April 7th, 2009

Did I mention that we scheduled Nealy's birth already? Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that. We will have a baby on Tuesday, April 7th. For those of you who look at me, then enjoy saying something like, "Oh, honey, you're not going to make it that long." Well, you can take your lovely comments somewhere else, because I WILL make it that far, dammit! This baby is coming on April 7th, via C-section with lots of lovely painkillers. No arguments, no questions asked, no speculation.
Wouldn't it be funny if my water broke as I was writing this??
No, no it wouldn't.
We will be situating the nursery this week (please come over and join us if you'd like!). I have lots of plans for my little girl's room. I can't wait to see it all put together. I'll be sure to post pictures when it's all done. There's lots of painting and organizing to be done. I can't wait to get going on that. To those of you thinking, why doesn't she get going on that like....now? Well, things get so much easier around here when a certain little fella goes to school all day long while Mama and Daddy stay at home. I can't wait for Monday morning!
We're also going to attempt to set up Jacks's big boy bed again. For those long term readers out there, you might not be aware that the first attempt at the big boy bed was a failure. This time, we're hoping it will work! Here's hoping.

Showers

I have been blessed to have 2 baby showers, but I don't have any pictures to show for either. I'll be sure to post some as they are sent to me. I just feel so incredibly lucky to have been given two showers for a second baby - this is too much!!
Last weekend, my cousin KJ and three of my closest - Summer, Heidi, and Bethel - threw me a small friends and family shower. It could not have been more perfect. A couple of the party goers and hostesses brought their little girls along, so it was an all around girly getogether. My mother was in town for the event, and she had a great time bonding with our cousin Mary Leda - she is always the greatest person to sit next to at a party. She has lots to talk about. We feasted on delicious treats and sherbety punch (my favorite), and I was showered with all kinds of adorable girly things. I am in the process of sorting and washing all of Nealy's new things. I can't wait to get her room situated so that everything can be put in it's place.
Then, this morning I got a special treat. I arrived to school a little early, only to be paraded all around school in search of some signs made for our team until I could barely breathe. My teaching partner, GH, was really trying to keep me clear of the hallway so the students could prepare my surprise shower. Although, after I had walked the length of our campus at 7:30 in the morning, knowing my purse was still sitting on my desk because she didn't even give me time to lock it up, I was about to strangle Mrs. GH! Either way, it was for a good cause. I made it back to my room without passing out, and I ordered my class to give me a good five minutes to sit still before bombarding me with questions. We were watching the morning news announcements, as usual, and one of the students from our team was announced as having a special song to sing on the announcements. I was so excited, because I didn't even know this child could sing. So, I fussed at the class to hush up so we could hear. Then, before he began to sing, for the entire school to see, he announced that this was a special song for ME!!!! He went on to sing a song that he wrote all about me being a great teacher and a good mama - I cried like an idiot. It was so sweet.
Immediately when the announcements were over, I was called to my principal's office for no good reason. It was then that I realized - I was being distracted. The march all over the school was a ruse, the song was a hint, and now an impromptu meeting with the boss? I knew something was up. So, I gladly played along. I've never been given a surprise party, and I was NOT about to ruin the surprise! I went down to Debbie's office, and she made some attempt at actually having something to talk about (but, of course, we ended up talking about clothes, last night's Survivor episode, and more talk about clothes....), then she dropped the act and told me she had to walk me down to the library.
I walked in to find all 110 or so of my kids waiting for me so they could yell SURPRISE!! It was adorable. I got a little weepy at first, but quickly got over it when I saw the amazing cake, the 2 enormous trays of iced cookies (I do LOOOOOVE an iced cookie), and the mountain of gifts just waiting for me to dive into. I cannot get over the generosity and kindness of these kids. Even those with so little to give managed to write me a special card or get me a little something for Baby Nealy. It was overwhelming. My recent (last night) panic over having so little for this child (which sparked a small spending spree on babiesrus.com) quickly went away as I opened one gift after another - diapers, wipes, bath things, outfits, pajamas, socks, monogrammed bibs, hats, books, blankets, toys - you name it! I even got a handful of gift cards to Target, one to Baby Gap, and a ridiculously generous card to Winn Dixie! Of course, my favorite of all the gifts were the handmade burp cloths made by my friend, Ashley, who does an impeccable job with her crafts. Those are the burp cloths I've been waiting for, plus she had them monogrammed for Miss Nealy. It was truly awesome.
Now, I'm gushing. It was truly great. I was so thrilled when it was over that I didn't even dread the faculty/student basketball game. I take that back, actually, I never really dread that game. It is the one sporting event that I enjoy because I don't have to pay any attention to the sports. I can laugh at the teachers acting like fools because they are so serious about beating a group of 12 year olds! My friend Seth did a good job of acting like a fool, grabbing kids by the jersey and even kicking a chair on to the court toward the ref. Later, he revealed that all that athletic activity got him so winded that he thought he was going to have a heart attack, so he figured it would be easier to get thrown out of the game than admit that he couldn't run another step! Good times at Drake Middle.
I will be sure to post pictures when I get them. I hear there are lots floating around out there! Now I have A TON of thank you notes to get to. No one can be left out.

Are you kidding me with this snow????

This is a picture of yesterday:


And here is what we woke up to this morning....



Did you notice, in the picture from yesterday, the children were frolicking in the dirt pile wearing shorts and tee shirts? Yesterday, we enjoyed the Gnu's Room fundraiser for a little while, and we ran into the Stewart kids who were out for a bike ride on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We were all very skeptical about the possibility for snow that has been predicted all week long. I guess we were WAY wrong. Because when we woke up this morning, everything was covered in a thick blanket of thick snow, and the flakes continued to fall throughout the entire day. Crazy!!

Scroll down for more pictures of this insane day....

Snow angels - yes, I got my pregnant self all the way down to the ground. I felt like, as I was doing it, that I resembled a beached whale.


Joe started to worry for his precious SLR camera when I started trying to pelt him with snowballs.
Jacks also thought it would be fun to throw some snowballs at Daddy....
Jacks could not stop making tracks in the snow - while yelling at the top of his lungs.
Can you get over this? We all went down for a mid day nap, and when I got up at 2:00, I expected the majority of the snow to have melted. WRONG again! Everything was still completely covered, and there was a fresh batch of fat snow flakes falling from the sky. At first I thought it was melting snow falling out of the trees. No, indeed it was FRESH SNOW. We have been out for about three or four rounds of snow day fun. I can't even tell you how many pairs of socks, pants, and shirts Jacks has been through already. We are totally not prepared for snow with this toddler. His mittens are not water resistant (knitted), he has practically no water proof pants, and the only jacket we could find that wouldn't soak up the moisture like a sponge barely zipped up. But, it didn't stop Jacks from running top speed through the snow yelling, "Woo-hoo, Yee-haw!!!!!" Fun has been had by all.

Jacks sends you big kisses on this wonderful day.....

Here is the last picture I took of the house at about 4:00 this afternoon. I can't remember the last time snow stuck around this long. But, the sun was coming out at this point, and the snow was melting rapidly. This doesn't look so good for school cancellations tomorrow, but a girl can still hope!!!!
Happy snow day to all!! I hope you had as much fun as we did. Love - K

An Old Fear Overcome

Jacks's bedroom is decorated in kind of a cowboy theme, so he has received a number of gifts over the past couple of years in keeping with that theme. Two such gifts are stuffed horses both the size of a medium-smallish dog breed. Anyway, large enough for a toddler to ride but small enough to not be frightening. That doesn't really matter to Jacks, because he has remained basically terrified yet amazed with both horses since they "rode" into this house. The first horse is a little taller than the other, and it was given to us by a neighbor who has been generous enough to share old toys that her daughter has since outgrown. When they brought the horse over, Jacks might not have even been one year old yet, but he was big enough to know he did NOT like that horse. The neighbor wanted to put Jacks on the horse immediately when they came over with it, and Jacks must have balled up faster than a cat being thrown in a bathtub. He then began shrieking nervously until the horse was removed from the room. We tried to play it off to the neighbors, but we knew it would take a very long time before Jacks got used to that horse.
After that, the horse stayed put on the hearth in the living room for a while, and Jacks would routinely tag the horse and run away as fast as his little, newly walking legs would take him. He wasn't so sure about that thing, and he thought maybe it would start chasing him any moment now. To be fair, it is pretty big, especially when you're a little guy, and it does have very life like eyes. I can see how it could be a little scary.
The second horse was given to Jacks on his second Christmas when he had just turned one. It is a little smaller than the other one, but still large enough to ride. It rocks, unlike the other horse that is stationary, and it sings a little song when you push a toggle button on his ear. Jacks has not been nearly as scared of this horse, and he really enjoys the song. We have had many dancing sessions where one of us has to press the button over and over and over again so Jacks can dance about the room to the horse's little ditty. However, when it comes to actually riding this horse, Jacks draws the line. He has no desire to ride it, rock on it, or anything in between. Also, when it sings its song, his mouth opens and closes. This remains a creepy mystery to Jacks, and he's not all that sure he likes it. I've tried to put my hand in the horse's mouth while he's singing to demonstrate how harmless he is, but this has proven to freak Jacks out even more as he wonders at what point in time my hand will be bitten clean off.
Well, things have changed around here, and Jacks has overcome his fear of both of these animals. In fact, he has decided to become a cowboy. As soon as he got on top of this horse, he demanded a hat! And the best I could do, mostly because it was within reach, was this sombrero hat he got as a party favor at Harper's birthday fiesta last fall. One small problem is that although Jacks knows a horse when he sees it, he continues to call both of these animals "cows". My thinking is that he doesn't understand why a cowboy is called a cowboy if he rides horses, shouldn't a cowboy ride cows? He also knows that cowboys say, "Yee-haw!" Although, I really don't know where he learned that. I'm guessing school - kids learn all kinds of crazy things at school, don't they?
So, there you go - Jacks has finally overcome his fear of his horses! Okay, so what's next........

Character Dress Up Day!

There has been a book fair going on at Jacks's school this week, and today was character dress up day. It has been kind of a crazy couple of days, so I didn't take a lot of time to decide what Jacks would dress up as. At the last minute this morning, we dug his very first Halloween costume out of the basement - a monkey. He took his copy of Curious George to school with him so everyone would know just what monkey he was supposed to be. He wore his costume proudly over his sweat pants and tee shirt (after all, he had to be comfortable for tumbling class today!). The costume doesn't fit him as well these days as it did for his first Halloween, but it did just fine. I posed for a few shots with my little monkey, too. One thing is for sure - at 33 weeks pregnant at 7:00 in the morning, I am a puffy little mama! Oh well, I make pretty babies. That's what really counts, right? Maybe one day you'll be able to see my eyes again. Check in next week - it is Dr. Seuss week all week long, so Jacks will be dressing up each day for school. A good thing that happened at my school today was that one of my fabulous children's mothers came up to school to donate a beautiful picture book to our library. I posed for a picture for the paper with the mother, the daughter, and the book. After seeing this picture with Jacks, I'm really kind of worried about that other one actually being published anywhere. Ugh - sometimes pregnancies are best NOT photographed for posterity!

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Happy Valentine's Day!

It has been a very long time since I've blogged. Mostly because I'm trying to keep from frightening all of you with a hormonal tirade. To be honest, when I do go on hormonal tirades, I certainly hope that you see my comments as humorous and funny rather than crazy and tyrannical. I don't mean to scare you, simply to entertain! I promise!! So, let's sum up the past couple of days.....
Yesterday was Friday the 13th, and is was also the day that our school children celebrated Valentine's Day (being the last school day before the actual day of LOVE). It was fitting that it was Friday the 13th, because it truly frightening. The week leading up to Valentine's Day at a middle school is a curious time - you can tell that there are a few young souls with romantic hearts who are determined to have a special someone to enjoy Valentine's with. The unfortunate but true fact of the matter is that those sweet children are about to learn a valuable lesson - Valentine's is overrated and love stinks. And when you throw candy grams in the mix, things get just a little bit harder for those lost souls out there.
Okay - enough of being vague, let's get specific! The children at my school have spent the past two weeks eagerly purchasing candy grams for one another for fifty cents a pop during their lunch time. The proceeds are to benefit the math team, so we were all very supportive of the cause (the math team doesn't exactly get additional funding in the athletic budget). You can imagine how candy gram purchases go - several children go ahead and buy candy grams for themselves, even going so far as to write themselves a self affirming message. This is a great idea, in my opinion. Plenty of kids do it, and those that do get the great benefit of receiving a treat on the day that the grams are passed out. Then there are the parents out there that buy candy grams for their children. This is also a great idea. The child gets a treat from someone they love. Who could ask for anything more? Then there are those who buy for their friends. This is what we want all of them to do. After all, they're in the 6th grade. They should all be friends with each other with little interests in other relationships. Then there is the saddest group of all - those who put their hearts out there to be broken; those who send candy grams to the ones they fancy the most. It is important to note that candy grams are passed out during the last period of the day on Friday before Valentine's. On one hand, this is smart - there isn't any time for backlash. On the other hand, those who are putting their hearts on the line have most likely already taken a chance earlier in the day - so their candy gram is being sent to a heartless person who has already rejected him/her.
Case in point - one of my little boys we'll call James. James is a little boy who likes to act up a lot at school, but deep down he is a good boy. We've had some behavioral problems out of him, but nothing a short meeting with Mom and Dad can't solve. He has taken a particular liking to a little girl on our team who is very, very cute - and she knows it. Although she is a sweet girl, she also runs with a tough crowd. Many of her girl friends live in the neighborhood surrounding our school (also known as the ghetto - yes, even Auburn has a ghetto). The kids in that neighborhood are characteristically mature and tough, and it really isn't their fault that they have those traits; it is their life. This little girl in question doesn't live around our school, but she needs to maintain a certain street cred to hang with her girls, so she gets a little sassy and tough from time to time. But, at her heart, she is a very good girl with a great family, and she dresses like a page out of Seventeen magazine. James bought her a candy gram, but before she could get it, he made an attempt at romance; he bought her a $5 giant sized pencil with a feather on top from the book fair. He attempted to give it to her as a gift, and she rejected the gift. Well, we all know that that really means that she rejected him. So, he employed another child to break said pencil in half, then he spent the remainder of the day continuing to dismantle the gift and sulking deep within his hooded sweatshirt. He started out my class on Friday - the last class of the day - with his head down and the hood down over it. His seat mate pointed out the situation to me, but we all assumed he was sleeping. I said he'd wake up soon, so we kind of ignored it. It wasn't long before I realized something was wrong. Poor James had experienced his first heart break. And it wasn't going well. Everyone in the class quickly realized what was happening, and the fallout was harsh. Some kids sympathized, others laughed from a distance. And although I didn't see it, I suspect some laughed in his face. Overall, the whole situation was hard. As an adult, it's hard to watch him and not remember that same heartache from my own adolescence. As a mother, it's hard to not be protective of him and go after the little girl who caused the problem. Who does she think she is, anyway???? As a teacher, the whole thing just makes me mad. If we could avoid this entire holiday in the first place, we could avoid these problems altogether. Then, to add insult to injury, that little girl still received his candy gram, which he sent before the rejection. Before the hearbreak. Before he became hard and bitter.
As you can tell, I'm grateful that when we return to school on Monday, the whole mess of Valentine's Day will be over and done with. And I so wish that we were celebrating Presidents' Day with the day off, because I think the kids need the extra time to recuperate. Thanks state school board for adding more days to the school calendar with no plans on where they would fit in!!!!
Let's see....moving on.... oh, yeah, did anyone catch Survivor this week? The principal at my school is a contestant on the new Survivor. This week was the first episode, and so far so good. She looks good, she sounds great, and she hasn't done anything embarrassing yet. We're all thrilled with our little local celebrity, and we will all watch anxiously to see what happens next. She has already admitted that we won't be exactly proud of her the entire time, but who can maintain total propriety in the circumstances of a Survivor show? They plant those people in the harshest environments in the world and set them up to act like fools. I'm just proud of her for coming back in one piece! I would be reduced to something horrible and unrecognizable. Anyway, watch for Debbie! She's the tiny blonde one, mid-forties, and looks great. I have to be honest when I say that I HATE that her age will come up as a "weakness" time and time again, because it is total crap and continues to encourage ageism on television. Oh well, I'll just have to keep on hating it.
Now, on to important matters - JACKS! Last year I was the worst mother of all time and I didn't make Valentines for his classmates. It didn't even occur to me - is that terrible, or what? So, come Easter time last year, I worked my butt off and made handsewn sock bunnies for all of his class plus his other friends. And I was ready for Valentine's this year. A friend of mine made some heart shaped crayons as a fun craft with her daughter, and I knew I could do that for Jacks's friends. So, Joe and I got really busy last Saturday night, and we made close to 100 heart shaped crayons.
It was sooooo much fun. We used all of Jacks's old crayons that needed replacing anyway. All the wrappers were stripped, and the colors were sorted. We weren't picky about colors; all purples went together, all greens, etc...so we made all new colors with the combinations of the shades. We melted the crayons in muffin tins in the oven at a low setting, then we poured the melted wax into heart shaped ice cube trays. A few minutes in the freezer, or not (they cooled pretty quickly on the counter top), and they popped out like a dream. Before we knew it, we had piles and piles of multi colored, heart-shaped gems to pass out to Jacks's friends. And the best part - no candy!! We get way too much candy in this house at holiday times, and the less we could contribute, the better. Each child got some crayons, a color sheet we made on photoshop, some stickers, and a little box in which to hold everything. We were very proud of ourselves. Several of the kids tried to eat the crayons, but it only takes a nibble to realize they aren't edible, plus crayons are non-toxic. The worst they can do is turn your poop a lovely shade of pink!!
My total cost for this project was about $5 - the ice cube trays came from the dollar tree, the muffin tins from the grocery store, we recycled old crayons, and we had the gift boxes and cardstock (for color sheets) already. Cheap and creative - my favorite kind of craft.
And, lastly, you have to enjoy some pictures of my adorable child enjoying his new crayons. He has been playing with his heart shaped crayons, but he also received an all new set of 120 crayolas as a present for Valentine's. He deserved them since his parents destroyed his previous collection for crafting purposes! He looked so sweet and grown up working at his little table in the morning sun today.
Joe and I had scheduled a baby sitter for tonight, but we canceled at the last minute because I'm feeling a little sick. It is just as well, because our only plans were to go to the movies and out for dessert. We can have just as much fun doing that here at home after bed time. I hope everyone else has a great Valentine's Day doing exactly what you want! Love to you all - K