I passed

Hey all...

Thought I'd let you know that I passed candidacy today!

Thankfully the questioning remained focused on my actual research and not random optics questions, so I had no problems answering. I had this fear that I would get some sort of "please derive the Kramers-Kronig relations based only on the principle of causality" since that sort of thing is allowed within the format of a candidacy exam.

[The infamous Kramers-Kronig relations]

The questions I got were more along the lines of "have you considered ____ in your model" to which I could answer "why yes I have".... (much easier then the previous queston)

My committee members seemed to think my presentation was good, so I'm happy. I got all my paperwork filled out so I will now be on dissertation hours for the rest of my time at UCF (only need to take 3 hours per semester instead of 9 to remain a full time student). So now I've got two hurdles down and two to go for my degree (still have to slog through proposal and defense.... but at least they make sense as opposed to this random candidacy requirement)

I think I'm now going to sit in front of the TV and veg before getting back to lab work tomorrow.

Blab

Today, at 1:00 p.m. EST, is Will's candidacy defense! So please send any positive vibes this way if you read this before then. :-) Will's mom sent him a care package of several containers of brownies.....yum!

No brownies from me - since I am a Bad Wife, instead, I met up for dinner with my old manager back at EY last night. She was in town for a firm conference. Her daughter is exactly 10 days younger than Annika, so we've always had fun swapping pregnancy/kid stories.

Annika has been cracking us up with some of the things she "doesn't have." She likes to point out what is lacking in her life. The other day she saw a picture of a diamond. "Oooh - that is a really cool diamond! I think I have never had a diamond before. Sometime I will have to get one." Dream on, girl!

Right on cue, since Will really needed to get a good night's sleep, Daniel slept horribly last night. He woke up at midnight and 2:30, AND wouldn't go back to sleep at 2:30. This hasn't happened since mid-June! Go figure.

Good luck, Will!

Dollar Tree

I have a new favorite store (okay, 2nd favorite - Target, you have my heart forever). The Dollar Tree! They are in malls around the country and what I would call a "true" dollar store. None of this "$2.50" or "5.00" nonsense - everything in there is a dollar. (Including pregnancy tests.)

And, courtesy of the store, Annika is now the proud recipient of a stuffed dolphin and whale! They've already engaged in competition on the way home in the car. "The whale wants to be better than the dolphin," Annika told Daniel in the back seat, "But the dolphin wants to be better than the whale. So he is sad. I will make him feel better." I'm not quite sure which animal "him" is, but feeling better is always good.

Here she is, enthusiastically showing off her new friends.

10 Sentences

I've gotten busy and have become a bad blogger. Here are 10 random sentences about what we're up to.

1. I e-mailed and mailed out my pilot study today.
2. I got a favorable review letter on a paper today that we submitted in, oh, NOVEMBER.
3. I'm still waiting to hear on 2 papers that I submitted in January.
4. Can you tell that I am at school now and thinking about school?
5. Will is home with Daniel today.
6. Daniel is getting even more huge - we think he weighs 18 pounds.
7. Will's candidacy is only a few days away!
8. Annika seems not as excited about school now, since a lot of her friends aren't here this term.
9. Annika wants to go on a train trip sometime.
10. Daniel and Annika are both looking forward to seeing Nonnie in less than a week!

Hope you are well!

By the Numbers

Today, courtsey of our craptastic insurance policy, we headed over to the county department to get Annika's scheduled immunizations, where they do vaccines on a walk-in only basis. Here's a recap of the fun:

• Time the health deparment opened: 7:30 a.m.
• Time that we arrived: 7:30 a.m.
• Assigned Number that we received upon arrival: 14
• Number of people we saw working there: 11
• Number of those people that actually gave immunizations: 1
• Time that our number 14 was called: 11:20 a.m.
• Number of shots that Annika received: 5
• Time that we finished: 11:40 a.m.
• Annika's handling of the whole situation: 100

The Sunset State?

I came across an interesting article from Time from a couple of weeks ago on why Florida is in trouble right now.

It opens like this:

"Greetings from Florida, where the winters are great! Otherwise, there's trouble in paradise. We're facing our worst real estate meltdown since the Depression. We've got a water crisis, insurance crisis, environmental crisis and a budget crisis to go with our housing crisis. We're first in the nation in mortgage fraud, second in foreclosures, last in high school graduation rates...." Click here to read the rest.

As a current 3-year resident of the Sunshine State, I thought a lot of the observations were dead-on. We love the wonderful people we have gotten to know here, our college, church, daycare, the close proximity of theme parks, and yes, the great winters. But I must say that I have never appreciated Kansas and the rest of the Midwest quite as much.

It's Getting Hot in Here

This weekend was HOT. In addition to the usual 95% humidity, the sun was in full force and the temperatures were in the upper 90s. Yuck. We tried to experience this first-hand on both days.

On Saturday, we headed near downtown for a "Family Theatre Festival." They had a bunch of activities for kids set up, especially arts and crafts projects. Annika enjoyed it, but the rest of us preferred taken turns under the "cooling fans" that were set up. [The whole event was sponsored by a major retailer whose logo is a birght red bullseye, which was oh-so-subtly placed on every object there.]

Today, Will went on a heroic mission: Conquering the grass! Our lawn is made with St. Augustine grass, which according to Wikipedia, "forms a thick, carpetlike lawn, crowding out most weeds and other grasses." Well. The problem with that is that it can also crowd out things like the sidewalk. With the purchase of an edger, Will spent several hours attempting to chop back the jungle that had grown onto the sidewalk by several feet. Will 2, Jungle 1.

The heat didn't stop Daniel's favorite activity. We attempted to put a bib on him....but the only ones that would fit over his neck were larger ones that had belonged to Annika. We can torture Daniel with this later.

The Aristocats

One of Annika's favorite questions to ask is, "Is it the weekend or not?" Unfortunately, the majority of the time the answer is "not." However, after school today, the answer was "yes," since Friday night is really the start of the weekend, right? This means that Annika can watch a video, which from the way that she talks, is just about the highlight of her being.

This evening, she watched The Aristocats. I'd never seen this before and was pleasantly surprised. Most of what I remember from childhood as being terrifying (Bambi's mother is killed! Cinderella's step-mother is mean! Snow White's step-mother is evil! Pinocchio is really really creepy!) has, with the addition of my daughter, become even more inappropriate. Why oh why must all children's cinema have so much violence, doom, and eminent peril? [Complete aside - any of you remember The Care Bears movie? The memory of that one still creeps me out.]

But back to The Aristocats. It had cute kittens, was very sweet, and about the worst that happened was that the misguided butler tried to get rid of the cats - but no threat of death involved!

Which leads to another "aristocats" reference - Will tells me there is an entire movie devoted to comedians telling a joke about the "Aristocats," aka "the world's dirtiest joke." Figures - nothing that wholesome can go un-mined.

Quarter-Year Birthday

Daniel is 3 months old today! That makes him 1/4 years old, or the ever-popular 0.25. Watch him grow up. Here he is in the hospital when he was born.

We took a picture of Annika every month until she was about 18 months. At the time, we did it in front of our fireplace in KC, because, "We might not always have a piece of furniture, but we will always have our fireplace." [Insert laugh track here.] With Daniel, we decided that we would have better odds of sticking with a teddy bear that our friends gave to Daniel. Here he is at 1 month.

By 2 months, it is even more evident that Daniel is a chunker.

And earlier today, at 3 months!

Problems with yesterday's workout notwithstanding (*ahem* #3), I am surprisingly sore today.

Baby-Roma

Today, I attempted to work out with Daniel thanks to a long-lost purchase: "Mom-o-rama." The idea is for "real moms" to work out with their "real babies" to get a "real good workout," so that you don't have to drag your baby out for a walk in the Florida monsoon or give up even one minute of precious naptime.

However, the box did not advise of the following:

1. Your baby may not want to be used as a free-weight.

2. Your baby's eyes may be glued like magnets to the screen anytime he is facing out, leading you to wonder whether you are beginning the insidious process of grooming a TV addict.

3. Best of all, when lifting your baby up as part of a "chest press" exercise, your baby may spit up all over your face. Twice.

This and That

Annika stayed home from school again today, but seems to be back to her normal self now. Hoorah! Being at home gave her the chance to explore some of her current obsessions, such as listening to her tape of Frog and Toad Together over. and. over.

Game time tonight was taken over by Block Time, by "building a house for unicorn," or, alternatively, "building a tower for unicorn and her friends."

[Okay, so that picture wasn't taken today. But it IS actually of Annika!]

Daniel, for his part, has also recovered from his own "injuries." He got scratched by a curious toddler of one of my friends last week, and Annika decided that he needed a band-aid then.

[Clearly, Daniel continues to be plagued by mal-nutrition.]

One of the many nicknames that we've christened Daniel with is "Little D." Annika has decided that he should more aptly be "Little B," as in "Daniel's the Little B! Buzz Buzz." Who could blame her? The girl loves animals.

[Yeah, the grass is tall, but the front yard is awesome.]

Speaking of cool backyards, Will has documented proof that the raccoon of yonder actually lives up in our tree, right above the swing set.

In other exciting news, Will finally wrote his candidacy exam - woo hoo! He will be defending it on July 29th.

And that's it for the random happenings of our world.

Sick, sick, sick

Annika usually has an Immune System of Steel. However, the bubble has been burst. Yesterday afternoon we noticed that she was feeling warm. [Well, I should add that the first sign something was amiss was that she was unusually polite on Sunday morning and didn't want to eat a cookie at church.] She now seems to have a full blown stomach bug or flu. Poor girl! Annika probably hasn't been this sick since we first moved to Florida (reflecting her usual insane healthiness).

But we had a wonderful time on Saturday. We spent the day at Cypress Gardens, "Florida's Original Theme Park," after receiving some free passes in the mail. It was perfect for two little kiddos. If you visit Florida, we will try to drag you there!

Hijacking the Blog

It's 12:30 AM, I'm back from campus after working on writing my dreaded Candidacy Exam. Amy is off to bed so I get to take over the blog for a wild night of fun. Writing this exam has been like pulling teeth, it's got a pre-ordained minimum length requirement, but the amount of material out there actually related directly to my research is minimal at best, so I'm stuck coming up with enough BS to fill the required minimum word limit.

[What I would find preferable to writing my candidacy]

I got to hang out at home today with Daniel while Amy got some time to work feverishly on campus. The coolest thing that happened to us was the arrival of a visitor in the backyard. I looked out at the patio around lunchtime and saw a huge raccoon checking out Annika's toys. I grabbed the camera and found him hanging out in our tree. Here are a couple of shots:

Hopefully he'll make an appearance sometime when Annika is around to see him.

Goodnight to you all... I'm off to bed.

-Will

I'm Going Slightly Mad

After cataloging all of my school and work obligations for the next 3 months, I have determined that the best course of action is to give up sleep. Bummer.

Both of our children are having clothing issues. Annika today wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to school (complete with sparkly pink 'princess shoes'), a very prudent choice since the weather is only 90 degrees and about 175% humidity. This was improved by the fact that her pants were at least 2 sizes too small. Daniel continues to grow like a weed, and I refuse to accept that he has already outgrown so many of his clothes. Instead, I am determined to still cram on any of the 0-3 month outfits that still work. ['Cause those sizes are entirely age-based.] We are quite the fashion mavens.

Swing, swing, swing

Annika never used her swing. In fact, we debated whether we should even bring it all the way to FL, since it seemed doomed to a fate of Eternal Dust Gathering. However, bringing it has turned out to be an excellent decision, and is sometimes the only thing that will calm Daniel down.

Daniel has also started engaging in full-on coo mode, and can have a whole conversation, complete with intonation, while cooing. Unfortunately, he senses any time the video camera is present and clamps up. So while we don't have any documentation of that, we do have proof that he is a Really Darn Cute Baby.

On Slings and Snow

After a major, um, explosion took the Baby Bjorn carrier out of commission, I switched over to the Hotsling (yes, the "hot sling," get it?). Will and my mom have both deemed this the Most Expensive Piece of Fabric Known to Mankind.

However, I must say that I LOVE this sling. Daniel wasn't a big fan of it in the newborn position, which is lying down. However, he looks pretty content in it now that he can face out. I'm hoping it can become my carrier of choice with him.

In other news, we have officially decided that Annika needs to visit Kansas when it is hot. Or at least when it is not winter. We got some "U.S. State stickers" in he mail and the picture of Kansas, naturally, was a giant Sunflower with the sun in the background. "That's not Kansas!" Annika informed me. "Kansas only has snow!"

Shoe Horse

Some people are clothes horses. Annika? She is a Shoe Horse. Somehow she morphed from a toddler that screamed in terror whenever we had to buy shoes.....to a pre-schooler that LOVES shoes. We could entertain her for hours just by having her try on shoes.

Today, Will took the kids to Kohls while I studied and Annika tried on pair after pair. "Oh, these are cute!" she exclaimed, taking each pair over to admire in front of the mirror.

Later, we switched out and I took the kids to Target. The were having a 50% off sale on sandals, and Annika enjoyed finding shoes in her size that were on sale: "I wear a 10 or an 11. An eleven is two ones. It is just the right size for me."

In the end, we found a new pair of sandals to replace her too-small ones now. Here is the Shoe Horse herself at home, glowing in her new find.

Lazy, Hazy Days

We took advantage of the 3-day weekend to have a nice, relaxing time. So relaxing, in fact, that one of the high points of yesterday was enjoying a chocolate dipped cone from McDonalds. We all agreed that McD's across the nation should implement such a glorious treat.

Unfortunately, Daniel did not get to partake.

That evening, we used the pool of our Super Cool Neighbors. We took turns swimming in the water with Annika.

This morning, Will sang in the choir at church, while both Annika and Daniel got to hang out in the church nursery. Annika got to play with her buddy, and got a kick out of seeing Daniel in the room next door. Daniel did great - it makes me think he will do just fine when he goes to daycare.

July Fireworks Night

[Annika declared last night, "It's July Fireworks Night! So you have to stay up late to watch the fireworks, and you can't go to bed."]

We had a lovely Fourth of July. In the morning, we went to a celebration at nearby Affluent Town, where, flush with property tax windfalls, they had free activities, free music, and best of all, free lunch. As a non-resident of Affluent Town, I think this was a particularly excellent use of revenue.

We made sure to dress Daniel in Preppy Clothes for the occasion.

Annika got a balloon ladybug out of the deal.

We then headed home, where we picked up the house and Will mowed the Jungle that is our Lawn (seriously? grass can grow 2 feet in a week?). Annika was a big help with the living room and the play room.

That evening, we had some of our friends over for a BBQ.....yummy! We finished up with some genuine frozen yogurt that they made.

Our evening was capped off by a visit to Not As Affluent Town, where we hung out in a strip mall parking lot and enjoyed the fireworks show from the comfort of our car. Although it promised to be a Disastrous Event, with a screaming newborn and a terrified pre-schooler, when the actual show started, it was really magical.

Happy Fourth of July!

Mr. Mom

[What, you don't think Will looks like Michael Keaton?]

This summer, I've been staying home with Daniel and trying to squeeze in work while he naps and at night. [Mantra of the PhD program - We have a flexible job. You can work whatever 80 hours a week you choose]. Needless to say, nothing around the house gets done.

Today, we traded places - I went to campus while Will stayed at home. And he is an awesome at-home person - not only was Daniel happy to spend time with Daddy, we had dinner waiting when we returned home, laundry was done again, food was bought, and Good Times Were Had By All.

Board Game Mania

[In case you think that cover looks off, it is because they have CHANGED IT since we were kids. Hasbro executives, why must you mess with a good thing?]

Annika has become Game Obsessed. Our typical evening now goes something like this: get home, eat dinner, spend 1.5 hours playing every board game we own. She is really into Candyland and "The Ladybug game," and has picked up concentration really well. Not too surprising, since we own about 27 thousand different games.

What IS surprising is how much she wants to try the "'Dult Games," especially Cranium Turbo Charged. Annika likes the buzzer but doesn't quite get the concept - "I want a card that is YES." [If you have ever played Cranium, you are probably still searching for those infamous Yes Cards.]

And lest you think that only one of our children has a new interest, I present to you Daniel, Prince of the Spit Up. He can spot a new, unmarked outfit from a mile away. That is only matched by his ability to realize that you are barefoot, and hence spitting up is that much more pleasurable.

If they come up with a Spit Up Board Game, we are so there.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!

[Not a picture of Daniel. But you can pretend!]

Sleep is one of those commodities that you don't appreciate until it is gone.

When Daniel was born, he was a terrible sleeper. He wouldn't sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. Even more frustrating, once he woke up at night, he wouldn't go back to sleep.

But now? Daniel is 10 weeks old and has turned into a great night sleeper . He now sleeps from around 9 or 10 at night until 6 or 7 the next day. Through the night!

The past 5 nights, he has achieved a new milestone - sleeping in his crib, in his own room. This is an even bigger milestone since our bedroom is downstairs and his is upstairs, clear on the other side of the house. We have the monitor in there, but he doesn't get upset when he wakes up - we will hear a quiet noise cooing in the morning. And even better, Daniel is just full of smiles, grinning from ear to ear, when you pick him up.

Annika is excited to not be the only person upstairs at night now. "When Daniel is four," she announced this morning, "He can share my room with me."