Post Holiday Post

We've just returned from spending Christmas in FL with my husband's family. We drove the 10+ hours, which with a 2 year old is no small feat! Callen actually did great for most of the time. We divided the drive over 2 days on the way to FL but made the long trek back in one day - which was harder on Callen and us! But, it was good to be home and in our own beds again. It is always nice to visit with family and friends, but also nice to come home again.

We took Callen to see Santa for the first time while we were in FL. We stood in line 30 minutes until it was our turn. When it was Callen's turn to sit on Santa's lap, she would have no part of it! She screamed and held onto me for dear life! Guess you've figured out - we didn't buy those Santa pix! Maybe next year she'll be more willing to sit with Santa and tell him what she'd like for Christmas.

I've really been amazed in the past couple of weeks how Callen's vocabulary and her sentence structures have developed. It also seems that she's beginning to look more and more like a little girl and less like a toddler! I'm not sure I'm ready for her to grow up so fast...

I hope you all had great holidays; I look forward to hearing about them soon! Oh, and the Christmas cards still haven't been written on this end, but hopefully soon : ).

Time Again

I know I talk a lot in these blog postings about how fast time goes by, but I have to say it again: I can't believe how fast the last month has gone! The end of the semester is always frenetic with grading, exams, and finishing up everything before the holidays. However, this end of the semester was even more frenetic.

All the departments in my current building had to pack up their departments as we were all moving to a brand new building this week! The new building is so beautiful! So, in the midst of finishing up the semester, we were all packing boxes (I had 39!). In addition, I flew out to a conference last Friday and didn't return until after midnite Tuesday night. I'm also working on a grant proposal that is due in just a few weeks and way too many papers. And, of course, getting ready to travel again in a few days. Bo and I haven't written the 1st Christmas card yet. For all you good friends who have been sending us cards -- we hope to send out cards within the next month : ).

I went to a fabulous workshop at the conference last weekend. It was on Time Management (how ironic, huh!). I'm determined to try to implement some of the wonderful strategies I learned in the all day workshop. For those of you who have seen my prior offices, you'll recall that I'm not the best manager of paper. Hopefully in my new office with my new time management skills, I will be better about this : ).

Even with the time flying by, the travels have been great and all the boxes began to arrive today! Maybe in January I'll have time to start unpacking!

I hope you all have a great holiday season and safe travels wherever you may roam!

Youth and Technology

After dropping off Callen at her school this morning, I stopped by my local Panera and graded papers from my undergrad mental health class (and I actually finished grading all of them this morning -- whoo hoo!). Their assignment was to examine how the media portrays some aspect of mental health. They've been presenting their projects over the past week of classes.

I've been amazed at the variety of media images that the students have been able to find depicting aspects of mental health -- from news reports on various news' websites to commercials to movies to clips from You Tube. I knew there were a lot of films and videos that dealt either directly or indirectly with issues of mental health, but I wasn't aware of the prevalence of clips on You Tube. The huge number of clips presented from You Tube has really amazed me! I should examine You Tube in more detail the next time I teach this course!

Here's to youth and technology. . .

Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by You Tube for making this post : ). However, if they'd like to pay me, please contact me!

Book Suggestions?

I'm scheduled to host my book club in January. I'm looking for good books. Have you read any good books lately that I should consider for our January book club? We're reading Words Without Songs for December. I'm not much into historical pieces; other than that I'm pretty open to suggestions.

So, what good books have you read lately and what made them good?

So Many Things . . .

There's so much information being put on the Internet! I'm constantly amazed at the vastness of the material. While not all of it that I encounter is useful to me or relevant in some way to my life, I often find things that I think are very valuable and that I'd like to pass along to others.

This afternoon I was browsing some of the blogs I have linked off my blog. I went to Eszter's blog and saw a link to anti-sexist and anti-consumerist books for kids. I clicked on it and found a great blog! I encourage you all to check it out -- particularly if you often wonder about the types of info/toys/etc. to which you give and/or expose your kids. I've added a link to the blog in my list of blog links and to the specific page where the books are detailed below.

http://outside-the-toybox.com/good-news/anti-sexistanti-consumerist-childrens-books/

Hope you have great explorations on the 'net . . .

First Lights...

Christmas is on the way! I saw the first Christmas tree all lit up on Saturday night in our neighborhood. Is it me, or does this seem a little early for putting up a tree? Although, as fast as time flies for me, maybe I should start decorating now : ).

As I've previously blogged, time goes by so fast, especially this time of the year. With the end of the semester, grading, our dept. moving to a new building (hmm, guess I should start packing my office sometime soon :), and holiday and work travel, I'm sure before I turn around it will be 2008!

I hope we can all take time this holiday season to reflect upon the many wonderful things in our lives and to slow down and enjoy this wonderful time of the year.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Just some musings on a Monday morning. . .

Fever and Toddlers

Tuesday late afternoon we got a call about Callen being sick (running a fever) at her school. We kept a check on her that night, then took her to the doctor on Wed. No strept, no ear infection, nothing abnormal, and no fever. So, back to school she went on Thursday. We get a call at noon today. She had a temp of 103.7 at noon. Bo takes her back to the doctor; again, no signs of anything abnormal. The school and doctor said there's some type of fever virus going around now.

Poor baby! She is feeling pretty miserable tonite. Tuesday night and Wed. she played and didn't appear to feel bad. But, tonite you can definitely tell that she doesn't feel well.

The doctor said to give her tylenol every 4-5 hours and to keep her hydrated.

Anything else you can do to help a toddler with a fever? I hate feeling so helpless!

Good Memories

We had a busy weekend. We had a party for Callen's 2nd birthday. Lots of Callen's friends came to her party. Hopefully they all had a good time! Callen certainly did. She loved her Elmo cake!

In addition, one of my best friends and her partner came in from NC for a visit. We went to the zoo on Sunday. What a gorgeous day! Dawn took some great pix!

Halloween

Ok, so this is almost a week late being posted : ). It has been a busy few weeks for me at work.

Callen was a pumpkin for Halloween this year. She liked wearing her costume, especially the hat. She likes wearing hats in general.

Her class had a little party in the afternoon and parents were invited. Aren't the kids cute?

Halloween night we drove Callen around to a few friends' homes for trick or treating. Unfortunately our neighborhood isn't great for trick or treating. Here's Callen in the car getting ready to go. She had a great time, especially once she figured out that you get candy!

ICT Use in Public Places

Today and last Tuesday morning I stopped by Panera Bread after dropping Callen off at school. I decided it would be nice to have a bagel and tea, and work a little while enjoying the atmosphere.

I've been amazed both times at (1) how busy Panera is at that time in the morning and (2) how many people are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) at Panera. It is nice that they have free wireless access so you can eat, work, and surf the web, check email, etc.

There has been such an interesting variety of people using ICTs in Panera each morning I've been there. There are some students, a range of young adults on a variety of cell phones and computers, and a good number of middle aged professionals (dressed in business attire) meeting in small groups, with their laptops, PDAs, etc.

I just wonder what jobs these people have and how mobile on the go they are. They all seem busy working when I've observed them.

Just some thoughts on a beautiful fall morning. . .

The Rush Is On....

Am I the only one who feels like the rush is on already? Fall often times seems so frenetic, especially as it gets closer and closer to the holidays. This one seems especially so. I think part of it is just being really busy at work with my classes, research, and service responsibilities; then you add upcoming conferences, a birthday party for our 2 year old to plan, the house that never stays tidy, holiday travels, etc. and the list goes on and on....with the result being time flies by way too fast!

Fall is my favorite time of the year; I think I just have to slow down and realize that everything that is important will eventually get done and the rest of the things -- well, maybe they didn't really need doing anyway : ). So, if you're at our house anytime soon and you see a mess, you'll know why : ).

Do you have specific ways that you try to slow time down, enjoy the moments, etc.?

Here's to remembering to breathe and enjoying the moments as they go by way too fast. . .

All Things Callen

I thought I'd do a posting about Callen since it has been a while. She's almost 2 now! We're trying to decide what to do for her birthday. Any suggestions? We had way too big of a party last year, especially for a 1 year old who wasn't walking yet.

Here's a pix of Callen from September when we were visiting friends in Maryland. Our dear friends Tom and Di bought a little pool for Callen to play in while we were visiting. Callen loves the water!

For some reason Callen won't let us put bows, pony tail holders, etc. in her hair. However, the teachers at her school say she likes playing beauty salon. Take a look at Callen with pig tails (it sure would be nice if mommy and daddy could figure out how to get the red eye out!).

Last weekend we went to homecoming at UAB. Here's Callen cheering on the Blazers!

And, a picture of our family at homecoming.

It Figures . . .

. . .the night I'm late getting home from work there would be a story on ABC News that my husband says 'oh you just missed a story on moms who blog'. Did anyone see this news story last night? I found a link to it on abcnews.com: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Story?id=3731658&page=2. Take a look at it.

I've never thought about having 1000s and 1000s of people read my blog, but evidently a lot of mommy blogs have large numbers reading their blogs. Hmmm, might be an interesting topic to study. . .

I wonder how the mom in the story has time to blog with 5 kids, being a stay at home mom, and everything else she needs to do on a daily basis. I wish I had her energy : )

"I Do It, Mommy"

My daughter is changing so fast! Yesterday was her 23 month birthday. We were in my study doing something and Callen looked at me and said "I do it, mommy". She didn't want me to do it. This was the first time she has clearly articulated in sentence form that she can do something, rather than just using gestures or simple words to illustrate she wants to do something. She has also in the past week started identifying objects as 'my baby doll', 'my fork', etc. Oh, how fast they change and how independent they become!

I know we all ideally want our children to grow up and be strong and independent, but it is also somewhat sad to see them becoming more and more independent. I know she'll always love me, but I miss some of the dependence that comes with her being a baby, then an infant, and now a toddler. On the other hand, I look forward to lots more of the 'I do it, mommy' in the coming months and seeing my toddler progress in her development!

Here's to our wonderful and amazing children...may they always continue to inspire us!

New School

Callen started her new school this week. Although she's been a little clingy in the mornings (as she was last week at her daycare), she seems to be thriving. I really like that she's among kids more her own age (as opposed to several who were quite a bit younger at her old daycare).

Monday they had live music with someone playing the guitar. Yesterday, they sang with Elvis! They learn Spanish and computer skills. What would we have been like with all these experiences as a kid?

A really cool thing about her new school is that they have live video feeds from the classrooms, so I can log in and watch her periodically during the day. How cool is that? I love logging on and seeing what she's doing during the day! A very neat application of technology.

Here's to many more good days at Callen's new school!

Early Waking

We had a fun-filled day yesterday and when I went to bed last night, I was really tired and went to sleep almost immediately. However, 4 AM rolled around and I was awake and haven't been able to get back to sleep. I occasionally have trouble sleeping -- usually it is when I have lots on my mind related to work, a trip, or something that is upcoming in my life or that of my family.

I often times will stay in bed and try to go back to sleep. After an hour or so of rolling around, however, I usually get up and think 'I'll get some work done' : ). We'll see how successful that idea is tonite/this morning...

One reason I couldn't go back to sleep this morning is because a new call for proposals was released from NSF that I plan to submit something for. So, my mind kept thinking about things for the proposal. I've not found a good way to turn off my mind/brain when I wake up in the middle of the night.

Any suggestions for how to get back to sleep when your mind won't turn off in the middle of the night?

Perspective

The last 36 hours haven't been all that great for me and several things culminated yesterday to make me think - what is going on??? A good friend of mine helped me put things in perspective; she said go home and give Callen a big hug and remember that is what is important in life and not all the crap that creeps in from time to time. So, I picked Callen up yesterday and gave her several big hugs, and the world seemed a much better place. It is so easy to let some events, particularly those at work, cause us stress; they creep into our lives and have more of an impact than we'd like. In reality, the events of the past 36 hours are tiny blips in the story of my life; however, the love of my family and seeing my beautiful daughter's face are more important to me than any blip along the way. Here's to keeping things in perspective and not letting the blips along the road of life get to us!

Social Networks and Distance

Over the past week or so I've had several conversations with friends and colleagues about having a child and living far from family and close friends. A colleague even remarked that his wife told him the first 8 years they lived in NY she was angry all the time and she realized it was because they were there, without family nearby, with young kids. We pretty much all agree that individuals who live near their families, in particular, and have kids may not realize how much easier they have it than do those who don't live near families. There is a caveat of course -- your family has to want and be willing to provide assistance when needed : )

On Saturday Bo and I had some things to do that were accomplished much easier and quicker without Callen being with us. We hired a babysitter to watch her for a few hours. How much easier would it have been if we could have called on Aunt Suzanne or Nana to watch Callen? Don't get me wrong, we had a great babysitter who Callen adores! However, just the coordination and cost involved, rather than having handy family members nearby, makes us realize how much we miss by not living closer to family members, in particular.

I wonder what strategies other parents use to overcome the lack of family in their nearby geographic community. Any suggestions or ideas to pass along to others?

3 Times in One Day?

I had my annual gyn appt. earlier this week. I'm not sure if it is people hearing/knowing that you have a gyn appt. or what it is, but I had 3 people in 2 different states ask me if Bo and I were going to have a second child. All three of these inquiries were before noon that day! I kept thinking, what is going on today?

How do you handle that question? My answer was 'probably not, but we're not positive'. In some ways I think I'd like to have another child; in other ways, I think no. I really enjoyed being pregnant and never had any complications from it. However, working full time demanding jobs, raising a toddler, and never having enough time to get half of what we need to done makes me very hesitant to even think about it. I really admire people who can 'do it all' especially with several kids.

So, how do other parents 'do it all'?

Doing Religion in the South

I must admit I'm not a very religious person. Since moving to AL, I'm constantly amazed at how religious this area is compared to other areas where I've lived. You see religion 'being done' in tv and radio shows, on billboards and bumper stickers, and even in interactions with strangers. I remember just after we moved here we were opening new bank accounts and the bank worker, who seemed to know everyone who came into the bank, stopped to introduce us to someone and she said: 'This is Shelia and Bo; they just moved to AL and they may not have found a church yet..." I was amazed at this at that time, but not so much anymore.

Well this morning on the way to work I saw religion being done on the back of a commercial truck, in a more productive way than I often see it. I wish I had had one of the cell phones with a camera. I would have loved to take a picture of it. Basically, the quote said: 'Don't take your organs to Heaven; Heaven knows we need them here.'

As someone who believes in the value of organ donation, I was glad to see this display. Maybe one way to appeal to the masses is to relate to something that they value highly or strongly.

Just some musings on a Monday morning . . .

Reunions

This weekend was my 20 year college reunion. I can't believe it has been 20 years since I graduated from my undergrad college, Wake Forest! I didn't make it to the reunion this time -- too much going on with work, too far, and a myriad of other reasons.

I did make it to the 15 year reunion, which was fun. Most of my fellow graduates had kids and were very successful in their jobs. At that time I was in my first academic tenure track job and still trying to figure out my niche in academia. Five years later I definitely feel more settled in my career and I too have a child. I wonder how many of my fellow graduates have young kids at this point in their lives. I know many of the people that I went to high school with have kids that are almost grown by this point.

Reunions are a nice time to reflect on where you are and where you still hope to go with your life. I miss having not gone to Wake this weekend for my reunion -- to see old friends who I rarely keep in touch with anymore, to see how the campus has changed, and to take time to reflect on where I've been and where I hope to go in the next 20 years.

Here's to reunions and to having time to reflect on our lives!

In The News

I was interviewed via phone yesterday morning for a story a reporter is doing on social networking sites (SNS - ex. Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc.). She had looked at some profiles on Bebo and was surprised at the level of profanity and the nature of some of the pictures on this SNS. I'm not all that familiar with Bebo, so couldn't really comment much on that SNS specifically. She was also interested in the impact of children viewing profanity and other things on these sites.

One of the things the reporter wondered was whether there was an age that was too young for children to use SNS. That is a good question. There are now so many different sites available and so many ways to form networks related to particular interests/topics on any given site that they could potentially be interesting to children of almost all ages who are capable of understanding how to use a computer.

So, I wonder, at what age will you let your children use social networking sites? My 22 month old already loves playing with the computer when we're on it. I'm not ready for her to have her own website or blog yet, but maybe soon : )

I wonder what the future will hold for the youth of today in terms of technology and the social impacts of technology. Any thoughts on this topic?

So Many Things of Interest . . . So Little Time . . .

I think one of the reasons that I became a sociologist is because the social world fascinates me. There are so many things of interest to me that I would like to study and that need to be studied that it is hard to say "no" when you see opportunities. I wonder though how well we do things when we over commit ourselves.

Some of my graduate students have such great ideas of things they want to study; it is hard to remind them to keep their feet grounded until they finish their dissertations when it is hard for me to not branch out as I think of and see new things I'd like to investigate.

I mentioned in an earlier post that it is harder and harder to find time to think and write the longer I'm in academia. I think part of this is because we become more and more involved in 'new' projects. A friend of mine once remarked that he felt almost like a small business owner, as he tried to manage all his projects and the associated tasks and other people involved. I understand what he means.

So, I'll keep pursuing my interests but also try to be mindful that I have limited time and resources with which to pursue new projects (as best I can anyway!). If you have suggestions for how to manage time and projects, please feel free to post a comment.

Here's to pursuing our interests, managing our time, and doing it all in some semblance of order . . .

Turning Points

Does it ever seem like some things in life are just harder than they should be, whether they're jobs, relationships, groups we belong to, interactions that we have, etc.? I wonder why they have to be this way, and should this indicate to us that something needs to change in our lives when it feels like things are harder than they should be. As someone who studies stress and its impacts on society, I know that individuals who are stressed at times report that things seem harder. But, should there be a point when we determine 'hey, this is too hard too often and maybe it shouldn't be this way'. Wouldn't it be helpful if we could say: if you've had something in your life feel like it is harder than it should be 12 out of the past 15 days, then it is time to 'cut bait'/move on/make changes/etc.? Unfortunately life is never this easy and there are no magic formulas to tell us when we need to make a turning point in our lives. Just some musings on a busy Sunday afternoon . . .

Time Passages

I don't think I'm the only one that thinks that time passes by so quickly. It seems that a work week starts and before I know it, it is Friday already. Of course, the weekends pass by even faster! I remember back when I was in grad school that weekends didn't seem to go by so quickly. Was my life just less busy then? You wouldn't think so -- with all the reading, working on papers and research projects, hanging out with friends, thinking about life after graduate school, etc. Maybe it was just that I sensed more freedom with my time then. Now, with a family, my time seems more bounded. My toddler goes to bed around 8:00 PM; my husband has to be at work at 8:00 AM. We work together to get our daughter ready in the mornings, while at the same time trying to get ourselves ready for our days. And, time passes along. Sometimes I wonder where the time went; I also try to remember the memorable and not so memorable events that have transpired. Maybe this blog will help me to be more reflective of time and time passages.

The Luxury of Working at Home and Other Simple Pleasures

One of the things I enjoy most about academia is being able to work where I choose, for the most part. I'm trying to work at home 2 days per week this semester; so far I've only managed one day per week at home working. It seems the longer I'm in academia, the more meetings I have and the less time I have to think and write. Why is that?

Fall semesters always seem busier than spring semesters to me for some reason. Maybe it is because they start just after ASAs (our national sociology conference) and then the holidays hit, you're trying to get ready for visits with family, shopping, etc.

I sometimes wonder if a simpler life would be better. My brother has said for years that he wants to move to Alaska and live in a simple cabin. I'm sure that's not for me, but I wonder if there are ways that we could simplify our lives . . . maybe I'll try to think about that today, in between reading articles for my grad class, finding receipts for reimbursement, rescheduling meetings, etc. . . . at least I'll be doing them from the quiet comfort of my home...

Who Knew?

Google has this neat thing called Google Alerts that can notify you when your name is included in websites, etc. I subscribed a while back to it and sometimes I am surprised when I get an alert. Last Friday was one of these times.

I received an alert with a link to Amazon's website. Who knew that Amazon was now also selling journal articles? This was the first I'd heard of this. I knew about books (of course), dvds, and lots of other things, but journal articles? Were others aware of this or is this a new thing for Amazon?

Take a look:
http://www.amazon.com/Characteristics-offline-information-seekers-discriminate/dp/B000RR0IXK/ref=sr_1_10/105-1514198-4919610?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189008736&sr=1-10

First Post

Inspired by some other moms I know, I decided to try a blog of my own. I required my class last semester to blog on their course readings (it was a course on the social impacts of technology after all : ) and I blogged along with them. However, that blogging was strictly course related. I forsee this blog touching on many topics as life transpires -- thus the name of my blog -- musings, moments, and memorable events. I've felt for a while that I'd like to do this. I'm glad my mom friends have inspired me to actually begin the process.

We just returned from a trip to MD today. While it was a lot of fun seeing old friends, eating great crab cakes, and seeing Callen really enjoy her time in MD, I must say traveling with a toddler is exhausting! I wonder if it is related to mine and my husband's age (as we're both older parents) or if it is like this for everyone with a toddler. Callen is finally asleep in her own bed and we're relaxing before going back to work tomorrow.

Here's to many more musings, moments, and memorable events!