The past few days...and how teaching isn't always convenient

Here's what's been going on here lately...

Darryl left early Monday morning for a business trip to Milwaukee. (He said it was cold, y'all.) He returned last night.

Monday went by without a hitch for Amelia and me.

Tuesday went even more smoothly. Amelia was a bit irritable and had a runny nose (that she has had off and on since, oh, September) and a cough, but I was able to get her down to sleep about 30 minutes earlier than usual. I was feeling extra-ambitious, so I actually stayed up until after 11:00 to grade some things.

At 2 in the morning (Wednesday morning), Amelia woke up with all her coughing and runny nose. It was obvious she wasn't going to go back to bed easily. At 4:00, after trying to get her back down in her bed, after trying to get her to sleep in my bed, after letting her watch Sesame Street to try to make her mellow out, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to go to work, so I had to make up lesson plans and an activity on a Faulkner short story (not an easy task for the sleep deprived), and emailed them to Tim to print out for me. (Thanks again, Tim!)

Here's where being a teacher isn't convenient. There's no just calling into the office to say you're not going to be in, that you'll catch up later. Nope. You've got to plan for someone to take your place.

Anyway...so yesterday I was off with Amelia all day. She was cranky all day, but she still played, and she didn't seem to be running a fever. Then last night around 7, I felt her and she seemed HOT. I checked her temp, and it was 103.4. I tried not to flip out, which is my tendency. I tried to call Darryl to help keep me from flipping out, and he was already on the plane to come back. I gave her some Motrin, read the chapter on fevers in my trusty go-to guide, Toddler 411, and was assured that she wasn't going to spontaneously combust . Her fever did come down some, and I felt a little better. Actually, I'm quite proud of myself for fighting the urge to rush her to the ER. (Darryl usually has to be the voice of reason in these instances.)

Darryl really had to be at work today, so I stayed home. However, this also meant that I had to trudge to the school at 4:30 this morning to make some photocopies and get some things together. And oh yeah, Amelia woke up at 2:00 this morning, too. Darryl got up with her this time, but I never really went back to sleep. Apparently she went to sleep right after I left the house for the school and woke up just before I got home.

We went to the doctor this morning, and apparently Amelia has a very mild case of pneumonia, and she is going to be fine. Today has actually gone more smoothly, but--and forgive my being graphic here--I feel covered in snot from head to toe. Seriously...how much of that stuff can one small child produce?? It baffles the mind, people.

That was probably way more than you wanted to know about these past few days, but I just needed to get it out. It hasn't been fun, but Amelia has been extra cuddly, and I must admit that even though I'm sorry she feels bad, I'm enjoying all the hugs and her lying with her head on my shoulder.

Even if it means that I have a big wet snot spot on my shoulder when she gets up.

My girl

I haven't posted any Amelia pics lately, so I thought I would post these because they pretty much capture the way Amelia has been lately--smiley, happy, and Miss Personality. She also seems more "little girl" to me than "baby," I think because her hair has gotten longer. In the above shot, we had just caught her dancing to the lullaby music playing on her old-school Ipod.

The one below is the bathtime ritual of running around the house naked before getting in the tub.

Perhaps I should clarify that Amelia is the only who participates in that ritual.

Christmas Present=Rejuvenation

Several months ago, my friend Blayne told me about a scrapbooking retreat she does every year at this place. She just happened to have an opening and asked if I was interested. Hmm....two days to scrapbook when I wanted, sleep when I wanted, read when I wanted? A private room? Awesome food? Was I interested????? Um, yes.

I convinced Darryl that this could be my (very generous) Christmas present, so I signed up. I'm so glad I did. This past weekend was just what I needed.

I drove up late Friday afternoon to this inn, which was practically in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, you take this winding road, which turns into a dirt road at some point, and then, out of nowhere, appears this inn.

When I arrived, I settled into my room, and then went to the conference room, which was our scrapbooking area. My project for the weekend was Amelia's "First Year" book, and I got a lot done over the two days, thanks to this kit and some baby girl supplies I had already bought.

Anyway, after everyone had arrived Friday, we went to dinner. This might be a place to transition into food talk. If you love food like I do, check out what I ate all weekend:

Friday night: salad, Macadamia Chicken with mashed potatoes and crisp green beans, and chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

Saturday morning/breakfast: Egg and cheese strata, out-of-this-world grits obviously made with cream, fried ham, fruit, biscuits with homemade grape/blueberry jam.

Saturday lunch: baked potato bar with all the fixings, homemade chili, and chocolate chocolate chip cookies for dessert. (Those cookies were probably the best cookies I've ever eaten.)

Saturday night: salad, beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes and green beans, and brownie sundae for dessert

Sunday morning: blueberry pancakes and apple cinnamon pancakes served straight from the griddle, bacon, and fruit.

Sunday lunch: salad, chicken pot pie, herb-ish buttered bread, and chocolate cake and chocolate fudge pie for dessert.

Good Lord. I ate it all. That might explain why I feel puffy this morning.

So basically, this weekend consisted of eating, scrapbooking, eating, scrapbooking, eating, scrapbooking...you get the idea. Oh, we slept in there somewhere.

It was awesome, and it far exceeded my expectations. I knew only Blayne when I went, but I met some other great ladies and had a wonderful time.

This inn was definitely the definition of "quaint." Is it a place I would go to for just a vacation? No. But it is definitely THE place to go if you just want to get away from everything.

Here is my room (excuse the unmade bed):

"Quaint" means you might see signs like this hanging over the toilet:

This was the view from my room.


Pretty nice, huh?

I came back Sunday afternoon, and while I had a good time, I was ready to see Darryl and Amelia. And I swear, when I walked through the door, Amelia started stomping her feet in excitement to see me, and then she gave me a HUGE hug when I picked her up. I think that was hands down the best welcome I've ever received!

I have to give a big thank you to Darryl. Obviously, my being away meant he was on 48-hour Amelia duty, and Amelia is quite the active little girl. Thanks, Babe! I truly enjoyed myself!

Amy is...

Too bad blogs don't have status updates like Facebook does. :)

Anyway, I'm still here and hope to blog soon. It's been a very chaotic week. It also seems like the longest week ever.

Later...

Ready for 2009 to get better

This has been a rough week for several reasons that I won't go into here. It feels, too, as though this week was really three weeks long.

And after just one week back with students, I'm ready for another break. Thank goodness for MLK Day.

And I have a horribly sore throat and have lost my voice. Otherwise, I feel fine.

I did get a chance to attend an AP Workshop today, and it was really beneficial. So far, I'm 2 for 2 on AP Workshops. I don't think Tim has been that lucky with the recent ones he has been to. (He went to a different session than I did today.)

I just had a funny thing happen through Facebook. I received this message from a former student (whom I can't remember at all, although the name looks familiar):

I think that you might be the same Amy _____ that taught Freshman English at ____. If you are not: disregard this e-mail and the errors contained within.
I found my first English paper from college tonight in a box. Spring 2000. You gave me a low "D." I deserved it. The reason I am telling you is to apologize for making you read that paper. It was horrible. I wrote it the morning before your class. Embarrassing. I hope all is well. Feel free to send corrections to this message in red type if necessary. I still need the help, apparently.

This made me LAUGH.

Two-Movie Date Night

Considering the fact that Darryl and I saw exactly ONE movie in 2008 and that was almost a year ago (Juno, which we both enjoyed), when we had another opportunity for a date night last night, we decided to get all wild and crazy and see TWO movies. We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was my choice, and Valkyrie, which was history buff Darryl's choice.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
If you get an opportunity to see this movie, go. It is excellent. And take a box of Kleenex.

Darryl and I both really enjoyed this movie. Now, it's long--almost 3 hours--but it is worth it. The basic premise, as you may already know, is that Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt's character) ages backwards while, of course, everyone else ages normally. It has the whole "life is what you make it" and "every moment counts" kind of themes, and there are parts of the movie that are just beautiful to look at.

And speaking of beautiful to look at, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the beauty of Brad Pitt in this movie. I've never been much of a Brad Pitt person...I mean sure, the guy is attractive and all that, but I gave him the boot over the whole Brangelina thing. HOWEVER, there are parts of this movie where he is just perfection to look at. He and Cate Blanchett are both wonderful in this movie. Loved it.


Valkyrie
Darryl wanted to see this because he is a big WWII history buff, and he had seen some special about this story on the History Channel.

This movie was so bad that Darryl asked me if I was ready to leave about 40 minutes from the end. We ended up staying because I figured that we paid for it, so we might as well stay for it.

I told Darryl that the suspense was kind of ruined for me in the beginning because we all know that the assassination plot against Hitler obviously was unsuccessful.

Darryl said the movie was also poorly done because it left out some key parts of the story. I'll just trust him on that.

Don't even bother renting Valkyrie.

New Year's: Resolutions and Such

I'm actually at my house by myself. I can't quite remember the last time that has happened. Darryl and my parents (who came up to visit because my mom has a long weekend off from work) and Amelia have gone to my cousin's house, and I thought I'd take a few minutes of uninterrupted time to blog.

It's been a good day so far. Darryl grilled a pork loin, and I fixed hashbrown casserole, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and brownies for lunch. It was all pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I'm looking forward to 2009 because frankly, 2008 wasn't my favorite. It seemed that 2008 was tough on a lot of people--many loved ones passed away not only in our family but in families of friends of ours as well; my passion for teaching has dwindled quite a bit; and overall, it's been a bit of a roller coaster. On the other hand, I've enjoyed Amelia so much, and Darryl continuously amazes me as a father to her (and he's a good husband, too!), and we've enjoyed celebrating her milestones and watching her grow. So when I think about those things, I feel like I can't complain too much.

That being said, here are my resolutions for 2009:

1. I want to lose 10 pounds by St. Patrick's Day. There's nothing significant about St. Patrick's Day for me, but I figure I'll give myself a goal.

2. I want to exercise a little more. Wait, make that "I want to exercise." Period. I'm doing zero right now. (I'd really like to get back into running, but baby steps here. Baby steps.)

3. I want to read more for enjoyment. I typically get caught up in books I need to read for school, but reading for fun--even if it is Twilight--is good for the soul.

4. I need to make better use of my time so I can fully enjoy my "down time."

5. And speaking of down time, I want to continue scrapbooking on a regular basis. This hobby is such a creative outlet for me, and it really does change my perspective on life...for the better.

I think that's enough for now. I don't want to go crazy or anything.

Happy New Year! Happy 2009!

The REAL New Year's Rockin' Eve

I cleaned out my closet New Year's Eve:


I purged eight (!) garbage bags of clothes and two hampers of shoes and handbags from my closet.

Basically, I was just brutally honest with myself. Am I going to lose 30 pounds and fit into the dress I wore in 2000? Um, no.

But check out how well my husband knows me. Here was our conversation yesterday after my closet cleaning:

ME: You know what I finally did, Darryl? I got real with myself. I said, "Amy, are you really going to fit into those pants again? You may lose 10 pounds, but you're not going to lose 30. Get real."

DARRYL: I know what else you said.

ME: What's that?

DARRYL: You said, "And Girlfriend, if you do lose 30 pounds, you deserve to go shopping and get some new clothes!"

We have a climber.

Amelia is definitely a climber. Yesterday, she managed to figure out how to stand in the seat of the cart at Target. This isn't good.

Yesterday morning, I was putting away some Christmas gifts, and when I passed by the kitchen, this is what I saw:




Some exciting times are ahead, people.

If you pray...

...keep this little one in your prayers.

I do not know this woman or this family personally. I have found her blog through other blogs (oh, the blogosphere is just a neverending maze). She has a baby--maybe a little over a month old--who is basically a living miracle. You can read the whole story on her blog if you are interested, but basically when this baby was in the womb, the doctors diagnosed him with a severe heart problem and didn't think he would live to be born. Long story short, he was born perfectly healthy, a miracle in a time when I think we desperately crave miracles.

Now, this baby is fighting for his life because of extremely severe RSV. The doctors are saying things like "he must turn the corner tonight," and he has stopped breathing several times. (Edited to add: my original post said he was on a ventilator, but I was wrong about that. It is a very real possibility, however.)

As a mother, I can't imagine the emotions I would be feeling right now. I usually don't even post things like this. I've been in churches before where prayer requests were often thinly veiled gossip reports, so I'm always wary of coming across that way...but I couldn't shake the feeling that I should post this.

Please pray that this little one once again defines the meaning of "miracle."

And while you are at it, pray for Jen's friend and her family, too. They need a little peace in a very dark time.

Peace to you all.

Christmas, Parts 1 and 2

I've always thought that maybe the Jews had something going with celebrating for 8 days during the holiday season. (I'm being very sincere with that statement. I hope it didn't come across as disrespectful or making light of Hanukkah.) After all, there is so much buildup to Christmas, and then the day is over and done in the blink of an eye.

Well, this year, we actually did the whole "Christmas morning" thing three days in a row. I kind of liked it, but I don't think I can do more than three days.

Christmas, Part 1
For the first time EVER, we did the official Christmas morning thing at our house with just the three of us. (We've had Christmas before at our house, but usually with my parents.) Amelia slept until a little after 8:00, primarily because she had a Christmas Eve meltdown from 11 to 1 the night before. (That's a long story that isn't really that interesting. Short version: She woke up at 11:00 and cried, wailed, flailed, and kicked her legs until 1 or so. Lots of fun. Santa almost decided not to stop.)

Anyway, it took us over an hour to open gifts because Amelia liked to open one and then play with it to her satisfaction before moving on to the next gift.

We started with the good ol' corn popper:


After walking around with that for about 20 minutes, she moved on to the next gift, really her "big" gift, Elmo Live:
This expression means "I'm now done with Elmo Live. Next gift, please."
And this went on for a while. We had a rather lazy morning, just enjoying Amelia playing with her toys. After lunch, we went ahead and headed to Florida. (Our original plan had been to go to Florida the day after Christmas.) Here's the down side to traveling Christmas Day: no eating establishments are open except for Waffle House. Our Christmas evening meal was a Waffle House breakfast. Not that there's anything wrong with that, right?

Christmas, Part 2
Friday morning, we did the whole gift opening thing with my family. Do you think the WNBA has a future star on their hands? (That is a totally obnoxious mom thing to say, isn't it?)
With all the toys available to Amelia at Nana and Papa's house, guess what Amelia enjoyed playing with the most? Potatoes. Potatoes, people. Amelia had loads of fun taking all the potatoes out of Nana's basket and passing them to everyone. Then she'd put them back in the basket and do it all over again. Oh, the money everyone could have saved if they had known that her heart's desire this Christmas was really just some potatoes.



That evening, we had a delicious meal prepared by my mom: ham, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, the works. My dad even made a fabulous sweet potato pie!

Christmas, Part 3
At this point, Christmas morning was feeling a little like Groundhog Day, but we were still having fun. On Saturday, we did the Christmas morning thing with Darryl's family.

Here's Madison, our niece, dressed like Hannah Montana. She can sing "The Best of Both Worlds" with the best of 'em.
I wish I could post pics of my other niece and my nephew, but the clearest pics I have of them are of them holding gifts with their full names on them, and I don't want to put that info on my blog.

Anyway, that evening, Darryl fixed a wonderful prime rib, and his Uncle George, Aunt Miriam, and cousins Camille and Malorie came over. We only get to see them about once a year, if that, so it was a special treat to get to visit with them.

Here are Malorie and Camille. Malorie is making her way up the journalism career ladder by working as a fact checker at a political magazine (and the name of it escapes me at the moment). I thought it was super cool that she got to attend both the Democratic and Republican Conventions for her job. And Camille, on the right, is an amazing ballerina who just danced the part of Clara in The Nutcracker a few weeks ago.

And here's Amelia with her Uncle George:
Don't judge me for the pacifier. We sort of regressed in the pacifier use for this trip. We just wanted a peaceful Christmas, and if a pacifier was going to help with that, then so be it.

Conclusion
We're now back home, and it feels good to be home. We really enjoyed spending time with both families, and we have lots of memories that I can't wait to scrapbook. :)

I must confess that now I'm going to go to bed and continue reading Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series. My 5th period girls said it was "awesome," and so far, it has been quite enjoyable. You know, in that teenagery-vampire-love kind of way. Again, don't judge me.

Nights of Lights

Tonight we went to the Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier. There's not a whole lot to report on it. We drove around and looked at lights. We got out at Santa's Workshop (or Village or whatever it's called) and we walked around with Amelia, who got really excited just looking at and listening to all the carnival rides there.

Oh, we ate at IHOP on our way there and we were by FAR the youngest people in the restaurant. Our pancakes were yummy, though.

Here's a pic of the three of us, obviously. Darryl has an angel watching over him, and my wallet-purse-thing seriously doesn't match my outfit. And Amelia looks thoroughly bored.

And here's Amelia, totally fed up with our need to photograph everything:
Maybe now you can see why getting a Christmas photo was not an easy task.

No Christmas Cards :(

Unfortunately, we never got our act together in time to send out a Christmas card this year. (So if you've sent us one, but didn't get one from us in return, it isn't because we are dissing you or anything. We simply don't have one.)

It isn't like we didn't try. We made several attempts to get a good picture of Amelia for the card. One lesson we've learned is this is NOT a task to put off to the last minute. Another lesson we've learned is that it is impossible to get a one-year-old--excuse me, an ACTIVE one-year-old--to stand still. Or sit still. Or just be still.

Here was our most promising photo:
I actually thought we had a winner with that one. Unfortunately, I had to do a lot of cropping and tweaking with iPhoto for it to look focused. When we had it developed, Amelia's teeth looked black. Not good.

So between the unsuccessful attempts at getting a photo, Christmas shopping, grading papers, feeling bad with a sinus infection...I just decided I had to let the Christmas card go.

For those of you who read my blog, please know that I do wish you a very Merry Christmas. For those of you who have sent me cards, I've loved looking at all your great photos and/or reading your holiday greetings.

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas! (Imagine the photo above on a cute Christmas card.)

Amelia Meets Santa

We finally took Amelia to see Santa today. While she didn't freak out and cry, you can tell from the pics that she wasn't quite sure what to think. Darryl took these with his camera. The "official" pic we bought from Santa's Workshop looks more like the second one. I like this first pic, though.

I'm still here...and I "heart" doc in a box

I haven't posted this week because this is what this week has consisted of: two daycare parties, lots of grading, the assembling of daycare teacher presents, some baking, a haircut, a couple of lunches with friends, and a sinus infection. I hope to post something of some substance tomorrow.

And speaking of my sinus infection, can I just tell you how much I now love the idea of a "doc in a box"? I have felt really bad the past couple of days, but I didn't really have time--or make time--to go to the doctor. Today, I was fed up. I was tired of feeling crummy, especially when I have some Christmas fun planned for the week. So I went to the Minute Clinic at CVS, was in and out in 15 minutes, and left with a prescription for some antibiotics and some cough medicine. Awesome.

I'm going to leave you now to take that medicine and have a good night's sleep in hopes of feeling much better tomorrow.

She may be my girl, after all

Amelia takes after Darryl in so many ways that I've often wondered if she inherited ANY of my traits. Until yesterday.

What two things brought the biggest smile to Amelia's face yesterday?

Shoe shopping and M&Ms.

Yes!


(Okay, now back to grading essays.)

I'm climbing out from under my pile of essays...

...just for a couple of minutes. I'm so glad it is the weekend, even if I'm going to be grading for a good portion of it.

This past week seemed like the longest so far of the school year. I'm not sure why. I keep telling myself that this time next week, I will be a free woman for two weeks. I can't wait.

Task Number One for tomorrow is to get a Christmas pic of Amelia for Christmas cards. I'm going to be "that" person whose cards arrive the day after Christmas. I just know it. Amelia and I are also eating lunch with my friend Casi, and then it is going to be grade, grade, grade the rest of the weekend.

Wow. This post was really pointless.

Stuff from this week

I realize it has been a week since I wrote last. The end of the semester is always crazy. Here are a few things that have been going on:

--I have a stack of grading up to my eyeballs, practically. I'm slowly making my way through it. I have resolved myself to the fact that not everything is going to get graded, though. Yes, major assignments will be, like essays, major tests, and such, but some of the less significant assignments that students have apparently forgotten about...well, I confess they may never make it to the grade book. (If you are a teacher and read this, assure me that this is okay!)

--I got a phone this week that has a keyboard. This excites me more than it should. I love to text.

--I am reading the second book in the Twilight series, New Moon. It is very hard for me to put down to focus on, you know, grading...but I've been pretty good about limiting my reading to right before bedtime. I've already decided that when I finish it, I cannot buy the next one until Christmas break.

--We had big plans to go to a Christmas parade and to see Santa yesterday, but those plans went in the garbage after The Worst Diaper of 2008. In public. In a hoity-toity children's boutique. I ran out of wipes. I'll spare any more details.

--I have gotten a good bit graded this weekend, and I plan to do more.

--How late can you take a Christmas photo and get it mailed out? We have yet to do that.

Anyway...

I've Been Twilighted

Count me in. I'm on the Twilight bandwagon.

If you had told me at any point in my life that I would have gotten hooked on a book about vampire love, I would have laughed in your face. My 5th period class (a.k.a. "the dream class) told me I MUST read it, so I did. (Now, I did start the book at the end of the summer just to see what all fuss was about, but I didn't get very far in the book before school started.)

Last week, I read the book. Now, it is a bit melodramatic and full of angst--very Young Adult fictionish--but I enjoyed it. I am a SUCKER (no vampire pun intended) for stories of forbidden love. Edward is a tortured vampire who is completely in love with the girl he most wants to kill for her blood. (I'm actually chuckling as I write this. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?) I'm already reading the second book in the series, New Moon, and I'm enjoying it as well.

I also saw the movie yesterday. I have mixed feelings about it. I liked the actors, although Edward wasn't what I had pictured. I thought the movie downplayed some of the emotional stuff in favor of the special vampire powers stuff. I realize the novel had to be edited down to a couple of hours, but the movie misses some of the more tender moments of the book.

So is the book life changing for me? No. Is it one of the best books I've read? No. Did it keep me interested? Yes. And look...I've seen Stephenie Meyer on a couple of talk shows, and she has three kids--all fairly young--and she said she literally wrote Twilight with one hand while holding a baby in the other. I have to give her props for that, for sure.

(An interesting note...one of my former students posted on her Facebook "status" that after reading Twilight, she wants to know where she can find a vampire to love. I know she's joking, but I think vampires just got a big popularity boost, courtesy of the Twilight series! Oh, and when I bought New Moon Friday night, the checkout clerk at Barnes and Noble said, "Looks like they got you, too!" Craziness, I tell you.)

December Scrapbook Album

One of the projects I took on over the break was creating a mini-album for the Christmas season. I got the project idea from this post (I think the project is "formally" called the "Daily December Album"), and there is more explanation for it on this site.

Anyway, the point is to get the album ready first, so that all I need to do is add photos, journaling, etc. I took a tip from the first blogger I linked to and prepared and envelope with stuff that would be easy to add--stickers, buttons, and so forth. I called mine--as you can tell from the photo--"31 Days of Christmas." Now, do I plan to do something exciting and Christmas-y for all 31 days of December? Heavens, no. I do have some fun things planned, though: Amelia's first trip to see Santa, Christmas lights, Christmas card photo sessions, holiday baking, and so forth.

I think most of the albums I've seen on other blogs end on Christmas Day, but Darryl and I are planning to go to Florida the day after Christmas to see family, thus extending the season for us a bit.

Tim, I know you are totally rolling your eyes (if you are still reading, that is), but Jen asked a question about it, so I posted a couple of pics.

The cover...


Here are a couple of shots of the inside pages...nothing too elaborate.


This is my first attempt to try something like this, so we'll see how it goes. Anyway...