This week marked my triumphant return to the classroom. Despite the long commute (1+ hour each way), I've found West Chester University to be a good fit for me. The professors I've encountered so far are, for lack of a better term, crazy. In case you don't know me that well, I like crazy. I love walking into a classroom and not knowing what to expect. Take my sociology professor, for example. Dr. Wadley (second in the list...yes, the one that could easily pass for a GQ model) entered our class the first day and never once handed out a syllabus. Instead, we had an intriguing, in-depth discussion on why we all assumed he was our professor when none of us had seen him before. For all we knew, he could have been some crazy guy from the street who just happened to walk into our class and start talking. Within minutes, he took us out of the classroom to the student union and asked us to write down 25 assumptions we made about whatever we saw around us. Then we were free to go. Ummmm, right. So this told me zilch about the course or what I should expect from it. I loved that first class. It left me with so many questions.
Anyway, this is but one example of the eccentricity I have already experienced. Another professor, Dr. Passwaters (fifth one down....the third on the list, Dr. Nicastro is my Theology & Science professor), sounds and even looks a bit like Andy Rooney. He has a very dry sense of humor...but I guess you would need to when you're teaching a physics course on the structure of the universe. Then there's my linguistics professor, Dr. Aronow (I can't seem to find a pic of her anywhere). Our first two classes have been far more interesting than the first time I took linguistics at UCONN many years ago. Instead of jumping in with the very convoluted rules of language acquisition, she showed us one of my favorite NOVA specials about the little girl, Genie, who never learned to talk due to extreme social isolation and abuse. I had seen the special years ago, but it was much harder to watch being on the opposite side of parenthood now. Aside from the heartbreaking aspect of the documentary, however, our viewing instilled in me an intense desire to really take the whole study of language acquisition (and therefore, this course) seriously.
Okay, so enough of the dry, scholarly nerd speak. Let's move on to the stuff you've all been waiting for: Eily updates!
Eily spent her first two full days away from me while I was at school this week. My friend Casey, whom I met online while I was pregnant, graciously agreed to watch her for me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The exciting part about this, aside from avoiding day care germs, is that Eily has a playmate - Ava. Although Ava was born ten weeks premature, her adjusted age is close to Eily's, which means they are hitting the same milestones at roughly the same time. If you're interested in seeing some pics of the two of them together, check out Casey's most recent blog entry.
As a follow-up to my last post, I will mention that we did switch Eily to formula full time, and the change has been quite noticeable. I think in the past three weeks she's gained over a pound! Pretty amazing when you consider she gained barely half of that over two months before. I won't have an official weight until Feb 5th, but I'm sure the pediatrician will be happy with what he sees.
Next on the list (sorry, it's another long one this week): KITCHEN DEMOLITION HAS BEGUN!!!! To be honest, that sentence doesn't do justice to the state of our kitchen at the moment. In fact, according to housing codes, our house doesn't have a kitchen anymore. The sink and stove have been removed, therefore demoting the kitchen to just another room. Let's take a look at some before and after pics, shall we?
Here we have the sink/cabinets...
And here we have the empty shell they left behind...
The disgustingly stained/scratched linoleum floor (complete with Fionn chasing the paper I was using to pack up the dishes)...
And half of it removed. (I did this in a fit of anger a few weeks ago. Thankfully it needed to be done anyway.)
Notice the layer of linoleum that was beneath the cabinets and subfloor...yes, we have two layers of linoleum and subflooring to rip up. Lucky us.
In case you can't tell, that is genuine faux stone linoleum...which is a fancy way of saying really ugly.
The stove is gone...
And the ugly ceiling tiles are gone as well...
Jesse's been a very busy boy. The next step? Get some professionals in here to look at the electrical, plumbing, and gas lines before we redo the floor. In case you're curious, here's a look at what the kitchen should look like when we're done (minus the crazy green walls):
Until then, I'm stuck cooking dinner on a hot plate and doing dishes in the bath tub. Good times.
Right, I've probably missed something major here, but I think I've taken up all the attention span I can with this one post. Tune in next time for...I can't even begin to imagine what. I'm sure it will be interesting though!
I am AMAZED at how much you guys can get done!! I am happy to get some dishes done and perhaps take a shower in the course of a day.... although I must say, today was a productive day.... so maybe that means Maddie is ready to be a helpful mommy-cleaner by relaxing without being held for part of the day :) We shall see... either way, go you for being super-mommy AND finding the time to blog about it!! :)
ReplyDeleteAw, don't worry Kitty! I still don't shower most days until Jesse gets home. ;) LOL. It will get easier as Maddie gets older. The trade off is that you will miss her wanting to snuggle with you all the time. Eily's already gotten to the point where she doesn't want to be sitting still in my lap anymore. She'd rather play, and when it's time to nap, the only way she sleeps well is to be put down in her crib. (I'm actually thankful for that - it gives me time to get most things done!)
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