compared countless models over the course of 2 months or so, and then when the one I finally ordered got delayed I cancelled it and went out and got a more expensive one so I could at least get it in time. She's 2, for crying out loud. She'd be thrilled if we got her balloons and a bucket of acorns for her birthday. But I digress... Later tonight I'm going to stock it with fake food and she'll see it when she goes downstairs in the morning. I'm ridiculously excited about it.

Tenacious Trees

2006-08-03T20:10:00.000-04:00

Unbelieveably, the cherry trees are sprouting new leaves. I thought for sure they were as good as dead, because those beetles ate every last green part off of them. Yay trees!

melting....

2006-08-02T14:41:00.000-04:00

It's crazy how tired I've been these past few days. Between "Jeff-Lag" (due to lack of sleep from husband's crazy annual roleplaying weekend event) and this heat I feel like a total slug. On the positive side I got myself a shiny new academic calendar that with any luck will be my last.

Japanese Beetle Attack!!!

2006-07-07T15:33:00.000-04:00

First they had to recover from the shock of being planted, and now my pretty new cherry trees are being eaten alive by stupid Japanese beetles. Apparantly they can't resist nice juicy fruit trees. Yesterday afternoon I found them crawling all over both trees, munching away, leaving skeletal leaf remnants in their wake. I went to the plant nursery and they said I should try setting a trap, since I'd prefer to avoid spraying pesticides all over my yard. I just put it out. It smells like cloves. It had better work.

PhD2B?

2006-06-19T20:59:00.000-04:00

Well, today I finally had a meeting with my dissertation chair. It's only been, oh, three years or so since I last saw him in person. Anyway, it went well, and he has 2 little ones that are very close in age (think Cocking Family child spacing) so he totally understands why I've been progressing so slowly. He thinks I have a decent draft underway and if all goes well I could propose this fall. And then all I have to do is collect data, and analyze it, and write it all up and defend it! No problem! Despite the mild sarcasm I am actually feeling encouraged. I really will do this and be finished sometime in this lifetime.

Go Away!

2006-06-13T08:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning when I told Leia it was time to have her diaper changed, I was told:

"I don't want. Go away!!"

She had a devious grin on her face when she said it.

Seems I'm getting some pre-two-year defiance. Fabulous. Of course I thought her antics were hysterical, which probably didn't help the situation.

Photo Onslaught

2006-06-06T08:44:00.000-04:00

Wanted to post more pictures from the musuem...

Here's Leia driving a tractor and pretending to eat some corn:

And shopping (she needed lots of lemons, apparently)

And harvesting vegetables:

Great, fun place. I took her twice over the course of the weekend, since she loved it so much and the place is small enough that I could basically let her run loose and entertain herself. I hear there is something similar in New York. I'd totally be up for a field trip!

Scary story

2006-06-04T21:17:00.000-04:00

I won't sleep unless I write about this.

I woke up just before 5AM this morning in our hotel in Philly. I looked over and saw Jeff fast asleep, and then I rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Now, we stayed in a suite (sweet!), and the bathroom had two doors. I was going through the bathroom to get into the next room where Leia was sleeping so I could check on her. There were no lights on, so it was pretty dark, but I could see where I was going. To my horror, I saw a person standing right in front of me, blocking the other door. And the person was moving toward me. And it was *not* Jeff, as he was sleeping in bed behind me. I ran back to the bedroom screaming. Jeff jumped up immediately, started screaming louder, and ran through the bathroom to check on Leia. He found her safe, so he stopped screaming and came back into our room. I was on the bed shaking. "What's wrong???" he asked. I asked him to turn on the lights and told him I thought I saw someone in the bathroom. Then the phone rang. (Just to add to the extreme spookieness.) It was the front desk, wanting to know if we were okay. I imagine it sounded like somebody'd been murdered or something. We scooped Leia out of her Pack 'N Play and put her in our bed, right between us, where she immediately went back to sleep. Neither one of us slept much more after that, though.

Jeff told me later that his worst fear is that something happens to Leia in the middle of the night, and that I find her and then come get him in hysterics. So that is why he started instantly screaming and running to her. I still don't know what I saw in that bathroom. A ghost? My mind playing tricks? Who knows. All I know is that I can't remember ever being more scared.

Many Leias

2006-06-04T21:11:00.000-04:00

Just got back from a trip to Philly (Wizard convention) and I took Leia to a wonderful kid's museum called the Please Touch Museum. I am too tired to go into all of the details now but I wanted to post my favorite picture.

I'll write more about it after I've had some sleep...

Trees please

2006-05-22T14:15:00.000-04:00

Having been in this house for 2 whole years, I decided it's time to get outside and do some landscaping in our little ol' yard. We bought all sorts of nice shrubs and plants and five nice-sized trees. The trees were being planted this morning, and I was very excited. Then I woke up at 4AM and remembered that I have no idea where the gas line is buried (or the electric, phone, or cable, for that matter). Probably a good idea to find out where that is before the poor tree planter hits a line and my neigborhood explodes or we lose cable or some other disaster. So this morning I called the "Dig Safely NY" people and they are going to have all of the lines marked for me. But I had to cancel the trees and reschedule for Thursday, which is a minor bummer.

On a positive note, our dream of fencing all around is being realized, as we've arranged to share the cost of some fencing we'll share with the people next door. When it's all done we'll have a nice, private, semi-enclosed backyard. And it will have trees!!

Poor little geeky baby...

2006-05-17T08:30:00.000-04:00

My husband has trained our young one (or should I say padawan???) to ask for Star Wars by name. As in, "Star Wars? Watch Star Wars!" Jeff of course beams with pride and loads up A New Hope immediately. He reads the opening titles to her as if they are a bedtime story. When people get hit by blasters he tells her they are going to sleep. She's obsessed with R2-D2's whereabouts and wants to know "Where D2 go?" whenever he is off-screen.

What's perhaps even sadder is that I am loving this. It's really sweet and funny to watch them together. He finally got his very own Princess Leia.

To sleep, perchance to let Mommy watch Desperate Housewives

2006-05-15T20:15:00.000-04:00

Lately my little one has been next to impossible to put to sleep at night. She used to get into her crib, smile, say "Night night Mommy!" and I would gleefully go forth into the world of adults (well, if you consider Jeff an adult, but you get the idea). But for the past week or so it's been "No, Mommy...Read book again! Sit here!" etc. and I've been getting sustained howls of fury should I try to leave before she falls asleep. This is completely unlike naptime, where she usually cries for 30 seconds or so but then gives up and goes to sleep. I've been feeling like I did when she was an infant and I refused to let her cry it out but was at the same time at my wit's end becasue she just too forever to get to sleep. I've taken to begging Jeff to sit in the nursery with his laptop and play World of Warcraft so she stops crying and I get to leave, which works, but it's not his favorite solution. But tonight I seem to have stumbled upon the answer: I told her I had to go potty (true, I really had to pee...) but I'd come back and check on her. (I conveniently neglected to specify when.) Lo and behold, no crying! I heard some "Where Mommy?" on the monitor, but no outraged screams of fury. I'm ridiculously happy right now. Now let's see if it works tomorrow!

So much for gender neutrality

2006-05-05T11:15:00.000-04:00

Leia hands me the cart by itself with the little blond dude inside.

"Oh, look, the prince is riding in the hay cart!"

"Horsey?"

"Yes, he needs a horsey."
Leia digs around for a horse and attaches it to the cart. Then she puts the prince on the horse.

"Oh, the prince will ride the horsey! Who's going to ride in the cart?"

"Princess!"
She gets the princess and deposits her into the cart.

"So the princess gets to ride in the hay cart? Where is the prince taking her?"

"Shopping."

Yep, that sounds about right.

Yes, she's playing Ms. Pac-Man

2006-04-25T20:27:00.000-04:00

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Watch my child, please!

2006-04-17T16:38:00.000-04:00

Having come to terms with my complete inability to produce decent work in tiny spurts, I decided to hire a babysitter to come watch Leia for two afternoons a week so ABD Mommy can get some writing done. We're in the give-it-a-try-and-see-how-it-goes phase now, but I think it just may work out! Leia seems to like the sitter, and I can't hear too much of the whining for Mama when I'm sequestered off someplace upstairs. Maybe soon I'll get really bold and leave the house. It could happen.

They really are like little sponges...

2006-04-07T08:11:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, my daughter's grandmother bought her a red Little Tikes toy shopping cart. Leia loves the thing. She pushes it everywhere, dropping all manner of random objects into the basket, while happily exclaiming, "Shap-pee!" (Shopping, in case you don't speak baby.) Her stuffed animals even get to ride in the front. Great toy.

A few days ago Leia needed to have her diaper changed. Now, she's the kind of child who would gladly wear the same diaper 24/7, so usually she is not happy about a change. This was no exception. Usually I get a barrage of loud NOs when I change her. This time, however, she tearfully exclaimed, "Shap-pee!!! SHAPPEE!!!!"

"What? Leia, you can go shopping after we're done. Now hold still. Stop wiggling! Stop it!"

Later on, I had to wrestle her into her car seat when she clearly wanted to play "owside" instead. Again, instead of No, I got, "Shap-pee!" Except it sounded more like this: "Stap-pee!" Same reaction when I wouldn't let her stand on the kitchen chairs.

"Hmm," I thought, "Maybe she isn't talking about shopping. What's stap-pee?"

That evening as I tried fruitlessly to get her to watch a DVD so I could cook dinner, I became very frustrated with her whining at me to pick her up.

"Leia! No whining!! Stop it! STOP IT!!"

Stap-pee?

Oh. Now I get it.

Great, baby's first expletive. Granted, it's a mild one, but still, it's weird to hear her speak that way. Of course, now that I understand what she is trying to say it makes a lot more sense. It's pretty funny when I hear her in her car seat telling her Elmo phone to "stop it" when it doesn't do whatever it is she wants it to do. What blows me away is how she clearly picked it up from imitiating yours truly. (I know, duh, but she's my first and I'm making most of it up as I go.) They really do soak up everything you do and say.

I guess if I want her to stop I'll have to stappee as well.

Big surprise here.

2006-04-04T20:27:00.000-04:00

You Are 10% Boyish and 90% Girlish

Even if you're not a girl, you're very feminine.
You're in touch with your feelings, and your heart rules you.
A bit of a emotional roller coaster, one moment you're up and the next you're down.
But no matter what, you try to be as cute and perky as possible.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Soooo excited

2006-03-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

That we are finally having good weather!

Leia is very happy to finally go "ow-side!" We've been taking walks in the stroller and running up and down the sidewalk and in the yard several times a day. I've procured a sandbox, but there's no sand in it yet so for now that's inside. We also ordered her a Little Tikes swingset/climber thingy that I can't wait to set up. It's been a lovely and much needed change of pace to get out and get some air.

Guitar Hero = Best Game Ever!!!

2006-03-26T09:11:00.000-05:00

Jeff came back from a trip to LA last Monday raving about Guitar Hero for PS2, and quickly decided he had to have it. Now, I am a total non-gamer type, but I have to say this game is awesome. You get this fake guitar and you play along to the music, and it's so much fun. Of course Jeff is way too good at it which takes some of the fun out of it for a mere mortal like myself but it's still really cool.

Nerdy Moms Unite?

2006-03-18T20:14:00.000-05:00

Saw an article in the local newspaper today about "Punky Moms" (www.punkymoms.com)

Punkymoms is an "alternative" Mom's group, the "tattooed, pierced, rock-n-rolling, coffee drinking, cigarette smoking, toy collecting, comic book reading...creative...breast feeding...sling wearing mamas" (You get gist. Look at the website if you want the whole list.)The idea is that you had a certain (punky, presumably) identity before kids, and why should you have to give that up simply becasue you've procreated?

Here's a quote from a member: "They understand if you want to wear black, if your hair is blue, if you want to be all-cloth diapering, or if you want to raise your kid a vegan."

Sounds good to me. More power to you. My question is, where are the Nerdy Moms??? And why are we not better organized? My Google search turned up bupkis. What of the Mommies who are closet Trekkies? Who don't think math class is particularly hard? Who over-intellectualize every parenting challenge because that's how we approach everything else in our nerdy little lives? (Perhaps I should have looked up Trekkie Mom.)

Alas, I am too introverted to take this on as a side project (and there's also that stupid D I am supposed to be writing). Heck, I'd even take Geeky or Dorky Moms, although I've always thought that Nerd was the least offensive of that class of terms.

Maybe I'll just get a tattoo and call it a day.

Supper

2006-03-16T17:09:00.000-05:00

Mmm...hommus.

OB/Gs and ABDs

2006-03-16T07:54:00.000-05:00

So I rewarded myself for writing a WHOLE PAGE this morning by starting this blog...so I can write something else, I guess. Something less torturous and more fun.

I went to the OB/GYN for a checkup last week (fun, right?). The doc asked me if I was working or staying at home with my 17-month-old daughter. I said I was at home and was also working on the Big D. She said:

"Oh, wow. I don't know how you do that. I'd rather take a big test any day. I like my hoops to jump through to be specific and defined. That sounds so hard."

Personally, I think med school sounds pretty hard, not to mention residency, but hey, that's me.

She and the nurse mused on and off for the next few minutes about how it must be tough to find time to write, etc., blah blah. Then the nurse asked me, "How can you do that?"

I blurted out, "I can't."

Truthfully, I can't. Not as I've been working up to this point. My writing has been too slow and too in the margins for me to ever get anywhere. And the fact that I seem to think it is not possible is probably not great either.

Ugh, what a downer! I didn't mean for that to happen. But that is my truth right this minute, and I'm sticking to it.