Homework... It's worse than laundry!

I finished up the IDEA legislation paper, turned it in, and (praise God) it passed. So I did the good student thing, and looked to see what's next on the to do list for earning my three credits in Diversity and Inclusion.  Let me just say that ignorance was such bliss.....

It's not the assignment itself that is a problem for me. I can write essay after essay after essay. But the laundry list of how many sources I must use, and exactly how many of each specified type, and must cite each and every one in my paper somehow, welllll, that's a little bit of a problem.

Ten pages on two minority cultures I am likely to teach and how characteristics of those particular cultures are likely to affect classroom interactions? Not two bad, until you throw in the exact and nitpicky requirements for the ten or so sources I'm supposed to use. And not one of the sources I want to use can be found at the library I work at. And I'm only allowed to borrow two at a time through Inter Library Loan at the library I work at. So, after a year and a half at WGU, it is finally time to use those library fees I've been handing over, and learn how to use the ELibrary. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Homework, Housework, and Work

My life in a nutshell, lately.  Homework, housework, and work.  I am working on another incredibly mind numbingly boring essay on the IDEA legislation.  Recommended length is five pages. I have seven so far, and I'm not done yet.  I may have to reduce the font size to oh, about 6..... hope the grader have good reading glasses!

Happy Birthday, Baby Taz!

Three years ago today, our family became complete.  Our little Baby Taz arrived, rocked our world, turned it upside down, and wrapped every last one of us around her little finger.  Life has not been the same since.

She is defiant, independant, and very sweet.  She is tough, mischievious, and so very smart.  She seems to have boundless energy, and will run until she collapses.  I can't count how many times I've had to pick spaghetti out of her hair or clean chili out of her ears.  She refuses to be left out of anything her big sister or brothers are doing.... regardless of the consequences.  She's very little for her age, leading people to believe she's only barely two, but she's certainly as mature as any other three year old.

Tonight, we will have cake and ice cream. We will watch her open her presents. And we will marvel at where the time has gone so quickly.  It seems like just yesterday that I was nursing a squishy little baby, and now she's doing it all by herself.  Sigh.

New Year's Happenings

What a wonderful, relaxing weekend!  What a great start to the New Year!  I played computer games with Bug and Hubs, cleaned the house some, read book one and half of book two of the Percy Jackson series with Bug.  I put together a puzzle Hubs Santa gave me for Christmas with Monkey-boy, and that inspired Baby Taz to start trying her hand at puzzles.  She's still getting the concept, but I'm proud of her for trying.

Here's Our Sign....

Yesterday afternoon, Bug asked if he could play a computer game.  I told him sure, but don't be surprised to get kicked off soon, since Daddy is on his way home.

Blink. Blink.

"Did Daddy get fired?"

"Noooo, why?"

"He never comes home before bedtime. Are you sure he didn't get fired?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

I think that our sign that the man works entirely too much.

Hello again

I work in a library. I am not a librarian. I wish I were a librarian. Maybe then I might get paid enough to cover a bill or two. No, I have a fancy title, “Law Library Assistant” that nets me minimum wage and some very strange questions from the library patrons. One of the most memorable of these would be the gentleman who wanted me to help him ascertain if he is married.

I am not kidding.

I have been married twice, and divorced once, and yet somehow, I have never been confused as to what my marital status might be.

So. Four hours a day, Monday thru Friday, I pretend to know something about the law, and pretend to be working. I get a lot of homework done here at work. Which is good, since it doesn’t happen so much at home, what with the kids and husband expecting me to do silly things like, ummm, feed them, and give them a clean house to live in and such.

I’ve been absent a very long time. I’ve been busy. We moved to Colorado to help take care of my mom, who, as it turns out, only wanted our help in theory. The reality was a tad different.
We moved back, thankful our house didn’t sell, and hoped to pick up where we left off. Feel free to drink the Kool Aid with me, it’s some good stuff.

Hubs worked three jobs for awhile, and I job hunted like mad til I landed the library gig. Hubs’ dedication to work wound up screwing up his resume by making it look like he couldn’t hold a job- none of the HR idiots bothered to read the dates to see that he held three at once, not three in a row. He finally got on at Rimrock drilling, which he loved, then got laid off. After a couple months of him going so stir crazy that he painted the house purple (again, not kidding, our house is now a landmark), he landed a job at a certain soft drink company that I can’t name for fear they’ll fire him since I don’t have one single nice thing to say about them. We thought everything would be better, but really, he’s on salary and the company he works for that shall remain nameless seems to think that salary means they own his ass. He has gotten one full weekend off in four months. He works more now than he did when he was a driller and gets paid less than half what he got paid as a driller. Good times.

This past year, I have been rejected many time while job hunting, and for a promotion too. No big deal. Dealt with the family fallout of choosing my kids over my mom. Really, not impossible to handle. Waded through financial woes like I’d never had to deal with before. I think we’ll survive.
Through it all, I leaned on God, and prayed a lot. I thought I had this faith thing all figured out. Now I know the truth. And the truth is that I’m a naïve, trusting, idiot. While I still believe in God, I no longer believe that going to church is really in my best interest, or that of my family. Because that’s where I got the knife in my back that will probably never fully quit bleeding. Put there by my former pastor.

So, I’m back to my blog, a little wiser, more bitter (but trying not to be- don't worry, I'll get past it), but hopefully tougher than before. I’m back because I want to remember the happy and the good as well as the crappy. I want to look back and think, I survived that so I’m sure I can survive this. And I want to remember all the cute, funny, and downright maddening things my kids do. Because they are already getting way too big, way too fast, and my steel trap of a brain has given way to a steel sieve of a memory. So here I am again.

All better.... sort of

The pain became too much to handle pretty quickly, so I dropped off the older kids with my in-laws and headed down to the ER. Turns out, I had a temp of 100 and mastitis in both br**sts. I also was diagnosed with postpartum depression. Not a huge surprise, considering I'd been see-sawing between crying jags and temper tantrums for at least a few days. Today is my first day on the Zoloft, and it feels very strange.... kind of like my head is in a fog. Hubs was very surprised when I told him, but when he really started thinking, he agreed with my suspicion that this has been going on for a couple of months now. He actually seems kind of relieved to have an answer to what is wrong with his wife.

Ouchie

I think I may have mastitis. Do I suffer for the next day and a half until the holiday weekend is over, or do I go to the emergency room? I hate the thought of a $100 copay if I could wait it out and only pay $15. And I really hate the thought of the emergency room with all these kids who, quite frankly, have not been behaving for anything lately. But, wow, does this ever hurt!

Here she is!

This is my little baby Taz. I took picture after picture, and got very frustrated because they just don't look as cute as she really is in person. I can't seem to get an angle that does her justice.

When we were choosing names, Hubs suggested naming her after me, or his mother. I didn't see how I could name her after me and not look egotistical, so we found a name that has the same meaning as mine, life, and then gave her the same middle name as Hubs's mother. I definitely had to laugh when my grandfather said it's a weird name. After all, it's no stranger than the name Vida!

Snow Day

We are snowed in. That storm that made the news in California crossed the Sierra Nevadas and found us, though thankfully somewhat subdued. This could hardly have happened at a better time for me..... I really didn't want to drag baby Taz out any more than I have to, so not making the three trips to and from the school is a welcome break.

Backwards

Taz is sleeping soundly.... therefore, it must be daytime. It's so funny how much better she sleeps with lots of light and all the household noise. She's a tiny thing, and so good natured. Her siblings are already in love with her, as are we all.

She's Here!

Z. K.arrived on January 3rd. She weighed 6lbs, 4 oz, and is 19 inches long. She's beautiful! Here, she will be known as Taz. You can guess why.

Looking back

I've been horrible about posting regularly since becoming pregnant. I'm not sure why that is, since pregnancy only seemed to halt my life once in awhile. But now that the end of the pregnancy and beginning of new mommy-hood is looming (again), it seems as though it flew. Then again, the last three years have really flown. I married Hubs three years ago friday, and it was one of the smartest things I've ever done. It's amazing how much we have both grown and changed, and I know that much of the personal growth I've experience would not have happened without him in my life. I literally thank God for him every day!

Too many doctors!

Between my normal OB visits, which are every two weeks now, and Bug's appointments with and eye doctor, a GP to look into sinusitus (which may lead to an E.N.T. for the same), and the neurologist for a sleep study...... Well, December just got a lot more hectic than it already was.
To top it all off I really need to get both my boys in for haircuts. They're starting to look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

On the bright side, I'm very close to done with my shopping for Christmas, and I kept it pretty much under control. I can't walk in my closet right now, but that'll change once I start wrapping things in my spare time. I just don't know what to get for my parents, and I really want to show them how much I appreciate them.

Phew!

It's been busy, hectic, and nonstop around here, and I'm not even talking about the holidays. We took Bug to Reno to see a neurologist about headaches he's been getting, and the preparations about did me in. In the end it all worked out, though. We now know that his CT scan came back normal except for what looks like it might be sinusitis, of all things. So we're now looking into that, and Hubs will have to take Bug back to Reno soon to do a sleep study to explore the Dr.'s other theory as to the cause of his headaches. I'm so relieved that it doesn't appear to be anything serious. The fact that there might be a cure is a great bonus, considering that I really expected them to tell me that he's a very young migraine sufferer and would have to learn to live with them. We're thanking God a lot around here lately!

Willpower is just not my strength

Well, we found out. The doctor said it was very clear, and he really wanted to give us a picture, so we folded. And yet we haven't told anyone else. It's turning out to be very fun to drive them nuts!

To wait, or not to wait....

Our ultrasound is quickly approaching and we cannot seem to decide whether we should find out the gender. I should probably say I can't decide, because I'm reasonably sure that Hubs would happily go with whatever I want.

I see numerous reasons to find out. It might help the kids adjust to this baby a little quicker if they knew what we're having. Instead of talking about "the baby" as an abstract concept, we'd be able to talk about a person with a gender and probably a name. And, we have no girl baby clothes smaller than 18mo sizes because I thought I was done after Kat, so if it's a girl, knowing would help with the shopping.

Not knowing would be fun, too. I'm really enjoying driving all of the relatives nuts! They know the baby will get a family name, but they don't know any more than that, and the anticipation seems to be just eating some of them alive. Besides, the surprise might be fun for us too, since we are definitely done this time.

scary

Last night I dreamed I went in for a normal prenatal checkup and wound up giving birth. Scary thought, since I'm nowhere near term yet. In the dream the baby was a completely healthy boy, interesting as I've been thinking we'll have a girl. We really don't know, though.

Update, since I've been lazy about posting...

Our mom's group meeting was a lot of fun! About half the people who said they'd be there actually were, and I saw that as a pretty good start. However, after shopping the case lot sales, going into a cleaning frenzy in anticipation of guests, and lifting a two year into his car seat one time too many, something sorta gave in me, and I hurt myself. The doctor thinks I strained the round ligaments in my belly and pulled a muscle or two in my lower back. I've been ordered not to sweep, mop, vaccuum, clean the bathroom, pick up my kids, or lift anything else of any real weight. No danger to the baby, just to my comfort and ability to walk until this baby is born.

During all of that fun, I was supposed to organize our next mom's meeting, planned for this thursday. After a brief panic, I decided to dispense with doing a craft til next time, and announced that we're having Choctoberfest. (I stole that idea from a brilliant suggestion I found on Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.) Then I sucked in my pride and asked for help getting the house ready. I hate to ask for help more than almost anything. When help is offered, I'm more than happy to accept, but asking for it seems to cause my brain to short circuit. But it seems I will have to learn how for the time being.

Stumbling, Slipping, Sliding toward Success

Today, I am hosting a pot luck dinner at my home in an attempt to start a mothers group. The plan is to have a bunch of moms from church and anyone else who might be interested come over for dinner, chat, and discuss what we want in such a group. I had hoped to send all of children outside to play for at least a portion of the meeting, but, as luck would have it, today we are recieving our first good snowfall of the year. The crockpot I planned to use to make chili didn't come clean in the dishwasher, and I ran out of places to put away all the canned goods I bought at the case lot sales. If it sounds like I'm griping, I'm not. You see, I have learned that the things that are the most worth it are usually accompanied by all kinds of these little annoyances. So, I'm hoping that all of the annoying slip ups mean that tonight will go great!