baby bookworm

I'm a reader. I love to read and have for many years. I have fallen asleep reading and very often practically fallen asleep reading. I once told my parents I had fallen asleep on my book (and somehow it cut me in the forehead) to cover up the fact that my brother threw it at my head in the middle of the night when we were fighting over whose turn it was to read it. To my knowledge, however, I have never fallen asleep with a book on my face.

I also don't like to sleep on the floor, but that doesn't seem to stop her from falling asleep like this a few times a week (though usually without the book actually on her face--this was funny enough to risk the flash).

Mr. Mays

I've told a few stories on here already about Josh as a high school biology teacher. As of today, he's getting his own label. It just seems like there may be more of these in the future. The thing that makes me laugh most often about his stories are the way his students offer him advice. Recently, I've been keeping track of what they tell him about his facial hair.

"Mr. Mays, if you use shaving cream, your neck won't get raw."
"You should get a sharper razor, Mister."
"You should grow a mustache." ("I can't grow a decent mustache," he says, "my beard doesn't grow right here for some reason.")
"If you shave something over and over, the hair will grow back faster."

To these, he replied with: "Children, I have been shaving since before you were born."

He's been staying after school once a week or so to play basketball with some of his students. I'm not sure if he sees how lucky they are to have him, but I see it.

oh boy, panic attack (lots of random musing)

I am sitting on the couch massaging my sore hips and paying bills. I think of my life in two-week chunks these days. After years of Josh getting paid once a month, it's been an adjustment remembering what it's like to get paid every two weeks. Well as I balance the checkbook after my most recent grocery store trip, I double checked the day of his next pay check to confirm which bills come out of which check (this is the most fascinating blog post I've ever written, I know). That's when I realized: the next paycheck will be the one I use to buy the food my family will eat while I'm at Girls' Camp. Yikes! No wonder I've been having nightmares about camp for the last few weeks.

People (family, friends, nurses) how this pregnancy is going. It's going well. Happy 29 weeks to me this past Wednesday. Josh and I have decided to rename the children, however, to more adequately match the pregnancies that brought them here. Jonah will now be known as Rib Bender in honor of my left ribcage which has not ever retained its original shape. The burning pain in my left ribs was intense enough that I actually complained to the doctor about it (a big thing for me) and was heartbroken when she told me it was not only normal but not likely to go away until my rib cage had stretched sufficiently. We're not going to even bother giving this baby a normal name. She will be known as Hip Breaker in honor of my sore, aching hips. If I carried Jonah up high and in my ribs, this baby is the exact opposite. She's making my shirts that were long enough at month 9 with both Jonah and Caroline seem short and my hips ache. Oh how they hurt. Other than that, though, I have very few complaints. Caroline may have to retain her name for the time being, however. We haven't come up with a suitable version of "child that made me puke my guts out/the one who will probably end up with all kinds of diseases from the asbestos I inhaled while cleaning up tornado debris/the child I thought for sure I would lose multiple times during the pregnancy". That just doesn't have the right ring to it. It sounds less like a superhero name and more like a guilt trip. Blame it on just recovering from a miscarriage or the stress of the tornado, but I was all over the place emotionally with that pregnancy. I think I've thrown up more (now both the most fascinating and the most tactful blog post ever written) with this pregnancy than I did with Caroline, but at least this time it was always in the privacy of my own home. Last time it was unpredictable in both time of day and location, including the crowning glory of outside the fire department where my father-in-law works. It took some convincing to stop them from hooking me up to an IV. Until we can come up with a suitable name for our soon-to-be middle child, we'll have to stick with their regular names, I guess. While I'm very anti naming patterns, there's something weird about having children named Hip Breaker, Rib Bender, and Caroline.

more spring

Rosalyn took this picture of Caroline a few weeks ago while the kids were drying off after playing in the kiddie pool:

My favorite moment of the afternoon was probably when all four were ready to dry off. Jonah started laying out his towel (and then his sister's and cousins' towels) on the trampoline so they could lay in the sun. I was not surprised for three reasons: 1. He has a thing for perfectly smooth blankets and towels (he often tries to sleep on top of his bed so that he won't have to make it again the next day). 2. He hates being cold (and therefore is frequently found basking in the sun). 3. A favorite game around here is where Jonah will take blankets and pillows and make a little bed for Caroline. When he was all done laying out the towels he declared, "There! Just like we're at the beach!" The first swim of the season certainly feels that special.

the first day of spring

My flip flop tan line is back. The sun must be out!

wisdom from an angry 5-year old

Somehow in the ten minutes between talking about what his chores are for the day and finishing lunch, Jonah forgot that he would have to do chores before he could watch tv. Never mind that we follow the same routine every day. Somehow, my declaration that it was time for chores came as a surprise. The best part about the following is that I didn't say anything. He knew what my responses would be, but I could see him testing the water to see if any of it would change my mind. Spoiler: it didn't.

"I don't like work."
"Why are there rules?"
"I don't like rules."
"That's not fair."
"Well I'm not doing them."

And my personal favorite, muttered under his breath while he walked to his room, "Chores are the problem. Chores aren't even a thing. It doesn't look like anything, it doesn't smell like anything..."

why Josh is the coolest teacher

To raise money for prom, the student council hosted a faculty basketball game against DJs from a local radio station. When they still didn't have enough faculty members, Josh volunteered. He offered extra credit for anyone who would make him a sign and hold it during the game. Not counting the signs with student names on the front (some of his students are still minors, after all. I don't want to post anything that would get Josh in trouble.), here are some favorites:

Yes, one student even made him a cape. He couldn't wear the cape during the game, which disappointed pretty much everyone, but he is considering wearing it every Friday.

where my bedtime stays the same year-round

Next time I feel like bemoaning the weather or the dryness or the crazy drivers on the 101, someone remind me that I put my kids to bed at the same time Saturday and Sunday night. They did not revolt because time had suddenly changed. And next March, when someone tries to tell me how wonderful Daylight Savings Time is because they got an extra hour of sleep, I will remember that my children have never been fooled by me telling them it is actually an hour later all of the sudden. So the whole sleeping in an hour thing never really worked for us in March either.

My great fear is that someday Arizona will succumb to pressure and adopt Daylight Savings Time. Is it too much to wish for that the rest of the country will come around to our way of thinking?

because it will be really hot in June

I'm sort of sorry everyone else. I don't mean to rub it in. Please remember that we will be hiding indoors shielding our eyes from the blinding sun in a few months. While friends and loved ones were buried in snow, we went fishing. Or in my case, sat down to read a book and then spent the day chasing Caroline instead because she hasn't learned the joy of just sitting and staring at the lake. No complaints here, though. A day out together is worth it, even if I do sometimes long for the days when Josh would fish and I would read and nap.