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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
I've Been Simpsonized!
You can Simpsonize yourself at www.simpsonsmoive.com (click on "create avatar")
Sunday, July 29, 2007
July 29th - Summer Goals, revised
Summer Goals 2007, an update:
o Read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons - really, I've spent so much time reading Harry Potter 6 & 7, and I have the Orff book to read. Not realistic.
o Create recorder method packet w/ Bob
o Prep September lesson plans
o Read Discovering Orff and create Orff unit for each grade level
o Paint bedroom furniture white - we decided it wasn't work the time or money.
o Get/Stay caught up with What to Expect Done!
o Organize/Put away Maddie’s clothes - Done, and she needs some! I've been spoiled by all the clothes we got as gifts, we barely have any 9-12 month clothes here! Must hit Target hard, but first we're going to wear the 6-9 monthers for all they're worth, till she busts the snaps.
o Set up Maddie’s play area better (to actually be used) - Done, although we don't use it a whole lot anyway. We usually don't hang out downstairs until after she's in bed, unless it's brutally hot. She's getting better at independent play every day - and getting more mobile. THAT'S when that gated-off area will be more useful, when we need to contain her crawliness!
o Hang the quilt Aunt Collete made on the wall in Maddie’s play area
o Wash curtains in all rooms - ick, it's time
o Research allergens for babies and create month by month chart to turn over to all babysitters - "No, it's not ok for her to try a bite of your peanut butter cookie yet" - Done!
o Have college friends for a visit? Looking unlikely, with work schedules.
o Go to the shore and do boardwalk things w/ the family
o Order pictures from Winkflash - get caught up!
o Get/Stay caught up with baby book - almost done, but I need pictures! (Hence the above task of ordering pictures from winkflash.
o Update scrapbooks
o Create 2003-2006 family photo albums on Winkflash
o Have family picture taken professionally (JC Penny?)
Well, we're not doing fantastic, but we're not doing too badly either. Lots of stuff I can accomplish this week (God willing), just by sitting down and being productive on the computer for once. Get those pictures and albums ordered, so I can update books, etc.I am DYING to go back to the boardwalk for an evening, maybe this week? (Next week my family's coming to visit.)
I told Bob about the JCP picture tonight, just have to make the appointment.
The school stuff I'm simply not ready to tackle. Maybe tomorrow I'll devote to reading HP7, so I can get that out of the way and start the Orff book by August. Maybe I'll go to Target and buy stuff to hang the quilt, too. This, on top of caring for, feeding, giving medicine, wrestling bottles into, and diapering a suddenly very willful baby. When did my child get a mind of her own? This just won't do! Eh, she's my kid, after all, I should have seen this coming. At least she can't really crawl yet. Hmm, what will the day bring?
Ooh! Ooh! She took a 6 oz. bottle tonight PERFECTLY. Like, we sat down in the big chair in her room, layed her on my lap on the Boppy, relaxed a bit, offered her the bottle, and she just happily sucked it dry without a complaint to anyone. (Lately it's been episode after episode of something that might entertain a fan of professional wrestling.) Hopes are high for tomorrow. Again, who knows about tomorrow.
...either way, there will be swimming because I haven't been in my own pool in over a week, and that's just sad and pitiful. Starving children in China would be happy to have that pool!
Friday, July 27, 2007
July 28th - Let's Play Catch-Up, Zantac Whining, Summer, Wedding Review
No, see, this is not how it goes. It is NOT almost August. No. August is the Sunday of the year. You have a day off yet, but you know that the end is near. And SUMMER is such a huge, glorious thing in the teacher's world, that you rarely think beyond it. So it is NOT almost August, damn it.
Actually, it's not going to be so bad. I always enjoy the first 1/3 of the school year. Basically up until Christmas vacay. Before that there's fun seasonal songs and holidays to look forward to, and school is still new and fun for the kids...most of 'em. You come back in January and it's gray and sad and a sadly LOOONG stretch till Spring Break. Or spring, for that matter.
Maddie world:
We started Reglan yesterday. Medication number THREE that my kid takes regularly, several times a day. We now have 4 medicine dates a day, coinciding with 4 of her 5 feedings...although I think we're eventually supposed to wean her down to 4 feedings. I thought all day yesterday that she was barely eating at all, but in the end she took a good amount. Plus, she had 2 good meals: peaches & bananas with ham & pineapple, and 'chicken noodle and veggie dinner'. Today she ate solids well - LUVED the morning oatmeal w/ fruit! - and took formula ok, as long as it was from Bob. He's bigger and stronger, he can wrestle her better than me. I bathed, PJ'ed, and cuddled my sweet baby with her sent-from-Heaven-clean-baby-smell, she was all ready for bed. And I guess I put the syringe too far in her mouth, because she gagged several times and then vomited up everything she ate for dinner, plus a good bit of formula. ARG! Now, I can deal with the extra effort of feedings, all the rice, the extra medicine, and the other weird things we do at the direction of her Dr.'s to keep this reflux thing at bay. But when she loses everything we put in her...especially when I'm pretty darn sure it's my fault...that I can't do. You get very hopeless, you know? When's this over? Did I sign up for this? What do I do now, do I feed her, re-medicate her, what? This was supposed to be better by now. "She'll be over it around 4 months when she starts cereal." Nope. "She'll get over it around 6 months when her esophagus matures and she no longer spits up as much." Ha. I'm WAITING here! And it's times like these that you just thank God that you have somebody else to hand the screaming baby over to. I feel for single parents, I really do. You just have to call your husband and hand over the baby, drenched in pea-soup-looking vomit (she had green beans, turkey, and sweet potatoes for dinner. Did beautifully. And there it all went, down the front of her clean jammies and all through her freshly-washed hair). And you get away. Go cry or scream or smack a pillow and feel better. Me, I put all that mess in the washer (not the baby, Bob put her back for bath #2), and then posted to a reflux help board called momswearingpuke.com. Clever name, huh? The mommies who post there are supportive and have real insight into the whole reflux thing, seeing as they're either in the thick of it or survivors. I got lots of suggestions for medicine-giving tricks, supportive words, etc. But it didn't take long for me to feel 100% better and a 100% worse - here's what one person responded with:
"I just wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you. Since Ian receives all of his meds via his feeding tube, I don't have this particular issue. But I can certainly relate to the puking and know how annoying it is!! Hang in there, Sarah's right, it does get better! You are doing a great job!"
Feeding tube? My God...
...and I'm done feeling sorry for myself right about NOW.
Well, let's make this a ridiculously long post and catch up some more:
Summer:
I still haven't done half of what's on my list. This week I tackled the photos. The albums and the ordering. Seeing as my kid is over 8 months and I haven't done the 6 month page of her book, I think it's time to update. I didn't ready Angels and Demons or the Orff theory text yet, but then, I did finish Harry Potter 6 and am well into 7. You must have priorities, people. Oh, and we're not painting the bedroom furniture yet. We're going to hold off till we win the lottery (when we play it?) and buy new stuff. Or wait till next summer. Whatever. I must get a move on the other things, though.
Last Weekend (Wedding, in Review):
We went to Hometown, stayed over one night, and went to an old friend's wedding. Julie and I were good friends in high school, and she married Andrew. Julie was one that I shared all sorts of embarrassing 8th grade lovey-dovey boy-wishes with, and she with me, and one of the nicest things of the weekend was witnessing Julie ending up with the exact guy I'd hoped she'd end up with all along. Ah, the girlie days of sleepovers at Nicole's and band bus chats...He's her type, let's say. At least he seems to fit perfectly the person she was when I knew her well, and that's good to see. Really enjoyed seeing partially quaker ceremony, too. I think of few of my personal issues with the various manifestations of organized religion that I've come across have been neatly fixed up the by the Quakers. Not what you'd expect. No, no oats or guys out to found Pennsylvania. Must do more research. Must also take baby laundry out of washer before I end up having to wash it again. Anyway, a good time was had by all. Maddie is a party girl, we learned. She loved the music, lights, and dancing at the reception. She skipped the ceremony - she's not the introspective type yet, and I think her well-wishes of "ba-ba-ba-goy-goy" might have been badly timed.
It was wonderful, interesting, and sobering to come across high school friends, too. A few I've kept up with, a few I see at weddings or run into at the outlet stores when we visit, a few I haven't seen since August of 2003. I was thrilled to see Zeb, the only one of the circle I ran with in high school who was an Eisenhower Elementary buddy. Very impressed with him, working in NYC for a big company, and still so warm and well-spoken. I was more pleased and flattered that he seemed to be really happy to see me - and interested in my little life. Teaching? Baby? House? New Jersey suburbs? Polar opposite of his own, pretty much. :-) But he's Zeb, he's an expert conversationalist. It was good to see everyone again, but Zeb and I date back to, I believe, 2nd grade. I'll have to ask if he had Mrs. Keller or Ms. Eiker that year...
We had a "high school friends" table and had quite a nice time catching up, eating good food, drinking good wine (I have not been hungover since college, and not that badly since one particular Spring Arts festival...owie. Mommy forgot that more than 2 glasses of wine = headache and nausea). And when we saw that our old English teacher had hit the dance floor, it was officially time to get up and boogie. I really like just hearing everybody's stories, though. Everybody was in a different place in life. House-buying, graduate school-finishing, business-personing, traveling near and far, etc. Seeing old friends with different lives in different places reminds me of the choices that I made that are a bit different from theirs. And, though it's not the glamorous life and spit-up soaked as I tend to be, I couldn't be more pleased that I made those choices. Everyone looked lovely (Bride was a supermodel, and I've seen her dolled up before many times), and everyone was well, and I won't pretend that it wasn't SO fun to show my Maddie off. She did beautifully too. Boogie-oogie-oogied on the dance floor, baby.
Well, it's (past) bedtime. We apparently think we're going to early church tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it. *night*
Actually, it's not going to be so bad. I always enjoy the first 1/3 of the school year. Basically up until Christmas vacay. Before that there's fun seasonal songs and holidays to look forward to, and school is still new and fun for the kids...most of 'em. You come back in January and it's gray and sad and a sadly LOOONG stretch till Spring Break. Or spring, for that matter.
Maddie world:
We started Reglan yesterday. Medication number THREE that my kid takes regularly, several times a day. We now have 4 medicine dates a day, coinciding with 4 of her 5 feedings...although I think we're eventually supposed to wean her down to 4 feedings. I thought all day yesterday that she was barely eating at all, but in the end she took a good amount. Plus, she had 2 good meals: peaches & bananas with ham & pineapple, and 'chicken noodle and veggie dinner'. Today she ate solids well - LUVED the morning oatmeal w/ fruit! - and took formula ok, as long as it was from Bob. He's bigger and stronger, he can wrestle her better than me. I bathed, PJ'ed, and cuddled my sweet baby with her sent-from-Heaven-clean-baby-smell, she was all ready for bed. And I guess I put the syringe too far in her mouth, because she gagged several times and then vomited up everything she ate for dinner, plus a good bit of formula. ARG! Now, I can deal with the extra effort of feedings, all the rice, the extra medicine, and the other weird things we do at the direction of her Dr.'s to keep this reflux thing at bay. But when she loses everything we put in her...especially when I'm pretty darn sure it's my fault...that I can't do. You get very hopeless, you know? When's this over? Did I sign up for this? What do I do now, do I feed her, re-medicate her, what? This was supposed to be better by now. "She'll be over it around 4 months when she starts cereal." Nope. "She'll get over it around 6 months when her esophagus matures and she no longer spits up as much." Ha. I'm WAITING here! And it's times like these that you just thank God that you have somebody else to hand the screaming baby over to. I feel for single parents, I really do. You just have to call your husband and hand over the baby, drenched in pea-soup-looking vomit (she had green beans, turkey, and sweet potatoes for dinner. Did beautifully. And there it all went, down the front of her clean jammies and all through her freshly-washed hair). And you get away. Go cry or scream or smack a pillow and feel better. Me, I put all that mess in the washer (not the baby, Bob put her back for bath #2), and then posted to a reflux help board called momswearingpuke.com. Clever name, huh? The mommies who post there are supportive and have real insight into the whole reflux thing, seeing as they're either in the thick of it or survivors. I got lots of suggestions for medicine-giving tricks, supportive words, etc. But it didn't take long for me to feel 100% better and a 100% worse - here's what one person responded with:
"I just wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you. Since Ian receives all of his meds via his feeding tube, I don't have this particular issue. But I can certainly relate to the puking and know how annoying it is!! Hang in there, Sarah's right, it does get better! You are doing a great job!"
Feeding tube? My God...
...and I'm done feeling sorry for myself right about NOW.
Well, let's make this a ridiculously long post and catch up some more:
Summer:
I still haven't done half of what's on my list. This week I tackled the photos. The albums and the ordering. Seeing as my kid is over 8 months and I haven't done the 6 month page of her book, I think it's time to update. I didn't ready Angels and Demons or the Orff theory text yet, but then, I did finish Harry Potter 6 and am well into 7. You must have priorities, people. Oh, and we're not painting the bedroom furniture yet. We're going to hold off till we win the lottery (when we play it?) and buy new stuff. Or wait till next summer. Whatever. I must get a move on the other things, though.
Last Weekend (Wedding, in Review):
We went to Hometown, stayed over one night, and went to an old friend's wedding. Julie and I were good friends in high school, and she married Andrew. Julie was one that I shared all sorts of embarrassing 8th grade lovey-dovey boy-wishes with, and she with me, and one of the nicest things of the weekend was witnessing Julie ending up with the exact guy I'd hoped she'd end up with all along. Ah, the girlie days of sleepovers at Nicole's and band bus chats...He's her type, let's say. At least he seems to fit perfectly the person she was when I knew her well, and that's good to see. Really enjoyed seeing partially quaker ceremony, too. I think of few of my personal issues with the various manifestations of organized religion that I've come across have been neatly fixed up the by the Quakers. Not what you'd expect. No, no oats or guys out to found Pennsylvania. Must do more research. Must also take baby laundry out of washer before I end up having to wash it again. Anyway, a good time was had by all. Maddie is a party girl, we learned. She loved the music, lights, and dancing at the reception. She skipped the ceremony - she's not the introspective type yet, and I think her well-wishes of "ba-ba-ba-goy-goy" might have been badly timed.
It was wonderful, interesting, and sobering to come across high school friends, too. A few I've kept up with, a few I see at weddings or run into at the outlet stores when we visit, a few I haven't seen since August of 2003. I was thrilled to see Zeb, the only one of the circle I ran with in high school who was an Eisenhower Elementary buddy. Very impressed with him, working in NYC for a big company, and still so warm and well-spoken. I was more pleased and flattered that he seemed to be really happy to see me - and interested in my little life. Teaching? Baby? House? New Jersey suburbs? Polar opposite of his own, pretty much. :-) But he's Zeb, he's an expert conversationalist. It was good to see everyone again, but Zeb and I date back to, I believe, 2nd grade. I'll have to ask if he had Mrs. Keller or Ms. Eiker that year...
We had a "high school friends" table and had quite a nice time catching up, eating good food, drinking good wine (I have not been hungover since college, and not that badly since one particular Spring Arts festival...owie. Mommy forgot that more than 2 glasses of wine = headache and nausea). And when we saw that our old English teacher had hit the dance floor, it was officially time to get up and boogie. I really like just hearing everybody's stories, though. Everybody was in a different place in life. House-buying, graduate school-finishing, business-personing, traveling near and far, etc. Seeing old friends with different lives in different places reminds me of the choices that I made that are a bit different from theirs. And, though it's not the glamorous life and spit-up soaked as I tend to be, I couldn't be more pleased that I made those choices. Everyone looked lovely (Bride was a supermodel, and I've seen her dolled up before many times), and everyone was well, and I won't pretend that it wasn't SO fun to show my Maddie off. She did beautifully too. Boogie-oogie-oogied on the dance floor, baby.
Well, it's (past) bedtime. We apparently think we're going to early church tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it. *night*
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Our daughter, to a T! (part 1)
Darn straight!:
It's true. She'll fight ya the minute you put the shirt over her head:
Wha ha ha! The dangers of a reflux baby!
Again, darn straight!
Hey, if you can't say it to strangers, print it on the baby's onesie:
Everybody should...
It's true. She'll fight ya the minute you put the shirt over her head:
Wha ha ha! The dangers of a reflux baby!Again, darn straight!Hey, if you can't say it to strangers, print it on the baby's onesie:
Everybody should...
Thursday, July 12, 2007
July 12th - That's ONE way to wake up...
I was tired at 10:08 PM. Thought I'd head to bed. Then I thought "I finally have a chance to get some stuff done that I've been meaning to do for a while."
So I got out the little yellow box:
So I got out the little yellow box:
YEOW!
I'm awake now.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
July 11th - Review of "Down the Shore", and on with summer
It was very nice, all in all!
The house was beautiful, large and modern (you run into hotel rooms from the 1970's frequently in OCNJ). The location was great - block and a half from the beach! The weather didn't cooperate all that readily; 4th of July fireworks were canceled and stupidly rescheduled for Saturday night, despite the fact that houses change over renters on Saturdays, so everybody who came for the 4th was getting majorly jipped out of some fireworks over the ocean. It was cold and rainy for a day and a half or so, the rest of the week it was party sunny and warmer, Friday it was absolutely gorgeous. Maddie didn't sleep the first night we were there, so that night was Hell on wheels, but every night after that she not only slept, she slept THROUGH, with no complaint at all. She got lots of attention from the grandparents and aunt and uncle, and we discovered that she's a perfect boardwalk baby. She either gazed at the lights, transfixed for hours, or she'd happily pass out and we'd do as we pleased. Good stuff. We were sorry to go, but ready to get back to our house and our own bed. (Isn't it amazing how no other bed is like your bed?)
So now summer has officially begun. Earlier I posted my "lofty" goals for the summer. Reading over them reminds me to just what extent my domestication has progressed. :-) I forgot to add "clean out and reorganize the linen closet". Hey, it's a mess. It ain't solving world hunger or learning a new language, but I'm looking forward to that and all my other little jobs for the summer.
Today I went shopping, and that was my major accomplishment. I actually lazed around for the morning and tried to decide what the world I would do today. Life as a full-time working mommy on top of concert season and grades and the end of the year and whatnot really left me in this "must-do-something-at-all-times" mode. I actually had to sit back and remind myself that it's summer - the beginning of summer! I don't HAVE to do anything except enjoy my kid and happy and well and keep the house from eating us alive. Still, I like the satisfaction of being able to sit down at the end of the day and say, "Today I did ________".
Tomorrow we're possibly visiting Bob's mom at the hospital - had surgery today, doing well. I'm going to actually accomplish something on my list tomorrow. I can feel it.
The house was beautiful, large and modern (you run into hotel rooms from the 1970's frequently in OCNJ). The location was great - block and a half from the beach! The weather didn't cooperate all that readily; 4th of July fireworks were canceled and stupidly rescheduled for Saturday night, despite the fact that houses change over renters on Saturdays, so everybody who came for the 4th was getting majorly jipped out of some fireworks over the ocean. It was cold and rainy for a day and a half or so, the rest of the week it was party sunny and warmer, Friday it was absolutely gorgeous. Maddie didn't sleep the first night we were there, so that night was Hell on wheels, but every night after that she not only slept, she slept THROUGH, with no complaint at all. She got lots of attention from the grandparents and aunt and uncle, and we discovered that she's a perfect boardwalk baby. She either gazed at the lights, transfixed for hours, or she'd happily pass out and we'd do as we pleased. Good stuff. We were sorry to go, but ready to get back to our house and our own bed. (Isn't it amazing how no other bed is like your bed?)
So now summer has officially begun. Earlier I posted my "lofty" goals for the summer. Reading over them reminds me to just what extent my domestication has progressed. :-) I forgot to add "clean out and reorganize the linen closet". Hey, it's a mess. It ain't solving world hunger or learning a new language, but I'm looking forward to that and all my other little jobs for the summer.
Today I went shopping, and that was my major accomplishment. I actually lazed around for the morning and tried to decide what the world I would do today. Life as a full-time working mommy on top of concert season and grades and the end of the year and whatnot really left me in this "must-do-something-at-all-times" mode. I actually had to sit back and remind myself that it's summer - the beginning of summer! I don't HAVE to do anything except enjoy my kid and happy and well and keep the house from eating us alive. Still, I like the satisfaction of being able to sit down at the end of the day and say, "Today I did ________".
Tomorrow we're possibly visiting Bob's mom at the hospital - had surgery today, doing well. I'm going to actually accomplish something on my list tomorrow. I can feel it.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
July 10th - If I Post 'Em Here, I'll Have to At Least Accomplish SOME of 'Em
o Read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons
o Create recorder method packet w/ Bob
o Prep September lesson plans
o Read Discovering Orff and create Orff unit for each grade level
o Paint bedroom furniture white
o Get/Stay caught up with What to Expect
o Organize/Put away Maddie’s clothes
o Set up Maddie’s play area better (to actually be used)
o Hang the quilt Aunt Collete made on the wall in Maddie’s play area
o Wash curtains in all rooms - ick, it's time
o Research allergens for babies and create month by month chart to turn over to all babysitters - "No, it's not ok for her to try a bite of your peanut butter cookie yet"
o Have college friends for a visit?
o Go to the shore and do boardwalk things w/ the family
o Order pictures from Winkflash - get caught up!
o Get/Stay caught up with baby book
o Update scrapbooks
o Create 2003-2006 family photo albums on Winkflash
o Have family picture taken professionally (JC Penny?)
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