I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted. Things have been quite harried. We spent a relatively quiet Christmas Day at home, Skyping with J so she could see Elsie open the gift J gave her, then Skyping with my family, and then I got to Skype with my best friend M, who is a missionary overseas. They are many hours ahead of us. We were both in our pajamas, but for different reasons, haha.
The day after Christmas we made our way to Mobile to have Christmas with Eli's parents and siblings. We spent the night and came back after church and dinner on Sunday just in time to meet my family coming in from snowy Texas. We had a great visit--took my sisters to Sips N Strokes on Monday, went to the art museum on Tuesday, and took Elsie photos on Wednesday. Eli had to work all day, every day. I worked at Sylvan for a couple of hours each day so my sisters, dad, niece, and nephew had unobstructed Elsie time while I was away.
They left yesterday evening and suddenly my apartment was big and eerily quiet. I missed them. I miss them. But (sorry guys) it is nice to be able to walk around in my underwear again. :)
Anyway, today I took Elsie to J's for a little while, since it's been over a week since we saw her. I then went to Kohl's and spent $5 on $50 worth of stuff. I had GREAT coupons. And then I went to Hobby Lobby and Target. Didn't do much damage at either place, thank goodness. Did get a toy bin for Elsie, but that's about it.
I went and picked Elsie up and took her to the group at the hospital. It was a sort of reunion, with three other babies that I recognized that were Elsie's age, give or take two weeks. We had such a good visit! There was toy stealing and hair pulling and rice puff "sharing". Oh, and there was plenty of drool! I can't wait until summer to maybe spend some more time with these moms/babies!
So, a quick look back before tomorrow. Last year, on this very night, I set some goals for the new year. Here's how I fared.
1. I DID NOT finish the last 40 pages of Little Women. I'm not too broken up about this. I really didn't like the book, anyway.
2. I did read more for fun, though not as much as some seasons in my life. I even read some books that I wouldn't have thought to pick up before, such as some mysteries by Dick Francis, and some lesser read Grisham.
3. I did have a baby, and a cute one at that!
4. I did make an effort to spend some time being crafty. I didn't get to do as many of the baby-related crafts that I wanted, but I did get to paint and make jewelry and cards and decorate a cake.
5. I did take a class to learn something new--I went to Sips N Strokes three times and learned to make jewelry in addition to the childbirth and breastfeeding classes.
6. I think that we did okay in watching less television after Elsie came--because were were sooooo tired, but I think we backpedaled a little when football season started. But, since I've been back to work full time, I think I have been watching less overall (speaking for myself). The problem ended up being more about time spent on the computer.
So, that's the list. Tomorrow I will unveil my plans for the new year. You know, if I have time.
Cheers.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas, 2009!
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
And on a mostly unrelated note, here's Elsie, yesterday:
And on a mostly unrelated note, here's Elsie, yesterday:
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Laughing so hard...
Just a quick Elsie story.
A little while ago she was playing in her jumperoo and she was starting to get bored, so I sat down in front of her and started making faces and sounds. Every time I made a sound, mmmm-GA! or mmmmm-ZA! she would laugh hysterically. She kept doing it, so of course I kept making sounds, changing my consonant plosive. And she kept laughing. After several minutes, she was laughing, but her face started flushing, and in between laughs she had the beginnings of that pouty face that says, "I'm about to cry." And I would make another noise, and she would laugh maniacally. And the skin around her eyes got redder and redder, but she kept laughing, until finally she started crying. It was the cutest, saddest thing I've ever seen.
I often laugh so hard that the only "logical" next emotion is a full-on cry for no good reason. This is definitely my child (even if she doesn't look like me).
Cheers.
A little while ago she was playing in her jumperoo and she was starting to get bored, so I sat down in front of her and started making faces and sounds. Every time I made a sound, mmmm-GA! or mmmmm-ZA! she would laugh hysterically. She kept doing it, so of course I kept making sounds, changing my consonant plosive. And she kept laughing. After several minutes, she was laughing, but her face started flushing, and in between laughs she had the beginnings of that pouty face that says, "I'm about to cry." And I would make another noise, and she would laugh maniacally. And the skin around her eyes got redder and redder, but she kept laughing, until finally she started crying. It was the cutest, saddest thing I've ever seen.
I often laugh so hard that the only "logical" next emotion is a full-on cry for no good reason. This is definitely my child (even if she doesn't look like me).
Cheers.
UPDATED --
Just minutes later, Elsie is playing on the floor and she gets really quiet. I look under the coffee table and see this, so I had to run and get my camera.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sci-Fi no more
Remember when the idea of talking face to face to someone far away was science fiction? Me, too. And then I kept hearing about this Skype thing, mostly from Oprah. My best friend from high school was about to move overseas as a missionary when her sister was about 8 months pregnant, and M was lamenting that she would get to see or meet her niece for 3 years. I said, "What about Skype?" Turns out, that's exactly what they did. And now they all talk frequently, even with the time difference.
So, as an early Christmas present, Mom gave us a new laptop (goodbye old piece of junk) with a built-in webcam solely for the purpose of using Skype to keep in touch. I know, I know. It's mostly so that the whole family can keep up with Elsie's growth, but I like to think they want to see me, too. Haha. So, today, we got all the software up and running and got to Skype it with the fam, ready for a Christmas morning celebration that will span the geographical distance. Woohoo! Elsie's first Christmas and virtually everyone can be there! (Haha...virtually.)
The other joke, too, is that Elsie will think these people are in the computer. My parents used to tell a story (and was there a recording, or am I just making this up?) of when Stacey was little and they were making a tape to send Grandma. "Tell Grandma goodbye." "Where is she?" "She's in the tape recorder." Or something like that. Hard to explain technology to little kids. But I DO remember my niece, when she was little (3, maybe?), asking me if I was checking my e-mail, and me being stunned. Now they have cell phones. My students don't believe me that I was 24 or 25 before I first got one (and they also don't really understand that cell phones haven't always been around).
Which brings me to my last tangent before I call it a night. I had a student who would not behave during locker dismissal time, and as a result she was not allowed to go to her locker. I gave her multiple chances to get it, all she had to do was sit in her seat and not talk for long enough to convince me that she wanted to go to her locker (1-2 minutes, maybe), but she didn't. As a result, her mom called the assistant principal to complain about me and this situation, saying that her daughter was locked out of the house without her key and her phone, and because she didn't have her phone couldn't call her mother. Because she didn't know her mother's phone number.
Really?
Have we gotten so lazy that we don't teach our children how to store important phone numbers in analog ways (i.e. their brains?) in case of emergency. I mean, if she got home, didn't have her house key, though she had her cell phone, but the battery was dead, wouldn't she still be in the same predicament? Call and complain to the assistant principal about that.
Just to wrap this up with a bow, the same student was actively texting in my class two days later, so her phone got taken up and turned into the assistant principal, and again, had to go home without her cell phone. She was mad at me, of all people. Mr. AP said he would be happy to call the mother, as he opened the safe and put the phone in. The kids were mad, too, telling me that I didn't know that cell phone policy because this was my first year here, that the other teachers would have given them a warning. Whatever. I closed my door and pointed to my cell phone policy sign which has been on my door since day one--you know that one that says cell phones will stay in your lockers or be turned over to an administrator, NO EXCEPTIONS? And then I kindly pointed to my name on the door. It doesn't matter what the other teachers do. I follow the rules, and this is my classroom. End of discussion.
And that was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. So you wonder why I had such a stressful three weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas? Yeah. That's why. Teenagers.
Where do I apply for sainthood, again?
Cheers.
So, as an early Christmas present, Mom gave us a new laptop (goodbye old piece of junk) with a built-in webcam solely for the purpose of using Skype to keep in touch. I know, I know. It's mostly so that the whole family can keep up with Elsie's growth, but I like to think they want to see me, too. Haha. So, today, we got all the software up and running and got to Skype it with the fam, ready for a Christmas morning celebration that will span the geographical distance. Woohoo! Elsie's first Christmas and virtually everyone can be there! (Haha...virtually.)
The other joke, too, is that Elsie will think these people are in the computer. My parents used to tell a story (and was there a recording, or am I just making this up?) of when Stacey was little and they were making a tape to send Grandma. "Tell Grandma goodbye." "Where is she?" "She's in the tape recorder." Or something like that. Hard to explain technology to little kids. But I DO remember my niece, when she was little (3, maybe?), asking me if I was checking my e-mail, and me being stunned. Now they have cell phones. My students don't believe me that I was 24 or 25 before I first got one (and they also don't really understand that cell phones haven't always been around).
Which brings me to my last tangent before I call it a night. I had a student who would not behave during locker dismissal time, and as a result she was not allowed to go to her locker. I gave her multiple chances to get it, all she had to do was sit in her seat and not talk for long enough to convince me that she wanted to go to her locker (1-2 minutes, maybe), but she didn't. As a result, her mom called the assistant principal to complain about me and this situation, saying that her daughter was locked out of the house without her key and her phone, and because she didn't have her phone couldn't call her mother. Because she didn't know her mother's phone number.
Really?
Have we gotten so lazy that we don't teach our children how to store important phone numbers in analog ways (i.e. their brains?) in case of emergency. I mean, if she got home, didn't have her house key, though she had her cell phone, but the battery was dead, wouldn't she still be in the same predicament? Call and complain to the assistant principal about that.
Just to wrap this up with a bow, the same student was actively texting in my class two days later, so her phone got taken up and turned into the assistant principal, and again, had to go home without her cell phone. She was mad at me, of all people. Mr. AP said he would be happy to call the mother, as he opened the safe and put the phone in. The kids were mad, too, telling me that I didn't know that cell phone policy because this was my first year here, that the other teachers would have given them a warning. Whatever. I closed my door and pointed to my cell phone policy sign which has been on my door since day one--you know that one that says cell phones will stay in your lockers or be turned over to an administrator, NO EXCEPTIONS? And then I kindly pointed to my name on the door. It doesn't matter what the other teachers do. I follow the rules, and this is my classroom. End of discussion.
And that was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. So you wonder why I had such a stressful three weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas? Yeah. That's why. Teenagers.
Where do I apply for sainthood, again?
Cheers.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Disco Diva...without the disco
I survived the first semester. Amen.
I could stop posting right there, but I would have to leave out details about our awesome end of quarter incentive activity! So, I'll go on.
Today, we took the seventh grade roller skating. Yes, kids still roller skate. I made sure I wore the craziest socks I have (or the second craziest, since my neon skull and crossbone socks are in the dirty clothes pile) and when I got my skates, I rolled my jeans up to reveal the rainbow stripes. The science teacher on my hall ALSO wore crazy socks today. The kids thought we planned it. She knew something I didn't though, so her sock selection was better than mine--the roller rink had black lights. Dang! Maybe next time.
Anywho, we had a blast. The music choices were a bit disappointing. No DISCO music??? What kind of roller establishment is this?!? And there was a notable lack of the LIMBO and the HOKEY POKEY--skating standards, I thought. I didn't fall at all, and I impressed most of the kids, because, you know, they think I'm old, and therefore unable to do anthing "cool". That got me to thinking about the last time that I went roller skating.
::biddlydoo biddlydoo biddlydoo:: (flashback music)
I'm eighteen and rocking the rink in my skates. I'm flying high (figuratively) because, guess what?? I just cast my vote in my first presidential election! The screens in every corner of the rink in Waco, TX, were covering the news and the election returns. Every time I made a lap I checked to see the latest results. I thought for sure that we would know before we went to bed who was going to be the next President: Georgie or Al. I was wrong.
::biddlydoo biddlydoo biddlydoo::
That was twelve years ago. That was before many of my students who I skated with today were born. That's right. I am old.
But, now that I think of it, I feel sure that we had at least one BUGWB in Disguise event after that. For those of you who know nothing of what I speak, BUGWB is shortspeak for Baylor Unviersity Golden Wave Band--the marching band I was in for four years in college. The "in disguise" of which I speak was my brainchild while I was at Baylor. (I maybe missed my calling as a party planner.) The band rented out the roller rink and hosted a party where people came in disguise, and then we had a bunch of people in crazy costumes and get-ups skating around. It was a blast. How was I behind this? I was in band leadership--the historian, to be exact. At least that year.
Anyway, enough nostalgia. Tomorrow my age is really going to show when I'm all achy and creaky when I get out of bed after using muscles I haven't used in years! (Although, you could probably argue that those muscles were used a few years ago when we went snow skiing--but it's still been years, people! Haha!)
Happy Christmas break to you all!
Cheers.
I could stop posting right there, but I would have to leave out details about our awesome end of quarter incentive activity! So, I'll go on.
Today, we took the seventh grade roller skating. Yes, kids still roller skate. I made sure I wore the craziest socks I have (or the second craziest, since my neon skull and crossbone socks are in the dirty clothes pile) and when I got my skates, I rolled my jeans up to reveal the rainbow stripes. The science teacher on my hall ALSO wore crazy socks today. The kids thought we planned it. She knew something I didn't though, so her sock selection was better than mine--the roller rink had black lights. Dang! Maybe next time.
Anywho, we had a blast. The music choices were a bit disappointing. No DISCO music??? What kind of roller establishment is this?!? And there was a notable lack of the LIMBO and the HOKEY POKEY--skating standards, I thought. I didn't fall at all, and I impressed most of the kids, because, you know, they think I'm old, and therefore unable to do anthing "cool". That got me to thinking about the last time that I went roller skating.
::biddlydoo biddlydoo biddlydoo:: (flashback music)
I'm eighteen and rocking the rink in my skates. I'm flying high (figuratively) because, guess what?? I just cast my vote in my first presidential election! The screens in every corner of the rink in Waco, TX, were covering the news and the election returns. Every time I made a lap I checked to see the latest results. I thought for sure that we would know before we went to bed who was going to be the next President: Georgie or Al. I was wrong.
::biddlydoo biddlydoo biddlydoo::
That was twelve years ago. That was before many of my students who I skated with today were born. That's right. I am old.
But, now that I think of it, I feel sure that we had at least one BUGWB in Disguise event after that. For those of you who know nothing of what I speak, BUGWB is shortspeak for Baylor Unviersity Golden Wave Band--the marching band I was in for four years in college. The "in disguise" of which I speak was my brainchild while I was at Baylor. (I maybe missed my calling as a party planner.) The band rented out the roller rink and hosted a party where people came in disguise, and then we had a bunch of people in crazy costumes and get-ups skating around. It was a blast. How was I behind this? I was in band leadership--the historian, to be exact. At least that year.
Anyway, enough nostalgia. Tomorrow my age is really going to show when I'm all achy and creaky when I get out of bed after using muscles I haven't used in years! (Although, you could probably argue that those muscles were used a few years ago when we went snow skiing--but it's still been years, people! Haha!)
Happy Christmas break to you all!
Cheers.
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