Epic post... with more to come...
It's been an interesting few weeks.
having had a minor heart attack and subsequent angiogram/plasty, I believe. I say that because while we were in contact over the course of the whole situation, confirmation on exactly what they did (aside from running him on a treadmill the next day) was a bit hazy from him. I think he said 'Demoral'. But he is fine now, walking 3x/day and not smoking. He said, "It's made me think, you know, why die here when I should be with the person I love most in the world..." and he was talking about summers in Bellingham and the like. (Again, I think he said Demoral). But wouldn't that be nice? A girl can dream...
I'm trying to figure out what direction sweetpea is facing, but there are too many points and gyrating mountains to figure it out. Mostly, I think ze's sideways. , what prompted me to write this post is that last night I was poking on hir and ze was agitated and kicking me like usual, and I fell asleep with my hands on my belly like usual. And then when I sat down to write this morning, ze was super active and seemed kinda peeved with the edge of the desk infiltrating hir space so kept kicking around for about an hour and a half while I was trying to work (ze is starting to loathe me when I'm sitting down because ze gets squished-- the end of this project can't come too soon as far as we're all concerned, I guess!). And now, for the first time, I have something up in my ribs. It could be feet. I'll let you know if/when I start getting the painful jabs up there.
Our third u/s is set for April 28, at which time we find out how much the placenta previa has moved and a) if it looks like we'll be able to have a vaginal birth, and b) if we can have sex again. I don't know which I'm more excited about, frankly.
Miranda is lovely, as usual. We're having an ideological and financial struggle with AM over where to send her for kindergarten. Wherever we decide to put her is where we would like her to stay for elementary because she'll meet the kids she'll spend most of her time with next year. Public school is geographical, and Waldorf is ideological. But both start at Kindie and go through either 6th or 8th grades.
One of my mother's friends used to teach elementary school for 30 years and is quite educated on early childhood education beyond k-12 certification. She spent 1/2 hour hanging out with Miranda and came back to me saying that she really thought Mira would need some special attention to keep her interested and/or stimulated and focused on learning beyond public school. Well, we all knew that, but having it clarified by a professional was enough for Tom and me to realize that we were kinda sticking our heads in the public school sand and hoping for the best. Well, a great battle has ensued over: getting funding, coordinating our ideology with AM's, deciding in time to meet the deadline, how else we could supplement Mira's education besides Waldorf.
And here is the outcome, so far: tuition reduction/financial aid pays for 40%. AM will pay 25% after the reduction has been applied because she has supplemented Mira's education thus far with trade at Loving Space and a generous gift from her parents toward The Cottage School and I don't think anyone disputes that. That leaves Tom and me with nearly half the total tuition cost, which we are putting Mira's child tax credit toward, which drops it another 50% after all the reductions. If Tom and AM quit smoking, the remainder would be paid for, plus each household would make about $80/mo. AM resists for sport. Tom chastises. I get stuck in the middle with AM not wanting to talk to him and Tom trying to figure out a way to take on the financial burden of 8 years at Waldorf. This year, it's $68/mo. Next year, it goes up to $150, and AM doesn't want to commit to anything financial past this year and won't apply Mira's tax credit toward her education but is upset that we're not saving for college (WHAT?! Whatever). Mind you, preschool is $52/mo right now.
AND, Tom told Mira all about the cool things of Waldorf and I think that was a huge mistake because unless we can find a miraculous solution to fulfill all of her parents' needs, she won't be going and I think that just flat out sucks rocks because instead of us trying to do what's best for her, it has become about what's best for AM-- really. So, we have 6 months to figure it out and I'm applying for a job at Fairhaven teaching 1-2 classes in the fall. Over the course of the summer, I hope it all falls into place. But in the meantime, appeasing AM is going to be tricky.
In other news, I'm on the last week of writing. I'm putting in captions, checking citations, and doing some final editing. I also have an addendum of 2 pages to put on the end of my conclusion, per advisor's suggestion. I would like to string him up right now, too. Firstly, let's recall that I have gone 3-4 months without hearing from him when it has been urgent and I'm staring down a dimly lit deadline-tunnel. So he writes on Sunday morning "I'm calling you at 4:00". I write back, "I won't be available. How about 6:00". He calls at 2:00, leaves a message saying he'll call at 8:00. Tom is out of town for work, and I have a wonderful mother/daughter day with Mira (more on that below), the culmination of which was my mom and her brother from Wisconsin over for dinner, by surprise. JP calls early as I'm putting dinner on the table to tell me he only needs 5 minutes. I tell him that it'll have to wait for an hour. My mom agrees to stay and hang out with Mira, past each of their bedtimes, so that I can talk to this guy. An hour comes and goes, no phone call. I call him. He keeps me on for 45 minutes about 2 pages to add to the conclusion and about how he's surprised that I won't be coming to AZ in person to defend. It was approved for me to conference call when I left Women's Studies and that has been the plan all along. I remind him of this, and he pseudo-contests me, and I say, "Well, regardless of whether or not I was ever intending to come, it's now a moot point because I can't travel 8 months pregnant." He is surprised and grants me accolades on finishing my graduate education while pregnant and at this point I'm just irritated because Miranda is screaming at the top of her lungs across the hall from my office because she has been bit by the nighttime hyper bug and JP won't let me off the phone, literally. I finally say, again, "Ok, so I'm sending you a synthesis paragraph tomorrow of what you're telling me to add at the end of my thesis and you'll have to tell me from that if I understand your point-- but I have to go now." And he tells me that he'll "work on" the issue of my absence while defending (I have no idea what he means, since there is nothing to work on) and I should just focus on my writing. Um, okay.
Bah. Now I'm irritated from typing that so my wonderful day with Mira will have to wait until I take another break from editing.
having had a minor heart attack and subsequent angiogram/plasty, I believe. I say that because while we were in contact over the course of the whole situation, confirmation on exactly what they did (aside from running him on a treadmill the next day) was a bit hazy from him. I think he said 'Demoral'. But he is fine now, walking 3x/day and not smoking. He said, "It's made me think, you know, why die here when I should be with the person I love most in the world..." and he was talking about summers in Bellingham and the like. (Again, I think he said Demoral). But wouldn't that be nice? A girl can dream...
I'm trying to figure out what direction sweetpea is facing, but there are too many points and gyrating mountains to figure it out. Mostly, I think ze's sideways. , what prompted me to write this post is that last night I was poking on hir and ze was agitated and kicking me like usual, and I fell asleep with my hands on my belly like usual. And then when I sat down to write this morning, ze was super active and seemed kinda peeved with the edge of the desk infiltrating hir space so kept kicking around for about an hour and a half while I was trying to work (ze is starting to loathe me when I'm sitting down because ze gets squished-- the end of this project can't come too soon as far as we're all concerned, I guess!). And now, for the first time, I have something up in my ribs. It could be feet. I'll let you know if/when I start getting the painful jabs up there.
Our third u/s is set for April 28, at which time we find out how much the placenta previa has moved and a) if it looks like we'll be able to have a vaginal birth, and b) if we can have sex again. I don't know which I'm more excited about, frankly.
Miranda is lovely, as usual. We're having an ideological and financial struggle with AM over where to send her for kindergarten. Wherever we decide to put her is where we would like her to stay for elementary because she'll meet the kids she'll spend most of her time with next year. Public school is geographical, and Waldorf is ideological. But both start at Kindie and go through either 6th or 8th grades.
One of my mother's friends used to teach elementary school for 30 years and is quite educated on early childhood education beyond k-12 certification. She spent 1/2 hour hanging out with Miranda and came back to me saying that she really thought Mira would need some special attention to keep her interested and/or stimulated and focused on learning beyond public school. Well, we all knew that, but having it clarified by a professional was enough for Tom and me to realize that we were kinda sticking our heads in the public school sand and hoping for the best. Well, a great battle has ensued over: getting funding, coordinating our ideology with AM's, deciding in time to meet the deadline, how else we could supplement Mira's education besides Waldorf.
And here is the outcome, so far: tuition reduction/financial aid pays for 40%. AM will pay 25% after the reduction has been applied because she has supplemented Mira's education thus far with trade at Loving Space and a generous gift from her parents toward The Cottage School and I don't think anyone disputes that. That leaves Tom and me with nearly half the total tuition cost, which we are putting Mira's child tax credit toward, which drops it another 50% after all the reductions. If Tom and AM quit smoking, the remainder would be paid for, plus each household would make about $80/mo. AM resists for sport. Tom chastises. I get stuck in the middle with AM not wanting to talk to him and Tom trying to figure out a way to take on the financial burden of 8 years at Waldorf. This year, it's $68/mo. Next year, it goes up to $150, and AM doesn't want to commit to anything financial past this year and won't apply Mira's tax credit toward her education but is upset that we're not saving for college (WHAT?! Whatever). Mind you, preschool is $52/mo right now.
AND, Tom told Mira all about the cool things of Waldorf and I think that was a huge mistake because unless we can find a miraculous solution to fulfill all of her parents' needs, she won't be going and I think that just flat out sucks rocks because instead of us trying to do what's best for her, it has become about what's best for AM-- really. So, we have 6 months to figure it out and I'm applying for a job at Fairhaven teaching 1-2 classes in the fall. Over the course of the summer, I hope it all falls into place. But in the meantime, appeasing AM is going to be tricky.
In other news, I'm on the last week of writing. I'm putting in captions, checking citations, and doing some final editing. I also have an addendum of 2 pages to put on the end of my conclusion, per advisor's suggestion. I would like to string him up right now, too. Firstly, let's recall that I have gone 3-4 months without hearing from him when it has been urgent and I'm staring down a dimly lit deadline-tunnel. So he writes on Sunday morning "I'm calling you at 4:00". I write back, "I won't be available. How about 6:00". He calls at 2:00, leaves a message saying he'll call at 8:00. Tom is out of town for work, and I have a wonderful mother/daughter day with Mira (more on that below), the culmination of which was my mom and her brother from Wisconsin over for dinner, by surprise. JP calls early as I'm putting dinner on the table to tell me he only needs 5 minutes. I tell him that it'll have to wait for an hour. My mom agrees to stay and hang out with Mira, past each of their bedtimes, so that I can talk to this guy. An hour comes and goes, no phone call. I call him. He keeps me on for 45 minutes about 2 pages to add to the conclusion and about how he's surprised that I won't be coming to AZ in person to defend. It was approved for me to conference call when I left Women's Studies and that has been the plan all along. I remind him of this, and he pseudo-contests me, and I say, "Well, regardless of whether or not I was ever intending to come, it's now a moot point because I can't travel 8 months pregnant." He is surprised and grants me accolades on finishing my graduate education while pregnant and at this point I'm just irritated because Miranda is screaming at the top of her lungs across the hall from my office because she has been bit by the nighttime hyper bug and JP won't let me off the phone, literally. I finally say, again, "Ok, so I'm sending you a synthesis paragraph tomorrow of what you're telling me to add at the end of my thesis and you'll have to tell me from that if I understand your point-- but I have to go now." And he tells me that he'll "work on" the issue of my absence while defending (I have no idea what he means, since there is nothing to work on) and I should just focus on my writing. Um, okay.
Bah. Now I'm irritated from typing that so my wonderful day with Mira will have to wait until I take another break from editing.