Worst.Morning.Ever.

Ugh.
Started out with a happy, smiley baby that just wanted to be held. She was cooing and smiling and kicking her little legs in happiness. Then I had to put her in her car seat and drive her to the sitter. She just screamed her little lungs out the whole time. This makes for a very sad mommy.

We left the sitter (Mike and I drive together) and got pulled over for "speeding." It's a completely BS ticket and Mike and I are planning to fight it. We were keeping up with traffic AND going the speed limit. In fact, when I called my mom and told her our speed and location, her first words were, "Oh, you got pulled over for going too slow?" Umm, nope. "Were you in a construction zone?" Nope, just an asshole cop.

So we leave that ordeal and continue driving to work (for which Mike is already 20 minutes late). Mike drops me off and I walk to unlock the gate to go into my classroom. OH CRAP! Where is my purse?! I turn to watch it driving off on the top of the car. I'm frantically waving and screaming, hoping Mike will see me. I'm running as fast as possible to catch him while carrying my breast pump bag, my school books, my lunch bag, AND wearing a dress. Lovely.

Sadly, I did not catch him and as I'm walking to the freeway (hoping that it may have fallen off as her turned the corner) I start crying. My camera is in there. My keys are in there. My ID is there. My phone is there. How in the hell am I going to replace all of that? Alas, the purse did not fall off before Mike got on the freeway.

I walked back to school and into the office to call Mike and see if MAYBE it had stayed on the car all through his drive to work. As soon as my principal saw me, she asked what was wrong. I explained though sobs and she dialed Mike's cell for me. Mike answered the phone with "yes." OH THANK GOD! Apparently, he saw and heard it fall off on the freeway and stopped to get it. Yes, people, he stopped to get it. On the freeway. In 7:30 traffic. Thanks be to whoever was watching out for him that he didn't get hit by a car.

He drove back to my work and gave me my purse. Everything was just fine. You would never know it had been on such an adventure. Then, he went to work 40 minutes late. Fabulous.
From that point on, the day was normal if not pretty good. But seriously, I don't think I can handle another day like that for a very long time. No one should have to. ::sigh::

Now I will end my day by giving a smiling Bridget a bath, swaddle her, and send her off to sleepytime. A good ending to a perfectly crappy morning. G'night all.

Fears. I has them.

I must have fears of my doctor.  I don't feel like I have fears but every time I go, my blood pressure shoots up.  WTH body?  To prove my point, I give you this example from today.

I had an NST at 1:30.  I was running late by about five minutes and worried that I was going to put the very nice NST lady behind schedule.  I got in, sat down, hooked up, and then nice lady took my blood pressure.  118/84.  Perfect she said.  She looked back over my charts and noted that my blood pressure has never been high there.  I could tell she was kinda wondering why exactly I was there since she hadn't seen any reason for it.  But she didn't say anything.  The rest of the NST went well.  Baby's baseline heart rate was around 120 with really good accelerations up to 154.  Go baby!  And all my fluid levels are "perfect."  So, good to know I'm not leaking anything that shouldn't be leaking yet.

Jump to my doctor's appointment.  I had run some errands in between the two appointments so I was feeling pretty proud of myself.  I was running late but not worried because the office is ALWAYS running behind.  I signed in, sat down, and waited while reading my book.  I got called back maybe 10 minutes later.  Sat down on the table and the nurse took my BP.  140/90.  WTH!?  An hour ago it was perfect!  What do you people do to your blood pressure cuff?  It can't be me, right?  I think I must have a fear of the table.  Yeah, that's it.

Other things learned at this appointment: The doctor will allow me to go one week past my due date without induction "unless my blood pressure skyrockets."  In which case, he wants me to deliver at 39 weeks.  That would make May 22nd.  To which my thought is, "Which BP readings are we using?"  Because, as we have just learned, my BP is only high at YOUR office.  At home I'm great.  NST's office is perfect.  So let's just hope he'll take that into account.  I REALLY don't want to be induced.  Especially since it doesn't seem to be necessary.

My school is stupid

Again, I shall regale you with tales of the stupidity that is my school.  You may remember this post from earlier this school year.  Well this time it's not really the administration's fault, but still.  HUGE oversight on everyones part.

So, a few weeks ago we were preparing fire drill.  This may be a little known fact to all you non-teachers out there, but word about coming fire drills spreads quickly throughout a school.  Especially if you are not in your classroom.  I have the advantage of being in the "annex" of our school and so my door faces the school across the street.  The fire truck always does the drill at that school first.  So, if I hear their alarm go off and see the trucks outside their school, I know to expect a drill at out school within the next half hour.  I make sure that I don't start any lessons that can't be stopped quickly (investigating mealworms for example) and I try to keep my kids in the room (no bathroom breaks).  

Well, this drill was set to happen just as second grade was heading to prep.  I quickly walked my kids to P.E. and went back to my room to grab my attendance folder and emergency bag.  I was standing outside my room waiting for the alarm to sound when another second grade teacher came around the corner and asked, "Do you have a pull in your room?  The fireman is just around the corner and I need to find the nearest pull and there isn't one in my room."  Oh crap.  The fireman is just around the corner and here I am standing around.  (another side note to all non teacher people - the fireman do not pull the alarm.  They randomly grab a teacher and say something like "there's a fire in your trash can" and you have to follow the procedure and pull the alarm.  This has never happened to me and is one of my biggest fears in school.  Strange I know.)  Anyways, I say yes and both of us duck into my room.  I turn to prepare myself for the possibility of pulling the alarm.  And there is no pull.  

Wait - What?!  No pull?!  I know I have one! I turn to the other side.  No pull there either.  I swear I'm not crazy.  I know I had one!  Instead all I find is an electric cover.  Like a light switch plate with no switch.  CRAP!  Now what will I do if the fireman comes to my door.  

See it there with the arrows?  That's from the beginning of the school year.

The other teacher and I decide to hide (Yes, we really are grown ups. I swear.)  I turn out the lights and we hide behind the armoire (the one on the right in the picture).

A few minutes pass with no alarm.  Hmm, this is kinda strange.  We brave walking to the window to peer out and see classes streaming out.  Umm, WTF?  I guess we should head out, too.  So we do.  Although we hear no alarm (and believe me, a fire alarm is not a sound you can miss.  and even if you do, flashy lights should be going off as well.)

Turns out, the alarm system in the annex was somehow disconnected and never fixed.  Oh fabulous.  So if there really was a fire, we would have no way of knowing.  And all the pulls throughout the ENTIRE school were taken out.  There is now only ONE pull in the front office.  (the poor teacher that had to pull the alarm was frantic and on the verge of tears.)  Apparently, the school district people came through and "updated" our alarms to make them more sensitive so pulls shouldn't be needed.  (does anyone else see a disaster waiting to happen?)  The problem is, they didn't bother to tell anyone this.  It came as a shock to teachers and administrators alike. 

Yet somehow, we passed our fire drill.  I know for a fact that one second grade teacher was in her room throughout the entire drill (because of the no-alarm-going-off issue.)  Whatever.  Hopefully we all don't burn.

Until next time, be fire safe internet people.  And send some fire safe vibes my way while you're at it.  lol.

 

And you learn something new every day

First, please notice the ticker. I am under 200 days!

Second, did you know that your body's chemistry changes during pregnancy? Yes you say? Did you know that I can affect how your hair accepts things like perms and hair color? Ah yes, apparently this baby does not want mommy to have blonde highlights. It would much rather have a mommy with half brassy, half platinum highlights. It's quite lovely, let me tell you. My poor stylist has been doing my hair for, well, about 17 years and she was at a loss. We have NEVER had any trouble with my hair lifting color. In fact, she has never had trouble with anyone's hair color ever being affected by pregnancy. She had heard it could happen, but never seen it. Hooray, I go down in history. She did all she could to help it, but it's still pretty bad. ::sigh::

So, warning to all....Beware the blonde during pregnancy!

Just call me Piggy McPiggerston

Apparently, I'm a big fat pig. And I don't understand the point of appetizers.

How do I come to this conclusion you might ask. Well, let me help.

We (the teachers at school) got coupons today for a restaurant. The coupon was for a free appetizer with the purchase of two entrees. As I'm reading the coupon and thinking "well, I'll just hang on to this," one of the office staff and another teacher walk by and throw their coupons out. I didn't think much of it as some people may not eat there or don't use coupons. Whatever. But then their conversation starts. The main point being - This coupon is useless. Who eats an appetizer AND entrees? If I get an appetizer, it's my meal.

What?! Isn't the point of appetizers to eat before a meal. At least that's the impression I had. Heck, often when Mike and I go out to eat we get an appetizer, entrees, AND dessert. GASP!!! How could we? Now mind you, there are places where appetizers are absolutely meals on their own. Claim Jumper comes to mind. Also, at places where meals are family style (like most Chinese places), we order two appetizers and only one entree. But these are exceptions. I rarely go into a place thinking I'm only going to eat an appetizer. Maybe I'm crazy. Or just a big fat cow.

So tell me- Are appetizers meant to be your meal or are my school people nuts?

WHAT?!

Walked out to my car this morning, ready for work. Sit down, set up my iPod, turn on the car. Ummm. Let's try that again. Turn on the car. Turn. On. The. Car. Nope. Not happening. Apparently, my car was angry that it was left alone for a few days and decided to kill the battery. How? I do not know.

So, lesson learned. My car has an attitude and I need to be more sensitive to it's needs apparently.

BLARGH!!

Would you work in this building?

Each floor spins. It apparently takes 3 hours to make a complete rotation. I can tell you right now, I would be sick all the time! And how do you get up and down? Only elevator? What happens if it breaks? So many questions about this.

For the article, you can go here.

Beware the minivan...

So, Mike and I were driving home from the movies the other night and saw the flashing blue and red lights signaling that someone had been pulled over up ahead. We got closer and saw that the cop "car" was a minivan. And not some cool looking, sleek, black, window tinted minivan. It looked like this

only without the cool background and tinted windows.

Can you see the cop that gets stuck with the minivan for the day. I imagine him mumbling, "give me the damn minivan....fine....I'll show you..." and proceeding to give out a bazillion tickets.

Seriously?!

Alright, so my quest to clean the house is not going so well. I've done, well, nothing. I moved around some dishes and then spent the morning looking for music to add to my iPod. (hey, I need music to clean to!)

Anyway, in my wanderings while waiting for music to download, I found this. Seriously, I hate the BMI calculator. It makes me sick. Who in their right mind would look at this girl and think "Oh yeah, she's overweight." Is it her boobs? Are you not allowed to be "normal" and have boobs?
And then there's this one. Almost "obese?" It makes me cry because I know so many girls/women that judge themselves based on this stupid scale! Doctors have it up in their offices so we take it as "right", but looking at these pictures (glance through the whole album - it's worth it), I can't take it anymore. The girls in these pictures are beautiful, but I'm sure that they don't see themselves that way simply because of a number and a word.

I feel the need to share a story. It's related to the above.

I remember a time in my life before dieting. In high school, I was 145lbs and 5'6". I did sports and walked to school every day. I was actually content with my body. I mean, I knew I wasn't perfect, but I was ok with myself. But I kept it a big secret, locked inside, because no one is ever content with their body. "Something must be wrong with me" I thought. So I started telling myself I needed to lose weight. It gave me something to connect with other girls about. We would sit and complain about our bodies and reassure each other about how really, we looked ok. But still, I was OK with my body. And I stayed at the same weight (give or take 5 lbs) for about 6 years. Then, I got into college and into serious theatre and decided to "diet."

From that point on, it's been a struggle. I have gained so much weight since that choice was made. I go on and off eating right/dieting/exercising. I've tried gyms, exercise programs, eating programs, whatever I thought might work. And they do for a short time. Then you skip a day here and there, then the guilt sets in for not doing it, so you eat/not exercise for "one more day" and say you'll start again tomorrow (which you don't), so you feel guilty, and a horrible cycle starts. I know some of you out there in blogland are with me.

We are bombarded every day with images of airbrushed models and commercials about every diet on the market. Every other commercial is for South Beach meals, Jenny Craig, or something to do with working out. I wish it would all just go away. Maybe then we could learn to be ourselves and not what other people expect us to be. We wouldn't feel guilty about being content with our bodies.