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 :)

Paul's first day of hair duty

I ticked her off this morning so she banned me from Anna hair duty and asked Paul to put in her piggies (pig-tails).

Haha.

Here's his shot. And yes, she went to school like this. Looks like she already spent the entire day at school. Haha!

I added the butterflies for effect and to try to distract from the mess :)

What's this?

5:46am: "Mamma! Daddy! Mamma, could you come to my room PLEASE?"

Did I just hear what I thought I heard?

Our child was wide awake at 5:45am. When I went up to check on her, she only asked for the books on her floor. The ones her nanna had just sent. I gave her one and told her to go back to sleep. She asked for the wheels on the bus song, and after one round, I told her mommy was sleepy and needed to go back to bed and that she should too. No protests. Just kisses and she actually went back to sleep till her usual 7:15am. I actually slept too and Paul overslept.

It was weird.

Accidental homicide and a pre-schooler

The subjects in the topic are actually unrelated.

We welcomed our second unsuspecting victim ("Z2") to the new little fish tank yesterday. What fish tank? What victim? I didn't even get a chance to post a blog or a photo of the first fish...When I was in DC, Paul bought Anna a beta. And while I expected simply a fish in a bowl that was just enough for Anna to simply feed and gawk at, I came back to a little aquarium with like lines with bubbles and power and rocks and even a scuba diving Elmo. And a red beta fish was in there too. Because Paul kept calling it a "beta", Anna started saying she wanted to feed "Zobeida" (our friend's name). Zobeida survived the first two weeks in our household, even when we left him this past weekend to visit friends in Pennsylvania. Since it's entirely Paul and Anna's fish, Paul dutifully cleaned the tank when we got back. Even commented on how pretty the fish looked.

Then it started turning brown. The fish, that is. Shortly after the water was changed. And it didn't look like it was breathing too well. Now I was having flashbacks to when I had betas in high school. I remembered they turn brown when they start to die. Yeah he was dying right before our eyes. Why? Who knows. Paul asked: "do you think the chlorine in the water could be interacting with the air in the bubbles from the filter, creating an acidic environment?" Um, no, that's a little complicated for a simple beta, hon. Maybe we starved him afterall and he waited till we got home to watch the horror on our face as he slipped into death.

In about 3 hours, he was laying on the colored rocks at Elmo's mercy. Then Paul looked up the fact that "betas are very forgiving but you MUST dechlorinate the water when you change it! Chlorine kills betas." And here in Houston you can often smell the chlorine as you're drinking it. Turns out the stuff we drink kills betas.

Purchased over Paul's lunch break yesterday, we are on beta #2, named Zobeida-2 (Z-2 for short). He has dechlorination drops. And spring water even.

And no, Anna didn't even noticed the dead fish laying on the rocks.

Also turns out we have several friends who can empathize with our story and never knew till now that was the same reason their betas died when they changed the water. So many good intentions have killed so many good betas.

Don't ask me about a cat or a dog. Ain't happening anytime soon.

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PRE-SCHOOL STARTED TODAY

We officially have a pre-schooler. What a big girl! She ended her year with Miss Kelley and Miss Hilarie to start a new one with Miss Dawn and Miss Romie. The new teachers are really awesome. They've decorated the room so cute and with so much love and welcome, it's really neat. They have given me a sheet of paper to write up Anna's likes/dislikes and goals for her learning. In fact, these teachers are so cute and sweet and calm, I wonder if the tantrums will run right over them? One is brand new to the school and the other was here last year.

Yesterday we had a private meeting with me, Anna, and the 2 teachers and they had Anna create a paper doll to post onto their door. When it came time for Anna to pick the hair part, out of all of the styles, my child chose the dark black afro! So there sits her doll on the door, surrounded by others with pigtails and short cuts or whatever, and Anna has a ‘fro! Hahahahahaha!! The teachers giggled too but they were polite so I can't really tell if they were giggling for the same reason I was giggling or if they thought it was funny that Anna simply picked a style so different than hers.

Potty training is going well, DESPITE us. Well, I guess it's potty training. I say DESPITE us because we're so busy and all over the place that she does the best she can in telling us when she needs to go to the potty. 50% of the time we make it. 50% of the time is going in diapers. But she makes it to the potty around 6 times per day and is successful (pee-pee) about 4 times. She's good at going when she first wakes up and right before bed or bath too. Bless her heart. She's even peed on the potty at the airport (and jumped right off when the thing self-flushed and she was still on it) and at the Hayford's house this weekend. Even without the seat adapter so her poor tiny butt is hanging into the big potty with me holding onto her. Anyway, she's a trooper. If I were a truly devoted mom and stayed home with her over a long weekend I bet we'd get it totally worked out. But that's just not the case and she's doing fine progressing at her own pace. I'm even honestly afraid to push for fear of retaliation or set back. She's doing great and so we'll keep supporting her. At home that consists of chocolate rewards and at school it's stickers (so shame on us for the chocolate: I guess it should be stickers).

Yesterday when I picked her up from her new teachers' room she announced she wanted to go home to get gum. I told her, really? Yes Daddy does chew gum, baby! I played dumb, pretending I didn't know what she was telling me in front of her nice new teachers, which was basically: "I want gum! Daddy gives me gum!".

Is it bad for a 2 year old to chew gum? Paul started it and it was something I didn't even have a second to consider. Good or bad? What makes it bad? She looks like a 2.5 year-old cow chewing cud? OK, next? That she could drop her gum onto my carpet or couch, or clothes or hair, etc? OK, check. What about safety: is that the real threat to gum chewing this age? I guess the piece is super smaller than her windpipe so it's not really a concern. But something tells me it's not acceptable or responsible parental practice to have your 2.5 year-old chewing gum. I can't quite pin down why, but it's just so. Growing up, gum was for older kids.

Anyway, now I blame the husband. So when she asks me for gum I send her straight to Paul and I can simply dismiss her requests with "go ask your daddy." Because frankly, gum is not an extra toddler supply I really should have to worry about to have on hand to prevent tantrums, know what I mean? We're just getting over her Colorado Rollo withdrawals.

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QUICK BITS OF NEWS:

1. She is finally wearing shoes other than pink crocs. She's mercifully branched out to tennis shoes and sandals and even consents to socks these days.
2. She is bummed that the paci in the car is broken (yes I cut it again) but she's actually OK with it. As long as I have an ample supply of orange Tic Tacs.
3. Diapers or pull-ups? Have both handy because it changes like the wind.
4. Toot-toots are funny.
5. Cheese grits are a must-have.
6. NEEMO edged out over Yo Gabba Gabba for a pleasant few weeks.
7. There are so many clothes in her closet she's outgrowing because she refuses to wear them. They're really cute, too.
8. Karmalena and Ryan are going with her to her new pre-school classroom. But the rest of the kids are new to her and her old friends have otherwise been scattered around other classes.
9. She must have an ice pack for every little cut or injury.
10. She likes to cuddle.

Just posted a bunch of photos

I just posted a blog entry with a bunch of photos. Since I started it a long time ago, it actually filed itself into my blog stream as such. It's here:

http://spacemamasjournal.blogspot.com/2009/08/data-download.html

Things have been busy. I mean busy such that Paul and I can barely hold a conversation of anything substantial. Tonight will be the first real night home where things may start to take on routine again. Which is good because if I don't get back on track with piano, I suspect my instructor might beat me. I'm just saying.

Been in Pennsylvania visiting the Hayfords since Thurs. Having fun and headed home tomorrow. Anna will try to smuggle the dog. I'm on to her.

How to order Rachel's Book

Thanks for asking where to find Rachel's book, Super P! Silly me...you can find it at Amazon.com at

http://www.amazon.com/Final-Approach-Rachel-Brady/dp/1590586557/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251171103&sr=1-1

Rachel's new book

Rachel Brady is a friend of mine who pretty much rocks at most everything :) She's a NASA engineer, insane runner/triathelete, and a novice guitar player with three young children. She's written a mystery novel that's due out NOW called "Final Approach" and here I'm using my blog to encourage my three readers to check it out. It's her first novel and she's already working on another. How she pulls it all off is actually the mystery to me but she motivates me to at least keep my running up when I start to slack. She's also just a super cool, friendly personality.

Anyway, check out her blog and more info on her book at:
http://writeitanyway.blogspot.com/2009/08/free-books-free-skydives-final-approach.html#comment-form

I'm not in it for the free sky dives and I'm pretty sure she'll autograph my book :) I just wanted to help her get the word out!

Peace.

Data Download

It's been a crazy but fun summer and I've had a tough time keeping up with the blogging about details. So let's do another picture dump. Here we go...

Honestly I've been trying to post this draft for weeks.

Our big girl. About two or three weeks ago.

Shucking corn with her cousin Ashlyn.

Her first busted lip. She accidentally took MM's foot to the mouth when they were goofing around one night. Spouted blood and everything. Pretty impressive! Was fat for a few days after.

Daddy bought her a kicking new playdough set.

A new requirement for watching TV: the fort.

A new basketball hoop we thought she'd enjoy but doesn't really touch yet.

Ah yes, Anna's opinion of the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo moonlanding event at the Space Center Houston. We skipped out on most of it because of the crowd/lines and went to dinner instead. Showed up at the end of the event to meet with a few friends and get the low-down of what we missed on this historic night.

The OSB-II room I presented to during my quick trip to KSC this summer. Was it July or August? Can't remember. It was more intimidating in person. Can you tell which one was my laptop? Anna's shining face greeted everyone as they walked through the main doors. All nations. And I just realized it when I posted this picture.

I scraped my elbow and there is still a scar during this fun jump time. Flesh burns with friction on this bouncy material. Ouch. It's OM's and MM's birthday party. Super fun!

I spared the shot that Paul took of me accidentally letting her tumble down. Oops. She's a trooper.

A visit from my dad and his wife keeps Anna busy.

And a visit from Paul's brother and daughter keeps her busy at the Children's Museum.

My job is so cool. I am sitting in the auditorium at the National Academy of Science to kick off their decadal survey of human exploration. SO. COOL.

Everyone eating dinner alone here in the hotel restaurant is surfing their phones. Like me.

Albert Einstein planetarium. I always been a sucker for planetariums. This show is about black holes.