Dear Kitty Space Cat (KSC) "Casey":

I do not submit to forced cuddling at 2:45am. Knock it off.

Getting my hair cut and highlighted. Strangely I have pulled out more grey hair lately than ever.

Giggle Girls

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Originally uploaded by Spacemama

I love this picture. It's Anna and Paul's PTA's little girl, Lexi. Cuties!

Big GIrl

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Originally uploaded by Spacemama

Sigh....

Recalcitrant? A rant?

A note from Anna’s teacher last Friday:

 

“Anna did not sleep much at nap today (only 15 min). She also had some recalcitrant behaviors today. We tried some new strategies that seemed to work but I would like you get your feedback. If you would call me, or just touch base on Monday…”

 

Paul had to look up the word “recalcitrant” when we got home even though we knew from the context it’d been a bad day. Apparently a bad week for Anna the Toddler.

 

Recalcitrant = Defying authority, hard to control

 

AKA: “Toddler”

 

Well, whatever it was, she’s over it. And I congratulate her daily on exhibiting “non-recalcitrant” behavior for the day.

 

Let’s use her ah-hem “Leadership powers” for good, shall we?

 

This will follow her through college. Muah hahaha…

 

 

Her 3rd Birthday is March 8

And this year, I have already just booked a campsite at Brazos Bend. You know, to make better the plans we had for her second birthday (story here).

Good mommy.

Christmas Tree 2009

Helping Daddy with the train

The train goes around the bottom of the tree. We got it last year and it was actually IN the tree and I just remember having to lift her up over and over again so she could press the button


This year she was old enough to hang the decorations herself.

KSC's first Christmas

The final product 2009

Anna, you're such a big girl! What a comparison to previous years! Here are the photos from last year's Christmas tree decorating: click here. This is your third one (you were 9 months old in year 1, and 21 months old last year. You're 2 yrs and 9 months old now).

You keep bringing home Christmas art from school, including one hand-print Reindeer in which you chose to glue both eyes onto the antler. Thank goodness your teacher labeled the drawing, "Reindeer" so yes, your dad and I could figure out what it was...the red nose helped a little too.

You've started saying the word "STU-pid!" and throwing whatever it is you have in your hand at the time. Not out of anger or frustration, just because it's something new you've learned to do. We're trying to figure the right way to approach this since you don't know what it really means and if we're quiet about it for a few days we're hoping it will go away. There's a fine line in teaching you exactly what pushes our buttons so if we tell you it's a bad word and don't want you to say it, you can find the right instances to use that to your advantage. Even so, we can't help ourselves and a few times already we very directly looked at you and told you not to use that word. So here we go. A little sooner than expected.

Yesterday you skipped your nap due to coughing and were exhausted and hyper and defiant when it came time to put you to bed. Daddy suggested you go read stories in your room in your sleeping bags. I thought it was a bad idea. But it worked and you passed out during the stories, and so did Daddy until I went up and woke him. Then Daddy moved you to your bed.

Now that class is over (poor students have a final tomorrow but I don’t have to proctor it!) I have been able to watch TV for the last two nights in a row! All caught up on some sitcoms (WTH has happened to Scrubs, by the way??? What is THAT about?). Soon I’m hoping to catch up on some of the rest. But there are hours’ and hours’ worth.

My running is back on track after the rough patch I had in November when I traveled so much I didn’t run for about a 3 week stretch. I find that getting back into it isn’t as hard as I feared and it’s a good thing since the Disney Half marathon is coming up Jan 9. On that note, I really can’t wait to get Anna back to Disney this year. She’s still not fully into Disney shows or anything really (a few maybe) but she will have a blast with all the fun rides and shows. And she’s so much more grown up she’s going to be able to verbalize it so much better. It’ll be interesting to see how much she remembers.

When we take her places like this the nay-sayers will comment that she’s just too young to remember so why bother. But the child cited the first snowman doll she saw this year as: “That’s like Nana’s, mommy!!!” in reference to the slew of snowmen my mom always places all over her house, including last year. So she remembers.

She also remembers the Christmas Tree cakes she had last year (those little Debbie ones) and has another round of them this year. The other night as we were eating cheese and crackers, she said, “like in Colorado!” and yes, she was right, it’s like the cheese and crackers we ate together in Colorado.

It KICKS ASS to know we’re making good memories. It’s REALLY, REALLY cool.

So I wonder how much of Disney she will remember since when we left last Jan, she was 21 months old and asking for more “choo-choo and boat.”

These days she is in a great attitude phase. She’s a little big girl, ready to have fun, go places, and do things. She doesn’t really give us much opposition lately. She’s easy in the car. We were at TJ’s house the other night where she mentioned that the phase of the 3-year old is more about the frustration that comes along with wanting to do it all herself but can’t exactly. And it seems like the day after TJ said that, it started. Her biggest grief comes with not getting her 90^th-percentile head (blame Paul) through the standard neck hole in her shirts J Or her socks not going on right. Or whatever. And her favorite phrase is “I want to do it by myself”. There has been this thread all along since about April, but lately she’s telling it to us more and more and it’s really trickling to everything. Which is great. And I mean that only half-sarcastically.

But I’m new at figuring out how to tell a toddler to keep trying, you’ll get it, just keep trying! Would you like help from mommy? No?! In the heat of the moment, that doesn’t help at all so this morning I offered the shirtless Anna a hug and a breather so we could start again. So like I’ve learned starting 2 years and 8 months ago, we’re entering a new phase with new tricks.

It is really cute watching her carry the umbrella all on her own while I get soaked in the cold.

Why isn’t she learning letter recognition yet at school? I think she’s ready. I’m going to work on that. At home. I think she’d love it.

Also I bought a big old container of cookie cutters in lots of different letters and shapes. So I think we need to make cookies sometime when I’m not feeling lazy or tired. Maybe next week. Just a few more nights of TV for me! ;)

For a few nights this week, she’s had a bad cough which worsens while she’s trying to sleep (Paul has it too). I think it’s getting better. This year, I gave her the Buckwheat honey like I did last year. She begged for more. Last year she wanted to vomit. Funny how things change in a year.

And this time next year, she’ll be almost 4.

Actual text message from Paul when I was in Paris:

 

“Anna told daddy while playing w/toys this am: daddy this the earth, holding a small globe, states I live on earth and the moon. Daddy someday I’m going to the moon”

 

 

 

Renaming the cat from KC (Kitty Cat) to KSC (Kitty Space Cat which is also the Kennedy Space Center in Fl). Still pronounced Casey. COOL, NO? YES.

Teaching Anna to say, “You think it’s boogers but it’SNOT!”

Today I had to do jumping jacks in my bikini top in front of co-workers.

I forgot I even had a bikini top.

I was a test subject for an experiment that is performed on ISS. An astronaut who was training on the procedure used me as one of his practice subjects.

He was very friendly but his hands were cold.

And frankly there’s no good way to ask your co-worker to take your top off.

I am refraining from jotting down the clever and funny one-liners I had in my mind the whole time.

Man my job is fun!

Christmas Chapel Photos

Blogger finally let me post some pictures...

Anna was chosen to be an "usher" and hand out little angel gifts because of her "outgoing personality". Do they really mean bully?

You have to admire a preschool teacher who can wear those kind of boots!

Anna and Ryan. Ryan was a baby with a HUGE HEAD. He's grown into it.

On the stage. They shook their jingle bells. Nobody sang ;)

testing photos via email

 

 

An early Christmas Miracle

...and no, it's not about the snow we received in Houston today.

It's the fact that Anna kept her angel wings on long enough to get through her very first Christmas chapel/singing/thing. This was yesterday.

Too bad Blogger's not letting me post any photos today! Must be something wrong with the website. I'm going to go post them all to Flickr and if you want to see them, you can click on the top right corner of this blog on her Flickr pictures and see them all.

Thanksgiving

I'm delinquent on Thanksgiving, I know. We're on to Christmas. And Blogger decided I can only post 2 pictures today. I guess it's being a scroodge. As soon as it lets me, I'll post more.

In short, we drove 10 hours each way to Arkansas to visit Paul's extended family. The last time we made this trip Anna was about 7 months old. And teething. We'd just gotten the Jeep so that was what we drove down. This time we just got the Lexus and so the ride was so darned comfortable and fun it was unreal. This truck has everything. Anna even watched her own DVD's with the toddler headphones we bought her. Amen.

We did have lots of potty stops which is a "yay! Boo!" situation but otherwise I'd swear this child had never raged against any car seat in her life.

What. A. Booger.



In fact on the whole trip you'd swear she was the most pleasant, agreeable big girl you've ever met. Naps and bedtime were a breeze, she playned nicely with her cousins, she obeyed and even wore her jacket and her clothes and never car seat raged and you'd swear she was "practically perfect" (sorry, too much Anna Poppins on the road). I think she was just so happy to be out of routine and doing something different she forgot to be rotten. She was honestly a blast to be around.


She kept asking where we are going to be sure we were still on track for Arkansas. We figured it was her version of "Are we there yet?" At one point in the long car ride she said, "I don't WANT to get out of the truck!" WTF??


Dear child, just know when the car seat phase starts up again, this time there'll be no doubt it's just you being defiant. Me = no pitty.

Anyway, she had a good time with the family and then when we got home, Paul's cousins from Michigan were on a road trip and so stopped by for a few nights. Again, she had a blast playing with their kids and I was reminded why I only have one.

After everyone left and te realization of "normalcy" set in, the Time Outs ensued and we're back on track with the terrible twos. She's not exactly TERRIBLE but she's not the "practically perfect" big girl we had for the last week or 2. But like all that is toddler, it all comes in phases. And overall she's still a cute little package of "pretty darned cool kid".

It's these phases of 'practically perfect' happy Anna that make the 'booger' phases so much harder to take. Weeks at a time!

The rides to and from school have been insanely blissful. The car seat fights are on hold until her next phase! Plus the new truck is super fun. Really fun.

Anna today

Here's a picture of our growing girl today. Paul said he measures her at 37" but that just can't be true...

Spring Time Santa Claus

I know it sucks, it's a picture of a picture

We went to the mall yesterday (what, never happens). We walked around to realize Santa was there doing the photo op thing. We brought Anna over to see what she thought. She watched. I asked if she wanted to sit on his lap like the other kids did and she said, "Ummm.No. I don't like him".

I tolder her he was nice and brought little kids toys on Christmas (oh look at me, indadvertently perpetuating the lie of Santa. Didn't even realize it till this whole affair was over. It's so engrained. I'm not against santa per se but was probably planning to approach it all more carefully....). After she saw the other kids hug him, and that he was handing out books to these kids, she agreed to sit on his lap for a photo. We stood in line, which was super short. I realized she had on a very spring-time outfit, since it was warm that day. She also had on the mis-matched shoes she'd just consented to buying a few minutes before. Not very photo-like but we were doing this for the $17 experience and (and 2 3x5 photos) to see how she was really going to respond. I should have had my own camera with video so I could have taped the whole thing myself. She actually sat on Santa's lap, and he asked her what she wanted for Christmas. Good thing we prepped her right before because even though this is her third Christmas, like Halloween, she has to learn it all over again...you get presents for Christmas! She pointed to the pile of books by Santa and said she wanted one. I saw Paul and Santa and Anna exchange a few words I didn't hear. Then she smiled for the picture. A little shy smile at first then we asked her to show her teeth and say cheese and got the perfect Anna-Santa picture yet with a really cute smile. Too bad she was in a springtime outfit. And for heaven's sake, Santa could have put a red coat on too. Oh well...if this whole thing had been planned, it never would have happened. Click here to see last year's attempt at a Santa shot...

I asked Paul over dinner what they talked about with Santa. He said they all agreed Anna would give Santa her paci's in exchange for Christmas gifts. OK, we'll see about that. Anyway I told that to Anna back in like March and I thought she'd forgotten it. But then a few weeks ago when I said something about Santa she said she was going to give him her paci for Christmas. She remembered!

No wonder she hated him right away.

The Family Truckster: Upgraded

The Family Truckster was supposed to be the 2002 Landrover Freelander I paid off just before the engine started to fall out of it. In haste I had to swap it for a 2002 Jeep back in 2007. For more details on the Jeep, click here. For the past year or so I've had my eye on a Lexus GX470, but it had to wait until finances were in order and then it had to be the perfect one: all the right colors and requirements.

Finally...a Lexus GX470 that meets all of my specifications: Used, affordable, dark blue, decent miles, clean. It even has a DVD player that will be handy for long trips. Like the one coming up this week to Arkansas to visit Paul's extended family for Thanksgiving. It's definitely the most comfortable vehicle we've ever owned. Craig Durrett of Durrett Motor Company here in Houston looked for it all year for me. He met Paul through Paul's clinic and treated us really, really well. Definitely the best place I'd recommend for a used vehicle. He found this truck for me at auction in NY and transported it down for me after sending me the specifications. Then he cleaned up all the dings and stains and I'd swear it's brand new. He was maticulous about it, which I appreciate! The thing is beautiful and rides like it's brand new. Paul and I checked out the "home" address in its GPS and it looks like its previous owner lived in downtown Manhattan, NY. So it was probably garage-kept, which is obvious since it's in such great shape. No smells, no pet hair. The crumbs from Anna's fruit bar yesterday are really all the mess that stands out in this truck (an dso it begins...sigh...).

Anyway, I'm not in love with having a car payment again after having been free for about 4 years. Yes I hear Dave Ramsey's little devil voice saying NO TO CAR PAYMENTS...and I've listened dutifully till now...now it's definitely affordable and it's used and now I don't really mind it.

My first thought when I climbed inside of it at the dealership was: "WOA this is wayyyyy too much vehicle for me!" Then I cranked up the volume on the stereo on the drive home and had to hold back the tears. Silly for just a vehicle, but the music sounded soooo full and sooo deep that I almost wished I were commuting again to UTMB.

And the heated seats come in handy too right about now...

It does fit in the garage, though not as tidy as my Jeep did. I'll miss the Jeep a bit. It did a GREAT job for us and never a problem. The miles are still super low. The Jeep does still smell of the smoker/pet owner who had it before me. Otherwise, it's a great hand-me-down that I traded in for $6,000 on the Lexus.

I got the biggest, most sincere (sorry honey) hugs I’ve ever gotten in my whole life from Anna when I reached the driveway Tuesday night! Complete with mmmoooommmmiiiieeeee!!!! Ahhhhh, that was the best EVER! And she was all SMILES and hugs the rest of the night. She loved the little things I brought her back from Paris, and for the past 2 nights she’s asked me to read Bonsoir Lune (Goodnight Moon) in French. She tries to repeat some of what I say too, which is really neat. (On that note, yesterday on the car ride home I could have SWORN she was saying something to me in Spanish. I can’t tell what the heck she was saying, I kept asking her to repeat it cause it sure wasn’t English! She does have Spanish class in school so I don’t know if she was twisting up some phrases she’s learning…).

She’s been super sweet since I’ve been home even though this morning we had a “Time Out” over brushing her teeth. She’s at a stage where it’s critical to crack down right away on crappy behavior after fair warning. So things are getting tougher for her but it’s all part of toddlerhood. Judging from the amazing leap in cognitive function I’ve seen just in the week I was gone, it’s clearer to me now that the car seat rages, nap skipping at school, and battles over clothing that went on over the previous few weeks (and smart-butt attitude) is all a result of a major developmental spurt she’s going through. Part of the Terrible Twos that for Anna come in groups of “good weeks” versus “bad weeks”. Phases, you know, rather than a steady trickle of “Terrible”.

So for now I’m enjoying the fact that she missed me tons. She’s being especially nice to me, whereas I was afraid it’d be the opposite J . And for my part I have noticed her sentences being more complex, she’s stating her feelings very clearly, and asking about ours. She’s really turning into a little person right before our eyes.

Paul took her to the grocery store while I was gone and he asked me the last time she’d been there. I don’t know, maybe 6 months? I never take her because I hate it in the first place and have no patience or time for toddler “toddling” or arguing over who pushes the cart. He said she was so excited to be there, it must have been like Disneyland or something! She wanted to ride in the cart, help with the food, and was full of “wow!” and excitement! To the point where Paul felt kinda bad for her to be so excited about the stupid grocery store! Good, the grocery store is a treat! Her head might explode if we took her to the mall again. She hasn’t been there in about 3-4 months. It’s not that we keep her house-bound. We just avoid places that are difficult enough already!

Anyway, the car seat screaming seems to have passed. She will try to pull her arm out of her seatbelt occasionally but we threaten to pull the car over and get out and she will comply with putting her arm back in the strap without escalating it much further. Unfortunately she’s back in the paci use in the car as a result of our desperation a few weeks ago. So Take III on dumping the car paci will come later. A few steps forward, and then a few backward. Hopefully the 8+ hour car ride to Paul’s relatives’ house in Arkansas for Thanksgiving will go smoothly (sigh). I keep thinking if we did 2 days to Colorado in the car and 2 days back, we can do this!

On Dec 3, Anna will be in her first little Christmas production at school. She’ll be an angel (with the other girls in her class) and the boys will be sheppards and she will also be a welcoming usher. Her teacher said they picked her to be an usher (to welcome the parents, etc) with David because Anna is so “outgoing” etc. I never know if she’s kindly trying to tell me Anna is a booger or what. I don’t know the other kids in Anna’s class so I don’t know the relative levels of “outgoing” J but either way she’ll be an usher and an angel. I canceled a trip to DC when I realized it conflicted with this. Can’t miss her first little Christmas show! Even if she rips the wings and halo right off!

Well I think that’s about all. Anna’s turning into a 3 year old faster and faster...

Little gym

Wow. Just got an email saying they're closing the Little Gym Anna goes to. Not sure why but it closes Nov 21. Frankly, even though Anna liked it, she hasn't been in the last 3 weekends because of car seat fights and other reasons. Well I guess that makes my decision easier on whether or not to re-enroll her next semester. Oh well at least she still has (and loves) the Tumblebus that comes to her school weekly.

Going home!

This was written yesterday, 11/17:

I'm at the Paris airport super early waiting for my flight home. I survived the longest trip away from Anna yet! Seven nights away and Paul says she misses me pretty badly. We'll see about that. A few weeks ago when I went to Indiana for 2 nights she was hot and cold when I came home. I probably won't make it home in time for her bedtime yet but I'll see her when she wakes up. Her Paris souvenirs include French versions of Goodnight Moon and Sleeping Beauty, a new hairbrush, a kid's Paris bowl, and a fun toothbrush holder.

Paris is a neat city with lots of great history. I'm glad I got to go with the work buddies, which was fun and overall less expensive for me! But as cool as it was, it's not a place I'm in a rush to get back to...hard to explain but it's not a place I'd choose to spend my money on returning just as a vacation. People were super friendly, the city is surprisingly clean, and the costs aren't too outrageous. Given its 2,300 or so years of history (300 BC!!), it sure has paid its dues in blood to be what it is today. Frankly, my uncultured, American-ized mind could only compare it to Epcot :) or NYC in terms of its grandure. Is that bad???!! Ha!

I must say my french improved over the days and I even had the confidence to ask questions in french. At first I realized I didn't understand the answer :) but even that improved.

Having an out-of-sync biological clock meant I didn't even know when I was hungry and I could even stay out later because sleep and eat physiology was all over the place. But honestly I'm looking fwd to the regulation again. I guess it's a part of my control freak factor.

There was no treadmill near me (nor was there time and energy) so while I got plenty of walking miles, the running group might be painful when I get home!

I've been blogging and Twittering from my blackberry, which is a loaner from work for this trip. I never even used my laptop while there except to review some data I could talk through with Chiaki Mukai (JAXA astronaut and lead scientist). On the job front, I can't even believe how lucky I am to have this job. And the timing is unbelievable. There are lots more good things to come and I'll get to be in the thick of it! SWEET!

Is Thanksgiving next week? Here we go...

Today was not a work day for us here in Paris. For today and tomorrow Tracy and I stayed in Paris to be tourists. We started out by sleeping in just a little (by the way my body clock has zero idea what time it is now that I eat and sleep on a schedule my hormones have never seen before! We navigated the subway to the hop on/off buses with the open air deck and rode back to Notre Dame. There we visited the archaeological crypts of centuries of Paris buildings preserved as layers progressed over time.

We then hopped on the bus to the catacolmbs but were super disappointed to learn they were closed to visitors due to vandalism! Bastards!

Went to the Concierge where prisoners of the revolution were held before be-headed including Queen Marie Antoinette. Bought some tourist crap, ate tourist food (yum!) And went back to the Notre Dame in time for Sunday mass where we watched mass and communion. Talk about holy religion, batman! That place is amazing.

It just amazes me how much bloodshed in history is over religion. Wow.

Ended our night with a boat ride and dinner and I even held a fun conversation with a patient cabbie. All the french I took in school is coming back to me and it's actually useful.

Tomorrow's our last day here so we're cramming it all in ;) I'm ready to get back to my little family and it sounds like just in time: Anna threw the cat halfway down the stairs as Paul was on the phone with me! Luckily they bounce back.

Eiffel Tower

Today was a long and productive day but my brain is on overload! So much information from international partners on science while still fightng a bit of jet lag (though not as bad as yesterday). After all the crap I pulled to stay awake yesterday I couldn't get to sleep last night till 1:30 or so. Ah well. Hopefully tonight will be easier. We are headed to the Eiffel Tower for dinner as a group and we'll be getting back late again. Last night I ate raw scallops in lime and basil (yay me) and the night before I tried snails (not bad in garlic and cheese and butter). But I still couldn't bring myself to touch the fish in the cafeteria today :)

I talk to Paul daily. Anna seems to have gotten over the carseat crap and has apparently moved on to the "whine about everything" phase according to Paul. We expected it the closer we get to 3 yrs old. I miss them both!!

I like this loaner Blackberry. It's easier to text with than my IPod. Carrying them both around is great power ;)

Ok gotta run downstairs for dinner.

Paris is great

I'm really enjoying this trip. All the cool Paris stuff aside, I'm surrounded by people who love the International Space Station. I'm still not sure how I got so lucky with this job! Tonight I met the man who discovered nuclear anti-matter and a Nobel laureate. But the trip is bitter sweet because I'm missing Paul and Anna-Marie. Already can't wait to get my squeezes all around when I get home on the 17th. Till then, we are working as a group of scientists who are preparing a vision statement for ISS research. I'm not sure how I got this lucky but I'll take it!

When I'm not posting from my blackberry I'll post pictures. In the meantime I update my Twitter frequently. You can follow my Tweets by checking along the right side bar on my blog page or get a Twitter account and follow me (@spacemama). Now I'm not sure but I think my confused body clock is telling me to sleep. I've been looking forward to it all day! Even 4 cups European coffee and a double espresso couldn't fight the jet lag. I did pee a lot though ;) Bon soir!

I'm still on the plane to Paris writing this entry as a draft that I
can upload when we land and I find wifi.

Oh hang on, I can't write right now...we are in the final 30 min of
our flight and I need to watch this sunrise! Good morning France!

Mrs. Ruttley-

Thanks for loaning the class the car seat. Anna was the first one in it and enjoyed showing her classmates how to be safe- What a GREAT idea. She fell asleep for nap around 1:30.

Dawn

It was a decent ride home. Still I feel like the straps are too loose but we can work on that bit by bit. She squirmed at first but I kept talking to her and distracting her and she was very proud of herself in the car seat. She did ride home with her arm between the chest straps and her chest but she asked if she could do that and I said yes. Step by step...

So the round trip was great, just like the old days, with looser straps. When we got home, it was tons of praise and she was so excited! Hell, so was I. In fact I had enough energy for her to help me cook scrambled eggs for her dinner...she cracked the eggs into the bowl, stirred them up, dumped them into the pan, and helped me stir them in the pan (carefully!) while they cooked.

Packing, bath, and bedtime (with a bit of a fight thrown in on the last one).

Here's hoping the car ride to school tomorrow is just as good.

She called it Temper Tantrums

Well the pediatrician had to call it something to charge our insurance...after an epic battle of mommy vs Toddler in getting her to keep her shirt on, literally and figuratively, I decided a conference with a professional in toddler behavior was in order. Paul and I wanted to get a feel for if this is some real sensory issue for her or if she was just being a control freak like her mother. Anna's pedi is out of town so we saw a back-up. Given Anna's history etc etc etc, sounds like it could be that she hates the restriction and the tantrums (major, out of con trol ones by the way) about putting her shirt on and buckling the seatbelt stem from a very real feeling of uncomfort and the total loss of control. I'm sure it's true of most toddlers who take issue with the car seat. The pedi had a car seat screamer too and at least could empathize. But all we can do is power through the screams and struggles and pull the car over when she squeezes out.

That is, until someone sees me wrestling with my "innocent" toddler in the back seat and calls CPS. I swear I am waiting for my phone to ring.

The weird part about all of this is: why NOW? Why all of the SUDDEN? We had this exact same phase for almost 2 weeks back in May (remember?) but powered through it by waiting it out, blaming the teething, and giving back the paci.

We can't find anything to blame (some major developmental spurt maybe?), and she's a lot bigger and harder to deal with than in May. And yesterday, out of desperation, I gave the paci back in the car. It was a painful decision after having been successfully paci free since August, but here we are. In the long run we figured weaning off the paci later would be less painful than a development of a car seat aversion so we went with it. It didn't help yesterday. I had to pull over 4 times to get her back into the car seat on the way home. I yanked the paci and kept it as a bargaining tool. But in the end, she was too crazed to care.

The sad thing is she really WANTS to be good in the car seat. She will get into the truck and say she's not going to cry in the car seat and then when the belts come on, she starts to squirm and is obviously uncomfortable. That turns to screams and we're off! Is this what the toddler articles mean when they say toddlers hate to be strapped into the car seat? Are they all this crazy?

In May she screamed till she threw up once. This time she's screamed till she passed out. I feel like her throat must be sore from all of the screaming! All I want to do is hug her when we get home because she is so incredibly distraught but there has to be Time Out served first.

For some strange reason, this morning's car ride started out a bit rough but never got into screams or cries. Somehow she got comfortable and held back when she wanted to act crazy. I went into overtime using everything from stuff outside to her toddler music as a distraction to keep her cool (don't think I haven't tried all of this already, because I have - it's the obvious tactics, and they hadn't worked these past 2 weeks). For some reason today we got through. The straps were loose while still safe, and her hand was down her shirt for some reason that was comforting, but she was comfortable and it was a pleasant ride. I wonder if the ride home will be OK. There's nothing like being horribly screamed at by someone you just want to love to completely ruin your day.

It occurred to me this morning to ask her teacher if I could leave Anna's car seat in the class room today and let the kids all get a lesson on wearing their seat belts. She said that it was the perfect fit for their health/safety hour today and so she would focus on being safe in the car seat. My thought is that if she sees her friends do it, she might be OK too. But I'd be interested to see how this turns out. I suspect Anna will realize it's HER car seat and not let anyone else sit in it. Will she let the teachers buckle her in with no grief? Hmmmm...at least it's a creative idea I am giving myself credit for attempting ;)

As if this car seat and now shirt thing weren't bad enough, it's just in time for us to go out of town and for her to spend the weekend with Paul's mom. Paul drops her off on Friday (after a 3 hour car ride...during which she might scream herself into a coma) and pick her up on Monday. Paul gave his mom the background on this car seat thing and it sounds like it runs in his family! SO IT'S ALL HIS FAULT. I hope he got the point across to her seriously, that this could get surprisingly ugly. What's worse is he told me she plans to bring Anna out to the camp, which requires a car ride of about 45 min to Morgan City, then a brief boat ride, which would be fun for Anna except the fact that she's going to lose her mind when they put the life jacket on her...

I'm not sure how I'll enjoy myself this weekend knowing Anna's possibly making Paul's mom as nutso as she's made us over this restrictive thing. I can only hope the phone calls will say that she's being great (maybe the new environment will make her forget her hatred of the car seat). In the meanitme, I'm not sure how many shirts I'm supposed to pack for her since she cycles through about 5 every morning, in beteen Time Outs, until she finds one semi-comforatble. Then I get on a plane for Paris on Tuesday afternoon, for a full 7 days gone. So there's mega guilt of leaving Paul alone with no moral support for Anna's current state of insanity on top of the typical travel mom guilt I already have.

So my first trip overseas will be bitter sweet. BTW, this Paris trip is for my job, oui, oui!

This morning Anna's teacher showed me (proudly, I might add) her potty training sheet. She had a ton of stars for pee-peeing on the potty (her teacher calls it tee-tee...ick) and is doing really fabulous! We're very nearly "there" with the potty. Whatever that means...

Lord.

Trick or Treat

I remember this time last year teaching her to say Trick or Treat. And she was a Denver Broncos cheerleader, a little thing carefully running up and down the streets. This year she was a lady bug (for the most part). She refused to wear the headband with the antennae so I cut the antennae off the head band and snuck them into her pigtails. Score one for me. She refused to wear the lady bug wings around her shoulders so I safety-pinned it to her back. She only was annoyed with it at the very last house! The leggings are blue...closest I had to black because it was a little chilly out tonight (and she would refuse black tights). By the way, PERFECT Halloween weather! She was great at saying Trick or Treat and Thank You! It's her third Halloween but it's amazing she doesn't even realize she's done this before. Last year she was old enough to go up to the doors and get a little candy too. Doesn't even remember it. Our group of kids are getting older. Usually we just walk up and down one and a hlaf streets but this time we kept going and made some blocks. It was really fun because there were lots of Trick Or Treaters out.

Pre-Anna we'd have had a big dinner for friends and give out candy. Halloween is our favorite holiday. These days most of the friends have moved away, or are busy, and I can't summon the energy this year. Every minute is consumed with things to do so every chance I have to do nothing is nice...

Gotta go prep for Monday night's class.

Little Lady, GET IN THE CAR SEAT

Anna’s been calling herself a “lady” lately. Must be something she picked up at school! I asked her if she was mommy’s girl and she said, “No, I’m a lady”. It makes Paul nuts because it implies she’s older and he’d like to keep her his baby. But I think it’s cute as hell. Especially if you call her “Little Lady.”

 

In other news, she’s now pee-peeing on the potty regularly, including at school. But she’s skipping naps at school, making her a mess for the evening. Not sure what’s going on there but we’re hoping that the time change will help things since it’ll be later for her biological clock and so maybe she’ll be more tired. She still sleeps 2-3 hours for naps on the weekend.

 

It’s been car seat HELL all week. I literally have to climb on top of her to force her in and buckle the belts. She screams the whole way home but I’ve gotten ear plugs so that helps ME! It’s just awful. Twice she passed out in the car from her screams. She just keeps screaming “It’s Too Tight!!!” but it’s not. We can’t figure it out. She’s less crazy in the mornings but worse in the afternoons. We’ve tried everything, including positive and negative reinforcement and nothing is working. It’s prevented us from doing a few fun things this week just because we can’t get past the car seat to get into the car and go anywhere. She was this bad back in May when she was teething but now we can’t find an excuse. Also she’s been a cranky, defiant booger the last week or two. So either she’s not feeling well, or it’s another developmental phase we will just have to adjust to. I think it’s the developmental thing.

 

The thing is when she’s this crazy, it ruins my day too. The other day I was walking down the hall at work and realized something was bugging me. I didn’t know what it was so when I thought it through I realized that when she’s cranky and defiant, it affects my day. So there you have it.

 

Our last resort with the car seat is that we’re going to go and buy her a booster seat this weekend. There are a few available for 2 year olds. The straps are still the same 5 point harness so I’m not sure how far we’ll get but it’s worth a try. Maybe if she helps to pick out the right one, it’ll work. Here’s hoping!

 

 

 

October's on the way out...already

This is a picture of Anna taken March 26. A few weeks after she turned 2. I just found it and I've loved it and I can't remember if I posted it yet. I love it because she's such a big girl. It was the first time she pushed a little cart around the grocery store by herslef. She doesn't even usually go with me if I can help it. I just hate grocery shopping as it is and don't want to worry about a potential toddler meltdown. Anyway, look how little she looks, just back in March!

Here's the picture I took of Nicole and Bono at JSC a few weeks ago. The look on her face is priceless!!

Anna's helping Paul today with putting out Halloween decorations...

Ballunar Festivval. Anna's first time getting her face painted. I thought she'd hate it but she surprised me! And totally lost her cool when I had to wipe it off before bedtime.

KC (Kitty Cat), our latest edition.

I am currently uploading all the pictures we took this summer to Anna's Flickr site (see side bar and click to enter). There are so many, this will probably take all night. Also, I didn't feel like weeding through them all to get rid of the crappy ones, including the ones with less flattering shots of my big butt... ;) So if you dig through all those pictures, you've earned the right to see the less flattering shots.

Last night we met up with Ommom at JSC for the annual Ballunar Festival. Paul couldn't join us because he was working a high school football game, bummer! But the weather was GREAT and Anna had a blast. At one point she asked to go to the potty. Knowing these were the porta-potties I told her she should just go in her diaper... She said NO and so we went to the porta-potty. She took one look in there shook her head, said she was going to fall in, and said she'd just pee-pee in her diaper. HA! I am sure the darkness and lack of cleanliness also had something to do with it...

She's been much better about the potty. In fact she's back to asking to go several times a day so hopefully we're back on track.

Today she's been a ROTTEN terror. We even skipped out on the Little Gym because of a major tantrum she threw in the car. She's been fighting the car seat AGAIN. It comes in phases. I made her sit in Time Out for about 30 minutes after that tantrum, all during the time she'd have otherwise been in the Little Gym. She cried in the beginning and then removed her socks and shoes and half her shirt and waited. How she could be perfectly happy for 2 days each way for Colorado this summer but barely survive a 3 mile ride is beyond me. This is pure CRAP. She's 2 years, 7 months old and she's too old for this crap. It grades my nerves and she always ends up in Time Out as soon as we get home. UGH! Doesn't she know it's more fun to be out doing things???

BOOGER!!

Back to normal again!

I gt back from Indiana on Friday and enjoyed the weekend with Paul and Anna-Marie. The weather here is like actually fall. For a little while, anyway. I'm done with travel until November, which will be flat out horrible.

I managed to get a few runs in while I was out for the week, but not really. This morning I met up with the 4am running group and pounded out 2.8 miles at a pace of a10.5 minute mile. Must be the weather because I felt fine at my best pace yet! I didn't even want to puke afterwards. It's soooo much more fun running in cool weather than 80 degrees and 90% humidity. Even at 4am.

The cat is now named KC (abbreviation for Kitty Cat, which we do still call her. We go back and forth). Anna is decorated with scratches from constantly picking up KC or hauling her around the house when she doesn't want to be, but Anna is a good sport and doesn't cry over it unless it's a really bad scratch. In the meantime, the cat enjoys attacking my feet while I simply walk across my floor, or chewing on my shoe while I'm actually wearing it. She also enjoys climbing up my leg while I simply sit there, and this morning she climbed up my back while I sat on the couch.

Call me what you want, but the claws are going to go in the next few weeks...as soon as I get a vet appointment. It maintains household sanity. And our furniture.

Anna is doing and saying all sorts of cool things. Right now she's started giving a little crap at bedtime, saying "don't leave me". I can't tell if this is a result of me having been gone for the week, or if it's a new part of her development we've been expecting anyway. Right now we try to reason with her that we all need to go to sleep so we can play in the morning and sometimes that does the trick. Truthfully she's attached herself to Paul since I've been gone and so he's been doing alot of the bedtime routine but I susupect that will change once we settle into the way things were before I left. Half mommy and half daddy.

The cat provides an outlet for Anna to safely boss someone around. I heard her threaten to put KC into time out last week. Cute but a little weird. I don't think KC minds as long as she's not being squished or carried upside down.

Overall Anna's getting better with reasoning when there's something she doesn't want to do. If we explain to her why she needs to do it, that helps some. And when that doesn't help, Time Out is still really effective.

Anyway, she's a super cute and super smart 2 year-and-7-month old. She knows her colors mostly now, though yellow and blue are a little tricky. She really enjoys pointing out colors in stuff! Lately she's asking for "Gotta get that Boom Boom" (Boom Boom Pow from Black Eyed Peas). Then her little head starts bobbing side to side, very seriously, in the car seat. Can't help but lose it with giggles on that one!

She's back to using the potty at school, yay! But sporadically at home. At least she's not really resisting it anymore. So we're still no where near potty trained yet.

Well, gotta go pick up the Booger and get ready to teach tonight's class. Later...

On my way to Indianapolis / Terre Haute for outreach. Last one of the yearon my schedule. I was home just long enough for some good hugs!

Sent from my IPod touch. I'm new at this touch screen thing so Please excuse the typos.

I'm not sure if she was this smart and sweet when I left for our yearly girl's trip to Vegas but now that I'v been home she has been so chatty and sweet and smart. I guess she missed me!

Sent from my IPod touch. I'm new at this touch screen thing so Please excuse the typos.

Bono comes to JSC

Apparently Bono of U2 was here at JSC today. I didn’t know it till I read some Twitters about local sightings and then my co-worker, Nicole came by to ask one of us to go with her to stalk him.

He was at Building 9, to which I have access J.

I thought for sure even once we got in the building that security or someone would be stopping us to ask what we were really doing there.

We found Bono touring one of the space shuttle cockpit mock-ups. A few security guards caught my eye, and one wrinkled his nose at me, like: “I see you, don’t be a bad girl!” and I gave the sign: “We will be quiet and good, I promise” which was enough for him because he let us hang out and watch.

Noted at that time: we were the only NASA folks stalking him from what I could tell. Everyone else on sight was off doing their work like true professionals. Well, at least while Bono was in Building 9.

We followed him out to get a good picture of him getting into his bus. Still, NOBODY was stopping us! I was futzing with the camera, trying to figure it out, when Bono and his people called us over to take a picture with him personally. I got the idea this had to be quick and I didn’t want to intrude, so I sent Nicole (the bigger fan than me) to get in the pic with him while I snapped the photo.

No stress here! I figured out the stupid camera just in time and got a shot before he had to be whisked away. We thanked him profusely while still attempting to be the professional NASA personnel we are.

J

The photo was taken with Tracy’s camera so she’ll have to download it and send it to me but when I get it, I’ll post it here. Yay!

Summary: He was smooooooth. And friendly….and Nicole got to hug him which I am happy about. Personally I’d have drawn blood for Rob Thomas but I am glad I could make Nicole’s day! Seriously, that was cool!

Her actual email to me is below:

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

THANK YOU

You rock.

At Nora's wine bar with my peeps minus kendra and juniper who went for Indian food. SUCKERS! You're missing out!

Up 22 hrs straight! Yay me!

Ok this plane is going to Vegas and I'm all caught up on work with all the time in the air today. So I'm going for wine with another free drink coupon...since my hot chocolate was missing the spike!

In the meantime I need napkins so I guess I'll wipe my hands on my Bailey's stained pants. May as well go all the way.

Sent from my IPod touch. I'm new at this touch screen thing so Please excuse the typos.

Why alcohol is bad for you

>
> It's like this.
>
> I'm currently on the plane to Vegas for Girls Weekend. It's a yearly
> thing.
>
> I have traveled Southwest so much they have sent me tons of free
> drink coupons. They keep building. I decided to use some for the way
> to Vegas. Even though it's a 7am flight, it's Vegas baby!!
>
> So I embarrassingly order a hot chocolate with Bailey's. I'm not
> much of a drinker anyway so I build up confidence to ask for this at
> 7:30am and handed over my drink coupon.
>
> Then I realized this plane is going to Denver. My next plane goes to
> Vegas. Is it all in my head...the judgement?
>
> I get over it and when my drink comes the little bottle of Bailey's
> is separate from the hot chocolate. I lay it down against my book
> and try to make room on my crowded tray.
>
> The gradual wetness tells me that this Bailey's was opened already.
> For my convenience and all.
>
> The drunk In seat 16A has spilled her morning breakfast all over her
> table and her friend Rachel Brady's first mystery novel (yay for
> hard cover).
>
> Where are the wet wipes NOW?
>
> Trying not to make a scene, I catch the attendant for napkins. Wet
> them please. Fellow passengers to my right, front, and behind me
> hand me their napkins too. They apparently must have smelled the
> liquor bc I was being as quiet and calm as possible.
>
> Did I detect pitty from them?
>
> The attendant asked if I would like a replacement Bailey's... "Oh
> no, There's plenty left!" (I don't need alcohol and I'm not that
> big a clutz...) heh.
>
> I wonder if people will just think this is coffee stains on my pants?
>
>
> Sent from my IPod touch. I'm new at this touch screen thing so
> Please excuse the typos.

Anna told Paul this morning that she didn't want to go to school. She wanted to knock on doors and get candy in her bag!

Updates

Quickly:

I have kept up with my 4am running group with the exception on missing Monday morning due to the late Rob Thomas concert the night before. Thanks to Southwest airlines it's cheaper to fly mom in from Austin and spend the whole weekend than to pay a sitter for us to go to the concert. Which was by the way amazing! We had floor tickets so we were so close You could see every facial expression! And his voice is amazing...

Anna has decided to start using the potty somewhat again. TJ gave us a fun potty video a fee months ago so I played it a few days ago and Anna watches intently. She even asks to watch it. She's gotten better about the potty at school as well. So maybe we're on an upswing. Who knows?

In the meantime she's getting spook smart. She can tell us about her day and funny little details. She's doing well with the kitties even though they'd rather run and play than to be carried around. They tolerate her. The black one is going to Rachel tomorrow and we'll miss him bc he's a riot!!! But we're keeping the grey one who's female. After asking Anna over and over what to name this kitty she says I don't know! Or "the grey one". Finally a co-worker, Tracy, suggested KC: short for Kitty Cat, which is what we've been calling her. Cute! So last night we told Anna the new name and she said, "no, it's Miss Grey!" Paul and I looked at each other. I told her sure baby, call her what you want bur the vet records will reflect "KC". So there you have it.

Kc is little and purrs loudly.

Yesterday U gave a lecture to a group of students downtown about my NEEMO6 mission. And realized I had forgotten alot about that part of my life as it was really 5 years ago already. So much has changed since then. Wow.

Tomorrow I get on the plane for our annual girls trip to Vegas. Splurge time.

Ok enough. Gotta go shower from this morning's run and tag Paul for his!

Sent from my IPod touch. I'm new at this IPod touch screen thing. Please excuse the typos.

A note from Anna-Marie's teacher

As written:

"Anna had a great day today!! She loved the squirrel book and stuffed animal. She sat on "her" potty and went tinkle in the AM. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

PS She still didn't want the pics.

Paul and I noticed Anna's frustration with her classroom potty last night during open house. True to what her teacher's told me, she asked to potty and the had a meltdown once there. I am pretty sure it had to do with the awful scary, shaky toilet seat! So I brought in one from home and that seemed to work at least today.

Tried the pictures again for the heck of it. No luck!

Sent from my iPod

Show your "mad" face

Dear Anna,
This morning I distracted you with the kitties to get you to wear a nice outfit for pictures. You barely consented to let me do your hair (and demanded a purple bow) and we got out of the house on time. We had a car seat melt down over which you'd rathered stay in time out than to get into the car, but alas I am currently stronger than you.

Once you were over it, you showed me in the car how you were going to smile big for your photos. You also showed me your mad face (cute!) and your sad face (cuter!) and I laughed and laughed because I didn't know you knew how to do that!

Then I got a call from your teacher at school. You apparently flat our refused to take photos today, despite my best efforts in making you look cute. All of your friends took theirs, your teacher tried all kinds of things but she said it made you mad and you even threw yourself down in a tantrum.

So if you're wondering why we have school pictures of you every year until now, it's all your fault. You little diva.

Love, Mommy

Exercise is Bad for your health

To offload a little of the guilt I had over being behind on the half marathon training already, and to take advantage of the weekend schedule, I got out for a quick 2 mile run on Saturday morning. I was just patting myself on the back for a pretty decent pace time (thanks again Chaelene, you party girl, you) when I came around the corner to my house to see 2 women hanging around 3 little kitty cats. I didn't know anyone, and instead of nodding and pretending like my music was too loud to really notice them, I (unusually) asked what's up...

15 minutes later I have committed to a 4am running group and have 3 kittens in my guest room upstairs. Since Anna's been born, a fish has been our biggest committment after our 2 life-long cats died within a week of each other over Christmas '07. Honestly it's been nice not having an extra bag of cat food to pick up, a littler box to clean, or a vet bill to pay. The cats were great friends but I don't miss the litter sticking to the bottom of my feet as I walk down the hallway, and getting Anna out the door in the morning without any unecessary distractions is a requirement for my sanity these days.

Long story short, Rachel is taking the black one as a birthday gift to her daughter (Rachel's not only a mystery novel writer (order her book through Amazon at the link on her website here: http://www.rachelbrady.net/), a triathlete, a NASA engineer, and a fabulous mother of three, but she's also a humanitarian. The woman never stops.). We have decided to keep the grey one(thanks to Paul's pathetic pleas and the cat's tolerance to being carried by the neck by the household toddler. Think": Darla on NEMO), and we are still looking for a home for the striped one. One cat is about all I can handle at this point in my life. Because honestly, let's all admit who's cleaning this litter box?

If you missed it, the answer is "C": Spacemama.

And what I learned during my first run this morning is that there is a whole world of 4am people who run and bike. Not just this crazy little group of neighbors. Apparently it's the thing to do to fit it all into the schedule I have been complaining about. See? I knew I wasn't alone. I am the youngest of the group, and with me makes 4 total women. They too are training for a half marathon (but theirs is the Houston half and mine is the Disney). This morning we did 2.8miles at an 11 minute pace, which for me is pretty impressive. Especially at a time when I should be sleeping. Tomorrow and Thurs morning it's 4 miles (which I have told them: Go ON! Save yourselves but they claim they leave no woman behind...we'll see). I really am not ready to cover 4 miles at that 11 minute pace but I guess there's nothing to do but give it a shot. On Saturdays they run "long" and they're up to 8 miles. I am NOT at that pace yet so I'll be doing an abbreviated version, on my own I'm sure, till I can catch up. As I explained to them, every year I know I have a half marathon in Jan and every year I start cramming for it in October/Nov. So they're where they probably should be and I'm catching up.

As much as I think 4am is insane, I realize that after the run, I can get alot done before my day even starts at work. It's a whole new world of possibilities! RIGHT?!

Americans don't need to sleep, do they?! But here's a secret...I am OK on lack of sleep for the first 2 weeks or so. After that, I get horrbily cranky. I warned Paul it would come and he said he'd rather me complain about lack of sleep than lack of schedule to run. I guess it's like being forced to have to listen to one horrible Yo Gabba Gabba song versus the other. Neither is better, it's just a different tune.

Anyway, thank goodness today Anna was in an amazingly agreeable mood because I realized we had to rush out the door earlier than usual so I could cover some morning meetings. I have to teach class tonight until 10pm. I will be beat and I'd considered letting them out a little early (for my own sake) but since they bombed their first test, I'm going to drag the night out as long as I can tolerate it myself...

By the way, a funny thing. I went to a lunch today with like 10 other Tweeters. These are people I work with here at NASA but have never met (except Spacemonkey and biochck) before, and who I follow on Twitter (and some who follow me because I guess they think diaper and Elmo tweets are worth it for the occasional ISS science tweet). So we enjoyed Mexican while actually meeting each other in person, introducing by screen names. "Hi, I'm Spacemama"...who? That's right, I only have 75 followers versus hundreds...I don't also have much to say, but after this morning's run, I was hungry :)

Yes I changed this site

Because I'm not busy enough.

Actually I think it might be easier on the eyes with these colors and font style. I don't know. Already I miss my old lay out. Before I trashed it completely maybe I should have just modified it a little.

Oh well. Likely this will be changing frequently till I get it right.

POO-POO on YOU, POTTY!

In the spirit of waking up on Monday morning and consciously making the decision to oppose everything we ask her to do this week, she has thrown the potty into the mix. For the last month, even when we were on travel or in strange places, she'd declare that she needed to go sit on the potty, and 4 times out of 6, she'd be successful in "going #1". This week she hasn't offered to go (unless ofcourse it's part of her bedtime stall tactic routine), and when we ask her if she needs to go, instead of the fun "yes!" we get NO! I went into this whole potty thing with the intent not to push and not to get frustrated. But suddenly last night I found myself pissed off at this regression. Then I questioned why I was pissed off when I said I wouldn't let this whole thing get to me in the first place.

Must be part of the whole potty training frustration thing I hear about. I guess it goes both ways.

This morning her teacher said, oh by the way she's flat out refusing to use the potty. She will say NO and even throw herself onto the floor upset! Her friend Karma tries to get her to go but Anna refuses. We agreed to just back off and not even offer. No, Anna's not behind her peers on this issue...no one in her class is potty trained and some won't even sit on the potty. BUT the thing is we all know she CAN do it. This week she won't. Rather than play her game, no one's going to push. If it's control she wants, better to give it to her now. It's her butt and it's her pee.

But the joke's on her: I'm not playing control freak over this. She can wear her diapers to her wedding.

This week she has resisted:
-The potty
-Clipping her nails
-Blowdrying her hair (which we'd just started and she thought was fun)
-Getting dressed
-Staying in the same outfit after getting dressed
-The car seat
-Dinner (in favor of requests for gum, candy, cake, and popsicles)
-Bedtime
-Even changing a poopy diaper a few times
-In general anything we ask her to do for the first 3 times.

She's also enjoyed hitting me when she's mad, with the look on her face as obvious as: "Are you going to do anything about this?" The result has been an increase in the average number of Time Outs this week. August was a low month for Time Outs and so I think she's making up for it in one week.

"Fuatience" (Patience)

Time, time, time. Where is it going? How is it almost October already?

There's so much stuff I want to blog on but my evenings are sucked away with Anna fun and then when she goes to bed I just want to sit and stare at the wall. Or the TV, frankly. Didn't some new fall TV start last week? I bet it's on the DVR somewhere.

I started teaching undergrad Human Phys again and we just had our first exam. What I thought would be a class of much more interested and motivated individuals than my last semester, but this class bombed the first exam with an average of only 62. I could strangle them but I don't have the energy. Instead they'd better pull themselves out of it.

I ran into the student who begged me to pass her last semester (she passed herself, barely) because her dad was going to give her $1,000 and she had plans for Vegas and NYC only if she graduated (remember, it's the same girl who cheated). She was working at the university when I ran into her the first night of school a few weeks ago. Turns out she graduated but never traveled. I didn't ask for elaboration. It's called Karma. Cheater.

How's work? FANTASTIC! I still love it and I just put out my first two publications for the office, that I got to first-author. They're review articles on some of the science that's been done on the International Space Station since its beginnings. It was lots of learning and hard work on my part but very cool. Sadly, I've since caught a few minor mistakes but it's on its way to print so what are you gonna do? Ah well... Currently we are planning for a meeting that will be held in Paris with the top ISS scientists in November. How great will this be? I've never traveled overseas, so this will be fantastic, on top of getting to meet top scientists and astronauts in ISS. Geek-out! Paul was going to come with me but he can't take the time away from the busy clinic (which is just as well because I'm not ready to leave Anna with both of us being so far away from her!). In January I am going to an AIAA conference where my chief is presenting in Orlando and then one in Berlin on ISS Utilization. I am loving the international aspect of this position. I have gotten to work with our international Space Station Program Scientist counterparts all over the world.

I've also gotten to have small working meetings with top NASA agency officials to discuss ISS utilization planning. I am actually playing a real role in the future use of ISS. And how often is it you have a casual conversation with your boss about "Hilary" or "Al" or the like? I'm really holding back here because I think I should use discretion about some of the stuff we talk about and just posting them out here to an open blog. But seriously, I am still thrilled to be here. It's such a different world. Every day I go home feeling like I've been productive and I get to work with some great people. To the point I'm tired ;)

Paul's clinic is going really well. Like too busy. Rediculously-growing-out-of-his-current-clinic size-busy. I'm not sure how he holds it all together. But I am so glad it's successful. To blog on this would take a whole other post.

Anna is growing up fast. I wish I could blog every silly thing she tells me or does but if you've ever been a parent of a 2.5 year old, you know it comes at you so fast and frequent you can't keep up. This is a fun age. This weekend she told me (correctly) to have fuatience ("patience"). The tones and words she uses to talk to us, you'd swear she was already a teenager. She's gone from mommy and Daddy to "Mom" and "Dad". She is sweet, funny, and pretty. Though the past 3 days she's been pushing our buttons and testing her manipulation skills. This week she likes to purposely do the opposite of what we say...not in a rude way, but just in a way like: "yeah, whatever, I make up MY OWN MIND on what I want to do MYSELF! And so I refuse to do exactly what you tell me. Directly or INdirectly." It's resulted in a rough week this week with sweet cutie mixed in with moody teenager. I guess that's what's to love about toddlers. But I honestly liken it to being around someone who's high maintenance and this week had been extra rough so by bedtime, my patience has worn so thin Paul has had to pick up the bath and bedtime routine the past 2 nights. (The worst is that my patience this week has been weakened by sinus pain/pressure so my tolerance to "crap" is extraordinarily low to begin with). This is the first high maintenance person I've had so much love for so I can't simply ditch her like a high-maintenance aquaintance. Like other moms of toddlers, I've told myself over and over to "have fuatience, mommy" to exhaustion. Besides, most high maintenance people are way less cute ;) But I do love watching her grow up, even though it makes Paul a little sad. I think it's really fun to watch her turn into a little person, right before our eyes.

She had her 2.5 year check-up yesterday, complete with a flu shot and HiB vax. She did really great and was giggly and nice with the doc till she was stabbed painfully for her shots. She screamed appropriately, then got over it with a few stickers. Overall I say she did GREAT. She's 35 and 3/4" tall and 32lbs. 50th %ile for height and 80th for weight. Pretty good although I think she was squatting a little.

She's loving school and her new teachers. I stopped by during naptime this week to see what their routine looks like and it looks pretty peaceful. She was sleeping and so her teacher and I had a chat. She said Anna is a natural leader and is also the first to give hugs or help to a friend. Ofcourse I think teachers get paid to say this to every parent (way to put a positive spin on the fact she's a bossy butt), but if she is telling the truth then Anna has a good mix of Paul and me that is coming out ;) It just seems she is now one of the older kids in her new class, whereas she used to be the youngest. So I think naturally she's going to be more engaged (I've even heard her TATTLE on a kid). Even though she has her tantrums and acts out like a typical toddler can't help but do, it's still clear she's an innate rule follower like her mommy.

Anyway, she comes home with more "art work" now than EVER so it's all piling up around the house. As if a toddler lives here. Her teacher says her best friend is Karmalina (Together since babies) and that there's a third little girl who's trying to muscle into the friendship and they're being protective. WHAT? Is this high school or pre-school? She's 2.5 years old and the dynamics already start. Look at us: social beings from the beginning. Silly humans.

Paul got me an IPod Touch for my birthday. Interesting because I never asked or hinted for it. I guess he was just listening to more subtle cues that even I was of myself because it's turned out to be a very helpful tool. Like when I learned the magic of owning a DVR system. How much more efficient is my life now that I can clean the house while listening to a podcast of Darkness Radio instead of in silence? Heck, I'd never heard a podcast before of anything. Weather? BOOM, 2 seconds flat (well, wherever there's WiFi). No logging in, no waiting. I even have Twitter and Facebook apps right THERE when I ask for it, and oh guess what?! It magically synched up with my NASA calendar and email so I know my schedule in an instant! Paul said he got it for me to watch movies/podcasts on all of the travel I do. That's darned thoughtful and even fun. I don't really have time for fun little things like this but if I can multi-task while doing it, it's justified :)

Plus there's an app to help me study piano. Which is handy considering I lack the energy to practice as much as I need to. Notice I used the word "energy" instead of "time". I can make the time in the evening to practice. But is it sad I don't have the brain energy to focus on it? At the end of an intense day my brain shuts down as soon as it can lately. And since Mother Nature has taken away some perfectly good sunshine by 7:30pm these days, I shut down mental function way too early.

And speaking of energy, Paul gets home too late for me to go running before it gets dark these days. I can kinda feel a little anxiety creeping in on that looming half marathon in Jan. Right now, even one mile may as well equal the whole 13.1. In the mronings I do Turbo Jam early before Anna wakes. Even though smiling party girl Chaylene is really tough to take at 6am. Ugh. Despite her party attitude, I have to admit, it's good exercise for this body that's just gone embarrasingly soft. It's nice to push myself physically like that daily.

Lately I've become aware that my time is not my own in the day-to-day ops of things. If I get up early enough I can have a say, but after that, it's all over. I guess I always knew this in the back of my mind but it's never really been front-and-center. So I started to feel "woe is me" about this. But I can't think of another mommy/daddy out there who doesn't also feel the same way. So I'm not special, and since I'm not special in this regard, I don't get to complain. So instead of complaining, just consider it an acknowledgement of what all other parents out there already know (duh!): my time is just not my own. Acceptance. That helps a whole lot!

And that was the case on yesterday for my birthday. So for those of you who sent texts, emails, and voicemails my way and I didn't even return your calls, I'm so sorry...the business of the day didn't stop and that included until I passed out last night around 9pm from exhaustion. I'm sure it's just my immune system fighting off allergens, and not a result of the fact that I'm a year older :)