Daddy/Daughter Dance

Pretty excited to be wearing Mommy's necklace.

Yeah.  I totally love them.

With her buddy Abby.

Can't wait til next year!
Madeline told Audrey today, "You can go when you're three.  M'kay, little sister?"

It's been one of those weeks....

You know, the kind of week that makes me wish I was escaping reality and sitting under a beach umbrella being served sangria while basking in the sun of the Mediterranean.

Ahh...

Just thinking of it takes me away for a bit.

Last week we all had minor colds.  Some runny noses, a few coughs, nothing big.  We got over it, but I had a lingering not-feeling-well feeling.

Saturday I had a breakout on my temple.  Didn't think much of it.  I still get pimples.  It happens.  Whatever.

The breakout didn't get any better and didn't seem to be normal pimples.  I went to the doctor on Tuesday.  The blemish looked irritated and she told me to try hydrocortisone for a few days.  Great, I went to the doctor to have her tell me to try some $4.00 over the counter cream.  It wasn't overly painful or overly itchy or tingling or burning.

At the end of the visit she said, "well, it's not shingles".

Famous last words.

Then I googled shingles.  And started to convince myself that it actually was shingles.  Then I convinced myself it wasn't shingles.  Then it started to tingle.  And itch.  And burn.

So I went back to the doctor.  And it's shingles.

Great.

Not gonna lie, it's an irritating ailment.  Quite itchy and burning-y and uncomfortable.

And there's Audrey.  Already fussy, getting-another-molar Audrey.  Who hasn't had her chicken pox vaccine yet.  She'll get it in two weeks at her one year well-visit.  Unless we end up at the doctor before that....with chicken pox.  I really, really, really hope and pray that she doesn't get chicken pox from me.  (I guess you can't really get shingles from shingles, but you could get chicken pox from someone who has shingles.)

But I'm reminded that this is a temporary discomfort and not really a huge deal in the grand scheme of life.  The rash didn't spread.  It's on my temple, but not in my eye (a good thing).  I'm on meds that will make it better soon.  Tylenol helps with the itching/tingling/burning.

I'm glad that tomorrow is a new day with new mercies.

Praise the Lord!

I'm becoming my parents

It's not a bad thing, 'cause my parents are pretty great.  It just kind of sneaks up on you.  You become an adult and soon enough you realize that you've also become...your parents.

Oh my goodness, Madeline is a dawdler.  She always has one more person to say goodbye to, one more baby to tuck in, one more puzzle to do, one more book to read, one more song to sing, one more something.  I mean seriously.  Getting this child out of the house (or anywhere) takes like 30 minutes.  My dad used to say "Stop fiddle-farting around and get in the car."  Yeah, I totally get it now.  My own daughter is a fiddle-farter and now I'm the one trying to get her to hurry it up.

I rarely pay full price for anything.  Neither does my mom.  At the grocery store when Madeline asks for something special she usually asks if it's on sale or if I have a coupon.  She knows the drill.  And she's pretty good (certainly not perfect, but pretty darn good) at accepting no for an answer.  And very excited if I do happen to have a coupon.

If Madeline asks for a drink or a snack while we're out I'll say, "We have {insert desired item here} at home. We'll get some at home."  My mom always said that.

I reheat my coffee in the microwave several times a morning.  Sad, but true.  I get busy and the coffee gets cold.  Sometimes I forget and go looking for my coffee cup only to find it's still in the microwave.  My dad does that.  

My mom would say, "It's not brilliant, but it does the job".  I say that now.

On road trips I say things like, "Let's just look out our windows and enjoy the scenery."

Yep, I've become my parents.

Thoughts on subbing

I've subbed a whopping six times now since the beginning of December and I'm enjoying it more than most (sane) adults would.

The demographic: I'm only subbing at Northview, my former workplace.  It's a suburban middle school bursting at the seams with over one thousand 8th and 9th grade students.

I'm convinced that a few circumstances make it more fun than not.  My friends are still there, so I've got teachers to socialize with and friendly faces to welcome me each day.  That is nice.

I can see how subbing would be scary and lonely if you didn't know anyone else in the building.  Teachers are busy and the layout of the building is kind of isolating, so if I didn't head out to say hi to some friends I could easily go the whole day without really talking to anyone else.

I also know the kiddos and had many of the current 9th graders in class last year, so it's nice that most of them greet me with smile and an "hola".  It also helps my street cred (yep, I just said street cred in a post about a suburban Iowa school) that the 9th graders know me.  Makes the 8th graders a bit more receptive to a new sub wandering the halls.  And it's nice to tell each class -- I taught here for nine years so I know that Mrs. So-and-so doesn't let you leave class ten minutes early each day.  Or I'm certain that Mrs. Whats-her-name doesn't let you sit and talk all class period.  Nice try.   

This is the first year since I started teaching at NV that they are back on an 8-period day schedule.  We used to have blocked classes of 84 minutes each -- which I LOVED as a teacher.  As a classroom teacher, I'm sure I'd still prefer the block.  As a sub, 41 minute class periods sure are nice.  A whole lot less can go wrong in 41 minutes as compared to the possibilities for complete and utter catastrophe in an 84 minute class period.  

I'm super thankful for the supportive technology helpers I've had.  Two of my subbing days have been in the computer labs working on projects with kiddos.  It is so nice to have great tech support to help me make it through the day.  The day I "taught" PhotoShop in art class?  Yea....I wasn't a big help.  The media specialist and the integrated tech teacher?  They were big helpers.

After all this time as a SAHM, I've lost my stamina for a day in heels.  This makes me sad.  For some reason (maybe because my dress pants are too long and I've always wanted to be 5'10") I feel the need to wear heels to school.  My feet are tired at the end of the day.

That being said...night, night all.  I worked a day and a half (outside of the home) this week and I'm ready for bed.

Watch Audrey Grow: 11 months

It is seriously unfathomable to me that my lil Audrey will be a whole year old in just one more month.  Wowsa.  Where does the time go?

And let me just say, no one's ever looked so good in pink cheetah leggings.  I mean seriously.  Adorable.

Not much to update in the mobility department.  Still no crawling.  At what point should I be concerned about this?  It's definitely on my radar to ask at her one year well-visit with the pediatrician.  Audrey rolls all over and stretches to reach things that she wants.  She can move backwards and sideways while on her belly, but no forward motion.  She scoots herself around in circles while sitting on her bottom.  And would completely outreach anyone in a sit and reach contest (8th grade gym class, anyone?).

We're making nice strides in the food department.  She still gets some baby food, but really prefers to feed herself.  She's a wee bit independent with her food.  Her whole-hearted favorites for self feeding are bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, bread, and cheese.  She's so-so on peas, mandarin oranges, apples, avocado, pears, and peaches.  All in all, it's going well and I'd love to give up baby food altogether in the near future.

Audrey has also made progress in the milk department.  She now will use the sippy cup all by herself and drink milk or water.  This makes me breathe a sigh of relief!  We're coming down the home stretch as far as nursing is concerned, and I can say without reservation that I'm pretty ready to have my body back.  After the rough start that we had with nursing, I'm so thankful we met the ladies at lactation and we made it longer than I imagined!  The whole year!

Tooth #6 finally appeared in the last week or so.  Unfortunately, chewing on any object within reach continues.  She may have eaten a little bit of a coupon during our last visit to the grocery store.  Just maybe.

While we were all home over Christmas break, Darrin reinstated the morning nap.  There are days that she still fights it and or ends up without a nap because we're on the go, but it is really nice on the mornings that she does nap.  Madeline and I have some quiet, quality time together and I really enjoy that.

Excited to see what next month brings...

I'm down with global warming.

No time to blog.  We've been busy pretending it's spring.

And, yes, my daughter is playing outside in her sleep sack.  It was easier than the coat. :)

I got my caucus on

There is something about the Iowa Caucuses that makes me feel like I can make a difference in the political process.

My favorite part: Placing my handwritten vote in a shoe box.  I mean, seriously, does it get more grassroots than that?

Then, of course, we go home and Darrin watches returns on tv all night long and scrutinizes the results as he sees county by county who won each district.  In case you didn't know, he's a bit of a political enthusiast.

I will not miss the commercials or the hourly robo-calls.  I do wonder if that stuff works for some people.  I hung up on each phone call as soon as I realized it was a machine.  I don't pay attention to the tv ads.  Yard signs don't do it for me either.  Do some people really care about recorded phone messages and campaign commercials?  Couldn't we save literally millions of dollars by not having all those ads and phone calls?  Think of what that money could do if donated to other worthy causes.  We could bring clean water to the ENTIRE continent of Africa with that money.  Seriously, we could.  But as a society who lives in extreme abundance, we waste it on seemingly meaningless political ads.

Okay, so after my feel good moment of last night, I'm back to being frustrated by the entire political process.

For now I'll just keep thinking happy thoughts about casting my vote in that shoe box.