Parenting Tip #81: Swimming and Swinging

The rule of "Don't go swimming for 30 minutes after you eat" also pertains to swinging in the baby swing.

May Day From The Sidelines

Today is May Day.

A little celebrated holiday once you are over the age of eight and done making flower head-wreaths (or part of the labor force).

But in the admission world - my world - May Day takes on so much more significance.

It is Election Day.
It is the last day of school.
It is opening night.

May 1st is the nationally recognized day in which seniors must make their college decision. As such, admission counselors eagerly await (OK, we aren't really waiting...we are emailing and greeting visitors and note-writing and calling and reception hosting...) this day as the day in which we find out who will be arriving on campus the following fall. It is the day we have been working for all year (plus).

We are also doing a whole lot of praying. Pleasepleaseplease may the numbers come in on target. Pleasepleaseplease may that really cool student from Montana decide to enroll. Pleasepleaseplease may the Dean have a smile on his face come 5 o'clock.

Yes, our livelihood is centered around the whims of 18 year-olds whose prefrontal cortex has yet to completely develop. Yep, that same prefrontal cortex that functions as a decision maker. We are in for a bumpy ride...

When I started in admissions almost 20 years ago enrollment deposits (and declines) came in pre-addressed/stamped #10 envelopes. We had one person in the office that opened the mail and everyone hovered around her desk as she calmly slit open the day's mail. We paced. We looked over her shoulder. In short...we drove her nuts.

Nowadays students can let us know online, on Facebook, with a swipe of that square dohickey you attach to your smart phone. And yes, we still accept that pre-addressed/stamped #10 envelope for the quaint of heart. But despite how they tell us of their decision, when they tell us still hasn't changed. My life for the past (almost) 20 years holds this day as significant.

It is the first day of spring training.
It is Tax Day (if you are an accountant).
It is Christmas.

So here I sit, this May 1st, not having checked my work email since noon-ish on March 20th. I can't believe I've lasted this long (I'm sure some people took bets on how long I could stay away). Oh, yes, I'll admit I sent a text to a colleague this morning wishing the office a "Happy May 1st", but that's it.

Instead of checking email every 3.5 minutes for an updated list from the Dean, and then eagerly scanning that list of names for "my" students, I'm staring at this:

May Day 2014 couldn't be any better.

But I do hope I get an email today from the office with the results of those pre-addressed/stamped #10 envelopes.

Old habits die hard.

Farmer Quote #72: Book Review

Farmer: Good Dog, Carl sucks! Who lets a baby play with a rottweiler?


(I think the lack of words also influenced his book review...)

127 Outtakes

In 36 days we have amassed 1298 photos of The Herdsman.

I'm serious. I counted them on iPhoto. I've attempted to organize them - March, April, March from Mom, To Print, Announcement, etc. etc. It's just resulted in a mass of photos everywhere...over here, over there, down here, up here, sideways.

I hope I just manage to print a few.

Of course, some of the 1298 photos look like this:

Note to self: don't print these particular photos.

Besides the obvious reason for taking so many photos - The Herdsman is just so stinkin' CUTE - , approximately 1134 of the photos are a result of my new camera, which allows you to press down the shutter button and take a series of photos. One click and voila!, you have 57 snapshots to sort through and find the ONE good one. 

This, my friends, is priceless. 

While The Herdsman is obviously very smart, he's yet to respond to the "look over here" command. I think that develops in week seven, right?

And yes, I realize that this feature of cameras has been around for years, but my old camera has perfectly useable, thankyouverymuch, so why purchase a new one? And yes, I know that my smart phone is so smart it can take photos, but I seem to be relegating it to taking photos in Home Depot of building materials, along with the corresponding price sticker for reference. A stove purchase hinged on one of those photos a few months back...

Last week I might have used this new fangled camera feature to excess.

128 photos.

5 minutes.

1 cranky baby.

I was attempting to get a One Month photo of The Herdsman. 

Here's the One Week photo:

Yes, he was cranky for that photo shoot too.

His very cute outfit was compliments of The Farmer, who purchased it once The Herdsman arrived. My dad purchased all our "going home" outfits after we were born and the tradition has continued. The Farmer did a great job of picking out an outfit, in my opinion.

Last week's photo shoot produced the following One Month photo:

None too happy...

And I know you are wondering if really this was the BEST photo. His eyes are closed. His hands and feet are a bit blurry. He looks ready to belt out a loud screech. 

But yes. Yes. This is the best photo.

He *IS* only one month old.

But to provide a bit more entertainment and viewing of cuteness, take a look at the outtakes. Oh, the outtakes...they are the good stuff...

I think this is the ceiling...

Eyes! Open eyes!

This might have been the best photo of the lot, had I managed to get the lamb and sign in the frame.

Oh well. I have 127 other photos of peruse.

Things I've Accomplished Today

Ate half my breakfast
Remembered to take my prescriptions
Turned off the alarm that I've set to tell me to take my prescriptions
Received a box for The Herdsman with a sock monkey inside (thank you, cousin K!)
Washed down my bedroom wall to rid it of pee
Changed someone's wet outfit...including a slightly damp hat
Pulled laundry out of the dryer from yesterday
Folded laundry I pulled out of the dryer three days ago
Thought about making myself a cup of tea
Found my camera...just in time to take smiling crying pictures during tummy time
Strapped The Herdsman into his car seat without waking him up
Read three chapters of Mockingjay while rocking back and forth
Read part of a fourth chapter out loud to a small but captive audience
Competed in a staring contest...and lost
Put The Herdsman's socks on...eight times
Written this blog post with one hand

So when I see a beautiful photo of my cousin R with her new little one (The Herdsman looks forward to playing with you, Little D!), I'll admit the first thing I thought was "Hey, R got to take a shower today!"

Crosswordy-ness

Jacques Cousteau's middle name is Yves.
A ball of yarn is also called a skein.
Athena's symbol is an owl.

Evenings on The Farm usually revolve around the daily crossword. Yes, even Friday nights...accompanied by homemade pizza. We know how to live it up around here!

As dinner winds down (or sometimes as it starts), the pencil - no pens allowed - comes out and we hover over the crossword, usually on page three of the sports section of our local paper. OK, in reality the Farmer hogs the crossword at first until I gently pull it a few inches towards me so I can offer my advice.

Possible answers are written next to clues.
Questions are posed over the clinking of dishwashing.
Groans escape our mouths as a particularly bad clue/answer reveals itself.
Swearing occurs when one of us struggles with a clue only to have the other exclaim with glee and ease the correct word.

And yes, occasionally the smart phone comes out to check on an answer or spelling. But only occasionally, mind you. This is the crossword...sacred territory...no little cheating allowed.

This past week The Farmer introduced The Herdsman to the crossword.

I'm not sure The Herdsman truly understood the importance of the crossword at this moment. Nor was he very helpful during his first evening of crosswordy-ness. But the Farmer was undaunted, reading clues aloud to the captive audience that lay in his arms.

The Herdsman was fascinated.

Let the dinner tradition continue!

(and be still my heart...)

The New Herdsman

It's been a while since I posted, but with good reason...we've been training a new herdsman. He arrived three weeks ago on March 21st.

We are in love.

The Farmer threatened that he was going to roll the new herdsman around in the mud upon arrival. I managed to negotiate "at least a week". Yes, we live on a farm but let's not push things too much.

So earlier this week the cows finally went out after a long winter. In farm terms, this is a big deal!

And the new herdsman was ready ...

The Farmer was excited to introduce him to the ways of the farm.

His first task...bringing in the cows...

The new herdsman slept through the entire thing. 

The Farmer has some work to do with this one...but I don't think he minds teaching him in the days and years ahead.

Again, we are in love.