Friday, February 26, 2010

it's a family trait

A text message conversation with my dad:

Laura:


today's purchase. something to do while chris is gone.

Dad:
Really?

Laura:
yes. I really did buy eight seasons of Scrubs.

Dad:
Cool! (I like to send single word text messages due to my lack of cell phone typing skills. Please do not be offended by the brevity of my electronic communications. Had I greater ability I might be more effusive with my prose. As it stands, alas, my communiques must continue to remain stilted. If this causes you any emotional or other discomfort feel free to let me know. You may find my response less than satisfying as it will, of course, be excessively, if you will, seemingly, truncated.)

Laura:
acceptable

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Embarrassing can be funny

Nights are hard, but we'll get over it. Sorry for my moment of weakness last night. To make up for it, I have a funny story.

Megan is still nursing. Probably my least favorite thing about the whole adventure is pumping at school. What a pain. Twice a day, I have to get everything set up, pump, and clean up in fifteen minutes or less. This is a picture of the style of pump I use.


I'm obviously paranoid about someone potentially walking in on me while I'm pumping...can you blame me? I check and check again that the classroom door is locked, the blinds are down and the curtains are also closed. And as an extra measure, I have a towel I use to cover with as well, just to be on the safe side. Yesterday, that proved to be a prudent measure.

It is not terribly uncommon that someone will try to come in while I'm pumping. I'll hear someone fiddling with the outside door (my portable has two doors with a breezeway in-between), and I'll wait for a moment. Usually they go away, or if they really need something, they'll continue knocking. If that is the case, I'll stop pumping and go open the door. Well, yesterday I heard the outside door. I waited for a second to see what would happen, then I suddenly realized that the inside door was opening. I quickly turned off the pump, but I didn't have time to do anything else.

Picture this. I'm sitting at my desk, in a small corner next to the window, with a towel covering me. Nothing is showing, but I'm not exactly fully clothed either...and the janitor walked in.

Panic.

He walked over to me and started talking about getting my broken window fixed. He said he wanted to see what was really wrong with it before calling district maintenance. He didn't make any sign that something might be unusual about how I looked or was acting, but I promise, I was fairly mortified. But since he hadn't had any kind of reaction, I decided I wouldn't bring it up if he hadn't noticed.

So he's coming to look at the window, right? Remember how I said my desk is in the corner by the window? Well, checking the window required walking behind my desk--about a foot from where I was sitting--and opening the blinds. Yes, I'm sitting next to the window, still attached to a breastpump, with the janitor standing directly behind me and the window wide open.

Panic.

I pretended to be typing on my computer, even though I didn't actually have anything to do there, while he talked to me and checked the window. He finally said that he was ready to make his call. "Thank goodness," I'm thinking, "he's going to leave." He walked away from my desk, leaving the blinds up. I was less excited about that, but we could deal with it once he was gone. Turns out, he didn't actually leave. He stood in the middle of the room, pulled out his cell phone, and proceeded to call the district.

Panic.

I was thinking at this point that I must have not locked the door. I mean, I lock or unlock that door at least eight times a day. It's understandable that I could have messed up this time, right? Well, the janitor was on hold. He leaned over to me and said, "By the way, did you know that your door was locked?"

Oh geez. Yes, yes I did.

He stayed for almost fifteen minutes. The entire time, I was only thinking "go away, go away, go away, just please go away" while trying to maintain a very polite, somehow normal demeanor.

Don't get me wrong. The janitor is one of my all-time favorite people at school. He would do anything for anyone. He is an extremely nice, caring man. But there are still some things that I just don't want to share, regardless of how nice you are.

Eventually, he did close the blinds and leave, and he even relocked the door on his way out. And he never noticed anything out of the ordinary. Or he is just an amazing actor...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Week 7

My house is clean. My girls are asleep. My schoolwork is done.
That is good.

But I hate going to bed alone.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Unused Facebook Statuses

I thought it would be stati, but it's not...I looked it up...it's statuses

Laura P. W.

ate frozen pizza for dinner due to lack of imagination.

bought a bumbo chair for Megan. So far, she loves it.

tried to put all the groceries in the freezer and they didn't fit. Then I realized the large waffle box was empty. that helped.

wishes it was Thursday.

likes having a student teacher. I haven't had to grade papers in over a month.

hates listening to babies cough. I can't do anything about it!

wants to know if we got the house. Now, preferably.

has a new trick: turn on a movie, fast forward til there's only 20 minutes left, then tell Jane she has to go to bed when it's over. I'm such a mean mom.

watches a lot of Star Trek Voyager. And Stargate. They are starting to get confused in my head...I'll watch an episode of Star Trek and look at a character and think, "oh, they're definitely a goa'uld" or I'll watch an episode of Stargate and wonder why they don't just fly instead of trying to find the right planet near where they need to go... Then I remember that there aren't any goa'ulds in the Delta Quadrant and that no one in the SGC has a starship that can fly at a warp factor of 9.75.

likes sundae cones. I'll even suffer through the peanuts to get the chocolate at the bottom of the cone.

wants more pizza.

wishes Megan would sleep through the night instead of waking up at 12:30...and 2:30...and 3:30...and 4:30...and 5:30...I've never been so excited for 6:30.

is becoming more allergic to milk...again...and again...and again. And I still drink it. Milk will be the death of me.

is going to Disneyland for spring break--no kids. Yay for late honeymoons!

wishes Megan wouldn't pull her pacifier out of her mouth, drop it on the floor, and cry.

thinks it's funny when Jane says "open the door. I wake up!" every morning. Unless it's 5:00. Then it's not funny.

bought a PS3 so I can watch the M*A*S*H dvds I got for Christmas that won't work in my dvd player.

needs another bookcase. My books are overflowing off my four large bookcases and covering the dining room table...and that doesn't count the two other bookcases I have at school.

misses her husband.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

on the cameras

This week has been...dramatic, shall we say. Chris, Jane and Megan have all been sick this week, and I haven't quite been myself in handling everything else that's come up. Hence, I have no funny stories to tell or clever ideas for a blog post.

Last resort: random pictures from my three cameras.


Subject one: Canon Powershot SX10 iS, 10.o megapixels


the ball, on TV, on new year's eve







this "hat" is the box Janet made for Megan's Christmas blocks


Subject two: VistaQuest VQ515, 5.0 megapixels



I'm still a sucker for pictures of babies (and toddlers) sleeping.


I've been working on creating my professional portfolio at school, and I have lots of pictures of things around my classroom on all three of my cameras.


Subject three: Verizon's LG EnV2, 2.0 megapixels



Jane is becoming more adept at Wii Skiing at day care this week.


Valerie cut my hair a month ago. There was enough that I had to take a picture.


Even though we were sick this week, we still had smiles.


Jane has spent her fair share of time standing just like this,
waiting for Daddy to come home...even when it's not Thursday.

I, myself, am waiting for this,


which we HOPE HOPE HOPE to find out next week if our offer on has been accepted.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Stealing the Show

On Saturday night, we celebrated Valentine's Day by going to the stake dance. Jane spent most of the time in the nursery (hooray for free babysitters!!!) and Megan slept a lot in the car seat, so Chris and I actually had some time to spend together. Towards the end of the evening, Jane came in the gym and joined in the dancing.

She danced with Dad...




she danced by herself...


she danced with the Bishop and his wife...


and she danced with more than one random stranger...


until Mom said it was time to go home...


and she screamed.


I even had comments about Jane's dancing from random people in other wards at church the next day.

Megan had fun, too.


On Sunday night, we were able to go to family dinner in Ogden with a few of Chris's aunts, uncles, and cousins. Jane and Megan wore their matching jackets. They enjoyed it, I believe...


until, of course, Megan got squished.


How can you not love that face?

Saturday, February 13, 2010

roses

The first flower I was ever given by a boy


now resides above the cupboards in my kitchen.

The first flower I was given on an anniversary of my wedding


now resides above a picture in my living room.

The first flowers I've been given as a wife and mother of two children


currently reside on my kitchen table.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

my girls

I'm not sure what it is, but I really enjoy referring to Jane and Megan as "my girls" instead of "my kids". It just has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Today was the dreaded doctor's visit...Jane's 2-year checkup, Megan's 4-month checkup. Why dreaded, you ask? I took them both by myself, and they both had shots. Man oh man.

We did enjoy some diaper time, however...well, the girls did. I remained fully clothed.


* * * * *

Audrey Jane


25 lbs. 3 oz.

2' 10"
(the paper actually says 34 in., but 2' 10" sounded funnier to me)

size 24 mo-2T clothes

size 4 diapers

Favorite Activities:
~dancing
~taking care of her babies--Honey, Baby, Dolly, and Bear
~dancing
~singing--her favorites are the Jesus Song (Away in a Manger, go figure) and the Walking Song (Teach Me to Walk in the Light)
~building towers with her blocks
~calling Grandpa, Grandma, Michael, Daddy, and Linus on her cell phone
~did I mention dancing?

Cute story of the day:
Jane has become aware of Dad being gone during the week and coming home on the weekends--she's finally figured out that it's a normal thing. Today, she had this conversation with herself:

"Where's Daddy? Daddy at work in Salt Lake. Where's Daddy? Daddy at work in Salt Lake. Oh, cool! I love Daddy! I love Daddy!"

all while dancing around the living room.

* * * * *

Megan Leigh

14 lbs

2' 1.25" ;)

size 3-6 mo clothes

size 1 diapers

Favorite Activities:
~spitting up
~smiling
~spitting up
~smiling
~laughing at Jane's dancing

Cute story of the day:
My phone starting ringing and I said, "Oh, that's Daddy." Megan, who had been laying quietly on the couch, immediately started wiggling and giggling. It may be just a coincidence...or maybe we just all really like Daddy.

* * * * *

So, we survived the shots. Jane has never had any problem getting shots. She cries when she gets stabbed, then as soon as she has a sucker in her hand, she's fine. Megan, on the other hand, generally becomes extremely clingy and fussy and runs a fever for two or three days. So far, this time is no exception...but Daddy's coming home tomorrow!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

What a Week 4

Don't get too close...

In this week, several people around me have suffered some sort of medical emergency. I didn't have anything to do with any of them, but it seems odd that so many happened to so many people I know, all in one week:

A teacher I work with hurt her back, missing several days of school and visiting the hospital and doctors on multiple occasions.

On Tuesday, one of my students broke her leg on our fifth grade ski trip to Beaver Mountain.

Laura Lee was taken to the emergency room for stomach pain, and later had surgery for gall stones.

Another of my students broke her arm playing soccer.

Jane fell down the stairs, head first, sliding on her back. She wasn't hurt, but it seemed to fit the list anyway.

The upside to all of this is that I was able to largely ignore my own situation. It didn't seem so drastic to be on my own this week, when I spent a lot of time helping other people.

I've heard charity defined as serving others when your own needs have not been met...that definition has always struck a cord with me. I think I had a better taste of that this week when I was able to help so many other people in different situations, even though I was still struggling to take care of everything at home.

. . .

And to move past that serious note, here are some random pictures that we've taken in the last week or two.

Jane got in trouble last weekend for coloring on the walls. Consequence: Help Dad scrub all the crayon off the walls and mirror.


Apparently dinner time can be quite exhausting at our house...



...and I'll have to you know that those two pictures were taken within seconds of each other.

I bought Jane some new headbands to wear while we grow out her bangs. She couldn't wait to get home to wear them, so she just wore them in the store.


And when she isn't worrying about her own fashion sense, Jane continues to take time enjoying telephone conversations with Grandpa, Grandma, Sarah and Michael.


One of my favorite moments this week, laugh if you will, was one morning when I was getting all of our clothes pulled together to get ready for the day. I realized that all three of us girls were going to wear brand new white socks. We all matched, so I just had to take a picture.


don't you love new socks?