The Nightmare

It was the end of a long day. At the end of a long week. I had a major headache because of a new weather front coming in and all of my kids had been hyper. (Stormy weather does that as do full moons, disrupted schedules, assemblies, short weeks, up coming holidays, start of spring, snow, and large amounts of sugar.) I struggled through fourth block. My fourth block has a reputation around school. People all over the building (teachers, administrators, office staff, student office aides, police officers, janitors, and security) tell me with sympathetic looks, "You fourth block is rough." Yes, I know. At this point in the semester I have seven students in that class who have been instructed not to speak to, look at and especially do not touch each other.

It was 3:15. The announcements had been said, the room tidied up a bit. The kids and I were packed up. We had managed not to kill each other and surprisingly and pleasantly no one had been written up. Then the principal gets on the intercom. "Faculty and students, we are under a tornado warning until 3:45 please take your emergency positions in the hallway."

Pandemonium.

Students had two trains of thought. One: that they didn't have to stay. Two: that they would miss their bus. No one thought about the danger of the weather. One student ran away and hid from me to be funny. I ran all over the building looking for her. I went and told the police she had bolted for the parking lot, only to find her hiding under a jacket around the corner from our class. She was laughing at me and my concern for her. I had to keep those seven students apart while keeping them together. I tried to pacify them with peanut M&M'S. One was concerned that the daycare her three year old was at would charge her extra. Several were text messaging trying to find rides.
Meanwhile 3:45 came and went. Students had to go to the bathroom, they were hungry, they wanted to go home, they were bored, they were mad, it was unfair. Their bottoms hurt. They wanted to walk around and see people. They were text messaging their parents to come get them despite a possible tornado within a mile or so of the school. Some parents did come and it was chaos trying to find their kids in the mad house that was the hallway. Instead of trying to reassure them we were safe, we tried to impress on them the danger we were in, hoping it would calm them down. Instead they resorted to making fun of all the parents and elementary kids walkingthe halls trying to find their kids or brothers and sisters.

It was 4:30 before the warnings cleared for just ten minutes. Just enough time to empty the building. Not at all the way I wanted to spend my Friday afternoon and pretty close to a bad dream I had not long ago about getting stuck with fourth block in a day that would never end.

The Structured Play

Noah is crazy! He is everywhere all at once. So I have begun to research and read books on toddler training. Most sources suggest structuring playtime for toddlers. We decided to read Toddlerwise since Babywise worked so well with Noah and sleeping trough the night. They say not to let them have free reign over the house and their toys (opps because this is what happens most afternoons). The goal I guess is to teach them to entertain themselves and have curiosity but within certain limits. It suggests structuring their day into 15 to 30 minute blocks, using toys, books, art, blanket time, outside play, alone time, active play, time alone with mommy, time with siblings, special time with Daddy.

Really?? Nowhere in this book does it mention the working mom (or at least so far) Noah and I get on average (sometimes we have errands to run etc.) three hours days together. With an hour of that being dinner, bath, and bed. It doesn't mention how to deal with exhaustion on both our parts after long days at school.

So at first I was discouraged. I heaped on a fresh load of guilt (this is the prime age for learning and I'm too tired to teach him. ) but then I decided to try to structure at least an hour a day with some new kind of educational activity (but then he got the stomach bug but I'll start back this weekend). So far we have had music/blanket time (this book tried to tell me that at 15 months Noah should be able to sit on a blanket by himself with one toy for 15 minutes! I had to sit with him and even that was hard.) and we made play dough together and played. (But I didn't have any food coloring or cream of tartar which I though I could replace with baking powder but...)

Here is some pictures and video of our play and learn time :)

Don't worry, it's edible!

The Sadie Update

God answers prayers! Thank you to all of those who have prayed for Sadie the past couple of days. All of her tests at Children's came back clear. She is at home now acting like her normal self. Her heart surgery will be rescheduled for sometime in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted.

The Heart Surgery

There are things that I love about Tuscaloosa. And one of them is my girls Bible Study Group. This group of women were with me and each other as we adjusted to being newlyweds, through pregnancies, miscarriages, and motherhood. We visited each other in the hospital, cried with each other, cooked for each other, celebrated birthdays, and watched our children play together. I love this group! One of my dear friends from the group is Grace. One of the reasons I love her so much, and really a small reason compared to the many other things, is that she too went to Auburn and is transplanted here in Tuscaloosa. She is our Sunday School teacher and her devotion to her God, Marriage and two children inspires me to be better woman. Tonight I ask you to please pray for Grace, her husband Clint, three year old son John Barrett (who is my birthday buddy), and specifically her eighteen month old daughter Sadie.
The first prayer I ever prayed for Sadie was the night Grace found out she was pregnant, in the hallway of my house. We were at Bible Study, John Barrett was around nine months old, and Grace was saying how she good. We joked around that she might be pregnant and we convinced her to take a test. When we all saw the double pink lines we screamed with joy and then cried together. Eighteen months is not very far apart. We surrounded Grace and began to pray together for this new little life. It is one of my favorite memories. Thankfully Clint wasn't too mad we all knew before him.
Sadie has always been full of life, curious , energetic, and a little feisty. I love this little girl. Early in Sadie's life she was diagnosed with a heart defect, a little hole that may or may not close up with age. After some recent check ups it was decided by Grace and Clint and the UAB Specialists to go ahead and perform heart surgery while she is young and tiny, stretchy and a fast healer. Her surgery was scheduled for tomorrow, However Sadie developed some complications with a bout of pneumonia she had a couple of weeks back. She developed a fever and cough again over the weekend. This morning I learned they have postponed the surgery. Tonight Grace called to say that blood is backing up into Sadie''s liver possibly due to te heart problems or other complications. Adam is the one who spoke to her so I am not clear on everything. What I do know is that this little girl needs prayer. She needs her surgery and she needs to heal. Their reaction thus far to everything has reflected their faith and trust in God's plan for Sadie. Please pray for peace and strength for the family.

The Thankfulness

Adam, Noah and I have had a weekend. A good one(spent the weekend in Birmingham with family) in ways and a yucky tiring one too(stomach bug). I was laying in bed waking up from taking a short nap during Noah's nap thinking about all the one hundred and one things I need to accomplish tonight to get the week started off right and I thought I would instead blog. Productive.

This week I turned 28. It seems old and young at the same time. And reflecting on the celebrations of my birthday this week I was overwhelmed with a sense of thankfulness for the love and joy in my life. Sometimes my life feels heavy. When I focus on the things that I want to accomplish or the way I wish I could be this or do that, or think if I just had the energy I could... I spend so much time on those thoughts that I miss all the things I have to be thankful for.

First and foremost I am so thankful for my God. Just Friday some lyrics to a song struck me and the truth I have known all my life suddenly became more real. Isn't it amazing that God know our dirty little secrets but loves and adores us any way. So much that He became human and died for us?

Then I am thankful for my husband. He did such a good job making me feel special during a crazy stressful week. He is sick with this nasty stomach bug and he is sorry and concerned that it is too much for me!?? because I didn't sleep well and have to drive us back to Tuscaloosa. I love him! And I love we know each other well. We kicked butt on the Newlywed game we played Saturday night and will celebrate our victory at Carrabbas with our gift card.

II am thankful for my parents. My mom always finds new and creative ways to celebrate me, she spoils me even at 28! And she is just as sentimental as I am. One of my birthday presents was my favorite book when I was a kid, Harold and the Purple Crayon. She had written Noah and I a note inside the cover and cut a comic strip about a mom and her teenage son finding a box of his old books. They went through all the titles (many of them Noah's favorites) and then they found his favorite. Harold and the Purple Crayon. Having battled this week with the last night night bottle, I of course cried! I am grateful for my parents help, flexibility, and delight in Adam and Noah!

I am thankful for my sisters. For their humor and their willingness to play along. For saying it how it is, when they need to.

I am thankful for my in laws. Both who went out of their way to wish me Happy Birthday and celebrate it and doing it in a way that left me feeling like they really wanted to and not just because it was the right thing to do. I love that my MIL brings such a different and needed perspective to my teaching and balancing it with motherhood. At one point Saturday I was in the living room wrapping up a jewelry party with my sister and I heard my mom and my MIL laughing together. I can not even express how happy it makes me that they can be in a room alone together and enjoy it! This thought led me to think about my own daughter in law one day. I'll spend 25 or so years raising, praying for, serving, loving, worrying over Noah to hand him over to another woman who I don't get to pick out. And I will just have to trust that she will love him in the way he needs. And while my loving, praying, hoping, worrying and serving won't stop my place in his life will. And I have to trust this unknown girl will be everything he will need. And I will have to keep my mouth shut when she makes her mistakes. I am thankful for the example I have to learn from!

Hopefully through this next stressful week I will focus on thanksgiving instead of the growing to do list!

The Last Bottle

I love night night bottles. It is the only time of day when Noah is still enough to be the sweet cuddly little baby he used to be. I treasure those last ten minutes of the day. It is the closest feeling I get to this: when he still needed me for everything. (There are few things that compare to a sleeping newborn on your chest.) The death of the night night bottle is one step closer to the sullen fifteen year old who won't do his homework and thinks he doesn't need me for anything or the married son who gives heart to someone else and moves away and forgets to call me for three months! Well here it is, the last bottle: And yes I am crying because I am sentimental and hormonal. And my baby is all grown up. And yes I know I will still rock him and read to him every night (I'll rock him when he is thirty if he asks.) But it won't be the same. But I do know it is time. I don't want him to be nine and still taking a night night bottle.

The Kudos

I wanted to give kudos to some accomplishments of late.....

*to my Mother in Law, Nana- She ran a 5K this past Saturday! Amazing. I can't run around the block :) Both my mother in law and mom are great examples of how to be fit! (and you too Dad!)

*to my Brother in Law, Jason- he got a job offer this week, its a great new opportunity in Macon with a great company, it just shows how hard work and patience pays off!

*to my Dad, Papa and my other Brother in Law, Chris who celebrated birthdays this President's Day weekend! Happy Birthday!

And to celebrate these accomplishments, Noah will do a little dance.




Two new posts below.

The 15 Month Stats

Today Little Man is fifteen months old! We went in to the doctor's office for some shots and check up which was good because he needed some help with some skin issues and a recheck of his ears. He weighed in at 26.9 lbs and was 32 inches long (Which meant he shrunk according to records, something must have gotten written down wrong.) Both of these are in the 90th percentile. His weight and height are prefect the doctor said. The best part of the visit was that this time we got to say yes to all of the developmental questions. We have always been a little concerned that Noah seemed to be a step behind because of coming early. But it seems he is all caught up. Here is Noah at the doctor's office, pre shots!


I almost forgot. The worst news of the day. The last surviving bottle feeding of the day... the night night bottle must go. It is a sad day for all of us. We aren't yet sure how we will all manage. I will be the one to miss it the most.

The Weekend of Love

I love Valentine's Day! I love the hearts, all the shades of pink, the romance, the cards, the kisses, the flowers, and the candy! It is one of my favorite holidays.

One of the things I want to always do with Noah and others to follow is to make Valentine's cards for family. Last year Noah made hearts with his tiny 3 month old feet for his grandparents. This year Noah made bouquets of thumb roses for his grandparents. They came out really cute. So did Noah's face.

News came home in the diaper bag Monday that his class at school would be exchanging cards. I thought, "Surely it will just be cards. They are only one year olds." So I made chocolate chip cookies for his teachers and signed all his cards for his friends. But I was wrong. Look at the Valentine's loot the fourteen month old brought home! And some of Noah's artwork.

Noah spent the weekend at Mimi's and Nana's and was showered with love while we enjoyed time together. I slept until 11! We ran errands and then enjoyed a romantic dinner topped off with Starbucks and magazines at Barnes and Noble.

I hope everyone had a love filled Valentine's Day!

The Vocabulary

I know I have already posted a million things today but I wanted to make sure I recorded for my own memory all cute things Noah is doing right now. He is such a delight. No matter how crazy and stressful my week has been a weekend with Noah is the cure. It has been amazing to see his little personality just pop out. Everyday he is doing more and more. His understanding and expressions is growing everyday.I started talking at nine months (imagine me as a talker ;) ) so I have been worried about Noah's language development. Well not worried just impatient I guess. I want to talk to him. I guess we talk, I just want to be able to understand what all his gibberish means. Just this weekend he added "ball" and "bye bye"to his verbal vocabulary. He will stick out his tongue if you ask him too, Daddy taught him that trick. He also has finally picked up on one of my sign language attempts, "All Done". He was doing this at the dinner table for a few months. Now he tells us he is all done all the time. Tonight in the bathtub he told me he was all done. And again at the end of stories and breathing treatments, I was just rocking him and he turned to me and shook his hands to say, "all done". He wanted to go to bed. When you ask him if he wants to go "night night" and he is ready he will laugh. In his Very Busy Spider Book there is a part where the spider is blown across a field, and I make a blowing noise. Tonight he did the blowing noise before me. His vocabulary of words and tricks seem to be growing by the minute! Of course he won't really do any of this on command. It is all on his own terms. He is going to be a bit stubborn I think. Here is a video where I was trying to get some words. He had found all three spots where I was about to throw them in the wash. Unfortunately he gets distracted by the Goldberg commercial in the background. They do have a catchy jingle. I've had their number memorized since I was ten.

The Into Everything Stage

It is a stage right?? Noah is in to EVERYTHING! A couple of weeks ago when he first started walking well, we came home from school and I had to go to the bathroom. I come out of the water closet and he is parading around the bathroom with a handful of "feminine products" just having a blast. On Friday night I had finished giving him a bath and reached down to get his PJ's off the shelf and he was eating Vaseline! I put him down in his room to fix his bottle in the kitchen. I get back to his side of the house and he has pushed the hall bathroom door open and is sticking his hands in the toilet, splashing himself. He also wants to share anything you are eating. Probably because he has already figured out I am a pushover and will share. Here is a video of Noah trying to eat an apple like Mommy.

The Crazy Alabama Weather

We had a cold week down here. Highs were in the 30's and lows in the teens and 20's. But the week was flanked by beautiful weekends! This weekend it was 70!. We took advantage of the weather by taking the "boys" to the park. Last weekend we went to Charlie's favorite dog park. It is the old University Golf Club. They use it for cross country practice and the community uses it for a dog park. Charlie loves to go and run free. Yesterday we went to a nearby playground to enjoy the sun.

The boys at the park

Riding off into the afternoon

Practicing the walking

Chasing Noah!

Giving me some grass he found.

This is the way to go on a walk, juice and cookies!

All the fun things at the park and he is fascinated by bark.

The Breakfast

It's been a few days since I have posted anything new. Sorry about that. It's been a very stressful week at BHS. I won't go into details to protect the not so innocent but I will say if it were not for God, loyalty and this bad economy I might have walked out mid week and never returned. The staff is under a lot of stress to meet state and board demands and on a very limited budget due to pro ration. Add in crazy kids and its enough to drive anyone over the edge. It was about mid week when I got a call from my friend Dusti about an event that night to see if I has going. She could tell by the tone of my voice I was an inch away from losing it. She arranged breakfast at one of our favorite locations (City Cafe) for Friday morning. All week I have been looking forward to our breakfast date, it kept me focused and ready. We met this morning around six and enjoyed good company and yummy food. Our conversation returned my sanity and brought me encouragement and comfort. I am so thankful for our Christ centered friendship. She sharpens me with iron. She softens the rough edges of this stressful job of being a working mom and she understands all the pressure. She experiences it herself. I drove to school feeling like a new person. I hope that everyone can have that kind of friend who can comfort, counsel, and confront when needed. And I hope that I am that kind of friend. Enjoy the weekend!!