Bloggin it up

So i thought I'd be better at this blogging thing, at least more regular about it, but it hasn't worked out that way. Here's how it usually goes: on the drive home i think about my day and some days I think...I'm going to blog about this. I think about how I'm going to set up my blogs and what I'm going to say and then i get home....and it never happens. I need my thoughts to be transcribed to a digital media so i can just upload to my blog....

So I'm bloggin it up tonight! Katlynn is sleeping, I've got a Bacardi mojito at my side, and a movie on the tele and I'm ready to blog!

I thought i would fill in the blanks since my last blog around June with the significant events since then (excluding my parenting experiences as in my previous blog: "You can call my Mama Ullevig").

July...

was consumed with grant writing. My mentor wanted me to apply for a NIH (National Institutes of Health) predoctoral grant-which is great opportunity for me to get my research funded and would put me a good position to find a nice job when i got done. All fine in dandy but I learned some things about grant writing:

1. It sucks.

2. It sucks up all my free time.

3. It sucks all the energy I might have to do anything else.

4. It sucks. More than anything I've done before.

So that was my July. I'll let you know if I get it! All that sucking may pay off....no pun, no pun at all....

August...

i got a vacation! I visited Lisa and Jocelynn with my Mom the second week of August and it was a much needed break from July. I got to spend lots time with the baby :) and relaxing and reading. It was great. See some pictures of that trip below:

September...

school starts...ugh. It's not going too bad, i have class Mon and Fri morning and then i have to tutor medical students taking biochemistry every other 6 weeks. No to bad. the rest of the time I'm in lab working my butt of to ensure I'm going to be done in 4 years!!!

Lisa also visited with the baby this month and it was great. She had changed so much just since the time I'm saw her in August. More pics below:

The future:

October is going to be exciting. I start off going to Chicago with Toby for the weekend. He is going for the week for work training and then I'm meeting up with him. I've never been to Chicago, but I can't wait even if it's only for a weekend! We're planning going to Fright Fest with Katlynn and Sam, hopefully also getting her for Halloween to take her trick or treating! Also going to attend the jewelry party in Austin at Ellen's new place and I'm going to try to swing in a trip into Ikea :) Toby is expected to get a large raise and I've already got plans for the money!

The rest of the Fall is going to be consumed with dissertation committees, and Free radical meeting in Indianapolis (why couldn't it be someplace cool?) and end of semester school crap. So I'm going to relax in October and brace for the end of the semester and keep my nose to the grind stone until December. We found out this at Lisa's last visit that she is coming in December moving in with my parents while Scott is deployed to Afghanistan until August. We're excited to have her and Jocelyn and sad to see Scott go. So Spring will be filled with Jocelyn!

Just call me Mama Ullevig (no i'm not pregnant!!)

So as most of you know, Josh (Toby's brother) moved in with us at the end of June. We were giving him an opportunity to live bill free and get his "stuff" together for a "couple" of months. So in this deal we decided to get our niece every other weekend for Josh's custody for many reasons among which to give her a chance to see our side of the family more than a couple of times a year. Toby and I spend most of the weekend she is here with her because Josh works at night and sleeps during the say so we have a test run as parents to a three year old.....which is challenging to say the least. We have had to take on more of a parent role...I've abandoned the thought that i could be "fun aunt Sarah".... I am definitely not! It doesn't help she's at a tough age that needs a lot of discipline, so we have become the disciplinarians....only if she listens, if we are lucky. i love hearing "get out of my face", "leave me alone, get out of my life", and my favorite "I don't have to listen to your because you're not my mom (dad)"....sigh....

But I've had my true test this weekend, that not only proves how much I love the little girl, not only to put up with her attitude every other weekend, but to have her in my house with the constant abuse of my authority...

Katlynn has lice and has had it for awhile. I'll let it sink in...

If your like me, your head is already itching at the thought, but the feeling still doesn't go away after the second lice treatment.

So the story starts at 6:30pm Friday when I'm pulling in the drive way, just getting home from work and Lori (Katlynn's mom) calls and says she on her way to drop off Katlynn. I grab the car seat from the garage and head on my way, still on the phone with Lori. She says "did Josh tell you about Katlynn?" I say no. Oh, she has lice and needs treatment this weekend and has had it for awhile off and on and they haven't been able to get rid of it. I'm thinking in my head...should i tell her never mind, we don't want licey Katlynn? And why in the hell weren't we told this a long time ago, like the first time she had it? But i bite my tongue and pick buggy Katlynn up. Lori and i go shopping at Walmart to buy lice treatment along with new brushes and lice spray. There in the store I get to see my first lice in Katlynn's hair. She then tells me Katlynn has had this little problem for a month.....

Scratch, scratch, scratch...

We treated her Friday night. Toby and I examined each other like gorillas in the wild and we were lice free! Saturday we washed all sheets, comforters, and pillows that may have come into contact with her during her visits. I'm still in the process of washing pillows....

Scratch, scratch, scratch...

We did our second treatment tonight although they say it's not necessary, i say it's necessary. Toby and I again inspected each other and we seem to be okay. So far so good. Although the instructions with the medication say we should inspect for 10 days!!! I might be washing my sheets, comforter, and pillows daily..... And cutting my hair if i come down with the lice infiltration....

Scratch, scratch, scratch....

So to change the subject....

Besides having the experience of having a 3 year old twice a month, I fondly called Josh our teenage son. He has a mind of his own, is living off us for free, doesn't listen to our advice, and we bought a car for him. Yeah, Toby and i are getting our experience in child rearing for a wide range of ages. I'm forseeing his "couple" months turning into a year....I'm taking bets if anyone is interested....

So just call me Mama Ullevig, I think I've earned the title...