You need advice?

So I thought I'd write a post about some of the stuff I've seen in the advising center this semester.  This is my first year advising in the center, which advises mainly freshmen, new transfer students, and undecided majors.  To protect the innocent, I won't post about particular students, but I thought I'd compile a list of advice that I've doled out over the past few months.  If it's not useful info, at least it's funny...

 - The course entitled "Walking and Jogging" is probably about...walking and jogging.  No, I've never taken it - that's just my best guess.

 - (stolen from a colleague) "No, you don't have to sing in Music Appreciation - I think you listen to music and you appreciate it."

- There is no math involved in Art Appreciation.  Again, just a guess.

- I'm sorry, but I can't schedule all of your classes between 8am and 11am when you need 3 lab classes.  No, this isn't because biology professors just don't want to get up early.

- I'm not a man.  Sorry.  If you want the "man advisor", see Dr. Moore.  In fact, I would LOVE for you to see Dr. Moore.

- Canada, while technically a foreign country, still speaks English.  So I know you don't want a "foreign professor", but really, as he/she is a Canadian, I'm sure you'll be able to understand him/her just fine.

- You've failed Principles of Biology 3 times.  Have you considered other career alternatives?  I'm just not sure pre-med is the right choice for you.

- Yes, I'm really sure you have to take class X to be a biology major.   I'm sorry that you didn't realize earlier that being a science major would involve all that science.

- I realize that in high school you were an overachiever, but I'm not authorizing you to take over 18 hours your first semester of freshman year.  Yes, I do understand that you don't want to "waste your time".
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- I've seen a fair number of students flunking freshman seminar.  Why?  "That professor expects us to do stuff and turn it in" - wow.  How unfair.

- I'm sorry that you're going to have to take course X because what you thought was the equivalent didn't transfer.  My advice?  Pick a college and stick with it - then you won't have anything to worry about!

These are just the instances that stand out in my mind from the past 8 months or so.  As you can tell, I'm warm, fuzzy, and am likely to give you a hug and tell you that everything's going to be ok.  Yeah, right.  My other colleague from our department has told me that I just need to get zen before I go in there.  I'm still trying to work on that.  I think a solution for finding my zen might be to just drink heavily before I go in for my hours.  I can't say that it's all bad, though.  I've seen a lot of people with bright futures who have their act together.  The staff there is terrific (shoutout to Davy!).  But there are those who provided the examples above.  Welcome to college...

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas cards.  Then the Christmas photo card.  The Christmas letter updating you on the fam.  And now, because Dave and I are complete slackers and the internet is wonderful, the Christmas blog.  So, if you are reading this, it's likely that you are a family member or a friend, because, well, I can't imagine that total strangers read this blog. :)  So to all reading, Merry Christmas.

As I type this, it's 5am.  I've been awake since 4:30am.  Ian is asleep, so why am I up?  Because I absolutely can't wait to see the look and excitement on Ian's face when he sees that the rather sizeable pile of presents in the living room is for him.  And some of it wasn't under the tree before now.  No, he doesn't really understand Santa.  We've been letting him open a present here and there and he doesn't really understand why we're giving him presents, but I don't think he questions it too much.   And he gets so excited when he opens them.  I love watching him.  So, really, I can't wait to see how he reacts to that pile. And next year, he'll probably start to realize that Santa comes on Christmas Eve and that will be even more fun.

So what's in my stocking this year?  Have I been naughty or nice?  Well, Dave and I are getting some pretty large things, like a new armoire and a dresser that my grandfather built being refinished and a new sewer line (just what I always wanted), but those don't fit under the tree.  We have some nice new bedding and we took a mini-vacation to Kansas Ctiy.  So overall, I'd say we're having a pretty great Christmas.  What really excites me, though, really is the other stuff that doesn't go under the tree.  The people. (Warning: I'm about to get mushy).

This year, I'm so happy that I have my husband, a guy who really does treat me like a queen.  My partner in crime, the love of my life, and my biggest cheerleader.  The guy that knows all my faults and loves me anyway.  My son Ian.  The child I really never thought we'd have.  The most amazing, life-changing little person ever.  I definitely don't think I'm one of those supermoms, but I do know that in the love department, I'm up there.  So, yes, even though there are days when it gets old repeating "Ian don't touch" or "No Ian, don't pet the fish!" a million times, I'm still so unbelievably grateful to have him.  My family.  I have the most loving, supportive, wonderful family.  We honestly have each other's backs.  We're a small bunch, which probably prevents family feuds - not very impressive when a debate would mean 4 against 4.  Even though we don't live close to each other, we're still extremely close.  I know that we'll always be there for each other.  I know that my grandparents were watching us in church last night, probably laughing hysterically that Ian was playing peek-a-boo and turning the pages of the missal of the person behind us, much to my chagrin.  Dave's family.  I married into a crazy, eclectic, great bunch of people who really treat me like family.   My friends.  I'm so  lucky to have met so many awesome people in my life.  I can honestly say that there are people who have touched my life everywhere I've lived.  My friends are my extended family.  They help me maintain my sanity, for sure.  And the people who make my career a joy - my students.  Ok, maybe not every single one of them, but I have taught some pretty amazing people.  I mentor some really amazing people.  And they're shaping me too. I'm lucky enough to have a career where I'll never stop learning.  And I would mention my fabulous co-workers, but I already did - they're friends.  What can I say - I work in a freakishly nice environment! Ok, so enough mushy rambling.  I just consider myself to be the luckiest, most blessed person on earth.  I have so much love and joy in my life.

I hope everyone gets what they wanted for Christmas this year.  I will post later about our trip to KC and post pics from today.  Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Say hello to my little friend...

So, there's this new man in my life.  He hasn't taken the place of Dave or Ian, but he's with me 23.6/7 (no showers for Bob).  We sleep together, we eat together, I tell him what's for dinner and he tells me what to do.  He's pretty awesome, and I'm in love...with my insulin pump.

Now, this love affair is a pretty new thing to me.  Starting in college, I had a 6 year relationship with a pump that shall remain nameless (mainly because I never gave it a name).   He was just a means to give insulin, really.  There were programmable basal rates, but that was really it.  He didn't have a brain or a soul like Bob.  I had to tell him EVERYTHING.  And putting him on was a pain - literally.  The infusion sets were rather harpoon-like, long, and had to go in at an angle.  Psychologically, I wasn't ready to be hooked to something 24/7 - it was a constant reminder of a disease that I tried really hard to forget that I had.  So I gave it the old college try.  And after 6 years, I decided to go back on shots.  Me and shots, we're cool.  I'm a pro.  I will whip it out and inject table-side at restaurants before you even know what I'm doing.  So going back to my comfort zone was nice.  I was cool with it.

While I was pregnant with Ian, one of the evil bloodsugar nazis suggested that maybe I should go on a pump.  I believe my reaction at the time was something like hanging up the phone and bursting into tears, convinced that I was the worst diabetic pregnant woman they'd ever seen.  The relationship between me and that group is a subject of a whole 'nother blog.  Suffice it to say that my endocrinologist thought I was doing great with MDIT (multiple daily insulin therapy) and said that if I didn't want to change, I didn't have to.  Sold.  I was already dealing with so much other stuff, diabetes-wise, I thought that if I had to learn one more new thing that I'd be giving birth in a padded room at a nice institution.  Then I discovered this blog - Six Until Me.

This blog talks about a lady that could be my twin.  About the same age, kids about the same age, same length of time with diabetes.  But she has a pump and a CGM (continuous glucose monitoring).  I started reading - WHY did no one tell me what these things were capable of?  My inner geek was so excited!  I had to have one! Fortunately, BCBS agreed to Bob, but not to the CGM (jerks).  And now I have this pretty purple guy who knows how much 1 unit of insulin drops my bloodsugar, what my carb ratios are for different meals (I have two different settings), my different basal rates, AND gets my bloodsugars wirelessly beamed to him from my fancy meter.  There were also no iPhones when I was in college - in fact, I'm pretty sure we used carrier pigeons - but now I have apps that tell me how many carbs I'm eating.  I do a bloodsugar, tell Bob what we're eating, and he can correct for a low or a high (I set a goal range) and take into account what we're eating.  It took a couple of weeks of doing a lot of bloodsugars, but he's pretty well set now.

The moral of this post, other than to introduce you to Bob, is that if you have diabetic friends *type 1* and they aren't on a pump and are adults (still not sure about how I feel about these for little kids), tell them to read this.  If they have any questions about pumping, tell them to call me.  Really, it's been life-changing.  Or, you know, in the words of Wilfred Brimley - "If you have dibitis..." :)

I'm not dead, just lazy...

Lest you'd given up hope that I'd ever update my blog (more likely you never noticed that I quit updating), worry no more.  No promises, but I will try to update a little more regularly.  This may be a multi-parter, since I haven't blogged since, oh, June.  Or July.  Awhile.  Anyway...

On the Dave front, Hill's is going well!  Really well.  Which is soooo awesome.  Last time this year, we were searching Chronicle of Higher Ed and I was getting teary-eyed during faculty meetings thinking about leaving ESU.  Much better situation this year.    He got his official uniform, too.  He brought home one to show me and I immediately coined his uniform shirt a "stripper shirt" because it has snaps (no buttons in a plant - they could fall off).  It's a nice uniform, though.  The best thing is, he's enjoying it.  And that is awesome.

Ian is a very adorable bundle of toddler energy.  At his 18 month checkup, he was 33" tall and 23lbs.  We're thinking that he's grown since then, because all those cute little jeans I got him in September are starting to look like high-waters.  Time to move to 24mo jeans.  I can't believe he's going to be 2 in February!  His vocabulary is expanding by the second, he loves movies and books.  His favorite things involve Cars or Thomas the Train.  He's pretty good at telling us what he wants, which is great, unless you don't want him to have it.  He's persistent, to say the least.  But overall, I think we won the lottery.

Confession time - I started this post in OCTOBER!! It's December 20th, just for the record.  It's been a little bit crazy this semester.  The A&P course got a pretty big revamp with a night session on Mondays, more tests (which means more grading for me), and overall just a great class of people who ASK QUESTIONS!  I always love my fall classes because it's made up of mostly nursing students.  I always feel like I connect with them.  We had a great semester.  On the research front, my first grad student defended successfully and is now in Indiana working for a toxicology laboratory.  Two more grad students should be writing this semester and leaving - one hopefully for a Ph.D. program at Alabama, and one hopefully for a teaching job.  My undergrads are fantastic and two will be staying with me for Master's degrees (yay!).  And my newest grad student will start her research this summer.  Doing something neither of us really knows how to do.  Hey, the blind leading the blind got me a Ph.D., so I'm not going to worry too much.  On the whole, A&P and other responsibilities (LA&S Dean Search committee, learning the SAC office) kept me from being as active in the lab as I want to be.  Thank God for amazing students!  I've told them I wouldn't abandon them this semester.

So that's it for now.  I will update you all on Bob, the new love of my life, soon.

San Diego Science

Wow - the conference is almost done.  It's definitely been a good meeting, but I can't say that it's been my favorite.  Socially, my best yet.  I finally feel like a scientist.  Yes, 3 years after I got my Ph.D. and 7 TS meetings later, I finally feel comfortable going up to people that I admire and having a conversation with them like I actually belong.  Don't get me wrong - I'm not their equal, I just feel like I'm finally good enough to speak and not sound like an idiot.  So socially and professionally, it was a fantastic meeting.

Science-wise, I've heard some good talks and gotten a few ideas, but my head hasn't totally been in it.  I miss Dave and Ian more than I ever thought I could.  I wanted so badly to be there for Dave's first day of work - his first foray out of academia in 12 years.  Then Ian got sick with an ear infection and Sarah (our amazing sitter) got strep throat.  So Lindsay, my wonderful SIL, has been taking care of a sick baby.  She says that she and Charlie will not be having kids any time soon - it was an eye-opener.  Not that he was bad, just the level of commitment was eye-opening.  The 2 hour time difference means that I can't wish Dave a good day when I get up - because that would involve getting up at 4 in the morning here.  I've barely talked to Ian - I talked to him today and he said "Mommy" for the first time, not Mama.  Lindsay said he was in his cuddly mode - the I'm sick, don't put me down mode.  It kills me not being there to rock him.  To just sit in the recliner with him sleeping and drooling on my chest while I watch TV.  But I'll be home in 2 days.  I think next year I'm going to have to bring him and Dave.

I'm proud of my group - our posters were very well received.  One, that we hope to write up and publish soon, got a lot of compliments and someone asked my student how she thought of the project - she referred to me.  Inside I'm jumping up and down like a 5 year old.  Could I actually be doing this well?  No one came up to any of my students and asked where they got such a stupid idea - to me that's awesome! I don't know when I'll ever think I've arrived, but right now I feel pretty good.  I'm in a good place - a scientist, but one who is still a student, learning from and admiring the giants in the field.  Maybe, just maybe I'll be a giant myself one day.

Life comes at you fast...

For those who thought that I'd never update my blog, I apologize.  We got back from NY and life slapped me in the face and has had me going ever since.  This is not to say that bad things have happened - on the contrary, something pretty wonderful has happened, but by the time I get home, focus on Ian for a few hours, and get him to bed, I am brain dead.

To pick up where I left off, our return trip to KS pretty much sucked.  It started at a wake-up call at 5am from the airline telling me that our flight was canceled.  We were rebooked, but it involved a 3 hour layover in Charlotte, an airport that was WAY too busy to let Ian crawl around and burn some energy.  A layover that was also during his nap time, so no nap happened.  He also didn't sleep on the last flight.  We were in a tin can of a plane, too.  Thank goodness there were understanding people and an understanding flight attendant that looked the other way when I spent 30 minutes of the flight swaying with him in the aisle.  Anyway, enough whining.  I'll also post pics soon.  Or sometime.  Ok, before Ian's a teenager.

Anyhow, 1st class of the summer done, 2nd one started immediately after.  It's pretty cool.  It's pretty tiring.  It's histology.  Nobody has taught histology at ESU in about 6 years, and I've never taught it, so thank God my students are patient.  I have a great class and I feel so spoiled - teaching 11 people as opposed to 75 feels luxurious.  They're a good bunch.  Between teaching and preparing for the meeting I'm headed to now, my days have been kicking my butt.  Hence the no blogging.  This week, though, I should be able to blog more.

And now, for the wonderful news - Dave is starting Monday as a chemist for Hill's!!! They make Science Diet pet food and are part of Colgate-Palmolive.  I can't wait to see how cheap we can get their products - I'm probably going to turn into one of those people from Extreme Couponing. "I've got 611 bags of dog food - our dogs died 3 years ago but I still get it because I can get it cheap!"  Ian's bed will have stacks of toothpaste under it.  You know, a girl has to have goals.  The biggest thing is that this job is permanent.  Not temporary.  For the last 3 years, we've wondered every year whether Dave's contract would be renewed.  This past year, a lot of things happened in his department, and it was 10 months of pure hell.  One week he was told that the university considered him permanent, the next week he was told he might be cut to part time.  One month he definitely had a job, the next maybe not.  I don't deal well with uncertainty.  At all.  So to say that this is wonderful news is a total understatement.  We love Emporia, and we love ESU too (I absolutely LOVE where I work - I couldn't imagine a better place), we've made great friends, and now we don't have to leave.  So happy.

The other, extremely recent development doesn't involve us.  My SIL, Lindsay, just found out that she will be an assistant prof at Auburn University in Auburn, AL this fall.  We are so happy and excited for them, because Lindsay has been through hell with her job too, just for different reasons.  I'm very sad to see them move, because it's been wonderful getting to see them so often, but so happy for them.  And it's a lot closer to my parents and Dave's parents, so at least we'll probably get to see them whenever we go down to see either family, which isn't bad.  Ian adores his Uncle Cha Cha and Aunt Lindsay, so that's a good thing all around.

So today I am patiently waiting on my flight to Denver.  We were going to leave in 20 minutes, but now it will be an hour and 20.  I still should be able to make my connecting to San Diego though.  The gate agent told me we're only landing 30 gates away from where I leave in Denver.  No prob.  I will totally push old ladies out of the way, knock over small babies,  and punch out anyone in my way to make that connecting flight.  So far, the trip is downright boring.  No Ian to entertain, no ukelele players, no hoochies in 5 inch stilettos.  And I have time to blog and recharge my electronics, thanks to workstations and free WiFi in the airport.  Come to think of it, this is pretty darn nice.  Don't get me wrong, I will miss Dave and the squirt to death.  I'm so thankful Linds was able to come stay with them so she could take Ian to daycare in the morning (Dave has to be at work between 6:45 and 7am).  Hopefully I will get at least 1 texted pic of Ian a day.  No Skyping - last year we skyped and he cried for 2 hours afterward.  It should be a really good meeting though.  More updates from sunny California when I get there.

I'm in a NY state of mind...our trip

Yeah, yeah, this is long overdue.  I predicted that when we got back, teaching the last week of class and co-instructing a camp, all while trying to prep for starting histology next week would be bad.  And it has been.  But today is the last day of class, there's no camp, and I actually just posted a week's worth of ppts, so I feel pretty good.  Or I'm deluded into thinking I might have this under control.  Either way.  The point is, by the time I've gotten home and gotten everything done that needs to be done, I am absolutely, 100% brain dead.  So I'm blogging now while watching people take finals - no pics in this post, but they will come later.

So, our trip to NY was good.  And a lot of work.  But good.  The new nephew is beyond adorable, and very sweet.  I think in a year, he and Ian will be buds.  Ian was really good with him - he kind of petted him like we do with the dogs.  But that's ok.  I was only allowed to hold Michael while Ian was not around.  The first time I held him, Ian was pretty good - he just kept inching closer and closer on the couch and just about crawled onto my lap.  So I put Michael down.  The second time, I was trying to give Katie a break and let her eat dinner and I took Michael and we walked into the kitchen, out of Ian's sight.  Yeah, right.  He gave me 2 seconds, then started yelling "MAMA" from his high chair.  Apparently I was cheating on him and that was NOT ok.  For the most part, Dave and I have determined that there is no part of traveling with a 15-month-old that is easy.  It is not vacation.  The sun rises about an hour there before it does in Kansas, so guess who was up at 5:30am every morning?  Guess who didn't take a nap for 2 straight days because the pack'n'play wasn't his crib, it was too light in the room, atmospheric conditions were off, there were solar flares - you get the picture.  Guess who is one cranky little boy when he doesn't nap?  Katie and Sean also have these cool things called "stairs" in their house - wood stairs, steep stairs.  Going up was fine, going down required assistance.  Also, they have 2 dogs that are way curious about Ian.  Ian is used to being ignored by our dogs, so this was a new opportunity for him to quasi-torture play.  Which usually evolved into Ian getting excited and screeching like a banshee, the dogs barking, and chaos in general.

So, what did we do?  A lot of nice visiting, and a lot of great eating.  We discovered some cool places.  We took Ian to his first (and our first) indoor playground.  Best $14 we've EVER spent.  We didn't have to worry about the fact that he doesn't walk everywhere yet.  No dirt.  Very few kids there.  And it wore him out - awesome.  We got some great videos and pics that I'll post later.  We also discovered, conveniently around the corner, Rockland Bakery, a denison of evil.  It's like Disney for the carb-addicted.  There's a deli room.  Then you walk back and there's the dessert room.  And then you walk into the bread room.  Did I mention these are ROOMS?  Not shelves?  We went twice.  Amazing.  If I lived up there, I would weigh 400lbs and eat nothing but bread.  Lilly would have to ramp up its insulin production to keep up with me.

A definite highlight was a lunch Monday put on by one of my grad school friends, Anna.  Paul, a former roommate and his wife Bridget, another grad school friend, and all our kids were there.  So. Much. Fun.  I can't thank everyone enough for coming.  I hadn't seen these guys in 11 years, but it was like no time had passed.  We had a great time catching up.

Another highlight was our trip to Kycuit, the Rockefeller's country estate, in Tarrytown, NY.  The house is amazing.  The grounds are amazing.  I mean, come on, it's the Rockefellers - we didn't exactly tour a trailer in the woods.  I kinda wish I was a Rockefeller.  The house was built in the early 1900's and was given to the National Trust in the 1970's by Nelson Rockefeller, a 4-time governor of NY.  Apparently, giving your share of a legacy to the US government is not cool, at least if you're the other shareholders.  He willed it to the NT a year before he died and the family spent that year trying to talk him out of it.  It took them 15 years after his death to allow visitors.  To get there, you actually park somewhere else and take a shuttle.  The house is at the top of a hill that looks out over the Hudson River.  The grounds include 4000 acres and a country club that is only for the family and their guests.  And when I say country club, I mean something they called the "playhouse" that was built for the kids.  Very similar to what many of you probably have in your 4000 acre back yard - 2 indoor pools, 2 outdoor pools, tennis courts, a bowling alley.  You know, just the basics.  We plan to build Ian one next year.  Anyway, now the house and gardens (that cost about $1 million to keep up) are part of the NT and the family can't use them for private functions any more.  The clubhouse and golf course (what? you don't have one in your back yard either?) are leased back to the current Rockefellers, a lot of who have their own mansions on the property.  Hence the shuttle - there is still family living on the property, so you're not allowed to just wander and drive wherever you want.

Now, this tour is not recommended for children under 5.  It is 2 and a half hours long.  Recommendations, schmecommendations.  We took Ian.  Who promptly wanted to get down and play in the big house. Our tour guide politely suggested (we totally got the evil eye when we got on the bus) that perhaps Ian would enjoy the gardens.  So Dave took the first shift and was escorted and watched in the Rockefeller garden (one of them, there were a few).  I looked at half the house, found out that Rock Sr was a devout Baptist, and there was no drinking, dancing, or entertaining there.  No ballroom, which was unusual at the time.  I went out to relieve Dave and watched Ian play in one of the fountains.  It amused him.  I wasn't entirely certain though that we were supposed to touch anything, so every time someone came close I scooped up Ian and totally pretended that I wasn't letting my child play in a historic fountain that was a precise replica of something you'd see in France.  No, not us.  The ladies assigned to guard us were actually extremely nice, though, and gave me a lot of info about the place.  I think they felt bad that I missed most of the house tour.  We walked through the art gallery in the basement (and I do mean gallery) and joined Dave in some of the lower gardens.  We got to see the coach barn, which was AMAZING.  I'm a little bit of a historical romance novel reader and a car junkie, so seeing their carriages that were what I'd always read about and some pretty amazing cars was very cool.  Since this part was a little more self-guided and we could keep walking, Ian was a little more interested.  And tired.  At one point, the tour guide asked if we'd slipped him a tranquilizer.  Lady, we would've done that before the tour started if it was an option.  Anyway, very cool tour, I have great pics of the gardens (can't take pics of the house) and I'd love to go back - when Ian's 20.

Well, this has been a long post.  I will sign off for now, but stay tuned for pics and video, and a recap of the trip home.

A physiology lesson

Weird title for a blog about our trip yesterday, right?  Oh no, totally relevant and I will explain everything.  So this is how the day went...

5:30am - Dave and I wake up and take turns getting ready.  In a perfect world, we'd wake Ian up at 6:45, get him dressed and in his carseat before he even fully work up, and hit the road at 7, with a pitstop at Sonic on the way.   In reality, Ian woke up at 6:15.  We gave him the rest of the blueberries in the fridge to tide him over.  Again, the theory was that eating in the car would kill some of the 2 hour drive and then with a full belly, he'd fall asleep.

7:15am - get to Sonic, order breakfast.  7:30 - on the interstate.  Did Ian eat the french toast sticks, the ONLY reason we specifically went to Sonic?  NO!  He ate the tater tots that came with my combo.  Oh well.  Can't wait for him to be able to just tell us what he wants - it sure would save money.  Anyway, he fell asleep 20 minutes before we got to the airport.

9:20 - get to KCI, find parking, get on shuttle to terminal.  Feeling confident - we can do this!  It won't be that bad!  Millions of people fly with small children - we can too!  We check in and I told the nice, helpful checker-inner that we have an infant in arms.  She goes through our info and ask us if the gun is in our luggage.  We look at her like she's lost her mind.  She says "didn't you say you were armed?"  Um, not exactly, but some of Ian's diapers could be used as WMD.  Had a good laugh and he hands us our boarding passes.  Thank GOD I looked at them, because she had checked our luggage to La Guardia but we only had boarding passes to get to Milwaukee.  Got that straightened out and we were not having to spend the week in Wisconsin, though I do love cheese.

Wait for flight, keep Ian occupied with walking him from one end of the terminal section to the other.  Let him climb on unoccupied seats.  Stare out the window.  Buy a grapes and cheese snack and a milk for the plane.  Finally, time to board!  The 6lbs of trail mix was nixed in favor of the grapes and cheese.  Big hit!  He munched his way through the hour flight.  Taking his beloved baba was a smart decision too - he wasn't bothered at all during takeoff and landing because he was so thrilled that I was letting him have unlimited access to his favorite drink in his favorite drinking vessel.  iPad games ignored, but flipping the screen back and forth for 20 minutes?  Total entertainment.

Get to Milwaukee, change diaper, find lunch.  Mostly for Dave and I, since our little chowhound had pretty much eaten for an entire hour.  We went to Johnny Rockets and it was the worst JR that I've ever been to.  Oh well, it's in an airport - they have a captive audience.  Back to terminal, and whereas before there had been no one, there were now 76 million people that we were going to have to share a plane with for 2 hours.  Oh goody.  Thankfully, we went to a gate that had no one in it and were able to let him play until it was time to board.  Also thankfully, all the grapes, cheese, and tots exited BEFORE we got on the plane.  Have I mentioned that I love my diaper-demon of a husband?  That diaper was so bad it left a vapor trail as he carried Ian to the bathroom.

I should mention at this point that when we first walked past the 76 million waiting to board, there was a guy playing a ukulele.  As time went on, that progressed into him playing his ukulele and another guy pulling out a guitar and singing.  At the gate.  Also, another flight landed and 3 women of questionable fashion sense (5 inch heels, skintight jeans, sunglasses in the Milwaukee airport) walked past us and all stopped to tell us how cute Ian is.  Oh goody - my son attracts hookers.  At least they were nice hookers, right?  We bought another milk for the plane.

We board the completely full plane.  It's warm.  This is gonna be fun.  Ian is exhausted because so far, all he's had is a 20 minute nap.  It's 2pm now.  Praying that he'd go to sleep, I gave him his baba for takeoff.  The plane has direct TV for $6.  Credit card swiped without hesitation.  Ian drinks his milk, watches a little TV and then wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, falls asleep!  Woo hoo!!  Visions of a peaceful hour and a half remainder of the flight dance in my head.  But, after about 45 minutes, I screwed up.  I had to adjust him one too many times.  But my legs were going numb and my back was killing me because we were in the row in front of the exit row - so they didn't recline and I was slumping, trying to recreate the human recliner.  Oh well.  More baba, some puffs, and TV actually made the rest of the flight amazingly good.  And then, in the last 10 minutes or so, Dave uttered those fateful words...does he feel wet to you?

Oh no.  At first I said no.  Dave showed me the wet spot on his jeans.  I felt around and realized that he had sprung a leak in the vicinity of his left buttcheek.  But hey, we're landing, right?  We made plans with military precision - Dave would take Ian and the diaper bag and find a bathroom.  I would take the rest of our bags, get the stroller from gate-check, and we would rendezvous at carousel 2 to get luggage. Ok, we can do this - we're so close.  And then...the pilot stopped 20 feet short of the gate, so we had to be towed.  Then they had to adjust the jetbridge 3 times.  All of this adding up to an additional 20 minutes on the plane with a wet spot spreading over the back of Ian's jeans, my jeans getting wetter by the second and some guy in the back who thought screaming "let us off the plane" would hurry things up.  Finally, realizing that Ian's diaper was about to burst with the force of the Hoover Dam, he asked the guy next to him to stand up so that we could change him.  The guy was really nice and jumped up, and we changed Ian on the plane, in the seat.  We didn't put his wet jeans on, so our son had to cruise through La Guardia pantsless.  At least he's 1 and this is still socially acceptable, although I could hear his thoughts alternating between "I don't know where we are, but if I don't have to wear pants while I'm here, cool" and "Oh geez, mom, I can't impress the NY ladies when I'm in a t-shirt and diaper!"  Dave wanted me to hand the diaper to the flight crew and thank them for their landing ability, but I refrained.  Sean picked us up and the drive to their house was uneventful, thankfully.  Welcome to NY!!

Oh yeah, that physiology lesson?  Liquid in = liquid out.  Our son's kidneys work.  We're thinking overnite diapers for the flight back.

Vacation is FUN...when you get there

We are in NY, but this post is about the prep yesterday that went into getting ready.  Because having fun is hard work.

It started at 7am, when I biked to Sarah's to drop off a check and then to work.  I was darn proud of myself - 3.5 miles in about 20 minutes!  I was channelling my colleague, a botanist, who is a total badass on a bike.  Got to work, graded midterms.  Difficult because it was a lot of opinion-based stuff and it's hard to grade people's opinions.  Especially when you don't like them.  And you can't really write "you're an idiot" in red pen across people's answers.  Ok, I guess I could, but you're probably not supposed to.  It's probably in a faculty handbook somewhere.  Anyway, got together some stuff to work on while I'm up here, sent myself some files, and decided to go home.  And then realized that the weatherpeople LIED.  It was not 75 degrees out.  It was 60 and raining.  And I'm not ready to tackle biking in that, so Dave and Ian picked me up - in the car.  I got a sweatshirt, Dave drove me back to the office and I biked home.  Silly me - I should have known never to leave home without my sweatshirt.  In May.

Anyway, I had solicited advice from my FB friends on flying with a 15 month old that didn't involve duct tape or putting him in a pet carrier and checking him like luggage.  Lots of great suggestions - one of them was Benedryl.  I never knew you could just use it recreationally for babies - well, you know what I mean.  Anyway, called our ped to ask about it and get a dosage and he was cool with it.  Yay!! Visions of a perfectly behaved, sleeping child on the longer flight from Milwaukee to La Guardia filled my head!  This was going to be awesome! Yeah, I was warned to try it out first because it could make him crazy instead of sleepy and God knows we don't want to unleash the crazy at 40,000 feet.  So, chock full of hope, we gave Ian a test dose.  The nurse said it would take about 30 minutes to kick in.  We felt like we were conducting an experiment.  We noted the time of dose and monitored his behavior with respect to time.  Was he getting sleepy?  Did he seem a little less coordinated, kinda like we'd slipped him a mickey?  At 30 minutes. we put him in his crib.  He fell asleep.  Success!! This crap works on our kid!! And 20 minutes later...he was wide awake.  Not nuts, thankfully, but we concluded that at this age, he is immune to benedryl.  If he'd been a mouse, I would've tried a larger dose the next day, but since he can't sign IRB paperwork yet, I decided not to experiment with dosage.  We'd have to do this the old-fashioned way.  With new games for the iPad.

So, we showed Hanna, our awesome house-sitter and my grad student, around, repeatedly uttering phrases like "we're going to clean this up".  After Hanna left, we got Ian to bed and cleaned like crazy so that she wouldn't be house-sitting in complete filth.  We also packed.  3 people, 1 suitcase, 48 pounds - beat that!  Ok, and 3 carryons containing a laptop, a Kindle, an iPad, a new coloring book and crayons, a doodle pad, some wooden toy puzzle-y thing, and 6 lbs of homemade "trail mix" that I made with puffs and cereal.  And a baba, as total bribery during the flights.

I'm tired, but stay tuned tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion  the Griswolds  Baileys go to Nanuet.  Night night.

Physics, schmysics...

Ah...tonight was fun.  It's warm out, and we'd bought a bunch of pool maintenance stuff, so we decided to try and clean the pool.  It's not perfectly level, and I have to admit that the imperfection scares me, but I think it's ultimately my paranoia and not anything seriously wrong with the pool.  We got a vacuum that you hook to a garden hose and somehow the water from the hose makes it suck stuff up.  Dave says it's the Venturi principle.  I say that I hated physics, swear I never learned about that particular principle in college, and prefer to think about it as the sucky-inny phenomenon.  Anyhoo, you know those things you did as a kid that you absolutely hated, but as an adult, you're kinda glad your parents made you do it?  Well, let's just say my pool vacuuming skills came back tonight like riding a bicycle.  Oh yeah, all those years of slave labor pool cleaning in FL were paying off.  Until Dave told me to hurry up. Because did you know that the garden hose attached to the vacuum was dumping water in the pool?  That never occurred to me - and we almost overflowed the pool.  I love being married to someone who is smarter than me paid attention in physics.  Not done with pool vacuuming - a big leaf clogged it up, unbeknownst to me, so the last part of my vacuuming did not involve the sucky-inny part.  Plus I'm a slow vacuumer - you don't rush a master.

BTW, we have a fish on our hands.  We let him play in the water while holding him over the side (still a little too cold in the water for him) and he went nuts!  I have the feeling summer evening entertainment will NOT be a problem this year.

Today we found out that Dave's class might not make this summer - the decision will be made on Thursday.  Bummer, because it's money.  Yay because it means he and Ian can go to NY!! I have to say, I will be thrilled if we all go.  We're definitely going to take the squirt into the city for a day to do something fun.  Of course there will be blogging, stories, and pictures.

On a final note, today was the first time I swung Ian in circles holding on to his arms. You know what I'm talking about, right?  We didn't go too fast.  I wouldn't do it before because I swear I read somewhere that it was easy to dislocate baby shoulders and for some reason tonight I just thought his joints could handle it.  Boy, did he (and I) love it!  We didn't even go for very long, but when I put him down I realized I was dizzy and started laughing.  Ian tried to sit, but looked like a drunken sailor and finally fell in the grass, laughing his head off.  Cool - he likes spinning as much as his mommy. :)

Week in review

Good Saturday afternoon.  The Rapture is supposed to happen in about 18 minutes, so I'll try to recap the week before the world ends.  Then again, if the world ends, it won't really matter that I didn't finish my post, now will it?

This week was fantastic.  Much needed.  Thanks to my friend and colleague, Brenda, I was able to play hooky from our team-taught course for this week and enjoy hanging out with my mom.  I have been looking forward to her visit for months!  All of you that live close to family, enjoy them.  I really, really wish my parents lived closer.  The Kansas-Florida commute is a long one and there are many times when I have wished that they lived up the street, not several states away.  We spent the week shopping, talking, playing with Ian, and eating good food.  Now I feel re-energized and ready to tackle monster amounts of histology.  Oh don't worry - I'll catch all of you up on my summer reading (Ross and Pawlina, LeBoffe's Photo Atlas of Histology, anyone?)

The pool is up, filled, sorta level, and the new pump is working.  Yay!  Now we just have to buy chemicals and wait for the sun to do its magic.  I think it's going to be awesome!  My new bike should be in on Monday or Tuesday, so I'm super excited for that.  I need to get moving on taking more pics of the beach cruiser and putting it on Craigslist and maybe our local paper.

I can't believe that in a week I'll be leaving for NY to see my sister, BIL, and new nephew!  Very excited to see Katie and Sean and to meet the little guy!  He looks so cute in pictures.  So far, Dave and Ian will be chilling at home.  Dave got offered a last-minute teaching gig that starts the week we'd be gone, and I was going to take Ian with me...until Dave and Mom pointed out that 2 flights and a 2.5 hour layover with a very active (but still not walking by himself) little boy would be a nightmare.  I told them that there was always Benedryl and duct tape, but after a test run of sorts yesterday, I tend to agree with them.  We went to Manhattan (about 1.5 hours drive) for lunch with Charlie + Lindsay, then hung out with Lin for a while, then a drive back that probably took close to 2 hours because we had to stop in Alma and buy amazing cheese.  All in all, a close simulation of what I'd be doing to take Ian to NY.  Let's just say that he was great - until the end.  And since he's not walking by himself and I'm not comfortable with him stimulating his immune system on the floor of the Milwaukee airport, I think he'll have much more fun with his daddy that week.

Ok, it's officially 5pm CDT and I'm not rapture-ized yet.  Oh well, guess we'll go to Walmart tonight after all.  We're also going to Allie's dance recital, which should be fun.  Unless, of course, the world does wind up ending.

Pools, graduation, and bike rides

It's been over a week - sorry about that.  I promise that this will be an extra-long post to make up for me dropping off the face of the earth.

First of all - the pool.  It's still a work in progress.  Let's just say that neither of us majored in physics.  In fact, I think I skipped the class where the prof talked about gravity, slopes, and 5000 gallons of water.  We got the pool set up with no problems.  We were so excited (ok, I was excited, Dave is still on the fence about pool ownership).  We filled that sucker up.  And then we saw:

Don't know if you can tell from this pic, but there is a shallow end...and a deep end...in a pool that is supposed to be one depth.  At first, we were in denial.  It's fine - so we have a shallow end and a deep end. Then I got on the manufacturer's website (gee, should we have read the directions first??) and read that having a pool on a slope is a BAD idea.  Like, the legs might collapse, the pool might collapse, serious bodily harm, etc.  I have to admit, the thought of ruining the new pool concerned me more than the threat of serious bodily harm.  But, concerned nonetheless, we emptied the pool.  Like all 4000 gallons of water.  Did I mention that the website said to fill it with 1 INCH of water and check the level then?  And to stop if it wasn't level at that point?  Well, hell, any amateur can collect data at 1 inch of water, but real scientists collect data after 2 days of filling the pool!

So, we've now relocated the pool to what we think is a more level spot.  Not perfect, but we think it will work.

Graduation - I went to ESU's graduation.  Which was outside.  In like, -30 degree weather.  Actually, it was probably in the 40's and "breezy".  Just for my friends who don't live here, when the chipper weatherpeople describe the weather as "breezy" in Kansas, they mean slightly less than hurricane-force winds.  Graduation - May 14, attire - pants, 2 camisoles, wool blend sweater, regalia that contains at least 70lbs of velvet.  Luckily, since I'm a chick, I got to keep my tam on.  My velvet beanie kept my head warm, although if I'd thought about it, I'd have sewn some earflaps on that sucker.  Big thumbs up to the dude at the UA bookstore who measured my head - I can now say that my tam can withstand 20mph winds without budging.  This graduation was kinda sentimental for me - my first class of A&P students at ESU graduated.  I know that I only taught them for 1 semester, but I felt like a proud mama.  When I met these students, they were in their first semester of nursing school, scared to death of the courseload, scared of my tests, hating the smell of cats, and stressed out in general.  I saw confident, happy nurses walk across that stage.  I also saw some of our grad students walk (none really mine, but I was close to them nonetheless),  two of my research students, Jill and Erik, and some of my advisees.  That's what this job is all about.  I absolutely love getting to know the students.  Erik was an absolute blast to work with and my only regret is that he didn't join the lab sooner.  He brought a lot of skill and a lot of humor to the lab.  He's going to make a wonderful doctor.

Side note here - I am SO extremely proud to wear my regalia.  It's an honor and a privilege that I worked damn hard for the right to wear.  But for the love of God, why must I look like an oompa-loompa in it?  Seriously, someone design something more flattering!!

So lastly, for tonight anyway, an update on the bike.  I biked to school yesterday.  And didn't die, but my legs hurt this morning.  And I had a really hard time even making it up the slightest incline.  The lowest gear feels like a mid-gear on a road bike - and there are only 3 gears.  So, I think I might have to go check out the 21-speed Trek at the local bike shop.  I'd really like to pull Ian on it, and right now I can't even make it up the baby hills.  Updates on the bike saga as it unfolds. :)

Now, I'll leave you with a pic of Dave and Ian - it's just wrong that I had to put him in his winter coat to go outside and play in the middle of May - but he sure is cute!

 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  In the world of moms, I still consider myself a freshman.  Ian is 14 months old - we haven't even hit the terrible two's!  So, when I think about Mother's Day, I automatically think about my mom.  My mom is awesome.  My best friend, my support system, my cheerleader.  Between her and Dave, I feel like I can conquer the world!  Ian and Dave got me a very funny card, and my dad got me an Amazon gift card!  I was truly touched and surprised by this, but it was really sweet of him and the card will definitely get used, since I just got my Kindle.  My mom sent me an email that was so sweet it made me cry.  Great way to start the day!  So, to recap Mother's Day, I'd like to compare for a minute TV reality with real life...

In TV land, mom wakes up sometime around 9am to breakfast in bed presented by her smiling husband and already-dressed, angelically smiling child.  In my world, I didn't have the brain cells to shop for breakfast stuff for this morning, so after sleeping in until 7am, we all decided that some Sonic would be the thing.  I love Sonic.  In TV land, child has a nutritious, beautiful breakfast of OJ, cereal, eggs, and toast.  In reality, I had the bright idea of getting Ian his first real fast food breakfast because he had loudly and thoroughly rejected Dave's efforts to feed him his usual fruit, cereal, and yogurt breakfast.  So I got him french toast sticks, hold the syrup.  He loved them!  He devoured 2 of them!  And then they exited his body - it was a poop of epic proportions.  His gut, not used to so much fat in one meal, rebelled and let's just say that the smell was NOT pleasant.  Thank God for Dave, his diminished sense of smell, and his awesome diaper-changing ability, 'cause I picked Ian up, took a whiff and my eyes watered and I gagged.  Yup, they don't show you that on the commercials.

Ian took a nap, and Charlie and Lindsay helped us clean the pool and get it set up.  Pics tomorrow, when it's full.  It's going to be SO awesome!  Anyway, when he woke up, I decided to try making him his first PB&J.  We even used Jif, like the commercials.  In the commercials, the grateful child throws his arms around his mom or something like that because she made him a PB sandwich.  In my world, Ian looked at the sandwich distrustfully, then stuck his fingers in it.  After thoroughly dissecting the sandwich, he ate a few bites, then fed the rest to the dogs (who narrowly missed getting jelly in their fur), and polished off his sippy of milk.  Enter entire afternoon of trying to hone his furniture climbing skills.  He's almost able to climb on the couch by himself.  We Skyped with my parents and he climbed on the coffee table.  I'm getting that kid a helmet for Christmas.

Dinner was pretty uneventful.  Ian's in bed now, the pool is filling, Dave is working, and I'm blogging.  And I'm reflecting on today and how lucky I am to have my little marmoset in my life.  Oh yeah - we learned a new sound today.  We taught him what chickens say, since he eats so much of it - bok bok bok.  He was so cute repeating it!  We were also excited because he picked up one of his new mini- basketballs and said, very clearly, "hello ball."  Life isn't TV, it's even better.

Birthday Recap

Well, the birthday week was definitely up and down, but the birthday overall was absolutely fantastic!  Sorry I haven't blogged in a week - the stuff that's happened this week has taken me awhile to process and I didn't want to write anything that I'd regret later.

So Monday I had whatever virus Ian had last week.  Fortunately, it was over in about 24 hours and then I felt much better.  Thank goodness, because being sick was definitely NOT on the birthday week agenda.

Tuesday, Dave's department had their weekly meeting, and scheduling for fall was discussed.  There's a possibility that Dave might be cut to half time in the fall.  This would NOT be good, but fortunately, thanks to a good friend, things might not be as bad as we thought.  This is a sore subject with us - we've been on a real rollercoaster since October over the status of Dave's contract for next year, and it's definitely getting old.  Say a prayer and cross your fingers that things are resolved for the better soon and once and for all.  To say this has been a source of stress this year would be a massive understatement.

Wednesday, my bike came in!! It came in a box, specifically, and it's taken a few days to put it together because it's been busy, but now she's ready for a ride.  I'm probably going to try it out tomorrow morning when there's no traffic, 'cause I'm chicken.  Isn't she pretty, though??

Thursday, my birthday, I took the day off and spent it at The Children's Clothesline sale.  Technically, I was volunteering, but really it was just a fun day hanging out with my friends.  Before I went there, I opened the present from my parents - a Kindle!  And a really pretty case.

When I got to the sale, Tara, Steph, and Becky had my regalia for the day ready - they surprised me with a tiara and a pin!  I seriously loved it!  I wore it all day during the sale, and I even wore it to the Physical Sciences picnic that night!

I left around 10 to get my hair did, and when I got back, they'd also gotten me flowers and a balloon.  I have great friends!

All day I felt the love through texts, phone calls, and FB.  Seriously made my day!  When I got back to school the next day, I had another surprise - flowers from Hanna, Brittany, and Betty!  SO pretty!

So, all in all, a really wonderful, fantastic birthday.  This weekend, Charlie and Lindsay are here and we're having a great time.  Charlie, Dave, and our friend Greg helped get a pool that I got for FREE from Amanda from her yard to ours.  I still can't believe it's free!  I'm excited to get it set up and cleaned tomorrow.  Pool pics to come.

OMG - seriously?

Time is flying at warp speed.  I need it to slow down for just a second.  Yeah, it's hitting me that there are 2 weeks left in the semester, 1 week of lectures, another abstract to submit to a conference, and have I mentioned that I'm teaching histology over the summer?  Yeah, I am.  Have I mentioned that it hasn't been taught in about 6 years?  Have I mentioned that I don't know what slides I have for lab or what the quality of those slides is like?  Um, yeah, these are the thoughts going through my head right now.  Well, there is a little bit more cursing involved.  In my head.  Because I swore that after spending a solid month reading an embryology textbook and prepping notes last summer that I wouldn't procrastinate about histology.  And now I have 6 weeks (2 of which will not be work weeks) to read the book, do my lectures, and organize the lab.  Anyone want to help??

In other news, the lab party was nice.  I hope everyone had a good time.  The food was fabulous and I enjoyed talking with everyone.  I definitely felt like an obligation to some - you know, that thing that you have to attend, but just for a little while and then you've made an appearance so you can go on to the better party.  Oh well.  :)  I used to be a student - I remember the "obligation" events.

This week is destined to be fabulous - 'cause it's my birthday Thursday.  Yup, I'm one of those obnoxious people that LOVES their birthday.  I don't try to forget it or pretend it doesn't happen.  I get ridiculously excited when the student secretaries put up signs all over the department saying "Happy Birthday Dr. Bailey!"  I have some in a desk drawer from every year I've been at ESU. I'm kinda celebrating all week.  Sometimes the party will be only in my head, but that's ok.  A present from my parents sits unopened in my dining room - so tempted, but I want to wait until the day.  My bike should be here Wednesday.  On my actual birthday I plan to spend it with friends and not doing anything I don't want to do.  'Cause it's my birthday.

Friday evening at the park

The iBaby is feeling much better.  Went to Sarah's this morning at about 10, and I picked him up at 4:30 as usual.  His appetite is coming back, too.  Of course, dinner involved chicken, but last night he felt so bad he wouldn't even touch that, so tonight was a definite improvement.  After dinner, Dave decided to mow the lawn - it was long.  Not whip-out-a-bushhog-bad, but definitely looking shaggy.  I decided that since Ian was feeling good and the weather was PERFECT (75, low humidity, windy, sunny) that we'd go to the park.

We didn't go to Peter Pan Park - I thought it would probably be crowded with every other person with small children.  Instead, we went to a little park by our church.  Swings, a slide, a merry-go-round, and see-saws.  Simple, but it had what we needed.  First we did some swinging.

I shot this video. Yeah, I won't win awards for my camera work. :)  But who cares - he's adorable.

 And then we tried the slide.  He's never been on a slide before.  I put him on it about half way up (it was a tall slide) and held him while he slid down.  That wasn't fun - he thought it was scary.  So we tried it again, only this time from the top with Mommy holding him.  That was good - he was clinging to me at the top and laughing when we got to the bottom.  All I could think was how cool is it that he needs me to slide with him - I know it won't be long before we go to a playground and he's running all over by himself.

We also checked out the merry-go-round.  He thought that was pretty cool - I held him on my lap and used 1 foot to push us.  I think he's ready for the gravitron. :)

Finally, we swung on the "big kid" swings with him in my arms.  The sun was setting, it was windy but in a good way, and Ian just laid his head on my shoulder and put his arms around my neck.  We probably did that for 10 minutes.  It literally brought tears to my eyes.  I'm so NOT a crier, but it was just such a sweet moment.  All I could think about was how lucky I am to have this wonderful little person in my life.  What an awesome night.  We finished by running by DQ and picking up a shake for Dave, who was hard at work taming the lawn.

Finally, a note about the royal wedding.  Oh yeah, I watched it.  Not live, but it's been replaying all day, so I think I've seen the whole thing through bits and pieces.  And I've seen so many comments on FB about how sick people are of it, how we should be focusing on the tornado victims and not a silly wedding, we have our priorities wrong, Americans are worshipping disgusting displays of wealth, etc.  Here is my take:  I watched it.  I enjoyed watching it.  I enjoyed seeing the dresses, how happy everyone looked, I was interested in the ceremony.  And you know what?  It brightened my day.  Did it make me forget the damage in a town that I love or the friends that have suffered because of the tornado?  No, not for a second.  Would I have been incredibly disappointed if this wedding wasn't full of fancy dresses and outlandish hats and men in tuxedos?  Frankly, yes.  I like believing in the fairy tale.  I want to believe that people can marry for love and not obligation and that marriage can be taken seriously.  And it was damned happier than listening to one more report about wars, rising gas prices, politics, or disasters.  Sorry if that makes me shallow, but I like believing in fairy tales.  There's plenty of time to dwell on everything that's wrong in the world, can't we take a day to think about what's right with it?

Week in review

Man, this week has been a mixed bag!  Apologies for not writing sooner - it's one of those weeks where it seems like everything and nothing is going on.  We have 2 weeks left in the semester.  It is exactly 1 week until my birthday.  Time flies.  So...the week in review.

Monday we found out that Dave will not be the interim chair of his department.  Major bummer in some ways, not a major bummer in others.  We were looking at this as a move towards his permanency, but he had a great talk with the Dean, and it appears that he is going nowhere soon.  Which is a very good thing.  We've spent the past 9 months on a real emotional rollercoaster, not knowing because of a lot of things, whether Dave would have a job next year or not.  So, to have someone high up be so optimistic about the future is a nice feeling.

Tuesday, I picked out my birthday present from Dave and Ian.  It might be here in time for my birthday too. It's a beach cruiser, retro-style bike.  Pics to come when it gets here.  I'm super excited!

Wednesday, tornados ripped apart a town Dave and I called home for 8 years.  I made some of my best friends ever there, got my Ph.D. there.  We'd seen tornados while we were there, but nothing this bad.  Thank God almost everyone I know that still lives there is ok.  So far, no one I know is dead or severely injured.  Friends have house and vehicle damage, but no loss of life.  I can't get in touch with the people from a vet clinic that I volunteered at - their clinic was in the vicinity of the hit and all of them were like family.  They were the inspiration for this blog url - they used to call me the Rodent Scholar.  So say a prayer for them and for everyone down there.

This video was shot from University Mall

It's so hard to go on Facebook or to watch videos like this without getting choked up.  Without thinking, wow, I used to eat at Full Moon BBQ, I went to that CVS, Kevin and I would get "scientific doughnuts" from Krispy Kreme when we were stressed.  And I know T-town will rally and rebuild.  And I know the power will come back on.  And I know it could've been much worse and people I know could've been killed.  But it's still so weird and sad to watch the national news and see a place that you lived featured as the top story for such a terrible reason.

Today the I-man didn't feel so great.  Poor baby - he ran a fever all day unless we gave him Tylenol and was generally snotty and miserable.  But even that wasn't entirely bad.  We cuddled a lot, which was really nice.  Granted, I was definitely wishing he felt better, but it was nice just sitting in the rocking chair with nothing more to do than stroke his hair and rock him.

So, whew - what a rollercoaster ride this week!

Happy Easter

What a great Easter.  It's probably the nicest one we've had in a long time - better explain that one.  We normally don't do much for Easter.  I mean, before Ian, Dave and I went to church and sometimes I'd fix lunch for us or something, but that was really about it.  Last year was our first Easter with Ian and my whole family was here.  Definitely nice to have the family around, but Ian was about 6 weeks old and I felt like a completely overwhelmed zombie.  So I enjoyed last Easter, but I didn't REALLY enjoy it.

This year was just really fun.  Yesterday we went to Brent and Stephanie's and hung out with great friends all afternoon.  The kids dyed Easter eggs (great bunch of kids!).  Ian did great even sans afternoon nap.  Just a very fun, relaxed afternoon.  We came home, fed Ian (who was so tired that he barely ate dinner), and got ready for church.  Our sitter came a little before 8, and Dave and I headed over to Sacred Heart.  I normally don't go to vigil services because they are L-O-N-G.  Like, we got there about a half hour early and the service was 2.5 hours.  LONG.  And in the middle of the night, and I like to go to bed like an old person.  But last night was special, for a couple of reasons.  The first, and most important, was that Dave was baptized and joined the Catholic church.  It was a decision that he made last summer when we baptized Ian and made a commitment to raise him Catholic.  We just thought that it was important for him to join as a family thing.  And he'd been going forever, so why not become an official, card-carrying member, secret handshake and everything?

I have to say, I'm so proud of him.  He not only went through RCIA (no short process), but they do full immersion baptisms here.  I think that would've been my dealbreaker, had it been me.  No way would I climb into the Holy Horse Trough in front of a few hundred people!  But he did!  Everything went really well, and it was totally worth 2.5 hours of church to see that.   The second reason is that all of the friends that we'd spent the afternoon with came.  They sat in the pew behind us and it was just really fun having people we actually knew to sit with.  And I have to admit, it was nice to go to church and not try to get seats in the back pew, spending the whole service digging through a diaper bag looking for the bottle/sippy/snack bag/quiet toy...you get the picture. :)

This Easter was also special because last year we didn't really have the Easter bunny come to our house.  Ian was 6 weeks old - what was the point?  This year, the Easter bunny didn't deliver candy, but she managed to find the largest bunny known to man.  Ok, to Emporia.  His name is Bob.  Bob the Bunny.  The Easter bunny didn't want Bob to get dirty during transport, so she used 2 big bags.  Kinda looks like Bob arrived in a body bag.

To appreciate how big Bob is, here is Bob next to me:

Ian with Bob - I can't tell whether he liked him or was terrified of him.

We had Easter lunch at our friends Jami and Kim's house.  Kim was Dave's godfather.  We almost got him the Godfather movie as a thank you, but decided to take them out to a nice dinner in the future as a thank you instead.  Lunch was delicious - ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, all the good stuff.  Ian had their stairs (we have none) in about 5 minutes and when he wasn't climbing them, he was playing with their kids' Easter loot.  Their youngest, Jake, was so sweet with Ian.  He was on the stairs with me when Ian was climbing and told me that he would tell Ian how to climb down too, but he didn't speak baby language any more.  He also let Ian chew on his dinosaur ball shooter.

Yeah, next year the goal is to visit the Easter Bunny at the mall and actually have some nice Easter pics of the fam.  Baby steps. :)  I hope everyone has had a great weekend!

I want your reality

So, tonight I decided to check my usual scientific websites like UsMagazine.com and I just about spit out my Diet Dr. Pepper when I saw this headline Kirstie Alley: I'm almost a size 6!.  I LOVE Kirstie.  She's funny, talented, and isn't afraid to make fun of herself.  I've loved watching her on DWTS.  But seriously, a size 6?? I want some Hollywood clothes!

I saw a really interesting talk today about pregnancy.  Actually, it was about the evolution of the bump and how it's now ok to display.  And ok to photograph.  Great pics from history too.  The presenter was a grad student in psychology and also a professional photographer.  Really interesting to know how much retouching is done on both celebrities and "normal" people.  I always kinda figured that magazines airbrushed the crap out of those glowing, pregnant, half-naked celebrities.  Having now been pregnant myself, I had to believe it was airbrushing because the alternative was that I had the worst looking pregnant belly in the entire history of mankind.  She had an interesting point though - she routinely retouches pregnancy photos at her clients' requests because there is pressure to have the perfect cute, round, stretch mark-free belly.  You can't even be natural while you're pregnant. I completely relate to this and now I'm a little sad that I didn't capture more of my pregnancy with Ian.  I did want belly pics - NOT to put on the internet, but just as a little reminder to Dave and I of what I looked like during my pregnancy.  But I did see those pictures of celebrities who magically gain 60lbs with no stretch marks and that cute round shape and then I'd look at the mirror and see nothing but flaws.  Ian was frank breech and when they delivered him, we were told that he was sitting like a frog on top of my pelvis.  As in, not one part of him down at all to give me a cute round beach ball.  Nope, I bulged out and flattened, like some giant turtle wearing its shell backwards.  Stretch marks?  No cream on earth would've stopped those.  And then there was the PUPPP.  Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy.  Remember chickenpox?  Kinda similar in look and in itch.  I itched all over for about 4 months.  Awesome.  But if I'd known I could have some fabulous pics of myself that in no way resembled reality?  Heck yeah, sign me up.  Maybe next time. :)

Anyway, it was a cool talk and I went to other cool stuff today - it was Research and Creativity Day.  My students presented their work and did well.  The day started out with a lot of little morning frustrations, but by afternoon things had brightened up a lot.  Good snacks during the awards ceremony also helped (I could eat my weight in cocktail weenies with BBQ sauce).  A colleague and friend of mine and I had a cocktail weenie discussion - he wasn't a huge fan and had never heard of putting grape jelly and BBQ sauce together when you're making them in a crockpot.  I didn't know that was such a southern thing, but you know, I'm a girl who loves her processed meat products. :)  Tomorrow is Friday - yahoo!  Not too much on the books yet, so hopefully it will be a quiet day at work so I can get a lot done.  The end (of the semester) is coming soon!

What a (half) week!

Geez, I can't believe it's only Wednesday.  I think we should fast-forward to Friday.  Mentally, I think I was there Monday.  To recap the week so far...

Kevin's talk was every bit as amazing as I thought it would be.  Actually, it was probably amazinger.  I understood it.  So did everyone else.  And for someone like me to understand DNA methylation, you know he was using small words and short sentences.  Molecular biologist, I'm not.  He got to meet quite a few of my colleagues and a lot of the grad students too.  I love where I work, so it was really cool to show off our awesome university and my even awesomer students and colleagues.  I took him to KC to his hotel afterwards and got home at 10:30, absolutely exhausted. That is a long, boring drive.

So Tuesday I had 6.5 billion tests to grade.  Ok, really it was more like 49, but it felt like 6.5 billion.  Some of my students did really well and some of them had a bad case of VD - verbal diarrhea.  You know, when you start writing and you can't stop?  When you throw every word you've ever heard the prof mention in a lecture in your answer, hoping to God that the heart has something to do with the digestive system, or maybe that was respiration.  Oh well, we'll just discuss it all together and maybe she'll give me partial credit.  Yeah, I totally admit to doing that in my college days (particularly in physics - I had ED - equation diarrhea - I was sure that somehow E=MC^2 had something to do with any possible answer).  As a prof, I hate VD.  The most awesome answer, though, that I've ever gotten in many years of teaching was when I asked whether a particular heart rhythm was good or bad.  The answer? "Yes, it's probably bad because it was on your powerpoint about abnormal heart rhythms."  Can I just say how awesome that is??

I hung a decorative sign on my door Tuesday that was very effective.  So effective, in fact, that a colleague joked later in the day that I'd taken my sign down so he thought it was safe to come in.

Today was good, just busy.  Wednesdays are usually big meeting days.  Tomorrow should be pretty nice.  Hope you're having a good week!

Rookie mistakes

So, in KC yesterday I made a pitstop by Target.  LOVE that store for kids' clothes.  So I got Ian some summer stuff and one of the things I got him was a bright, white polo shirt.  What was I thinking, you ask? Well, I was thinking "Oh, how cute, Dave has a white polo and I can force them to wear matching outfits."  What was I not thinking?  That Ian is 13 months old and his new food trick is spitting things out.

So, here's a before shot - Ian with Kevin.  Clean Ian (and clean Kevin):

See how white the shirt is??

We had lunch in Lawrence at a BBQ place.  Where I offered Ian his first taste of baked beans, again without thinking.  That was the first collar stain.  Then later, Dave fed (attempted) him spaghetti for dinner. Those would be the other stains.  Finally, I tried to feed him a vegetable and selected carrots because they're his favorite.  At this point, the shirt was more orange than anything, so who cared.

After:

Oh well.  Next time I'll get an orange polo.  He's still cute though. :)  He wasn't in the mood so much for his stroller today either, so I carried him a lot and Kevin pushed the 3 bottles of wine we bought in the stroller.  Fun day in Lawrence.  Tomorrow is Kevin's seminar and he'll be meeting a ton of people.  Then I drive him back to KC and collapse - it's been a fantastic weekend but I'm worn out!!

A vegetarian nightmare...

Didn't realize until I logged in that I hadn't blogged in a few days.  Sorry about that.  It's been a crazy few days.  Kevin is here - we picked him up from the airport in Kansas City yesterday.  You know that friend that you can fall immediately in sync with again no matter how long it's been since you saw each other?  Kevin's one of those.  We got our Ph.D.s together.  He's a post-doc right now and extremely busy so we don't talk very often, but we've had a fabulous time catching up so far.

After picking him up, we decided to walk around the plaza area of KC.  Very swanky stores.  Very fun window shopping.  We decided to go to Fogo de Chao for dinner.  It's a Brazilian steakhouse (churrascaria), which I'm pretty sure translates from Portuguese as "humungous amounts of dead animals". Or something to that effect.  Dave and I went there for our 10th anniversary and meant to go there this year too, but a little person named Ian kinda canceled those plans.  So last night was celebrating Kevin's visit and a belated 11th anniversary.  Actually, Ian was very much present when we went on our 10th - I was about a 5 weeks away from having him and my stomach was the size of a raisin.  So in a restaurant with the most amazing salad bar I've ever seen and gauchos waiting to offer you 14 (no exaggeration) different kinds of pork, beef, and chicken, I ate 3 lettuce leaves and a sausage that night.  Oh well, last night I made up for it. :)  Dave and Kevin had a great time too - Dave never gets lamb any more (Kansas - not so much the lamb state).  So when offered (multiple times), a leg of lamb cooked just the way he likes it (still bleeding) and mint-encrusted lamb chops, he said yes, please.  I had the sausages and a small piece of parmesan-encrusted pork loin.  Kevin was in love with the bacon-wrapped filet mignon.  And then there was our son....


So, this was Ian's first restaurant with tablecloths and cloth napkins.  We take him everywhere, including restaurants, so he's really pretty well behaved, especially considering he's 13 months old - we've just gotten used to leaving big tips because of the messy aftermath.  Last night was a long dinner (hey, salad bar + 14 kinds of meat takes a while), and Ian's afternoon nap lasted 15 minutes.  So he wasn't in the mood to try new things and chicken nuggets were NOT on the menu.  So he had half a roll, some cheese (OMG, the cheese!) and then the waiter brought out a sliced fruit plate (unsolicited) of sliced bananas, strawberries, and blueberries.  With whipped cream.  I said thank you and looked at him like "I hope you know how much cleanup this is going to involve."  So Ian ate 2 banana slices and ALL of the whipped cream.  Then he had fun with the rest of his dinner (the floor saw a lot of it) and the tablecloth.

We're off for more fun in Lawrence today.  Weather is supposed to be about 75 degrees with 20mph winds.  Which will guarantee 2 things - a great afternoon on Massachusetts street and a REALLY bad hair day for me.

Wild men and rockstars

Ok, today's post is mainly about other people because my day wasn't all that interesting.  Ooh, ooh, except I may have gotten the name of a contact that might be able to get me free slides for my summer course.  That could be really cool.  Other than that, one of my grad students gave a seminar today and did a very nice job and I talked about lungs.  Nothing too exciting.

I have to take a second and devote it to a rockstar - my sister.  She is superwoman.  She has been a mama now for 4 days, and I'm pretty sure she hasn't slept since Friday night.  She's doing so well.  If I'd gone that long feeding him around the clock, getting no sleep, etc, I'd at least be cranky, if not a little psycho.  She sounds like she's just so calm and patient.  Michael is one lucky little guy - he has amazing parents.  Well, and a pretty cool aunt, too, he just doesn't know it yet. :)

So...the wild men.  Well, really just a wild man.  Ian has provided some great photo ops the past few days.  This was how my wild man greeted me this morning - love the hair!

Got the hair calmed down, got him dressed in his spiffy plaid shorts and polo shirt (what, you thought he wouldn't be a preppy baby?).  And I wanted to take some pics of him in his cute outfit.  This is what I got:

The I'm-too-sexy-for-my-tractor pose.  This was after I'd taken 5 or 6 pictures, so I think this was really his Mommy-please-quit-taking-my-picture pose.

Finally, I'll leave you with one of my faves:

The last one is from this morning too - Dave youtube'd the muppets doing the mahna mahna song.  Ian's favorite song in the world, for some reason.  :)  Happy Wednesday!