Stuff

It's been a busy day at work. I'm cleaning up from my old position, preparing for my new which started today. I actually got down to only 277 emails in my Inbox that I need to either delete or file. Nice to clean it out. That, plus alot of reading today to learn about the new job...

How is it almost Wednesday again? What is HAPPENING here?

Anna is liking Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". In the car, she asks for "Big girl, big girl". She thinks it's the Big Girl Song. She claps and then you can see her little hands waving in unison back and forth with her little head bobbing, like she is praising the Lord in church. So serious...

"oohh this my ****, this my ****" But she doesn't sing that part.

Lately she tells us alot that she's a "big girl." Really cute. She's talking more and more in sentences. We think she may be getting her last bottom 2nd year molar in. I mean, I dunno, here we go again. Last night she kept saying her teeth hurt while she was eating but then she was saying she'd pretty much stabbed herself in the mouth with her fork or something. Ha. Later that night she was reaching back there with her hand. Who knows?

My Human Phys class just took their first exam, remember? The grading of 120 essay questions was as painful as I expected. Don't say I told you so, I already knew grading essays would suck. But I figured it was giving the students a break considering they complained about multiple choice. Well guess what, MOST of them screwed up the essay pretty badly too. So here's what I've learned: if they complain about the test format, it's really not about the test format. They're just complaining about the test, period. You either know it or you don't. Frankly, I was grateful to the students who didn't bother and just left it all blank. Saved a little bit of my sanity.

But here's a kicker: that grad student failed, ofcourse. Even though he failed this class LAST year, too. And another student who failed the class last time failed this test. And she ticks me off most because she has two kids she could be spending the evening with instead of being in this class. AGAIN. ggrrr...

Well, next time no more essays! Out of 63 students, 18 failed and there were 10 A's. The mean was a 70. I think that's a pretty good distribution. I think it was a good test.

By the way, the student who was copying off another student also failed. Miserably. Stupid, stupid. Don't forget, people. If you lie, life will give it all right back to you. Why would anyone want to live like that?

This past weekend, my mom and her husband came to visit and they sat with Anna for a few hours while Paul and I did our first official training bike ride for the MS150. I mean actually, it's the first time our butts have touched the bikes period for the MS150. And we felt it. OUCH. I SWEAR my butt not only hurt but it even felt SWOLLEN. Is that possible? My ass was a little bigger...or maybe it was just the bike shorts. Anyway, we also forgot how bad head-winds felt. We were excited to see for the first half of the ride we were averaging 18MpH. We were feeling good...not bad for not having been on the bikes for years. And then on the way back, we realized we were just enjoying a good tail wind as we now faced 8MpH averages. And it hurt. It sucked. Gah!

So now I'm on the bike at LEAST 30 min every morning. Soon to be more.

Anna had a blast with Nana and "papa Ray." She keeps asking for them. She got lots of cuddles and love from them so who can blame her? They adore her. I have to tell her they went home. She's OK with it but she keeps asking. My sister, nephew, and brother-in-law also came out. She had a kick-butt primal toddler fun time with my nephew, who entertained her to exhaustion. And she got lots of cuddles and new valentines gifts from them. Again, more adoration adorned on Anna that weekend.

It was fun having everyone there. She would love to see them every weekend if she could. This is when it sucks not to have family nearby. She would love it. Bummer.

We have changed Anna's day care hours. Here's the deal. With me taking Anna on Thursday afternoons, I have to make up that time at work by staying late on Tuesdays. So I miss evening time with Anna and Paul. And even though I have her on Thurs, she naps from 1-3 so those are hours she just spends sleeping, but time I have to make up at work. So as of this week, Paul is taking her all day on Tuesdays, and I will pick her up on Thurs at 3, after her nap at school. So now I get to be home on Tues nights with them! Also, technically we are paying for her to be there on Tues mornings (it comes with the "new package") so if there's a last minute need, we could take her in on Tues mornings. But hopefully that's rare.

I am a little bummed about the change. I can't figure out exactly why I'm bummed, other than the fact that I feel bad about leaving Anna there to nap on Thurs instead of taking her home with me. But the point is to spend waking hours together and I just feel that this is a better plan.

Paul is such a great dad. He is so patient and loving with Anna. He loves to spend every minute he can with her so I hope he enjoys his daddy days with her on Tues. Already this morning was less rushed because she didn't have to get ready for school. I listened to them read books and play through the baby monitor this morning. My Type A brain kept telling me that she should technically be eating right now, not playing. But then my rationale side kept saying to chill out. She'll eat when she's hungry. This is what it's like to not have to rush somewhere on a weekday. It's OK.

And Paul is so flexible. He still does stuff with her that I couldn't do because I am just too neurotic. He brings her to the clinic even when he has patients to treat. Some days she is a handfull and other days she is perfect. I wouldn't even attempt to split my attention like that. And he can feed her on the go, and she'll pass out in the car seat. He doesn't even have to plan for stuff like I do. He is so good with her. He just goes with it without complication. She loves him so much. We're so freaking lucky.