40 down

I just did another 40 minutes on that task. Now I must do another 18 before today ends, right?

There are 5 parts to the task and I said it would take 5 hours to complete it (that's how much I anticipated needing). I worked on it for 15 minutes over the Christmas holiday and completed 1 small part.... Thus, now, I have 3 hours and 33 minutes left.... Can I do it? Or will I need to ask for additional time? Fun with hourly charges, eh? (And no, I can't charge for writing these blog entries about that task. These blog entries are keeping me sane as I do that task though.)

1 hour more

I have worked for 1/2 hour straight on the task.

Did I mention I really don't like this task.

Oh, it's not that bad, but it's so freaking boring.

Let's see if I can do 15-20 more minutes.

Go me!

Jobs

This morning, N (6) and I were discussing career options. She loves to do art and we call her our artist. As we drove by a mural, I asked if she was going to paint pictures like "that." She said, "I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up anymore. I have plenty of time to figure it out... If I can't think of anything else, maybe I'll just be president."

Heh.

I'm working on my work task that I HAVE TO FINISH THIS WEEKEND SO THAT I CAN GET IT OFF MY LIST OF THINGS TO DO FOREVER. I think it will take about 4 hours. I am not letting myself go to bed tonight until I've spent 1.5 hours on it today. I've spent 2 minutes on it thus far. Only 1 hour and 28 minutes to go. Geez. MUST FIND SOME MOTIVATION.

Exciting!

T (2.5) is now demanding to wear her big girl pants all day! When she's awake, she is pretty much potty trained. Naps and nighttime are a different story, but I am delighted! After I got these, she refused to wear them. However, the upside was that she got more interested in regular big girl pants. Cool. Now I'll have to re-sell the training pants, there are worse things! I'm delighted with T's potty-training progress.

She went 4 days not nursing and then asked to nurse a little the last two nights. We're weaning slowly, but we're definitely weaning. Weaning slowly means no pain. It's all good.

Significant

Today, at work, I heard about something that might change a lot of things for us. It's not official, and it's not bloggable. It was so significant that I had to leave work and go look at shoes. Expensive shoes. Seriously. It made me feel better. I didn't buy any. I just looked. It was comforting. (Heh!) Then K (3.75) and I went to T*ar&get and we bought her some new shoes.

I'll let you know more as soon as things become official. If it happens, I think it will actually be really good. I think chances are good that it will happen. It feels like it needs to happen.

One of my co-workers has a sign on his door that says, "It will all be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." (Did I tell you that before?) I'm going with that saying as my new mantra.

I'm not even that busy....

Today, I went to work and forgot my computer. I am a Powerbook kind of girl. I have had a powerbook since 1992. (OH MY, that's 16 years!) Powerbooks were introduced in 1991. As soon as I could afford one, I bought one! Anyway, I never go anywhere without my Powerbook. MWH had to convince me not to take one on our honeymoon. He wasn't a Powerbook user then. Now he has one (he got his in 2003/2004) and he can't go anywhere without his now too. When we travel, we both take our computers. We're seriously addicted.

Anyway, I forgot to grab my computer this morning. I. am. so. embarrassed. Somehow, I survived the day. I had meetings most of the day, so it wasn't too bad of a day to forget my computer, but I got no blogging done. I haven't published a blog post since Friday. This being less busy is really cutting into my blogging time. More about what we've been doing soon.

Just one more...

I have only one more thing HANGING over my head at work (and it shouldn't take more than 4-8 hours to finish!). This is exciting! Soon, I won't be too far behind schedule. But, soon, I might be writing another grant and then I'll be overwhelmed!

Believe it or not, I have slowed things down a bit. I'm looking for what I want to do next and I'm going to be picky and only do really really intersting thing. I hope to only do really really intersting things with people I like, but if S asks it will be hard to say no (despite how much I don't enjoy working with him) because it would probably be interesting. (But I did learn some things and I would make sure we had better initial parameters and that I had a more realistic budget!) We'll see what happens.

Rinse, repeat

T (2.5) is buckling her car seat.
Sent via my BlackBerry

How organized!

I needed to make 5 phone calls tonight. I wrote down all the people/places I neede to call and then called them all. I did it in about 10 minutes. Normally, it would take DAYS for me to make 5 phone calls because I forget what I'm doing. (Because little girls interupt!) I don't often apply any organizational skills to my own life, but today I did. Wowza. What a difference it made.

There's more. We've got some new stuff happening at work... It's good... It's different... It's scary... It's still not bloggable. Not even in a cryptic coded way. I would love to write about it as it would help me think about it all, but I can't. I will when I can.

What else... N (6) got her hair trimmed. It is the same cut, but you can see her eyes again! N's hair is really sleek and it's getting so thick! K's hair is finally cooperating. K has the THICKEST hair for a 3.75 year old. Today, the cut looked all Meg-Ryan-y. I liked it. Note, K's hair is longer in the front and more layered in the back. I'ts really cute/tousled.

What else.... I am hoping a friend is pregnant! It's a friend who's been talking about kids since N (6) was born! She's put it off a few times because she wasn't ready, but the other night she was really low-key in aerobics. I was suspicious... You know, you're not supposed to get your heart rate too high. Another friend is scoping out the situation tonight. I can't go, our babysitter is sick.

My other friend who had a miscarriage a while ago is coming up on testing day. Think good, positive thoughts for her! She did an IUI this month.

Here's a funny one... Yesterday, K (3.75) was literally navel-gazing. As in looking at her own belly button. Not just the figurative stuff I do here. It cracked me up. I tried to get a picture, but she got mad at me. Then T (2.5) wanted me to take a picture of her belly button. Heh. Have I told you how obsessed T is with her own belly button? She LOVES to play with it. I doubt I'll post the picture of her belly button, but I have one now.

got milk? (p 2)

Since this episode, I've been asking T (2.5) to nurse less (less than 5 minutes total and usuallly less than 3 minutes total), and she's not been asking to nurse some nights too. We're on our way to weaning. How long have I been saying that? She's officially 2.5 now (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN), and I'm good with weaning. I just don't want it to be painful. I'm not into pain.

Let's do some math for fun...

N (6) nursed until she was 15 months old and then weaned very quickly. I didn't have pain.

K (3.75) nursed until she was 3 (officially) but was mostly weaned by the time she was 2.75... It was all in the formality the last few months... No pain because T picked up the slack as K was weaning. I had nursed K for 36 months.

Now, T has nursed an additional 9 months.


For our math problem, the important numbers are the number of months. [15+(36+9)=60]

I have nursed for 60 months... That's 5 years... 45 months straight (that's almost 4 years).

I'm not sure what this says. I'm still working on the interpretation. It hasn't been hard or that much of a sacrifice. I was good at it and didn't have any real problems. The girls were good with only nursing 1 time a day after age 2. I nursed Nat exclusively until 4.5 months and I tried to only nurse K and T exclusively until 6 months, but they both didn't like baby food AT ALL. Both nursed exclusively until they about 9 months old. I nursed through T's pregnancy. My doctor didn't want me to, but I knew I could do it. I read the book Tandem Nursing. I ate a lot of food and drank a LOT of water! Until T was ~10 months old, I was making a lot of milk.

I have read a great deal about breastfeeding. I think it's an amazing thing to do for a baby. Before I even knew if I wanted children, I was pretty fascinated by our ability to make milk, so I'm really not that suprised I like nursing so much. I don't judge a mom if she can't breastfeed. It's a matter of choice. I chose to do it. Also, on a personal note, I wasn't breastfed, so I know a baby can turn out well (heh!) without nursing, but I have enjoyed giving my girls the benefits of breast milk. Recently, we have learned breast milk contains stem cells. The wonders never cease.

pretty and random!

Here's a shot of my pretty roses from Valentine's Day. I tried to get them into a heart shape, but alas, they wouldn't cooperate.

Today I am staying home with my girls! All day! Actually, that's not true, we're going to pack up in a few minutes and go get N's hair trimmed before she turns into a shaggy sheep dog! Her bangs are starting to interfere with her eyesight. Oh, on a serious note, I was extremely myopic as a child and adult. (I say was because I had LASIK. Best thing ever if you're contemplating it. I was scared to death, but seriously, Best. Thing. Ever. 20/20 (R) and 20/25 (L).)

Where was I? Oh yea, N (6) went for her 6-year check-up at the doctor and her eyesight is 20/30 and 20/40. I have to get her in to the eye doctor to see what's occurring. I'm guessing she'll need glasses in the next year or so. Sigh. You can't get LASIK until you're all grown up (after 25) and your eyes have been stable for at least 2 years. My eyes didn't go stable until I was about 28. I had LASIK when I was 34. (A little documentation)

What else... Oh yea... After the hair trim, we're going to go have lunch with MWH! I haven't had time to take all 3 to lunch with him since, well, for a long time! We're all excited. I love going to MWH's work place. I worked there for one year and it was stupendous! Someday I'll tell you more about it. It was an amazing year!

I got a set of papers from my students yesterday and can I say, I have some serious overachievers this semester. It makes me PROUD! It is invigorating. Just what the doctor ordered. Yippee. Of course, there are 4-5 of them and they are going to change my expectations for all of the students. On the whole though, this group of students is much much more motivated than the last group.

More soon!

where

Where have I been? Working.

The other blog has pictures and some fun posts. (If you want to see it and don't have access, email me or leave me a comment with your email.)

I had to go sit in a room with other people for a long time this weekend. It was good; it was annoying-- all at the same time. I could write more about it, but I'm not sure it warrants recording. If, as it unfolds, it warrants more, I'll write it.

There's other stuff going on at work, but it's "unbloggable" at the moment. I'll blog it later as it unfolds. Keep your fingers crossed for a good outcome!

Today was more fun. It was class. We didn't get the holiday at our university. I did something a little crazy in class. Did I tell you I like this class a lot? They seem like a good group for the most part. I have one student I doubt will pass if she doesn't get her act together. I don't want her to not pass, but she is definitely not trying. I have one who will have to work really hard and one who seems like an A student on first glance, but I don't think she is. I'll tell you more about the stuff we did in class later. It was fun. It was active... It got them up and thinking. We'll see what they thought next class.

3 years

Three years ago, I lost my Beloved Kitty. He had been sick for a long time before, but it was still horrible, awful and sad. Someday, I should write up the story of how he and I got very scared one night... eh... no time like the present?

Here goes... When I was in grad school, he and I lived in an apartment. It was older one. One night, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night. When it did, I grabbed my Beloved Kitty and went running outside. All of the neighbors were gathered outside and didn't smell smoke. Finally they told us there was a problem with the wiring in the fire alarm system, but not to worry. We were all sent back to our apartments. Since the problem was in the wiring, the fire alarm kept going off at random times during the night. My Beloved Kitty and I were so freaked out we snuggled under the covers all night. I was so glad he was there!

One more story...

Right after K (now 3.75) was born, My Beloved Kitty used to love to sleep beside her. I called it "babysitting." He used to get right next to her and watch over her. It was so sweet. K was about a week old when that photo was taken.


How I miss my boy! I still think about him every day and miss him.

Happy Valentine's

From 2007. I'm hoping we'll go out for ice cream this year. It's sometimes hard to get out of the house with 3 little girls after dinner. Maybe we should skip dinner? Heh.

On another note, I went out to get a glass of water in the kitchen and I found some beautiful red roses. I didn't mean to see them before Valentine's Day, but he'd put them out tonight and I stumbled across them. They are beautiful. Thanks MWH.

Friday night Fun

Friday night about 6:30 I was T (2.4) and K (3.75) were playing in the play room. I could hear them talking. I was trying to figure out dinner... I was just about to go check on them, when suddenly T screamed. It was the kind of scream that means something is very wrong. I went running and was greeted by K and T. T was clutching a pick-up stick ... you know, sharp and pointy, and crying. She said, "My E...." She was clutching her eye. My heart stopped for a second. I asked her if she was poked by the pick-up stick. She said yes. I asked where. She moved her hand from her eye, pointed to her ear and said, "HERE." My heart started up again.

She'd stuck a pick-up stick in her ear. I did my best to look in her ear, but I couldn't see anything. She shrieked for about 2-5 minutes and then calmed a little. I called MWH and told him what had happened and then called the advice nurse. The advice nurse said we should probably go to the urgent care facility and have her ear examined.

We did. The doctor at the urgent care said it looked like she'd poked something in her ear as there was blood, but she thought it was the top part of the canal. She referred us to an Otolaryngologist. We went today. There, the specialist said, there was a big hematoma (collection of blood) around the tympannic membrane but she couldn't tell if there was a perforation or not.

She prescribed some drops to "soften up the hematoma and prevent infection." We go back in two weeks to check to see how it's doing. She said with the hematoma there, T wouldn't be hearing that well in that ear, but hopefully in two weeks it would look pretty good. She plans to do a a Tympanogram and make sure it all is well if the hematoma has resovled.

The really annoying thing is I had seen the pick-up sticks up on a shelf in the bathroom closet about a week before. I'd thought to myself that I should probably toss them, and then thought, nah, they are up high, no one will find them until we're ready for them. Hubris. Gets you every time. My new plan is to toss all the toys I don't think are good, or put them up REALLY high on the top shelf of my closet. (Yes, I have tossed the pick-up sticks.)

Foggy and busy...

It was foggy here this morning. Around 8:30, incredibly foggy. I could barely see the house next door. It's clearing up now. Whew! I didn't want to have to drive in that!

I decided to try and get an assignment back to my students in 2 days..... I haven't been blogging because I've been GRADING!

I am hopeful I can get back and blog tonight. I still have a lot to tell you!

I've also been fighing off a cold with Zicam (and hopefully I will win!), and trying to knock off another one of those things from work hanging over my head.

More soon!

Tell me how you all are. Anything exciting happening? Anything boring? Any questions for me?

All I know about potty-training...

I've had a hard time writing about potty training. Alice asked me about it a long time ago. I've been trying to write this post since December. I think I'm having a hard time because I don't consider myself to be an expert on this topic. I have the belief that it's easiest (I'm lazy, sue me) to wait until the child is ready. It goes much faster and easier. It also means cleaning up fewer messes. I'm all about that.

My other belief about potty training is that at first, you're training the adult to be hypervigilant about the child and their potty-needs. This makes sense. Vygotsky* discusses cognitive development as being the internalization of socially shared processes. What this fancy phrase means is, um, bear with me and I'll explain.

First, the expert (in this case parent) does all of the work, and provides an environment in which the child can begin to understand the task and then internalize it. The expert provides structure to support this learning, and slowly removes the structure (this structure is called a scaffold) as the learner begins to understand and internalize the process. When the process is completely internalized, the learner has mastered the task and no scaffold or help is needed.

We all have experienced this process of internalization. Think about school or any situation when you listen to an expert speak. While the expert is speaking, you understand all they say and it makes sense! Then you go and try to apply or use the knowledge and suddenly, you're confused. You go back to the expert and they re-explain things and it makes a little more sense. You ask questions, and they help you understand things (this is the environment in which learning is occurring). The expert may try to scaffold your understanding by breaking down the task and helping you understand it better. They may try to help you master parts before the whole.

Okay... End lecture! I like Vygotsky. We'll be discussing him in my class in a couple of weeks--stop by and listen in if you want to know more and you're in the area!

With potty training, kids are often successful as long as the parent stays right on top of the situation, but as soon as the kid starts playing or getting involved with another task, well accidents happen. When accidents happen, it means the process hasn't been completely internalized and the scaffold (provided by the parent) needed to be greater.**

With N (6) I had no idea what to do. Of course, I knew the goal I wanted, but I had no idea how to make it happen. Miss N was scared to death of the potty. Somehow, she eventually decided she could sit on it and the world wouldn't end, and then she got potty trained. (It took much coaxing and bribing to get her to try to use it.) She first started to use the potty very very very occasionally when she was about 2.25.

I think it's hardest to potty train your first child. N wasn't in daycare or anything, so she assumed the potty was for BIG people, not for her. T (2.4) and K (3.74) had N to observe and they were much more interested in the potty at a younger age than N. So N started potty training "officially" probably in August and was staying dry all day and night by the time she was 2 years 9 months old (end of October). Overall, I think we had it pretty easy, but we didn't know what we were doing nor how to do it. She figured it out though. She had issues about pooping* on the potty until she was 3 years 2 months, but I'll save those stories for another day. (And boy, are there stories!)

If you're curious about K's adventures, see this post and this post too.

Miss T has good days with the potty and bad days. We wear big girl pants a few hours a day/week. I haven't committed to being in charge of making sure she has the environment she needs so that she can learn. I found these training pants and just ordered them. I found them a while ago (a month or two ago), but the site I found them on had something wrong with their ordering process and then, the moment I had ended and I didn't have time to order them.

This morning, I finally got another moment to order them. I think they will help her learn. In Vygotsky's terms, they are a tool I will use as a scaffold (one that helps me avoid messes too). (I could just use pull-ups, but I know some people think of them as evil. I'm not going into the arguments around pull-ups here. I don't have a real opinion about pull-ups, but I just thought these pants might give T a better more encouraging scaffold. I see signs she's pretty much ready to really try, but she could use some help from me. The sign she gave me today was staying dry for 5-ish hours.)

(Last night, accidentally, we put T to bed with regular underwear on. Needless to say, at 3 am I was changing crib sheets. Oops. My bad!)





*I sure hope Vygotsky isn't spinning in his grave as I apply his theory to potty-training.
**Or physically, the child isn't ready. There are some basic biological factors that need to be in place for potty training. (As is the case for all of cognitive development, but this is another subject.)

In the meantime

Once, when I was out shopping for new b#r#as, I found a brand called, "Down Time." This is not a good name in my opinion. It makes me think of the direction I don't want things to go... I realize it's supposed to make one think of relaxation, but for me, it doesn't do it.

The name, "It-se-bit-se" is a lovely name for under#we#ar [for the bottom] in my opinion. I bought some with this name a couple of years back. I love seeing the name on the tag. It helps me visualize small.

so much

I can't believe it was just Friday that I wrote. Late Friday afternoon even. So much to tell you...

1. Inertia
2. Urgent care trip (everyone's fine, NO Worrying please!) (See Friday Night Fun post)
3. a fun afternoon with MWH
4. My hamstrings
5. Why MWH can't be my personal trainer
6. Big girl pants at night with T (2.4) (See potty training post)

More will be coming at you as today allows.

astachios...

As T (2.4) and I were eating pistachios, she turned to me very seriously and said, "They are astachios Mommy." Close sweetie. We discussed astachios and ate pistachios...

got milk?

T (2.4) is weaning. MWH wanted to encourage her and he put her to bed last night. She had asked to nurse and I wanted to nurse her, but I listened to his encouragement. I regretted listening. I woke up in terrible PAIN. Everything on the upper half of my body hurts. Seriously. I am engorged. Being engorged is zero-fun. I am really good at making milk.

From the pain, I turned evil. MWH got scared of me and the daggers that were shooting out of my eyes. If T asks to nurse tonight, I will oblige. If she doesn't ask, I may have to find my old friend, the pump. I'm guessing she'll ask. I'll work on getting her to nurse less each night, but unless she says she's done, we're not quite done. We need to ratchet the production system down a bit more. Engorgement sucks.

When N weaned, she was only nursing on one side for about 2 minutes once a day (morning). It was slightly uncomfortable, but not PAINFUL!

Learning

T (2.4) is learning to buckle her own car seat. As in right now...as in that's why I am blogging this. I can't help or she screams and I can't leave until she is done.
Sent via my BlackBerry

T sayings

It's your birthday Mommy. It's your birthday, a LOT. (What she said the other night as we celebrated with the 3rd cake given to me by some of my friends!)

Noodle-oodles and nursers... in the whole wide world. (Those are two of her fav foods and that's how she indicates favorites.)

I need potato chips... For my mouth.

One other T thing... She hasn't nursed for 2 days. It's good. She didn't ask. I actually if she wanted to both nights, but she didn't want to--even when MWH put her in bed. (Often times she won't nurse until it's actually bed time--you know, stalling.) This may be the end of an era.

maybe I'll do it...

Maybe I'll make the change I should make at work. Yesterday, I spoke with a woman who has made the change and loves it. She is an amazing woman and I thank her so much for her time. I should spend more time talking with her. I'll try to write up the wisdom from the conversation, but two big take-aways for me are 1) I think of her as brilliant, and she doubts herself, and 2) we have a colleague who is really not nice. I knew this, but I didn't know the extent of the not nice-ness. Scary.

To that colleague, I say, "May your child be just like yourself."

More soon. I have to finish writing something by tomorrow.

Permission...

I need to give myself permission to relax a little. I'm pretty fun-loving, but I also think it's a little squashed because I have too much to do right now. MWH and I have been discussing a change to my status at work for months (probably a good year or two actually), but I still have trouble really thinking about it. Why must I be so stressed about it? I'm taking the first "official" step today and talking with someone else who has already made the change... (It's not a big/huge change, but it still scares me.)

Soup for winter nights...

I made this soup last night. I've made this soup for about 10 years now. It's one of our favorites. We love to dip sourdough bread in it. It'd be good in a sour dough bowl, but those are hard to find sometimes.

I usually double or triple the recipe. It freezes really well and melting it makes a souper easy dinner (ha-ha, I am too punny, eh?). Enjoy!


Corn Chowder
1 large yukon gold potato peeled and diced (fairly small pieces)
1/4 teaspoon of sage
1/4 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
2 cups of boiling water (salted if you like salt in things)

3 tablespoons of butter
about 1/4 cup of water
1 large onion
3 tablespoons of flour
1 and 1/4 cup of milk, (I always use nonfat milk, but you can use higher fat if you like--the original recipe called for half and half, but I couldn't do it!).

1 cup (or more depending on how much corn you like) of Frozen Corn

2 teaspoons of parsley
2 teaspoons of freeze dried chives
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg (I never stick this in)

1 and 1/2 cups of chedder cheese
3 tablespoons white cooking wine (I rarely put this in)

Boil the Potato and the first three spices (sage, cumin and bay leaf) for about 20 minutes (until the potato is tender). (DO NOT DRAIN)

In a separate pan saute the onions in the water and a little butter. Cook till all the water is gone. Then, take most of the onions out of the pan (put them in the soup), and make a roux (but don't brown it) with the 3 tablespoons of butter and flour. then add the milk and stir (forever) to make a thick white sauce.

When the white sauce is thickened--make sure it's thick*, add it to the potato/water/spice mixture (big pot!) (remember, do not drain).

Add in the corn and parsley and chives (nutmeg if you like). Make sure the corn is warm.
Stir well, then add the cheese, and let it melt and then add the wine (if you want).




*Ever since I started making this soup**, I've done this thing where I ask MWH to come "bless" the white sauce (tell me it's thick enough).

**Actually it was probably after I made it the first time and I didn't make the white sauce thick enough that I started asking him to bless it.

Little things...

I have two little things I need to finish up at work and then I'll feel better.

---

My friend who was abroad and now is back is so much fun in our exercise class. She's making me kick it up a notch. I don't know if I've written about how much we love our exercise class. We have the best teacher. And there are 4 of us (MWH, DM, N and me) who have taken it for a long time and do "competive aerobics."

What is competive aerobics you ask? Well, we jump really high (try to see who can go higher), and race around the room on different songs. It's a blast and it really makes the workout harder. (Fortunately the rest of the class doesn't seem to mind too much and our teacher doesn't mind.) Anyway, my friend is making me jump higher and she's encouraging us to do it on more songs. It's good.

---

I seem to have 5 students who aren't afraid to talk during class. I'm thrilled! That's almost 1/5th of the class.

---

Working on some posts that have been in the hopper for a long time. I just seem to be kind of a slacker right now. I'm kind of tired. I think it's a little bit due to the Winter Blahs. That's how I feel... just kind of Blah. I'm good when I'm running around during the day, but at night, I just want to sit and not do anything.

Which way is better?

I'm grading this weekend. Woo-hoo. Actually, it's not too bad. One thing I'm noticing is that the students are tending to do one of two things in their answers to questions from Chapter 1. Either 1) they are answering the questions by going to the book and "quoting" the book thus demonstrating to me that they can find the information, or 2) they are trying to demonstrate their (very weak) understanding by coming up with new and exciting examples to answer the questions. I'm not sure which is the better way for them to go. The ones who "copy" from the book (I don't consider it plagiarism at this point because they are quoting and citing) may be able to use their answers as a tool to think with and further understand the answer better. The ones who are making an effort and trying to be creative might actually be setting themselves up for problems later if they think their answers are good and study their own answers. Sometimes they are saying things really incorrectly or in a controversial (to the field) way.

I'll have to note all this too them.

I have one student who is brilliant--off-the-charts brilliant. I hope I can keep this student engaged. I will be working on it. It will be a fun challenge.

Contrast

K (3.65) challenges me! Three weeks ago, she screamed and wouldn't go near gymnastics class and we were at the gym. It was loud and embarrassing. Two weeks ago, we were recovering from, ugh, stomach flu (and yes, you have to say ugh!). One week ago, she screamed and threw such a fit at home we didn't even attempt to go. This week, she's participating and doing really well. She's doing the things she knows how to do with perfect form and trying really hard on the things she doesn't know.

It's delightful when she's "on" and so frustrating not. Welcome to what K is. I shudder to think what adolescence will bring. I'll talk more about this when I'm on a real computer.
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I think

I think I was grumpy because it feels like I always NEED to be doing something or else I'm letting someone down. I think this is a common feeling women have. Today, I wanted to take a moment for myself and I was experiencing guilt and feeling selfish because I wanted that moment. I'm better now. The workout helped a lot! It gave me "a moment." I did 25 minutes on the elliptical; some weights and sit-ups; and then some cartwheels and handstands!

Remember I'm a firm believer that turning upside down on a regular basis will keep you young.* Think about it, with all the blood rushing to the head, it has to help with something, right? Since it's my birthday and I'm worried about the age thing, I think I NEEDED to do few cartwheels and handstands. They seemed to improve my mood.

MWH came home early tonight so we got to hang out a lot tonight. We were going to go out for ice cream tonight, but N3nny and the girls baked me a cake and it was SUPER YUMMY. N3nny loves to bake and does it on a regular basis with the girls. I'm not eating ice cream, but I'm eating freshly baked homemade cookies at least once or twice a week. This week it was cookies (one batch baked in two halves so fresh baked cookies on two different days) and cake. At the moment, the scale stills says minus 4 from the weight I was at before the stomach flu. I'm thrilled.

What else... a friend I haven't spoken to for a long time called tonight to wish me a Happy Birthday. It was fun to catch up. I hope to see her this spring/summer when we take a trip to near where she lives.

At some point, I'll post pictures of what MWH got for me. I laughed and laughed at one of the gifts and was so touched at the other one.

Perhaps the best moment of the day was when the 3 little girls were singing Happy Birthday to me. It was so sweet. Priceless.

I'm very lucky, very happy, and the next time I'm so grumpy, slap me around, or tell me to go do some cartwheels or something!




*Wow, I quoted myself.

Grumpy

It's my birthday.

I have no reason to be grumpy, but I am. I am a little bummed we don't have a babysitter at any point this weekend, but we do for next weekend, so really, I should suck it up. (But I don't want to... It's my birthday and I'll be grumpy if I want to be.)

Maybe a good workout this afternoon will improve my mood.

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