Sort of Like "Five Things That Happened This Week"

Hello friends!

I am now recovered from my bout of cholera, but being out of commission for 6 days put me behind on most life activities.  I've been itching to write something on here, but have been swamped with getting my household back on track.  So i thought we'd do a little "5 Things That Happened This Week", but i was having a hard time organizing my week into 5 events, so i'll just give you a quick run down on each of us.  We'll start with the BabyGirl since she's the cutest.

1.  BabyGirl - She FINALLY seems to have finished with her Difficult Phase, which lasted for about 2 months.  The Professor commented that she can do so much more now than she could 3 weeks ago.  And it's true!  She has changed a lot.  There's the one obvious achievement, that she can walk, but there are a lot of little things too.  The second half of the week she has been the sweetest little angel.  She is a very funny person and she makes me laugh a lot.  She can make some really funny faces. 

She is starting to focus on language.  She points at an object to get you to say it's name, for example, "button."  She intently studies your mouth as you say it, and then she tries to repeat the word.  She has quite the attention span for it.  After about the 20th consecutive time of saying "button" for her, I'm ready to do something else, but she's still focused.  I never noticed before how many of the words that a baby would want to learn are all 2 syllables and end with "y".  Kitty, Daddy, Tummy, Piggie (aka toes).  It would be very confusing.  There are a few "b" words that she's practicing right now: book, button, ball.  She pretty much just says "buh" for all of them.

There are times when she just up and gets the giggles with no apparent explanation.  It's so funny!  Sometimes you can't even tell what set her off, but once she gets the giggles then anything and everything you do is hilarious to her.  Yesterday The Professor was holding her, and i made a motion to take her from him, and she shrugged me off like, "Don't touch me."  I took her anyway, and then once i was holding her i reenacted her shrugging motion, and she died laughing.  The Professor and I both did it over and over, and the three of us just stood there and laughed till our sides hurt.

2.  The Professor - This week was crazy for him.  It was final exams and all the related end-of-semester tasks.  Once he finished grading finals, he plunged headfirst into preparing for his interview next week.  In the midst of all that, he did a little handyman work by fixing the microwave.  The handle came off last week.  He called the company to order a new one, and at the end of the transaction the person asked if he'd also like to get their Super Duper Microwave Cleaning Solution.  Now normally we don't hold with these kind of gimmicks, but you haven't seen the inside of our microwave.  This was different from my Fabric Store experience, in which the lady was a total quacko and trying to sell something completely unnecessary.  The Professor was honestly impressed with this tactic.  If you are calling to order a replacement part, then clearly you've had the appliance for a number of years.  And if you've had it for a number of years, then it's probably dirty.  And if you have to take the time to fix it, why not go ahead and clean it?  So that is how we came to be the proud owners of Super Duper Microwave Cleaning Solution.  And boy does that thing sparkle now.  Whether it's a testament to the cleaning solution or to The Professor's skills, we'll never know.

This week was the series finale of the show Smallville.  The Professor has a long history with Smallville.  The show started when we were in college, and a group of our friends was really into it.  We would all get together to watch it in Allison's room.  I myself wasn't that interested in the show, but it was an excuse to be able to see The Professor.  Our college was an absolutely no co-ed dorms type situation.  The boys were barely allowed to so much as look at a female dorm as they walked on the sidewalk in front of it.  That's why it was a big deal to watch a tv show in mixed company, in a dorm room.  Apparently The Professor and I continued this hobby of Smallville during the year that he lived here and i lived in Atlanta.  Apparently we watched it on tv at the same time and called each other on the commercial breaks.  I have no memory of this.  I believe it to be true and it sounds like just the sort of sappy thing we would do; it just can't remember doing it.  Several years ago i quit the show Smallville because it got very silly.  The Professor, however, has remained loyal, because that is the kind of person he is.  Once he makes a commitment or gets involved with something, he never turns back.  For years i have been making fun of the show, and he has been faithfully watching it.  This week was the much-needed end to the show.  The Professor asked me if i wanted to watch the last-ever episode with him, and i couldn't understand why he thought i would do such a thing, until he reminded me of our history with it, and of the fact that we watched it together long distance.  Even so, i didn't watch it with him. 

3.  Me - The first few days of this week i had the dysentery, and the next few days after that i was recovering, and the next few days i was fine.  It took me longer than expected to get my strength and appetite back.  Before i got sick, when the BabyGirl had it, i was telling some friends at work that she was sick.  One lady has a baby nephew who lives with her, so we always ask each other about our babies.  When she heard about the BabyGirl's diarrhea, she said right away without hesitation, "I'll bet you she's teething!"  This was very confusing to me.  I've taken a couple of anatomy classes, and i don't remember learning that the tooth bone is connected to the poop bone.  I gave it some thought, and it just didn't make physiological sense.  She wouldn't give it up though, "Call your husband, tell him to look in her mouth, and i'll bet you she's teething!" Well when i wound up getting sick, i missed a week of work, so it was a while before i saw her again.  First thing in the morning, she said, "So is she teething?"  I explained to her that while, yes, the BabyGirl is teething, the fact that i caught it from her and had it for 6 days makes it seem unlikely that teething was the cause. 

She seemed unconvinced.

Another thing for me is that i nannied for David on Thursday!  We had a lot of fun.  This time went WAY better than last time.  I lost David at one point (don't tell Laura!).  He can sort of scoot around but not very adeptly.  I had left him in a big open space in The Room Formerly Known As The Living Room while i got something from the kitchen.  I told the BabyGirl, "You're in charge of David for a minute."  When i came back, he was gone!  This used to happen a lot when the BabyGirl started crawling, so you'd think i'd learn my lesson.  Fortunately, he was hiding behind a huge bag of clothes that Hannah gave me.  Crisis averted!

I fell into a bad habit this week.  I started playing Zoo Tycoon again.  It happened when i didn't have the energy to do anything but was bored of the internet (and you know you've spent too much time on the internet when you run out of things to do).  Zoo Tycoon was the perfect solution; all you have to move is your index finger.  It occupies your mind just enough that you aren't bored, but isn't as much work as reading a book.  I used to be obsessed with this game during my nightshift days.  It kept me awake til 5am many times.  It was the perfect solution then too.  I needed something that would keep me up all night long but not make any noise since The Professor was sleeping.  You can't vacuum or wash dishes in the middle of the night, but you can play Zoo Tycoon!  I remember many lonely nights, trying to survive until 5am when i was allowed to go to bed.  It was my brother who got me hooked on this game, and it gave us a common bond.  Now he's older and much more cool. 

And that's a wrap, folks!  Thanks for listening.
 

Five Things That Happened This Week

I started this series about 3 weeks ago with high hopes, but then was so busy that i didn't have time to continue it.  It's a shame, because we've been doing some really interesting things.  It irritates me that i'm not going in chronological order, but i'm going to write about this week now and hope to come back to the other weeks later.

1.  February 6 was Superbowl Sunday!  Also it was the BabyGirl's 10 month birthday.  Tripp and Laura very graciously invited us out to Laura's parents' house in The Suburbs.  We had such a great time!  It was so restorative to get out of the city and be in a real house.  The BabyGirl had tons of room to crawl around.  She pretty much made lap after lap around the living room\kitchen.  Laura's parents were the perfect hosts.  There was a very fancy cheese plate, and man do i love fancy cheese.  When i go to Dominick's, which isn't very often, i always make a trip to the cheese case to drool over the expensive cheeses.  If i had an unlimited budget, i think i would spend it all on nice cheeses.  Some women have a thing for shoes, some women like mani\pedi's.  I like cheese.  And this cheese was very, very good.

2.  I started exercising!  This was a huge milestone for me.  You see, i LOVE working out.  In my pre-mommy life i would go to the gym on my days off work and be there for hours.  I haven't been able to work out since birthing the BabyGirl due to a combination of physical problems, doctor's orders, and lack of time.  This week i decided to go for it.  It was an impulsive move on my part.  I took the BabyGirl with me down to the creepy basement where the dilapidated second-hand treadmill and elliptical are.  It was very experimental because i wasn't sure how it would work having her there with me.  I'll tell ya, it didn't work.  At all.  It's amazing how you think and environment is safe, and then a baby finds all sorts of stuff you never would have noticed.  I expected it to be a challenge keeping her away from the belt of the treadmill, and it was.  My workout was an involuntary interval training.  I ran for a minute or two, then jumped off the treadmill to move the BabyGirl away from some dangerous thing she was doing.  Then i ran for another minute, and had to intervene again.  Another problem was that there are two ways of getting to the creepy basement: down the Spiralling Stairs of Doom or across the Slippery Patch of Ice.  Since i had forgotten about the Slippery Patch of Ice, that was the path we took on the way there.  But coming back from the other end of it, i couldn't make it across.  There was no foothold to get started.  I reasoned that falling from 5 feet off the ground was better than falling from 3 stories off the ground, but we just couldn't do it.  So we had to take the Spiralling Stairs of Doom.  Those stairs scare the heck out of me, and they are worse in the winter because they creak and moan.  I had a big panic attack on level 2 of 3, but fortunately we made it.  And neither one of us is a quadriplegic.

3.  Human Resources came to my department to conduct a group therapy session about our boss.  Back in May, the staff filled out a Press-Ganey survey about management, and the results weren't favorable.  Managers across the whole organization scored poorly, and my boss' numbers were even worse than the institutional average.  So this poor HR girl was assigned to come investigate.  The session wasn't conducted well, so it ended up being a double frustration.  The experience of sharing our frustrations was frustrating (ha, go figure).

4.  I had two social events.  The first was Friday night.  I went to a coffee shop to listen to a friend play music.  The Professor stayed home with the BabyGirl, which was a huge gift to me.  I had a great time.  I love this friend's music, and it was a nice end to a frustrating work day.  The second event was Crafternoon.  A few of us hung out at Laura's house to work on projects.  I worked on the aforementioned Non-Removable Crib Sheets.  Emily was planning to gold leaf a vase, but right before she came over the dropped the vase and it shattered into a million pieces.  Very tragic.  Instead, she served as Project Support and Baby Overseer.  Laura started a bolster pillow, with lots of help from Emily.  Clair made an adorable decorative pillow.  It was a wonderful afternoon and i had a lot of fun!  Thanks craft friends!

5.  The Professor and I went on a romantic Valentine's Date.  Blake and Emily babysat for us (thanks Blake and Emily!).  We went to dinner at Acre and dessert at George's.  It was very enjoyable and we caught up on each other's stories. 
 

Five Things That Happened This Week

This entry is mostly just for my own personal use, to help me remember my life.  It's not funny so you don't have to read it if you don't want to.

1.  The Professor's family was here.  It was MLK weekend so they came for a visit.  On Sunday they were hanging out in Zion so the 3 of us drove up there after church.  We ate, hung out, and watched the Bears game.  On Monday i was at work but the Professor and the BabyGirl went back up to Zion again.

2.  The Professor's classes started.  Time for a new semester!  His schedule is pretty grueling this time.  He teaches on Tues\Thurs, but his classes are spread out across 2 separate campuses, so there is extra diving.  He teaches a night class on Thursdays and doesn't get home until 10:30pm.  He told me that he has a long story about this week, but i haven't heard it yet.

3.  The BabyGirl and i went to a new playgroup.  It was very fun!  She loved crawling around and exploring new things.  One drawback, though, is that she frequently had a paparazzi of preschool age kids around her.  She would have preferred them to leave her alone so she could do her own thing.  One 5-year old boy kept taking toys right out of her hand.  I got so irritated.  Dude, you are 5!  What interest do you have in Sophie the Giraffe???  Stop taking it from her!

4.  The BabyGirl entered a Difficult Phase.  You know how it is with babies.  There are a few weeks of stability where they are happy and delightful, and then you have a few weeks of growth and development that makes them cranky and irritable.  We had been experiencing an extended phase of bliss.  She was a perfect little angel, and everyone said so.  Well, now it's time for another leap, and she's being really touchy.  We'll love her through it, and i'm sure she'll be great again when it's over.

5.  I had Esther Night with Laura and Audrey.  Laura is so generous to always cook us a fabulous meal for our Friday Night Bible Study.  The weather was bitterly cold, and we had a hearty appetite like mountain bears before hibernation.  Laura made steak 'n greens by Paula Deen, and it was sooooo yummy.  There were 3 kinds of greens.  I forget what she told us, but something along the lines of kale, mustard greens, and chard?  I believe strongly in the IDEA of greens, but i struggle sometimes with the reality of them.  These were delicious.  I ate myself silly.  And then we had chocolate cake by Audrey.  We also enjoyed wonderful conversation.  We laughed, we cried, we bared our souls.  Poor Tripp was banished to his bedroom for several hours.  Thank you Tripp for sacrificing your Friday night for us!