Everyone likes to feel like they have places they belong, even 2 year olds.  Since Liam and dad both go to school all day she likes the thought that she too has a 'school.' Elsie comes to work with me once a week and goes to 'school' at the YMCA while I teach a class.  She eats snacks, colors pictures, and plays with a few kids. She helps me pack her own lunch in her pink princess lunch box and she is always a model citizen.  Afterwards we go to the pool and pretend to be mermaids hunting treasure -it's the most anticipated part of her week.

Liam's baby name suggestion of the week- Hunter.  More specifically, 'Wolf Hunter Firth.'

Liam's chain of unfortunate events

In response to "How was your day?" :

"First you put an uncomfortable belt on me right before I went to school
It was so tight that I couldn't get it off, even in an emergency
So when I went to the stand-up (urinal) I had to pull my pants down too far
Then 2 big kids came in and started to tease me cause they could see my bum
I didn't fight with them, I just gave them angry eye brows
Then after they left I accidentally peed in my eye
Then when I got back to class I realized my clothes were wet too
I had to tell my teacher
She had to find me new clothes.
Then I had 20 stuffy noses."

-The end.

 Some days are better than others. Regardless if you are navigating kindergarten or living in a serious adult world, there are times we all metaphorically pee in our eyes and get teased by big kids.  Other days, life is smooth & easy.

 Luckily it usually seems to even out in our favor.

Don't EVER tell a pregnant woman she's "about to pop."

Don't tell her she "got really big, really fast."
Don't stare at her stomach and tell her it's "probably about time that (she's) done working, huh?"
Don't tell her she should try yoga. 
Also, please, don't ask to draw a smiley face on her belly. ( Long story . . .)

My list could go on and on . . .

I threw up 130 days in a row this pregnancy. Then, BAM!!, I gained 30 lbs in 3 months (about a half pound every day and a half.) No, I didn't eat Oreos everyday or go hog-wild with Ben & Jerry's, and yes, I'm still exercising.  Yes, my doctor knows about it and isn't worried (she asserts that I look normal and healthy.)
And yes, I feel like my body/life has been hijacked.

Mom (while hugging Elsie) - "I love my little girl"
Elsie- " I love my huge mom"                

Mom- "Hang on while I get off this bunk bed, I'm getting kinda big."
Liam- "And fat and chubby?"
Mom- "Nope. I didn't say that."

I know I'm not at my peak but, come on guys, zip it.  I'm just over 7 months along.  Not close enough to be counting down the weeks but pregnant enough to feel it.  

 Everyday on our way to Liam's bus stop, Elsie stops her little red scooter and picks me a purple crocus by the side of the road.  She tells me to put it in my hair, so I tuck it be hind my ear. Then looking surprised she says, "Mom, you look beautiful!" I smile and she nods her head, and I can't wait 'til it happens tomorrow.

It's the little things that make life satisfying. 

These silly guys are what I love most about life. 

I didn't grow up dreaming of being a mommy.  I never put much thought about what it would actually be like to pack my kindergartners lunch every morning or read books about princesses snuggled up to my 2 year old. But boy, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Elsie's baby name ideas for the week were

1)'Jesus-Joe'   (if its a boy)   and 2) 'Ee-oo' (if it's a girl) - way to think outside the box Else.

 

academic success, getting in the club

 Yesterday we lived it up like we were rich and wildly successful.  We ate at our favorite Georgetown restaurant (sans children!), strolled down ritzy D.C. streets, and celebrated Brady's first major peer review publication.   This paper, with Brady its '1st author' (meaning his ideas and his name to be cited) was accepted at the Academy of Management Journal, a top "A" rated journal. It is a feat that even makes his professors envious and we couldn't help but celebrate.

 As soon as his publication was 'in press' a congratulatory department- wide email went out to break the news, followed by pats on the back from faculty and students, a bonus, and ultimately a shift in his status. Getting a paper to your name, in a widely read journal, as a Phd student is a B-I-G deal.

It makes the difference between getting to choose  your next job and having to just take what positions and salaries are left over.  It means the difference between getting into the club of tenure-track "professors" and being a just a 'lecturer' with little university influence, no job security, and half the pay.

The process to create a scientifically sound, convincing, paper published is a long suckie road. It's not always fruitful. But this time, years of hard work paid off. Congrats Brady, I'm proud of you.

Valentine's

 

Cookies are one of my favorite "love languages." I have lots of nostalgic memories of people feeding me cookies- friends showing up on my doorstep with chewy treats, baking with my grandma and such. As a kid my mom celebrated holidays with soft, perfectly crafted, sugar cookies, using a recipe with a secret ingredient and lots of love.  Now I'm not much of a baker- my lase-fair method of following directions gets in the way. But rarely do I let a holiday pass without taking out my cookie cutters. These hearts were made for a few friends and Liam's class party.

I'm a big believer in Valentines Day.  I think it's good for the soul.  It's nice to have one happy-go- lucky day in the dead of winter where people go around doing fanciful, inconsequential but nice,  things for each other.

 Elsie recieved pink paints for Valentines Day, Liam got a Ninja Turtle movie. Elsie was happy to wake up to a day dedicated to pink- her pink painted hearts were taped to the walls, her food was pink, her cards were pink. It was fun to see Liam labeling his class valentines and putting them into piles of those who he thought liked Kung Fu Panda cards and those who would find them distastefully violent (mainly the girls) and needed an alternate.

 

 milk goatee