Love and Hate

Random Things I Love:

*Going out for relaxing and leisurely dinners with friends or just my husband
*Hearing my son say, "You okay Momma?"
*Watching Grey's Anatomy on DVD
*Babies
*Good humor
*Iced Coffee (again, I know I've said this one before....but it remains one of my favorite things!)
*Getting my hair done
*Making myself go further and faster on the elliptical machine at the gym

Random Things I Hate:

*Making myself go further and faster on the elliptical machine at the gym
*Days of lingering rain
*Unruly behavior
*Violence
*Dirty feet
*Sunburns
*Days that are hotter than 85*
*Humid weather

Endless laundry

Its official...the endless laundry has begun. This afternoon after Devin's nap I decided (since I have a sunburn and don't want to go back outside) it was a great time start this potty training thing. Well, an hour and half in and we have gone through 4 pairs of underwear, one blanket (for sitting on the recliner), and one mopping of the floor.

Here is my undie wearing big boy! (don't mind the pretend baby bottle)

Here is his sticker chart. So far we are doing better with pooping on the potty (1 sticker for pee and 2 for poop).



This is going to be fun!
*says Karla sarcastically*

The Clepto

Devin has decided his future career already. He is going to be a top-dog criminal specializing in theft.

This morning we went to the park with Heather B and Pierce. The entire time we were there Devin continuously went up to random strangers' towels and tables and, if they had something that peeked Devin's interest, he swiped it! Just like Swiper! Maybe we should start a new saying for Devin, "Devin NO swiping!"

It was rather embarrassing and I had to keep making him give things back and explain to Devin that you can't just take things. Clepto. At least he is a cute criminal.

Lost and Found

A while back, I think it was Memorial day week-end, I lost my Tiffany's ring.

This ring is significant to me. I bought it during my independent phase. The time in my life when I relied on me and only me and felt I needed to prove to myself (and a few others) that I could "make it on my own." I thought that this ring was the perfect symbol of my independence- it was expensive from a very famous jeweler and flexible, different from any piece of jewelery I had ever seen.

Okay, back to the story at hand..... I thought I had lost the ring at my In Laws' house. I swore it fell out of my pocket outside when I was helping Devin on the swings. When we visited them a couple of weeks ago I scoured the area to no avail. Well, today as Erick and I were cleaning up the living room, he FOUND MY RING under a couch cushion!!! WOO HOO!!! I am so freakin excited!!!! I have not lost my symbol of independence after all!!!!

An afterthought....its pretty ironic that Erick is the one who re-discovered my "symbol of independence." Hmmmm.........interesting.

Something Different

I just thought I would you all know that since Devin is spending the night out I don't have to watch Max and Ruby or Dora tonight! WOO HOO!!!!!

Thank goodness for small miracles.

Devin is spending the night at my parent's house with my brother, for those who are wondering. No, I do not have a big night out planned (as I would like). I am home playing nurse to Erick, who had those lovely impacted wisdom teeth out today. Fun times I tell ya.

UPDATE on Frustrated

Back to the gym today. And this time I got to CRANK MY I-POD!!!!! Yay!

Erick is home today, as he gets his impacted wisdom teeth out tomorrow (a whole other story), so he decided that he would be the tough guy and bring Devin in to the gym daycare. Devin went in pretty willing, saying "No gym." but not crying. Erick dropped him off, and he cried but Erick still walked out (tough guy). Devin stopped crying shortly thereafter. He had fun playing with the toys and other kids. PLUS the "good workers" were there...not the "I-am- not- interested- in- my- job girl." We also asked the "good workers" their schedules.

Bottom line..don't bring him to the gym daycare on Sunday!

First Day of Summer Vacation...

and I am exhausted!!! Phew!!! Devin wore me out today! Between his constant on-the-go and his "terrible two" antics (hitting, jumping on others, not listening) I am going to need to revert to the newborn phase and "sleep when he sleeps." I hope this will get easier as the summer moves along or my poor husband may never get dinner!!! LOL

Frustrated

I am so frustrated! I was so looking forward to going to the gym this morning and cranking my new I-Pod while I was working out, but (watch out- major whine-fest going to happen) I didn't get to!!! BOO!!!

Devin has not been taking easily to the whole gym daycare scene. He was starting to get there last week (after I stayed with him for a good 20 minutes) and then he got sick. When we brought him today, he hadn't been in a week. Well, I let Erick go off and get started and I tried to settle Devin in and get him playing. Nope, not happening. He was screaming and crying the bog ole tears kind of cry! It was awful! The first few times we went the daycare girls (not the same as the one who was there today) were really helpful trying to distract Devin. They went so far as to take out all of the firetrucks and buses when I mentioned that Devin liked those. Apparently the girl who was working today is not so fond of her job. She was not very friendly nor was she attentive to my child, or any of the others in there. When Devin didn't want to calm down (after about 20 minutes) and the "babysitter??" was still not interested in helping me or in carefully watching the kids I decided it was better to just leave.

On our way out we complained to the front desk. Their response you ask? "She is new." To which Erick responded "Then train her!" They also said, "Its not a high quality job." Really? What does that matter? What does that even mean? If she is being entrusted to watch people's children she needs to have clear set boundaries. She needs to know that you have to be friendly, you have to be attentive (yes, that means being in the same section of the room as the kids and watching what they are doing), she needs to have an understanding for children and developmental appropriateness. Please, if I am asking to much (maybe the education side of me) than give me a wake up call!!! Oh the management also said that they, "Could not provide special treatment!" Who the hell asked for special treatment?!?!?! Maybe the next time I get an unmotivated student (hopefully that chick's kid) I will respond with "Sorry I can't give any special treatment." No extra encouragement, no connecting with my students, and certainly NO LISTENING TO THEM!

UGH, sorry for the big rant and rave post but I am upset about this!

Happy Father's Day

I don't think there are any Daddies out there reading my blog, but just in case there are.....

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!! I hope you are appreciated and able to do whatever you'd like today!!!

Mommies, Make sure you treat those Daddies right today! (I know, I know, you are thinking...when don't I?)

New Toy...a little late

I got a new toy, I got a new toy!!!! I am a little late on the scene, but I (finally) got an I-Pod Nano!!! Its an early birthday present from my parents (VERY early, my birthday is not until July 17th). I never really had a need for one before, but now that I have been going to the gym, my I-Pod will come in very handy in helping to pass the time quickly!!

I just down loaded about an hour's worth of music (Kelly Clarkson, Mariah Carey, old Christina Aguleira songs, Natasha Betingfield) but I am looking for some more suggestions. Come on- offer 'em up...you know you want to!!!

Randomness

*Sometimes when I am bored I cook (because I enjoy cooking/baking). The problem with this is that I usually end up eating what I cooked, and often times more than I should. *sigh* Guess that self control thing just isn't working out for me.

*Do you ever have times when you are REALLY bored and you just want someone to come over and visit you, but no one is around to do so? Man, that makes me sound really lame.

*Devin is at that in-between sick stage. He was better enough to go back to the sitter's house yesterday, but not quite well enough to go out to the park, go on a play date, etc. That's why I am pretty bored, we have been in the house every afternoon all week long. I have watched more Noggin/Disney/PBS Kids than I care to admit.

*I started going to the gym last week. I am sore. My abs hurt (who knew I even had any?!?!), my knees hurt, and my leg muscles hurt. I guess that really tells me how much I need to KEEP GOING.

*Speaking of that in-between stage, the weather is at that in-between stage. Its beautiful out and don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. But its at the point where its not warm enough to justify the central air, but its too warm in the house without it. I am keeping it off for now because last night it got down to the 50s and I opened the windows and it was 64 in here when we got up!! Hopefully it cools off soon so the house can cool off.

*If Ruby has one more surprise birthday party, I just might SCREAM!!! Anyone with me on that one????

Love and Hate

Some things that I love (in no particular order):

~big giant hugs from my husband
~pineapple
~hearing "I love you Mum" from Devin
~being a Mommy
~romantic comedies
~Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee
~Ice cream
~candy
~margaritas
~seafood
~Cactus Jack's chips and salsa

Some things that I hate (in no particular order):

~BIRDS
~being away from my son when he is sick
~having a headache
~people who have no respect
~being told what to do
~RICE
~beans
~hot dogs

UPDATE on Devin

Devin seems to be much better. His fever is gone, he is eating more, and he is a bit happier. He does still have the sores in the back of his mouth/throat (poor baby) so I am feeding him lots of soft, cold foods to soothe it. I have perfected Yogurt/Ice Cream/Milk smoothies (which he loves!) and have even learned to make two at a time in order to keep one on hand in the fridge. He is still pretty tired and keeping low for now.

Now I just have to clean EVERYTHING to make sure the germs do not linger.......

Curse

So in my last post I mentioned that Devin had not been sick very much at all this school year. I think I cursed myself (well, him really). My poor baby has coxsackie virus. He is miserable. He had a fever that went up to 103.5* last night. We had a very hard time to get it to come down. All the while he was mostly pleasant. Laying in our bed with us at 3 o'clock this morning Devin was chatting away. His fever finally went down to about 100* around 7 am. He spent the day relaxing with Daddy and watching movies such as Toy Story and Nemo. They both enjoyed this!

This afternoon I could tell his throat was bothering him. Well, that plus he was screaming his head off. I took him in to the doctor's. He has very swollen glands and a nasty raw sore throat with sores. After a Negative strep test the doctor determined this is what was ailing Devin. He has hardly eaten and anyone who knows Devin knows that this is HIGHLY unusual behavior. The sad thing is that there is not much to do for this virus. I was told to treat the symptoms. We are giving him motrin for the fever and pain and cool wet things to eat (he did have applesauce, yogurt, and a few bites of ice cream plus a decent amount of water).

I have a feeling it will be a long next few days.......

My Life- My Career

I always knew I loved children. From a very young age my BFF, Erin, and I would make life plans. I was to have a family and she was going to be our maid/housekeeper. Some plan huh? It didn't EXACTLY turn out that way.

I soon knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I babysat constantly as a child, starting to watch my neighbors, Jonathan and Peter, and my cousin, Kory, when I was as young as 11 years old. For a brief time my interest became focused on mathematics and drawing houses so I thought that maybe I would become an architect. I soon changed my mind back to teacher. I worked in a daycare/preschool all through college- studying Elementary and Special Education. I graduated Magna Cum Laude and got a teaching job that summer.

Teaching is definitely my calling. I love teaching. You have heard me reference my favorite moment, the "Ah ha!" moment in a The Hot Seat post. Last year became a bit tough for me, though. I was in my 6th year of teaching - then 4th grade, and a first time mom. I had a class, quite possibly from Hell, and a sick infant from too much exposure at day care. Quite simply, I was miserable. I was stressed from my insanely needy class, teaching duties, sick child, and home duties. I knew I needed to find a reasonable compromise so that I did not go certifiably crazy!

That is when I "took hold of an opportunity." I realized that the Title 1 Literacy program in my school was the PERFECT fit for me. Its 4.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Its still teaching- real valuable lessons to students who need it. Its less behavior management and less teaching duties. Its more time at home with my son and less time for him in daycare/sitter. I have since removed him from the daycare and he has been so much healthier this year. Is it that he is not a baby anymore? Is it from being exposed to less germs? Is it that Mommy is not stressed so much anymore? My guess is that its a combination of all of those.

Cute Conversations

Mommy: Devin how was your day today? Were you a good boy?
Devin: I mime out. (I time out)
Mommy: You went to time out? What did you do?
Devin: Hit
Mommy: Who did you hit?
Devin: Weewee (Livi)


Who needs a sibling when he is going to tell on himself????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*discussing the Red Sox*

Devin: Big Papi boo boo.
Mommy: What happened to Big Papi?
Devin: Boo boo, wrist (as he is rubbing his forearm/wrist area)
Mommy: Can he play baseball?
Devin: No, Big Papi no play. D.S. (haha he meant D.L.- disabled list)

Think we've got our boy trained to pay attention to the Red Sox? He has since turned his attention to "Maaaannnny!" since Big Papi is out!

The Weather Report

Let me start off by saying how much I CAN NOT stand the heat. Anything over 80* is too hot for me!!! In a perfect world the weather, every day, would be 74* and mostly sunny. I guess the Sun Gods are not with me this week-end. Check out the weather report for southern New Hampshire over the next several days.

Sat
Jun 7Isolated T-Storms

92°

Sun
Jun 8Partly Cloudy

96°

Mon
Jun 9Isolated T-Storms

95°

Tue
Jun 10Mostly Sunny

91°

Oh and did I mention that these days are going to be HUMID?!?!?! Ugh, someone pass me a frozen margarita puh-leeez!

Hot Seat Part Trois

Okay, I am back and ready to answer some tough questions.

The first question, posted by Stacey, asks "When you have more children what are the names you have picked out?" This is a controversial topic for me, which is something Stacey was unaware of! During my entire pregnancy with Devin we did not share our baby names. Once we knew that HE was a boy, we still did not share. There is one main reason for this. I have worked with too many children in my life. There are many names that are "tainted" due to unruly behavior. Because I work with many children, I also work with many adults, each of whom have their own views on names, not to mention family members offering their input. I did NOT want ANYONE influencing our name choice. I can be very head strong when I choose to be. I am glad we kept it a secret. It was the only one we had since everyone knew we were having a boy. Our name choices for that pregnancy were (obviously) Devin Michael and Kiley Rose (if we had a girl). By the way, Kiley is now out of the running if we have a girl next time. So, I guess that was a very long-winded way of saying....Stacey, I am not sure that I am ready to divulge that information!!!! SORRY!!!

The next series of questions come from Bridget.
What brings you greatest joy in life? Have you ever experienced a child having an "Ah ha!" moment. Those are the greatest! I have experienced the "Ah ha!" moment with many children. I have seen my own son finally figure out how to make a toy work , how to push the button, or how to plug in the DustBuster (this one I was not too thrilled about, but the look on his face when he realized that HE could do it made it alright!!) I have also been lucky enough to experience the Ah ha!" moment with many students. That is the sole moment that makes teaching so worthwhile and fulfilling. To see your student FINALLY understand how long division works, understand the plot of a story, or "get" that concept in science is priceless.
What are you afraid of? I am terrified of birds! I had a couple of, let's call them, exposures to birds as a child that included being attacked by seagulls in search of my french fries and a loose wild bird in the house that has foreceully driven this fear. Sunday we went to the ocean to enjoy a GORGEOUS day at the beach. Well, wouldn't you know it, the people on both sides of us were feeding the seagulls. I was freaking out. I had my head down and I just about clawed off Erick's arm. I think he is now afraid of me. I did, however, manage to look up long enough to snap this picture:

What do you do in your spare time (all five minutes of it)? Haha, most of my spare time is spent on the computer. I frequent Babycenter and Myspace during most of this computer time. Erick and I also love to watch movies. I enjoy comedies and romantic comedies. Some of my recent favorite are 27 Dresses, Juno, and Knocked Up. I guess that makes me a Katherine Heigl fan.

Hot Seat Answer Part Deux

Amanda from Babycenter asks this great question, "What is one thing you wanted to do, but never got the chance to, before becoming a mom?" I have a couple of things to say here, both of which are probably pretty standard.

First, I wish I had saved more money before starting a family. Going off on a small tangent here..... Financially things were pretty tight the first 7 or so months after Devin was born. Luckily my parents were extremely helpful in this area!!! Formula, clothes, baby food, and mommy and daddy food were bought and brought to us quite often! Thanks for that...I love you more than I could ever explain!

Secondly, I wish I had traveled the country and visited internationally more before becoming a mommy. I know that the time will come where we will be able to take nice vacations again, but that will be a while!!! A few of the places I would like to visit are San Diego, the Bahamas, Aruba, Paris, and Italy (although I don't think there is a vacation I would turn up).