Anna's school

I was in a meeting in the chief astronaut's office this week. She can see my baby's school from her office. What a stinking view. She can see my kid's day.

Today was Anna's last day of school. Well, technically summer begins and that means we lose her cool teachers, Dawn and Romy, forever. We still don't know who her summer teachers will be. But this year's teachers have set the bar so darned high it will be tough to love any others! I don't even know what the summer curriculum is at this age. Last year, water play and arts/crafts were enough. I wonder if they'll do some level of learning in summer? Anna can recognize a few letters and numbers. She's known her ABC's (the song,) since she was about 16 months old, and she can count to 20 since about 18 months old. But just now starting to recognize a few numbers. And she can write something that looks like her name. It's cute. It's really a bunch of mountain-looking-peaks.

I went to Anna's end of school year chapel yesterday where they got up on stage and sang a few songs with hand movements. Anna sang softly and held her friend, Karma's, hand. They giggled a few times and it was so darned cute. Anna and Karma have been together since they were babies so I hope they are together this summer and the fall again.

I get a little sad when at this time of year some of the classes there go dim and the halls are more quiet while the schools start summer vacation. I look forward to when that's Anna too. But for now she's best where she is over the summer. I get super excited when the halls get busy and the classes get decorated in the fall. At least Anna will be with her friends over the summer at this age.

The kids in Anna's class have come such a long way this year. They've dumped the paci's for nap time, they've learned some control, they've potty trained, they've learned to say "poopy and stupid", they've learned the US pledge, and more complex prayers (God's word is God's word because it's GOD's WORD!) and songs and Spanish. They've learned to have little friends and birthday parties and played on the big play ground. They've played with bugs and birds and worms and lizards and made all kinds of cool stuff. What a great year! We are so lucky her teachers ROCK. And everyone managed to stay pretty healthy during cold and flu season.

Today after the pizza and ice cream party, the teachers were giving out gifts to the students, with little sayings. Anna's was "We'll miss your leadership". Later the teacher was giving a gift to another student, Erin, and said "Yours has a BIG word in it!" I said under my breath: "Recalcitrant"? (It was tenacious).

Little green tomato

Paul pointed out to Anna today a new little green tomato that has
survived our yard. She came inside to get me. As she showed me the
tomato we could see her intention was to yank the poor developing
thing and so we told her nooooo, don't do it.....

She couldn't help herself. Paul and I were so disappointed the little
tomato had come so far for this! She tried to put the thing right back
on the vine. A life lesson for her being taught right in front of us.

Wow ISS and Atlantis

We saw the shuttle Atlantis launch on May 14. Here is the orbiter (the tiny dot) with her rendezvous with the ISS. Against the backdrop of the stinking sun. This photo was circulating around Twitter. I have been too lazy to find out the origin to give proper credit.

But WOW. My friend's husband is on that ship (Atlantis). What a shot!

Well aren't we productive and happy three years later?

Three years ago Paul was working at the hospital on weekends. I was at home with a new(ish) baby. By myself. I am admitting I dreaded the weekends because that meant all I ever did was baby stuff. At this age, mostly it consisted of getting her to nap, stop crying, or cooperate while I tried to get some chores done. She wasn't an AWFUL baby, but she wasn't one to just sit quietly and "goo and gaaaa" while I paid bills, cleaned house, or grocery shopped. So I barely got those things done with any real satisfaction.

As she got a little older, my weekends were marked with The Little Gym as a life savor of just one hour of an interactive change, taking lots of photos of a baby who crawled only because she HAD to if she wanted something badly enough, and then almost a year into it, my weekends saw back aches as she wouldn't let go of my fingers as she learned to walk. That, and pushing her around on her little car walker thingy because she got bored quickly with walking it herself, or even scooting in it. If mommy wasn't constantly engaged, baby was bored (I swear babies exist who just kind of are happy playing with their own feet). I was the only one on the planet who prayed for Mondays to come. I hated leaving the house with her on weekends because logistically it was just a pain. If I had real stuff to do I'd plow through with her if I HAD to. If it couldn't wait till a weekday lunch hour run.

Again, she wasn't an AWFUL baby, but combine her "engaged" personality with my drive to focus seriously on only one task at hand, and it meant I stayed at home as much as possible. Seriously, I can't grocery shop for real if I don't have 100% concentration on reading the labels. And the coupons. And the best deals. Much less trying on clothes or any other place people go on the weekends. And I hate shopping anyway. It's all a recipe for perceived disaster.

Last year I went to M's first dance recital by myself while Anna napped with Paul at home. Today Anna came with me and clapped at every stinking performance. She said not a word as each group danced. She loved it and I loved watching her. She got to see her friend on stage and then give her flowers at the end.

Paul's out of town this weekend and we were on our own. I realized I don't remember the last time it were just she and I alone on a weekend. This weekend, I cleaned all the bathrooms, the bedrooms, the kitchen, including details that I've been wanting to get to. I cleaned off my desk and paid bills and cleaned out the fridge. I cooked. Like with recipes and stuff I can't even pronounce in the name of eating healthy. This child busied herself with her toy room, puzzles, baby dolls, paint, music, and TV. She stayed in her PJ's till around noon each day and we were fine with that. I stopped to play with her here and there when she'd ask (but not every time she'd ask). We had conversations and she helped me cook. Yesterday we went to a birthday party (she got to skip nap for it) and today we went to the dance recital (napping right now!). Last night M came over for a little while and tonight we're going over there for dinner. I caught up on TV and even a podcast as I mopped the floors.

Crap. Look at us go!

We're finally feeling a grove I guess. My two co-workers have babies and I look at them talk, and though I miss two (already...she was so cute), I am glad that my kid is now old enough to swim in the pool with her arm floaties with our family friends and mean it (like on vacation last week). And she can make me plastic sandwiches and ask me what I want on them and tell me stuff I know she's only heard from school (The Word of God is the Word of God because it's the Word of God: Good job, sounds like you're learning standard religion). She can get lost playing up in the room with M while I talk to grown ups (even though M will come to tell me when Anna's being mean). BTW I realized this weekend that my kid is starting the bully phase. Or somehting. I've heard about it from her teachers but this weekend with M is the first time I've had to deal with it. Crap, talk about making stuff up on the fly! (You two share. No hitting the panda bear. Stop being mean. No hitting each other with balloons. Who started it?)...

Anyway three years into it, wow what a difference. I guess my friends (like TJ) with older kids could have told me that it gets cooler (wait, I think she did tell me that...somebody did I think)...well it's definitely awesome, even though we still have tough moments. No three year old is perfect ;) But the progession is in my face. And it's definitely cooler.

On the plane ride home Anna complained that her "ears are clogged."
She's never said that or indicated that at all on all her previous
plane rides because she had tubes in her ears. Now she was bothered
(and surprisingly knew how to use the word clogged for her ears being
full!) so we told her to chew her skittles and drink her sprite
(airplane food for preschoolers. Don't judge me). We're wondering if
her ear tubes have finally worked their way out. Hope so. Doc said it
looked like they were on their way out for her 3rs birthday check up
in March and if they weren't out on their own in 6 months they'd need
to remove them via surgery! So we take her back in 3 months &
hopefully this plane ride was a sign we're done with the tubes.

Pee in Cocoa

I have to blog about this because I realized that from Wednesday until
Anna went to bed last night, she had lots of new experiences with
peeing on the go!

First up: the airplane potty. We talked about it before hand and in
fact she remembered doing it before, right down to the "stinky" smell
and blue water! When the time came she was hesitant but accepted there
was no alternative. She's getting so big there was barely room for
both of us in there so I had to leave the door open while she went.
The flight attendants accepted that :)

On day 1 at the beach, she tells me she needs to pee pee. Now you can
say yuck all you want but you and I know well that there's more
disgusting things in the ocean than toddler pee, so instead of
tracking all the way back to the hotel full of water and sand, I told
her to go in the ocean.

She only had tolerated getting into the ocean in the first place
because I bribed her straight out with chocolate. DO YOU KNOW HOW WELL
BRIBERY WITH CHOCOLATE WORKS ON A TODDLER?! It could be addicting,
it's so easy.

Anyway she was too chicken (and it was cold, in her defense) to get in
water any higher than knee deep so when she got to the shore she
proceeded to just squat and go. Paul was hysterical. I told her she'd
have to sit in the water to go but she demanded "No, I need a wet
wipe". We compromised with splashing :)

Same day at the pool, she says she needs to potty and proceeds to
squat. We realize we need clearer rules.

The bus to the shuttle launch site had a potty. She had to go in stop-
start traffic. She couldn't find her balance so changed her mind and
held it! She didn't believe I wouldn't let her " fall over."

On the return bus ride home, she went for it. And had to learn to drip
dry on a stop-start bus ride.

At home yesterday she was playing in the plastic baby pool in our back
yard. Strangely she refused a swimsuit and wanted to go naked, which I
imagine she remembered doing as a baby (last time was July 09!). She
needed to pee and instead of dragging a wet slippery lite girl through
the house she agreed to peeing in the yard! 3 times! Good girl! What,
she was already naked and plenty of dogs hVe had their turn in the past.

Lastly, an ode to TJ, who was stuck in shuttle traffic in her minivan,
needed to pee. Desperate, she cut the top off a water bottle with just
a car KEY and filled the dang thing up 4 times. Impressive as the use
of the key was, her ability to stop midstream to empty 4 times was
even more impressive.

Sorry ladies, you know I had to go there (Anna and TJ). Fine examples
of getting the job done.

Update from Cocoa Beach

It's hard to maintain the blog while in travel so I've been posting
trip updates to my Twitter and facebook accounts along with photos.

Another great family launch trip! We've done the beach, the pools, and
the launch. TJ and the family also came out for the launch and stayed
in Orlando so they made their first trip to Disney World too!

Last night we met up after the launch for dinner, and Da Momma (www.damomma.com
) joined us. TJ and I have both followed her blog for years. She
thanked me for pointing out to her about the Twitter contest that she
signed up for that ended up getting her out to a launch in the first
place. And if you've ever read her blog you'd realize what a big DMV
deal this launch was for her. The power of Twitter: it's not always
mindless ramblings. It connects you to people who can have a profound
effect on your life or change it completely.

Anyway the only thing missing on this trip has been good food. We've
been so busy we've only had time for the hotel food and mcdonald's.
I'm hoping we can do a good lunch before Orlando today.

Today we head to Orlando to meet up with TJ and then check into the
Hyatt in the airport since our plane leaves tomorrow at around 10am.

Anna has been super funny and good on this whole trip. She's started
little sayings and facial expressions that have us cracking up!!!!
We've pushed her through naps in favor of getting the most out of our
schedule and for the most part she's been great about it (even snoozed
in the car sea a few times which is unheard of). She even entertained
herself in traffic on the bus ride back from the launch yesterday with
no complaints. There was a time that no-nap Anna stuck in traffic for
that long would have started a scream fest. She's growing up!

She also did great on the plane ride. Hoping for the best on the
return ride :)

I told Anna some moon stories while we sat under the Saturn V rocket
while waiting for launch yesterday. She was genuinely interested in
hearing how the astronauts played in moon sand and drove the moon
buggy all around on the moon and brought home the moon rocks. Then she
got to see all those things on display and she really loved the space
suits the most.

She got a little cranky as we waited for the launch in the sun. I just
stuffed her full if chips, which helped. When the national anthem
started, she got quiet as I sang to her along with the crowd. Then we
all counted down from 10 and blast off! The colors of launch were
amazing, and with the blue perfect sky, it was beautiful! She said
"can we do another one?!". Don't I wish!

Will post pictures later here but will at least start getting them to
Flickr ASAP and you can see that in the top right spot on my blog. You
can also click on my Twitter feed on the right of my blog to see what
I tweeted the past few days.

Cheers!

Anna loved the sand but did not care for the ocean! She humored daddy and tolerated wave jumping but really she just wanted to get really sandy!

The kids pool here has lots of slides and squirting fountains. Really fun for kids. She was in this pool almost exactly 2 years ago. Fun to see how things have changed. She's so grown up now!

Not sure how long it will take to get all the sand out of her hair but one wash isn't enough, that's for sure!

We're resting for a little while and cleaning up for Ken Ham's launch party. He is the commander of this flight and we were invited by his wife, a friend of ours.

Anna skipped her nap so we're hoping for the best!

Cocoa Beach

She loves the sand! Did great on the plane! All grown up.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

The best mother’s day yet. My mom was in town and we all went on a lunch cruise on Clear Lake. It was a great day! But this smile was my real mother’s day present.

Anna handed me her mother’s day card, and when she gave it to me she said, “Jesus carried this card for you.” Hello, WTH? What did you say? “Jesus carried this card for you”.

I think she slept on that Christmas story book she made me read her the night before. LMAO!

Kids say the darndest things.

Here it comes again

It seems like the rush all happens at once.

 

It has been an awesome 2 weeks of downtime. Paul even took Anna to her first Astros game a few weeks ago, did I post that? Apparently she loved it, and I even had an evening off at home to myself. She had a blast! I know I have a picture Paul sent from the game and I’ll post it soon.

 

All my class lectures are done and all that’s left is the final exam this coming Monday night, then my Mondays are mine again!

 

The past 2 weeks has been no travel and no craziness. Just stuff around the house and I even caught up on TV in the evenings. I lost a complete toenail (WTF? Gross) that is OK now, I learned Anna knows the word “Rhinestone”, and we also PLANTED STUFF a few weeks ago. In our yard. It has flowers in the front. And new bushes too. Our master bathroom has yet to be completed painting but that’s no fun. So did I mention we planted flowers? Anna helped. I promise I even have pictures AND VIDEO of that. We also painted the shutters in the front of the house (OHMAGAWD) and seriously, we pressure washed our entire driveway, and the sidewalk all the way to the end of the cul-de-sac.

 

Anna’s becoming more and more of a kid than a toddler. She’s getting tall. I think she’s about up to my belly button, no lie. She is cute, mouthy, and smart. She is more whiny these days than ever but she is also more loving. She will just tell you “I love you!” out of nowhere, which tells me she means it. Or else she confuses it with the fact that she should say “I am happy, this is fun!” (Maybe I should ask her…no, accept the I LOVE YOU while I get it).

 

We’re getting excited about the trip to the launch next week. I bought her a new beach towel that has the space shuttle and the space station on it. She LOVED IT. As for the plane, I have high hopes for her behavior. I think she should do very well on the plane. I think it’s been since January since she’s been on a plane and she’s developed a lot since then. But she is unfortunately at the age now where she appears to others to be old enough to know better (and she IS old enough to know better, but still prone to tantrums) so if she acts out, not entirely reasonable, I imagine we are now in the stage of “dirty looks” from other passengers rather than the “oh man, you poor thing/sucker with your fussy baby/toddler” looks. She is now a target of don’t-kick-the-seat-in-front-of-you glares and warnings. It’s not cute when she will do something annoying. It’s a glare at her parents that we suck, WTH are we doing to this spoiled-only-child type of thing.

 

Or maybe it’s just me.

 

 

 

 

Anna's dance practice

How stinking cute. Excuse the crappy resolution but you get the idea.
Anna's dance recital is June 13. She's here on the bottom left of the
screen with the ponytail. Note: her instructor is in the foreground
showing them their moves as they do them. At one point it is time for
them to gather into a circle to walk so her teacher makes a big circle
motion with her arm az the signal. Notice what my child does in
response. Maybe she gets that from me?

Fwd:

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tami Jordan <maynardtrio@earthlink.net>
Date: May 1, 2010 10:18:11 PM CDT
To: "t_ruttley.spacemama@blogspot.com" <t_ruttley.spacemama@blogspot.com>

I am at a friend's party with TJ. Our friend is a new age hippie, smart NASA engineer, both brained.

I am watching her friends. TJ has lent me her iPhone to write this post bc dang I have lots of observations to make.

Firstly I have only been here about an hour and I find myself yearning to give my whiny 3 yr old a hug and kiss while she's sleeping.

As for observations: today's new age hippies use iPhones. And they show up in roller skates. And TJ made an interesting point: if someone broke out a joint, we wouldn't personally be offended, but we suspect that it's too unhealthy for today's new age hippies.

And looking at our friend whose birthday party this is for: she is like the other unmarried professionals I know: gorgeous, smart, successful, but all yearning for what TJ and I have. I know TJ and I are lucky. Even with the regular married/mom complaints. This is a friendly crowd and fun to watch. Heck, one woman even had her baby here, bouncing around to the music. Fantastic! And I think, look at that laid back hippie baby! But for real, as if. That baby's just cool because his mom is a cool bouncy hippie chick. And dang, these people are super friendly by the way.

Is it obvious I've had some wine and jello shots?

I'm sure she thinks I'm the worst mommy ever.

Due to lack of nap and cranky, whiny 3 year old attitude, she went to bed early instead. No cookies, no astronaut party. She was pretty upset about it but I can only threaten so many times before I have to follow through. She was such a mess it started with me literally carrying her out of school kicking and screaming, and ended with her kicking and screaming in her bed as early as 6:30.

I was not happy because I think it would have been neat to see folks we haven't seen in awhile. I was going to go and leave Paul here with the little booger but then I got cranky myself after the whole ordeal and just stayed home to write Monday night's exam.

Oh well, we'll make the next launch party at KSC the day before the launch.

STS-132

Taking Anna to an STS-132 launch party tonight. Yes, I am the best mommy ever. She concurs. :) As long as there are cookies there.

We leave for the launch on May 12! Look out Cocoa Beach, we’re coming back! This time Anna’s 2 years older, almost exactly. I wonder what she’ll think of beach sand this time (last time it was expressly for throwing into the air). I rented a convertible. Then I canceled because I doubted the car seat would adequately fit in the back of those small things.

This time around we will also meet someone new: Liz Soutter-Schwarzer, the blogger of the hilariously cool www.damomma.com. I have been following her blog since I saw an article she wrote on Baby Center. She blogs her entire life with kids, the good and bad, in a way most of us can relate. She in fact did some time here at JSC in the Public Affairs Office years and years ago, before her kids were born. She also did some interesting congressional work. Now she’s a stay-at-home mom of 3.

Anyway, I started following her on Twitter and one day I replied to one of her Tweets. She replied back, and I guess because I’m a NASA reader, she started following me as well. Since then she’s asked a special favor of me, which I am supposed to keep hush until it comes out. In the meantime I encouraged her to sign up for the NASA Tweetup. NASA randomly pulled 150 Twitter registrants to watch the STS-132 launch and get behind the scenes tours and stuff. She signed up and was shocked she was selected. Now she’s going and she’s excited and I’m excited to meet her!

You can read her post on what happened when she found out, here. It’s quite wonderful and hilarious (in a weird way):

http://damomma.com/2010/04/24/of-cocoa-and-car-doors-and-hail

I can’t wait to read about her launch adventure on her blog.

In the meantime, I just got press approval to go and watch the ISS Science Press Conference the day before the launch in person while at KSC. I’ll have to dump Paul and Anna at the swimming pool and go J But I’m excited! One day that will be me giving that press conference. Maybe sooner than later. If I can pull my confidence together.