Thursday, September 25, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
I couldn't resist
Here's Alex looking all cute in his Twitch shirt that my mom bought for him last night.
And here's some actual pics of me - I'm always the one with the camera so I don't have many pics of me. My kids are definitely cuter than I am - but I can see a resemblance, can't you? ;-)
And here's some actual pics of me - I'm always the one with the camera so I don't have many pics of me. My kids are definitely cuter than I am - but I can see a resemblance, can't you? ;-)
SYTYCD
Why is it that when I read that I always think "STD"? It's really an unfortunate acronym.
Went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour show tonight. It was AWESOME. I have NEVER been one for getting all googly-eyed or screamy over celebrities or boy bands or whatever, but man, I'm a sucker for a hot dancer's body. I have watched every single episode of this show and I've been to the tour show two years in a row now (I missed the first year 'cause no one else but me watched the show and I didn't think I could get anyone to go with me).
This is my favorite dancer from the show, Stephen "Twitch" Boss. He came in second, but he'll always be first in my heart. *sighs*
I love to dance. I always have. There's something about music and movement that just speaks to me. (You'd never guess it to look at me, but there ya go.) When Alex was born, I spent many hours dancing around my living room with him in my arms. I don't have as much time for that with Emma, but I still manage it once in awhile.
The really cool thing? Alex LOVES to dance. I have him enrolled in a dance class at his preschool. He's the only boy in the class. All warnings of future "gay-ness" aside, the kid knows how to MOVE and he shakes his booty whenever music comes on. I love that he and I share this, since we don't share much else.
I'm hoping that he's interested in keeping it up. It's great for teaching body control and flexibility, and it will help him if he ever decides to play sports. And I hope he can get past the fact that everyone seems to think it's an effeminate thing to do - 'cause, damn, what other athletic activity will he get to do with a bunch of girls? A bunch of FLEXIBLE girls, at that. (He's either going to love me for it or really hate me one day.)
Anyway, I hope one day that I have a daughter AND a son who love to dance as much as I do. And one day I hope I can share my twitterpated-ness over the show with them. My friend Laura got to bring her daughter, Elise, tonight, and they were both so cute (Elise was adorable when she chanted "Courtney Galliano!").
This is Alex at his first dance recital. I dare you to look at him and not be bowled over with cuteness. Seriously.
Went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour show tonight. It was AWESOME. I have NEVER been one for getting all googly-eyed or screamy over celebrities or boy bands or whatever, but man, I'm a sucker for a hot dancer's body. I have watched every single episode of this show and I've been to the tour show two years in a row now (I missed the first year 'cause no one else but me watched the show and I didn't think I could get anyone to go with me).
This is my favorite dancer from the show, Stephen "Twitch" Boss. He came in second, but he'll always be first in my heart. *sighs*I love to dance. I always have. There's something about music and movement that just speaks to me. (You'd never guess it to look at me, but there ya go.) When Alex was born, I spent many hours dancing around my living room with him in my arms. I don't have as much time for that with Emma, but I still manage it once in awhile.
The really cool thing? Alex LOVES to dance. I have him enrolled in a dance class at his preschool. He's the only boy in the class. All warnings of future "gay-ness" aside, the kid knows how to MOVE and he shakes his booty whenever music comes on. I love that he and I share this, since we don't share much else.
I'm hoping that he's interested in keeping it up. It's great for teaching body control and flexibility, and it will help him if he ever decides to play sports. And I hope he can get past the fact that everyone seems to think it's an effeminate thing to do - 'cause, damn, what other athletic activity will he get to do with a bunch of girls? A bunch of FLEXIBLE girls, at that. (He's either going to love me for it or really hate me one day.)
Anyway, I hope one day that I have a daughter AND a son who love to dance as much as I do. And one day I hope I can share my twitterpated-ness over the show with them. My friend Laura got to bring her daughter, Elise, tonight, and they were both so cute (Elise was adorable when she chanted "Courtney Galliano!").
This is Alex at his first dance recital. I dare you to look at him and not be bowled over with cuteness. Seriously.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Busy signals
Can you tell I've been busy? No posts since Sunday. And even this one gets to be short.Today I found out that I'll be the 4/5 split teacher for the remainder of the year. Actually, I kind of volunteered. It will look great on my resume and I've been looking for something to get me out of my rut. This will definitely be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it.
Nursing is going great. I'm finally relaxing about it - the supplements helped to up my supply so Emma is nursing less frantically now and is happier when she's done. She's reaching for toys and such now and loves her taggie blanket.
Tonight we took Alex back to Odyssey 1 for his actual birthday and to pizza for dinner. He loved it, of course. I played the game that I know gives you lots of tickets, and won him 700 something tickets, so he had a blast picking stuff out at the treasure counter.
I'm off to exercise and finally relax. Evenings are so crazy now - I have to be out of the house before 6:15 in the mornings so I have to get everything ready before I collapse on the couch to watch tv or just collapse in bed. Thank god Scott is so helpful or I would go nuts.
That's all for now!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
I take it back.
This morning Alex woke up at 7:30 and STAYED IN HIS ROOM. For TWO HOURS. Holy crap. And he actually PLAYED WITH HIS TOYS that whole time. All that stuff I said about toys and gifts? I take it back. 'Cause I got to sleep an extra two hours. Holy crap.
Now, by virtue of the fact that I'm posting this, will that jinx it so it'll never happen again?
Now, by virtue of the fact that I'm posting this, will that jinx it so it'll never happen again?
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Ugh. *snort* sniffle...
Alex had his 4th birthday party today. It went really well - he had 8 of his friends there and lots of our friends and family came too. The party was at Odyssey 1, a place similar to Chuck-E-Cheez but nowhere near as loud or busy. It was fun and easy and I think we'll do the same thing next year - all I had to do was bake the cake and show up. Alex got 3 hours to play on the climbing toys, eat pizza and cake, play some more, and earn tickets and prizes with the games. He loved it - I think all the kids did.
Honestly? I'm not a fan of kid birthdays. It's not the party or the get-togethers that bother me (although today was a little awkward with the couple of parents who showed up that I didn't know beforehand. I'm not the best conversationalist.). There are two main reasons - the gifts and the gifts. (I know, that sounds like one, but hang on, I'm getting there).
The first gift-related reason is the whole idea of giving gifts on a birthday. Alex's first question when I told him about his birthday party a few months back was, "What presents are my friends buying me?" To which I promptly had a discussion with him about being thankful for what we are given, we don't expect presents, blah blah blah. I refuse to raise an entitled child, but the whole idea of birthday gifts kind of kicks me in the butt. Again, we are always thankful for what we are given - my point is we should never EXPECT it.
The other reason is the toys. Like all kids, Alex is truly only interested in a toy for a total of about 5 minutes. Then it goes in some place in his room (and later, storage) taking up space. He's not the type of kid who develops attachments to things, so even if he really likes something, it will only last 10 minutes instead of 5. Scott and Alex are out in the living room now, and they have spent the last hour unpackaging toys that will be played with for less time than that.
Again, we are thankful for what we are given and greatly appreciate the time and effort people put into choosing and buying a gift. I just wish there were a way to respectfully ask people not to bring gifts (there's always that Catch-22 - if you say, "Please, no gifts" on the invite, you're saying you expected them in the first place), or to donate the money they would have spent to a charity of their choice. It would help me teach my son an important lesson as well as putting their money to better use. However, huge props have to go to the inlaws and my parents this birthday - MIL gave Alex a bag full of brand new, very nice clothes, and my parents are getting him Tae Kwon Do lessons. THOSE are gifts I can appreciate, that are guaranteed to get used and enjoyed and are worth the money.
One reason I do love birthdays is the cake. I bake a different cake each year, it's kind of my tradition at this point. His first birthday I did a clownfish cake.
His second birthday I did an Elmo cake. The cake itself kind of sucked because it broke in the process of decorating, but the Elmo looked cool.
Last year I did a Transformers theme with an Autobot symbol and an Optimus Prime truck toy on top. (I don't have the pic on my computer.)
I experimented with fondant and airbrushing this year - what do you think?
And I'm getting a cold. *sniffle* SNORT. Two weeks after school starts, happens every year. Emma's getting sick too - her first cold. She such a happy baby, though, that she doesn't act like it bothers her. What's bothering her right now is my lack of milk - she gets pretty upset after each feeding. I'm going to keep taking my supplements though, since I know they don't work overnight. And I'm resisting the temptation to supplement her feedings with formula, since she calms down after a snuggle and a binky. We'll see what happens...
Happy birthday, Alex!
Honestly? I'm not a fan of kid birthdays. It's not the party or the get-togethers that bother me (although today was a little awkward with the couple of parents who showed up that I didn't know beforehand. I'm not the best conversationalist.). There are two main reasons - the gifts and the gifts. (I know, that sounds like one, but hang on, I'm getting there).
The first gift-related reason is the whole idea of giving gifts on a birthday. Alex's first question when I told him about his birthday party a few months back was, "What presents are my friends buying me?" To which I promptly had a discussion with him about being thankful for what we are given, we don't expect presents, blah blah blah. I refuse to raise an entitled child, but the whole idea of birthday gifts kind of kicks me in the butt. Again, we are always thankful for what we are given - my point is we should never EXPECT it.
The other reason is the toys. Like all kids, Alex is truly only interested in a toy for a total of about 5 minutes. Then it goes in some place in his room (and later, storage) taking up space. He's not the type of kid who develops attachments to things, so even if he really likes something, it will only last 10 minutes instead of 5. Scott and Alex are out in the living room now, and they have spent the last hour unpackaging toys that will be played with for less time than that.
Again, we are thankful for what we are given and greatly appreciate the time and effort people put into choosing and buying a gift. I just wish there were a way to respectfully ask people not to bring gifts (there's always that Catch-22 - if you say, "Please, no gifts" on the invite, you're saying you expected them in the first place), or to donate the money they would have spent to a charity of their choice. It would help me teach my son an important lesson as well as putting their money to better use. However, huge props have to go to the inlaws and my parents this birthday - MIL gave Alex a bag full of brand new, very nice clothes, and my parents are getting him Tae Kwon Do lessons. THOSE are gifts I can appreciate, that are guaranteed to get used and enjoyed and are worth the money.
One reason I do love birthdays is the cake. I bake a different cake each year, it's kind of my tradition at this point. His first birthday I did a clownfish cake.
His second birthday I did an Elmo cake. The cake itself kind of sucked because it broke in the process of decorating, but the Elmo looked cool.
Last year I did a Transformers theme with an Autobot symbol and an Optimus Prime truck toy on top. (I don't have the pic on my computer.)
I experimented with fondant and airbrushing this year - what do you think?
And I'm getting a cold. *sniffle* SNORT. Two weeks after school starts, happens every year. Emma's getting sick too - her first cold. She such a happy baby, though, that she doesn't act like it bothers her. What's bothering her right now is my lack of milk - she gets pretty upset after each feeding. I'm going to keep taking my supplements though, since I know they don't work overnight. And I'm resisting the temptation to supplement her feedings with formula, since she calms down after a snuggle and a binky. We'll see what happens...
Happy birthday, Alex!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tribute
7 years ago today I was getting ready for my first class of the day at 6:30 a.m. My radio woke me up as usual, and I was standing in front of my mirror, brushing my hair, when I heard, "A plane has just hit the World Trade Center." I remember thinking "This is just a mistake, some idiot who fell asleep at the controls of a Cessna or something who just killed some innocent people."
The rest of that day runs through my head like a tape that alternates between fast forward and pause. I remember walking past classrooms at WSU that had handwritten signs saying "Class Canceled." I remember somebody pulling out a TV into the common area of Cleveland Hall and pulling up benches. I remember seeing the second plane as it hit. I remember tears running down my face and a stranger standing behind me who squeezed my shoulder in comfort.
This morning I told my students about that day and the effect it had on our country. I told them that there were some very bad people who hate us for the way we live our lives and the freedoms we have. I told them to be thankful for that freedom. I had tears in my eyes when I said it, and you could have heard a pin drop in my classroom of 33 kids.
At our assembly, our music teacher told the entire school, with a catch in her voice, that the day before it happened, she had been teaching a lesson on Pearl Harbor. A student came up and asked if it could happen again. "No way," she reassured him. The next day she had to explain to him that she was wrong.
We can't forget. We've grown complacent already. I was lucky enough not to be directly touched by what occurred that day. But that makes me even more scared that it could happen again and hurt someone I love.
Remember. And thank the members of our military who are working so hard to protect us, and keep it from happening again.
The rest of that day runs through my head like a tape that alternates between fast forward and pause. I remember walking past classrooms at WSU that had handwritten signs saying "Class Canceled." I remember somebody pulling out a TV into the common area of Cleveland Hall and pulling up benches. I remember seeing the second plane as it hit. I remember tears running down my face and a stranger standing behind me who squeezed my shoulder in comfort.
This morning I told my students about that day and the effect it had on our country. I told them that there were some very bad people who hate us for the way we live our lives and the freedoms we have. I told them to be thankful for that freedom. I had tears in my eyes when I said it, and you could have heard a pin drop in my classroom of 33 kids.
At our assembly, our music teacher told the entire school, with a catch in her voice, that the day before it happened, she had been teaching a lesson on Pearl Harbor. A student came up and asked if it could happen again. "No way," she reassured him. The next day she had to explain to him that she was wrong.
We can't forget. We've grown complacent already. I was lucky enough not to be directly touched by what occurred that day. But that makes me even more scared that it could happen again and hurt someone I love.
Remember. And thank the members of our military who are working so hard to protect us, and keep it from happening again.
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