Story of the Scientist, Princess, and Brand New Creation

Wisdom and the Art of Motherhood

2008-08-15T16:57:00.001-06:00

For some reason, when you are out with a baby, strangers – well okay typically older women – come up to offer unsolicited advice all of the time. With Lily I am lucky. I simply tell them this is my third and they leave me alone. Apparently, something about having a third means I have more mother wisdom in their eyes. However, I have come to realize that having a third child has in no way given me an once more wisdom in a variety of mothering skills …. such as remembering to pack diapers.

Generally, I cloth diaper. However, on longer trips, I use “sposies” for 2 reasons. #1: I hate to cart around dirty diapers all day. #2: I have thrown the dirty diaper away (nothing like diving into a bathroom trash can for a dirty diaper that you then have to cart around.) However, admittedly, sposies are horrific offenders when it comes to leaking.

Anyways, back to the story…. We headed out to a meeting. As per usual, I didn’t even think to check the diaper bag. So, I stopped to nurse her before heading in. She had a blowout and of course, it was leaking. I stopped nursing to change her. I had only one diaper in the bag. So, I changed Lily’s diaper and finished nursing her. Oops, another blow out. I hoped that the diaper held it in. Nope, it was leaking. In fact she needed a change of clothes. I had a change of clothes but no diaper. I proceeded to search the car in the hopes that there was one there, somewhere.

I was in luck, I found one of those trial diapers they send you when you are pregnant. Only problem, it was a size 0 (newborn). At the hospital, the nurses took away our size 0 box and brought us a size 1 box because Lily was so big. Here it is, two months later, and Lily wears a size 2 diaper. Well, this would have to do. So, I stretched the straps to try and get it around her. Well, one of the straps ripped right off. So, now I had a baby wearing a diaper that is the equivalent of a thong with only one side attached. This would not do.

So, here is the difference between my current “mom of three” and my past “mom of one” self… In the past I would have probably gone straight home and cancelled the meeting. However, I calmly went into mom MacGyver mode and rifled through the diaper bag looking for a quick fix. Ah ha, I ripped the tabs off of the two dirty diapers and daisy chained the little diaper to Lily. Problem solved.

So, more wisdom? Not quite. Today as I met some friends for coffee it occurred to me that now, there are no diapers in the diaper bag. That’s okay though. I did note that there are three orphaned socks and a target bag in there. See, I got it covered.

Hidden Messages

2008-08-02T22:24:00.004-06:00

Well, we were sitting here on a Saturday morning discussing the varying meanings of a classic children's book (which will remain nameless to prevent everyone and their brother from calling...) Lazlo discovered a phone number hidden in one of the illustrations. So, Lazlo being Lazlo had to call the number.

Someone answered and Lazlo said, "who is this?" The respondent gave him the first name of the author. So, Lazlo told him he had the wrong number and hung up. The name is not a common one so this was a bit freaky to say the least. Had Lazlo actually talked to the author?

He finally got up the courage to call again. He had to know. This time, an answering machine picked up but did not have the name of the author on it. So, it will remain a mystery. Knowing Lazlo, he will try to call again -- it will eat at him til he finds out the truth.

The Hazards of Literacy

2008-06-16T11:06:00.002-06:00

Well, there are hazards to having children who can read. My 8 year old son is becoming an avid reader -- the kind that sits on the floor and pours through books for hours. The other day, I took him to Borders. As I was looking at items, he gravitated towards a turn style with books and excitedly said, "look mom, little books." Me "uh huh Riley, neat." It was full of those little gift books that I generally don't give a second thought to. So, he grabbed one, criss-cross applesauced his way to the floor and began to read. About 15 minutes later, I walked over to him and asked what book he was so engrossed in. He replied, "It is called S-E-X for Dummies." Oops!

I found this on a message board -- this captures how I feel

2008-05-19T19:15:00.002-06:00

Baby Eviction Notice

I am issuing 30 day notice for EVICTION. Tenant will have 30 days in which he can either gather his belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, he will be physically removed from the property.

He's being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 30 days from this day that he doesn’t comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

For those who are interested in Web 2.0

2008-04-25T10:00:00.001-06:00

I love this video. I think it clearly shows how this web 2.0 phenomenon is changing the Internet. Check it out: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

Due Date Rant

2008-04-22T09:31:00.003-06:00

*sigh* well I figured that I would be totally remiss about posting blogs....

short little rant....

I am due in June. It just happens to be the middle of June so, when someone asks when the due date is, I say "June." The next question always is, "No when is the due date?" Like the baby is on some timer and we yank it out on the due date.

Only 5% of women happen to give birth on the due date -- it is a best guestimate of the middle of the 4 week period that a woman may give birth during. My first two children were born prior to the "due date" so everyone says "oh, you were early." They were both over the 8 lb mark. I most certainly was not early! Riley and Teagan had a much better pulse on the "due date" than the ultrasounds or my midwife ever could obtain (and thank goodness I have a midwife who understands this). A good friend of mine was about 10 days after that crazy arbitrary "due date." She was plagued with calls from family members for 10 days -- Has the baby come yet? What is taking so long? Are they going to induce? Looks like you are headed for a c-section.... and so on and so on.

My goodness people, let the baby come out when it is ready. So, next time you ask "when are you due?" you can expect that the most you will get from me is "June" -- and who knows, I may not even make it that far (though that is wishful thinking on my part I suppose)

I am not even going to go off now about all of the lovely weight comments I have gotten.

New Year's Eve or Monday Night?

2007-12-31T22:27:00.000-07:00

New years Eve and here I sit......

It is fast approaching 10:30PM and I sit like many other evening's with teagan as she drifts off to sleep. I think we can learn alot from our kids if we open our minds to the possibilities. She is not worried about resolutions,losing weight, saving money, or becoming a better person as most of us grown ups come to contemplate on this holiday.

A holiday with a dual tradition (i might add) getting so drunk you don't remember who you are and making a promise to yourself to become someone else next year. Teagan and Riley weren't even concerned about staying up to usher in the new year. They both fell asleep before 11---By the way Teagan is sleeping now.... the new year will be there tomorrow as will everything else that was here today.

I will make a resolution and try to stay up to midnight to see 2007 out and 2008 in. Perhaps living life a little more like the kids would be a good start in the path of self reflection and spiritual renewal.

Signing off for 2007----

Better late then never

2007-12-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

I am glad to join the blog. After several failed attempts at getting signed up i tackled the task. I will be adding to the chaos from time to time.

Preparing for X-Mas so I am don't have alot of time but rest assured you will hear more from me soon.

My Son and the Art of being Genuine

2007-12-06T13:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I took Teagan and Riley to see Santa at the University Center -- they got closer this year and actually were able to tell him what they wanted.

After this, we were down getting our picture and Riley spotted a stand of art students selling handmade pottery. He instantly began to admire a particular artist's work and openly expressed love for what was on the table. The artist told Riley "go get your mom and maybe you can take something home." I explained to Riley that you actually had to pay for those pottery items. He ran back to the artist and told him we had no money and could not buy anything. End of story -- Riley is learning quickly....

On our way out of the UC, the artist called Riley back over and told him he could have anything on the table without paying. I had to resist the urge to try and get Riley to choose one of the items I found to be most valuable -- this was his choice to make. His genuine love of the art earned him that choice. He selected a small little bowl and excitedly took it home. He has been staring lovingly at that bowl ever since.

Ecological Footprint

2007-11-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

It is so easy to sit and wish that everyone lived a nice comfortable middle class life style and had all the creature comforts they could desire. However... what if we all did? Somewhere along the line, we have defined a great deal of happiness and success into a consumer driven lifestyle.

My friend Kathy sent me this quiz... http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp
Take it, it is humbling. I took the quiz again and pretended I was still driving a Honda Civic and was still a vegetarian. It made a significant difference but, was still humbling.

My expedition into Second Life

2007-11-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

Well, after two very intriguing sessions on the educational aspects of this tool at the last AECT conference -- I had to give it a shot. What is all of the Second Life buzz about? Is there really an educational use to this? And, most importantly, can I manage a second life on top of my first one?

My first trip included a nice little orientation session in which I learned to walk, fly, and make myself look kinda like myself but much skinner. (The typical setup does not seem to come with pregnancy skins.)

After what appeared to be a relatively successful trip -- it ended there. As soon as I was off of orientation island, I was thrown into a strange place and suddenly, I felt like I had transported to a strange country in which I was unable to navigate. I am still not sure of what I would exactly do in Second Life.

My friend Laura had a great session at the latest CAL conference that was titled "Avatar meets Marian." Maybe I am just not ready to meet my avatar yet.

For now, I will leave you with this you tube video that I think sums it all up beautifully.

Knitting by the Fireside

2007-11-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

I just spent the most wonderful Thanksgiving -- knitting by a fireside in a cabin at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. I don't think I could come up with a better way to spend 4 days in the mountains. In fact, I think I may have left my mind up on the mountain.

The NOT so glamorous life of graphis

2007-11-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Graphic Arts -- brings to mind images of fun futsy artistry. A chance to be creative and bring new life to what are otherwise dull visual messages.

Ah, dreams are just that! Akio and I have been fighting with a brochure for days now -- getting it printed. It really is beautiful and to top it off, the whole file apparently is a mess -- according to the place who is to be printing it.

Creation = Good; Logistics = Bad. This still is technology driven -- maybe I should start taking those watercolor classes again.

An update -- somehow, against all odds, our brochure is at the printer. I owe Akio a trip to the Rio to celebrate in about 40 weeks.

Welcome to our CHAOS!

2007-11-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided that a blog is a much more efficient way to get information out to friends and family than either a website or emails -- you people keep changing your emails :)

However, this is a double edged sword because, that means I have to keep up on writing in this thing. And writing -- not my fav thing to spend time on.

It really is therefore more of an experiment at this point