Lectures

Have I ever told you about how much N (6) lectures her sisters? It's crazy! Even I don't lecture like she does--not even in class. Whew! She's been lecturing K (3.5) for about 5 minutes on how you never put a bath toy in your mouth. She's covered all the angles I believe. It's nice to not have to be the one lecturing. Heh.

They said it couldn't be done....

When I started a second blog, back in June, for the family, my friends shook their heads and said, "There's no way you'll be able to keep up with two blogs!" I've been keeping up with two blogs, posting about every other day to the family one and pretty much every day here. I've been a little stressed and sick the last couple of weeks, so I haven't posted here as much as usual, but it's a bit of an anomaly.

I feel like it's possible for me to have two blogs, but I'm struggling with what stories go on which blog. The family blog has lots of pictures and generally little in the way of just text. But sometimes, I write a story about the girls, put it here, and then and I wish I'd put it on the family blog because I'm sure the Grandmas would LOVE to read it.

I view this blog as a place for me to think aloud. I don't even think aloud about everything but I think aloud about things I would discuss with my friends. I wouldn't discuss all of the things I discuss here with my family, mostly because I don't want to make my family worry. I used to post all the little girl stories here, but now I'm wanting to post them to the family blog... I'm trying to figure out if I should change the name of this blog and change the focus slightly....or what to do...

[Picture removed]

I need your help my faithful readers. How should I do this? I know some of you read both blogs, so it probably doesn't matter to you where things go, but suggestions are appreciated!

Geeky confession...

Did I ever tell you all we have two ISPs? Well, we do. Neither MWH nor I like it when the 'net is down, so we ended up getting two ISPs to avoid the problem. (Yes, we're addicted.) Next stop, Dual WAN Router.

I really need to work less...

Because I need more time to play in the Blogosphere... There's a lot of great memes floating around. Hopefully I can find time soon!

I should have had some ice cream last night.........*

Wilbur's stomach was empty and his mind was full, and when your stomach is empty and your mind is full, It's hard to fall asleep. But eventually, sleep and Wilbur found each other.**

That was me last night. I was hungry because I kind of forgot to eat yesterday. I forgot to eat because I was stressed. I was stressed because I got the written comments from students from last semester.

In the light of day, the comments aren't that bad. However, when you live for positive reinforcement, like I do, it HURTS when you get negative feedback. I work hard to be told, "Good job." Every once in a while, I tell my supervisor, "I need to be patted on the head and told good job." Since we've worked together for 10 years, he knows when I need this and will sometimes signal me across the room, and tell me good job by making a patting motion with his hand. Heh.

So back to the comments...People comment when the LOVE something and when they HATE something. It's rare to write a comment if you're just sort of "eh, whatever, it was okay." I got a few very positive comments, a few very negative ones (equal number of good and bad ones) and several negative comments about the "innovation" I made to the class. The feedback they gave about the innovation was helpful, but I'd already made the changes I thought would help make it better. I knew some of the things I did in class didn't work. I've been thinking of how to make the innovation and all things related to it better since the bginning of last semester. Most of the comments were simply, "Less Innovation." The innovation required them to work, and they don't want to do that. Hopefully, I've made the innovation seem a little more meaningful.

A few of the comments were about the last half of the class being disorganized. I'm sure it was. You'll remember that my friend died last semester. I was a mess for a while. I'm not surprised the end of the course was less than organized. I am only a mere mortal after all. The best I can do now is learn from the experience and work to make it better. Wish me luck.



*I haven't had ice cream at night before bed ALL year. I think I had a small ice cream when we were out for N's birthday and a couple of bites one night after dinner. Very impressive, I'd say.
**Thanks to IMDB for the Charlotte's Web Quote

A rainy Sunday

Today MWH and I took the little girls swimming. It's a cold and yucky day outside. It was nice to get some exercise for the girls. T (2.4) loves swimming, going under water and I am most impressed by all she does. She will love it when she's 3--she'll be able to take swimming lessons!*

K (3.5) has decide to wear a Bindi. She has a good friend at school who wears one. K is very fashion-conscious. K's Bindi is a blue sequin she licked to make stick to her forehead. Rather resourceful, eh?

N (6) is interested in learning to program. She loves playing these games. We told her if she learned how to program, she could make her own games and get them to do exactly what she wants. She is interested! MWH has a mission now.

MWH just learned the term Bling (or Bling-Bling). He's a little embarrassed that a presidential candidate knows the term and he didn't.

My Mom called today for a recipe. I'm glad she's feeling well enough to cook. Yippee!


I'm trying to determine whether my class is too hard or too easy. I can't decide. It's the hardest part of teaching for me.



*Where did my baby go???? She will be 3 in the blink of an eye. She's almost 2.5. YIKES!

Trust me...

MWH and I say "Trust me, I'm a professional." all the time to the girls. Today T (2.4) spilled some of her drink and said, "It's okay, I'm not a professional."

I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.


(And yes, she just got two quotes of the day in ONE DAY! Go T!)

Not rational

This morning, T (2.4) was throwing a fit. I said, "T, you're being irrational." She looked back at me and said, "I'm not rational."

10 minutes

I have 10 minutes until N3nny leaves today. I don't think I've mentioned lately how much we love her, but we do!

Yesterday, K (3.5) threw a doozy of a fit. She wouldn't go to preschool. N3nny took it in stride. It was nice not to have to deal with criticism from my nanny about my child. MP had some issues with K and my parenting style. MP usually didn't say much, but every once in a while her opinions of my parenting would burst forth and she would leave upset. N3nny isn't yet a parent, but when she is, she'll be much more like the kind of parent I am (only more patient!--she's a saint! I am not!). MP was a very different type of parent. And that's okay.

I didn't set out to write about nanny or parenting issues. Moving back to the point of the post...

Oh, wait there wasn't a point. I was just going to try to catch you up in 10 minutes. (And to record as much as possible so I'd remember later what happened!)

1. The Moms ... My Mom got on a different antibiotic for her bronchitis and it's not making her sick. In retrospect, I don't think she had stomach flu, I think the antibiotic made her sick. My friend's mother-in-law got out of ICU. Yay.

2. T is in a totally two-year-old phase! MWH and I have taken to calling her "Psycho-Jo." The reason we think she's psycho is if you ask if she wants something she'll scream how she most EMPHATICALLY DOES NOT want something. Okay.... Then two seconds later, she'll be screaming about how she WANTS the very thing she was just screaming about not wanting. See? Psycho-Jo. I know this is normal for a two-year-old, but the nickname MWH and I have for her makes us laugh. We aren't calling her that to her face (though we want to!).

3. I have a lot of work to do. C-Report, i-Report (not until Tuesday), self-evaluation, and my class. I'm trying to not stress too much. I'm almost at the end of my rope in terms of how much work I can do without a break. I'm trying to get some time for ME. I've been having trouble staying motivated right now. It's a sign I need a break.

4. Oh, yea, my class. My students seem eager and excited. Yippee. More soon.

5. My friend who recently had the miscarriage just ended another cycle. (Not pregnant. Sigh.)

Okay... 10 minutes is now long gone. So is N3nny. I am sitting watching 2 of the 3 little girls eat dinner. N (6) is lecturing K about eating vitamins. Wow, N got K to taste the vitamin. I am shocked. Yippee.

Little girl #3 (T) is taking her nap.

Thinner?

MWH doesn't usually comment on my weight because he's scared he might say the wrong thing. This morning, when he was giving me a hug, said, "Do I feel thinner to you like you feel thinner to me?"

Is that not the most beautiful thing you've ever heard?

We had that awful flu and we both lost about 5 pounds. Neither of us felt like eating after the flu. Seriously. I'm almost back to normal, but not quite. We both are wondering how much we'll gain back. I'm good with gaining back two, but damn if I don't like the number on the scale right now. I still plan to tone and work really hard this year. I plan to call this great gym and set up a time with a personal trainer. I don't have time (nor the desire to spend a ton of money) to go weekly, so I'll see if I can set up something for monthly. (Hey, I just filled out their online form to set something up with them. Woo-hoo! Go me!)

Okay... Class starts soon. I should probably go figure out what I'm going to say. I dutifully created my syllabus--I say dutifully because I have to put in several readings I don't feel are appropriate for the student. I put them in the syllabus, and then, somehow we don't have time to get to them. I doubt my students mind.

Moms

I got to hang with two wonderful friends. We had a bit of quality time this afternoon. Two of the three of us got pedicures and one of us got a manicure. Two of us are very worried about a Mom. My own Mom is sick with bronchitis, and possibly the stomach flu that we had last week. Ugh. Either one alone is awful.* I hope she feels better tomorrow. The Mom of my dear friend's husband is very very sick. They'll know more soon. It's just so sad when a Mom is sick. As a kid, it's just not right. Moms always make it better. When they are sick, they don't. Both Moms need lots of good thoughts.

Hopefully, soon, I'll be back to regular blog-programming. Right now, I'm just a little too stressed.


*I've been so worried I called Mom and Dad about every 3 hours to check in on them. This afternoon, after many calls, my Dad said, "You don't need to keep calling... I'll let you know if anything changes." Heh.

Too many toys...

I got home from work today and N (6) was howling because she wants us to buy another black bunny rabbit (stuffed) because she doesn't want to have to share the one we have with her sisters. She found the bunny on Saturday. It was in a box. She hadn't seen the bunny for months. She hadn't missed the bunny. I think she was happy to see it again, but I do not think the bunny is one of her favorite toys. I do NOT think we need another one just like it. (She howled and howled about this.) I think she should learn to share with her sister.

[Tangent

I actually had a lot of patience for this outburst... I held her and she talked. I spent some time explaining to her how wonderful it was to have sisters. She agreed sisters are pretty good.... I kind of grew up as an only child (though I have brothers, they were much older than me). She does like how much she and her sisters get to play. I like it too. I love watching them.

End Tangent]

After a while, I convinced the girls that they have too many toys. Right now, they are in the process of going through their toys and sticking the ones they don't want in a box. I told them we could NOT buy anymore toys until we gave some of them away. I told them even if we gave some away, it didn't mean we'd get new toys. Ay-yi-yi. We don't need more stuff. We have plenty of stuff. They have plenty of stuff. We don't need more stuff. We need more time to hang out, less work to do, more hugs and kisses, but not more stuff.

My friend wrote about too much stuff. Paul Graham wrote about it too.

Let's see...

So much has happened...

1) I sent off a version of the report for S

I worked on it all weekend. I think the report is okay, but not what he wanted. We'll see what he says. I can't worry about it anymore though.

2) My Mom seems to have bronchitis. I'll be worrying about that for a while. Think good thoughts for her and my Dad.

3) My class starts on this week. I should go look at my syllabus and make sure it's okay.

4) It's raining and cold here. I like it and I don't.

5) I still am working on the blog posts I told you about before. I still need a little more time to catch up. I have to do my annual review at work now too. (It always sneaks up on me.)

Tell me how you all are. Anything new and exciting out there?

Soon....

Soon, all 3 little girls will sleep in the same room. Miss T (2.4) participates fully in the night time ritual now and is starting to ask to sleep with K (3.6). I want to hold off as long as possible as I think having 3 little girls in one room will be a lot like a slumber party every night. Take last night for example, Miss K had fallen asleep quickly, but N (6!) was awake and T (2.4) was awake. If all 3 had been in the same room, N and T would have been chatting and who knows if K could have slept. Having 3 girls in one room increases the odds that 2 will be awake at the same time and will be talking. (Trust me, I've done the math!) It will be cute and it will be sweet. My little girls are growing up.

N asks...

Today, N (6) and I were hanging in the kitchen when she asked me how my friend DK died. Deep breath... I said DK had something go wrong with one of the blood vessels in her head. N asked how it went wrong. I said we didn't know. As far as I know, DK didn't have any warning signs. I never heard her complain about headaches. If she had them, I'm imagining she just wrote them off to stress. She wasn't in a high risk category for stroke. She wasn't overweight, didn't smoke, ate pretty darn healthy foods, and exercised some (she wanted to do more, but hadn't figured out how to work it in).

N and I talked more about how DK did do all the healthy things I just mentioned and N didn't understand how she could have died. DK played by the rules--dying shouldn't have been the outcome. It wasn't fair. It really rocks your world when you don't have an explanation.

How can she possibly be gone? Gone as in really gone. As in never ever coming back. How? I haven't deleted her phone number from my cell phone... Occasionally, I hit it by accident. I would love to talk with her again. I should probably delete it, but I don't want to delete it. I should be able to call her. I can't. I miss her.

Toast

N (6!) is making cinnamon toast for her sister K (3.5). So sweet! She can do it all. She can 1) use the toaster, 2) butter, 3) sprinkle cinnamon sugar, 4) cut it in half 5) serve it to her on a plate.

I am impressed.

I am tired and overwhelmed. (Get the pun?) I am thrilled N can make toast!

More interuption...

MWH and n3nny are sick with the nasty bug today. I'm in charge. So much for getting any work done today and catching up. Maybe tomorrow.

It's when illness occurs that I wonder how I possibly think I can work with small children. I feel overwhelmed and like I'm not doing anything well. I'm trying not to stress... Deep breath....

Also, for the record, T (2.25) asked to nurse last night. She didn't nurse for very long, but we're still weaning.

Interruption

We (N, 6; T, 2.25 and I) got sick Monday night. It was a nasty 6-ish hour bug. My washing machine got quite the work-out Monday-Tuesday. I felt a lot better by yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. Still exhausted, but mucho better. Now I'm catching up from the illness. More soon. I have lots I want to blog about and lots of half written posts. Be patient with me as I dig my way out from the loss of 24 hours.

This morning, the number on my scale was lower than I've seen it since 2001. This is due to above, but in related news, T is definitely weaning. When she's done, I anticipate a 3-5 pound drop in my weight. T didn't nurse the last two nights... Granted, we had the whole illness thing, but nursing babies usually love to nurse when they are sick because it's comforting. It's also the perfect food/nutrition and has many wonderful, healing qualities.

Since nursing is so good, I was torn about whether I should offer her the opportunity or not. I didn't offer and she didn't ask. We're in the weaning stage of if she doesn't ask, I don't offer. I stuck to that even though I wanted to offer. I almost offered last night (Tuesday) but decided since I was still recovering not to push my body any harder. We'll see what happens tonight. She skipped one night last week (on her own), barely nursed a couple of others, and nursed a lot on Sunday. She's 2 years, 5 months... That's a fine age to wean. (I remember when she was born and I was counting down until 8/07 when I would stop nursing...Here we are in 1/08...)

Thank goodness

Again, on the bright side... Thank goodness I have my retainer.

The whole emotional thing... I just want to curl up and be asleep or cry.... I just checked in on my class enrollment and I now have 25 students. A few weeks ago I only had 21 students enrolled and was worried that I might get cancelled. Today, I have 25 students. Now, I am bummed my class won't get cancelled. (I know it's just the stress of this weekend that's getting to me, but it's really getting to me. I love teaching, but today, I can't even think about it.)

The report, it's not going so well. It's going. I have 2 new analyses to discuss, but I don't think the J-man will like them, but they are true... I can't change the numbers. I can omit analyses he doesn't like, but I can't change the overall picture. It's not horrible, but I probably can't say the things he wants me to say.

Nothing specific to complain about, no changes, my father is certainly getting better.... I just really don't like this mere mortal thing. Trying to enjoy life.

On a positive note...

It's not my work that is stressing me.

Heh. Always looking on the bright side...That's me!
It's a different kind of emotional stress... Sigh. My parents aren't getting any younger and it is sad. I'll write more about it later as I think through things. At the moment, my thoughts are pretty jumbled.

What else....
I am working on a potty training post.
I am working on finishing up the report for S.
I need to work on my syllabus.
I need to work out! (Tonight)
I need a pedicure. (Next Tuesday...)

quote of the day (from a few days ago)

We went out for ice cream (as a way to celebrate N's 6th birthday) (her choice...)... We got to the C*o*ldStone Ice Cream Store we usually go to and they had gone out of business. The store was basically gutted inside. As we looked in the window and were sad about the empty store, K (3.5) said "I think they ran out of ice cream."

Heh.

There is a happy ending to the story... We went to another C*o*ldStone and got N the ice cream she wanted.

More soon. A little busy around here... My Dad fell. (Good thoughts please... It's so sad that he fell, but he seems to be mending. So sad and kind of busy and rather stressful.)

Hey!

Hey, no one delurked. Not even MWH... Any one out there????? Helllooooooooooo.

The most exciting thing, today, I got my new retainer! Yippeee! Now my teeth won't annoy me. Not having it for 2 weeks was hard. Note to self... Don't throw this one away! I also got my teeth cleaned. The dental hygenist complimented me on my good brushing and flossing habits.


What else... Someday I have to tell you about life as a kindergarten volunteer. Right now, I must try and go run some correlations on some numbers for that project for JD...

Lots of stuff going on, but no time to blog.

Apparently...

Apparently it's De-Lurker day... De-Lurk... Please! Pretty please? Just go click the Comment link below... it's EASY. You don't have to have an account or anything. Just click and post.

Thank you and much bloggy love to you.

Another cup of coffee would be nice...

I'd have a medium, non-fat, vanilla latte. I'm tired.

N is now 6! Woo-hoo! Some of the celebration is documented on the "other" blog. You know the one... If you don't, and would like to see it, let me know. Remember though, the folks over there don't know about this one. It's our little secret.

What else... JD isn't mad. I got him something by 5 yesterday... Then I sent another draft late last night... Today I got a response that he'll look at it tomorrow. I hope to get another draft to him by tonight so he can see MORE progress. I'd like to get another section completed and put in the notes from one of the study designs. I hope to talk him into another 5-10 hours of time to work on this too. I'll do the same work, but it would be NICE to get paid for all of it. He asked for a lot in 60 hours of time. I've done ~50 thus far. To do all he would like will take another 20-ish... (I have 10 to do 20 hours worth of work.... story of my life, eh?)

Okay... I'm 5 hours behind on another project, we'll call it the KF project, but I don't want to do it until this one for JD is mostly done. After JD's project and the the KF work is done, I can start the C work with bestest colleague! My bestest colleague (maybe I should call her BC for short) will be gone next week, so maybe we can hit the ground running the week of Jan. 21 ... (my class starts that week and my life will be busy then with that too).

Brace yourself for a depressing post soon. I've been thinking a lot about my friend who died lately. Sigh. It still doesn't make sense to me that she is dead. It just feels like I need to call her or something. But, no, she's dead. She helped me pick out a rug for our living room just a little over a year ago... I was planning to replace that rug, but now thinking about rugs makes me sad.

My parents are visiting and it's a good trip. I'll blog more about it later. Right now, I have 1.5 hours of time to do work... Wheeeee!

When JD is mad....

It's Swistle's fault. She posted this. Because of her post, I have to write up a bloggy version of how I found out I was pregnant with K (now 3.5). Writing up the bloggy version will keep me from working on the project for which I need a draft report done by tomorrow (CoB). And, that's why it will be Swistle's fault when JD (the leader of that project) is mad*.

I have the bloggy version of how we found out about T here for part 1 and here for part 2.

The story of N is here.

Now K....

It was August of '03. I'd been on clomid. I'd agonized over things, the whole month.

(I went back and read my journal from then. I'm going to spare you the play-by-play, but I'd been worried. I wanted N to have a sibling. My doctor had encouraged me to not wait to long because my FSH levels weren't good and I wasn't getting any younger.)

Okay... back to the story...so I was agonizingfreaking.... (K, when you're all grown up, if you want to read about all the stress, ask me for my journal.)

I think I ovulated on 8/17/03. On 8/28 (11 days past ovulation) I took a pregnancy test. Here's what I wrote in my journal about it.

I am pregnant! It’s 11 dpo. Yesterday, I felt really really queasy and really really full all afternoon. If I’d have had a stick with me I would have used it! Since MWH wanted to be with me for the testing I did it first thing this morning ~7:15 am .... I woke up and I told MWH I was going to test. I pee'd on the stick, put it in it’s little bag and set it on the night table .... My heart was pounding as I laid back down. After a minute or so I told MWH we should look. As I pulled it out of the bag, we saw 2 lines immediately.... I said something like “oh my, there are two.” One was very faint, but definitely there... You didn’t have to squint to see it. He commented on how faint it was, but I said it didn’t matter, 2 lines is 2 lines! We hugged and snuggled and tried to go back to sleep, but it’s difficult to do that after getting such exciting news!

There was a lot more concern after I took the test because we found out my progesterone was really low... Only at 8 on day 21 (they wanted it to be 15 or over). I'd had one miscarriage (before N) and I hypothesize (based on charting) it was most likely due to low progesterone/luteal phase defect). My doctor was monitoring me. She was concerned.

I started progesterone on day 11, and used it for 12 weeks and voilà... a K! At the time, it wasn't quite that simple--mucho stress was involved! But, it did work out well.

On day 17, I had a quantitative HCG test and learned my HCG was 486. Two days (19) later it was 1281! On 9/24/03 we had our first ultrasound. Here's what I wrote after it.

We have a heartbeat! The little one measured 7 weeks 1 day (+ or - 5 days--how's that for exact???) and I think I'm 7 weeks 1 and 1/2 days.

Now K is a lovely 3.5-year-old.


*Yea, and I'm not an adult and responsible for my own decisions.... Swistle's fault...Heh.

Addendum

I take it back... The little girls did miss me. Last night, bedtime was hard. I thought they were going to bed as I was blogging, but they were just stalling. They were in and out of bed and didn't fall asleep until after 11 pm. I tried to fall asleep at 11, but apparently I was pretty stressed (from work) still. I finally fell asleep around midnight and got 7 hours of sleep. It's a start. I need some more sleep, but at least I got more than 6 hours. I've got one more project with a deadline on it. It's not as hard of a deadline and it's an easier piece of work, but it's still a deadline.

After that deadline, I have

1. More C work (paper/report)...
2. New C work with my bestest colleague! (Yippeeeeeee!)
3. My class ... the syllabus

Teaching starts up in another couple of weeks. I was really hoping for some downtime over the holidays, but I guess I did take about 2 days off completely.

I'm thrilled we decided to do the insane deadline thing, and even more thrilled that we MADE the deadline, but now I'm tired. Now we wait to hear a reaction for months--literally months. It's a little anti-climactic.

Onward.

Fork... Done.... Me.......

Very tired. We have most of it done. My supervisor emailed us the "final" draft tonight. I should read it. We tried to add in an example today, but we were all too tired to make it happen. I think I'll go to sleep now (ish) and read the draft in the morning. I'm sure I'll be fresher and able to catch any mistakes then. (It has been edited, but reading for accuracy and logical issues is what I want to do.)


I'm really glad my parents are visiting right now... It's enabled me to work a lot and they've gotten to spend time with the girls. Since they are here, and the girls are excited to see them, the girls have barely noticed my absence. It's been really nice. Two years ago, when T (2.3) was just four months old, I couldn't have worked like this... She was too little, I was too tired and my brain wasn't working this well. I would have never guessed I could do this much work just two short years later.... Wowza. I must say though, I don't want to continue at this pace. I am going to work to make things make more sense in my life.


In other news, we had Chinese take-out tonight--I was too tired to cook. MWH got this as his fortune... "You and your wife will be happy in your life together." Aw.


Nitey-nite.

We are...

In reference to this, we are. I've been working a lot.

Oh, yea, and I have company, N's birthday, and a deadline on another project. MWH is tired too because he's having to cover some of what I normally do since I'm swamped. In a sick way, it's fun because I'm working with my favorite colleagues on an idea I've wanted us to pursue for a long time. I wish we had a little more time, but alas, it's not a perfect world.

I'll be back as soon as I can.

Really Proud...

This afternoon, MWH was out with K (3.5) while I baked cupcakes for N (turning 6!!!!). N wanted to do the baking with just me (no K). I obliged and got MWH to run an errand to enable this to occur.

Anyway, after I got the cupcakes in the oven, I turned my attention to the huge pile of dishes in the sink. I knew they needed to go in the dishwasher. I don't often do dishes at our house... (Just part of the reason MWH is MWH!) I got the dishes in the dishwasher... IT WAS HARD.

Next, I knew the dishwasher needed 1) soap and 2) to be turned on so the dishes would wash. I found the soap. It was at this point that I realized I wasn't sure how to do step 2.

Isn't that great???? MWH is so wonderful I'm not sure how our dishwasher works. I pushed a button and heard some noises and thought I'd succeeded in turning it on. I was proud!

Right before we were having dinner, MWH realized we should have washed dishes, but since he was out running the errand he didn't get them going. I told him my adventure of turning on the dishwasher. He went to check it and found I hadn't actually gotten it going.

Oops.

My friend, DM, was over and witnessed the whole exchange. She was laughing and laughing. My Mom, who is visiting, told me MWH spoils me too much*. What do you think? Personally, I am very proud of my lack of knowledge about our dishwasher. I also realize I am very lucky to have MWH.


*Despite not doing dishes, I do things around here. I am satisfied with the division of labor here and I think MWH is okay with it too. I know both MWH and I are excited for the girls to be a bit older and have actual CHORES. (Note to self, must work on that this year! N is old enough!)

Are we or aren't we?

That's the question we've been tossing around non-stop at work for the last 2 days. Are we going to be able to make a deadline of 1/8? We still don't know the answer. I am doing everything I can to make it so we can and that is the main reason I won't be blogging for the next few days.



Believe it or not, I am having some fun doing this. More soon.

Oh, I did figure something out that will help me work in one direction, and let me work with one of my dearest friends and bestest colleagues... Yippee!

Better than shopping!

What could possibly be better than shopping?

Opening your cedar chest, finding a skirt you haven't worn in seven years (3 pregnancies ago), and finding it FITS! Bonus, it's a classic timeless shape. Double bonus, it's Eileen Fisher! Woo-hoo!

Then you find a navy sweater you don't even remember buying and it fits! Then you find a brown wool skirt that used to be too tight in the thighs and hips, but now it FITS! It's a teeny bit snug in the waist, but you guess it won't be snug for too much longer!

You also find a blue dress for summer that almost fits again and you realize if you workout a lot before summer it will be lovely! Huge incentive because you LOVED that dress. What else? A brownish sweater that doesn't quite fit this year, but you hope it will fit next fall/winter.

It was like shopping, only FREE! (Errrr... kind of free... Already been paid for a long time ago so it seems free.)