It's ALIVE!

Confirmation at last! We have a baby in there! We totally got to hear the heartbeat for a long time today. And it kind of jumped around a bit - the doc said the baby was probably moving about. Ah fer cute! Our little baby! I about started crying on the table. And then the exciting news -- ultrasound is scheduled for the 23rd -- so only four more weeks until we know if it's pink or blue city. A guy at work (oh -- it's Mr. B! You know Mr. B!) whose baby is due Feb. 14th just found out his wife is having a boy brought in blueberry muffins to celebrate. He was making fun of how dorky his wife for needing to tell people in a creative way, but seriously, I'm totally going to be all over that. I just need to think of a clever way. . . hmmm... at least I have four more weeks.

Lunchtime with Mr. B

Do you remember Mr. B? Here's a refresher if you need it.

Every Friday some friends at school and I have decided to invade "boys club". Pretty much all the male teachers that eat "4c" lunch eat in Mr. B's room to avoid the dumb gossipy females. Seriously, some of the conversation is lame-o, even by my standards. Today I asked Mrs. D if she was eating there as I was on my way out of the cafetorium and she said, "No, the boys had ordered food and she didn't them to feel guilty about having to share with her." I headed that way anyways because I didn't want my friend Mrs. H to be the lone girl. I was quite proud of myself because I contributed to the conversation about the Twins (thank you JJ for debriefing me last night). Mr. B asked why no one else was crashing the club. I told the crew about Mrs. D and everyone started laughing because none of the boys had offered us any pizza or seemed concerned about it at all. I told them I would report back, "NO guilt. None whatsoever." heehee

Just what have we been studying??

Today in science I had made a quick review game so we were playing it. It's called "I have/Who has" and it is the greatest game ever. You dole out cards and the person with the "start card", well, starts by reading the "Who has . . . " message on his or her card. The player whose card matches that says "I have . . . " and then starts the next round by reading the rest of his or her card "Who has . . . " For example: Player One: "Who has the basic unit of all living things?" Player Two: "I have a cell. Who has a group of organs working together to perform a specific function?"

I happen to teach the "co-science" crew. This is the lowest of the low in 7th grade. It's a small class and I have a lot of fun! The other teacher, Mrs. S, and I have been kind of joking a bit that whenever she asks a question, we can hear the crickets. "Who remembers what CO2 is?" cricket. cricket. Anyways, so with this game, we had to be hustling around the room helping kids. Some gave guesses: "I have cells ?? Is that the answer??" and others just started blankly until we said, "Oops, it's your turn!" As the game was underway, one gal in the first category said, "I have orgasm ?? Is that it?" I just shook my head. Then again for another answer, she said, "I have orgasm." This time her card was correct, it just happened to be organism instead. I very carefully corrected her without making eye contact with Mrs. S. I just know we would've both lost it. The other kids didn't even blink. They just don't have a clue, and that is really nice. Because seriously, if this would've been any other class, we would've lost control for a good five minutes.

Fantasy Football

So. It all started when my BIL CPJ said I couldn't join his league. Let me backtrack. JJ has been playing fantasy football for as long as we've been married (almost five years people!) and it's always looked semi-interesting to me. Especially since at some point it just comes down to luck. So I asked CPJ if I could play. To his defense, there can only be a certain amount of people in a league, and his was pretty well established by this point. To my defense, c'mon hook a sista up! So, I decided to start my own. Called League Sunshine - just to rub it in a little. It's a just for fun FREE league that is even auto-drafted so we didn't have to do too much work. I invited a ton of my friends and family members to play and ended up with nine other dedicated (or at least semi-interested) participants. My first week I beat JJ. I was on cloud nine and even boasted just a little bit. Then, the downward spiral. I'm currently in last place! Boohoo! But it is quite enjoyable checking out the stats and figuring out who I want on my bench and who is up to the challenge of playing on my team. (ha!) And for your info, I've even learned a little bit. When I was first describing this whole fantasy concept to our upstairs neighbor BB, I was like, "Well, you get your own team -- a QB, a defense..... uh.... I can't think of any other players." heehee Now I can even name some specific players AND their teams! Go me! This is useful information when trying to connect with 7th grade boys - namely the kid with severe ED (emotional disturbance for those of you in the medical field (like my Mom) who always thinks I'm referring to erectile dysfunction) I was trying to get some work out of today.

Getting Organized

Yes, I do realize that it is almost the end of September, but I finally feel like I'm getting organized for the year. Most of my ability to feel this way comes from a colleague who helped me a ton by just showing me some of the things she does. And of course giving me free reign to photocopy all of her forms wasn't too shabby either. I have started documenting things that I should have started on the first day of school. I am giving my paras much more direction and involving them in documentation as well. Hopefully I will be all set by next week when we start Parent-Teacher Conferences. Duh duh duuuuh.

A quick softball update. Our rescheduled game tonight was cancelled due to rain again. The big controversy is that it rained hard last night but was clear all day, so the fields were ok (we practiced in the grass) AND city league IS still happening tonight. Thank goodness the adults can play but the kids have to stay out of the infield. Boo. We are done NEXT Saturday! Crazy!

More rummage sale finds!

On Saturday morning I had the good fortune and pleasure to go garage sale-ing with two guru garage salers: my SIL LJ and my good friend JP. After a quick stop at Starbucks, where I found a new hot drink to love (and I can even order it 1/2 caf.), we headed out. I was not very organized. The night before I had written down some rummage sale addresses that were posted in our paper. There were a few I knew I wanted to hit up and the rest just either mentioned low, low prices or specifically baby stuff. We hit the jackpot on stop #1. The seller had twins -- a boy and a girl -- and the things she was selling were definitely priced to sell. I got some cute clothes AND one of those little baby holders that vibrates and plays music. The lady said she had gotten three somehow, so this one was barely used -- and sure enough when I opened the box later at home it looked good as new. We hit some other sales and at another one with lots of baby clothes, it was pretty incredible to see the price difference. There were sleepers for $4 and $5! They were Gap, but c'mon, for a sleeper?? I did find some more reasonably priced (I'm thinking it was a multi-family sale). Then, later, I also found a canvas hanging thing for storage of diapers and things to go by the changing table. After regaling our husbands with our wonderful finds, we skipped town with AJ and LJ (they were headed home after a conference) to meet up with a friend. On the way, LJ called her mom, who said they had stopped a rummage sale earlier and there were supercute crib sets. We decided it was worth a quick stop (especially since BJ -- age 2 -- was sleeping soundly in the car). I ended up buying one of the crib sets for sale. The bumper has animals on it, with border of stars on a blue background and yellow stripes. The rest of the set is either the animals or stars. It was in excellent condition. It was the cheapest set, but it was definitely inexpensive compared with something brand new. And LJ reminded me I could get one cheaper, but then it would've been cheaper -- not as good of quality.

JJ is a little overwhelmed at my rummage sale purchases. I know he will thank me later, like once he realizes how much outfits cost and how quickly our "new" outfits will become used and abused. As a good wife, I will try not to say "I told you so" at that moment.

Water Park Fun

We got to go to a water park with SIL LJ and her two kiddos, LJ (4) and BJ (2). AJ, JJ's bro, was eating gourmet food (ahem, attending a conference). We had a fabulous time, once we got in the water. My poor swimming suit had to stretch a bit to accommodate my growing... well... body in general. The kiddos loved the slides -- especially LJ on the "toilet bowl" -- a big intertube slide that shoots riders into this big open bowl that spins them around until the end up at the bottom with the hole that shoots down into the main pool (connected to the lazy river).

BJ started getting Tired, and while he was dazing off, I told LJ she could take li'l LJ down the slide -- since previously BJ threw a fit if she tried to leave. On their second go-round, BJ wisened up to what the whole situation was, and started crying. He would cry harder if JJ or I tried to console him, so we tried to keep our distance. In fact, if he saw us looking at us, he started to cry. We did our best to be responsible caretakers (read: we didn't want people to think this was an abandoned child), while giving him his personal space. When he went back in the water, I caught up to him (it was supershallow, and he did have a life jacket, but I wanted to make sure he was safe). He let me pick him up and I pointed out where his mommy and sister were. LJ left to put him to bed, and told us to give her some time to put BJ to bed before bringing niecey LJ up to the room.

We played for a while in the water, and then I took LJ back up the big slide. On our first time back on the slide, she said, "Phew, I'm going to sleep well tonight!" We went two more times after that and on our third time being shot back into the big pool, we got going backwards. As we hit the water, the force of it threw me off the tube, which meant LJ went too! Thank goodness she had her life jacket on! I quickly got back to the surface and grabbed her bobbing body. I said, "I was kind of scared there!" She said, "Me too!" When we were getting out of the water, she said, "I'm too tired to do that again."

Tormenting a Two-year Old

We went to our upstairs neighbors' for supper on Saturday night. They are the ones with two adorable kiddos (EB and JB). JB had the crush on JJ. BB (mom) said that JB was crying because she missed me. BB was surprised at the change of favor -- it was always JJ before. So she asked, "Who do you like better? E or J?" --"E." "Who do you miss more? J or E?" --"E."

Anyways, we decided we better hang out with them, because obviously it has been awhile if JB is crying for us. We had a delicious (I would seriously recommend it) Papa Murphy's stuffed crust pizza. Yum, yum. They even got half without mushrooms for me! After dinner we were playing with the kiddos and JB showed us her babies' potty chair (a small ice cream bucket) -- (JB was potty trained and then an unfortunate bout of stomach flu made her regress, so the B's are trying to get her back on track.) TB (dad) decided to pretend that a "baby" had to go #2. He started making grunting noises and shaking the poor doll. JB got hysterical. She was crying and saying, "No T! No way!!" and clapping her hands and stomping her feet. It was hillarious, albeit a bit mean.

Also, side note: JB calls her dad by his first name. It is pretty funny. BB tries to correct her, but TB says that if she's ever lost it's more important that she knows his first name. Oh, ever so practical TB.

Stuff WE made!

My Mom, Grandma and I worked together to make these cute baby books. They are so special as THREE generations worked on them for our little one (and future little ones to come!).

AND I, with TONS of help and advice from my Mom, did most of the sewing on these overalls. Aren't they cute?? Those are cute little duckies on the fabric!

Garage Sale-ing

I heart garage sales. Especially now when I have something to look for. I also love the "For Sale" application on my work's email system. People list things they are looking for and things they want to sell. Starting in about May For Sale (affectionately called "t-bay") is loaded with garage sale advertisements. I have started checking out the ones that involve baby "stuff". Here are some pictures of recent purchases/hand-me-downs from our upstairs neighbors.

Oh, and I also bought some maternity clothes at one. It is so hard to buy maternity because I don't know how big I will get. It is hard to buy baby clothes because, as you can see, I'm *trying* to stay neutral. Also, with the mixture of JJ and my genes, anything really could happen with size. The skin, eye color, and even hair color are pretty much a given. As I'm browsing rack after rack, I also have to do the count -- what season will it be in the 6-9 month range (IF our baby is not a shrimp like me or a tall thing like JJ). Although, according to our moms, we were both pretty average as babies.

It was pretty funny, the other day I got home from work and asked JJ if he wanted to go to a sale with me (a whole block sale all with some mention of stuff for babies). He was wondering why I wanted him to go -- and the reason is the same any time I want JJ to shop with me -- so he can be my control. He can keep me from spending too much money! He laughed and said he wasn't worried at rummage sales. I decided that I'd only take my wallet (no checks) -- and I only had a $10. I came back and had bought $11 worth of stuff -- I had found some quarters! : )

First IEP (CHECK!)

Yay! I completed my first IEP meeting! Woohoo! Oh, I suppose I should clarify what an IEP is. It stands for Individualized Education Plan and it basically tells everything there is to know about a kiddo, what goals the kiddo has that we monitor the progress of, what accommodations the kiddo needs to be successful, if the kiddo can participate in state assessments and to what extent, how many minutes in the classroom/out of the classroom the kiddo needs and how many minutes (at least) the kiddo will be served during the year, ETC! Phew! It's a doozy, very legal and so, so important that we get the right stuff down.

The parents I worked with for my first one "on my own" were the best there could've been. They were awesome! They gave input, shared things from home ("we're seeing this in school" -- "yes, yes, we see this and this to back that up at home"), and gave a lot of personal information that would definitely be factors in this kiddo's life and learning experience. They were kind. They were friendly. They were talkers (it lasted a good hour and a half). And then, my principal, bless her heart, went over my strengths and weaknesses. She was like, oh, it was your first one? Let's talk about it. It was definitely nice to debrief, but it was 6:00 by the time I left. Softball was completely over (oops, sorry guys!) and it was time for this baby mama to get some FOOD! : )

Girl? Boy? Girl??

I had another dream last night where we had the baby. This has happened twice before. In the first dream, we had a girl. In the second one, a boy, and in this latest installment, it was a girl again. Of course, this one yet again involved me forgetting her at home. Oh, and llamas. Yeahhhh. My dreams are usually pretty whacked out. But, nevertheless, we certainly are wondering if this new little person is a girl or a boy. We'll find out in not tooooo long, which is getting exciting. Our upstairs neighbor is pretty certain it's a girl. My parents are hoping it's a girl because their neighbors across the street had a huge rummage sale and my mom just couldn't help picking up some cute girl things. But, she had to restrain herself, which I'm sure was hard. As my brother said, "You better have that kid soon - we're running out of room here." : )

First IEP call

I have an IEP due (my first one on my own!) at the end of next week, so I called the parent to see when she might be able to come in. I was a bit nervous about calling too late with the date looming ahead of me. She said, "How about tomorrow?" Woah! I guess this may be easier than I thought! Although I had to hold her off until Thursday so we could get some materials ready (not to mention figuring out this new computer system the district is using for special education).

I wish I had a cute anecdote of kids at school, but I have been so overwhelmed with getting organized at work that I am in and out of classrooms. One kiddo that I've been giving pipe cleaners to as a "fiddle" -- something he can put his energy into rather than distracting others -- had a great day today so that was awesome! I rewarded him by not spending every minute that I was in the classroom tapping on his back (ok, this is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point). Another kiddo has a new baby sister, so that is superexciting in her life. She spends weekends with her dad where this new baby lives. I'm also organizing with an outside agency for a kiddo in a treatment facility. I feel like I haven't really had a chance to "settle into" this position. It is here and I don't always feel ready for it!

New Alarm Clock...

This morning I was minding my own business (sleeping!), when my hair got in my face. I brushed it away. It continued to tickle my chin. I swiped it again. A THIRD time it happened, and when I touched my face, I touched the culprit as well -- A BUG! A BUG was on my face! ICK! I threw it in a moment of panic and at the same time heard it being crushed by my frantic motions. JJ was up in a second wondering what was going on! It took a long time to fall back asleep. I kept feeling ticklies on the back of my neck, arms, face again, etc. Ewww!

Blah blah blah

blah blah blabbity blah. Did I catch you up on my life in the last couple of weeks? I have been pretty busy lately and it seems that something always has to go. Facebook definitely didn't go, so I guess blogging lost out. With this new job, I feel like I'm doing a ton more work. I think once I get into the swing of things it'll be better, but it's taking for-ever! There are meetings all the time and then trying to get ahold of parents to introduce myself as their child's new case manager and then responding to parents whose children are struggling already --- like five so far just in math. This math book sucks. The teacher doesn't even like it -- but yet she still uses it. I took the little guy home this weekend and we are going to spend some quality time together wherein I'm going to rewrite directions, give examples and include key terms. The little math book isn't going to know what hit him! In meeting with kiddos they feel this will help them be successful, so that's all I need -- I'm off to work! : )

Surprise! Happy bday CJ!

Tonight we had a surprise bday party for our friend CJ (formerly CA). It was a fun night and we even played some Cranium! W00t! My idea of a great evening! Lots of good food, lots of good friends and GAMES! We thanked CJ for getting older! So, our dear friend JPJ (CJ's hubby) only has one slight lesson to learn: the bday girl always gets to win!! The girlies lost in a very, very close match to the boys. I always think the funniest thing in Turbo Cranium is when a player has to move a teammate like a puppet. I had to move CJ in the hardest card I swear -- pitching a tent, starting a campfire (they got campfire, but the whole phrase never came) and roasting a marshmallow. JJ moved our friend PO in "umpire". It was quite entertaining. He did the whole "Strike 1" "Strike 2" "Strike 3" "You're oooooout!" actions.

But, my FAVORITE memory of those cards is when JJ and our friend GJ (one of the crazy, red-headed J's) were up. JJ got "changing a diaper" -- he started by moving GJ's hands to the general area of where a diaper goes. This got a ton of wiiiierd responses. So, he basically grabbed GJ like a baby, layed him on the ground, threw up his legs and began to "change his diaper". I laughed so hard I cried -- even right now I'm laughing and JJ is wondering what the heck I'm doing.

Softball Blues

We had our first softball game. We lost. Boohoo. It was to another South team, so it's not as bad... or maybe worse for some of my girlies! Man, I'm glad they got their first game under their belts because some of them came out soooo nervous. Poor guys! We coaches rotate teams every game so we have a chance to work with different girls every time. I'm always glad this is South's policy because I would honestly feel bad for the girls that would be stuck with me. I played softball all growing up, but I was never stellar at it. It's just a fun game to play, and now, a fun way to connect with kiddos outside of school (and make some money doing it).