Thursday, January 26, 2006

Defective Yet - He shoots, he scores!

Please please please go read this Bush/Iraq parody of the old Zork/Adventure game at Defective Yeti's blog!

Make sure you read some of the comments, where more is added.

That sure took me back.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Baby's first mugshot

Here's a few pictures from yesterday. First of all, we have Charlie's very first mugshot. Doesn't he look like he should be holding a little placard with numbers in front of himself?
Notice how he's all broken out again with baby acne. It's so depressing when your cute little newborn turns into a pimply teenager in the course of three weeks. "Don't we even get soccer practice in between there somewhere?"

Next, we have Baby's First Paparazzi shot. "No press! No press!"
Finally, we have a blackmail photo of Number One Daughter. "You used to love doing them when you were little!"

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Livid

I started January, following the birth of Number Two Son, with a total of 19 sick and personal days saved up from my job at Oakland Unified. My sick and personal leave runs out on February 2. I finally got around to exploring my "options" for taking more time off. I thought I would be claiming disability (2/3 pay, right?). Turns out that OUSD doesn't pay into it. Options? This makes me sick: After my paid leave runs out, OUSD will still send a paycheck, but they will deduct the cost of my substitute teacher from it, to the tune of $111.05 a day for the first 14 days (then it goes up).

This takes my monthly paycheck down to little more than half its usual amount.

What galls me the most about this is that OUSD still hasn't gotten around to hiring my chosen substitute. She's a saint; she has been going in and teaching anyway (with the district hired sub in the room for legality). She's been in my classroom as a volunteer since September, so she was the obvious best choice for the kids. She knows the curriculum and the students. But she hasn't been able to do the correct flips and rolls the district requires in jumping through its hoops. The result? I've been paying her out of pocket *anyway* in order to retain her. Less than the sub rate, but still. She's a good person and good people should be rewarded, and she is doing me (no, not me, the kids) a tremendous favour.

But I'm getting shafted by the district both coming and going. So is she.

I spoke to the House Bean and he supports my decision to stay out for longer time. I'll take most of February off and we'll dip into the last little speck of my inheritance (Thanks, Grandma) to pay the difference. After all, Charlie is only going to be a baby for this very short time. And I'll be done with OUSD in five months*.

*Mostly done. The sucky thing about being a teacher (well, #45 on the list) is that every time I apply to a district for a job FOR THE REST OF MY CAREER is that I'll have to get a verification from OUSD for the time I spent teaching here. And for that they can suck my big stinky toe.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

He's cute, alright

And it's a good thing he is cute because this afternoon he Puked. All. Over. Me. and. the. BED.

Baby, Be of Use!

This by way of my friend Jessica:

"Too many of us allow our infant sons and daughters to lay about
idly: napping, drinking milk and whatnot. Why not put them to work?
Baby, Be of Use is a series of instructional board books aimed at
teaching your precious little angels to be useful, at long last. Tots
will be entranced by the shapes and colors, all the while learning
how to mix a variety of basic cocktails (Baby, Mix Me a Drink) and
concoct a simple breakfast (Baby, Make Me Breakfast). Baby, Be of Use
is an essential purchase for expectant parents, harried mothers,
hungry fathers, and overly involved grandparents."

http://www.kqed.org/topics/arts/writersblock/0511-brown.jsp

I'm incredibly flattered!

Jen has done me the incredible honour of blogging about Charlie and how cute he is. Thanks!

So, in the spirit of selling even more insulin, here's the picture from this morning of Number One Daughter holding Number Two Son. That's about the biggest smile I've ever seen in my life. I didn't get a picture of her reading to him, but that's probably a good thing because I don't want to be held responsible.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Week and a half update and I Must Taunt Dooce

Charlie has become a sleepin', nursin', poopin' pro. He's a perfect baby. Our day is not complete without at least one Total Diaper Blowout, involving many, many wipies and cries of "HAZMAT! Containment!" from at least one parent. As of last Saturday, that is five days after his birth, he had regained his birth weight, so it was all uphill from there. And boy, does he ever eat. As a matter of fact, he needs to learn to pace himself. After every other feeding he erupts a couple of mouthfuls of breastmilk and then looks around drunkenly.

Number One Daughter is adjusting to the changes. She's reverted to the bottle and we've temporarily given up on serious potty training, she's also been rather more needy of being held lately. She's also totally and completely in love with her baby brother. She's such a mom, what I really worry about is her trying to pick up Charlie when I've set him down.

Now for the Taunting Dooce part.

Heather, you've told us all about your and your daughter's poop habits and various other scatological details. However, you have neglected to share something else that I *know* must bge going on. Your daughter is seven months younger than mine. My daughter, whenever her diaper is off, has both hands between her legs and is working away down there, a three-mile wide grin on her face. Oh, she's discovered her happy place, all right. If she's wearing a disposable diaper, she'll even reach through the elastic to go at it. Between that at my baby son getting a stiffie whenever he gets his diaper changed, well, we have interesting times here.

So come on, Dooce, spill the beans! This must be happening in your household, also! I cannot believe otherwise. You're not letting that Mormon upbringing hold you back, are you?

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Developmental stages - a living example

Ruthie is 2 1/2, LucyBeck is 1.
Ruthie is playing with the train track. LucyBeck is playing with THE BOX.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Baby at Last!

Hello!

Jessica here, posting on behalf of a much relieved Mommy Alpha! William Charles Wilson arrived in the wee hours of the morning, in the midst of a big Bay Area rain storm. Though the days leading up to his birth were challenging, Alpha's actual labor went very quickly -- they left for the hospital around 1:30am, and the little guy arrived on the scene at 2:15am! I got to hold him briefly this afternoon, and he's healthy and strong, and wonderfully quiet and secure. Mama and Baby are expected home from the hospital this evening or possibly tomorrow morning. Pictures, I am sure, will be forthcoming soon!

Stats:
William Charles Wilson
Born: 1/2/06, 2:15am
Weight: 7lbs, 14oz.
Length: 20.5 inches

Hurray!