Morning has broken

Because every blog post needs a little baby.

The name of my blog is, "I'm Probably Crazy".  But now I know its true.  Its a Monday morning, my babies are both asleep, and I am awake at 6am. 

6am.

Of my own free will.

Crazy.

Here's the deal: Axel's best stretch of sleep is from 8pm until 2am.  And then I feed him and he sleeps again until 5:30 or 6.  And then he wakes up for the day at 8am.  I try to go to bed at 10pm but I just wasn't tired enough.  I was worn out, sure, but getting almost 10 hours of sleep (even though it wasn't really quality) made it hard to fall asleep easily.

So the new plan: Wake up to feed Axel at 5:30 or 6 and stay up.  I can remember to take my iron supplement, eat my breakfast in peace, read my blogs in silence, shower before noon. . . so many great advantages.  But the best part (I'm hoping) is that I'll more easily fall asleep.  Maybe even at 9pm!  That would give me a 5 hour stretch of sleep!  And then another 3-4 hours after that. 

The less broken my sleep is, the better.

I feel like we've been down this road before. . .

Tuesday night drama

All day Tuesday I had wanted to trim Olivia's hair.  When short hair grows out, occasionally you have to trim it or it starts to look like a mullet.  After dinner that night, Adam gave Olivia a bath while I fed Axel. 

Olivia with a beard of bubbles

I decided it was the perfect time to cut Olivia's hair, since it would be damp and not crazy (Olivia's hair gets crazy very easily)

It.Did.Not.Go.Well.

I made the first cut a little higher than I intended, but it really wasn't bad.  Still, a little panic set in and when I tried to make the second cut match up, Olivia moved and. . .whoa.  It was a lot higher than I intended.  So I stopped cutting.  And called my aunt Janette.  Except it wasn't my aunt Janette's number (I guess that's what happens when you haven't updated the numbers in your phone for over three years and your aunt has moved twice) but that's a story for another day.

Wednesday morning I called the correct phone number (thanks mom!) and Janette came over to fix it.  She is awesome!

Before Janette came over I snapped a pic.

I think Olivia had fun getting her hair cut for the first couple of minutes, but the damage I had done took more than a couple of minutes to undo.  After Janette finished Olivia went down for a nap.

After her nap, front (nothing different here, she just has a cute face and crazy nap hair):

And the back:

And that is how Olivia went from having a mullet (the iconic boys haircut of the '80s) to having a step (the iconic boys haircut of the '90s)!!

Five Facts

Bonnie did a cute post today and I figured I could spare ten minutes to write a quick post with five facts about me you didn't know.  I laid Baby Axel (that is his proper name in this house) on the couch next to me and so lets get this show on the road! 

The hardest part about writing this post was finding a picture that was "sexy" enough.  I went for brooding instead.

1. I have not walked out the front door of my apartment since Friday.  Newborn baby + toddler + snow = us not going anywhere.

2. My biggest fear in life is people dressed in gorilla suits.  I hate all masks, but gorilla masks top the list.

3. I use peroxide to make my hair blonder.  Basically its like that Sheer Blonde crap, but I pay 97 cents a bottle instead of 10 dollars.  It brightens it up just enough.

4. I swam into the the wall of the swimming pool in the third grade.  I lost one of my front teeth and half of the other one.  They are fake now.

5. I hate clocks that tick.  (As I sit and listen to the ticking of my living room clock.  This is what music is for. . .)

Moving at 37 weeks

VIA

We're moving to our own apartment this week.  I'm 37 week pregnant, measuring 2 weeks ahead so really 39!  Thank goodness my husband is super strong.  Are all men this strong?  Like a box that I would struggle with (and I'm no wimp) he can lift along with two more and carry them upstairs and out to the car.  It's insane. 

I hate packing.  But I love unpacking.  So I'm excited for that.

I'm giving away most of my baby girl clothes to former students and current friends.  I'm feeling so free about that.  We have so so much and with this baby being a boy, and no more kids for at least three years (I need this child to be two before I conceive again!) how long can I keep carting baby girl clothes every where we move?  I love Olivia's clothes and I just couldn't bring myself to donate them to a thrift store, but people I know?  I can do that. 

Olivia is obsessed with the "new house" and the bathtub.  She's been over to the apartment a few times when I was dropping stuff off and every time she runs to the bathtub and gets in.  This is funny because she doesn't take a bath in a real tub (we only have shower at Adam's parents) and when we tried to give her a bath in a tub at my mom's house she got so scared.  So hopefully she'll be so excited to take a bath in the "new house" and with her new tub toys she'll forget to freakout about being in a large body of water.

I've had to get a non-stress test and have my amniotic fluid checked twice because I'm measuring big.  I have an appointment this afternoon and we'll see what the dr says about an early induction.  Sorry all you natural birthing doulas, I'm all about the pitocin and epidurals.  (except maybe someday I would like to try a tub birth.  I don't know why, it looks kind of fun)

And. . . that's all I have to say today. 

My strange addiction

Isn't there a tv show called "My Strange Addiction"?  Well, to be fair I don't know if you would call what I have an addiction or a symptom.  Probably a symptom, because when I get my condition under control it goes away.

Do you remember that chapter on eating disorders you read were supposed to read in the 9th grade?  It probably covered three different disorders: pica, bulimia and anorexia.  Pica got like one small paragraph and the other two pretty much took like 20 pages each.  Well I have pica (*not formally diagnosed).  I don't even know why it's in that chapter, it's really totally different.  For me, it's caused my a lack of iron and pregnancy.  Actually, I don't know if I have it really, because I don't actually eat the non-nutritive substances (like chalk and dirt).  I want to but I smell them instead.  (okay confession, I always want to eat chalk so the other day I just put a little chalk dust on my tongue.  GROSS!)

Some things that I like to smell:
-laundry soap
-dryer sheets (sometimes I carry them around with me in my pocket)
-my Caress body wash
-generic hand sanitizer, after the alcohol has evaporated
-new power puffs
-my face wash
-dish soap
-the chemical smell when you iron new fabrics

So its pretty much all in the same "soap" category.  There are a few things I the feel of, that I might think about eating but of course I never would, like chalk and foam. 

When ever I would tell my students about this they all thought I was seriously weird.  I probably am. 

Mirrors vs camera

I just don't understand how I can look fine when looking in a mirror but then look totally repulsive in a picture.  What kind of evil magic is at work here?  I smile for the camera, expecting to look like this:

This is a professional photo, I'm pretty sure it was altered.  But this is what I see in the mirror.

only to actually get a picture of me looking like this!

I mean, do I walk around with my face looking like that??? 

Please tell me I'm not the only one. . .

What you need to know about kindergarten pickup

I feel like I'm a little young to be picking up kids from kindergarten, but truth is some of my friends my age have kids in third grade.  Even so I'm starting early with this since I'm a nanny to two kindergarteners that attend different schools!  Here are some tips if  I had to learn the hard way.

1.  Don't aim to arrive when your kid gets out of school.  Don't even aim to be five minutes early.  20-30 minutes early should be good.  Even then you wont be first in line.  Being last in line makes you look like a bad mom/nanny/grandma/dad.

2.  Don't worry about the signs that tell you not to park.  Go ahead and park.  Get out of your car and have a long conversation with your child about her day.  We're not waiting behind you to pick up our own five-year-old or anything. . . Besides, the actual parking spots are like five feet away.  It would be a shame for you to have to walk more than needed. 

3.  Because of #2, its important to remember that cutting is allowed, in fact required!  Jennifer turned off her car, got out and is now braiding her daughter's hair while discussing her child's grades with the teacher, so driving around her will be the only way to make it home in time for bedtime.  While your at it skip four or five other cars.  They don't love their kid as much as you do. 

4.  This is a great place to catch up on neighborhood gossip.  If your driving in the thru lane and you see a friend parked in the pick up lane you should stop and catch up.  No one really wants to drive through the parking lot anyway.  We all plan to stay a long, long time. 

5.  Should you get annoyed with anyone, please don't honk.  What will that teach the children???

"We make our own shampoo"

"First we take some grapes and mix them with juice.  We let that harden and then we add in some poison.  Then we just use it on our hair!"  --Max, age 5

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Thanks for the recipe Max, but I think I'll stick to Herbal Essence. 

No Sugar September!!

Source: photoxyz.com via Delaine on Pinterest

Last year for Labor Day Adam and I went on a whirl wind trip to Logan UT and then down the opposite direction to Parowan UT.  Adam ran in a mud run, we visited friends and then met up with my parents during my dad's high school reunion.  We had a great time but after eating a huge bag of M&Ms and a large basket of fried food at my grandpa's old dairy freeze I was feeling pretty crappy.  Not to mention I had 20 pounds of baby weight needing to be lost!  So the day after Labor Day I decided I would not have any sugar at all for the remainder of September.  Crazy, I know. 

But I did it!!  And I lost five pounds with out even doing anything else.  When I went a little crazy on October 1st (and 2nd and 3rd. . . ) I didn't gain any of it back. 

As I looked back on that goal today, I've decided to try it again.  Its hard, yes, but knowing you'll have these foods again in October really helps me say no.  My mother-in-law's cookies?  They're always in the freezer.  Chocolate chips?  The grocery store isn't going to run out.  Plus there is a lot of sugar I eat that I don't even care for!  Sour patch kids?  I'll eat them if you offer, but I'll never go out of my way for them.

I'll be following the same three rules as last year:

1. Honey.  I can't eat my 7 grain cereal without a little sweetener! (And I DON'T do artificial sweetener)  *This year I am also going to include agave. 
2. Sugar that is included in non-dessert food.  I'm talking yogurt, peanut butter, ketchup and other stuff that I can't think of right now.  You get the idea.
3. Fruit, and other naturally occurring sugar.  Like sweet potatoes.  Mmmmm.

Of course I'm in no condition to be losing weight, but my doctor has approved of me gaining as little as possible as long as I'm eating plenty of healthy food and working out.  The baby should do just fine if keep eating lots and lots of fruits and veggies and whole grains.

Join in?

The Olymics are coming!

First I need to know: is the word Olympics a proper noun?  Like does it need to be capitalized?  Because if not it looks like I just felt like randomly capitalizing a word in my title.  Because I usually only capitalize the first word.  Oh my goodness, who cares?  Moving on. . .

Do you guys remember the 1996 Olympics?  That was the first and most fun year of Olympics for me.  I was 13 and in 7th grade and obsessed with the gymnastic team (but I really don't know why because I don't especially have an affinity towards
gymnastics. . .) My friends and I would talk about it at school and I would rush home to watch the competitions in the evening.  I thought those girls were just so beautiful.  And we were winning!  The team was doing so well. 

And the best part was how, in the end, even though she had hurt her ankle already, Kerri Strug did a final vault almost perfectly and landed squarely on both feet for a brief moment before raising her injured leg and then falling to her knees.  Even now, looking back, I remember the feeling of awe I had for that girl.  Plus I just thought she was so pretty and I loved her short hair.

Via

After that, the Olympics ended and everyone went back to their normal lives, but I just wished I could be friends with Kerri.  I just knew we would have so much to talk about and we would go shopping at the mall together.  She was just so cool.

Well, Kerri and I never became best friends.  I'm over it Kerri, no hard feelings.  I've never loved the Olympics as much since then, but I hold on to the hope that there will be an amazing story of courage that can make me proud to be an American (which of course I am all the time, but  its always fun to see our national teams do something awesome!)

Call it what you will. . .

OCD, Perfectionist, Insane Person.  Call it what you will, but I have a problem.  I cannot deal with papers that have those rough spiral bound notebook edges.  I try telling my students that they cannot turn papers in if they have been torn out of a spiral bound notebook, and that I will return them with out a score, but my students have eight teachers, how can they be expected to remember that?  Because I'm certain they aren't doing it to annoy me. . . right?  Its just that they make the papers stick together and they don't lay flat, pretty much a teacher's worst nightmare.  (Just me??)

So I accept them, and I try, really try, not to let it bother me.  But somehow, with out thinking, I find myself tearing off the perforated edges most notebook paper has.  Before I know it, I've wasted 30 minutes of my grading time ripping those tiny edges off. 

What happened to good old fashioned college ruled loose leaf anyway? 

(And for my next post I'll be sharing all of my fab photo skills. Because you know these pics are HOT)

Just Ask (or Government Jobs at Their Most Efficient)

There is an application that all high school clubs must submit each year if they want to be a school recognized club.  It requires that I answer about 8 questions and submit 7 permission slips from parents giving consent for their child to participate in the club.  I totally see why its important for clubs.  But FCCLA (Family Career and Community Leaders of America) is not a club.  Its a CTSO (Career and Technical Student Organization).  If my friend stopped doing the Harry Potter club, no big deal.  But if I stopped doing FCCLA I would probably get in trouble. 

Sure, we might join in during club week.  When asked, we might explain that we're a club centered on the family.  But really, we're totally different.   We're a national organization. 

And so, this application seems. . . dumb. . . to me.  Why do I have to apply for something that I have to do.  Seriously, have no choice. 

But no one questions it.  For years we've just been doing it, jumping through hoops that no one has time to jump through.  Asking for permission to continue doing my job.  I hate it.

So today I asked, "Do I really have to do this?"  The answer?  Yes, but only the questions.  You can skip the permission slips. 

I never do things that don't make sense to me.  It always pays to ask. 

PS I got a call into a head guy* at the district office to see if I can get out of the question part for the future.  Baby steps here.

*official title

Parents Think I'm Crazy

VIA

I'm taking my students on an over night field trip.  I do this twice every year.  In order for a student to attend I need TWO forms filled out.  A medical permission slip, that needs to be notarized, (because one time a kid forged his parent's signature and went on an over night trip and the parents called the cops and a search was going out for this boy. . . thank bud, for the extra work you make me do) and a parent meeting signature list showing all the parents of all the students and whether or not they approve of the proposed over night travel. 

So I planned a parent meeting for last night.  Five of my parents called to say they couldn't come.  That's cool, I can write down "phone call" in the signature box.  Five of my parents came to the meeting.  They signed, thank you for that.  So I have six more parents to call today.  Imagine their confusion.

Me: Hi I'm Suzy's* FCCLA Advisor and I need to know if you approve of over night travel.
Parent: Yeah I thought I gave Suzy that notarized form we had to fill out. . . 
Me: Um, yeah, you did.  But see, I have this other form to fill out.  I need your signature and to know if you approve or do not approve.  Its okay though, I can just put "phone call" in the signature box.  So I'm calling you. . .
Parent: Um, yes, I approve.  I thought that was obvious.
Me: Yes its obvious to me.  But I guess its not to um. . . other people?  I don't get it either.  Thank you for your time.

Ug.  It is just SO AWKWARD.

* Suzy is not one of my actual students.