FP's got it now

I fear it is only a matter of time before I am taken down also.
Wish me luck.

Surprisingly soothing

listening to Christmas music, doing dishes in my newly cleaned kitchen (it has become a pit since I've been sick) while my hubby & daughter watch football upstairs.

ikaraoke

Playing with FP's birthday present

is a microphone that plugs into your ipod. It tones down the vocals and lets you sing along with your music.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

After a monstrous meal at Mom & Dad's, Relia and I fell into deep sleep.
When FP woke us up, we snuggled on the couch and watched a little more Pixar.

Then I decided Thanksgiving was finally, officially over. Therefore I can dive head first into the Christmasy decorations. I picked up a tabletop tree this morning after we got the turkey started. so the first order of business was to set up the tree.

Relia was fascinated and hovered as I strung the lights, then as I set to adding ornaments, I handed a few of the less fragile ones to her to put on a mini tree I picked up at the thrift store. The hope is, if she can play with this one, she will leave the big one alone. So far so good.

Then I tackled a new garland idea I saw on TV. I'm torn between whether it looks festive, or like a muppet is attacking the dining room.

All the while, listening to Christmas music as my daughter sang along.

Once again, I probably overdid it, considering my cold is still lingering. But I am happy to have a little start on getting in the spirit.

Thanksgiving, take 2

I'm off to make a turkey & stuffing with my dad.


Then we'll have a lovely meal with the Sarillia side of the family.


Then we'll most likely pass out.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sigh. I am working hard to feel grateful. We are all so tired.

I started, but the list is too long. I am continuously amazed by and thankful for all that we have been blessed with.

One thing that struck me this year, is how lucky we are that we do not have to work this Holiday. I know some choose to, but many don't. Our family trekked down to Austin to see the FP family. We stayed at a hotel and ate out for a couple of meals Thank you to all the lovely people who fed & cleaned up after us today.

I am also very happy we finally got Relia in the pool. Our hotel had a wading pool which was awesome. Relia bounced from the little pool (where she could "swim by myself") to the big pool. She even wanted to jump in at one point. We had to keep reminding her that I had to be in the big pool before she could get in.





(I hate putting up photos with strangers in them. Especially strangers' kids. I feel guilty. But I am too lazy to blur them.)

Now my poor Relia is sick

Nana took the brunt of it today, She was kind enough not to share the experience with me until it was time to go get her. We have just been on water puke watch all evening. Poor girl. She keeps saying "don't wanna spit".

Fortunately, we got a wonderful package yesterday from Aunt Heidi in the form of the movie UP for my birthday. To my surprise, Relia enjoyed it (well, the first half of it) very much. Thank you so much Heidi!

UPDATE Wed. morning: Looks like we maybe out of the woods. She has kept down 2/3 of a piece of toast, and almost a cup of pedialyte over the course of the morning. She is back to playing and seems to be herself. Yay!

Cold

I has one.

I'm home today. Hopefully I can lick this in time to enjoy some Thanksgiving yummies.

On the plus side, our new mattress rocks.

moving day

I am sure that if ever Relia gets married, in addition to some touching time travel wisdom, FP's advice to her future spouse will be this

"Don't get too comfortable."

I come from a long line of restless women are bound by biology to change things around every six moths or so.

Here is this weekend's result:



We picked up the new mattress and box springs on Saturday. I then went on a shopping spree at IKEA to get a new bed frame. Today, after cleaning the whole 1st floor with FP, I assembled everything in the front bedroom, moved our dressers & shelves in and viola! (yes, I mean viola) Our new room. I need to get a few pieces out of the other side of the room, and decide on fabric for some curtains, but we are officially moved, and we officially have a guest bedroom, until we decide that Happy Baby is going to sleep on his/her own.

I accomplished this same "moving to the big bedroom" task when I was 18 weeks PG with Relia. I'm now at 17 weeks with Happy Baby. I guess they're right when they say things happen earlier with your second.

BTW, that is the king size duvet cover I got for $3 a few weeks back.

Bebax

On a yell filled ride home from a possibly too long walk at the MOA, Relia finally calmed down a little and said "I wanna watch a little TV" (her modifiers amaze us) Then she said "I wanna bebax and watch a little TV." FP eventually figured out that she wanted to relax. Then she said "Maybe take a bath?"

Does she know how to bebax, or what?

Good Birthday

I'm 35.
I slept terribly and after finally catching a couple of hours, was a few minutes late to work, which means I have to park half a block away.

Okay, no big deal.

Then I got to go on a field trip to St. Thomas with my 5th graders. It was a good trip, and the purpose is making the idea of college feel like a REAL possibility, they achieved their goal. I don't think they did as good a job as Augsburg did for us last year, but it could just be because our tour guide was pretty unenthusiastic. Of course the kids LOVED eating in the cafeteria.

When we got back, I ducked into the 4th grade class I've been working with and things were going so well. I'm so proud of how things have gone in there with math.

After the kids went home, the 5th grade teachers asked me to come up to their lounge, where they sang to me and we all chatted and had yummy cake. So sweet.

No sleep + field trip + pregnant = VERY tired Sarah.

We went out to supper with my family and I got to give Peder the present I have been so excited about for a couple of weeks. He loved it, and is playing with it right now. I received two warm & cozy gifts that I am reveling in right now.

Good day

I completed my work for two committees today. Almost fulfilled my obligation for the year! Turkey bingo was a blast. We gave away 121 turkeys and 120 pies of various flavors in a little less than an hour and a half.

I found out my class on Saturday has been postponed until April. It is bittersweet, because I think the class will be really helpful, but I like the idea of having the weekend completely off. Plus, will I even be able to attend in April? Will it do me any good to take the class right before I take maternity leave? Only time will tell.

Tomorrow is a field trip day! I expect to be in bed shortly after Relia tomorrow night.

Oh please, oh please, oh please

This is Relia's new phrase. I want to crack up every time I hear it, but it always comes after I have said a clear "no" to something, so I can't outwardly enjoy how cute it is. I will work hard to get it on video one of these days.

How do you explain commercials

to a girl who has had DVR her whole life?

We came home this evening and I needed a little break, so I turned on the TV with the intention of starting Sesame Street, but some Madagascar Christmas show was on and Relia was enamoured. Once we hit a commercial she got upset and "want the animals back". There was nothing I can do since we are live. So now whenever a commercial comes on, she wants to press every button on every remote to try to make it come back. Once they do, she coos, "There they are, I found them."

First haircut

I finally had enough of the daily mess that is Relia's hair. I love her curls in the back, but that baby mullet was getting to be too much.
Before

Trepidation

Cautious interest

"The noisy"

All done!


They were very good and I am so glad it went well.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Ugh. she was playing with daddy, jumping on the couch and hit his knee hard. I noticed while I was getting her ready for bed that one of her front teeth is kind of c shaped on the bottom now. I know it is just a baby tooth, but is there anything they can do for that? I'll call my dentist's office tomorrow.

We have been so lucky health-wise with her, and in the grand scheme this is not a big deal, but it is kind of a little child rearing reality check for me.

UPDATE: I talked to a couple of mom friends and they said their kids have chipped teeth too. Their dentists said more toddlers than not have at least one chipped. Apparently they usually don't do anything about it.

New bed!

We bought a new mattress set this afternoon. I'm excited, except for the fact that I really want to start sleeping on it, but we can't pick up the split box springs until Thursday. :(
I know we could start sleeping on it even without the box spring, but it is so low to the ground it feels weird. Now on to find a simple bed frame for cheap. Yeah, we still have our bed on the floor, just like in college! :P

Turkey haulin'

I volunteered to pick up donated frozen turkeys from a local market for our Turkey Bingo night at school next week. The person in charge of donations kept saying I'd be picking up (and storing) 4-5 turkeys. They were giving us $75 toward turkey purchase. At about 99 cents a pound, that is a bit more than 4. You get some funny looks when you cart 8 turkeys up to the check out. For the first time ever, our chest freezer is full.

I must officially look pregnant now.

The kids, well actually the girls, at school have started asking. It is kind of fun because they seem really surprised when I say "yep". (If you didn't think so, why did you ask?)

Really good day

I have a class I have been struggling working with for the past few weeks. Today, I had to teach them to play a fairly complicated math game, and I was a little nervous. It went perfectly. I sooo wish an administrator or someone had walked in on such a great lesson & activity.

Dr. visit

I have had an issue with pain for over a week now. I finally gave up and went to see a midwife this morning. I called at 9:35 and they had an opening at 10. I checked out of work and made it across town in 15 minutes. It was a CNMW I hadn't seen before, and she got me all fixed up (trust me, you do not want to know the details). Then said we should check on the baby while I was here. Happy baby was a movin' & a shakin', because for about 5 minutes we could not catch more that single heartbeat. Eventually she found it and of course, it made me smile.

I really liked this one, and I'm glad I have my next appoinment scheduled with her.

What am I thinking?

So the other day I wrote about how I'm readying the front bedroom for winter and an eventual stint as our bedroom. I have been working to clear out the house of all the crap I have collected over the over the years. But today, I volunteered to take the beautiful futon that was using up too much space in my mom's office. It looks great with our green walls in the bedroom, but now I worry that the kitties will ruin it. I think I'll have to figure out some kind of cover.

Shot yet again

I got my H1N1 today. Relia was very good. I was a little worried that she'd react to my getting a shot, but since I didn't act upset, she felt no reason to either. As soon as I got out of the clinic I had a message from Park Nicollet that they had shots and I should call them back. I think I'll try to call today and see if I can get Relia in for one.

Where did the time go?

After so much progress yesterday, I didn't do much today.
Relia woke up early, after I'd laid in bed for an hour mentally listing the thousands of projects I could complete today. Once FP got up, I conked out for 2 hours on the couch. Then it was time for grocery shopping/errand running. Once back at home, I put away groceries and took another short nap while Relia took hers. Then I got tape on two more windows. At that point I decided that I should just put up light blocking curtains in those windows before I put up the plastic, since we'll be moving back in there sometime in the next few months.

I stopped at mom & dad's to steal their Joann's coupons and drop off our old Tivo, then I picked up curtain material from the aforementioned fabric store. When I got home, it was almost time for Relia to go to bed, and while putting her down, I managed to fall asleep for almost an hour myself. Now amazing Race is done, and I am very ready for bed.

One step to a happy marriage

To take the ridiculous guesswork out of complements, I have taken to telling FP exactly what he can say to make me happy when I point out things I have improved around the house that I know he won't really care about.

This afternoon I put a new cover on a floor vent that has been exposed for the last month. I told him he could say, "Wow! look at that vent cover."

I put the plastic on the windows. I told him he could admire how smooth it was and I hadn't even taken a hair dryer to it yet.

So after he made pizza for supper, he told me I could admire how he hadn't even taken a hair dryer to it yet. I truly do admire that.

Yessss!

-Got my H1N1 vaccine appointment for Monday. Now if we all just hunker down in the house all weekend, I should be safe, right? :)

-Our HD Tivo is fully functional now. We can watch beautiful survivor & Discovery Channel programs at our leisure. The guy who came to set up the cable cards, was nice, he put up with Relia's harassment well. She kept calling him "guy" because I told her earlier that the "guy" would be coming to fix our TV. Even after he introduced himself she still asked all her questions that way "You fixin' the TV, Guy?" AND we are down to only 3 remotes!

-I'm trying to take advantage of the warm weather and get the peeling sections on the front of the house painted.

-I got the front windows insulated with plastic this evening. I feel such a sense of pride when I cover a window. I'm just so good at it. Others seem to struggle with the task. At first, I had to fight my daughter, but once I started trimming off plastic, I kept her running between the garbage and the playroom for a good 5 minutes. Next, I want to do the windows in the front bedroom upstairs.

Fun

Got to hang out with some old friends this evening. Amazing how we can still come together every once in a while.

How can sitting on my butt

for 6 hours in workshops be so much more exhausting than running around teaching all day?

All of my morning sessions were complete busts, but the afternoon ones were quite informative and very entertaining. I learned that when one goes to the NCTM conference, you simply need to get to all the best workshops 30 minutes in advance or they will fill up and you will be hanging out in a hallway for the next half an hour. Oh yeah, and I learned a couple of things about teaching math too. I can now comfortably do subtraction problems in other bases and I understand why the heck you'd want to do such a crazy thing with kids.

Rice recipe

Appointments

I made 4 today:
-Dentist to get prepped for replacement crown
-Midwife appointment
-Dentist to get crown put on
-Ultrasound appointment

I've been putting all of these off (the crown for over 2 years) so it feels good to have that done.

It's 10:00

And I am cleaning. I should be in bed. I really am tired, but lately I realize how good I feel when I come home to a fairly neat house. That, and I am nervous about this math conference I'm going to tomorrow. Since I am quite behind on getting to the point of "neatness", this means more than a quick sweep through the house.

So busy today

This is the first time I felt like I was teaching ALL day long. I wasn't really, but one teacher came in late so I took over her class for the morning, then met with a teacher to plan, and wound up teaching in her class in the afternoon.

The surprising thing is that it was energizing. Exhausting, but energizing at the same time.

I am attending a conference at the end of the week, so I feel like I'm now very pressed for time on several things that need to get done by Friday, but I know it will all get done somehow.

Ooooh! Bargains again!

Mom & I went shopping again to try to get some ideas for my birthday wish list. I can think of about 2 things I want, that don't cost over $100. After a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond, where we marveled at the $180 price tag on most of their king size duvet covers, we headed to Savers for some second hand goodness.

I found a recliner. A comfy recliner. A $14 comfy recliner. A $14 comfy recliner that doesn't have a 25 square ft footprint. The recliner we had before, saved my life during the end of my last pregnancy, so I have been pondering the possibility of a new one. I had my mom sit in it while I went up to pay. After I'd claimed my chair, I took a quick peek at the bedding. There, I found a King size duvet cover. And it was pretty! But, it didn't have a tag on it. I brought it to the register, told them my problem, and the cashier gave it to me for $3!

Can I just say

how frickin' awesome this new Tivo is:

I pulled up the egg song from YouTube yesterday to get Relia dancing.

I set up our netflix account with it early this morning, and watched the first 2 episodes of Weeds before Relia got up. (If I'd gotten the DVDs, they would have sat on my desk for 3 weeks and then gone back.)

In the morning, we usually watch an episode of Sesame Street, but with the new box, we lost our cache of shows, so I pulled up "Elmo in Grouchland" on Netflix, added it to our queue and viola! Elmo on Tivo!

The downloaded shows look great!