What We Accomplished

I think today was a success. I am so proud of Joel for staying positive and productive even though it may have seemed like I was trying to sabotage him with my cranky mood at every turn. It was so not my intention, I have figured out why I was grumpy and I will get to that later. But I swear my Husband is a saint, it was like I was undermining him with every decision he made today, I was reminded of Bree Hodge from last weeks episode of Desperate Housewives and I so don’t mean to be condescending, I just come across that way sometimes when I don’t even realize it.

I am pretty sure Joel realizes this, and that is why he is amazing, but it can be a downer especially when little things do go wrong, instead of being encouraging I was like.. see I told you so. However in the end he did such a wonderful job with the baby proofing. We didn’t get as much done as he would have liked, but then again I slept until like 12:30 and it was almost 2:30 before we left the house, and the darling that he is we even stopped at a baby store to just shop and look around.

We went to this great Plastic and Acrylic place where they custom cut the Plexi for the entertainment center doors, I of course was convinced Joel had the wrong measurements and there was no way they would be big enough, I was of course wrong, I mean come on, I should give the guy some credit, he does know how to use a tape measure. The Plexi was much cheaper than I expected which was exciting. Then we went to Subway for lunch. I was starved since I didn’t eat any breakfast.

After that we stopped at a used baby store called Little Raspberries. I learned that they are passing both a federal and already passed a state law that you cannot resell used baby clothes or toys. I was like WTF!! Yes, I suppose there is these fear that they are not up to spec/code and there will be toxic lead in the buttons, so no more thrift shopping for all of you frugal moms out there. That is insane. The store might have to close down. I mean they can still sell things like used swings and such, but no clothes and toys I am sure is ½ of their business and what about all of the stock they already have. I think it is just people going way off the reservation…

So I took advantage and purchased an adorable light blue traditional Chinese pants suit outfit thingy. I had just read this article about teaching our children to be global citizens and it listed all of these neat holidays we could celebrate throughout the year starting with Chinese New years on the 26th. This outfit was so beautiful and at that price I couldn’t leave it behind.

Next we went to the hardware store. Holly enjoyed sitting on my shoulders, but I got tired of her pulling my hair and ended up finding a cart and wheeling her around in it. We found a safety gate for the hallway and all of the various fasteners and hinges and such that Joel needed for his projects. Then we went home.

Holly fell asleep in the car for her second nap, so I decided I would sit and read my Magazine and let Joel get started upstairs with the drilling and such. She ended up only staying asleep for like 30-40 minutes total, and she woke up way cranky, I tried to sit her down and feed her Apple/Strawberry and she was having none of it, so I gave in and fed her a bottle. Normally I would push her to eat but she wasn’t simply resisting she was outright crying, which isn’t typical, so I knew she was still very tired and decided to pick my battles. After the first bottle I tried to feed her again, as she drank it down in about 2 minutes but she was having none of that, and drank another 2 ounces a few minutes later.

Once she had a chance to wake up and play, about an hour later I tried feeding her again. It was about 7:00 now and her regular dinner time. She wasn’t too jazzed about this, and had a few bites so I decided maybe she didn’t like this flavor and tried some Sweet Potatoes instead. She had some but still wasn’t that into it and getting crankier by the minute. She was so fussy and all over the place looking back and forth and trying to escape. She was reaching for the lid to the food container so I picked it up and said Holly if you open wide you can play with this. She stopped fussing looked me right in the eye and opened her mouth. I put a bit in and gave her the lid. I was of course in shock. She totally understood me. I could not believe it.. And then I told her that she was much smarter then I give her credit for. I was able to use the lib bribe for another 8 or so bites and then she was just done.

All this time Joel was happily at work, of course with me nit picking. There were a few obstacles he had to overcome and I was less then supportive when he was explaining them to me. On the surface this was because he never explained how he planned on doing this door thing to begin with so I couldn’t visualize his initial plan, but I was grumpy for other reasons.. I promise I will get to that.

So first he installed the gate across the hallway and of course Holly had to test that out. Then he brought up the child fencing we had downstairs that was given to us by a friend. I think this will be great for Holly’s party, we can use it outside in the backyard around the play mat and it will be wonderful. I wanted to over complicate things and move the swing to the other side of the room and have the fence go from the entertainment center in front of the bookcase and across the heater. We will eventually do this, as Holly keeps hitting her head on the swing and pulling books of the shelf, but Joel wanted to focus on the task at hand and not get off track, so we simply blocked of the heater. This is also Holly tested and approved and at least tonight she wasn’t able to knock it down, so I think it’s a win.

Next we installed some plexi glass in front of Mac’s tank where the wires, times, and extension cords are so Holly can’t reach inside and get at them. This was wonderful, as she can now safely go and look at his tank and pull up on this piece of furniture and I don’t have to worry, currently I had boxes in front of it making it too far for her to reach, but really not very safe. I also decided to move my laptop over here and plug it in there so I don’t have to stretch the wire across the living room when I need to use it or unplug it. So I am also happy about this.

So finally Joel was working on the main project, and this was the glitch. The plexi was actually about ¼ inches too big because he did not account for the space that the hinge on the top and bottom would take. I swear though in the outside world they looked way too small. But anyways, he devised a plan to cut a notch and sand down the area where the hinge went and did this as a proof of concept for the first of 4 doors. The second glitch was that shelf was pushed back for some reason and the others are flush, so he will have to adjust the other 3 shelves, and by this time it was late, so we decided to have him finish the install tomorrow since we have a proof of concept and know it will work.

Tomorrow we will also need to take down the Christmas tree, and do something with all the crap on top of the entertainment center. Ultimately it all belongs in the office, but I simply don’t have enough shelf space in there for all of my crap. I do think however that we will be able to get it all down. Oh and there is one other extension cord we have to do something with, but we have another do it yourself plan for that one too.

So for dinner we ordered pizza and holly was being very fussy. I tried putting her down twice and gave her two nighttime bottles and she finally fell asleep, but then about 2 hours later she woke up screaming with a night terror. This one lasted about 20 minutes and then I gave her another bottle (only her 8th though) and she fell back asleep, or stopped crying.. She did whimper however for a good twenty minutes and just a few minutes ago I heard her whimpering again, it’s been another 3 hours since she was last up. Something is going on with her, a developmental thing, or a growth spurt, or transitions. This morning she only slept about 40 minutes though and we had a very busy day out, so perhaps she just didn’t get enough naps and good sleep. I am not worried about her but she isn’t quite herself, so I am hoping she isn’t getting sick or anything. They say kids get 10 colds per year, and she was certainly sick in daycare, but since then she hasn’t been, so she is far from that 10.

So besides the fact that I am stressing because I have a stack of mail and bills I need to go through and organize I have this proposal that has been looming over me.. So here goes the explanation of why I am grumpy. I of course didn’t realize it until now that I am done with the review and I feel much better. So I am on this Committee for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and I am one of the reviewers who gives all of the colleges and universities in this region (the western states) there accreditation. So I am not the official person who gives it out, that is a board who ratifies the committee’s recommendations, typically comprised of university presidents, but I am the person who does all of the legwork and my peers are VP’s and Provosts. So I feel very lucky to be on this committee, and it is pretty prestigious, and a wonderful thing for my career, plus nerd that I am, kind of fun!

Anyways When I was working a large portion of my time when into the work of doing the report needed for my own school to renew this accreditation, this happens once every 7-10 years. It’s a big to do, the whole institution is involved and it is much like strategic planning, but we also have to evaluate ourselves, and show how we are using what we have learned for improvement, so it’s all about assessment.

Well anytime a school wants to start a new program (I am over simplifying here) they need to write a proposal, prove some items and get permission from the accrediting agency. That’s where I come in. Once a month I read a schools proposal, see if they meet the requirements, the program is educational sound, sustainable, cost effective, assessed, planned, resourced, ect. And grant or deny approval. Each proposal has 2-3 reviewers. This month I am the lead reviewer for the first time. I received said proposal way back in December and my review is due 9:00 AM Monday.

Well of course I didn’t read it all over break, and then once break was over I got busy, so here is it 3 days till it is due and I have to read it, and well these proposals are long, and then I have to analyze it, and review and assess it and make educated remarks for my peers to read and get my game plan together for the conference call with the institution this Thursday where I tell them what I think and give them an opportunity to answer any questions before my team makes its final decision. Long story short.. This overwhelming responsibility looming on my shoulders has made me very grumpy. There aren’t enough hours in the day, Joel will ask me if I am coming to bed early tonight, and it’s not like I want to stay up until 4:00 Am, but It’s also not like I have time between 9:00 am and 10:00 pm to do paperwork, write the blog, pay bills, or read this review. So if I want to get any of that stuff done I do have to stay up and do it.

So now here comes the weird philosophical part of this post. Having to do this review, so reminds me why I am so happy I quit my job. I simply do not want the stress of having to write reports and a looming deadline at all when I could be enjoying every waking Moment with my daughter, carefree with no loomingness. However after 5 10 hour days with a Baby, reading Baby magazines, and talking to other Mommies about baby things all of which I love it was kind of nice to get out of that space and into a very different intellectual part of myself and remember how smart I am. I know I sound like an a$$ but it took a lot of hard work and dedication, and education to get to where I am, and the fact that I can evaluate this proposal and talk and write like I know what I am talking about, because I do, reminds me that I like my child, know a lot more then I remember sometimes to give myself credit for.

So in the end it was kind of fun to read about this program, get all uppity about the things they were doing wrong, and be all impressed with the things they are doing write and being able to analyze it all and articulate my thoughts for my peers to read and finish the review. Now I have the call to look forward too, which I am usually never at all nervous or anxious about,. This time I am but only a teeny bit because I am the one in charge and the others will be looking at me to take the lead, so there is a bit more responsibility, but I am so also looking forward to using all kinds of grown-up words like rubric, educational effectiveness, Carnegie Unit Calculations, Needs Assessment, ect.

So all in all, what have I learned, well I don’t want to work, but I do need something on occasion to remind me that I have a life outside of my child. Not that I like being there for too long and can’t wait to get back to her clingy little arms, but to appreciate her, and who I am that made me such a great mom, I have to remind myself of what else is out there on occasion.