mama needs more monsters. [243.365]

M decided to decorate me with stickers. I ended up with six monsters on my chest, and they stayed there most of the day.

bubble time! [242.365]

Just playing with bubbles while A did his weekend long run.

a smile! [241.365]

She said, "Please take my picture!" So I did. And she was smiling! Yay. Friday, man. T'was my last full day of working at home solo with no-childcare, and my GOODNESS am I glad to be done with that.

“faculty” [240.365]

I worked on campus today (while A stayed home with M) and had several meetings, tried (and nearly succeeded) to get all of my remaining prep-work done for the semester, and got a new ID. Only one line on it is different from the ID I had last year - the one that says "Faculty"…

zoo! [239.365]

We went to the zoo on Wednesday morning. It was nice and cool and not too busy there, so we had a pretty good time. And M got to see an elephant take a bath, which is what she told me in the car on the way to the zoo she MOST wanted to see,…

this is how we play ball. [238.365]

Tuesday was a much better day - we had friends over in the morning and it helped both M and I so much to have other friendly faces in the house. (And my mama-friend says it helped her and her daughter a whole lot, too!) In the afternoon, we "played ball". This is how we…

“tigger eight” [237.365]

When M gets her train set out, she tells me she wants to build a "tigger eight". (She means "figure eight", of course!) Monday was...not a great day. Lots of crying for both of us. This fulltime-SAHM-who-actually-does-still-need-to-get-worky-work-done gig is breaking me.

toddler-hiking! [236.365]

We joined a Meetup group of folks who want to go hiking locally with their toddlers, and today was the first meetup. We went to Mendon Ponds and did a 2.2 mile hike and met some new friends and it was nice, though after M bit it (HARD) a few times by running like a…

cutting patterns. [235.365]

I finally got around to tracing and cutting out some patterns after M went to bed last night, including a 100 acts of sewing dress for me. I cut it in size XS but kept all of the length of the largest size, with the idea that I can always shorten it, but I'll never…

snuggles. [234.365]

M needed extra snuggles and begged to be held in the "wrap". I'm actually kind of amazed that at 35 pounds, I can still (fairly comfortably, even!) front-carry her in my Hop-Tye. Those wrap-style straps really distribute her weight well over my entire back (and I've gotten mighty strong carrying this giant kiddo around for…

look out over the reservoir. [233.365]

M loves to look at the reservoir at Highland Park. It's become another regular stop on our 2 playground walks. This was a rough day. Cranky, demanding M + exhausted, frazzled mama = not a great combo.

view from my desk. [232.365]

A did a half day at work today so that I could go in for the afternoon. I had a meeting with my TAR (Teaching-as-Research) Fellowship group, and I hadn't seen them since before my defense, and they all cheered for me at the meeting for having finished, and it was kind of awesome. Gotta…

IKEA train! [231.365]

My friend picked up an IKEA train set for M and we got it Tuesday. M is SO FREAKING EXCITED about her train set!! Hooray for friends who can easily access IKEA and for cheap train sets that are small and thus easy to transport all the way from MN to here. I love many…

scenes from a ridiculously long walk. [230.365]

We went on a ridiculously long walk this morning, on this first day of the two weeks where M doesn't have morning camp (her school starts back the Wednesday after Labor Day for her - mine of course starts on that Tuesday, so that's super fun!). We walked to the post-office to mail the package…

pumpkin hat is done! [229.365]

I knit like crazy yesterday and today, and thanks to A getting M out of my hair for awhile (on a grocery-running errand), and also thanks to A for (eventually) getting M to take a nap, I was able to finish the hat. I'm so excited to send it and babyStripes! up to my friend…