One week done!

Survived my first week back to classes.  This semester I'm hoping for fairly smooth sailing since 2 out of the 3 classes I've taught several times before.  (The third class I've only done once before).  The nice thing about not having a new class is that I don't have as much prep for new lectures/tests/labs etc.  Most days of the week I'm only at school for about 6 hours.  Tuesday is a rough day with lab, lecture, lab.  Labs are the delight of the science world and usually run 3 hours long and I only get paid for 1.5hr of that (go figure!).  

So I went in on Tuesday for the longer day and did pretty well getting my work done and not thinking too much about Tam not being with me.  Long about 1 o'clock and after a bout of pumping, I totally needed to call home and hear that all was going well.  It was and Brian did really well with not laughing at me for being a total mom.  After hearing a squeak from squeaker, I was able to get through the rest of my day ok.  I've also put up a great collage of photos on my desk to peak at whenever I get needing a baby-fix.  Dear gawd...he's like a drug!

For the next 7 weeks (to the end of the first quad), I have Thursday free and I get to stay with the pooh-master while Brian works.  So far, I usually bring him into school with me for a few office hour time.  He does really well at being quiet and content just hanging out in the carrier or sling while I'm running around the office.  In some sense, I glad I have him to show my students that you can juggle kids and a science career.  Even my head of the department is pleasently surprised at how good a baby he is nearly all the time.  This is also because I'm uber-quick with the boob or diaper change when he starts to show any signs of fussiness.  Knock on wood that things keep going well.

Otherwise, school is school and I'm getting back into the swing of things.  I really enjoy teaching my microbiology lab and the students are really excited about "playing" with living bacteria.  It helps that I had micro back at Westminster . . . and was good about doing everything wrong at least once.  I like to tell him that we have rules for reasons like:

1 - pull long hair back when the bunsen burners are on.  Yep, I lit some of my hair on fire once ignoring this one.

2 - no open-toe shoes like sandels (even if you have socks, sorry Nate).  I have dropped an entire rack of living bacteria cultures in glass tubes onto my feet.  About half broke open but my foot wasn't lacerated to shreads!

3 - Wash your 'scope slides well and keep things clean.  I wasn't so good at scrubbing my equipment, so I got dirty slides, which meant I did poorly with guessing my unknown bacteria and lost points.

4 - Wear gloves and don't touch open wounds.  This is the worst.  I was wearing gloves, but pulled my hair behind my ear and touched my freshly pierced earlobe.  Big infection resulted, but the ear didn't fall off :-)

Well some people just need to screw-up once before the rules sink in and aren't forgotten.  I hope Tam doesn't get this trait from me :-)

       

Latest thoughts on Ecology

So I actually got laughter from my students when I posted this comic about Ecology...

Latest photos of our Goober

So this week is my first week back to school.  During our prep week last week, I would take squeaker into my office with me.  He was way good and often just hung out in my sling or fell asleep in the carrier.  Even my boss, who is the ultimate bachelor, commented that he was a great baby and asked if I drugged him to keep him quiet.  Nope, no drugs, just booby-milk and a great attitude :-)  

Anyways, tomorrow I'll be Tam-less as I go to teach my classes.  This term I've got Zoology with 63 students and Microbiology with 32 students.  I'm already cringing for all the exams & papers I'll have to grade.  We'll see how well I do at 

school without my baby for 6 hours  . . . and we'll see how well Daddy-O Brian does with Tam at home!    

Here are some of the latest photos of squeak-bucket.  

And on a random note:  When do these stretch marks fade?  I was doing so well until those last few weeks when he dropped and I felt as huge as a whale.  Argh!  

New favorite invention

So our pediatrician suggested a great swaddling blanket to help Tam sleep longer at night.  I, of course, ran out to babies 'r' us to find one.  It is just a triangle shaped blanket with a pocket at one corner and Velcro at the other two .  Tam's little feeties go in the pocket, and the two "wing" ends of the triangle tuck around him and Velcro close.        

Shah-zam!  Instant straight-jacket for baby.  And just like the adult-size, the swaddling blanket calms him down and helps keep him from startling himself awake.  We've had TWO NIGHTS of SIX hours of sleep!  Oh...please let it keep working!

  

 'Cause Tam's a big boy, I had to get the larger size :-)

2 month check-up at 7 weeks

It's that time again . . . Let's play  . . .

How Big is Baby?

I took our little Tamlin in for his next scheduled check-up at the doctor.  Here, we found out exactly how much he has grown in the past month.  He feels as big as a couple sacks of potatoes or at least a marching snare drum.  Any guesses on his new weight and height?

Brian guessed 12lbs 4 oz.

I guessed 13lbs

Shelly guessed 11lbs something

Mom guessed 12lbs something

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Our little squeaker is 13lbs and 7oz.!  Huge!  He's also 24 inches in length.  Though he's 25inches if you include his hair!  Together this puts him in the 90th percentile for both.  This means and a group of 100 babies his age, he's bigger than at least 90 of them.  Granted, this chart is based on average formula-fed babies and boob-fed babies are often bigger in these first months.  No wonder he is out of 0-3month clothes and fitting 3-6month clothes really well.

Besides finding out how healthy he is, Tam got his first taste of how cruel the world might be at times.  He got his first round of vaccination shots.  Three shots in the thighs that were over in the blink of an eye. However, the tears and cries were enormous!  How does such a small creature make such a big noise.  And this was the first time Tam's cried real tears that dripped down his cheeks.  Oh, my heart was wrenched to see these!  I knew the shots were for his own good but I had to immediately scoop him up and rain kisses on him to tell him I still love him.  Oh . . .how typically mom-like!  Maybe I'll make Brian go for his next shots at 4 months.

Looking forward to "Change" in the New Year . . .

And, yes, his hair really does stand up like that all on its own! 

No gel needed at all!

We call him "Spike"