Catching Up

Whew! What a whirlwind life has been this last week or so. We went up north to visit our parents, and that was nice. It was a really quick visit--we took Friday off--but it was good to see everyone if only for a day. Getting out of town was a bit tricky as the day we were supposed to leave right after school, I ended up being stuck at school until around 5:30 under a tornado warning. All the busses were called back to the nearest school building, and staff and students had to stay in interior rooms until the all clear was given. Then, staff had to stay until all the students were home safely. Ugh.

My first batch of essays was handed in a week ago. I'm just now getting around to grading them. The kids are also handing in daily assignments, so I'm struggling to keep up with correcting and entering grades. I've been up WAY too late every night this week, and I'm feeling a bit exhausted now.

This morning, I was shocked to hear on the radio that my school is closed today. Apparently there was a small fire in the laundry room overnight. So, I got to sleep in today, and E and I are having some quality time. I called and asked if I could go in to work for a couple of hours to get caught up on things, but they said no way, no how. I think that I'll go in and at least try to pick up the rest of my essays later this afternoon. I should probably have just gone in without calling. Better to ask forgivness than permission sometimes, right?

In E news, he has his first tooth. It's not all the way out yet, but it's definately there. My baby is growing up so fast!

Speaking of my baby, I'm going to play with him. I hope everyone is having a good day. Friday is almost here!! :)

Rainy Days

There's something about a good, hard rain that makes me feel peaceful. Add in some thunder and lightning like we had last night, and I think I'm as close to heaven as I can be on earth. I LOVE thunderstorms and rain showers, and since last night, we've had plenty of both.

We're on the mend in our house. E's weekend was rough, but he's much better now. After a rough Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, he slept so soundly both Sunday night and last night. His breathing is much better, and his nose runs less during the day. Whew! I think that by the time we head up north on Thursday night, he'll be alright. The big challenge then will be keeping him awake in the truck until bedtime. I've got the roll of backseat entertainer, so hopefully I can keep him from sleeping too much and totally destroying his bedtime routine. By the way, I'm not sure how medically sound the Vicks on the feet theory is, but it sure felt nice and cozy in my socks!

We're looking forward to seeing family this weekend, and I KNOW they are looking forward to seeing E. We finally took the camera out the other night. Here are the results of a six-month snapshot shoot:


There are actually many more photos (I love my digital camera), but these are some of the best ones. E also got his "official" six-month photos taken a couple of weeks ago at JC Penney in St. Cloud. They are super cute, and it was actually really affordable. We'll head up there again I'm sure! Before we know it, we'll be taking his one year pictures. YIKES!

Anyway, I should stop putting off some work... grr.

Wow...

Where did that week go? I can't believe it's already Friday night. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad, but it seems like I was just posting about dreading Monday morning. I hope all of my school weeks go that fast! As Josh told his mom and dad today, "Another week down, 34 to go!"

E and I have both come down with the obligatory beginning of the school year cold. It seems that several kids at daycare are sick, so E was bound to get it. There have also been many students sniffling and sneezing around the building as well as some teachers who have come down with this nasty bug. Hopefully it makes its way through our house quickly. I think I'll try to do a deep cleaning/disinfecting this weekend, though that might be unrealistic considering a trip to St. Cloud tomorrow and baptism for Scott and Solveig's little one Sunday. We'll see.

Tonight we were at a 30th birthday party for our friend Jenny. If you read our old blog, you'll remember that she battled breast cancer five years ago, had a baby this past May, and has since been rediagnosed with cancer. For most, it would be a bleak story. Jen, however, is a picture of joy. We cannot help but smile when we are around her, and we're amazed at her faith. God is working in her life and on her body. The cancer has been responding to the treatments, and we continue to pray for a complete healing. Miracles can happen! Anyway, it was inspiring to be in her presence this evening.

Next weekend we'll make a very quick trip up north to visit E's grandmas and grandpas. They are pretty excited about that, and we're hoping that it doesn't throw our newly developed routine totally out of whack. Though, this cold is doing a great job of that already.

I suppose, I'm going to put some Vicks on my feet (Thanks, Erin, for that tip a while back) and get some rest.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Sunday Blues

Weekends are always too short, especially when the weather is gorgeous and all you do is play instead of getting things done that really should get done.

I'm currently procrastinating some lesson planning while E and Josh are out for a walk. I should really get something done before they get back, but I just can't make myself do it. I know I'll pay for it later... oh well.

It's been a glorious weekend! The weather is perfect for fall. We've had two campfires, and we're just basking in the September sun and loving the scents that float on the fall breeze. Ah, fall really is my favorite season. At the grocery store yesterday(my one task accomplished this weekend) I was giddy as I chose several different kinds of apples to bring home. I smiled in anticipation this morning as I thought of bringing E to a pumpkin patch for some photos and Josh and I were both speculating what we would dress our little guy up as for his first round of trick-or-treats... good times.

I really do need to get my head out of the clouds, though, and get something done. I hope this finds everyone out there enjoying life just as much as we have this weekend. If you haven't yet, step outside and let September put a smile on your face. :)

TGIF!

This weekend couldn't have arrived at a better time. Josh and I are both totally wiped out. E hasn't been helping us out at night--he wakes up several times every evening. We're tired, but we've both had a good first week back. E has been great at daycare, and now we're all just enjoying an awesome September evening to kick off the weekend.

My students have impressed me so far this year. They are interesting, energetic, respectful, compassionate, and I think we're going to have a lot of fun learning with and from each other this year. We start off our first "major" assignment next week as I've got them all ready to tackle their first five-paragraph essay while setting three goals for the school year. We'll see. The first essay has traditionally been a little rough. I remember crying through my grading my first year. Ugh.

Our school has adopted a team approach this year, and I was selected as the leader for my team. I'm learning about that role as I go, but I think it will be alright. Our principal is super eager to see us succeed, and he's been great to work for. He's always going about a million miles an hour, but his energy is good for the school. Many of the "old guard" have been quite resistant to this big change, but I think we'll make it.

My boys just got back from a stroller ride, so I'm signing off. :)

Exhaustion

I used to think I knew what being tired felt like. Then, I had a baby. I've had six months to readjust, and I thought I was all set. Starting school today, however, has proven that once you think you have things figured out, you might as well think again. I am feeling a level of exhaustion tonight that I did not know existed. My six-month hiatus from the classroom was pure bliss, and today shocked my system back into reality.

Aside from sticky 90 degree heat and floors that have no mercy on unconditioned feet and legs, I did alright. I put my "game face" on this morning, and I managed to fly through all eight periods of my day. It's a good thing E was tired this evening, though. He and I crashed at around 6:45. I woke up at 8:45 to feed him and get him into his crib, and now I'm just shaking away the cobwebs in order to get organized for tomorrow. Ugh. At least there's only one first day! I'm sure each day from here on out will get easier, but perhaps that's my exhausted delirium talking...

Seriously, the day went alright, my seventh graders were appropriately oblivious on this, their first day at the Junior High, and I was appropriately helpful, energetic, and downright inspiring. Well, that last part may be a bit of a stretch, but I brought my "A" game today. :) Only 186 days left until summer's return!

I'm tired. I have to sleep. Hopefully all you other teachers out there had a great beginning today and get restful sleep tonight!

All Good Things...

...Must come to an end. Really? Do they have to? Why? Are you sure?

Today is our last day of summer vacation. It's gorgeous outside, and we're in mourning. Mourning the loss of our no-schedule, laid back, do what we want lifestyle. Greiving time that we won't get to spend together replaced by spending hour after hour with other people's kids. Ugh.

In an effort to maximize my time, this post will be short. We are going to enjoy every second of this glorious day because we know that tomorrow everything changes. I feel a bit like Cinderella might have at 11:55 pm.

Enjoy the day!

Running Around

A few weeks back, we purchased the a new car seat for E. He's growing so quickly, he'll be out of his infant seat before too long. Josh and I were in Rochester visiting my parents during a recent round of Mayo clinic appointments, and I had been to Babies R Us, the "Menards of baby stores," and saw the seat. I wanted Josh's opinion, so I got him to go there the following day. We ended up buying this particular car seat because it promised to be, "The only car seat you'll ever need." Now, we should have known. It just isn't logical that a product could work for a child from five to one hundred pounds. However, we were in a hurry. We made the purchase and arranged for my parents to pick up the car seat with their Explorer as we just didn't have room in our car with our suitcases, etc.

Mom and dad got the seat later that day, and brought it to their house. For those of you who don't know, that would be about three hundred miles from our house. Luckily, we would be seeing Josh's folks a couple weeks later, and they graciously ferried the seat to us at that time. After all that, I was anxious to get the seat installed so that we could start using it. I cleaned out the car, took out the nearly too small infant seat base, and began my attempt to understand the owner's manual for installing the new seat, right down to the included cup-holders. I was getting nowhere, so my lovely husband stepped in to try and rescue me. We got to the part where we put the baby in the seat to get everything adjusted. This is where things got ugly. He was too big. Or, I should say, his thighs were too big. The buckle on the seat was at it's largest setting, but our guy was just too big to be buckled in without being squeezed in a very uncomfortable way. So... after a frustrating day, we decided that the seat had to be returned.

The nearest Babies R Us is two hours away. However, St. Cloud has a Toys R Us, and since the credit card statement actually read Toys R Us, we figured we could return it there. Wrong. We went to St. Cloud yesterday to return the seat and get E's six-month pictures taken. (The photos turned out great, btw.) We were promptly informed that this was not a product they carried at Toys R Us. They wouldn't take the seat--even though they had the same product in a different fabric on the shelf. So, not wanting to haul this car seat around any longer, and needing a bigger seat rather soon, we hopped on I-94 and headed to Maple Grove. The folks at Babies R Us gladly took the too small seat off our hands. We went back to the car seat section and proceeded to "try several on for size." It didn't take long before our usually happy baby was done. He had had it. Fortunately, we did find a seat in which he looked comfortable. It actually even fit in our car. Unfortunately, they were out of stock, and they will take up to a month to arrive back on the store shelf. Grr.

So, back home we went. Empty handed. Fortunately, the Internet is full of places to buy baby gear, and I believe we've managed to find a place with free shipping. Hopefully E doesn't grow too fast and the new seat is on our doorstep before long.

I am glad we have resolved the issue, however I am sorry to have spent my dear husband's 28th birthday driving around dealing with a car seat. Hopefully it wasn't too frustrating a day for him. Lesson learned: try everything on for size... before leaving the store. Even a car seat.