Friday, September 29, 2006
September 28th -
Well, here I sit uncomfortably in my school-issue desk chair - way too low, btw, and I'm a short person - and take my lunch break. Well actually, my whole day is a break. I just have to work during it. :-) I teach one morning class and one afternoon class on Fridays, and unless I have Kindergarten (1/3 of the year) or a Related Arts class (much less likely) THAT is my Friday. Sweet, huh?
Hey, I can't complain. I'm really start to feel this whole pregnant thing. The achey back, the achey everything else which combined about equal the ache of the bach, the baby kicking the crap out of the waist of my pre-pregnancy jeans (yes I still wear them, half unbuttoned, with a long shirt, and it's not THAT bad. Every time I wear them I swear it's the last time, though.) And dear GOD am I hungry. And sleepy. Slightly sweaty and swollen. All that good stuff. But other than that, feeling pretty good, and that's actually saying something. Oh, and FREAKIN' STARVING CONSTANTLY. Like, I could eat Thanksgiving and be hungry an hour later. It's sick.
We're learning all about these happy goings-on lately. We started prenatal (childbirth) classes on Wednesday. It was really cool! The first night we talked about pregnancy aches, pains, and other woes (I deserve my own bathroom key at work, damn it!) and what we can do get some relief from some of them. And which ones are pretty much going to make our dear little lives suck for the next 2 months. There are 20 couples, it's a big class. But get this - we are the ONLY confirmed girl parents! There were 3 or 4 couples who don't know the sex, but the other 15 of them or so did, and ALL were boys. Freaky, no? I feel all special and pink!
We heard about the course and what we'll do each night (4 nights total), and then we did some early labor breathing exercises. I happily laid against Bob's chest and he leaned up against the wall, and everybody, moms and dads, practiced these breathing techniques that you use to keep yourself calm and loose during a contraction. I was afraid of it turning into a fruity "picture your happy place and take no pain medications" kind of thing, but the instructor was quite open to many methods of getting through labor. She's had 8 kids and been a delivery nurse for years, she'd know, right? Like her alot, she seems very open to all your choices (Suffer through it or "have the epidural waiting in the parking lot"? Breast of bottle feed? Find out the sex early or not? She passed no judgement.)
That was Wednesday night. We've just been plugging through the weeks of school and since last weekend was NO weekend at all (more stressful and strenuous than a work week, for me) we've been living for this coming weekend. I do still say that I feel "great" or "fine", and then people always say, "You must be doing great, you look fantastic/great/so pretty/glowy" and that usually makes me feel perky enough to keep on truckin'. And I do mean truckin', cause my physical form readily reminds me in many ways of a Mac truck . Honk honk! Every day I kind of have a little harder time getting out of bed (both from sleepiness and cause moving isn't as effortless as it used to be - OW!). And every day I get go-to-bed-now tired a little earlier. Today apparently that time is going to be NOON...
We're going to Peter's tonight - YAY!!!! and doing the grocery shopping, and then tomorrow we're having one last Mommy & Daddy's Day Out. We're heading to PA, to LVC's Homecoming - excuse me, Oktoberfest - maybe meeting up with some friends, maybe happily coupling it. We'll go to the game, see all the new buildings that have popped up since we graduated, and grab dinner somewhere at one of our old college-favorite restaurants.
We're not technically supposed to do a lot of travel in the last trimester, but we're not FLYING or anything. And besides, we're 15 minutes from Hershey Med. You couldn't pick a better children's hospital. ;-)
So that's what's up in Meggie Land lately. I DID get my shower thank-you's bought, written, addressed, stamped, and here they sit on my desk. I' d have loved to get them out before a week after the shower, cause I'm an over-achiever, but I don't see that quite happening. Maybe they'll get them by Monday.
Now I'm going to go eat my lunch and get a bit more work done around here...hmmm I wonder what needs done?
It'll find me, for sure. Happy weekend!!!
Hey, I can't complain. I'm really start to feel this whole pregnant thing. The achey back, the achey everything else which combined about equal the ache of the bach, the baby kicking the crap out of the waist of my pre-pregnancy jeans (yes I still wear them, half unbuttoned, with a long shirt, and it's not THAT bad. Every time I wear them I swear it's the last time, though.) And dear GOD am I hungry. And sleepy. Slightly sweaty and swollen. All that good stuff. But other than that, feeling pretty good, and that's actually saying something. Oh, and FREAKIN' STARVING CONSTANTLY. Like, I could eat Thanksgiving and be hungry an hour later. It's sick.
We're learning all about these happy goings-on lately. We started prenatal (childbirth) classes on Wednesday. It was really cool! The first night we talked about pregnancy aches, pains, and other woes (I deserve my own bathroom key at work, damn it!) and what we can do get some relief from some of them. And which ones are pretty much going to make our dear little lives suck for the next 2 months. There are 20 couples, it's a big class. But get this - we are the ONLY confirmed girl parents! There were 3 or 4 couples who don't know the sex, but the other 15 of them or so did, and ALL were boys. Freaky, no? I feel all special and pink!
We heard about the course and what we'll do each night (4 nights total), and then we did some early labor breathing exercises. I happily laid against Bob's chest and he leaned up against the wall, and everybody, moms and dads, practiced these breathing techniques that you use to keep yourself calm and loose during a contraction. I was afraid of it turning into a fruity "picture your happy place and take no pain medications" kind of thing, but the instructor was quite open to many methods of getting through labor. She's had 8 kids and been a delivery nurse for years, she'd know, right? Like her alot, she seems very open to all your choices (Suffer through it or "have the epidural waiting in the parking lot"? Breast of bottle feed? Find out the sex early or not? She passed no judgement.)
That was Wednesday night. We've just been plugging through the weeks of school and since last weekend was NO weekend at all (more stressful and strenuous than a work week, for me) we've been living for this coming weekend. I do still say that I feel "great" or "fine", and then people always say, "You must be doing great, you look fantastic/great/so pretty/glowy" and that usually makes me feel perky enough to keep on truckin'. And I do mean truckin', cause my physical form readily reminds me in many ways of a Mac truck . Honk honk! Every day I kind of have a little harder time getting out of bed (both from sleepiness and cause moving isn't as effortless as it used to be - OW!). And every day I get go-to-bed-now tired a little earlier. Today apparently that time is going to be NOON...
We're going to Peter's tonight - YAY!!!! and doing the grocery shopping, and then tomorrow we're having one last Mommy & Daddy's Day Out. We're heading to PA, to LVC's Homecoming - excuse me, Oktoberfest - maybe meeting up with some friends, maybe happily coupling it. We'll go to the game, see all the new buildings that have popped up since we graduated, and grab dinner somewhere at one of our old college-favorite restaurants.
We're not technically supposed to do a lot of travel in the last trimester, but we're not FLYING or anything. And besides, we're 15 minutes from Hershey Med. You couldn't pick a better children's hospital. ;-)
So that's what's up in Meggie Land lately. I DID get my shower thank-you's bought, written, addressed, stamped, and here they sit on my desk. I' d have loved to get them out before a week after the shower, cause I'm an over-achiever, but I don't see that quite happening. Maybe they'll get them by Monday.
Now I'm going to go eat my lunch and get a bit more work done around here...hmmm I wonder what needs done?
It'll find me, for sure. Happy weekend!!!
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Finally - The Baby Shower Post
Sunday we had our BIG baby shower. Bob's mom hosted it at her house. It was very nice! First of all, I was QUITE happy to already know about it. Got all prettied up (as prettied up as I get these days, which is sort of a version of socially acceptably presentable). My mom, grandmom and sister came up the night before and we all went out to Peter's - YAY!
I actually went to bed majorly early that night - Mom and Grandmom stayed at a hotel. Cait stayed at our house, but I feel no need to keep her entertained, and besides, she had homework to do.
Then Sunday came, and it was shower time. Yay.
The shower was all nicely decorated. Bob's mom did a baby clothes on the clothesline theme. VERY cute!
See, how cute is this?
There was an odd smattering of people there, but at least 2 or 3 people from every little group that we know; my family, my school friends, his highschool friends who I'm now friends with, his school friends, his mom's friends, his family - ok, there was a bit more than 3 of HIS family there. They're a bit more numerous. All told we had about 30 people, which was great.
The food was good - too many cheeses to try in one sitting, had to take the provelone and gouda home...mmm cheese... - and we all ate. I was a little worried about people mingling, I felt bad for my school friends, they didn't know many people. But I think it all worked out well.
And if not...hey, there's still all the baby gifts!!!
Bobby opening a cute bath set from Laura:
Bobby modeling some of the multitude of bows that came home with us later that day:
Lots of baby gear!!!
Mmmm...baby clothesline cake!
And I got home and despite having stood way too much and had a waaay too long day, I actually laid out all the goodies for cataloging, and entered them in the baby book so I'd have a good list to write thank you notes from. I'm crazy. But we got tons of good stuff. Baby showers rock.
Holy mountains of baby stuff, Batman.
Anyway, a GOOD experience. And I THINK we got most of what we need for the baby's arriaval. Most. I still have to take 'inventory' of all the clothes. We got a good number of clothes - and apparently someone spread the word about us not wanting to raise Barbie the Pink. A few pinks here and there, which is totally cool. But lots of cute blues and greens and yellow duckies everywhere - Bob even asked "what's with all the duckies?" today. Duckies come with the territory, baby.
We will be returning some stuff, not near the amount of stuff I'd anticipated, though. GOOD shower people, good!
Love it.
So right now her room is filled with categorized piles of baby gear that needs unpacked and put away somewhere. Somewhere. Holy crap, how does something so small require so much stuff?
Anyway, GOOD shower.
And now I must watch Gilmore Girls.
I actually went to bed majorly early that night - Mom and Grandmom stayed at a hotel. Cait stayed at our house, but I feel no need to keep her entertained, and besides, she had homework to do.
Then Sunday came, and it was shower time. Yay.
The shower was all nicely decorated. Bob's mom did a baby clothes on the clothesline theme. VERY cute!
See, how cute is this?
There was an odd smattering of people there, but at least 2 or 3 people from every little group that we know; my family, my school friends, his highschool friends who I'm now friends with, his school friends, his mom's friends, his family - ok, there was a bit more than 3 of HIS family there. They're a bit more numerous. All told we had about 30 people, which was great.The food was good - too many cheeses to try in one sitting, had to take the provelone and gouda home...mmm cheese... - and we all ate. I was a little worried about people mingling, I felt bad for my school friends, they didn't know many people. But I think it all worked out well.
And if not...hey, there's still all the baby gifts!!!
Bobby opening a cute bath set from Laura:
Bobby modeling some of the multitude of bows that came home with us later that day:
Lots of baby gear!!!
Mmmm...baby clothesline cake!
And I got home and despite having stood way too much and had a waaay too long day, I actually laid out all the goodies for cataloging, and entered them in the baby book so I'd have a good list to write thank you notes from. I'm crazy. But we got tons of good stuff. Baby showers rock.
Holy mountains of baby stuff, Batman.Anyway, a GOOD experience. And I THINK we got most of what we need for the baby's arriaval. Most. I still have to take 'inventory' of all the clothes. We got a good number of clothes - and apparently someone spread the word about us not wanting to raise Barbie the Pink. A few pinks here and there, which is totally cool. But lots of cute blues and greens and yellow duckies everywhere - Bob even asked "what's with all the duckies?" today. Duckies come with the territory, baby.
We will be returning some stuff, not near the amount of stuff I'd anticipated, though. GOOD shower people, good!
Love it.
So right now her room is filled with categorized piles of baby gear that needs unpacked and put away somewhere. Somewhere. Holy crap, how does something so small require so much stuff?
Anyway, GOOD shower.
And now I must watch Gilmore Girls.
Monday, September 25, 2006
September 25th - No time to chat.
Well, it was inevitable that I'd have less time & less drive to blog once school started.
I'm definitely feeling it, at times, and BOY do I sleep well. So far, so good, and OH YEAH, do I have to locate the nearest bathroom a lot. Other than that I'm cool.
Ok, some of the classes aren't cool. The first grade I had today was enough to kill somebody. One child almost lost his dear little life. Ok, maybe not, but MAN would he have deserved it. And of course I'd JUST gotten said child to cooperate and be somewhat trustworthy with the rhythm sticks in his hands when my dear friend the gym teacher came in and acted all goofy and got the kids ALL hyper. James is nuts. I gave the man a pair of sticks and told him I'd rip him a new one if he set off that one particular child again.
We had a growth scan on Friday, everything's just fine. She's growing normally still, about a week ahead. Since she's been consistently a week or so ahead for a while now, and the doctor said that there's a decent possibility that we actually have the due date off by a week. They give you 2 weeks on either side of your due date for a 'normal' birth, but she could easily be a week older than we think she is. Huh. That means nothing to anybody but me & Bob, of course ;-) Sorry, sorry. Being gross, I know.
Well, it's almost 10, and I'm almost dead, so that's it for today. We had Handbells tonight for the first time, and Mondays are already hard, plus OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO MENTION MY BABY SHOWER WAS YESTERDAY. See, that's how tired I am. Plus we had NO weekend, due to the family & festivities, was what I was going to say.
I'll post about the baby shower when we get the pics ready.
It was VERY cool.
'nough said tonight.
Night.
I'm definitely feeling it, at times, and BOY do I sleep well. So far, so good, and OH YEAH, do I have to locate the nearest bathroom a lot. Other than that I'm cool.
Ok, some of the classes aren't cool. The first grade I had today was enough to kill somebody. One child almost lost his dear little life. Ok, maybe not, but MAN would he have deserved it. And of course I'd JUST gotten said child to cooperate and be somewhat trustworthy with the rhythm sticks in his hands when my dear friend the gym teacher came in and acted all goofy and got the kids ALL hyper. James is nuts. I gave the man a pair of sticks and told him I'd rip him a new one if he set off that one particular child again.
We had a growth scan on Friday, everything's just fine. She's growing normally still, about a week ahead. Since she's been consistently a week or so ahead for a while now, and the doctor said that there's a decent possibility that we actually have the due date off by a week. They give you 2 weeks on either side of your due date for a 'normal' birth, but she could easily be a week older than we think she is. Huh. That means nothing to anybody but me & Bob, of course ;-) Sorry, sorry. Being gross, I know.
Well, it's almost 10, and I'm almost dead, so that's it for today. We had Handbells tonight for the first time, and Mondays are already hard, plus OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO MENTION MY BABY SHOWER WAS YESTERDAY. See, that's how tired I am. Plus we had NO weekend, due to the family & festivities, was what I was going to say.
I'll post about the baby shower when we get the pics ready.
It was VERY cool.
'nough said tonight.
Night.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
September 20th - The AWOL kid
In a practically euphoric state today, no idea why. Well, SOME idea why. It's the first week of school so everything's still got that "First Week Glow"; the kids are good, they still listen & care (for the most part), the teachers show no signs of burnout, and my room is divinely clean, organized, and beautiful. I need to bring a camera in here, seriously. Oh, yes I'm at school. And blogging. I'm a bad girl, what can I say? I'm actually quite caught up with my usual rush of "holy crap I have to finish this now" stuff.
I have to tune my autoharp so I can take it to my Thursday school tomorrow & play happy folk-songy ditties with the Kindergartners. I have to get 4 copies of my schedule to my principal. And...um, run copies for chorus preview next week, and then we're pretty good. Oh, and update my plans. Oh, and make a sub packet for the mystery sub. That's pretty much it. Of course I'll find more in 10 minutes, give me time.
The PTA made a fabulous breakfast for the faculty this morning, and it's all sitting in the work room across the hall...calling me. Yeah, we're off the GD wagon this morning. I'm having a barely- there-carb lunch, though. Planned it that way. God bless mommies who know how to make banana bread and cinnamon rolls and some kind of eggy sausagey wonder-food with swiss cheese on top.
Let's see, what's been going on? Well, yesterday I had one go AWOL because he missed his mommy. Seriously, a 9 YEAR-OLD. That may not sound very old to you but in Elementary terms he's practically grown up. He was freaking out all day the day before because Mommy might not pick him up after school. And the next day (yesterday) it was raining, and what if she didn't pick him up because...it was raining? Anyway, he spent the morning at the nurse, and when he was delivered to me for music w/ his class, I was told "Do. Not. Let. Mathew. Go. To. The. Nurse." 20 minutes later, he's still quietly sobbing in the back of the room, and asks if he can go to the bathroom. I figure he's got to go compose himself, wipe away the tears, get rid of the red-eye, and I say sure, but hurry back. Not 2 minutes later his teacher delivers a hysterically crying Mathew to me, quite disgruntled that I let him get out. Apparently the darling ran down to the office and demanded to call his mommy, and to go home. Lovely.
Well there's the whole hullabaloo, and it turns out that Mathew ALSO ran out of the school yesterday, shortly after being dropped of, straight through the line of cars and the insane traffic out there, to try to run away home. His teacher had to leave her other 19 kids unattended and drag him back through the traffic into the building.
Yeah, and TELLING me that the boy has an overdeveloped fight-or-FLIGHT instinct MIGHT have been helpful when dropping him off, no? Instead of "no nurse" how about "the kid will run like the Fugitive, don't let him out of your sight or near any open doors"? The principal was slightly put-out, but when I explained that NO ONE told me NOTHIN', she got this "I'm being Punked, aren't I?" look on her face and went away. 10 minutes later we had a memo to the faculty explaining dear little Mathew and his magic disappearing act. So now at least people know. Who, in their right minds, wouldn't share this information with a fellow teacher?
Sure, she'll sarcastically tell me which one's "a biter", but she won't tell me that.
Well, time for me to go pretend really need more tea and grab a second plateful.
On the upside, 2 PTA moms told me how thin my face was looking. The rest of me, they don't comment on, I notice. :-) Actually, that makes me quite happy. Maybe this whole baby-weight thing is a battle of the bulge I'll finally win. Not TODAY, obviously...
I have to tune my autoharp so I can take it to my Thursday school tomorrow & play happy folk-songy ditties with the Kindergartners. I have to get 4 copies of my schedule to my principal. And...um, run copies for chorus preview next week, and then we're pretty good. Oh, and update my plans. Oh, and make a sub packet for the mystery sub. That's pretty much it. Of course I'll find more in 10 minutes, give me time.
The PTA made a fabulous breakfast for the faculty this morning, and it's all sitting in the work room across the hall...calling me. Yeah, we're off the GD wagon this morning. I'm having a barely- there-carb lunch, though. Planned it that way. God bless mommies who know how to make banana bread and cinnamon rolls and some kind of eggy sausagey wonder-food with swiss cheese on top.
Let's see, what's been going on? Well, yesterday I had one go AWOL because he missed his mommy. Seriously, a 9 YEAR-OLD. That may not sound very old to you but in Elementary terms he's practically grown up. He was freaking out all day the day before because Mommy might not pick him up after school. And the next day (yesterday) it was raining, and what if she didn't pick him up because...it was raining? Anyway, he spent the morning at the nurse, and when he was delivered to me for music w/ his class, I was told "Do. Not. Let. Mathew. Go. To. The. Nurse." 20 minutes later, he's still quietly sobbing in the back of the room, and asks if he can go to the bathroom. I figure he's got to go compose himself, wipe away the tears, get rid of the red-eye, and I say sure, but hurry back. Not 2 minutes later his teacher delivers a hysterically crying Mathew to me, quite disgruntled that I let him get out. Apparently the darling ran down to the office and demanded to call his mommy, and to go home. Lovely.
Well there's the whole hullabaloo, and it turns out that Mathew ALSO ran out of the school yesterday, shortly after being dropped of, straight through the line of cars and the insane traffic out there, to try to run away home. His teacher had to leave her other 19 kids unattended and drag him back through the traffic into the building.
Yeah, and TELLING me that the boy has an overdeveloped fight-or-FLIGHT instinct MIGHT have been helpful when dropping him off, no? Instead of "no nurse" how about "the kid will run like the Fugitive, don't let him out of your sight or near any open doors"? The principal was slightly put-out, but when I explained that NO ONE told me NOTHIN', she got this "I'm being Punked, aren't I?" look on her face and went away. 10 minutes later we had a memo to the faculty explaining dear little Mathew and his magic disappearing act. So now at least people know. Who, in their right minds, wouldn't share this information with a fellow teacher?
Sure, she'll sarcastically tell me which one's "a biter", but she won't tell me that.
Well, time for me to go pretend really need more tea and grab a second plateful.
On the upside, 2 PTA moms told me how thin my face was looking. The rest of me, they don't comment on, I notice. :-) Actually, that makes me quite happy. Maybe this whole baby-weight thing is a battle of the bulge I'll finally win. Not TODAY, obviously...
Monday, September 18, 2006
September 18th - Back To School
Been a few days.
Let's see, I survived the setting-up of my room, but only because I had major help from Bobby on Saturday.
This weekend was a Bobby Birthday weekend. I made a cake for him - layers and everything - and made a blue layer and mixed up some blue icing. Cause I'm all freakin' Betty Crocker. It was very good, and I'm dying for it to be 7:15 so I can test my post-dinner sugar and have a piece.
We had a very nice dinner at Bob's parents house, Bob's choice: tortellini! Mmm I want more of those right now, too. Bob's brother gave him a car stereo that hooks up to his Zen, and they hooked it up. It's pretty cool, and it's better than the rig he had before. Computer speakers in the back seat. Don't ask.
I feel really bad that his birthday itself kind of stinks - he has back-to-school night tonight, so we couldn't go out, and I already gave him his present on Saturday, and he's getting stuff from my family, but not till next weekend, when my mom, sis, and grandmother come here for the baby shower.
*squeal* baby shower!
So today was the first day back w/ kids for me. Not too shabby. At least, kid-wise, it wasn't. Had one decent 2nd grade, one decent 3rd grade, one pretty darn good 5th grade, and one terrible 1st grade. Seriously, this 1st graders were both dumb and bad. Bad combo. Their teacher dropped them off and literally asked me how many more days we have left this school year. 179, for the record. She's got some doozies, and no real shining stars to speak of. Sorry, that sounds mean, but you didn't see this class.
I did have some issues that were non-kid related. Oh, just 'small' ones. Nothing serious.
At least that's what I'm telling myself so I don't have a preggy hormone fueled melt-down.
1. My room was gorgeous, ready to go and set up exactly the way I needed it for my first class (which I had very little time to prepare for this morning). I came in and there's half a dozen desks and chairs just shoved in there. Nobody asked me, nobody bothered to make sure they weren' t in the way, my room is now just a glorified closet, apparently. And by the way, moving desks is NOT on the list of things you're supposed to do at this stage of the preggy game.
2. An aide dropped off a package of stuff I'd ordered and said, "that's your last package". I was like, "no, I don't have the recorders for the 3rd graders. And I'm supposed to give them out and start the kids on them in 2 weeks!" I don't order them, my principal does, since they come out of the student activities budget. And she never did. She apparently thought that despite the fact that she's been the one ordering them out of this other budget for 3 years, this year she didn't think she had to. So they're not ordered. Gotta deal with that tomorrow, and who knows when they'll be in, and I already told one class of 3rd graders that they're getting the recorders the week after next. Such fun.
3. Remember how they had hired my substitute, and she was all board-approved and ready to go? Yeah. Well my principal tells me TODAY that some time ago, said sub got a real job. And they have NO ONE lined up. And I'm supposed to go out in 33 days. For 4 months. Right, cause they're REALLY going to find a sub for me now. I'm not even expecting a half-decent sub. ANY sub. What's gonna happen to my chorus? Hello, holiday concert from Hell. My principal even went so far as to say "If you know anybody who would take the job, let me know ASAP."
...just freakin' great.
SOO if anybody within the sound of my voice knows someone who would like to be a long-term substitute teacher for K-5 general music and 3-5 chorus, let me know! How sad is this, I'm begging for a sub on my blog.
And I know that in a few weeks I'll be too big, bloated, and baby-crazed to care. I won't give school a thought to school or Chorus or whatever. But for now, as immersed in all things school that I am, I'm trying not to let it get me too upset. Yet. If we hit October and nobody's lined up, I WILL be trolling local colleges for student teachers about to graduate.
Let's see, I survived the setting-up of my room, but only because I had major help from Bobby on Saturday.
This weekend was a Bobby Birthday weekend. I made a cake for him - layers and everything - and made a blue layer and mixed up some blue icing. Cause I'm all freakin' Betty Crocker. It was very good, and I'm dying for it to be 7:15 so I can test my post-dinner sugar and have a piece.
We had a very nice dinner at Bob's parents house, Bob's choice: tortellini! Mmm I want more of those right now, too. Bob's brother gave him a car stereo that hooks up to his Zen, and they hooked it up. It's pretty cool, and it's better than the rig he had before. Computer speakers in the back seat. Don't ask.
I feel really bad that his birthday itself kind of stinks - he has back-to-school night tonight, so we couldn't go out, and I already gave him his present on Saturday, and he's getting stuff from my family, but not till next weekend, when my mom, sis, and grandmother come here for the baby shower.
*squeal* baby shower!
So today was the first day back w/ kids for me. Not too shabby. At least, kid-wise, it wasn't. Had one decent 2nd grade, one decent 3rd grade, one pretty darn good 5th grade, and one terrible 1st grade. Seriously, this 1st graders were both dumb and bad. Bad combo. Their teacher dropped them off and literally asked me how many more days we have left this school year. 179, for the record. She's got some doozies, and no real shining stars to speak of. Sorry, that sounds mean, but you didn't see this class.
I did have some issues that were non-kid related. Oh, just 'small' ones. Nothing serious.
At least that's what I'm telling myself so I don't have a preggy hormone fueled melt-down.
1. My room was gorgeous, ready to go and set up exactly the way I needed it for my first class (which I had very little time to prepare for this morning). I came in and there's half a dozen desks and chairs just shoved in there. Nobody asked me, nobody bothered to make sure they weren' t in the way, my room is now just a glorified closet, apparently. And by the way, moving desks is NOT on the list of things you're supposed to do at this stage of the preggy game.
2. An aide dropped off a package of stuff I'd ordered and said, "that's your last package". I was like, "no, I don't have the recorders for the 3rd graders. And I'm supposed to give them out and start the kids on them in 2 weeks!" I don't order them, my principal does, since they come out of the student activities budget. And she never did. She apparently thought that despite the fact that she's been the one ordering them out of this other budget for 3 years, this year she didn't think she had to. So they're not ordered. Gotta deal with that tomorrow, and who knows when they'll be in, and I already told one class of 3rd graders that they're getting the recorders the week after next. Such fun.
3. Remember how they had hired my substitute, and she was all board-approved and ready to go? Yeah. Well my principal tells me TODAY that some time ago, said sub got a real job. And they have NO ONE lined up. And I'm supposed to go out in 33 days. For 4 months. Right, cause they're REALLY going to find a sub for me now. I'm not even expecting a half-decent sub. ANY sub. What's gonna happen to my chorus? Hello, holiday concert from Hell. My principal even went so far as to say "If you know anybody who would take the job, let me know ASAP."
...just freakin' great.
SOO if anybody within the sound of my voice knows someone who would like to be a long-term substitute teacher for K-5 general music and 3-5 chorus, let me know! How sad is this, I'm begging for a sub on my blog.
And I know that in a few weeks I'll be too big, bloated, and baby-crazed to care. I won't give school a thought to school or Chorus or whatever. But for now, as immersed in all things school that I am, I'm trying not to let it get me too upset. Yet. If we hit October and nobody's lined up, I WILL be trolling local colleges for student teachers about to graduate.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOBBY!
Today is Bobby's 26th birthday! And of course it was my first day back to school, insanely busy, and I got out of there late. And of course his stupid school had Back -2-School Night tonight. Poor Bobby!
Here's the cake I made him yesterday. Damn I'm good with food coloring.
Gotta love the blue layer. Mmmm blue cake...
And Princess Bobby blows out his candles. I don't know what's up with the hands.
Yes, he asked for this. He really wanted a chest freezer for the downstairs. So my in-laws and I chipped in, arranged a secret pick-up, and delivered Bobby a nice little freezer surprise on Saturday.
And here's an extra one. ALL of this is what Stacey gave me a week ago. Holy cute little onesies, Batman!
Here's the cake I made him yesterday. Damn I'm good with food coloring.
Gotta love the blue layer. Mmmm blue cake...
And Princess Bobby blows out his candles. I don't know what's up with the hands.
Yes, he asked for this. He really wanted a chest freezer for the downstairs. So my in-laws and I chipped in, arranged a secret pick-up, and delivered Bobby a nice little freezer surprise on Saturday.
And here's an extra one. ALL of this is what Stacey gave me a week ago. Holy cute little onesies, Batman!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
September 14th - Back to school for teachers
So far, so good.
Seriously, not feeling too bad at all. Little stiff, right knee hurts sometimes...weird things happen to your joints...and of course if guilt and spending time with Bobby & Max weren't factors, I'd have been in bed at 8:00. But 2 days down and still feeling human.
And I think at LEAST yesterday was way harder than an average school day.
Got in at 8 both days. Yesterday I went to the office and had the secretary ask a custodian to help me carry stuff out of my car...heavy stuff. I went down to my room and found it QUITE a mess. I'd never say anything, and I even hate to think it, because I know how crazy busy all the custodial staff have been this summer, trying to get the school through the construction and ready for kids on Monday. But there's been a lot of 'things' these past 2 days that make you want to smack your head on the wall and ask "WWWWHHHHHHHHYYYYY?"
Like, if I was going to come back in the fall to find my room a wasteland of randomly stacked chairs, desks, crap, and more crap, why was I instructed several times to leave a detailed room map with every single piece of furniture illustrated and accounted for? (And in neat little rows, on the damn map. In reality, it looks like someone decided to make a fort and quit halfway through.)
When we had the water damage, I said "PLEASE let me come in and go through the stuff. You can't just throw it all out. I don't even know what's IN that closet that got wet. PLEASE call me and let me come in." Do they call me? No. Do I bug my principal about it several times? Of course. I come in, and all the stuff that was in those wet cabinets is gone. Later in the day, I find out that it's boxed up in the greenhouse out back. Greaaaat. Yeah, some custodian threw the WET stuff in boxes with the dry stuff (and the stuff that had never been wet to begin with, with was 90% of it) and of course that means a big box of ICK. So half the stuff that I had to throw away today wouldn't have need to be thrown away, but for some idiot's throwing it - crunching it - into a wet box full of wet stuff.
So I spent two days putting away the boxes that I'd packed up in June. I didn't have a teacher desk in my room until later yesterday - don't know why - and when I finally got one (through the magic of asking every other person I saw if they'd seen it), the one they delivered to me wasn't mine. It was full of one of the middle school art teacher's stuff. And he's a messy guy, apparently. But he's not even at my school till next semester. So I cleaned out a desk full of pencil shavings, ink, and exacto knife heads. Boxes up his stuff, and away I went.
Everything's mostly set up. Mostly. I don't have any decorations up. BUT they're sorted out.
I rescued them from a trash cart that a custodian was pushing down the hall. He decided that since somebody had shoved them all in a large black trash bag after the flood, they were trash. Along with 4 of my (not damaged) xylophones. Trash. Yeah, I freaked. Throwing away my non-damaged, very expensive instruments??? It wasn't HIS fault, somebody put the stuff in trash bags and hid it in the greenhouse. But the important thing is that I didn't have to kill any custodians. I mean, that I got the stuff back.
The teacher in the next room had a lot of stuff in one of the closets that got flooded. I had a little bit of my stuff in that closet, mostly xylos and paper decorations, and then my entire ROOM had a large puddle in it, the soffit had to be replaced, and my cabinets got flooded. (Hence the bagging and almost trashing of my stuff.) So of course SHE'S the one bitching and moaning and being the squeaky wheel that gets the dozens of people helping her do her job...seriously, I'm the pregnant one, and I'm in there working my ass off on my own, and she's got half a dozen people scrubbing down cabinets and sorting through stuff. Me, I gotta do that myself. We all do. Except whiney-woman. Oh, and she was demanding mold and air-quality tests and repainting in our storage room. She's coming over every hour telling me that I have to throw away everything that was anywhere near anything, since there's a possibility that it could have gotten damp and therefore, moldy. Um, mold can be killed. Paper dries out and then you spray Lysol. My fingers still smell like Lysol. Get a grip. At one point the head custodian wanted to lock storage room between her room and my room up, so they could work, paint, vacuum, without worrying about dust getting into our rooms or people coming through, since our rooms were hoppin', it seemed. So of course the other teacher accuses him of trying to lock her out so she can't see what he's doing, trying to conceal a major deadly mold problem, etc.
And I'm like, "Dude, D, if you so desperately need something to occupy your mind and time, I can GIVE YOU something to do. I got hours of work ahead of me, and none of them involve harassing guys who have carpet to lay somewhere else in the building."
Eventually all the examining construction company people, custodians, and administrators that this woman stirred up started walking through MY room to get into the "invested" storage room, to avoid this teacher's rants. I found it quite amusing. I got a lot of help from big guys offering to carry boxes around for me, always a plus when you're a wussy preggy chick.
So I've got a whole day free to work tomorrow - joy - and Bob's coming in on Saturday to help me hang the high stuff. Yeah, I have these 3 gigantic above-head-level bulletin boards that are naked and screaming for paper and cute musicy stuff, and I don't even think I could reach them on a ladder if I WAS allowed up on one.
If I keep working and don't get wrapped up in the computer teacher and gym teacher's run to the dollar store to get "school supplies" which will inevitably involve lunch, Wawa, a pizza place, and somewhere else distracting, I should be able to get everything done on time for the kiddies on Monday. Hopefully. We'll see. They've already tagged me. Their rooms weren't torn apart and flooded, they've got the time.
Bed time. Need sleep. After all, I have to go in tomorrow and fight the evil deadly mold that's infested my xylophones. Since we're all going to get sick and die, and it's a huge conspiracy. Dumbass...
Seriously, not feeling too bad at all. Little stiff, right knee hurts sometimes...weird things happen to your joints...and of course if guilt and spending time with Bobby & Max weren't factors, I'd have been in bed at 8:00. But 2 days down and still feeling human.
And I think at LEAST yesterday was way harder than an average school day.
Got in at 8 both days. Yesterday I went to the office and had the secretary ask a custodian to help me carry stuff out of my car...heavy stuff. I went down to my room and found it QUITE a mess. I'd never say anything, and I even hate to think it, because I know how crazy busy all the custodial staff have been this summer, trying to get the school through the construction and ready for kids on Monday. But there's been a lot of 'things' these past 2 days that make you want to smack your head on the wall and ask "WWWWHHHHHHHHYYYYY?"
Like, if I was going to come back in the fall to find my room a wasteland of randomly stacked chairs, desks, crap, and more crap, why was I instructed several times to leave a detailed room map with every single piece of furniture illustrated and accounted for? (And in neat little rows, on the damn map. In reality, it looks like someone decided to make a fort and quit halfway through.)
When we had the water damage, I said "PLEASE let me come in and go through the stuff. You can't just throw it all out. I don't even know what's IN that closet that got wet. PLEASE call me and let me come in." Do they call me? No. Do I bug my principal about it several times? Of course. I come in, and all the stuff that was in those wet cabinets is gone. Later in the day, I find out that it's boxed up in the greenhouse out back. Greaaaat. Yeah, some custodian threw the WET stuff in boxes with the dry stuff (and the stuff that had never been wet to begin with, with was 90% of it) and of course that means a big box of ICK. So half the stuff that I had to throw away today wouldn't have need to be thrown away, but for some idiot's throwing it - crunching it - into a wet box full of wet stuff.
So I spent two days putting away the boxes that I'd packed up in June. I didn't have a teacher desk in my room until later yesterday - don't know why - and when I finally got one (through the magic of asking every other person I saw if they'd seen it), the one they delivered to me wasn't mine. It was full of one of the middle school art teacher's stuff. And he's a messy guy, apparently. But he's not even at my school till next semester. So I cleaned out a desk full of pencil shavings, ink, and exacto knife heads. Boxes up his stuff, and away I went.
Everything's mostly set up. Mostly. I don't have any decorations up. BUT they're sorted out.
I rescued them from a trash cart that a custodian was pushing down the hall. He decided that since somebody had shoved them all in a large black trash bag after the flood, they were trash. Along with 4 of my (not damaged) xylophones. Trash. Yeah, I freaked. Throwing away my non-damaged, very expensive instruments??? It wasn't HIS fault, somebody put the stuff in trash bags and hid it in the greenhouse. But the important thing is that I didn't have to kill any custodians. I mean, that I got the stuff back.
The teacher in the next room had a lot of stuff in one of the closets that got flooded. I had a little bit of my stuff in that closet, mostly xylos and paper decorations, and then my entire ROOM had a large puddle in it, the soffit had to be replaced, and my cabinets got flooded. (Hence the bagging and almost trashing of my stuff.) So of course SHE'S the one bitching and moaning and being the squeaky wheel that gets the dozens of people helping her do her job...seriously, I'm the pregnant one, and I'm in there working my ass off on my own, and she's got half a dozen people scrubbing down cabinets and sorting through stuff. Me, I gotta do that myself. We all do. Except whiney-woman. Oh, and she was demanding mold and air-quality tests and repainting in our storage room. She's coming over every hour telling me that I have to throw away everything that was anywhere near anything, since there's a possibility that it could have gotten damp and therefore, moldy. Um, mold can be killed. Paper dries out and then you spray Lysol. My fingers still smell like Lysol. Get a grip. At one point the head custodian wanted to lock storage room between her room and my room up, so they could work, paint, vacuum, without worrying about dust getting into our rooms or people coming through, since our rooms were hoppin', it seemed. So of course the other teacher accuses him of trying to lock her out so she can't see what he's doing, trying to conceal a major deadly mold problem, etc.
And I'm like, "Dude, D, if you so desperately need something to occupy your mind and time, I can GIVE YOU something to do. I got hours of work ahead of me, and none of them involve harassing guys who have carpet to lay somewhere else in the building."
Eventually all the examining construction company people, custodians, and administrators that this woman stirred up started walking through MY room to get into the "invested" storage room, to avoid this teacher's rants. I found it quite amusing. I got a lot of help from big guys offering to carry boxes around for me, always a plus when you're a wussy preggy chick.
So I've got a whole day free to work tomorrow - joy - and Bob's coming in on Saturday to help me hang the high stuff. Yeah, I have these 3 gigantic above-head-level bulletin boards that are naked and screaming for paper and cute musicy stuff, and I don't even think I could reach them on a ladder if I WAS allowed up on one.
If I keep working and don't get wrapped up in the computer teacher and gym teacher's run to the dollar store to get "school supplies" which will inevitably involve lunch, Wawa, a pizza place, and somewhere else distracting, I should be able to get everything done on time for the kiddies on Monday. Hopefully. We'll see. They've already tagged me. Their rooms weren't torn apart and flooded, they've got the time.
Bed time. Need sleep. After all, I have to go in tomorrow and fight the evil deadly mold that's infested my xylophones. Since we're all going to get sick and die, and it's a huge conspiracy. Dumbass...
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
September 12th - Last Day
...and thus ends a very, very nice summer.
Lazed around, got kicked a lot, watched TV, read a magazine cover to cover on the back deck in the sun with a glass of lemonade, and had a kick-ass OB appointment. Well, it would have been perfect if we'd gotten an ultrasound. But we get one in a week and a half, so whatever.
See the Baby's Blog for the appointment details. Went well, I'm all healthy, she's all healthy.
I'm slightly bummed that Bob can't make it to the growth scan next Friday. The latest appointments they make at the hospital are at 3:30. Who the hell can come then??? My principal will let me out early , no problem. But Bob could ask if he could go 15 minutes early on a Friday to be with his wife for their baby's ultrasound...well, she doesn't exactly have the mother instinct. That wouldn't happen.
So tomorrow I go back to school. Not w/ kids yet, that's not till Monday.
My car is packed with all my 'survival kit' stuff, all the gear I needed to get through the first marking period, should we not have been able to get back into our building.
Which we now can, supposedly.
I'm really anxious to see it, it was a wasteland last time. Flooded room, no carpet, construction equipment. Not a school.
Sue's buying lunch, and we have a faculty meeting at 12:30. I'm going in at the regular time, though, and staying as late as I feel like. (Not past 3:30, because I've got 2 more days to work, interruption free.)
And then the kiddies come. And I have 34 days to teach until I go out on leave.
I'm REALLY excited, and a little scared. I haven't worked hard, stayed on my feet, or put in a full day's anything for 3 months. I keep telling everybody I feel really good, and they all seem happily surprised, and many of them even say they're jealous since their own pregnancy was so rough. Maybe it's just cause I haven't DONE anything yet. Maybe the shit hits the fan tomorrow...or dear.
Well, Bobby's understanding. He'll let me come home and collapse and do nothing but gestate all evening and weekend.
Well, "somebody's" decided that it's time for me to go to the bathroom again for the 6th time since dinner. It's been a very nice evening, though. Bob's home and keeping my feet warm on the couch, Max is asleep, Sex & the City is on...
...and thus ends a very, very nice summer.
Lazed around, got kicked a lot, watched TV, read a magazine cover to cover on the back deck in the sun with a glass of lemonade, and had a kick-ass OB appointment. Well, it would have been perfect if we'd gotten an ultrasound. But we get one in a week and a half, so whatever.
See the Baby's Blog for the appointment details. Went well, I'm all healthy, she's all healthy.
I'm slightly bummed that Bob can't make it to the growth scan next Friday. The latest appointments they make at the hospital are at 3:30. Who the hell can come then??? My principal will let me out early , no problem. But Bob could ask if he could go 15 minutes early on a Friday to be with his wife for their baby's ultrasound...well, she doesn't exactly have the mother instinct. That wouldn't happen.
So tomorrow I go back to school. Not w/ kids yet, that's not till Monday.
My car is packed with all my 'survival kit' stuff, all the gear I needed to get through the first marking period, should we not have been able to get back into our building.
Which we now can, supposedly.
I'm really anxious to see it, it was a wasteland last time. Flooded room, no carpet, construction equipment. Not a school.
Sue's buying lunch, and we have a faculty meeting at 12:30. I'm going in at the regular time, though, and staying as late as I feel like. (Not past 3:30, because I've got 2 more days to work, interruption free.)
And then the kiddies come. And I have 34 days to teach until I go out on leave.
I'm REALLY excited, and a little scared. I haven't worked hard, stayed on my feet, or put in a full day's anything for 3 months. I keep telling everybody I feel really good, and they all seem happily surprised, and many of them even say they're jealous since their own pregnancy was so rough. Maybe it's just cause I haven't DONE anything yet. Maybe the shit hits the fan tomorrow...or dear.
Well, Bobby's understanding. He'll let me come home and collapse and do nothing but gestate all evening and weekend.
Well, "somebody's" decided that it's time for me to go to the bathroom again for the 6th time since dinner. It's been a very nice evening, though. Bob's home and keeping my feet warm on the couch, Max is asleep, Sex & the City is on...
...and thus ends a very, very nice summer.
Monday, September 11, 2006
September 11th - The Mall, the Wallet, and the Babies
Had a very nice time today, despite my own subconscious attempts to screw things up and embarrass myself. But I'm getting ahead here.
I got to the mall first, and it was so empty, except for the hundreds of mommies with babies in strollers. It was like the Graco Stroller Show. See all the latest models! Well, school's back in unless you're in my district, and it's 11AM. Of course there's nobody but mommies (and a few old people) here.
Met Stacey & her twins at the mall, Steph came too (computer teacher) with her very cute 3 year-old, Amy. We walked a bit, got lunch at a Mexican place - Mmmm taco salad...- and we were finishing up lunch while the babies were getting fussy. Stacey went to change Sophia, and I got a call on my cell phone from Bob.
"Do you have your wallet?" Is this one of those 'is your refrigerator running' questions?
"Yes, I think so" Checked. Holy crap. My wallet's not in my purse. Where's my wallet???
"The information desk at the mall has it. Some woman picked it up at the restaurant you ate at and she's bringing it there. She called me."
HOLY CRAP.
So I go down to the info desk, not far away, morbidly embarrassed and freaking out that I've lost my wallet...and I NEVER carry cash, except for when I lose my wallet, so of course there's cash in there. Not much, but enough that I didn't care to lose it!
It's not there. Nope, they haven't seen it. I leave my name and number and ask them to call me if and when this woman who called Bob actually brings it in. I turn around, feeling like the big irresponsible idiot that I can sometimes be...and they're going to let me take home an infant when I can't keep my own wallet on me? Then this young woman with a baby carrier on her arm comes up to me and asks if I'm Megan.
Yep, she found the wallet at the counter at the Mexican joint, and was going to leave it at information but forgot while she was shopping w/ her baby, drove all the way to Blackwood with it, realized what she'd done, called Bob's number she got from the emergency card in my wallet, and came all the way back and was just about to leave it at the desk for real this time. I thanked her PROFUSELY, and was sorry I only had a little cash in my wallet, cause I'd have happily given her some kind of reward - she wouldn't take anything, of course, cause there ARE decent people out there, and thank God one of them picked up my wallet. I told her her baby was beautiful and she asked when I was due and we talked a few seconds and then I ran back upstairs to our table. VERY relieved. It was literally less than 5 minutes from the time I knew it was gone until the time it was back in my hands. Thank GOD for honest, decent people. I didn't even ask her name. She had a tattoo on her arm that said "Zac" though...sure, THAT I remember. And her kid looked to be a boy about 2 months old.
I had been juggling my purse, my salad, and Stacey's twin-sized stroller, and had apparently laid the wallet on the counter to readjust everything before I went to our table, and never managed to pick the wallet back up. But it's safe and sound, in my purse. Again, thank Heaven for good people!
We walked around the mall, didn't go in a single store, just walked and talked. Eventually Steph took Amy home, and Stacey and I gave the twins each a bottle - I got to bottle-feed a baby! Damn, they suck hard! Seriously, I'm understanding how breastfeeding is going to hurt like Hell. That little girl had a hold on that bottle and she did NOT let up. Of course, I'm quite awkward holding a baby, especially with this ever-expanding belly which allows you very little lap room. And Sophia likes to jerk her head around all the time, to look at stuff. Stacey said she was over-stimulated today. Too many people, too much neon. She finished most of the bottle, and I successfully burped her, too! Feeling quite good about that. All this care and maintenance stuff is still a little daunting. Stacey just kept reassuring me that if she could get it, I could get it. And heck, SHE has TWO of them!
We walked out to our cars and Stacey gave me 2 bags of diapers and a large bin of baby clothes. She showed me a few cute things that she particularly liked, most of which had belonged to Sophia. She gave me some of Kevin's old stuff, too, though, because she said she knows that I'm "one of the few people who realize that girls CAN wear blue!" I was quite happy to get them...since I'm basically going to take back any excess clothes we get at the shower and turn them into practical things like a breast pump. Nobody wants to buy the breast pump off of someone's registry, have you noticed that? Anyway, now I'm well-stocked. That helps sooo much.
When I got home I sat and recuperated for a while (cause I'm a wussy-assed pregnant chick and walking a mall for 3 hours is a long day's work for me.) Then it was baby clothes time! I laid them all out on the love seat to show Bob when he gets home from work. I'll post a pic later if I can...Picasa is weird with this new version of Blogger.
Anyway, from Stacey, we now have:
I facetiously told Stace I'd hold onto all the baby clothes for when she & Rich decide they're ready for their third kid. She told me, very sweetly, to f*ck off. ;-)
I got to the mall first, and it was so empty, except for the hundreds of mommies with babies in strollers. It was like the Graco Stroller Show. See all the latest models! Well, school's back in unless you're in my district, and it's 11AM. Of course there's nobody but mommies (and a few old people) here.
Met Stacey & her twins at the mall, Steph came too (computer teacher) with her very cute 3 year-old, Amy. We walked a bit, got lunch at a Mexican place - Mmmm taco salad...- and we were finishing up lunch while the babies were getting fussy. Stacey went to change Sophia, and I got a call on my cell phone from Bob.
"Do you have your wallet?" Is this one of those 'is your refrigerator running' questions?
"Yes, I think so" Checked. Holy crap. My wallet's not in my purse. Where's my wallet???
"The information desk at the mall has it. Some woman picked it up at the restaurant you ate at and she's bringing it there. She called me."
HOLY CRAP.
So I go down to the info desk, not far away, morbidly embarrassed and freaking out that I've lost my wallet...and I NEVER carry cash, except for when I lose my wallet, so of course there's cash in there. Not much, but enough that I didn't care to lose it!
It's not there. Nope, they haven't seen it. I leave my name and number and ask them to call me if and when this woman who called Bob actually brings it in. I turn around, feeling like the big irresponsible idiot that I can sometimes be...and they're going to let me take home an infant when I can't keep my own wallet on me? Then this young woman with a baby carrier on her arm comes up to me and asks if I'm Megan.
Yep, she found the wallet at the counter at the Mexican joint, and was going to leave it at information but forgot while she was shopping w/ her baby, drove all the way to Blackwood with it, realized what she'd done, called Bob's number she got from the emergency card in my wallet, and came all the way back and was just about to leave it at the desk for real this time. I thanked her PROFUSELY, and was sorry I only had a little cash in my wallet, cause I'd have happily given her some kind of reward - she wouldn't take anything, of course, cause there ARE decent people out there, and thank God one of them picked up my wallet. I told her her baby was beautiful and she asked when I was due and we talked a few seconds and then I ran back upstairs to our table. VERY relieved. It was literally less than 5 minutes from the time I knew it was gone until the time it was back in my hands. Thank GOD for honest, decent people. I didn't even ask her name. She had a tattoo on her arm that said "Zac" though...sure, THAT I remember. And her kid looked to be a boy about 2 months old.
I had been juggling my purse, my salad, and Stacey's twin-sized stroller, and had apparently laid the wallet on the counter to readjust everything before I went to our table, and never managed to pick the wallet back up. But it's safe and sound, in my purse. Again, thank Heaven for good people!
We walked around the mall, didn't go in a single store, just walked and talked. Eventually Steph took Amy home, and Stacey and I gave the twins each a bottle - I got to bottle-feed a baby! Damn, they suck hard! Seriously, I'm understanding how breastfeeding is going to hurt like Hell. That little girl had a hold on that bottle and she did NOT let up. Of course, I'm quite awkward holding a baby, especially with this ever-expanding belly which allows you very little lap room. And Sophia likes to jerk her head around all the time, to look at stuff. Stacey said she was over-stimulated today. Too many people, too much neon. She finished most of the bottle, and I successfully burped her, too! Feeling quite good about that. All this care and maintenance stuff is still a little daunting. Stacey just kept reassuring me that if she could get it, I could get it. And heck, SHE has TWO of them!
We walked out to our cars and Stacey gave me 2 bags of diapers and a large bin of baby clothes. She showed me a few cute things that she particularly liked, most of which had belonged to Sophia. She gave me some of Kevin's old stuff, too, though, because she said she knows that I'm "one of the few people who realize that girls CAN wear blue!" I was quite happy to get them...since I'm basically going to take back any excess clothes we get at the shower and turn them into practical things like a breast pump. Nobody wants to buy the breast pump off of someone's registry, have you noticed that? Anyway, now I'm well-stocked. That helps sooo much.
When I got home I sat and recuperated for a while (cause I'm a wussy-assed pregnant chick and walking a mall for 3 hours is a long day's work for me.) Then it was baby clothes time! I laid them all out on the love seat to show Bob when he gets home from work. I'll post a pic later if I can...Picasa is weird with this new version of Blogger.
Anyway, from Stacey, we now have:
- 2 Swaddlers - weirdly shaped blankets w/ velcro, helps you wrap them tight.
- 1 Blanket Sleeper - instead of a blanket, cause you don't use them in the beginning.
- 3 Sleep Gowns
- 14 Footie Sleepers - remember footie pajamas?
- 3 Long-Sleeved Creepers - Like a long shirt that snaps between the legs for diaper access.
- 16 Onsies - like an undershirt with snaps between the legs
- 4 Creepers
- 12 Long-Sleeved Shirts
- 5 Short-Sleeved Shirts
- 5 Pairs of Infant Mittens - so they don't scratch their little faces w/ those nails that I'm afraid to cut
- 15 Pairs of the tiniest socks you've ever seen
- 300 diaper disposal bags - my cheap answer to the super-expensive diaper genie.
- 4 Pacifier Keepers - like a tiny plastic purse to clip onto stuff, holds pacifiers, keeps 'em clean
- 1 Bunny Pacifier Clip - the tiny stuffed bunny clips to her shirt, a ribbon holds the clip to the end of the pacifier, so she never drops it on the floor.
I facetiously told Stace I'd hold onto all the baby clothes for when she & Rich decide they're ready for their third kid. She told me, very sweetly, to f*ck off. ;-)
September 11th - Weekend = Bite of summer
Despite the fact that I haven't been back to school yet (don't throw things at me, it's not my fault!) this weekend actually felt like a real weekend, since Bob was already on the school schedule. Friday night Wal-Mart run. Saturday went to the Baby Fair (at Wal-mart), cleaned some, puttered, Bob made his sauce, relaxed. Sunday went BACK to Wal-Mart because we forgot one of the bags of groceries there (I swear the clerk didn't turn the spinny bag-holding thing around to face us, I always check it) and they were surprisingly very nice about letting me go back and re-shop for the 8 or so things we missed. SO I was at Wal-Mart 3 times in one weekend. The mounted deer head and trailer hitch for our house are coming next week.
We had Bob's parents over yesterday for a nice dinner - it was their 29th anniversary. I think they really appreciated it. Bob's mom did, definitely, because we came inside after eating on the patio and she grabbed and hugged me and said, "Thank you SOOOO much for our nice dinner!" That supplied a warm-glowy feeling for hours. :-) I started the day by making a marinade from scratch.
That's right people! I can cook! (Sort of.) I'd read a few recipes online and we didn't have all the ingredients, and since I'm out to save $, I decided to make one myself rather than making a 4th trip to the stinkin' store and buying a bottle one. Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, the juice of a whole lemon, garlic, onion powder, and parsley. Poke the London Broil, pour the marinade into a bag, and let the meat soak in there for 8 hours. DAMN it was good. Do I know how much soy, etc., I put in? Please, do I look like Alton Brown? Rachel Ray? Paula Dean? (if you say yes to Paula Dean or Alton Brown I will come and find you.)
The dogs played, we all talked, and water ice was had by all. Oooh and an ice cream roll from Friendly's. Cause we looooove Friendly's (now that I don't work there.)
It was very nice. Bob and then posted our baby's 2nd NAME GAME CLUE.
It's not so much that we're obsessed and geeky anymore. Rather, it's that it is delicious fun to know something that other people don't know. Bob's mom rushed home to check it when we said we were going to post it that night. Lots of good guesses, I must say! Keep 'em coming. You can't win if you don't play.
Speaking of, Bob's grandparents went to Atlantic City Saturday night and won over $1,000!
How cool is that? I love when sweet old people win stuff.
Well, I have to crate the dog and actually put on some make-up and shoes, now. I'm meeting Stacey at the mall w/ her two kiddos (yay, I get to play with cute babies!!!) We're having a Get-Me-Out-Of-The-House day. Complete with junk food.
I'm quite happy about this.
All and all, it was a nice little bite of summer weekend. Just felt like a mini-vacation. Well, since I forget what weekends feel like, it was quite refreshing. I can't WAIT to go to school on Wednesday, of course.
OOH! One more thing - last night, Baby D. officially got the hiccups! I was sitting there thinking, "Man, she's moving a lot tonight!" and I realized that her movements were pretty much keeping a steady beat. Being a primary school music teacher, I got very excited that my unborn child can complete a Kindergarten-level competency...ok, seriously, though, she had the hiccups!! It's the coolest feeling... your tummy just jerks to the beat for a while, lightly. So fun, this kid is.
More later, when I get my rear in gear.
We had Bob's parents over yesterday for a nice dinner - it was their 29th anniversary. I think they really appreciated it. Bob's mom did, definitely, because we came inside after eating on the patio and she grabbed and hugged me and said, "Thank you SOOOO much for our nice dinner!" That supplied a warm-glowy feeling for hours. :-) I started the day by making a marinade from scratch.
That's right people! I can cook! (Sort of.) I'd read a few recipes online and we didn't have all the ingredients, and since I'm out to save $, I decided to make one myself rather than making a 4th trip to the stinkin' store and buying a bottle one. Soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, the juice of a whole lemon, garlic, onion powder, and parsley. Poke the London Broil, pour the marinade into a bag, and let the meat soak in there for 8 hours. DAMN it was good. Do I know how much soy, etc., I put in? Please, do I look like Alton Brown? Rachel Ray? Paula Dean? (if you say yes to Paula Dean or Alton Brown I will come and find you.)
The dogs played, we all talked, and water ice was had by all. Oooh and an ice cream roll from Friendly's. Cause we looooove Friendly's (now that I don't work there.)
It was very nice. Bob and then posted our baby's 2nd NAME GAME CLUE.
It's not so much that we're obsessed and geeky anymore. Rather, it's that it is delicious fun to know something that other people don't know. Bob's mom rushed home to check it when we said we were going to post it that night. Lots of good guesses, I must say! Keep 'em coming. You can't win if you don't play.
Speaking of, Bob's grandparents went to Atlantic City Saturday night and won over $1,000!
How cool is that? I love when sweet old people win stuff.
Well, I have to crate the dog and actually put on some make-up and shoes, now. I'm meeting Stacey at the mall w/ her two kiddos (yay, I get to play with cute babies!!!) We're having a Get-Me-Out-Of-The-House day. Complete with junk food.
I'm quite happy about this.
All and all, it was a nice little bite of summer weekend. Just felt like a mini-vacation. Well, since I forget what weekends feel like, it was quite refreshing. I can't WAIT to go to school on Wednesday, of course.
OOH! One more thing - last night, Baby D. officially got the hiccups! I was sitting there thinking, "Man, she's moving a lot tonight!" and I realized that her movements were pretty much keeping a steady beat. Being a primary school music teacher, I got very excited that my unborn child can complete a Kindergarten-level competency...ok, seriously, though, she had the hiccups!! It's the coolest feeling... your tummy just jerks to the beat for a while, lightly. So fun, this kid is.
More later, when I get my rear in gear.
Friday, September 08, 2006
September 8th - Running around town
Today I made up for my week of not really going anywhere.
I went everywhere.
Well, I went to: Pine Hill, Berlin, Clementon, Lindenwold, Laurel Springs, and Stratford. Oh, and Gloucester Township, and Turnersville, later in the evening.
I finally went around town - 8 different towns, to be exact. I put up the lesson flyers. It was quite an interesting (and tiring) experience. A lot of stores I'd never set foot in before were really nice to me...and a little scary looking. I didn't do any liquor stores or anything, or too-scary convenience stores. Basically every Wawa, half-decent convenience store, pizza place, or diner got one that I came across. Most places were very nice, a few even gave me tape after I left mine...somewhere in Lindenwold, I think. Some places said they weren't allowed to post things. I put up 18 flyers today, and stopped at probably about 25 places and asked. That's right. I hauled my preggy butt out of my really low-to-the-ground Saturn about 25 times. Yeah...I hurt now.
Hopefully we'll get at least a few calls from these. We got 1 serious call w/ 2 prospective students last time I advertised for lessons, and I only put up 4 flyers at area Wawa's then. (Didn't work out, they had peewee football.) A waitress at a pizza place in Berlin wants to take trumpet lessons, and we didn't advertise that we take adults, but whatever. She thought the price was right, and she has her own trumpet. Works for me. Hopefully she calls. We like money.
I came home and crashed on the couch - just sat there, staring at the ceiling, contemplating how the heck I used to be able to take classes all day and rehearse all night and then do homework till 1AM in college and not be tired at all...until Bob came home. I made cheese steaks w/ sauteed mushrooms (cause I'm all gourmet!) and damn was it good. Then we had to go to Bob's parents so Bob could sign a check for a loan that he cosigned for Laura. Cause we appreciate that college students need money.
THEN we went to Sam's Club and got a few things...$60 bucks worth, but remember that we bought an obscene amount of those few things, cause it's Sam's Club. Like a giant thing of Folgers Coffee. Mmmm...giant coffee...*drool*
THEN we went to Wal-Mart and did the minimalist grocery shopping that we now do there. It's funny how little stuff we buy there now, since we bought so much at Sam's Club last week.
We ran into my friend Cathy and her husband and kiddo in the lotion aisle, and we got to talk to them a while. Cath is the K-5 music teacher at another school in my district, and I work with her 1/3 of the year on Thursdays, since I travel and do Kindergarten there. Love it. They found out they're having another girl! Their daughter is INSANELY good, and freakin' adorable. 2 years old. John (her hubby) does marching band for Haddonfield, and he seems SO interested in having Bob come to a rehearsal and critique - he seems to think Bob is big stuff since he worked for that prize-winning marching band who shall remain nameless. Bob felt a little sheepish since he dropped marching band. He said usually he uses the baby as an excuse that nobody can argue with, but John HAS a baby, and one on the way, so that wouldn't work. I reminded him that John tried to get out of that track last year, and couldn't, and now he's actually doing it because he needs the money, because of his babies...kind of the opposite of Bob. So no feeling bad there. I'm psyched that they're having a girl, and she'll be so close in age to our girl. We'll definitely have to do playdates. So we can keep our sanity, Cathy and me, being stay-at-homers for a few months.
So we finished our shopping and hung one more flyer at a Wawa we passed in Gloucester Township...or is that Sicklerville there? This crazy state, who knows.
And now I'm done blogging and I think I may actually take a bath or something. My back's hurting and my legs are hurting and I'm just plain hurting...and the bathtub is actually quite clean at the moment. Of course, getting OUT of it will be fun...we'll see how that goes.
I know I sound like a decrepit old lady. Trust me, you'll never know till you're in this 'delicate' state. Yeah, I'm REEEEEAAAAL delicate. Don't even get me started on the gastro-intestinal bliss you experience.
I went everywhere.
Well, I went to: Pine Hill, Berlin, Clementon, Lindenwold, Laurel Springs, and Stratford. Oh, and Gloucester Township, and Turnersville, later in the evening.
I finally went around town - 8 different towns, to be exact. I put up the lesson flyers. It was quite an interesting (and tiring) experience. A lot of stores I'd never set foot in before were really nice to me...and a little scary looking. I didn't do any liquor stores or anything, or too-scary convenience stores. Basically every Wawa, half-decent convenience store, pizza place, or diner got one that I came across. Most places were very nice, a few even gave me tape after I left mine...somewhere in Lindenwold, I think. Some places said they weren't allowed to post things. I put up 18 flyers today, and stopped at probably about 25 places and asked. That's right. I hauled my preggy butt out of my really low-to-the-ground Saturn about 25 times. Yeah...I hurt now.
Hopefully we'll get at least a few calls from these. We got 1 serious call w/ 2 prospective students last time I advertised for lessons, and I only put up 4 flyers at area Wawa's then. (Didn't work out, they had peewee football.) A waitress at a pizza place in Berlin wants to take trumpet lessons, and we didn't advertise that we take adults, but whatever. She thought the price was right, and she has her own trumpet. Works for me. Hopefully she calls. We like money.
I came home and crashed on the couch - just sat there, staring at the ceiling, contemplating how the heck I used to be able to take classes all day and rehearse all night and then do homework till 1AM in college and not be tired at all...until Bob came home. I made cheese steaks w/ sauteed mushrooms (cause I'm all gourmet!) and damn was it good. Then we had to go to Bob's parents so Bob could sign a check for a loan that he cosigned for Laura. Cause we appreciate that college students need money.
THEN we went to Sam's Club and got a few things...$60 bucks worth, but remember that we bought an obscene amount of those few things, cause it's Sam's Club. Like a giant thing of Folgers Coffee. Mmmm...giant coffee...*drool*
THEN we went to Wal-Mart and did the minimalist grocery shopping that we now do there. It's funny how little stuff we buy there now, since we bought so much at Sam's Club last week.
We ran into my friend Cathy and her husband and kiddo in the lotion aisle, and we got to talk to them a while. Cath is the K-5 music teacher at another school in my district, and I work with her 1/3 of the year on Thursdays, since I travel and do Kindergarten there. Love it. They found out they're having another girl! Their daughter is INSANELY good, and freakin' adorable. 2 years old. John (her hubby) does marching band for Haddonfield, and he seems SO interested in having Bob come to a rehearsal and critique - he seems to think Bob is big stuff since he worked for that prize-winning marching band who shall remain nameless. Bob felt a little sheepish since he dropped marching band. He said usually he uses the baby as an excuse that nobody can argue with, but John HAS a baby, and one on the way, so that wouldn't work. I reminded him that John tried to get out of that track last year, and couldn't, and now he's actually doing it because he needs the money, because of his babies...kind of the opposite of Bob. So no feeling bad there. I'm psyched that they're having a girl, and she'll be so close in age to our girl. We'll definitely have to do playdates. So we can keep our sanity, Cathy and me, being stay-at-homers for a few months.
So we finished our shopping and hung one more flyer at a Wawa we passed in Gloucester Township...or is that Sicklerville there? This crazy state, who knows.
And now I'm done blogging and I think I may actually take a bath or something. My back's hurting and my legs are hurting and I'm just plain hurting...and the bathtub is actually quite clean at the moment. Of course, getting OUT of it will be fun...we'll see how that goes.
I know I sound like a decrepit old lady. Trust me, you'll never know till you're in this 'delicate' state. Yeah, I'm REEEEEAAAAL delicate. Don't even get me started on the gastro-intestinal bliss you experience.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
September 7th - Can you tell I'm getting impatient?
As I sit on my back deck in the warm breeze and listen to the pleasant bubbling of the water in my pool, lemonade in hand, my yellow Labrador laying on his back in the warm grass chewing bits of sticks to dust, I can't help but peacefully contemplate the deeper questions of life...
Like when the HELL do I get to go back to SCHOOL?
I was actually jealous - JEALOUS! - of Bob as he drove away for his first day w/ the students this morning. Ironically he'd have switched places with me in a heartbeat. I doubt he'd leave the house between trips to the diner, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart. And the house would be gorgeous, spotless, and would probably an extra story or an east wing or something.
I fluctuate between not giving a damn about school - I had a job before? - and absolutely itching to get in my classroom. I want to see the renovations they made over the summer. The new carpet! The mold-free ceilings! (Seriously.) The heating and cooling systems that actually heat and cool! (Again, seriously.) I need to put my posters up, decide if I'm going to throw out the portfolio system, get my VCR, DVD player, stereo, and other good stuff out of storage and make sure it's still in the right number of pieces.
Thankfully, our secretary called and said that as of today we have a temporary C.O., and teachers can come in Wednesday to start setting up. We have a faculty meeting Wednesday, too, which is odd, seeing as our inservice days aren't till Thursday or Friday. Oh, but we're getting paid overtime from 8-3 to be there (we can actually be there 7 to 7 - it takes a lot of work to set up a classroom!). So now I get to go in next Wednesday and get things in order.
With Bob back to school, I'm in this disconcerting state of limbo. Summer is over for me, mentally, because Bob's back. So my brain says, "then why are you home all day?"
I was going to drive around and put up flyers advertising our lesson studio that we're trying to get started, but I was about ready to leave when I realized that all the pushpins are in the back of Bob's car, in a little box. I've tried putting flyers up with no pushpins, it doesn't work, and you feel like a thief while you steal them from other people's flyers. Not good. So that's tomorrow's job, along w/ grocery shopping.
Saturday is another possible Wal-Mart visit; they're having a baby fair of sorts, I'm sure it'll be small, though. But you get free info and free samples - and we all know how I feel about free samples - and what the hell? It's free and it's not like we won't forget to buy something at Wal-Mart on Friday night that I can get there the next day at the baby fair.
Sunday we're having Bob's family over for dinner. It's his parents' 29th anniversary. I still feel bad that we didn't do more for their 25th, a few years back. They supposedly said they didn't want a party. And despite Bob's brother's insistence that what they really needed was a new TV (so he could do whatever he wanted with the old one, no doubt) we didn't buy into that plan. Bob's sister said they'd wanted the kitchen repainted, so that seemed quite doable. Bob and I were in the heat of the student-teaching (ie: hell) experience, so all we did was buy some decorative things to match, and chip in for paint and supplies. The rest of them, bro, sis, and a few other relatives, painted. It's not the best paint job in the world, but since they all new very little about painting, I'll say they did a nice job (that Bob's mom has partially painted over since.) I just feel bad. And of course next year is their 30th. And we will have an almost 1 year-old, and NO money...*sigh* we'll see. So ANYway, that's Sunday.
Monday I'm meeting Stacey and Steph at the mall for some walking fun. I REALLY hope they don't walk too fast for me. Seriously. When I went their with Cathy we just waddled around slowly, since both of us are tired, gestating, wussy chicks. Stacey, pre-twins, used to be a marathon biker. And Steph is all, well, skinny! I have my work cut out for me, I'm thinking. Maybe they'll both bring their kids. That'll slow 'em up nicely.
And Tuesday is get-ready-for-school day. And Wednesday is, well, when we have our first faculty meeting of the year, and we get to see the improvements (and I get to find out if I have a room or not). The secretary didn't know anything about my room - but she's still working over at another school until tomorrow, in our temporary stronghold. I asked her to call me if she had any news. That's what secretaries are the best at. News.
So today was mostly another goof-off day. I did little things; laundry, dishes, solved world hunger and told no one, yelled at the TV whenever I channel surfed past Bush's talking head, etc. While Bobby's doing his 'homework' I'm going to be addressing envelopes to mail out to area music teachers to advertise our lesson studio. And one birthday card. Hmmm...maybe we should wait to send out lesson flyers until the band people have their programs in order. What would Bob do with a lesson flyer if he got it this week? Probably throw it out or stick it somewhere because he doens't even know who's IN band yet...a good excuse to wait. The flyers are going up around town tomorrow, though, damn it.
In the pregnancy newsletter section:
Two days ago, I honestly believe I went to the bathroom 20 times. During the day. Easily. The next day, my "Pregnancy Daily Calendar" said, "You will experience an increased need to urinate, due to the baby's constant pressure on your bladder. Go as often as you feel the need to. Holding it isn't good for you or baby." (Um...do these people not work? What do you do, wear an adult diaper all day?) Yesterday, baby was CRAZY active. Like, 'somebody went off their Ritalin' active. I was getting what I call "drumroll" kicks. Smaller kicks (or punches, God only knows) over and over, really quickly, for 5-10 seconds, in the same spot. Like somebody said to her "drumroll please!" Today, my calendar said, "You will notice increased movement."
Ha ha. You're one day late, buddy.
Like when the HELL do I get to go back to SCHOOL?
I was actually jealous - JEALOUS! - of Bob as he drove away for his first day w/ the students this morning. Ironically he'd have switched places with me in a heartbeat. I doubt he'd leave the house between trips to the diner, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart. And the house would be gorgeous, spotless, and would probably an extra story or an east wing or something.
I fluctuate between not giving a damn about school - I had a job before? - and absolutely itching to get in my classroom. I want to see the renovations they made over the summer. The new carpet! The mold-free ceilings! (Seriously.) The heating and cooling systems that actually heat and cool! (Again, seriously.) I need to put my posters up, decide if I'm going to throw out the portfolio system, get my VCR, DVD player, stereo, and other good stuff out of storage and make sure it's still in the right number of pieces.
Thankfully, our secretary called and said that as of today we have a temporary C.O., and teachers can come in Wednesday to start setting up. We have a faculty meeting Wednesday, too, which is odd, seeing as our inservice days aren't till Thursday or Friday. Oh, but we're getting paid overtime from 8-3 to be there (we can actually be there 7 to 7 - it takes a lot of work to set up a classroom!). So now I get to go in next Wednesday and get things in order.
With Bob back to school, I'm in this disconcerting state of limbo. Summer is over for me, mentally, because Bob's back. So my brain says, "then why are you home all day?"
I was going to drive around and put up flyers advertising our lesson studio that we're trying to get started, but I was about ready to leave when I realized that all the pushpins are in the back of Bob's car, in a little box. I've tried putting flyers up with no pushpins, it doesn't work, and you feel like a thief while you steal them from other people's flyers. Not good. So that's tomorrow's job, along w/ grocery shopping.
Saturday is another possible Wal-Mart visit; they're having a baby fair of sorts, I'm sure it'll be small, though. But you get free info and free samples - and we all know how I feel about free samples - and what the hell? It's free and it's not like we won't forget to buy something at Wal-Mart on Friday night that I can get there the next day at the baby fair.
Sunday we're having Bob's family over for dinner. It's his parents' 29th anniversary. I still feel bad that we didn't do more for their 25th, a few years back. They supposedly said they didn't want a party. And despite Bob's brother's insistence that what they really needed was a new TV (so he could do whatever he wanted with the old one, no doubt) we didn't buy into that plan. Bob's sister said they'd wanted the kitchen repainted, so that seemed quite doable. Bob and I were in the heat of the student-teaching (ie: hell) experience, so all we did was buy some decorative things to match, and chip in for paint and supplies. The rest of them, bro, sis, and a few other relatives, painted. It's not the best paint job in the world, but since they all new very little about painting, I'll say they did a nice job (that Bob's mom has partially painted over since.) I just feel bad. And of course next year is their 30th. And we will have an almost 1 year-old, and NO money...*sigh* we'll see. So ANYway, that's Sunday.
Monday I'm meeting Stacey and Steph at the mall for some walking fun. I REALLY hope they don't walk too fast for me. Seriously. When I went their with Cathy we just waddled around slowly, since both of us are tired, gestating, wussy chicks. Stacey, pre-twins, used to be a marathon biker. And Steph is all, well, skinny! I have my work cut out for me, I'm thinking. Maybe they'll both bring their kids. That'll slow 'em up nicely.
And Tuesday is get-ready-for-school day. And Wednesday is, well, when we have our first faculty meeting of the year, and we get to see the improvements (and I get to find out if I have a room or not). The secretary didn't know anything about my room - but she's still working over at another school until tomorrow, in our temporary stronghold. I asked her to call me if she had any news. That's what secretaries are the best at. News.
So today was mostly another goof-off day. I did little things; laundry, dishes, solved world hunger and told no one, yelled at the TV whenever I channel surfed past Bush's talking head, etc. While Bobby's doing his 'homework' I'm going to be addressing envelopes to mail out to area music teachers to advertise our lesson studio. And one birthday card. Hmmm...maybe we should wait to send out lesson flyers until the band people have their programs in order. What would Bob do with a lesson flyer if he got it this week? Probably throw it out or stick it somewhere because he doens't even know who's IN band yet...a good excuse to wait. The flyers are going up around town tomorrow, though, damn it.
In the pregnancy newsletter section:
Two days ago, I honestly believe I went to the bathroom 20 times. During the day. Easily. The next day, my "Pregnancy Daily Calendar" said, "You will experience an increased need to urinate, due to the baby's constant pressure on your bladder. Go as often as you feel the need to. Holding it isn't good for you or baby." (Um...do these people not work? What do you do, wear an adult diaper all day?) Yesterday, baby was CRAZY active. Like, 'somebody went off their Ritalin' active. I was getting what I call "drumroll" kicks. Smaller kicks (or punches, God only knows) over and over, really quickly, for 5-10 seconds, in the same spot. Like somebody said to her "drumroll please!" Today, my calendar said, "You will notice increased movement."
Ha ha. You're one day late, buddy.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
September 5th - Sleepy Rainy Nothing
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Bob had his first day back today, just an inservice day, and it was pretty standard for his district's style of inservice (ie, disorganized and frustrating). But me? I did a heap of nothin' today.
I was supposed to go over to Bob's parents house and 'be there' when their insurance appraiser got there, to let him in. But Bob's mom got out of her meeting early and was able to go. Which I was half-happy about, since it's raining lizards and birds out there...and I'd have to put on real pants, darn it! No fun. I like my sweats, can you tell? And of course since it was raining and we, I don't know, melt in the rain, or something, Bob's mom didn't want to bring the dresser over today for the baby's room, even though it was already in the back of her car. I was just looking forward to cleaning out her closet. Stacey (teacher friend) is giving me a boatload of cute baby girl stuff that her Sohpia has grown out of, and I need the space. So maybe tomorrow.
Well no, that's not true. I read magazines and books, watched TV, computered it, took a nap, looked up music teachers in the area schools to send flyers to for our lesson studio start-up, got kicked in the bladder/pelvic bone quite painfully (takes my breath away, literally), peed 50 times (almost as literally), stood in the rain waiting for Max to pee (we're re-training him to his rightful potty spot next to the shed, not all over the freakin' yard), made a date w/ Stacey to go to the mall and be mall rats next Monday, talked to my mother on the phone and managed not to have to punch a pillow afterwards, made a roast pork loin for dinner w/ a marinade, and went to Produce Junction to buy lettuce, red peppers, eggs, and portabella mushrooms. Not in that order. The stuff I did today, not the Produce Junction order. I have no idea what order I bought that stuff in...you pretty much put the veggies on the counter and they look at it quickly and tell you a price while you pretend that you already added up the totals from the veggie board in your head and know exactly what the price should be.
Tomorrow's big thing is the termite inspection at 3PM. Yes folks, this is why I would not be a successful stay-at-home mom for very long. I need more than a termite inspection in my day. Actually, tomorrow I stuff envelopes full of flyers and mail them off to schools advertising us for instrumental lessons. 'Bout time we got the studio started up right.
I'm REALLY sleepy for some reason - well I know the reason but it still always surprises me how sleepy I get all the time - so I think I'll just take the contacts out and curl up on the couch and doze until Bob's ready for bed.
I was supposed to go over to Bob's parents house and 'be there' when their insurance appraiser got there, to let him in. But Bob's mom got out of her meeting early and was able to go. Which I was half-happy about, since it's raining lizards and birds out there...and I'd have to put on real pants, darn it! No fun. I like my sweats, can you tell? And of course since it was raining and we, I don't know, melt in the rain, or something, Bob's mom didn't want to bring the dresser over today for the baby's room, even though it was already in the back of her car. I was just looking forward to cleaning out her closet. Stacey (teacher friend) is giving me a boatload of cute baby girl stuff that her Sohpia has grown out of, and I need the space. So maybe tomorrow.
Well no, that's not true. I read magazines and books, watched TV, computered it, took a nap, looked up music teachers in the area schools to send flyers to for our lesson studio start-up, got kicked in the bladder/pelvic bone quite painfully (takes my breath away, literally), peed 50 times (almost as literally), stood in the rain waiting for Max to pee (we're re-training him to his rightful potty spot next to the shed, not all over the freakin' yard), made a date w/ Stacey to go to the mall and be mall rats next Monday, talked to my mother on the phone and managed not to have to punch a pillow afterwards, made a roast pork loin for dinner w/ a marinade, and went to Produce Junction to buy lettuce, red peppers, eggs, and portabella mushrooms. Not in that order. The stuff I did today, not the Produce Junction order. I have no idea what order I bought that stuff in...you pretty much put the veggies on the counter and they look at it quickly and tell you a price while you pretend that you already added up the totals from the veggie board in your head and know exactly what the price should be.
Tomorrow's big thing is the termite inspection at 3PM. Yes folks, this is why I would not be a successful stay-at-home mom for very long. I need more than a termite inspection in my day. Actually, tomorrow I stuff envelopes full of flyers and mail them off to schools advertising us for instrumental lessons. 'Bout time we got the studio started up right.
I'm REALLY sleepy for some reason - well I know the reason but it still always surprises me how sleepy I get all the time - so I think I'll just take the contacts out and curl up on the couch and doze until Bob's ready for bed.
Monday, September 04, 2006
September 4th - VERY nice day
I gotta say, I think today was the nicest day of the summer. Which is good, because summer's basically over now. :-( Well, as posted earlier, this was easily the best summer I remember.
First of all - and I'll get all teary and hormonal when I'm typing this - Bob decided that the thing he minds most about the start of the school year is us not getting near as much time together. We are basically together 24/7 in the summer. And no, we don't get sick of each other a bit. (I feel bad that some people ask me that, 'don't you want to go do stuff on your own? Have a girls' night out? Get some alone time?' Um, NO, not really. Maybe I'm sick and co-dependent but at any given time it goes without saying that I'd be happiest with Bobby.) So he decided that today is "spend time together" day. Which we did.
We got up at 9, breakfasted, and over breakfast we decided that the something we'd heard a relative discuss yesterday was a great idea. They talked about doing a Name Game, a guessing game for friends & family to guess their chosen baby name. We said we'd do it and started thinking about clues. Then Bob said we should post it online, since we have relatives far away, and we could update it. And that turned into a whole new BLOG FOR BABY D!
We set it up on Blogger, designed it, and put in content like baby's most recent ultrasound picture, a pic of us, links to our registry and other good stuff, and we started our own name game. We wrote clues, one for each remaining week of our pregnancy, assuming we get as far as 40 weeks. We posted it all, and started getting guesses almost immediately. We're thrilled! Keep guessing, guys! We're going to update as often as possible, and post a new Name Game clue every Monday. So far we've gotten really good feedback from people. It was sooooo fun, and it took us until lunch to finish it.
Then we lunched and watched an episode of Seinfeld on the 6th season DVD. We're trying to get through all our backed-up Seinfeld and Simpsons before Christmas. Then I got to take a very nice nap (naps make the world go round) and then we went swimming.
Well actually, we went pool-cleaning. See, Ernesto left a nice little mess in our back yard, and the pool was filled with piles of leaves and debris. Needed vacuuming in a BAD way. So Bob retrieved the big debris deep-sea-diver style, and I vacuumed for a loooooong time. This wasn't easy, as my hands were practically frozen to the vacuum pole. Yeah, it was COLD in there, baby. Well it was all rain water in there anyway, since the pool spent several days overflowing because of all the precipitation we'd had. (Did I mention we had HAIL?) We finally got the pool looking clean (although the water's cloudier than usual) and we let Max in to swim and work off some of that excess energy labs are famous for.
I eventually got frostbite and went in for a hot shower and made dinner - pasta & Bob's homemade sauce. Highly recommend the Barilla Plus pasta, btw, worth the extra $, lower carb, higher protein, Omega this-and-that...much healthier and more filling that the cheap stuff. And if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for all cheap stuff, so that's saying something. Enough advertising. Dinner was great - we ate out on the "Veranda" ie, back deck, and after clean-up we just sat on the couch in the living room and talked and played w/ Max.
We decided to hit some more Seinfeld, and finished 3 episodes: "The Mom & Pop Store", "The Suit" and "The Secretary". I'm sorry, I know the characters are often pretty darn despicable, but I LUV Seinfeld.
Now it's Bloggy time, and then we hit the hay. So early? Yep, it's a school night.
Ooh that felt weird to say. Let's try again.
It's a school night.
Ok, that's just freaky.
Well, to be fair, I don't start school till the 14th. No kids till the 18th (thank you LORD). Bob has inservice tomorrow and Wednesday, and the brats - and his are truly brats - roll in on Thursday.
Bob had SUCH a rough first year teaching at his school, 2 years ago. Last year he felt much better about, but still there were a few issues. And his decision to bow out of the neighboring high school's power-marching band this season couldn't come at a better time. We seriously still have to keep reminding ourselves that fall does not equal "Bob runs around like chicken w/ head cut off for 4 months" time. Like, he'll be home evenings. And weekends. And he'll get to sleep and eat real food and not put hundreds of extra miles on his car, for what worked out to pennies an hour. SOOO happy he's not doing marching band. I initially felt bad that he was dropping it for me & baby's sake, but he really doesn't want that lifestyle. The boy's a homebody. And it's not like he's wasting a college education, he's just changing the grade level he aims to teach. Middle school band directors are hard to keep, they all want to move up to high school...except Bobby. He wants to direct band, teach lessons, and be home in the early evenings and weekends. Not spend Friday nights (and Tuesday and Thursday nights and all day and night Saturdays and the occasional Sunday) standing in the rain with 100 kids, wondering if the clarinets' pads are getting ruined and where the Hell the band buses are. I love it. I'm worried he's sacrificing his happiness for our family, and he sees it as a lifestyle upgrade. How'd I get so lucky to get this man?
I can't believe it's school time. SCHOOL TIME, for God's Sake. I was going to be farther along than this when school started. I never gave fall a second thought, because fall was when I was having this baby. And I was going to have everything worked out, filled out, completed, painted, organized, washed, and set up for baby-time. I guess my mind kind of went Spring, Summer, Fall=babysodon'tworryaboutit time. And here it is, and I still have at least 2 months (God willing) left of being pregnant. The seriously pregnant time, too. I'm still waiting for the seriously pregnant stuff like ankles the size of waste baskets and being able to see her foot on my stomach from the outside. I feel like I have so much yet to prepare for, and so much more baby yet to grow. Well, that's true, I do. My mind never scheduled in this time in the plan.
So anyway, my Bobby goes back to work tomorrow, and mentally, so do I. I have to start sorting out things for the sub - a book of instructions that nobody else will tell her, so I don't come back in April to find my music program a pile of smoldering ashes.
Dear Sub:
So that's where we stand. Had a fabulous day with Bob (Husband of the Year award is coming in the mail next week).
Ready for school, but not ready for my sub. Ready for fall, but not for the end of summer. Ready for baby, but not quite yet.
First of all - and I'll get all teary and hormonal when I'm typing this - Bob decided that the thing he minds most about the start of the school year is us not getting near as much time together. We are basically together 24/7 in the summer. And no, we don't get sick of each other a bit. (I feel bad that some people ask me that, 'don't you want to go do stuff on your own? Have a girls' night out? Get some alone time?' Um, NO, not really. Maybe I'm sick and co-dependent but at any given time it goes without saying that I'd be happiest with Bobby.) So he decided that today is "spend time together" day. Which we did.
We got up at 9, breakfasted, and over breakfast we decided that the something we'd heard a relative discuss yesterday was a great idea. They talked about doing a Name Game, a guessing game for friends & family to guess their chosen baby name. We said we'd do it and started thinking about clues. Then Bob said we should post it online, since we have relatives far away, and we could update it. And that turned into a whole new BLOG FOR BABY D!
We set it up on Blogger, designed it, and put in content like baby's most recent ultrasound picture, a pic of us, links to our registry and other good stuff, and we started our own name game. We wrote clues, one for each remaining week of our pregnancy, assuming we get as far as 40 weeks. We posted it all, and started getting guesses almost immediately. We're thrilled! Keep guessing, guys! We're going to update as often as possible, and post a new Name Game clue every Monday. So far we've gotten really good feedback from people. It was sooooo fun, and it took us until lunch to finish it.
Then we lunched and watched an episode of Seinfeld on the 6th season DVD. We're trying to get through all our backed-up Seinfeld and Simpsons before Christmas. Then I got to take a very nice nap (naps make the world go round) and then we went swimming.
Well actually, we went pool-cleaning. See, Ernesto left a nice little mess in our back yard, and the pool was filled with piles of leaves and debris. Needed vacuuming in a BAD way. So Bob retrieved the big debris deep-sea-diver style, and I vacuumed for a loooooong time. This wasn't easy, as my hands were practically frozen to the vacuum pole. Yeah, it was COLD in there, baby. Well it was all rain water in there anyway, since the pool spent several days overflowing because of all the precipitation we'd had. (Did I mention we had HAIL?) We finally got the pool looking clean (although the water's cloudier than usual) and we let Max in to swim and work off some of that excess energy labs are famous for.
I eventually got frostbite and went in for a hot shower and made dinner - pasta & Bob's homemade sauce. Highly recommend the Barilla Plus pasta, btw, worth the extra $, lower carb, higher protein, Omega this-and-that...much healthier and more filling that the cheap stuff. And if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for all cheap stuff, so that's saying something. Enough advertising. Dinner was great - we ate out on the "Veranda" ie, back deck, and after clean-up we just sat on the couch in the living room and talked and played w/ Max.
We decided to hit some more Seinfeld, and finished 3 episodes: "The Mom & Pop Store", "The Suit" and "The Secretary". I'm sorry, I know the characters are often pretty darn despicable, but I LUV Seinfeld.
Now it's Bloggy time, and then we hit the hay. So early? Yep, it's a school night.
Ooh that felt weird to say. Let's try again.
It's a school night.
Ok, that's just freaky.
Well, to be fair, I don't start school till the 14th. No kids till the 18th (thank you LORD). Bob has inservice tomorrow and Wednesday, and the brats - and his are truly brats - roll in on Thursday.
Bob had SUCH a rough first year teaching at his school, 2 years ago. Last year he felt much better about, but still there were a few issues. And his decision to bow out of the neighboring high school's power-marching band this season couldn't come at a better time. We seriously still have to keep reminding ourselves that fall does not equal "Bob runs around like chicken w/ head cut off for 4 months" time. Like, he'll be home evenings. And weekends. And he'll get to sleep and eat real food and not put hundreds of extra miles on his car, for what worked out to pennies an hour. SOOO happy he's not doing marching band. I initially felt bad that he was dropping it for me & baby's sake, but he really doesn't want that lifestyle. The boy's a homebody. And it's not like he's wasting a college education, he's just changing the grade level he aims to teach. Middle school band directors are hard to keep, they all want to move up to high school...except Bobby. He wants to direct band, teach lessons, and be home in the early evenings and weekends. Not spend Friday nights (and Tuesday and Thursday nights and all day and night Saturdays and the occasional Sunday) standing in the rain with 100 kids, wondering if the clarinets' pads are getting ruined and where the Hell the band buses are. I love it. I'm worried he's sacrificing his happiness for our family, and he sees it as a lifestyle upgrade. How'd I get so lucky to get this man?
I can't believe it's school time. SCHOOL TIME, for God's Sake. I was going to be farther along than this when school started. I never gave fall a second thought, because fall was when I was having this baby. And I was going to have everything worked out, filled out, completed, painted, organized, washed, and set up for baby-time. I guess my mind kind of went Spring, Summer, Fall=babysodon'tworryaboutit time. And here it is, and I still have at least 2 months (God willing) left of being pregnant. The seriously pregnant time, too. I'm still waiting for the seriously pregnant stuff like ankles the size of waste baskets and being able to see her foot on my stomach from the outside. I feel like I have so much yet to prepare for, and so much more baby yet to grow. Well, that's true, I do. My mind never scheduled in this time in the plan.
So anyway, my Bobby goes back to work tomorrow, and mentally, so do I. I have to start sorting out things for the sub - a book of instructions that nobody else will tell her, so I don't come back in April to find my music program a pile of smoldering ashes.
Dear Sub:
- Here's all the extra programs and shows that they expect you to organize that they won't mention to you until the week of, only as an afterthought.
- Here's where they store the risers. Here's the list of custodians, in merit-order, who will help you with anything if you're sweet to them...and buy them a big-ass box of donuts after every performance.
- Here's my grading system. Do not change it, do not f*ck with it, or I will come and find you. ( I've got a delicate balance of actual truthful grading going on, and if you give every one of these kids +'s and make them think they can slide by with no effort, I'll be cleaning up that mess for years, via horrendous parent-teacher conferences.)
- Finally, you are allowed to try to get the kids like you, but not more than they like me. My kids. Mine.
- I'm sure once I have this baby I won't give a damn about the programs or risers or grades or kids. That doesn't mean you're allowed to screw w/ things. At least not in a way that would leave any lasting impression beyond your months at my school. Have fun.
- Oh and the little one in the AM Kindergarten is a biter, watch your ankles.
So that's where we stand. Had a fabulous day with Bob (Husband of the Year award is coming in the mail next week).
Ready for school, but not ready for my sub. Ready for fall, but not for the end of summer. Ready for baby, but not quite yet.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
September 3rd - Crab Day/Carb Day
Happy Crab Day!!!
In Bob's family, they have this little tradition of meeting at Mommom & Poppop's, having a picnic (although we're inside most of the day) w/ cheesburgers and hotdogs, pasta salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, shrimp, cake, peanut butter 'tandy takes' (candy cakes - homemade by Mommom) and CRABS. Whole, nasty, over-seasoned crabs that they break apart with nutcrackers and suck on and it's enough to make you ill. Spiders of the sea, disgusting things, these crabs. I'll eat shrimp - I did a lot today, actually, beause they're low-carb and low-mercury. But crabs I won't touch.
But we also draw names for the Christmas Pollyanna (secret Santa exchange) and in the last few years we've done Ronny's (Bob's 2nd youngest cousin) birthday party. Mmmm cake.
So we took a walk before we left for Crab Day, giving Max and me some excercise. Or rather, I shuffled and waddled along and was tired after 10 minutes of shuffling and waddling, and Bob tried to walk really slow while Max pulled his arm out of his socket. The idea was to get my sugar down, and it must have worked, cause my sugar was 91 when I took it later after eating like, well, like a non-diabetic person.
Considering it was both lunch and dinner, and drawn out over the course of about 5 1/2 hours, what I ate wasn't too bad. I won't be showing a written food diary from today to my doctor or anything, though. 2 cheeseburgers, 3 slices of tomato w/ salt & pepper, macaroni salad, potato salad, pasta salad...well, pretty much everything I listed above. Including a tiny piece of case and 2 candy cakes. Not too bad. But I'm sure a little to carby than I should have gotten. But one day won't make a difference. But yeah. Carb City.
Bob's cousins Mike & Sam were there w/ their 9-month old baby girl, Gabrielle. She had the same due date as we do, November 24th, a year ago. So it was a neat chance to see what our baby might look/act like a year from now. She's a mamma's girl, Gabby. Mike told me that she sometimes screams when he picks her up out of her crib, because she only wants Sam. Sam held her most of the day, with a little protected crawling on the floor, and a brief moment or two with cousin Shannon and Bob's mom. I would have loved to hold her, but I didn't want to upset the delicate balance of baby-happiness. All I can say is I really hope our girl will be the type to go to anybody. I hate this "only Mommy can hold her" business.
Well they have this lovely 9 month old baby who, despite her apparent obsession with her mother, is usually sweet and happy, and could stand in for the Gerber baby any time.
Well they dropped a nice little bomb today - they're 4 months pregnant with their 2nd baby!!!!
Yeeeeeaaaaaah. Wow.
Apparently they give you this mini-pill after you have a baby, with half the hormone dose, because your body is supposed to do the rest of the birth control for 6 months after you give birth. Nature's way of spacing out the kidlets so you can concentrate on one at a time. Well it seems this pill doesn't exactly work very well. In fact, cousin Shannon had an ectopic pregnancy while she was on it. Sounds like something I will want to avoid. Particularly because I don't want to have a newborn and a...let's see, Gabby will be...15 month-old at home at the same time!
I caught the slightest twinge of annoyance from Bob's Mom, since next year WE were going to be the ones with the new baby, and now there will be another in the family just 5 months later. At the next Crab Day, there will be 2 newbies!!! (Geez, it'll be loud!) Eh, Mike & Sam hardly every come to stuff anyway. We haven't seen them since...maybe Mother's Day? Maybe before then. No skin off my hiney. Besides, Baby D. will have quite a doting circle of family around her, being the first grandkid on both sides. I have a feeling I'll have to speak to Laura about the amount of Barbie memorabilia. Unrealistic image of women...and those pants are so damn hard to put on those dolls!
I feel awful for Shannon, though. They have a 2 1/2 year-old, Christin, who's a sweetie pie and very entertaining in her 2 year-old ways. (Snatching the plastic car off the top of Ronny's birthday cake, taking bites off of everything on the table and then putting it back on the platter, having tantrums on the floor...she was good for a few laughs today. Mostly cause it's not my kid doing all that stuff, it's actually quite funny!) But I know they've been trying for their 2nd baby for a while. And Shannon had that ectopic pregnancy a while ago, and a miscarriage right before we got pregnant. So that's two sets of cousins now she's watched get pregnant before her. And being a mommy is clearly what that girls' all about. *Sigh* life's not fair sometimes. Not that that kind of sad event is fair for anybody. But I just feel for her. I felt guilty, sitting there being all...pregnant, and stuff. Shannon's not my favorite perosn in the world (conservative, homeschooling, preachy, & churchy), but she's nice to me and nobody deserves that kind of disappointment.
So we had a nice Crab Day. I believe I actually know where the little slips of paper with the names of the people we're going to buy for, and their gift suggestions. Last year December hit and I had no clue where I'd put them. Hell, Nick downright lost his and had to wait till the end of Polyanna and present the last person with a Target gift card. THIS will be the year of the gift cards from us, however. Seriously, I am NOT running around a mall looking for a specific CD or Snowbaby or Willow Tree figurine. Everybody needs to tell us what stores they like, and BOOM, they're getting the store's card, in a card. Which kind of sucks, cause we have tons of Christmas wrapping paper and I really love making the Christmas gifts look pretty every year. I'm getting pretty good!
As for the Polyanna, I didn't actually read the suggestions, I just hope they put a store down that they like shopping at. I intend to start my Christmas shopping right after Halloween and be done in a week or so.
Except Bobby. What will I do about Bobby? Hopefully I'll be healthy & feeling good and I can just pop out and shop for him while I'm home on my first weeks of maternity leave. He does like gift cards, but I can't do that for my husband!!! At least not ALL his gifts!
It's weird to be thinking about Christmas in September. But hey, the time flies once school starts. That's why we do Pollyanna drawing at Crab Day.
In Bob's family, they have this little tradition of meeting at Mommom & Poppop's, having a picnic (although we're inside most of the day) w/ cheesburgers and hotdogs, pasta salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, shrimp, cake, peanut butter 'tandy takes' (candy cakes - homemade by Mommom) and CRABS. Whole, nasty, over-seasoned crabs that they break apart with nutcrackers and suck on and it's enough to make you ill. Spiders of the sea, disgusting things, these crabs. I'll eat shrimp - I did a lot today, actually, beause they're low-carb and low-mercury. But crabs I won't touch.
But we also draw names for the Christmas Pollyanna (secret Santa exchange) and in the last few years we've done Ronny's (Bob's 2nd youngest cousin) birthday party. Mmmm cake.
So we took a walk before we left for Crab Day, giving Max and me some excercise. Or rather, I shuffled and waddled along and was tired after 10 minutes of shuffling and waddling, and Bob tried to walk really slow while Max pulled his arm out of his socket. The idea was to get my sugar down, and it must have worked, cause my sugar was 91 when I took it later after eating like, well, like a non-diabetic person.
Considering it was both lunch and dinner, and drawn out over the course of about 5 1/2 hours, what I ate wasn't too bad. I won't be showing a written food diary from today to my doctor or anything, though. 2 cheeseburgers, 3 slices of tomato w/ salt & pepper, macaroni salad, potato salad, pasta salad...well, pretty much everything I listed above. Including a tiny piece of case and 2 candy cakes. Not too bad. But I'm sure a little to carby than I should have gotten. But one day won't make a difference. But yeah. Carb City.
Bob's cousins Mike & Sam were there w/ their 9-month old baby girl, Gabrielle. She had the same due date as we do, November 24th, a year ago. So it was a neat chance to see what our baby might look/act like a year from now. She's a mamma's girl, Gabby. Mike told me that she sometimes screams when he picks her up out of her crib, because she only wants Sam. Sam held her most of the day, with a little protected crawling on the floor, and a brief moment or two with cousin Shannon and Bob's mom. I would have loved to hold her, but I didn't want to upset the delicate balance of baby-happiness. All I can say is I really hope our girl will be the type to go to anybody. I hate this "only Mommy can hold her" business.
Well they have this lovely 9 month old baby who, despite her apparent obsession with her mother, is usually sweet and happy, and could stand in for the Gerber baby any time.
Well they dropped a nice little bomb today - they're 4 months pregnant with their 2nd baby!!!!
Yeeeeeaaaaaah. Wow.
Apparently they give you this mini-pill after you have a baby, with half the hormone dose, because your body is supposed to do the rest of the birth control for 6 months after you give birth. Nature's way of spacing out the kidlets so you can concentrate on one at a time. Well it seems this pill doesn't exactly work very well. In fact, cousin Shannon had an ectopic pregnancy while she was on it. Sounds like something I will want to avoid. Particularly because I don't want to have a newborn and a...let's see, Gabby will be...15 month-old at home at the same time!
I caught the slightest twinge of annoyance from Bob's Mom, since next year WE were going to be the ones with the new baby, and now there will be another in the family just 5 months later. At the next Crab Day, there will be 2 newbies!!! (Geez, it'll be loud!) Eh, Mike & Sam hardly every come to stuff anyway. We haven't seen them since...maybe Mother's Day? Maybe before then. No skin off my hiney. Besides, Baby D. will have quite a doting circle of family around her, being the first grandkid on both sides. I have a feeling I'll have to speak to Laura about the amount of Barbie memorabilia. Unrealistic image of women...and those pants are so damn hard to put on those dolls!
I feel awful for Shannon, though. They have a 2 1/2 year-old, Christin, who's a sweetie pie and very entertaining in her 2 year-old ways. (Snatching the plastic car off the top of Ronny's birthday cake, taking bites off of everything on the table and then putting it back on the platter, having tantrums on the floor...she was good for a few laughs today. Mostly cause it's not my kid doing all that stuff, it's actually quite funny!) But I know they've been trying for their 2nd baby for a while. And Shannon had that ectopic pregnancy a while ago, and a miscarriage right before we got pregnant. So that's two sets of cousins now she's watched get pregnant before her. And being a mommy is clearly what that girls' all about. *Sigh* life's not fair sometimes. Not that that kind of sad event is fair for anybody. But I just feel for her. I felt guilty, sitting there being all...pregnant, and stuff. Shannon's not my favorite perosn in the world (conservative, homeschooling, preachy, & churchy), but she's nice to me and nobody deserves that kind of disappointment.
So we had a nice Crab Day. I believe I actually know where the little slips of paper with the names of the people we're going to buy for, and their gift suggestions. Last year December hit and I had no clue where I'd put them. Hell, Nick downright lost his and had to wait till the end of Polyanna and present the last person with a Target gift card. THIS will be the year of the gift cards from us, however. Seriously, I am NOT running around a mall looking for a specific CD or Snowbaby or Willow Tree figurine. Everybody needs to tell us what stores they like, and BOOM, they're getting the store's card, in a card. Which kind of sucks, cause we have tons of Christmas wrapping paper and I really love making the Christmas gifts look pretty every year. I'm getting pretty good!
As for the Polyanna, I didn't actually read the suggestions, I just hope they put a store down that they like shopping at. I intend to start my Christmas shopping right after Halloween and be done in a week or so.Except Bobby. What will I do about Bobby? Hopefully I'll be healthy & feeling good and I can just pop out and shop for him while I'm home on my first weeks of maternity leave. He does like gift cards, but I can't do that for my husband!!! At least not ALL his gifts!
It's weird to be thinking about Christmas in September. But hey, the time flies once school starts. That's why we do Pollyanna drawing at Crab Day.
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