My first You tube video

I am now quite taken with you tube and have uploaded my first video. I think it's amazing what people can do in their free time. Or maybe these are all made during work hours! Anyway here is a 20 sec clip of Emory eating a banana that I took with my camara's movie function. I'll try to keep the videos down to actually interesting moments.

Some interesting things to notice are the sounds he makes after getting the banana and how messy he is! My dad is very concerned. As he said, "He's twice as messy as you were and look at you now!"

Happy Five Months!

Emory and Shilah at five months. Those are some cute Plesslings!

Awake!!! Asleep.

Emory and I have been working on taking naps. I should say that Emory has been working on taking naps. I am very profficient at napping! This week, I have been religious about getting him in the crib at the right time (8:30, 11;30, 2:30) and then sitting with him for a few fussy moments before he sleeps. Thanks to Ginny Richey and the WONDERFUL Lullaby CD's he generally falls asleep in about 5 min. When awake Emory is a very happy baby with few difficulties. Then he suddenly gets fussy and it's time for a nap. The below picture is from about a week ago when he was still sleeping in the sling. He's just too heavy to carry around for three-four hours a day anymore. However, I am practing a new position and will be ready to reveal it soon.

Oops...baby is awake. gotta go!

Work day!

Gabe is giving me a work day today. I am reevaluating my life science curriculum. Right now we are teaching the human body systems which is about 1/8 of the overall State Standards for biology in the middle school. I think it is very lacking leaving out ...ohh...cells, DNA, and most importantly Evolution.

So my new curriculum, which to be honest uses a lot of the same ideas and plans, is organized around the central and unifying theme of biology- evolution.

Some things that I am very excited about are; the upcoming Discovery series on PLANET EARTH, some new books on concept teaching, My book on Best Practices for gifted Students and YOU TUBE. I can't believe it has taken me this long to discover it. Anyway...check out the amazing video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H1S9d5h-Ps. The picture above is from it. It is called the Inner Life of Cells.

The progression of Emorys first meal of solid foods. Andrea fed him a banana this morning and it was very amusing. I am not sure how much of the food he actually got, but he sure loved getting it into his mouth. Then he would proceed to try to drink it like milk and would spit it back out again. But, he was very happy to take the next mouthful agin. He let us know when he was done.

After dinner last night, we went to visit Andrea's dad Charlie. He has recently got a puppy named Zora, and she is very cute and fluffy. Emory loved her! She came to say hi and he started to smile and wave his arms excitedly.

Check out how cute Emory is in his Junior Pilot flight jacket. He got to wear it out when Andrea and I went to dinner with Shanti, Aimee and Shilah at the Watercourse last night. Very good food and fun company.

Doing hard time! That's what happens when you do not sleep at night. Emory in his ultra-stylish convict outfit.

SPRING BREAK!!!

Hooray!! It is finally Spring and also finally Spring break. When you are a teacher and have always been a teacher or a student you start to think of Spring breaks and Summer breaks as constitutional rights!

I feel very bad for all of my actual working friends and family who don't get mandatory built in breaks. This week I had to stop myself three times from planning road trips remembering...oh yeah Gabe has to work!

Spring Break always seems to come at just the moment I am ready to pull out my hair and quit. Today I collected student biographies on scientists (facinating reads!). There were many many students procrastinating until the very last moment. This is a temptation I recognize but of course have to be against as a teacher. Well the funny story is...after the last class I immediately shut and lock my door to pump milk. Usually I see students later but today I planned on leaving right away for the emergency faculty meeting at the nearby bar. So there I am sitting at my desk pumping away trying to read about Newton, when I hear four students at my door. They try the door and find it locked. Then they try it again 15 MORE TIMES. (I always live in fear of the day it suddenly opens) Then I hear a conversation about whether I am or am not in the room. Then they bang on the door some more. None of this is really helping my milk flow but I feel a little ummm shy about yelling out..."I'll be there when I'm dressed!" Then the students try to get the janitor to open the door (she refuses) Then finally someone has the bright idea of jamming the papers under the door. There is a further conversation about whether I will know they turned them in before or after spring break. So then they write a note and go next door to have another teacher time stamp it. After all of that I get up and collect the papers only to see that THEY AREN"T COMPLETE!!!

I have to say that if they worked as hard on WRITING the papers as they did on trying to turn them in late then they would probably learn more. But I have turned in so many late papers I have to smile a little :)

Never wake a sleeping baby

Every day when I go to work it is a toss up whether Emory will be up or not. I try to control my urge to sneak in and kiss him but today I couldn't resist taking this picture. Today was not one of my best teaching days...at one point I had to stand in front of one of my study hall kid's table for 25 min to get him to work and even then he only wrote two sentences! It is so useless when you care more than the students. I wish I could just say...go away and come back when you want my help, but please please stop trying to annoy me today! Luckily most of my days are not like that.

Next week is Spring Break. Hopefully I will get done with the planning for the many projects I want to work on in April and May. I have a dilemma with work. I want to come home as soon as possible....but it is impossible to get anything done here. Gabe says he will take the baby on Sunday so that I can lock myself in the office and work. You'll probably see a lot of posts that day as I procrastinate!

Swinging at the park.

We like to take Emory to the park on the weekends. He is enjoying the swinging more...but is still a little concerned about it. However, he loves to be pushed around in his stroller. Before we had him I hated strollers and didn't want one. But Gabe insisted and we tried out many many before finding one that fit all of our requirments. It took us a while to compromise because I wanted the smallest one and Gabe wanted one that would basically do everything as well as mow the lawn! I still like the sling best, but I have to confess that having the stroller is nice for other people who want to do something with the baby. Plus at 17 lbs...I find it difficult to carry him around for more than a couple hours in the sling! I am trying the on the back position...but am not profficient at it yet. You can see that he is very contented regardless. Basically, Emory seems to be happy as long as we are catering to his every wish. And that's the way it should be.

Wow. We were just taking a trip down memory lane...flash back to early November...look how little he is in the sling compared to the picture below taken last Saturday. Isn't it amazing how fast it time goes and Emory grows.

Sky

The sky is big in Colorado, and you often feel like you can see forever. As Emory gets bigger it seems like my life somehow gets smaller and smaller. I don't even have the option of wasting my life in front of the reality shows any more! Recently I have been bashing my head against this idea... that every min is scripted and used up well before it actually gets here. But today I realized that I don't have to wait until naptime to dream of climbing mountains. Those mountains will be here in 10 years...and most likely the Barnes and Noble will too. Until then, getting the baby to the pool to swim feels enough like climbing Everest for me. Believe me, we take about the same amount of stuff... with no sherpa!

Our Saturday

Today we are going to go to a Sale organized by the twins club. I had heard that they had lots and lots of stuff. Since we are very short of summer clothes I hoped we would be able to pick some stuff up. Here is Emory ready to go shopping in a fox shirt and Khacki's! Aimee and Shanti are going with us, and they joined us for breakfast. Gabe made us some omelets with veggies and soy cheese! Yum!

We have such a big day planned. I hope we can get everything done!

A walk in the park

After the sale we all took a walk in the park. It was a gorgeous sunny day, full of warmth and goodness. Shilah played run away from Mommie...but Aimee can still keep up with her!

Gabe took this beautiful picture of the water. Emory and I nursed by the river. It was very relaxing.

After Emory ate I realized I was starving! So it is on to lunch.

Lunch at BJ's

We went to my favorite pizza place in Boulder for lunch. The babies were very cute together. Shilah loves Emory, but I think Emory is a little rougher than she is prepared for. He kept whacking her on the top of her head and violently grabbing her shirt. Still, she was very kind and continued to try to wip Emory's drool off as soon as it appeared. A losing battle. It's nice that the cuteness of babies makes up for the inconvience of trying to eat in public with them. That's one of the wonderful things about Boulder. There are kids all over the place and no one seems to care or think that they are loud.

Getting dinner.

I didn't have all the fruit we needed for the poker game (I realize that fruit and poker seem to be mutually exclusive...but not so) Emory and I set out for the store to buy fruit. The grocery store is only a few blocks away. I hate shopping so much that I only buy exactly what I need at the moment. Consequently, we go to the store several times a day. I hear this is very European. (Instead of lazy and disorganized!) At the store I did a terrible terrible thing. I went into the baby aisle and got Emory a toy. He played with it the whole time we were in the store. Now I know how kids get to be annoying screaming brats in the store demanding chocolate and toys. Maybe we'll just bring a toy from home from now on!

Dinner Prep

Last night we had tofu ctulets with green beans. Emory thought it was very fun to play with the green beans and seems to be interested in putting them in his mouth. What a little vegetarian! We had my dad over for dinner before the poker game. He was very scornful of the menu, but Gabe and I noticed that he ate three helpings!

Bed time

At the end of the day, Emory gets naked and rolls on the floor with Gabe. He does not roll over yet but he does roll to the right and left. Part of me is not that excited about the

rolling stage. I'm sure that as soon as he is getting around more I'm going to have to be a lot more diligent about what's on the floor. Like EVIL STRING.

Our Saturday ends

At the very end of the day I sit down with the enormous pile of clothes we bought and try to sort them out. This meant I had to go through all of the other wonderfully cute outfits that he has already out grown. Always sad.

Confused baby

This weekend I was busy cooking dinner upstairs while trying to relax and watch TV downstairs. Basically this means that every time there is a commercial I frantically dash upstairs and continue chopping veggies. At some point the baby fell asleep in his chair for his nap. I went upstairs and forgot about him. I suddenly looked at the clock and realized that I hadn't heard anything from him in a while and so creeped down to see. He had just woken up and had scooted himself off the end of the chair and was sitting on the floor looking totally confused at what had happended. Right after I took this picture he toppled over and then we cuddled for a while.

Pool Trophy

Gabe came in second in his pool league this session. He won 175$ and this trophy that will now be displayed in our "Pool Hall of Fame!"

Summer is coming

We had one of those days in Colorado that makes you think summer is around the corner, even though it is still March. It was sunny and 75. Everyone in the nieghborhood was outside washing their cars and sweeping their driveways. We moved the Exersaucer outside so Emory could play in the sun. You can see that he is very busy do something important.

I was excited to get the pineneedles picked up and Gabe refilled all of our birdfeeders and gave some birdseed to our Buddha statue.

Appropriate dinner attire

Gabe and I try to sit down to dinner every night. Inevitably, Little Buddy also likes to use this time to get our attention. You can see that we have already taken his clothes off and that I have the remnants of drool, spitup and dinner prep on me. It looks like we are eating a Sietan stirfry on brown rice with pineapple.

After a few min of trying to eat while holding the wiggly baby, I usually end up putting him in his high chair at the table. He is quite happy to hang out in it for five min and then it is time to be held by the next parent. After about 20 min of passing the baby around we are through with dinner and ready to play!

A funny joke

We woke up a little later then normal very rested...but Gabe was still sleeping. For some reason he doesn't come to bed at 7:15 like us!! Here is gabe trying to sleep...but Emory is wide awake and laughing. I thought it

was a funny time to take a picture...but Gabe woke up right after and was a little displeased at being up at 7AM in the morning.

Bath time

Either I haven't shaved my legs in a while or this is a picture of Gabe bathing with the baby! Gabe is a little too tall for the bath tub, but last night he decided to try it. The baby was delighted to have a new person to play with. He has gotten much much squirmmier recently. He now arches his back and can scoot out of your arms quickly!

Fussy Baby

Sometimes when the baby gets fussy before bath time, I just get him naked and leave him on the floor to play. For some reason he loves this! Last night this let Gabe and me have dinner without any interferance. Look at how gigantic he is!

Emory intensley dislikes tummy time, so this is a rare picture right before he lets out a squall. He isn't rolling over yet. But he does scoot himself around on his back.

new phase

This week we began a new phase as both Gabe and I are now working and Mom is staying with the baby. Mom and Emory seem to be having a wonderful time.

The biggest challenge in the morning is that Emory is very sensitive to Gabe's alarm clock. So now we all get up at 5:30! Some days he will nurse and go back to sleep and some days he is up. When he goes back to sleep I have time to post on the blog, write email, shower...and when he doesn't ....I don't.

Gabe like being back at work and is being asked to take on more responsibility. It is also nice to have our connection for Celestial Products back! He is also trying to go to the gym five days a week and play pool two days a week so....he is very busy.

I have a new hobby of cooking healthy food for both of us. Thank you Evie and Aimee for all the recipies!!! We have now eaten well without going out for one full week. This is actually a really big milestone and I'm shocked that we didn't break down and have pizza once. I'm also packing healthy lunches for Gabe to have at work. I try to pack lunches for me to...but with pumping four times at work and administering the CSAP...I usually forget to eat.

I am such a picky eater that my parents despaired of me as a child. In fact I remember more than once my mom saying, "I hope you have a child just like you and then you'll know!" But I am happy to say that I now eat tofu regularly and vegetables as well. I have not been able to eat broccoli yet...but I did cook it, which is a step forward. Emory is still a milk only baby so I don't know if he will be as picky as me. But it is ironic that since Mom is watching him it would be more of a punishment for her I think! We might be trying Emory on solid foods in a few weeks. As usual I am trying to wade through the reading on the subject and as usual it is COMPLETELY contradictory. My baby book says that solids too early can lead to food allergies...but I read an article in a parenting magazine that said that NOT introducing solids early enough can lead to food allergies. So as usual I will go to my inside source...Dr. Katy help!

This saturday I watched Shilah while Gabe and Shanti went to the gym and Aimee was at a Jazzersize meeting. She is such a little sweetie! We where coming home from Deb's house when Emory decided he didn't want to be in the car anymore and started screaming. I looked in the mirror and Shilah, with a very concerned look, reached out and held Emory's hand! I almost had to pull over and snap a picture of it. Here is Shilah later kindly giving Emory a toy. You can tell she is going to be a compassionate little person!

Our little Emory is so cute! He has recently been reaching for his toy and when he corals it in, it goes straight to his mouth! Today was my last day as a stay at home dad and it was hard knowing that I will not be with him all day every day. I am looking forward to going back to work, but will miss my little buddy very much. It is amazing how fast 2 months past; and how much Emory has grown and changed in that time. I know that Andrea's mom will do an excellent job with Emory, but I will still miss him very much while at work. I am currently excepting donations of $35,000 a year so I can continue to stay home and raise our little Emory!