One, two, three, and baby makes four

Yep, that's right. We're pregnant again. We just found out today that our little family will soon be growing to four. I never imagined it could happen so soon after Gabrielle, but it did and around the 18th of June we'll have another little one to look after. It is kind of scary and exciting all in one right now. It feels like I just finished the monthly trips to the doctor and I'm only 1.8 pounds from my Weight Watchers goal, so I'm just now back to normal. Matt says that at least my maternity clothes will still be solewhat in style since they're only a year old. I guess that's a perk. I was about ready to go out and get some new pants since most of mine are too big anyway, but that can wait now. This of course cancels our trip to Hawaii. I guess our honeymoon/first vacation will wait another 2 years. That's okay though. Maybe we can take the kids along then. It's all sort of crazy right now. I'll probably have an early ultrasound sometime this week to find a better idea of a due date since the 18th is just a guess. I'll update as more info comes available.

I'm a loser!

A weight loser that is. As of last night I've lost 36 lbs on weight watchers and I've only got 1.8 more lbs to go. I swear I'm not going to blow it all on Thanksgiving. I just made a crustless pumpkin pie tonight and I'm not eating any cookies, bars, etc. Give me carrots or give me death!

Happy Thanksgiving

We're off to the wonderful world of Iowa tomorrow and then off to South Dakota on Thursday morning. Gabrielle hasn't been on a long car trip in a while so I hope she does okay. She's done well in the past, but now that she sits up on her own she doesn't really like sitting in her car seat.

As far as I know all of my aunts and uncles will be home this weekend. They were all home last year because it was also my grandma and grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary, but I guess they'll all be back again. Fun times. They haven't all met Gabrielle yet so they'll get to meet her and I'm sure my little cousins will love her.

I probably won't blog until at least Monday but I can't imagine that there are too many people that read this, so hopefully I won't be disappointing millions.

Happy Turkey Day!

This sucks...

Gabrielle that is. As in she sucks her thumb. She's seven months old today and it appears that we officially have a thumb sucker in the family. No amount of taking it out of her mouth and replacing it with a pacifier helps. She just takes the "binky" out of her mouth with her right hand and then in goes the left thumb. I'm guessing she'll be left handed like Grandpa Kent, Uncle Dan, and Aunt Whitney. It also appears that for the time being at least, she's going to be a blondie. Mark one point for Aunt Roxie. There have been no obvious signs of crawling, but you can certainly tell that as soon as she becomes mobile, she's gonna move. Currently, when she wants something, she lays on her belly and flings her arms and legs until she inches toward her goal. It's pretty funny.

If you need a little Christmas...

Check out Diana Krall's new Christmas CD. It's very tasty and the big band is awesome. Plus she sings in that perfect low alto range that is perfect for car karaoke queens like myself. Sing on Diana!

How long does buyers remorse last?

Some of you know that one of my favorite hobbies is knitting. My grandma taught me how to knit about 6 years ago (before it was the cool new hip thing to do). I think it's awesome to carry on a skill that my grandma learned and then taught me. But anyway, about 2 years ago I decided that I was sick of making boring scarves with cheap yarn and headed out to one of the yarn boutiques in town. This place has yarn from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. I saw a really cute fuzzy sweater on display and decided that I wanted to make one for myself. So I found the yarn and got the pattern book and headed for the check out. I should have known better when there was no price tag on the skeins of yarn. Me being a presumptuous fool thought that they couldn't be any more than $5 or $6 per skein. I had ten of them in my arms so I was thinking $60 max for yarn and a $18 pattern book. A little spendy, but I was ready for that. Then the ambiguous homo rang up my wares and blasted me with a total of $120 dollars or so. It was then that I realized that the yarn was more like $10 per skein and I was standing there like a little kid trying to buy something expensive with a fistfull of pennies. I don't remember the exact details, but I bought the yarn and book and left the store nearly in tears. Then I get the receipt out to read it and it says plainly that there are no returns and only exchanges can be made. So either way I was stuck spending $120 at Yarn Nazi Warehouse...also known as Personal Threads Boutique. So long story short, I had huge buyers remorse about this yarn. It took me almost a year before I could even start working on the sweater and now a full year later, I'm almost half done with the damned thing. Every time I pick it up to work on I just get pissed at myself for being so naive. Maybe someday I'll finish the remorse sweater, as I have named it, and post pictures for you all to see. Check back in about a year.

Let it Snow?

It snowed today for the first time this season. It wasn't much and it really just made more of a slushy mess than anything else, but I can't decide if I'm ready for winter yet. So far I'm thinking that's a no. I don't really want it to be winter or cold or snowy or anything that would fall into those categories. I was rather getting used to the unseasonably warm days of November. I don't think Mother Nature really gives a damn about what I want though.

On a side note, I had a successful weigh-in at Weight Watchers last night. To date I have lost 35.4 pounds since the last week in June. I've only got 3 more pounds to lose before I hit my goal weight and then I just have to maintain that weight for six weeks before I'm a lifetime member. How bad did I get screwed for my 6 weeks of maintenance to land right around Christmas time. Oh well...fewer Christmas cookies this year.

A great weekend

I had a great weekend. My friend Alicia came to visit and we had a lot of fun. She got to meet Gabrielle for the first time and really Gabrielle liked her and her big shiny necklace. Alicia did great for not really being a "baby" person.
My Mom and Dad came down on Sunday for lunch and to get their baby fix in for the next couple of weeks. The last time Gabrielle saw my dad she freaked out. Big pouty lip, eyes full of tears, etc. This time was much better. I think she was afraid of the mustache last time so she spent quite a bit of time studying Grandpa's furry lip. She did well though. Mom and dad brought Murphy along so he and Molly played outside all day and then Molly slept all night on the couch.
I know I already blogged about it, but I'm so glad that I passed my comps I just have to reiterate the fact that they totally sucked and I never want to do that again. I'm done with higher education for a while. I don't think there's a Dr. Erickson in the picture any time soon.

I passed!

I got a letter yesterday from my Graduate school that said I passed all of my comps. I am so glad and can now finally relax. I don't think I'll ever get another advanced degree if I have to take those damned tests again. Now just 4 more weeks in this semester and then 6 more credits in the spring before graduation in May. I think it's time to order my pink hood.

Where did all of the stupid kids come from?

Was I oblivious to these characters when I was in school? Were there stupid kids in my classes? How did I not notice them? I know there were kids that weren't super smart or outrageously bright, but they could at least all read couldn't they? There are students at my school who are in the 7th or 8th grade and can't read. They can say the words, and even sound okay when they have to read out loud during class. But the part they're missing is the comprehension. I guess I always took for granted that if you could say the words that meant you knew what they meant. I guess not.

A little beating never hurt anyone

I've been perplexed today by the behavior of a few of my students at school. One student in particular, we'll call him Benny, has me totally blown away. First, some background on Benny. Benny is in one of my Music Technology classes. There is no homework because the students obviously can't take the computers home and not all of the students have access to a computer outside of school. It's an easy class and as long as you show up, it's hard to get anything but an A. Benny says he can't serve detentions because of his house arrest. He wears the ankle monitor and sort of struts around as if it is a status symbol. He's a pretty smart kid, but he's obnoxious as hell and absolutely will not listen to any teachers. Take today for example, after asking Benny to stop bothering other students, stay seated, get to work, etc. a number of times I'd finally had it with him. I'd given him the obligatory "warnings" and was about to send him out into the hallway when I remembered that the last time I sent him to the hallway for a "timeout" he just caused more problems with students walking past my room. So I asked him to sit down and wait for the bell since there were only about 5 minutes left in the class. This is the part that totally gets me. He says no. What on earth gives him the idea that my request was an option. What sort of parenting, or lack there of, has taught this child of 13 years that he gets to choose what he will do. He's already been in some kind of trouble with the law as evidenced by his fashionable plastic anklet, so wouldn't you think he'd straighten up. Oh hell no! And how about the parent. I've only tried to call her 4 or 5 times and never been able to reach her. Half the time the parents give the school bogus phone numbers because they know the teachers will call when their kid screws up.

So, I say why not bring back corporal punishment. I don't want to be the one inflicting the punishment, but someone at the school needs to because they're obviously not getting it at home. Yet another reason that there should be a required IQ test before anyone is allowed to procreate.

End of rant. I feel better now.

Comprehensive Exams

I took my comprehensive exams for my master's degree this past Saturday. I studied pretty hard for them and felt pretty good going into it. Now I wait. How long does it take to grade comps? I'm assuming it's pass or fail. I'd prefer pass, but failing never killed anyone. At least that's the attitude I'm going to take until I get the results back.

I don't really see the reason behind these tests anyway. I've already taken the classes and earned good grades. I was pretty proud of myself to pull off the B+ in Romantic Music Literature. For being my favorite period in the history of music, that class was dry and boring. Plus I had to write a fricking 25 page paper and study for listening tests. For those of you who have never been blessed with the opportunity to take a listening test, be thankful. They suck. But I digress...why should I have to take these stupid tests when I've already pr0ven that I know this stuff. Oh well...it's done now and I just have to be patient. May 6th is graduation and then my students can all call me Master Erickson...or maybe Mastress Erickson. I think I like Master. Mastress sounds too much like the thing you sleep on at night.

Miss Gabrielle

I'm home with Gabrielle this morning while Matt's out playing a gig. She's babbling up a storm and is probably not too far from crawling. She can scoot herself around on her tummy and she's getting pretty good at doing wussy push-ups. You know, like the kind all the whimpy girls did in PE when we were little. I was totally a whimpy girl. Anyway...she has mastered the da, da, da, da, da, da phrase so Matt is thrilled. Someday the ma,ma,ma will come. For now everything, person, noise, etc. is da, da, da.

So I decided to start a blog...

After much contemplation I decided to start a blog. It's not as if I need anything else to do, but this could potentially be fun. Plus, there is never enough crap on the Internet. Most of my posts will probably be about my darling little girl. Check back for more posts later this week.