The danger of reading blogs

So I'm becoming a bit of a blog-reading junkie.  I love reading about real people.  Mainly I like the blogs about doing cool home projects, like Young House Love.  When Sherry, one half of the couple who write Young House Love, wrote back to me after a blog comment and email I sent them, I felt like I'd gotten a response from someone famous. I hope Santa brings me their book for Christmas.  I like doing things myself, and frugally when I can.  That also means that I get way too many good ideas from reading blogs about frugal decorating, painting, and making a house a home.

Today I'm painting the brass chandelier that was in our dining room.  My brother took it out of a house he was remodeling about 8 years ago. We replaced a *cough* lovely *cough* wagon wheel chandelier with it.  I've never been a fan of brass, and it doesn't fit well with our decor.  I've been shopping for a new chandelier, but thought before I bought a new one, I'd try to paint this one.  It's all Sherry and John's fault at Young House Love.  They painted their brass chandelier and it looked so nice I figured it couldn't hurt to try.  I hung the chandelier in our creepy basement to paint because it's too cold outside.  Armed with white Krylon spray paint from Marden's, I went to work.

Unfortunately, Zoey's customary 2 hour nap lasted about 45 minutes.  That has made this easy project challenging because Daddy is Christmas shopping.  That means I spray a coat, run upstairs to the second floor to comfort Zoey, run downstairs to spray a coat, run back upstairs, etc.  It's good exercise, I suppose.  She doesn't want to nap today.  I gave up and now we're on the couch having a snack. Well, she's snacking. I'm writing.  I'll put her in her playpen in Daddy's office (on the first floor) when I need to go add more paint to my chandelier.  There are a couple of imperfect spots, but it looks better than before, kind of shabby chic or like it belongs in a cottage.

My next big project is certainly big. I'm going to paint the living room/dining room.  I've never liked the fake wood paneling much, so after ten and a half years, I'm going to paint it.  It will look like a cottage with the grooves in the walls.  I think it will look nice.  I'm going to tackle that during February break.  We have to pay for daycare anyway, so Zoey will go to daycare for a couple days while I paint.  She's not so helpful during painting!

The Beam

I never was great on the balance beam.  Uneven bars? No problem. The rings? Sure.  But the balance beam?  I'd jump up, using the nifty springboard thing, stand (none-too-gracefully, I imagine), and take a few tentative steps.  I'd do OK for a bit, but sure enough, I'd try to turn or bend, and I'd fall off.  I tried and tried. I got bumps, bruises, abrasions, and sprains. I came to loathe the high beam.   After spraining both my wrist and ankle in the same spectacular fall, I started to fear it.  It was my nemesis.  I'd dread going to PE because I knew my teacher would make me try again, and my classmates would see me fall. The after-school gymnastics program included the beam, too, but at least there I could avoid it without it affecting my grade!

Right now, I feel like I'm on that balance beam again. I'm the pudgy 5th grader trying and trying to successfully walk from one end to the other, and back again, but I fall every single time.  Balancing work and home is becoming more and more of a struggle. To be a good mom, I end up neglecting work. To be efficient at work, I need to put in lots of hours outside of the school day, which means less time with my family.

These past two weeks I was faced with 60 essays, 60 quizzes, and 60 projects to grade.  I stayed late, I worked through planning time and when the students were working quietly, and graded while sitting on the living room floor with Zoey while she played.  It got done, but it was pretty awful. It didn't help that I was getting emails and phone calls from parents asking when these things would be graded and posted to my online gradebook.  I just couldn't seem to catch a break.  I got the stuff graded, but I was so stressed.  The trouble with being an English teacher is that, for most assignments, there is no "right" or "wrong" answer.  Essays and stories and projects need to be read, edited, critiqued, and scored.  If you rush you'll miss things.  Having 60 students makes it very challenging to get anything graded in a timely manner, unless I give up my life to get it done.  I'm not willing to do that anymore.  Before Zoey, I'd give up a weekend day (or sometimes the whole weekend) to get my grading done. I won't do that now.  Zoey needs her mumma, and I need my Zoey.  Teaching is my profession. It isn't my life.

The balancing act

"You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are. ” 
― Fred Rogers


I went back to work August 27.  I'll be honest. I would rather be home with Zoey.  I miss her smile, her cuddles, her giggles, and being Mommy full time.  It also makes it hard for me to take time for myself, because I get home from work, relieve my husband of parenting duties so he can have some time to work or relax, and the next thing I know, it's time for bed.  Zoey and I snuggle, talk, and play. Somewhere in those precious few hours, I prepare bottles, change diapers, and maybe toss in a load or laundry (baby-puke-soaked clothes really shouldn't sit in the hamper too long...trust me).  If I'm feeling ambitious I'll cook something for supper; more often it's something I can pop in the oven or it's take-out.  Luckily, I haven't had anything to grade at home, but I know it's coming.  Haven't figured out how to do that with a baby on my lap yet.

Yesterday, I took an hour to go out in my kayak. It was nice. I wasn't the teacher, I wasn't mom, I was just me.  Our local community theater is having auditions for a fun musical next weekend.  I'm so torn. I'd love to audition and be on stage again. It's been far too long.  But that means giving up time with Zoey.  Rehearsals a few times a week, and then once the show draws near, rehearsals almost daily, and 2 weekends of performances.  I can't decide what I want to do.  I love being on stage, singing, performing, making people smile and laugh.  But Zoey's only a baby once.  I'm afraid I'll miss something.

I try not to let fear drive me, but it sneaks in there sometimes.  I'm horrible with the "what if's." What if she crawls for the first time when I'm at a rehearsal? What if she's sick and needs me and I have to miss a rehearsal? They're counting on me, too.  What if I teach all day, stay after for a detention or to grade or make copies, come home, eat, and go to rehearsal. I will see Zoey for maybe an hour that day. What if she's napping during that hour?  Plus, hubby will have her all day and all night too.  He's SuperDad, but he needs some down time on occasion.

It's harder to balance working and momming and being me than I thought it would be.  I sometimes feel I can't be all 3-the teacher, the mom, the Me.  There doesn't seem to be enough time for all of them.

I'm trying to think of other things I enjoy that I could do that wouldn't require quite so much time away from my family.  My hobbies consist of music, theater, musical theater, refinishing furniture, kayaking and camping.  The last three don't work so well in a Maine winter.  Sigh.

I'd love input out there from other working moms! How do you make time for yourself, without feeling like you're missing out on precious family time?   How do you balance it all?

So, who really approves the life jacket?

I was shopping for new life jackets and noticed that they all have a logo inside that says, "USCG Approved." That got me thinking...who in the Coast Guard is in charge of approving life jackets?  How do they approve them?  I have a friend who is a Coastie and I asked him that question.  He didn't know.

In my imagination, companies ship life jackets to the Coast Guard, where Coasties are strapped into them and tossed overboard. If they're feeling like having some fun, they make the Coastie walk the plank first.  If they float, the life jacket gets approved. If they sink, the life jacket doesn't get approved.  I hope the next step is rescuing the sinking Coastie.

Zack, my Coastie friend, said they likely test them on dummies, but then they probably are tested by real people for functionality.  I feel bad for the guy who has to test the big orange brick life jackets. You know, the basic ones every summer camp makes you wear?  All his pals are in the nice vests from LL Bean and he's stuck in the orange square thing.  Those "brick" life jackets aren't very comfortable, and if you are a female or have a round belly, you can't see your feet past it sticking up past your curvy parts.  (This is why I bring my own life jacket to camp now!)

Does anyone know what the testing and approval process is for a life jacket?
Oh, and if you're looking for a decent life vest that's pretty comfy, Cabela's has their basic vests on sale online this week.

First Reunion as a Mom

Every year, my family has a big reunion with everyone from my dad's side of the family. We're all pretty far flung, so once a year all the aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. get together at the lake.   Today was Zoey's first reunion.  She got to meet aunts and cousins and all sorts of people she'd never met before. And of course, she was fussy.  Zoey's usually pretty mellow, likes people, and is quite happy.  Well, not today.  Today she fussed and cried when almost anyone tried to hold her besides her daddy or me.  That's not like her at all.  Her acid reflux has been bothering her more this week, so I'm theorizing that she just felt out of sorts. Either that, or she's an introvert like her daddy!

I hope people didn't feel bad when Zoey cried when they held her.  I felt awful when someone wanted to hold her, and she started to cry as soon as I handed her to them.  Then, they'd pass her back and the tears would stop.  This is a new behavior, and while I'm glad that she stopped crying, I also don't want her to only want to be held by her parents.  There are SO many people who love and adore her that I hope she'll want to be snuggled by them, too!

Like any of my family functions, it was filled with lots of food and lots of boisterous people. It was fun to see how the kids had grown since last year.  Zoey was fascinated with all the children, especially the other baby there!  A very exciting game of water baseball was played, and I enjoyed paddling around in the kayak. I hummed the Jaws theme as I paddled circles around my sisters.  My grown-up nieces even watched Zoey for a while in the evening so my husband and I could go out kayaking together!  Thanks, lovely nieces!

And now, after such an eventful day, we shall sleep!

I never knew parenting was so full of controversy!

So our little darling, Zoey, is almost 13 weeks old.  I'd like to think we're pretty good parents.  We give her lots of love, play with her, feed her, change her...all the stuff you're supposed to do.

When she was born, we weren't able to nurse, so we're formula feeding.  That was controversy #1.  She started showing signs of acid reflux around 2 weeks, and our FNP confirmed it officially at 4 weeks.   Poor Zoey was projectile vomiting everything she ate.  Our FNP (who is totally awesome, by the way) suggested we thicken Zoey's formula with a bit of rice cereal to help it stay down.  That was controversy #2.

Holy cow.  People came out of the woodwork to say what a horrible idea it was to add rice to her formula.  We trust our FNP, though, and we tried it, and sure enough, Zoey's constant vomiting ceased.  The special formulas they sell for acid reflux are...wait for it...thickened with rice.  I guess in many years past, doctors would suggest thickening formula to help "Fill up" a baby so he/she would sleep through the night.  That turned out to be bunk, so doctors stopped recommending it.  Thickening formula with rice to help with reflux, though, is a perfectly valid remedy that involves no medicine and is very affordable.  But when we told folks that we were adding rice cereal to her formula, some reacted like we were feeding her broken glass!  Sheesh.  Zoey was happier than she had ever been, and feeding stopped being such a nightmare for all 3 of us.

Controversy #3 was my decision to cloth diaper.  Perhaps that should have been controversy #1, since it started before Zoey was even born!  People said I was nuts to use cloth and tried to talk me out of it.  We currently use a mix of both cloth and disposables. I totally agree that disposables are easy, and I prefer them when we're out and about.  But I really like my cloth diapers at home.  I'm not adding to landfills, they're cheaper, and they're really cute.  Laundering them isn't hard. The only difference between washing a load of diapers and regular laundry is I do a rinse cycle first, then wash them with an extra rinse cycle at the end to make sure all the soap is out.

Controversy #4 was our decision to move her to her own bedroom at about 6 weeks.  It has been a great decision for all 3 of us, though. We all sleep better!  We still have her cradle in our room, so if she has a fussy night, or we just want her nearby, she can still sleep there.

Who would have thought that being a parent and doing what's best for your family would cause such an uproar?  There have been other controversial things, too...like using a pacifier or dressing my daughter in blue (I had a woman in the store argue with me that Zoey couldn't be a girl because she was in a blue and red onesie. Sheesh.).   I'm quickly learning to just do what's best for us, and ignore the rest!

Who I am

The Ponytailed Mumma? Really?  Well, I'm a mom to my lovely daughter, Zoey, whose little fingers really like my long hair. She's about 13 weeks old, and my hair has been in a ponytail every day since she was born.  The few times I've worn it down, she's gotten her hands completely entangled in it!

Why Mumma? Why not Mom, or Mommy, or Mama?  I'm a Maine girl, through and through, with downeast roots.  Downeast moms are called Mumma. My mom is mumma, my grandmother was mumma, her mother was mumma, and on and on.  The spelling has varied through the years, Mama being the most common, but in many places it's pronounced "Mah Mah". Since you can't hear the "correct" pronunciation in writing, I figured we'd spell it phonetically here.  

We live in Western Maine, in the foothills of the mountains. I'm an English teacher by trade, but I admit I'm sad to leave Zoey to go back to work this fall.   My husband is a self-employed computer geek.  Zoey will be hanging out with her daddy when I go back to work.  That'll probably be a blog entry in a couple weeks!