Ninja Practice

On Christmas Eve morning Robert got to feel the baby kick. At first he thought it was me laughing, but I assured him I was not laughing, and he kept feeling him move -- the baby was very active that morning. From the time I woke up for about 2 hours, it was like ninja pactice was happening in my tummy.

Xander got his first Christmas presents. We had already gotten a cute picture frame and an outfit & CD from co-workers. His grandparent Jacobs got him books, and his grandparent Serios got him diapers, a toy, some onesies, and swaddling blankets. We also got a new ornament (Finding Nemo) because we are painting the nursery over the Christmas Break. Robert also got him an Arkansas Razorback Mobile and another Arkansas Razorback toy.

Robert primed the room this morning and Scotty helped a little with the top of the walls. And it is now snowing like crazy outside. It is driving me crazy that I can't be in there painting. If I were to paint I would be paying for it big time. I was so sore after taping off the room, and I am not sure how much I would be able to paint anyway. Robert and Chonte will paint the sky tomorrow. The water will probably have to wait until Thursday. And Friday, New Year's Day, we will be painting in all the little ocean critters. I hope to have as much help as possible on that day!!

I got maternity shirts for Christmas from Mom, and a maternity swim suit that I just got today. The maternity suit makes me look VERY pregnant, and I still have a long way to go, but there is still room in the suit for my belly to keep expanding.

I hope all of you have a great holiday!

baby update

We have a big baby boy! A little ninja in there that won't be still! He is already 13 oz, and in the 75% in size. Xander Pike ... lots of people have been telling us how interesting it is ....

Old Friends

It is amazing to me to be able to go without seeing a friend for years at a time, but when you do see one another again, it is like time has not passed.

At this point, most of my friends that I socialize with on a regular basis are people I work with. We have lots of time and opportunity to plan gatherings, and similar schedules which help as well. We spend time together in the mornings, before the real day begins. We eat lunch together everyday. And afterwork when we are in need of conversations with other adult humans, we are often congregating in someone's room again. This is a lot of quality time and it doesn't even include the sporting events or getting together before or after them to eat and chat. I am very fortunate to work with an amazing group of people who I like so much that we even get together during the summer, or on weekends during the school year.

But today I am talking about the people it is harder for me to see. The friends from high school and college that I am still in contact with (thanks primarily to facebook), the friends that I never really lost contact with, but do not get to see often. I have friends that live my town, and we will run into each other at Target, Walmart or swim meets, but it is very difficult to seem to coordinate schedules to get together. And I have friends all over the country it seems, that when we talk on the phone, you might as well find the cell phone charger and call it a night, because it will be at least an hour and a half most of the time.

It is amazing to me that knowing people well (and sometimes for fairly short time spans) can result in these lasting connections that when you are together time has not really passed. There is no growing apart because you have such a strong shared history. And in most cases we didn't really have that much in common. I don't cross-country ski, or hike, or pee outside, or travel the world like many of my friends, but we have something stronger, we think I am awesome -- jk -- we share a similar sense of humor and somewhat similar view of life.

To all my friends, I love you. I hope you are happy, and I hope to see you soon.

we have ....

We have movement. I have felt the baby move before, but kept telling myself that wasn't it. But it is still happening, so I have given in - the baby is moving.

maternity clothes

Well, the belly is expanding, so Stacy gave me her maternity pants, but all the shirts were too small. Mom found me an awesome shirt today... I am tired from all this blogging .. time for a nap.

Allyson's Wish is Granted ....

This is now the Lazy Pregnant Woman Blog. What does this mean? I won't be making too many posts (lazy), and I will post updates on the pregnancy. You are welcome Missy! I had a doctors visit last Thursday. I got to hear the heartbeat again (159 bpm). I haven't gained any weight, but the waistline has expanded about 2 inches. Next month we will find out the sex!!!

Our new project

I went to the doctor today. I am 12 weeks pregnant!! I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time since our 7 week sonogram. I am very excited, and spent most of tonight telling friends who didn't know. Anyway, I am tired and I have to pee, so I am cutting it short.

You can't have that one

I must tell you about a call to my husband today to tell him how much I love him. I know, that is extremely disgusting :), but his response was "okay ... why?" It was all because he takes care of getting us new cell phones.

I went to the cell phone hell today with Mom and Sis, to let little sister upgrade her phone. So we sign in, pick out the phone she wants and we wait, and wait, and wait and wait. I am annoyed.

Finally we have a little helper, who I shall now refer to as Dude. So Mom and Sis talk to dude and tell him which phone she wants. Dude's response "You can't have that one." In my head: What???? . So, he goes on to say that he has had a complaint about something with the contacts, plus it costs too much money so she might as well get an iPhone. Again: What????

Mom tell him she doesn't want Sis to have an iPhone (due to her friend's issues with them). So Dude went on to tell her about how much memory it has, and so all these other phones are a waste because you have to buy memory cards. This is when I couldn't stop myself. I said, nice and slowly so he could understand, "She's going to use it as a PHONE." So he asked her, what are you going to do with your phone. She said, "call and text." So he directed her to a phone like mine, to aviod hitting him in the face I had to leave and call the hubby. Thankfully, Sis likes the phone ...

The first week off ...

Four weekdays without having to go to swim lessons, and I have accomplished so much. I spray painted a medicine cabinet, got my hair cut, went to school for about an hour, went out with the girls, painted the brackets of the bookshelf, pulled most of the weeds in the garden that were taller than me, watched a lot of tv that we had recorded (most of it today), and went to the movies. I can't even keep up with what day of the week it is. So, what I am saying is ... I am bored!

I love lazy days in my pajamas, and it is all I crave most days. But, I also need it balanced with structure. So I guess I am ready to go back to school, but I am not looking forward to dress clothes again.

I was speechless ...

This week I was teaching a 3 or 4 year old boy this summer, and I told him he was goofy. He asked what it meant and I said "Silly." He said "I'm not goofy." Then I thought of the character Goofy, so I asked if he was Mickey Mouse? He said "No. Mickey Mouse has big ears and tail." I said, "You don't have a tail?" He said, "No, I have a penis."

The end of the summer ...

Soon it all starts up again. I am looking forward to long school days, because I feel like I get more breaks within them. I have enjoyed my busy social calendar, but it has taken its toll in some ways as well. I have enjoyed seeing my husband throughout the day which ends when the school year begins. I not looking forward dressing up everyday, but I am definitely looking forward to being dry and not being splashed in the face (have you noticed a theme for the summer?).

We have 2 more days of swim lessons, then I have 2 weeks off (which I will spend about 15 hours a day preparing for the upcoming school year ... I think I need medication). This was the first summer since we have moved back that we have not taken a vacation. I miss vacation...

The agonies of swim lesson instructors

The idea of teaching 6 hours a day as a summer job may seem appealing, but lets talk about the reality of being in the water that long and the wear and tear on your body.

At this point of the summer I have no hair on my arms, the chlorine has gotten rid of it for me. Unfortunately this does not work on your legs. Though the areas around my knees are hair free from the extensive time I spend crawling after kids in a foot-and-a-half of water. This part of the job also wears down my toenails, from the center out. After a couple of weeks, it hurts to wear shoes because they are so worn down. This year my toenail got caught in the non-slide mat on the ramp, and the the toenail fail off.

Don't get me wrong, I love teaching swim lessons, but I get splashed, scratched, hit, jumped on & pinched. And this summer, I have gotten my boobs grabbed and pinched more than any other summer I can remember (the other instructors have had this same problem as well).

Kids jump off of us and on us. I had one kid this summer that I couldn't let jump off the diving board anymore because I was afraid she would have bruises from my hands catching her right in the ribs to keep her from colliding with my face. But even worse is when they pinch your thighs with their toes when they are trying to jump off of you towards the wall. About the time that happened to me yesterday, I heard the female instructor next to me say "she got me right in the nuts," as her kid jumped off of her. I laughed so hard I almost peed in the pool.

Chlorine is not nice to your skin, hair, or your suit. My skin, especially on my face is raw, the rest always feels really tight. My hair is ridiculous. In the past I have tried every shampoo and conditioner known to man. I have tried putting watered-down conditioner in my hair before I get in the pool. I have tried keeping my hair dry (yeah right). My solution for the last few summers has worked, I cut my hair at the end of the summer.

I have to wear a polyester practice suit which is not attractive or comfortable. Why would I wear such a suit? Let's divide the answer to address the 2 main problems with the suit.

First let's address style: Because the kids can't pull it off of me, they are constantly pulling on the straps and the neckline of the suit, and I have had to fish a couple of kids hands and/or arms out of the front of my suit this summer.

The other problem is polyester. When you are in highly chlorinated water for 6 hours a day 5 days a week, it takes it's toll on spandex, they stretch out, and the elastic within the spandex breaks from wear and from being pulled on constantly.
Polyester does not stretch, add to that the possiblity that I may be allergic to it - as I am currently breaking out in a rash around the outline of the suit ... Let just say I am happy that we have one more week left. Hopefully my cheap-o, ugly, polyester suit I settled for half-way thru this summer will make it through the week!

At least now i teach indoors, and do not have the issues with the sun that I used to ... Be nice to swim lesson teachers

My Summer Social Calendar

For the first time in a while I have a social calendar. (Previously all I did is work.) Last Thursday was the first game night for the kids (Samantha & Scotty) and the others that work with us at the pool. Samantha and I started playing Da Vinci's Challenge and then Chelsea took over for me so I could play washers with the boys. I am not the biggest fan of washers, but I did score an amazing 6 points, but unfortunately it was not enough ... Jon and Scotty won.

Then we decided to play Cranium - my favorite. The teams split up and we told them to split me and Robert up, and they didn't. Jon and Scotty got a good head start on all of us, and then finished last. It was an evening filled with moving sculptures, changing rules, poor humming a portion of a line of a song, Louis Armstrong, and trombones -- I mean tambourines. It was hilarious! I am looking forward to next Thursday.

This morning was the jewelry party that I almost for got about. I won a door prize and bought a cute pair of earrings that I am looking forward to wearing.

We are also having a girl's potluck/game/movie night coming up soon. It started out very informal, then themes were added for each week, and now we are trying to coordinate what we are bringing. It will be great. The last girl's night/birthday was great! Let's see if I can keep up with all of this :)

Graduation Night

Tonight was the graduation of the first class of freshmen that I taught. They were a pretty rough group as freshmen, but helped to make me a better teacher.

I am glad to see the strides that most of them have made in four years. That being said, this was the first graduation that I have been to (at this school) that the seniors actually misbehaved. They had beach balls they blew up and passed along, fortunately, they waited until the school song to start passing them around, so it was not distracting to any of the speakers or to the overall ceremony.

Both the valedictorian and salutatorian were in my senior class, and did a great job with their speeches. The salutatorian was talking about how important it is to think for yourself, and the teacher next to me pointed out one of the seniors who was rocking his body to make the tassel on his graduation cap swing in circles. I found this more than slightly amusing - I completely lost it. I laughed so hard I was crying. The valedictorian called me out in her speech, I was worried when I heard my name, but she was very sweet.

After the ceremony another teacher and I were handing out the actual diplomas, and I got to say congratulations to almost every graduate. It is very rewarding as a teacher to see students grow up and move on. I enjoy graduation every year, (and would attend even if it was not mandatory) but this year it was especially enjoyable.

This time of year ...

As a teacher I look forward to the end of the year as much, if not more, than the students. One of the best things about teaching is hitting the restart button at the end of each year. I came into teaching high school from teaching college level labs.

That first year was tough. I thought it was the jump from college to high school, but over the past 4 years I have gathered that it was more a matter of the group of kids I had that first year. I am now thankful that first year was so rough, it made me a better teacher. I am also glad that I had the opportunity to teach a small group of them again this year in an AP class, it is good to see how they have grown up in the past 4 years.

I am also relived to have not had to reteach as much of the freshman information this year as I have in years past. In all reality this was my first year of really teaching anywhere near the AP level. If this group does not do well on their tests, I will be disappointed for them not in them, because they worked until the very end. I hope they succeed in all that comes their way, and that if they do fail, they get back up and try agian.

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Delilah Jewel joined our family at 10:35 on Thursday. She has a very odd birthday 05/07/09 - consecutive odds -- a good sign that she will fit in with the rest of the gang :)

This is hilarious

These mugs are awesome for teachers. The same site also had pre-chewed pencils. I have actually prevented my students from taking my pencils, by chewing on them and then trying to hand them to the student. I find myself amusing.

Puppies

My husband has been wanting a puppy for a long time. Unfortunately, we have a cat which does not tolerate other pets. So we had said that we would not get a puppy until the kitty is no longer with us. But that may not be the case.

Last year sometime we decided that when we do get a puppy we want a great dane. He actually brought one home, but it was supposed to be a puppy and was full grown. I was afraid to take it in, because ithad not been well taken care of. It was too much all at once.

Lately, I have been researching how to introduce a puppy to a cat, searching for breeders and doing general research on the breed. The more I discover the less I believe we will wait. I am still uncertain about the daunting task of training a puppy, and caring for such a big dog while we are so busy with so much else. We shall see ...

The baby's room is all bugged out!

Thus is the boy and girl caterpillars, aren't they awesome. The girl is missing the antenna on the butt, because I forgot them.

This butterfly required me, mom and stacy, but was much easier than the other which required me, mom, stacy and chelsea.

Two of the three aunts ... I mean ants. The plan is to center the crib on this wall with the baby's name on wooden blocks attached to the wall.

Yes I was crazy enough to try a grasshopper, and relied quite a bit on those grasshoppers that I have dissected for the past 3 years. And no it is not a dung beetle. You can see mom's lady bug and the 3rd aunt ... I mean ant, why do I keep doing that?

Christmas 2008 and New Years 2009

We had a crazy Christmas break. I went to Arkansas with my family to see my grandmothers before Christmas, and my husband went to Virgina Beach because his grandfather died. I picked him up on Christmas and got to spend Christmas with him and my family.

I had luch with an old friend from high school, who was a bridesmaid in my wedding. Until recently we had not been in touch for several (possibly 10) years. It was good to reunite and catch up. I regret not keeping in touch all these years. But it is hard, as we are all so busy and consumed with our friends, family and lives.

I had an amazing girls night with the usual crew. It was the beginning of a fabulous Christmas break. Fabulous food was supplied by all. It was fun to confuse/torture the only one who was still unsure of the Secret Secret Santa Society that we started up this year within our group. And hilarious to watch her night catch up to her as she became one with the floor.

Thanks to the H's for dragging me out for a spontaneous late night trip for dessert. Loy, loy, loy I say to you all. I also enjoyed the company of Hermione, her sister and her mom for a friday night, which was tons of fun, even though they passed on the squid.

I made the top of a quilt, which does not look how I planned, but after all, it is my house, craziness is the norm here. I caught up on movies, tv shows, time with the family, times with friends and kissed my husband at midnight on NYE. I am a blessed girl.

I look forward to the new year, and to my niece/goddaughter that will join us in late April. And I hope for increased luck in our own fertility. I hope for a full-time teaching job for my husand, and more opportunities to connect in any manner possible with friends and family, even those friends who I have not seen in many years. And I hope that everyone finds joy in their lives daily.