8 years ago

Tomorrow marks the 8 year "anniversary" of the day Paul asked me to marry him. It was a Saturday, and I stopped in State College to see him on the way home from my doctoral classes at IUP. Every weekend I would drive out to IUP on a Friday night (4.5 hour drive one way), spend the night at a classmate's house, go to class all day on Saturday, and then drive home that night. Paul was at PSU working on his BS in Math. I was very surprised. I remember what surprised me the most was that he had figured out which weekend would be best for us to get married in 2001 based on his schedule of summer classes at PSU and my schedule as principal. Paul is NOT a calendar type of guy. I doubt he's ever owned one, LOL. Of course I almost NEVER leave the house without a calendar. I've been carrying two in the diaper bag the last several weeks - 2008 and 2009. :-)

The next time I came through State College we went to the Victorian Manor for dinner to celebrate. I had no idea how expensive it was. I just thought it looked like a really pretty restaurant. Actually the bill wouldn't have been AS absurd as it was except we got salads. When they brought caviar and crackers out with our menus I thought oops this must be a really expensive restaurant! Actually the main courses we ordered weren't TOO ridiculous, but when Paul was asked if he wanted a salad he said yes as he thought it was included with the meal. Nope. The salad we ate cost about $15 alone. It was a very special salad though as he ordered ceasar and they wheeled out a cart and made the salad from scratch (including the dressing) right in front of us in a very entertaining manner. It was the most expensive side salad we've ever eaten, lol. Actually we've never spent anywhere near that amount for a meal then or since, but getting engaged was pretty special so in my mind it was worth it. I don't think Paul agrees. He still talks about the size of that bill every now and then. :-) Well he might regret that we ate dinner there, but I know he doesn't regret that he asked me to marry him. :-)

The longest stretch last night was only 3 1/2 hours. She went down easily the first time, but then the second time she woke up (4:00am) she was up for good. Well she went to sleep while I showered and got ready for school. So that makes two days in a row of getting up at 4am for me and no naps and only 6 hours of sleep a night. I am surprised at how well I am functioning on 6 hours of sleep a night when I usually notice the effects when I get less than 8-9 hours a night. Nadia has slept a lot more during the day today than she did yesterday; so I am going to wait longer to put her to bed in the hopes that a later bedtime will mean a later get up time. I was only at work for 5 hours today which was a good thing. Tomorrow I'll be home until about 3:30 when Paul will take over caring for Nadia until I get home at 8pm. Paul's mom is coming over in the morning to spend some time with Nadia so I can get some packing done. Today I did some work for the move - filled out the change of address form (again!) for the Post Office, called the phone company, called the electric company, etc. We move two weeks from tomorrow!

I haven't heard back from the Dean. I think she might have forgotten except as I was leaving today she and I crossed paths (and of course Nadia was in my arms). She asked me how we had left things, and I said she was going to contact HR and let me know what they said. I heard back from the union today, and they said that if my Dean says I can't bring my child to work then I can't. I talked with my dept chair on Friday and he didn't think the Dean was actually going to say I can't bring her. We shall see. My guess is maybe she'll let me finish this semester (presuming Nadia is good and doesn't disturb the other faculty on my hall), but I think I'll have to either take a leave or make other arrangements for Nadia in the spring. Thankfully Nadia was really good today for Ashley. If I work FT this semester maybe I can just teach one course (evening) in the spring and we'd still be eligible for health insurance (albeit I'd need to pay more than we do now). I have asked HR for more info on how this would work if I took a leave next semester. First I need to hear back from the Dean and then we probably have decisions to make.

Nadia definitely sounds worse. Last night her coughing woke both Paul and I up. I've had to remove LOTS of white stuff from her nostrils today or she sounds like she's choking. So I am not too convinced that the Zyrtec or soy formula are doing much since she's been on those for over a week now. Today is my 2nd day of almost no dairy (just cheese). Let me say I am already in missing it! I will only try it a few days. If she doesn't improve then I'm back to eating yogurt, ice cream, etc. If I find she improves, then I'll need to evaluate my choices as a friend of mine told me she became lactose intollerant after she gave up dairy products at one point in her life. I wouldn't want that to happen! I feel so badly that she's been congested for sooo long!!! I hope she feels better SOON.