Good morning!

Here we are, back in the hospital. So far, so good. Cheese had the surgery on Friday, and the doc said it all looked good.

Well, the nurse came in this morning and removed the gauze from Cheese's bottom. That's good. Now if he would just pass some gas. Once he does that, he will be allowed to have some liquids, then maybe some actual food! I know he would be glad for that. He's been a real trooper today. They just came in and weighed him: 41.5 pounds. That means he's lost 3.5 pounds since last week. Could it have something to do with the fact that he hasn't eaten real food since last Wednesday?

I finished (sort of) one of my papers last night! On my teaching philosophy. I still need to clean it up, and write my conclusion. But it's the right number of words, and just long enough. Yay! One down, two more to go. One is a reflection paper: Teaching is like... Hmmm... torture? J/K! I was thinking about doing a poster or a PPT instead of writing something. If I write, it has to be 500-700 words. If I do the other, there is no requirement. I hate this stuff.

Now, my bestest little sister is on her way over with some Zaxbys for me. She's awesome!

Those were the days

Oh for the days when B-rex would sleep late. I'm afraid we have him so conditioned to getting up early for school, that he now will wake up early on the weekends too! NOOOOOOOO! I loved that I could always count on B-rex to be a good LATE sleeper. Even as late as last weekend, he slept late. I was really looking forward to having some rest today. Oh well. Just more time to do the laundry.

Hubs and Cheese are still at the hospital. Cheese had his colostomy reversed and his colon reconnected to his rectum. Third time's the charm, right? I went to visit last night, and he seems okay so far. The doc said that his rectum was not quite as dialated as he had hoped, so they left some gauze in there to "stretch" things out. Hubs said that it would come out on Sunday. I'm not sure how that will work, but I'm not the doctor.

Cheese looked alright. Pretty good for someone who had major surgery 10 hours before. He had a dose of morphine while I was there, and that seemed to help. I know he is still in a bit of pain. Poor little guy. What a tough kid! Cheese is my hero!

The week at work was okay. I have had to contact 2 parents so far this year. One was early in the week, and the girl has been much better since then. Mom apparently threatened to take away her cell phone. Why an 8th grader needs a cell phone is beyond me! But I guess when you have as much money as this family, even the dog can have a cell phone.

Cheese also has a loose tooth. His first. The tooth fairy has been to the bank, or so I hear. I heard that she picked up some silver dollars and some gold dollars. Something special for when the tooth comes out. :-) I surveyed my students, and the going rate for a tooth is anywhere from $1 to $20! Wow! What would a tooth have to do to be worth $20? Some people just have more money than sense. Hubs and I decided that $1 is plenty for the fairy to leave. Especially since there's another brother on the horizon to losing teeth. We don't want her to set an expectation too high. Ya know?

Must. Go. Switch. Laundry.

need more hours and less shouting

So, the boys are in the other room. Playing some game that requires them to throw toys into a trash can. And then fight about whose turn it is. There is much shouting. And I'm pretty sure that Cheese is cheating. Or at least not taking turns properly. Because B-rex is yelling a lot. In anger and despair.

What a week! I should really be reading my JOhn Dewey book for class, but I just can't bring myself to pick it up. It's just so wicked boring! And I should also read chapter 4, but again: BORING. Ugh! Grad school is not fun. It is a lot of work.

On top of that, school started this week. Which is not too bad. I've got pretty good classes, it seems so far. It's hard to tell, since we only had 2 days. But they seem alright.

1st period: good. There are a few I'm going to have to come down hard on. Soon. But I can handle that.

2nd period: super! They have been great so far.

3rd period: OMG! Try 29 (yes, 29) sixth graders in one room. With only 27 desks. And I may end up with more, because of scheduling mix-ups. Oh, boy! I am not looking forward to this one!

4th period: 13. Because of the same scheduling probs, I only have 13 in this class. Seem wrong to anyone else? How important is it exactly that these kids all have lunch together? I mean, seriously! Wouldn't their parents rather them get a quality education?

5th period: awesome! Great kids. Mostly my 2nd period from last year.

6th period: is going to be tricky. I've got my "mean girls" from 1st per. last year. All in the same class again. How do they do that? Anyway, I need to figure out how to separate them again. So they will sit down and shut up!

And on top of all that, Cheese started kindergarten. I'll admit it. I cried. But just a little! Really! Not even enought to mess up my makeup. But it was hard. I can't even believe that he's that old. Where has all the time gone?

Well, that's my week. I could really use some motivation. Like the fact that the masters will bring in a LOT more money!!!!! Must read now. Must. Read. Now.

Ouch!

My throat hurts! B-rex has been back in daycare for a week now, and I think he brought home a little something to share with the family. His nose started running Friday night, and today my throat hurts. Cheese also has a runny nose.

I suppose I could have picked it up at work, but my students aren't back yet, so that seems more unlikely to me.

It has been a busy week for me. Getting ready for back-to-school is never easy. I had Latin meetings on Monday and Tuesday, then met again with the other myth teacher on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were official school work days.

Friday we also had orientation for 6th graders. A time for them to pick up schedules, meet their teachers, try to figure out their lockers. Which evidently is much harder now than back in the day when I was in school. I don't remember having a hard time with my locker. Yours truly got to be one of the official greeters at the orientation. Yes, me! I am actually really good at fake smiling and being pleasant to people. It must be from all those church greetings! (I just knew that being a pastor's wife would come in handy one day!)

In other news, we are looking more closely at Cheese's last surgery! So close! He went to the doc on Friday and the prognosis looks good! Can you tell I'm excited!? Finally, he is going to be "normal" in the booty area. Please, God.

Hubs is sailing along. Still driving out to work every day. Wish we could find some way so that he doesn't have to drive so far, but right now I guess that's how it has to be. Either that, or I have to drive over an hour to work. And since we can't afford for me to quit, this is it!

Anyhoo, I'm going to find some drugs to help my throat. I hope this clears up by Thursday. I'll need my voice when the kiddos come back to school!

Easier day

So today was my 2nd Sunday at the new churches. Last week was rough. I met all these new people, and had to listen to Hubs 3 times! Yikes! Today, though, I took the boys to Sunday school at the last church and hung out. I actually stayed in their class, and watched the fun unfold.

I obviously have not spent enough quality time with younger children. They were so funny! Or maybe it was the teacher. At the outset, she told me "I am not a teacher. That is not my profession." I guess so that I wouldn't judge her abilities. Then, she got out paint. Oh, yes. Paint.

And it was watercolor. So that meant that little cups of water were needed. And large t-shirts to go over the clothes of the children. And something to cover the table as well. It took about 10 minutes before they were even able to get started!

But they loved it! They painted robots, cars, and mermaids. Very Biblical, I know. But the teacher was talking to them about "young Jesus." You know, the part of the story where Jesus gets left behind in Jerusalem. And is not missed for 3 days. And does not seem to be concerned, since he is just hanging out at the Temple. It's amazing how much of that the kids actually internalized. I was pretty sure they weren't paying attention at all, but Cheese could answer all my questions at lunch today. Impressive.

It's back to work again tomorrow. Latin meetings. Then Thursday starts the actual back-to-school fun!

home again, home again

So, I've been home now for just over a week. Can I just say that there are not words to describe how I felt and continue to feel? When I walked down the escalator in the Charlotte airport, and saw Hubs, I just wanted to cry. I think I did actually cry a bit. Emotionally, it was overwhelming. Since then, we have been like newlyweds again. Mostly.

I saw the boys that evening, since they spent the day with their Nana. We went out to dinner with them and my sister's family. It was great! I got to have Mexican food and see my boys! I swear, both of them had grown like 2 feet! B-rex is talking much better. And Cheese! He can do math now! Not complex math, but still! I can't believe how smart he is.

Last Wednesday, I began working on my Masters degree. It's an accelerated program, only 15 months. So, if all goes as planned - and when does it ever? but I can hope - I will be finished at the end of next September. Wow! Fast track! It's exciting, but a little overwhelming as well. We have class one night a week and a study group one night a week. Each class is 6 weeks long. That's it. Crazy!

I go back to work on Monday. I have some Latin meetings early in the week, then all-school stuff at the end of the week. Fun, fun, fun! In fact, I really should be looking over the curriculum, but I don't have it here. It's at the parsonage, where we've been living for a week.

Okay, gotta go! I'll try to have more interesting things to update about. My life, as it is, is not very exciting. Sorry.