Good bye Winter! Hello Spring!

This week featured a lot of outside time! And for you guys..a lot of pictures! Dalen and Westin explored a boat launch on the Missouri.It's good to start scouting this stuff early and often. When the winds are calm, float we will!

Dada took Monkey to the park, and Westin LOVES to swing!

In other news, Monkey is starting to question his elders. 

Both Dalen and I don't know what to think of it, other than, Wow, dinnertime is starting to become a struggle:

  

Veggies? We don't need no stinkin' veggies!

SciMom

It is fitting that I write this post from my office at work. I am in to start an experiment. I am missing Monkey's bedtime tonight, but I will miss little else throughout the week. Also, importantly, this particular experiment will end on Friday, not Saturday, which would be tricky tricky with Dalen headed out of town to his much needed and anticipated fishing trip. There was a movement started this week on Twitter for all science moms to get on their blogs, personal and otherwise, and blog about it. So here I am, sharing my story (albeit unofficial contribution) with the faithful reader's of Westin's blog. There is this perception that being a working scientist mom is tough, a perception that won't be disputed here. But I will argue that it is most certainly doable and me being a woman does NOT put me at a disadvantage. Yes, I work in a male dominated field. Yes, there are some people that wonder if I have lost my edge since having my baby (the edge being the willingness to work 16 hour days OR schedule ridiculous experiments at all hours). Yes, there are some people who eye me suspiciously because I might 'pop out' another child at any moment (honestly, is there ever really 'popping out' when it comes to childbirth?). Yes, there are scientists who don't think that I belong, because of my pedigree or gender or the fact that I really like to wear green. To all of this, I have to say: WHO FREAKIN' CARES?.

For a long time, I did. For a long time, I thought that I wouldn't get married, I wouldn't have kids, all in the name of Science; all to prove that yet another Woman could be a successful scientist so that the next generation of women wouldn't have to prove so damn much or work so damn hard. Newsflash: You will always have to work hard; you will always have a lot to prove. Well, I turned out not to be a very good martyr--and yet, shockingly, I am still here doing science, in exactly the job I wanted. Seriously. I am 8 months into my tenure track faculty position. I don't have all the answers. I don't know how to 'balance' a damn thing. And you know what the craziest part is? It's okay. Really. I am so freakin' lucky! I have a wonderful husband who stays at home with our son. It's great! We live close to work, so my hefty commute is about a 6 block walk. We have a wonderful house. Yes, I (we) am (are) still struggling on how to keep the house clean*, balance our little budget, get exercise, have quality adult time, eat good home cooked food--this happens not as a side show, but, concurrently with the Job. At work, I have a K22 grant--somehow in this crazy economic climate I got a job on the first try and a grant on the second. Kismet? Maybe. I have some experiments planned that will give me some pubs and preliminary data for the next grant. I am protected from teaching to make all of this happen and a healthy start-up to boot. I try not to come home too tired so that I don't ruin all of Dalen's hard work with some stupid parenting decision. (Westin is already learning when to strike Mama when she is weak.). I try not to stress or worry about things in the future that are beyond my control. You see, I want to build a LIFE, not a career so much, as a life. That means I want to do good science, teach the next generation well, be a good wife and a good mother. Is all the struggle worth it? Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. But I will say this, I can have my family without the science, I can not do the science without my family. Do I want it all? Damn straight! Is it doable? I don't know. Like I said, I don't have all of the answers, and if you will excuse me, I do have some cells to infect.....

*Dalen and I divide household chores. For the record, I am the only one who struggles to keep my checklist checked. If it weren't for the valiant efforts of Dalen, we would totally be on that Hoarders show....

Catching Up....

  March has flown by! Its been incredibly busy and, I have been exhausted-and hence not blogging. Fans of Westin, I apologize..AGAIN! This month has seen Monkey's hair growing back in (although I really do fancy the bald-look; he has a very cute head!). Fans of the mohawk will be pleased, because in the next few weeks it will be back in full effect. Westin's walk is now more of a wobbly run. He is learning how lids screw on and off. How to hide things in kitchen cabinets, and he is working on his 'powers of persuasion' (ie temper tantrums).

 

We started the month celebrating Dalen's birthday-quite a lovely way to start a month! Monkey is starting to color too (okay, Westin mostly eats the crayons, but we are working on that).

There are no new videos, because everytime the camera turns on, Westin stops whatever cool thing he is doing and runs towards it..so you have a long video of something like this.....

Westin helped Dada brew beer (we bottled the first batch, and Dalen is now on his 2nd!). He got very excited about brewing beer and accessorizes accordingly.

Happily, most of our snow is gone! So Westin gets to ride in his wagon outside (and not just around the first floor of our house). It is still chilly and we saw snow this past weekend, but nothing significant and bulbs are starting to peek out. Spring is almost here! At long last! Which means that Monkey and Dada can come meet me for the walk home-which is much more fun with company! :)

Oh, Oscar!

In honor of the Oscars tonight..we thought it would be a great time to premiere some movies of our own. These are our first attempts, so go easy on us.....just trying to capture Westin's very new wobbly world.

The Haircut Debacle, aka The Spring Shearing

One day, we will laugh about all of this. (At least, I am hoping that we will) For now it will be stored in the file entitled, 'Westin Moore is still alive?! Well that's a freaking miracle: just look at his parents!".

So, Westin's hair has been getting long. Kind of mullet-like, and it was bad enough that we are allowing him to crawl around with holes in his pants like a ragamuffin..it was time for a haircut. 

We decided to embark on this adventure on our own..what could be so hard about cutting a little boy's hair?? I had the afternoon off, I could help. And then after the first couple of snips of the scissors, it was clear-something was going wrong, quickly, horribly, wrong. We were ill-prepared for the hair cutting experience. And when you are ill-prepared, this is what happens:

Ok, so Westin is still pretty darn cute. And then something amazing started to happen:

Just when we thought that we had forever scarred our child, we realized that all of that hair was weighing him down from taking those first big long walks. And walk all night he has. Just like Bob Marley sings, "Walk tall; walk tall. Even if you fall, get up!" So we will take the good with the bald, remembering that the hair will grow back. And when it does, we will take him to a trained professional.

No drawer left unopened

Exploration. It's the hallmark of human innovation. Westin has been mounting expeditions in the kitchen.  

Smished a couple of fingers along the way..nothing that the BooBoo Bunny couldn't fix (a quick note about the BooBoo Bunny: not once has the BooBoo Bunny been applied to an actual boo boo, but the minute it appears from the freezer, tears start to abate. It's magic!).

Westin loves talking about his new found treasures.

Westin talking to Dada about his 'treasure'

The other day, I caught him going after the Cheerios' box in the pantry.

Another thing that he is exploring is reactions...head butting is his new gig this week. Both Dalen and I are trying to not react too strongly while discouraging the behavior. I mean it's the little Bean. I will say this, baby boy has a hard head!

I was saddened to learn the fate of the Oaks at Toomer's Corner in Auburn. It is sad how one delusional malicious person can be so destructive. For the record, I don't believe that a true uat fan would have done that. Let's get real. A real bama fan would have taken crimson colored toilet paper, half-a$$ed rolled the trees and claimed a moral victory over the feat. War Eagle!

We are still here....I promise!

I know that it has been a while. Part of it was that I couldn't get the right picture.....

Westin sharing cheerios with Copper...oh, wait! Where's Copper?? Being a sneaky sneakster that's where. Can't play the poor starving four-legged pile of fur, if there is photographic evidence that you are getting fed.

Part of it was that we I were was just grumpy. It has been cold, and cloudy and cold, and snowy and cold. Did I say cold? I kept trying to stay positive about it. But when you are walking to work and it is -15 outside, doing a modified penguin-walk just to stay upright, in a perpetually gray haze of cloudiness, I mean really, I don't think that Polyanna could have kept that smile on her face. So we were inside ALL THE TIME...boring stuff. So I felt like I would keep blogging about...oh there is Westin under the kitchen table again, isn't that cute?! (and it really is cute)

 

So what I haven't told you, is how much Bean's love bananas, how reciting Dr. Seuss keeps him from pitching a royal fit when we are cleaning his hands and face after meals, about how 'Little People' are yummy to chew on when you are teething.

His favorite letter is 's', although it is staring to sound like 'yes'. He is starting to say something that sounds like 'dutch', which puzzles Dalen and I. Westin has a lot to say; Dalen and I just don't know how to interpret it yet. He has developed a backwards crawl for moments when he wants to back out without taking the time to turn around. Westin is all about speed. Ask all of the knees that he has worn out on his pants. Socks are not for wearing but for putting places (like down vents or in his wagon or to CopperDog). Oh and in case you were wondering, the Black Eyed Peas were such a fun half-time show that we had  to dance. I don't have any pictures of this yet, but it is the bouncy, bending-at-the-knees dance that toddlers develop. Westin is becoming a sweet little boy and gives the best hugs. He loves to play peek-a-boo, and is curious about the spoon, but really thinks that dipping the handle into food and eating off of that is more efficient that using it the way that Ms. Manner's had intended.
I will try to be better, Fans of Westin..for more amazing things are on the horizon!