Stay at Home Motherhood

I'm finally done with this quarter's teaching, and free at last! Still catching up on a substantial sleep debt, and I still have to go and move out of my office, but all in all, I'm absolutely delighted to have submitted grades and officially left the payroll and switched onto Ephiny's benefits.

(I've still had absolutely appalling teaching nightmares over the past couple of days, though -- I wonder how long those will linger. Given that I periodically had student nightmares long after I was no longer a student, I think it might be a while.)

I documented my last day at work with a photo in the bathroom as I departed campus:

Your eye might be drawn to several things:
1.) the enormity of the awkwardly clutched roll of posters that I had to grade, now finished.
2.) that my bag was so full of papers that it didn't even close... all graded now!
3.) the fact that I've seriously let myself go physically, and I didn't even learn from the photo because immediately after said photograph I went and had conveyor belt sushi in ridiculous quantity while grading the exams.

The conveyor belt sushi selections were, however, all-cooked and low-mercury, because the tired, beleaguered, crazy-hair nature of the above photo is not entirely due to having two new courses (a totally new prep and an overhaul of a course with a new prereq), or having taught freshmen, or having to work 16 hour work days twice a week... but rather, it's that I did all of the above while also gestating what we hope will be the next member of our family!

I've been loath to announce this pregnancy because it's been an almost unbearably long road to get here, with several losses along the way, but this time we've made it past the anatomy scan and are currently at the point where babies have survived if born this early. Also, it's starting to just be obvious, as per above picture, so I think it's time to come out of the closet.

Some more info about Baby #2:

• Due October 21st, aka "there had better be an outside baby by Halloween or there will be threat of forcible eviction".
  
• Code name Iceman, after Top Gun, hoping for a rule-abiding pregnancy!
  • Actual name is classified until birth, though it has been selected since before this little one was even in existence. (This time it's Ephiny's chance to get to use one of her ultra-favorite names in the world!)
• Will be providing gender-balance to our family, as boy parts were present along with all the other important bits! We couldn't be more excited about this!!
  
• Has ridiculously excited big-brother, already concerned about his lack of sock-wearing in utero.
  
• Head measuring well over a week ahead of the rest of him, so help me.
  
  

More about the adventures of Guinevere and Jolly on the beautiful island beaches and in the kitchen, later. Suffice it to say that I am loving my new line of work wholeheartedly!