Graduation was very long.  I wanted to sneak out and leave, but I sat through it.  ALL of it.  I was so glad when they called the last undergraduate.  In a couple of years, I will do it again.  Next time, I get a floppy hat to go with my tails.

See, I really did chop all of my hair off. I just realized Dr. J elected not to get the floppy hat when she was a PhD graduating.  How could you not. You earn the right to wear the floppy hat.  John was at my graduation, but I didn't get to take pictures with him.  My parents took him home early because the crowd was making him nervous.  They were loud and then they kept looking at him and touching him.  My mom said that people couldn't figure out what they were doing with that white baby that looked like them.  Jim said they should tell people that they went to South Africa to adopt an African baby.  I swear on my life that is what I will say if anyone asks me if I am his mom.

Mother's Day was nice.  It was my first one.  This is me seconds before some person asked Jim if they could hold John. Creepy.  I am sure she was perfectly fine, but why would you ask a stranger to hold their child?
 

We really do have matching hairstyles now.

Here is John and Daddy.  They both look goofy.  Jim always looks goofy.  I am not sure why John looks so goofy.

I'll admit they look alike in this picture.   He does get his looks from both of us.  We drove around forever looking for a place to eat.  Our original plans were ruined.  There was a line around the building.  I wanted to get a steak for old times sake.

John and his daddy again.  John was trying to eat the salt and pepper and we wouldn't let him.  We are so not cool.

John loves to eat.  He hates baby food.  He used to eat it fine, but now he thinks it is poo.  Poo is what he says when you put something in his mouth that he doesn't want.  He won't even eat pureed table food anymore.  He wants to eat big boy food, so I give in and just let him eat what I eat.  Could you resist this face?

I ususally can't.  He is begging in this picture.  I think he wanted sweet tea.  We had to get him his own cup.  I will be adding sippy cup the list of things we bring in the diaper bag.  He can drink out of the sippy cup alone.  He is not that good with straws yet, and he can't spill stuff in the sippy.

Even if I do resist, he usually helps himself.
 

This is John and his prized potato that he snatched from my plate.  He used it 50% for table coating and 50% for eating.  I decided today that he will be getting his own plate and staying in the high chair from now on.  I don't appreciate grubby fingers in my plate.  I feel bad for the person that had to clean up behind him.  We gave them extra in tip.  I am sure they are used to it.

He loves to eat paper.  This paper was extra special because it had sugar inside.  Of course I didn't let him have it because I am old and not with it.  I know all the kids are licking sugar, but its my way or the highway.

Yea, Mama never lets the baby have any fun.  I think he needs to get used to it.

Here is my baby and my Mama.  My two favorite people ever.

I love the gift Jim bought me for Mother's Day.  You can see the sapphire earrings in the pictures.  I also got a ring and a necklace that match.  I even love the little book.  I am keeping it with all of the cards and the rose that I recieved.

I have decided that I am never answering the phone again when one of the citizens in the town where my dad is the mayor calls.  I am used to the calls about things my dad has no control over (the cable, the electricity, the gas, not paying your bills etc).  I am polite.  They usually hang up when I say I will give my dad the message (the first time).  This guy talked my ears off (I put them back on for the pictures).  However I have noted his warnings not to go to and I quote the AY-rab doctors in ___.  THAY don't know whud thar doo-in.  I thought the doctors were from India, but apparently all non-Black non-Hispanic (read Mexican/Puerto Rican) are AY-rabs now.  I had to hold my tongue to refrain from asking how many years it had been since he would have said the same thing about those nigger doctors.  This was after he said that I was young enough to go to medical school and take over for the AY-rabs.  If I were speaking to someone that did not know who I was, I believe that I would have asked that question.  I am so not meant to be a politician's daughter.  I hope my dad never wants to be a Senator or anything like that.  If I suddenly put on Xanga lock and Friend's lock, then you will know.

We had a wonderful weekend.  I hope you all did as well.  My little guy is exhausted.  He woke up at 9:00 am and I don't think he went to sleep until 9:00 pm.  I look forward to so many more Mother's days, but this one will always be the very best one.

I am done.

I can't believe that I am FINALLY done!!!!!!!

I am buying myself a camera as a graduation gift.

You know what's sad, I didn't get invitations for my family.  I don't even know what day graduation is.  I didn't think I would finish, actually.  Jim and I have already decided that we will just have a party if you need to have an invitation to get into the coliseum.  I think you just need one for the good seats.  Who cares about good seats?

Last night when the paper was signed I became ecstatic, then I realized that for 15 years of my life, since I was an undergraduate student, my life has revolved around Biology.  I have been in that building for 12 of them.  That is a huge chunk of my life.  It is a bigger change than I realize.  It is scary. 

They are tearing that building down.  It really is a disgusting building.  My favorite example of this was when Dr. Sunal and I were coaching the Experimental Design part of the Science Olympiad.  He was appalled by the mold growing on the ceiling tiles.  I have become accustomed to it, and had forgotten that it was there.  I was like, Oh yea.  That is pretty nasty isn't it?  I think I am going to be sad when that building goes.  12 years of my life.  Wow.  Of course, the new building will be gorgeous.  The new Chemistry building is so nice.   I am just going to miss walking past the dead people every morning.  I remember not liking that exit when I first came to UA.  I thought the graves were strange and wondered why they were there.  The Department head explained it to me one day when I was a graduate student.  I don't remember the reason why they won't move the graves.  I do remember when they finally added a memorial for the slaves that were buried there.  There was a huge ceremony.  Occassionally, people will come buy and take pictures.  I always wonder if the people, especially if they are African-American, are related to the slaves.  I really should learn their names, but then I don't know the names on the marked graves either.  I have been calling them the dead people.  I will stop babbling about the building.

Next year Biology at UA will be in the new Sciences building.  I don't know the exact name of it.  I was telling Dr. Johnson that I would still be around to help write my publications.  We will be in the same building.  I think that it is a wonderful idea.  One thing that Dr. Sunal (my new advisor) and the research always discusses is the disconnect between science falculty and education falculty.  Putting Science Ed faculty and the Science falculty in the same building would really begin to help change how science is being taught and how undergraduate students think about science.  It's going to be awesome, but I am not going to talk about it right now.

John survived his poop explosion just fine.  It hasn't happened again and obviously he didn't die from dehydration and/or organ expulsion.

I have a graduation party to plan.  I only know where I am going to have it. For now, I get the joy of driving a giant 15 passenger van to the airport.  I didn't have to do stuff like that as a graduate student in Biology.

I am busy writing these days.  I defend next week and then I never have to set foot in the Biological Sciences building unless I just want to do it.  The people at Helium.com said my article was crude.  No, I won't consider revising it.  They can lick my crude pot smoking fruit loop craving anorexic fucking ass and I might be nice enough to call them stupid shit sucking brown nosers in return.  I may stick it in another category or look for somewhere else to write.

Every time I hold my nephew, he tries to nurse.  He eventually gets mad at me because I won't let him. I don't blame him.  Formula stinks.  My milk smells like apples when it has a smell.  Formula makes his belly hurt.  Maybe he knows breastmilk won't.

Here is Little J and Big K

Personally, I think Scrappy and Chunky look a lot alike. K is 3 months younger than John and he weighs more and is almost as long as John is.