Sunday, February 28, 2010

2.28.10 Boring but Semi-Productive Day

I am so far behind in school work it is not even funny. My wonderful sister offered to take Jakob off my hands for the day so I could try and get some done. I had 50 hrs of online work and one TELPAS Qualification to pass, as well as 5 lessons for school this week. I worked most of the day. I started with the TELPAS since it is due first, and was dismayed because I was scoring 60% on the practices. I did all of the ones available and then decided to try my luck at the real thing. I failed miserabley with 50%. I was so upset and frustrated. I was ready to march back to work and tell them where they could stick their TELPAS! When I calmed down, I reviewed all the questions I got wrong and realized I consistenly rated the samples one level lower than they should have been. So I took the test again (there are only two versions you are allowed to take). I was so scared of failing and getting in trouble at work because I am a loser (this is why I teach the arts folks and not core subjects). Yeah I am creative and awesome, but being book smart is not my thing. So anyhow, If I wasnt 100% sure of an answer, I chose the next level up. I wrestled with it through the whole test because my gut and brain were saying thats too high, pick the rating you think is right, but that failed me the first time. So I closed my eyes and hit submit answerts at the end, and sure enough-90%, I passed. Although I have no idea what I am doing, I am now qualified to rate ELL's (English Language Learners). Whatever. I am totally incompetent and dont think I should be doing this. It also completely shook the minimal amount of confidence I had that I may have passed my PPR.
SO then I moved on to my 45 hr online course-talk about boring. I spent five hours learning about parent teacher conferences. Seriously??? That was enough of that for today, so I moved on to my lesson plans. I got three and a half done. I didnt feel like I got enough done, but as I look back at it in writing, it was a fairly productive day. Thanks Jess and Juan!
Oh, p.s. I have no picture for today because it was all wildly dull. Tommorrow I will make up for it though because I already know two things I want to take pictures of! Oh the suspense...bet you can hardly wait to come back tommorrow!

2.27.10 Happening at the Car Wash!




After many many MANY months of neglect, I decided it was time to get my car detailed. I waited in line for almost 30 minutes since it was the first nice day we've had in weeks. Jakob got fussy because he was bored and we were not moving, so I let him sit in my lap and he snacked on cheerios until it was our turn. He was pretty fascinated when we were going through. After the wash, the guys started detailing. It takes about 45 minutes, so Jakob and I went and played in the patch of grass behind the car wash. First he decided he was going to move all of the leaves onto the pavement. After that, he decided to collect acorns in his now empty cheerio cup. When he had filled it up, he dumped it out and started again. When he finished that time, he dumped it out and started again, only this time including leafs and dirt as well (gotta love little boys!). When my car was done, he was upset about getting back into it. As we were driving home I kept hearing this "mwah" sound and then he would crack up laughing. When I finally got a chance to look and see what was going on, I realized he was blowing kisses! It was so frieken adorable. It is my new favorite thing, it even tops his squishy face.

Friday, February 26, 2010

2.26.10 Where my money goes!


I hate paying bills. There's never anything left to play with. =) I usually forget or put it off until around the fourth, usually collecting a late fee somewhere along the way. This month though, I am on top of it. I was excited because we had fewer bills to pay since we took care of some with our tax return, but unfortunately, I got a red light ticket, and we had an unexpected medical bill pop up. Gotta love that...so again there was no money to play with. I think the main reason I got the bills paid early this month thought is because I made myself promise to start on my 50 hrs of online classes tonight, and it was a way to procrastinate. Kind like updating this blog...hehe.

2.25.10 Jakob Sucks

Every once in a while I hand Jakob a drink with a straw, and of course he never has been able to use it. Tonight he and I took Mom to Applebees, and I tried again. Much to my amazement he started sucking away. I guess he must have learned it at school, but it took me by suprise for sure! I had to turn the picture sepia though because he also was oozing out the ear, literally dripping. It was pretty gross. He woke up clear though, so I guess the tubes are working!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

2.24.10 Totally, completely, utterly exhausted.


What a whirlwind the last two days have been. My feet hurt, my head hurts, and I am pretty sure my hair hurts. Tonight was our big Black History program at school. Coach and I have been cross teaching an African Dance unit to the kids. We had a great turnout and I have almost never been so glad for something to be over. I was at school from 7 am to 8pm, and that is nutty. I am now going to collapse in bed and dream of the weekend, or better yet, SPRING BREAK!

2.23.10 Waiting for the Verdict

Lately, everyday I rush to the mailbox hoping to get my letter about the PPR. I can hardly stp thinking about it and hoping I passed. The letter should arrive in the next week or so...I guess until then I will keep running to see.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

2.22.10 So Big

Jakob now climbs into his folding chair and wants to sit as his table. I was stunned by just how big he looked sitting there. He ate crackers and drank water while I did dishes. It was nice!

2.21.10 Family Day and Date Night combined!!!




The top two pictures are from our first trip to the zoo. We decided to buy a family membership and that way this summer I could take Jakob frequently. It was rainy in the morning and for the first two hours we literally did not see anyone else, only the animals. It was nice to spend time with Jeff AND Jakob as a family. We don't get to do that very often since we never have the same day off. Thats all about to change though-Jeff got a new job! He will be the new Sommelier at Mercury Grill. He is pretty excited about running his own wine program, and I am excited we will have Sundays off together. The bottom picture was us on our way to dinner there, the chef treated us to try and seal the deal with Jeff...I guess it worked!






Saturday, February 20, 2010

2.20.09 Curling Men




This morning Jakob was hanging with his daddy watching curling in the winter olypmics. It was pretty adorable to see them both mesmorized...

2.19.10 Bubble Mania


Mom came over tonight to have dinner with us and do some Wii Just Dance. It was such a nice night though we ended up playing with Jakob in the back yard. We blew bubbles and Jakob tried really hard to catch them. It was pretty cute.

2.18.10 New Nuts

Before (above)
After!

Whenever I realize its time to give Peanut a haircut, I fill with dread. I love doing the cut (and saving that money), but I hate the cleanup. When I worked as a Dog Groomer it was much easier to grrom her. She sure looks different after a cut though. I like her best about two weeks after a cut, when she doesnt look so scalped.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

2.17.10 Dude, where's my camera?











So today I had an eventful day. I have been feeling pretty lame about this project life thing recently because I don't do anything fun and exciting (okay, so maybe this isn't a recent thing-but I have never exposed my dull everyday life to the public before). My pictures are always Jakob doing this, Jakob doing that. I am that woman who exists only as a mom. Well today I went on a field trip with my third graders to the aquarium....oh the things we saw! A million photo ops, but guess who forgot her camera at home. That's right...me. I was upset, but remembered we were going shopping tonight for sheets, and to pick up Jakob's one year portraits. That would be good, at least it was out of the house. As we were driving home it occurred to me, I didn't take any pictures at any one of the three places we went because-you guessed it, I didn't have my camera! What the heck is wrong with me!!! Arg. So these are Jakob's portraits. I guess they will have to do for today.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

2.16.10 How Toddlers Find Trouble







Jakob has been playing with the balloons Nana brought him all night. Only one still has enough helium in it to be floating, but he has figured out how to pull the strings and make the balloon come to him. He kept getting a balloon and running to another room with it. A few seconds later, he would be back for another one. After he had got all of them, it got quiet. Thats never a good sign! I decided I had better investigate and right as I was getting up, I see him run by the doorway, immeadiately followed by several balloons. He had the strings so wrapped around his little chubby feet, he couldn't escape. I decided it was time to deflate the balloons. I left the one with helium, which he continued to play with. I kept a close eye on him though because this one, it seemed, wanted to wrap around his neck...not good. I can see how toddlers can get into trouble if not watched closely!

Monday, February 15, 2010

2.15.10 Playing with Cubby

As most of my evenings go, I spent it playing with Jakob. He was fun tonight, and even behaved at dinnertime (I know right!?). He has really started enjoying playing with puzzles. He knows which pieces go where, but he can hardly ever turn them correctly to make them fit. It frustrates him so and I hate that there's not much I can do to help him.


This last one is a terrible pic of me, but too funny to not post. Like mommy, like son.

Today is also one week since starting weight watchers and both me and my mom lost 4 pounds each! WOOHOO! Of course then I completely fell off the wagon tonight, probably gaining all four back. Oops. I am ready for another good week though, and am not going to dwell on feeling guilty about one slipup.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

2.14.10 Valentine's Day

I hate Valentine's Day. My girlfriends and I use to call it Single Awareness Day because it always made us acutely aware of how single we were. Now that I have been "off the market" for seven years in a row, I still hate Feb. 14th. I think its stupid that men (and women I suppose) need a fake holiday to celebrate their love and be romantic, when that is something that should be happening every day or any day of the year. Plus, my husband ALWAYS has to work, so I may as well still be single. This year though, Jakob spent the day with his Valentine, his Nana. I tagged along as the third wheel. =)
Actually, we dumped the toddler off at my sisters, and we went to a matinee showing of Valentines Day, which was as great of a movie as I was hoping it to be. My favorite movie is Love Actually, and this one reminded me of it in the previews. It had lots of characters and followed several storylines that somehow tie together in the end. It wasn't as good as Love Actually, but it was funnier. After the movie, we picked up Jakob and him and my mom (his Nana) exchanged Valentines. I have to say he made out better, scoring an outfit/swimsuit, book, and lots of big balloons. Nana got a little frog baby sculpture thing that I accidently broke the night before. Oops. After that, mom and I worked out to Wii Just Dance until we were sweaty and tired. All in all for a day I usually hate, it was fun.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

2.13.10 New Microwave


Today, against my will, I bought a new microwave. The one Juan and Jessica had so kindly been letting us use, finally went kaput (I can't believe the fridge has outlived it!). I have no idea what happened, it just went to all zeros on the readout, and nothing happens when you push the buttons. I tried unplugging it and reseting it, but still nothing. We held out for a few days, but both Jeff and I decided it was not an appliance our family can do without. I bought the cheapest one they had at Target, but it was still $50 we were not expecting to spend. I think I will tell Jeff that is his Valentines Day present! =) It's so small compared to the old one, but it has a revolving plate which I have never had before! Fancy!

Stupid Toddlerhood

I am struggling hardcore with toddlerhood. When my son was a baby, he was so sweet and even natured and adorable and EASY. Now he's become a pain in my you know what. I don't get it. I mean I do, he's a toddler, I get that. But I dont know how to deal with him. Its not even so much temper tantrums, its everything. I am losing it completely.
First there's the eating issues. He wants to eat every twenty minutes and if you dont let him he throws a fit. Sometimes I cave in and give him something, and he throws it on the floor or feeds it to the dogs. At meal times, he constantly wants something (never the thing he points at though)...I give him everything he points to, everything I can think of, and when I run out of things to give him he throws a fit. He wants whats on my plate, even if its the same as whats on his, and if I dont give it to him, he throws a fit. If I do give it to him, he throws it on the floor. That really infuriates me.
Then there's the defiance. Doing things he knows darn good and well he's not suppose to do, things that are not safe, things that he has got hurt doing before (like climbing onto the fireplace). He looks at me and knows he is doing something wrong, but wont stop until I drag him away, then he throws a fit. Going in rooms he's not suppose to and then running away when i tell him to come back out. I have to drag him out by the arm, and now he throws himself on the floor and throws a fit.
I know all this is normal toddler behavior. I read the parenting books, I am doing what I think is right to try and prevent the tantrums. They don't usually last more than ten seconds, but the frequency is the trying part-sometimes they happen practically back to back for hours. The thing I cant get a hold of is my own temper and patience (which I know he inherited, and I know when I lose my cool it sets a bad example), but every once in a while I lose it. I lose my cool and I get so angry. I yell at him-this is what my father always did to me and I swore I never would be like that. I can't seem to control it though. He knows how to push my buttons. So my question is what do you ladies do when you are at boiling point...how do you stay calm? Is anyone doing timeouts yet? I know it's early, but if he knows what he is doing is wrong-which he clearly does, wont he understand why he is in time out?

2.12.10 Slumber Party




Today was my Mom's birthday. Since school was cancelled, Jakob and I packed our bags and went to stay with her. We spent the afternoon playing in the snow and building a snowman (which of course was knocked over within an hour-jerks). Jakob was pretty funny, he was paralyzed in the snow. It came up to his thighs though, so I am sure that had something to do with it. Even when we put him in shallow snow, he didn't even try to move.
In the evening my sister joined our slumber party. After Jakob was in bed, we spent like 45 minutes trying to take a good picture of all three of us in our jammies. We laughed so hard and ended up with a few funny shots. It's been a long time since the three of us spent the night together, it was alot of fun.

Friday, February 12, 2010

2.11.10 Anyone for a Blizzard?


Today it snowed a record breaking 12 inches in Dallas Tx. It was beautiful and yet completely insane. The kids (those that showed up at school anyhow, were completely nutty. Neither of our secretaries showed up so me and a parent volunteer played secretaries all day. It made me really really wish I spoke Spanish, although I did get pretty good at saying "No habla espanol, uno momento" when answering the phones. Our administrateors decided to build a snowman in front of the school (which was of course toppled at 3:00 by nasty 6th graders). Dismissal time was a bitch though, and thank goodness for a few coworkers people, we all survived. School is cancelled for tommorrow, as if we had any doubt. Then I came hom to a fussy toddler. I dont know what his deal was, but by bedtime I was pretty stressed out. Nothing made him happy, he just wanted to throw tantrums all night. Daycare is closed tommorrow also, so I hope he has cheered up. At least we will get to play in the snow, but I wish we had better snow gear. Snow is pretty rare in TX, especially for it to stick, so as you can imagine, I am kind of in shock.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

2.9.10 Eat from your own plate!

We have decided Jakob needs to learn what it means to eat from your own plate (thanks to multiple battle wounds from daycare). So we are now pushing him to the family dinner table to eat, which he seems to like. We are hoping it will also curb his need to throw all his food on the floor.
Ha ha.

2.8.10 Weight Watchers

I decided since we are chilling on making babies for a while, I needed to focus on losing some of this ridiculous weight I am carrying. Since I lost 20 lbs last time I did weight watchers, I decided to give it another go. Mom is doing it with me so we are each others support system. It's hard though being good, I hate not being able to eat whatever I want whenever I want, but then those days were gone the day I turned 18 it seems. We set two goals, but I want to lose 20-30 pounds in three months. Here we go!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

2.7.10 Lazy Sunday



Last night Jakob and I spent the night at my mom's house. We had alot of fun this morning playing with blocks and other fun toys. I tried to build a really cool fort, but Jakob was determined to knock it over. She had to hold him back until I was done and then he literally ran to knock it over. Check out the video below! Jakob has also been insisting on taking his socks off, something he does instantly whenever you take his shoes off.




2.5.10 PPR Exam


Today I took the PPR, the last major hurdle in my way of becoming a "real" teacher. I won't find out for 3-4 weeks if I passed it, but I hope I did. I really have no idea how I did. There were only four questions I had no clue what they were talking about (out of 90), but that doesnt mean I got all the others right either.

Friday, February 5, 2010

2.5.10 Past Students

I have two of my "first (and only) homeroom" kiddos (three years ago!) who have gone on to middle school but come and visit me after school. One only stops by every once in a while, but the other comes by about once every two weeks. Its always nice to see them, although it trips me out how big they have gotten. Seems like they were my little kiddos just the other day. Even when I see the other kids still at Harmony from my original 5A group, it makes me happy.

2.4.10 Scrapbook Club

On Thursday and Friday after school each week I teach scrapbook club. It's three fourth grade girls, and we usually mess around as much as we scrapbook. The girls are fun and its a nice end too the week.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Confirmation

Well I just heard from the doctor and my HCG levels are back at zero which is good because I don't have to have my blood drawn again. Even though I knew and accepted it and have begun to move on, it still felt like a blow to my chest. I lost the ability to breathe for a second andnow I cant stop crying. Hopefully this will be the last time.

2.3.10 Would you play fetch with your kids?


Jeff and I realized tonight that Jakob officially is a thrower. It seems like everything he gets in his sticky little hands gets launched across the room. The remote control, toys, his cup, and most food you hand him at dinner time. I love the little guy to death, but when he throws things at me or screams because he wants MY delicious food, and then I give him a piece and he throws it on the floor, it simply infuriates me. Toddlerhood is not agreeing with me. The bipolarness of it all is exhausting. And I keep thinking how its going to get worse. Forget the terrible two's, we are stuck in the Obnoxious Ones. On the bright side, he loves to watch me play fetch with Peanut, and when she gets tired, he plays fetch with himself, which is awesome down time for me! =) He also has started "throwing " the basketball into the hoop rather than dropping it in. Not from very far away, but a step towards the NBA all the same!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

2.2.10 Groundhog Day


Today was a gloomy one for me and Punxsutawney Phil. I went back for another blood draw today which kinda stirred everything up in me again. I was biting peoples heads off left and right. Jeff and Jakob had on matching outfits and I tried to take a picture of them, but Jakob threw a tantrum every time I got the camera out. He finally agreed to a few shot sitting in the rocking chair (but not with dad). I have a picture of me sitting in that same rocker when I was his age, but wearing only a diaper!

2.1.10 Jen Visits


Jen came over to visit Jakob and I tonight and see our house. It was great to see her, it has been far too long. She is pregnant with twins and I cannot wait to hold her precious little babies!! Imagine two babies!!!