Thursday, January 31, 2008

Sucky week

Some people may not like the word sucky, but y'all, this week has sucked big time. No word captures its yuckiness (or suckiness?) any better.

I'll post more about it later--just wanted to let you know I'm still around.

I do want to end on a positive note: Lost starts back tonight!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Random bits of this and that

This week flew by for me. For me, personally, it was somewhat uneventful, but here are some highlights....

--Big administrative changes will be taking place at our school next year. I still haven't figured out how I feel about it. Sure, things could be much better, but things could also be much, much worse. I'm trying to think optimistically. I don't really feel comfortable saying more about it here.

--I managed to schedule "movie time" for all my classes this week so I could do more planning. Why do I feel guilty about that? They are all watching movie versions of plays they have just read---the juniors are watching A Raisin in the Sun and the honors classes are watching Death of a Salesman--and they all really seem to be watching the movies. I think I'm posting this because you're supposed to comment and say, "Amy, it really is okay that your students are watching movies this week." :) I've scheduled my first essay for my honors classes this coming week. I still don't know how I'm going to grade them, but I've got to get this figured out sooner or later. (Jen, how many hours of sleep do you get a night???)

--Speaking of A Raisin in the Sun...I'm shocked by how many of my students believe that racism no longer exists. They also believe there are no longer "white" neighborhoods and "black" neighborhoods. (Not all my students believe this...but many of them do, primarily the ones with the Gucci handbags and Apple iPhones.) These are the same students who refer to one of our football rivals as being located "in the ghetto." I think we could have a really interesting discussion about this in class, but frankly, I see so many ways it could go south that I'm afraid to probe the subject.

That's about it here. I don't have too many plans for the weekend, but that's fine with me.

Monday, January 21, 2008

My Day Today

Don't you hate those days when you start out with the notion that you'll be very productive and then end up not being productive at all?

I was going to go shopping today because I needed a pair of khaki pants ("transition pants" because my maternity ones are too baggy--hooray!), and I also wanted to buy some shoes at DSW with some gift cards I received at Christmas. (Side note here: None of my pre-pregnancy shoes fit anymore because my feet are longer. This morning, I reluctantly handed over two favorite pairs of cute shoes to my mother. I hope she enjoys them in in all their cuteness.)

So Amelia and I headed to the mall after having a quick lunch with Darryl. The mall was stinkin' crowded. Like week-before-Christmas crowded. I found a pair of pants fairly quickly and decided to go in search of a black turtleneck shirt. Seriously...why is it so hard to find a basic wardrobe item when you need one? Along in my mall journey, Amelia started fussing and crying like nobody's business, which is very unusual. I figured she needed a diaper change, so I parked in Pottery Barn Kids--they have the best bathroom, y'all, complete with diapers in case you need them--and quickly discovered when I took her out of her infant seat that I had the poor girl bundled up so warmly that she was extremely hot. I decided to change the diaper anyway, and for some reason, that had me just sweating profusely. (Those of you without kids--and I was in that group not so long ago--let me tell you, changing a diaper in a public restroom is no fun. You have to get everything organized just so while trying to work quickly for those waiting outside. And you also have to try not to think about all the germs. I'm a bit of a public restroom-phobe.)

So after that detour, I continued to look for the black turtleneck in Belk's. No luck. I decided to give up the search and head to DSW. As I got ready to leave, I realized my keys were missing. I checked all my pockets, my shopping bag, the stroller, everywhere. Panicking, I went to mall security. (Amelia, thank goodness, was sleeping at this point.) The nice lady walkie-talkied all the security staff. No keys had been turned in. An intelligent lady behind me said, "That stinks. That means you can't leave, doesn't it?" Um, yeah. I went back to all the stores I had been in before (fun!), no luck. Finally, I went back to Belk's, and there, on a table where I had been looking at sweaters, were my keys. I don't even remember putting them there.

After all that stress, I decided to pass on DSW. I guess that's a good thing because as soon as I started home, Amelia decided she was hungry and cried for the entire 25 minutes it took me to get home. I also got home later than I planned, so I fell behind on laundry and such. Yay!

(Tim, is this story as boring as Jamie B's?)

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Date Night(s) and Semi-Rant

Because of the snow (how many times in my life have I gotten to say that?), Darryl and I had to split up our date night. We were afraid to stay out too late last night because of the overblown reports of possible ice on the roads, so we went to dinner last night and a movie tonight.

Darryl took me to Seasons 52 for dinner. It's a nice health-conscious (but good!) restaurant that we have gone to once before--each dish is under 475 calories...or something like that. Since I'm doing the whole diet thing, I wanted to eat there. We had the tomato flatbread for an appetizer (delicious, like a super-thin crust pizza), salads, the filet mignon, and a mini-dessert. (Darryl had the German chocolate cake and I had some kind of chocolate cake topped with peanut butter and chocolate mousse.)

Tonight, we saw Juno. It is such a sweet but smart movie. Here is where the mini-rant comes in, though: I have never been more annoyed by a movie audience in my life. There was a group of kids in the movie, oh, I guess ranging from about ages 12 to 18, and they were incredibly rude the whole time. They laughed LOUDLY through the whole movie, even through the more touching and poignant parts. If I hadn't been so into the movie, I would have gone and gotten a manager or something...it was that bad. Anyway, go see Juno. You'll laugh. You'll cry. Oh, and I ate some buttered, salty popcorn. That sooooo isn't on my diet. I don't think I'll be losing any poundage this week.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Friday, January 18, 2008

TGIFriday

Friday is finally here! Woohoo! Has this seemed like a long week for everyone else?

I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Amelia had a not-so-great night Wednesday night, so I think I got about three hours of not-great sleep. Last night she had a great night, but unfortunately, I was still up trying to get stuff done (type out vocabulary tests, prepare my lunch for today, get Amelia's bottles ready, etc.) for about three of the hours she was sleeping. Darryl left for a day-long trip to Tampa just a few minutes ago, and I'm drinking some much needed coffee while Amelia contentedly swings in her swing. I would love just to slip back under the covers.

My parents are coming this evening for the weekend. If we don't have the Snow Storm of the Century tomorrow night (you know how the weather forecasters play it up), Darryl and I are going to dinner AND a movie!! I'm so excited!!! I desperately want to see Juno. I think Darryl wants to see National Treasure. But I gave birth, so I think I should win. :) (I think a running gag on the show Mad About You was that Jamie would always win an argument by playing the "but I gave birth" trump card.)

I think I actually had a point when I started writing this post, but I don't remember what it was supposed to be...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

School, Daycare, Percentiles, and More

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I know you all have been clamoring for a post. :)

I survived my first week back at school. The students were actually thrilled to see me, but I think this was largely because seven subs--yes, seven--"taught" (and I use that term loosely) my classes while I was out. I made the decision to start out with some things that require very little time at home to prep until I get the hang of all this. Amelia is supposedly doing fine at daycare, and several of the workers said she's the most laid back baby they've had.

Speaking of Amelia, she is sleeping about 6 hours straight fairly consistently. Hooray!

And still speaking of Amelia, last Thursday she went for her 2-month checkup. She did okay with her shots--she cried for about five minutes or so. We also found out that she is already 13 pounds and 5 ounces, and she's also in the 99th percentile for height (!) and in the nineties for everything else. In other words, she's a big girl!

That's about it on this end. I'm very tired, but I don't really realize it until I sit down...like now.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Monday, January 07, 2008

First Day of School


It was the first day of school for both of us...and judging from this pic, we both had big hair for the occasion. :)

Technically, it was a work day at school, but still--it was my first day back at "work," and my first day of separation from Amelia.

I was proud of myself because I didn't cry, but then so many people asked me if I cried--then confessed about how much they cried--that I started to feel like an unfit mother. What's wrong with me?

Honestly, I don't think it's that I didn't miss Amelia--I certainly did, as evidenced by the bazillion times I watched her on the web cam and the fact that I left promptly at 3 today--but I think I am just eager to get back to normal...or normal with a baby.

Tomorrow I'll see my students. I'm curious to see how they respond to my return.

Well, time to prepare dinner...

Saturday, January 05, 2008

A few quick things

It's been a busy weekend. We ended up having to get a washer and dryer this week, and they were delivered today. The washer is a front loader. Is it sad that I'm excited by that?

Glad Friday Night Lights is back, but I didn't care for last night's episode too much--too "all over the place" for me. But I still love the show and the acting is superb.

I start back to work Monday. Ugh. I have more to post about that tomorrow.

You might notice that I have a new "commenter," Kristy. Kristy was one of my best friends in high school and college and we were in each other's weddings. When I was in my hometown last week, she happened to be visiting her parents as well and called me. I'm so glad she did! We had lost touch over the past few years, but we were very sure to secure email addresses and phone numbers, and now she's commenting on my blog! (That means I have what...maybe six readers now? Haha.) The cool thing about Kristy and me, though, is even when we haven't talked in ages, we can pick right up just like we had seen each other yesterday. :)

Well, my tree is STILL up, and I've told myself that I'm going to take down some ornaments today, no matter what--so I think I can get at least a few down before I go to bed.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

A few ramblings

1. So far, the diet is going well. I've made it through 2 days! :) I haven't really started on the "limiting computer time" resolution...that is really more for when school starts, though.

2. It's cold, y'all.

3. If there are any moms out there reading...I've tried to get Amelia on a flexible schedule, but with the holidays and such, it has been tough, and she seems to have put herself on a schedule. Basically, she wakes up 6-ish to 7-ish every morning, eats, sleeps again until about 9 or so, then follows an eat, awake/play, sleep (maybe) cycle, usually taking a nap in the afternoon...and then at night she usually goes to sleep 10-ish to 11-ish. Is this considered a flexible schedule? Sometimes she naps and sometimes she doesn't...but she is pretty consistent with the eating every 3 to 4 hours thing. Is this considered "structure"?

4. I'm ready for Lost to return. :)

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Happy 2008...and Resolutions and Weight Talk (Sigh)

First of all, Happy 2008!

And in the tradition of the new year, I feel I must make some resolutions. I typically break my resolutions somewhere around week two because I make resolutions that are pretty ridiculous or hardcore (such as going from not exercising at all to exercising six days a week), so I've decided to make just two resolutions, both of them quite do-able.

I'm going to make better use of my time. More specifically, this means I need to spend less time on the Internet. A quick check of my email in the morning and a little blog time in the evenings should be enough. I pretty much NEED to make this happen in order to make time for Amelia, Darryl, and school. I'm still a bit overwhelmed about how I'm going to grade papers and take care of a baby. Yikes.

I'm going to lose my "baby weight." I've already taken some action on this one by joining Weight Watchers yesterday. WW is the only "diet" I've ever been able to follow with any success. I've figured that with the remaining pounds to lose from being pregnant along with some pounds I had hoped to lose before becoming pregnant, I need to lose 25-30 pounds. (I'll be happy with 25, but I'll be ecstatic if I lose 30.) I don't think I've ever been more psyched about eating healthy--I've basically eaten what I've wanted for the past ten months, and I just feel kind of "saturated," you know? Also, for Christmas, Darryl and my parents gave me some rather generous gift cards to some of my favorite stores, so once I get a bit slimmer, I can enjoy a fun shopping spree...so that's definitely incentive.

I'm not going to set any ridiculous goals about exercising. I know that if I'm already short on hours in the day, I'm not going to be able to fit in an hour session at the gym. However, I do hope to take advantage of any warmer days that we have by walking and pushing Amelia in the stroller. Some crunches here and there couldn't hurt, either.


And that's about it. It's time now to eat some grapefruit for breakfast. :)

Monday, December 31, 2007

Just to Have an End-of-the-Year Post

To be perfectly honest with you, I'm just posting right now because I felt I should have an official end-of-the-year post. I think I should have something especially poignant to say, this being the year I became a mother and all, but I'm too sleepy and tired to come up with anything great. Christmas week was fun, but with all the traveling and not sleeping much, I'm just weary...but happy. (Amelia is still sleeping pretty well--she wakes up every three to four hours--but as Darryl said to me, six hours of broken sleep isn't quite the same as six hours of straight sleep.)

I remember that last year on New Year's Eve, Darryl and I did a super-thorough cleaning of our bedroom, and I remember thinking how lame we were that we had nowhere fun and exciting to go. This year, we're watching TV (well, technically I'm blogging) and Amelia is snuggling on Darryl's chest (her favorite place to be), and we hope to go to bed before 10:30...and there's nowhere I'd rather be.

Our trip to Florida was fun and we were able to see quite a few friends and relatives. I have some good pictures, but I don't have the patience to upload them tonight. Maybe I will in the next day or two.

Amelia is starting to do more things. She smiles a good bit and makes lots of spit bubbles when she does it, and we just think that makes her the most amazing child in the world. :)

I have several "do-able" New Year's resolutions, but I think I'll save those for tomorrow.

I forgot to buy black-eyed peas, but I'm okay with that.

And there you have it. Happy New Year!

Friday, December 28, 2007

Florida Christmas

We're in Florida for a few days to do Christmas with Darryl's family and to see lots of family and friends and to introduce Amelia to everyone. We're already having lots of fun. I should have some good pictures to post later.

I have to go now so I can beat my nephew Cameron at Wii bowling. :)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!

While I'm sitting here waiting for my sweet potatoes to cook so I can make sweet potato casserole (with pecans, not marshmallows), I thought I would give you a glimpse into our Christmas festivities thus far.

Sunday night, Christmas Eve Eve, we (the three of us and my parents) went to my cousin Vicky's house for dinner and gifts. Here's a shot of Darryl, Amelia, and me with Amelia's first official Christmas present (lots and lots of clothes were in that box!) as well as the Christmas nativity scene from Vicky and Robert; the nativity is supposed to commemorate Amelia's first Christmas:


Christmas Eve, my mom and I had to finish up some shopping. The traffic and crowds really weren't as bad as I thought they'd be. (My mom mentioned that she needed to go to Walmart; fortunately, I was able to persuade her to rethink that, and she decided that Target would suffice.) Darryl cooked a DELICIOUS prime rib on the Green Egg for dinner.

And then the Christmas Miracle happened: Amelia slept for six straight hours! She decided that would be her gift to her mom and dad. :) (I'm sure this was a one-time thing, but hey, we'll take it!)

This morning was lots of fun opening gifts and spending time with family. Amelia, after drinking a big bottle for breakfast, decided she would just snooze through the present-opening festivities:


My favorite gift is this photo collage that Darryl gave me. (Please forgive the Christmas morning hair and PJs.):

Amelia finally decided to wake up after all the adults opened their gifts. The laptop Nana and Papa gave her was obviously a big hit!


And in traditional Christmas fashion at our house, everyone is napping except for Darryl and me. I'm sure the rest of the day will be fairly low key. The rain has delayed Darryl's turkey frying a bit, so who knows when we'll have lunch. We typically do the Thanksgiving fare--maybe a bit pared down--for Christmas since we really don't have dressing and the fixings any other time of year and we love it all so much.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas with the ones you love. Merry Christmas!!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

More sleep deprivation

So I thought my sleep deprivation ditziness was over...not so much.

I'm baking cookies right now, and instead of putting the cookie sheet in the oven, I started to put it in the dishwasher.

Yeah.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Time for a change

I decided I needed to give my blog a makeover. You would have thought I was trying to decide what college to attend or what wedding dress I wanted...that's how seriously I took this whole thing. I'm not kidding.

I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I'm going to give it a few days. Feel free to weigh in with your opinion...

(Okay, somebody please respond. Usually when I post a question, no one responds and I feel lame. However, I had nine comments on the post where Amelia was wearing an LSU outfit. Perhaps I should have titled this post "Geaux LSU" or something...)

Edited later: Oh, joy! I finally figured out how to set up a poll on my blog! This means that you can vote about my blog change! (Again, I will feel lame if no one votes. You don't want me to feel lame, do you?)

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Really Random Stuff

1--I may be in the minority here, but I hate that song "Bubbly." HATE it. (Tim, I wonder if it is because my introduction to the song was the not-so-great rendition we heard at the Cobb pageant.)

2--I was watching an old episode of Friends this evening--probably an episode from the second season or so--and Rachel was wearing a pair of overalls with a belt. It made me laugh. I can remember doing that "look." Not so flattering, even on Jennifer Aniston.

3--I absolutely love jewelry commercials this time of year. Darryl was joking with me the other day that he had bought me a diamond necklace from Kay Jewelers (trust me, he hasn't), and I told him that if he gave me jewelry, he must present it in a dramatic fashion as we see in the commercials. You know, he either has to drape the necklace around my neck while I'm sleeping, or else we have to go Christmas tree shopping and he has to put it under a tree without my knowing and then point to the tree and say, "that's the one!", or he has to build a snowman (yes, in Georgia) and have the snowman hold it. Seriously...does anyone REALLY do these things?

4--Amelia is now "intentionally" smiling. Too precious!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Events o' the week

I'm still hanging out with Amelia during the week and loving it. I can't believe how fast she is growing.

Wednesday, Darryl had an overnight trip for work and I was a tiny bit concerned about having Amelia by myself, mainly because I was already tired (she had a quirky night Tuesday and got up much more than usual) and had no one to share the shifts with. It went really well, though--pretty much a peaceful evening of "just girls."

Friday, Darryl and I checked out the daycare where Amelia will be staying. We both have an extremely good feeling about it, and while I'm not looking forward to leaving her for the day, at least I can be reassured by the fact that she is being well taken care of.

Today has been a pretty slow day, but we've enjoyed it. The weather is cold and rainy, and we've been inside except for an excursion to eat lunch and shop at Costco. I really could write a whole post on the Costco trip because it was such a roller coaster experience, but in a nutshell...it involved a Christmas present lost then found (something I knew I wanted to get my parents but it had been restocked in a completely different part of the store from where it had been last time), a Christmas wreath lost then found (I saw it, planned to come back for it, and "they" had moved it while we were there!), and a fudge sample found then lost (when I went back to stand in the sample line--and yes there was a line--the sample giver-outer was on a break).

I could also post about Darryl and his love for warehouse stores. He loves to buy in bulk. Today he was looking at a big box of Clif bars. I asked him if he liked Clif bars. He said he couldn't remember. I said, "Well, I think they taste like dirt, but perhaps you should go somewhere and buy just one to see if you like them before buying, say, 36 of them." When we were first married, he went to Sam's by himself and returned with a box of crispy M&Ms and 12 cans of cream of mushroom soup.

You can tell we've had an exciting day.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

One Month

Wow...I can't believe Amelia is a month old already.

If you are familiar with the play Our Town, you might recall that the character Emily is given a chance to re-live any day from her life. If I were given that opportunity, I would choose November 12...the anticipation, the excitement, and finally the moment when I met and instantly fell in love with the little girl I had been carrying for 41 weeks--it was beyond amazing.

I'm not trying to be extra-sappy or poignant or anything; I'm way too tired for that. I've just enjoyed getting to know her and I'm very happy to be her mother. :) And I think she's pretty cute.