The beginning of the end

No picture today. But if there was one it would be of me with a silly grin on my face. The play is OVER!!! Everyone at school was amazed and astonished. I had several people tell me we should copywrite it and sell it. I'm not sure we can do this as we stole (ahemm...adapted all the songs) Today we did a morning performance. This was followed by a frantic amount of cleaning and counting. I only came up two dollars short for the field trip (I think) Then we went to see Shrek followed by a pizza party, funny individual awards for each 8th grader and a slideshow of pictures. I did successfully tape the second show so I'll put some videos of the songs up soon.

Two more days. More importantly I get to have my annual expensive salon haircut and highlighting on Sat. Ahhhhhhh.

It's summer!!! Things to be excited about this summer

1. More time with Emory everyday.
2. Our trip to MA. CAN'T WAIT! I'm so excited, I'm not even nervous about flying yet.
3. My new niece who arrives this July.
4. Getting to steal my first niece for a visit when the new one arrives!

and...

5. TWO long awaited books to be published this summer. Aimee do you think you can wait until after I've had a chance to read the new Harry Potter to have the baby? Really is that asking too much?

Picnic

We celebrated Memorial weekend with a picnic

in the mountains with Aimee, Shanti, and Shilah. A good time was had by all.

Cousins

Gabe and I went to see a movie after dropping Emory off with Aimee and Shanti. It was nice to have some time together alone and Emory had a great time too with his cousin and Aunt and Uncle. Check out these cute kids!

Moving days

We've been moving around the downstairs. Here is a shot of Emory's new playspace. We're hoping to get a really wonderful face shot of him to enlarge for the wall. Also here is a dark picture of my new office. When its done I'll take a better shot!

WWF

Emory has some fancy wrestling moves that he uses on his catapillar. His finishing move is a killer. We call it the "slober fist"

The catapillar is a wonderful toy that does everything but cook and clean (too bad) It recites the alphabet, the colors, the numbers, and sings a different someg for every letter. To be honest I think most of that is beyond even genius babies like mine (he he he) But the antenae light up, so Emory LOVES it.

Meditation Practice

I found that babies severally limit your meditation practice just at the time when you most need it. Here Emory and I meditate together. Our mantra? Sleeping through the night is good ohhmmmmmmmm. The crib is a nice place to take naps.ahhhmmmmmmmmmmm.

Happy Mother's day

Today was Mother's day! I spent the first part of the day with my mom and then the second part of the day being a mom. Soon Gabe will go pick up a special dinner for us (we can no longer actually go to restaurants...see blog) It has been forever since I posted. Sorry about that. I would say posting will be sporadic until school is done. (see blog)

Here is a picture of my precious little bug sitting up. He has a little tent and a new play area in the house. I have a new office and Gabe has a new TV room. So basically we have been moving furniture and cleaning like mad people!

It has become very hot here so the baby is usually in shorts or just a diaper. But after the horrendous amount of snow...I am loving it!

Emory's videos

Emory has many many new talents that brighten our days and make us laugh. Here are two that are especially fun...rolling...and laughing!

May- a teacher's tax season

The first year I was with Gabe he was utterly astounded by the phenomena of May in the life of a teacher. I remember coming home crying everyday that month. By the end of the month he had the routine down. Gin and tonic at the door, pillow and blanket on the couch, girl movie in the VCR.

I don't know why May is so hideous... but it is. I am going to blame this on the students (Sorry all students!) as their attitudes are horrendous. But in reality it is probably equally the teachers' fault because all sense of humor is GONE. This is dreadful combination. To give you a quick example, a student in my study hall asked for help understanding dominant and recessive genes. I asked him to go get a book from the closet so that we could look at it and he said, "Oh, I have to go get a book? You can't just tell me? Ok I don't really want to do that." And then he sat down. I briefly thought about either helping him or giving him a lecture on dedication to learning and then realized, "Gee if he doesn't want to care enough to walk five feet to pick up a book, why should I?"

Sometimes I think this process of slowly growing annoyed and upset at the students is just a way of letting go of them. This year I will say goodbye to 50 of the best kids in the world who have known me for two years. They were 7th graders when I got married. They lived through my pregnancy (One told me recently, Wow - I think you're so much calmer now that you're not pregnant!) and they welcomed Emory into the world. I get so many emails from them about this and that. But on June 1st that's it....they go on to other teachers who won't instantly recognize their genuisness and I get a whole new batch of immature little cretans who don't understand that throwing sulfur into a lab partners eyes is NOT proper lab etiquette!

This year has been also terrible because of having to move. Until last week they were still refusing to move us. We were actually going to have to ask our husbands to come down and move 50 boxes of textbooks to the new school. But reason (or our constant complaining) prevailed and now they are not only hiring professionals but they are paying us three days of extra pay.

In the picture above you can see that my classroom is in boxes. Moving day is June 6th and I am determined to be ready. I am not taking or teaching any classes this summer. I would say it is going to be a true summer off but of course that is ridiculous. The room needs to be painted, the boxes unpacked, all of my documents transferred, and new lessons prepared.

LARGE BABY

At a recent doctor's appointment Emory was found to be 21 pounds and 28 inches long. This puts him in the 90% of height and weight and puts us in a dillemma. His car seat only goes to 22 pounds, but he are soon travelling to Mass. and it would be really really nice to use the car seat that clips into the stroller.

Do I 1) buy a new car seat and deal with the details, 2) hope that when they wrote that 22 pound limit they were just being overlly careful, or 3) put the baby on a diet hoping to slow down his growth just a tad?

The doctor's appointment was NOT what I would call a good time. Emory took one look at Dr. Knott and immediatly started with his pouting face which I thought was very funny because we so rarely see it. It got progressively less funny when he escalated to a resounding scream. Dr. Knott was forced to sit in the corner with a clipboard covering his face while I tried to ask my 15 questions. The funniest part of the appointment was when Dr. Knott asked me if he was a happy baby. I couldn't hear because Emory was screaming in my ear and I had to say "What??" Three times. When he finally got his meaning across after a version of charades I said, "Oh yes he's the best baby. He hardly every makes a noise!"

But really the most amusing part of the whole experience was when we went to see Gabe's doctor a week later. The baby seemed to recognize what a small windowless room with a horizontal table means and ...bam...out came the lower lip and tears.

Dining in

I remember the days when we could throw Emory in the car and go anywhere for basically any length of time. If her was sleepy he would sleep if he was hungry he would eat. This is no longer the case. At one point this weekend Gabe said to me in confusion, "How do other parents get to go places?" We are still trying to figure out if other parents go places or if they are faking it. Is there a mass conspiracy that we will someday join? Will we go around saying things like, "Oh babies are easy. Yes they sleep through the night at 3 months! Pumping and working...no problem!"

As you can see from the picture Emory is certainly NOT ready for the Four Seasons. He can grap anything in a five foot radius at the table. I find this amazing considering that he is shorter than me. He seems to know the minute you are going to aim the food towards his open mouth and UP goes the arm and then the food goes everywhere! He wants desperately to drink from a cup so we do this everyday. I basically view it as a way to swab him down as none of the water goes into him.

You can see my baby food making the the picture. I took this picture on a particularly rough sunday afternoon when I was dreading the amount of work and stress of the next day. Baby food making is one of the wonderful chores that is fast, easy, and fulfilling. After a half-hour's worth of work...Voila! you have food for a week! I'm thinking of gradually trying to introduce it into Gabe's diet as well. Blending is just so much eaiser than cooking!

bath time

Bathing is usually the end of the eating process. Sometimes I wonder what restaurants would be like if all eaters were as messy as 6 month olds. Would there be showers as you exited? I know I've had meals where I've needed a shower later.

We still take baths with Emory, but as May gets busier and more hectic I find I don't have the energy. Also, he is now so large (21 pounds) that it is difficult to get out of the bathtub with him if I am home alone. So on Gabe's pool, softball, or gym nights we use the sink.

I was recently thinking about that old saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater." How on earth could that have come about. Did somebody accidentally throw the baby out with the bath water? It seems like this is something people should notice. Is it a fear that this could happen or a slightly delerius vision by sleep deprived parents?