We didn't mean for it to happen.
Really, we didn't.
The other night after Vera went to bed, Derek and I sat and looked at pictures and video we had taken of Vera over the last 6 months.
Yup, we are those parents. The ones who look at pictures of their kids when their kids aren't around. And if I'm really honest, I look at pictures of her even when she is around. When she plays independently at night I will show Derek pictures of her that I have taken throughout the day and get all wrapped up in her cuteness all over again.
So if I see you and want to show you a picture and it takes me awhile to find one for you to see, there are a few possibilities of what is going on. 1 -- I am having a hard time picking a picture out because she looks so cute in all of them. 2 -- I'm having a hard time picking a picture because she was moving around a lot so the recent ones are a little blurry. 3 -- I got distracted by an email. 4 -- Someone texted me. 5 -- I got wrapped back up in Vera's cuteness and I'm just looking at all her pictures for my own benefit.
Someday, when I get super "techy", I'll post one of those super cute pictures :)
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
"stay gold, ponyboy. stay gold."
I loved teaching. For 7 years it filled my days and nights and weekends and summers. Despite what some may think, teachers work far more than a 40 hour work week. (And to all the people who "can't wait" for school to begin again after having their kids home during the summer -- teachers spend 9 months with them :) I've always said that if you go into teaching for the summers "off", you'll never survive. But this is not my point.
For 7 years I taught junior high English. I had a few high school classes in the mix as well -- AP Lit, American Lit and Oral Communications. Junior high was my main focus though. Junior high kids are so great. Seriously. They really are. Sure, they may have had their moments, but don't we all? And not only do I love junior high, teaching English was really the best. At one point I wanted to be a math teacher. Then I was going to be German teacher. By the time I started my second semester of my sophomore year in college I finally decided on English. And I am so glad I did. I got to do so many things with my students: grammar, poetry, plays, speeches, skits, creative writing, research writing, debate, reading. The list could go on and on, those are just the first things that came to mind. I've even benefited from everything. Except maybe one...
For 7 years I have primarily read books written for junior high students. Don't get me wrong, I could be happy reading books written for young adults for a long time. I mean come on, "The Outsiders", "Where the Red Fern Grows", "I am David", "Out of the Dust", "Fever 1793", "The Hunger Games", "Harry Potter". I could go on and on.
But I need to remember that I'm not a young adult anymore, I'm 31. I should probably be able to pick up a novel written for people over the age of 15 and enjoy it, not feel like I am trudging through every page.
And so I begin a new journey. It's funny because while I am trying to challenge myself in my reading I am also becoming reacquainted with picture books. I can already recite a few. My days are spent getting my brain to go between "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street" and "The Poisonwood Bible". I'll let you know how I keep up.
For 7 years I taught junior high English. I had a few high school classes in the mix as well -- AP Lit, American Lit and Oral Communications. Junior high was my main focus though. Junior high kids are so great. Seriously. They really are. Sure, they may have had their moments, but don't we all? And not only do I love junior high, teaching English was really the best. At one point I wanted to be a math teacher. Then I was going to be German teacher. By the time I started my second semester of my sophomore year in college I finally decided on English. And I am so glad I did. I got to do so many things with my students: grammar, poetry, plays, speeches, skits, creative writing, research writing, debate, reading. The list could go on and on, those are just the first things that came to mind. I've even benefited from everything. Except maybe one...
For 7 years I have primarily read books written for junior high students. Don't get me wrong, I could be happy reading books written for young adults for a long time. I mean come on, "The Outsiders", "Where the Red Fern Grows", "I am David", "Out of the Dust", "Fever 1793", "The Hunger Games", "Harry Potter". I could go on and on.
But I need to remember that I'm not a young adult anymore, I'm 31. I should probably be able to pick up a novel written for people over the age of 15 and enjoy it, not feel like I am trudging through every page.
And so I begin a new journey. It's funny because while I am trying to challenge myself in my reading I am also becoming reacquainted with picture books. I can already recite a few. My days are spent getting my brain to go between "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street" and "The Poisonwood Bible". I'll let you know how I keep up.
Monday, January 21, 2013
where does the time go?
I can't believe that Vera is already 6 months old. How did that happen? I feel like we just brought her home and now she's already 6 months old. That's half a year!!!
Those first few weeks were such a blur. I don't think we had any idea what was going on most of the time but we made it through. I stand firm knowing I have the best husband who is such a perfect match for me and the best dad Vera could ever ask for. If it weren't for our great teamwork I don't know what we would have done. And of course, that teamwork continues. But it's different now. A lot of things can be done without even talking about them -- we just know. Of course, I know that as soon as we think we've got it all figured out, Vera will grow and change and we'll start all over ;)
6 months ago I would have wept at the thought of Derek going to work. Seriously. He got a week off after Vera was born. She was born on Monday morning (after a long day of labor on Sunday) and so he had to go back to work the following Monday. Starting on Wednesday I started to cry every time I thought about him being at work. And the crying continued throughout the rest of the week and obviously into the next week. I probably cried a little bit about it for the next two weeks. And then we went on vacation. And then I probably cried some more when we got home.
I don't cry anymore (thank goodness) but it doesn't mean that we miss Derek any less. The weekends are so much fun when we can spend time together as a family. Some days can get a little long, but Vera and I have found a great rhythm too. And she's gotten so much fun. She rolls everywhere, scoots around in circles on her belly, loves playing independently but also loves to interact and play with others, she sits up like a champ and smiles and laughs all the time. She is such a little joy. I can't believe how much she has changed in 6 months. I can't wait to see what the next 6 will bring :)
Those first few weeks were such a blur. I don't think we had any idea what was going on most of the time but we made it through. I stand firm knowing I have the best husband who is such a perfect match for me and the best dad Vera could ever ask for. If it weren't for our great teamwork I don't know what we would have done. And of course, that teamwork continues. But it's different now. A lot of things can be done without even talking about them -- we just know. Of course, I know that as soon as we think we've got it all figured out, Vera will grow and change and we'll start all over ;)
6 months ago I would have wept at the thought of Derek going to work. Seriously. He got a week off after Vera was born. She was born on Monday morning (after a long day of labor on Sunday) and so he had to go back to work the following Monday. Starting on Wednesday I started to cry every time I thought about him being at work. And the crying continued throughout the rest of the week and obviously into the next week. I probably cried a little bit about it for the next two weeks. And then we went on vacation. And then I probably cried some more when we got home.
I don't cry anymore (thank goodness) but it doesn't mean that we miss Derek any less. The weekends are so much fun when we can spend time together as a family. Some days can get a little long, but Vera and I have found a great rhythm too. And she's gotten so much fun. She rolls everywhere, scoots around in circles on her belly, loves playing independently but also loves to interact and play with others, she sits up like a champ and smiles and laughs all the time. She is such a little joy. I can't believe how much she has changed in 6 months. I can't wait to see what the next 6 will bring :)
Monday, January 14, 2013
we've got a talker
Every day brings something new in the life of Vera. Babies change all the time and I am loving all the things that Vera is learning and doing. She's had the typical baby talking noises for some time now, but just recently she's really found her voice.
Last week Vera and I met my mom for lunch. We were meeting at Noodles and Vera and I arrived first. I have noticed that while my natural tendency has always been to sit on the perimeter of the restaurant seating, that tendency increases even more when you have a baby. It's just so much easier to feel like you can explode with all of your things when you are on the outer edge of the restaurant. I scanned the eating area of Noodles. One man was sitting in a booth alone. Alone. No one else was with him. All that space was being wasted. Vera would have liked that booth. (Side note: I did give him the benefit of the doubt and think that maybe someone was joining him. No. No one joined him.) But alas, there was an empty table in the corner with four chairs. That would be nice, I thought. I started walking that way, trying my best to not hit anyone in the head with the large car seat/baby combo I was holding. Unfortunately during my polite trek to the back on the restaurant a woman beat me to the table. A woman who was alone. Seriously people? Maybe I should have suggested she join the man in the booth.
And so, Vera and I plopped down right in the middle of the restaurant. I sat her on a chair and started taking off her winter garb and getting out some toys and trying to keep all of our things as condensed as possible. All the while I felt like everyone was watching every move we made. I guess the positive of the story was that a woman about my mom's age stopped by our table while she was leaving and told us how cute Vera is. There's the positive of being in the middle of the restaurant -- everyone gets to see my adorable baby ;) My adorable, loud baby.
It was while we were sitting in the middle of Noodles that Vera really found her voice. In essence it was like she was yelling, but in a really cute baby way. But yelling nonetheless. I became extremely self-conscious that everyone would start looking at us and my adorable baby. I even tried to shush Vera but then immediately took it back because I didn't want her to think that talking is a bad thing ;) It got to a point though where I had to put her pacifier in because she was being so loud and babies just don't understand what it means to use an "inside" voice. We'll get to that sometime later.
I'm really excited to see how these "yelling" noises turn into words. I just love watching my daughter grow up :)
Last week Vera and I met my mom for lunch. We were meeting at Noodles and Vera and I arrived first. I have noticed that while my natural tendency has always been to sit on the perimeter of the restaurant seating, that tendency increases even more when you have a baby. It's just so much easier to feel like you can explode with all of your things when you are on the outer edge of the restaurant. I scanned the eating area of Noodles. One man was sitting in a booth alone. Alone. No one else was with him. All that space was being wasted. Vera would have liked that booth. (Side note: I did give him the benefit of the doubt and think that maybe someone was joining him. No. No one joined him.) But alas, there was an empty table in the corner with four chairs. That would be nice, I thought. I started walking that way, trying my best to not hit anyone in the head with the large car seat/baby combo I was holding. Unfortunately during my polite trek to the back on the restaurant a woman beat me to the table. A woman who was alone. Seriously people? Maybe I should have suggested she join the man in the booth.
And so, Vera and I plopped down right in the middle of the restaurant. I sat her on a chair and started taking off her winter garb and getting out some toys and trying to keep all of our things as condensed as possible. All the while I felt like everyone was watching every move we made. I guess the positive of the story was that a woman about my mom's age stopped by our table while she was leaving and told us how cute Vera is. There's the positive of being in the middle of the restaurant -- everyone gets to see my adorable baby ;) My adorable, loud baby.
It was while we were sitting in the middle of Noodles that Vera really found her voice. In essence it was like she was yelling, but in a really cute baby way. But yelling nonetheless. I became extremely self-conscious that everyone would start looking at us and my adorable baby. I even tried to shush Vera but then immediately took it back because I didn't want her to think that talking is a bad thing ;) It got to a point though where I had to put her pacifier in because she was being so loud and babies just don't understand what it means to use an "inside" voice. We'll get to that sometime later.
I'm really excited to see how these "yelling" noises turn into words. I just love watching my daughter grow up :)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
i forgot...
If you have ever been pregnant or someone close to you has been pregnant you have probably heard of "pregnancy brain"-- a common pregnancy joy :) It is the inability to ever remember anything the same way as you once used to. I remember times when I was pregnant and I would have to get ready in the morning for school and half the battle was trying to remember what I already wore to school that week so that I didn't wear it again. The other half of the battle was to find something that fit and looked like it should be worn by a teacher. I had the typical "walk into a room and not remember what you went in there for" as well. I heard from other moms that it got better after the baby was born but that things "stayed a little foggy" for awhile. For some reason I thought I would be the exception to this rule.
I was not.
I still forget things ALL THE TIME. And now I'm losing things too. Just yesterday (was it only yesterday?) I went to find my car keys. They were nowhere. I texted Derek and hoped he would say that he had taken them by mistake. Nope. I looked in my coat pockets, the hook where they normally go, my purse, Vera's diaper bag, the kitchen island, the kitchen counter, the kitchen table. I checked in my car -- the ignition, the front seat and the back seat. Nothing. I didn't think to check inside of Derek's shoe. (Obviously that's where they were otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned that...)
And even as I type this I have a feeling I may have already written something on here about forgetting things...is that possible? I would write about all the things I forgot during the week surrounding Christmas but I have a feeling I've already done that...I guess I'll have to check later. Good grief.
Oh, wait. It just came to my mind. Yup, I have written about this already. Well, thanks for sticking with this post if you are still reading. Clearly this is a big issue for me these days. On a helpful note, Derek got me a planner for Christmas. It's being put to good use.
Now if it could only keep track of my keys.
I was not.
I still forget things ALL THE TIME. And now I'm losing things too. Just yesterday (was it only yesterday?) I went to find my car keys. They were nowhere. I texted Derek and hoped he would say that he had taken them by mistake. Nope. I looked in my coat pockets, the hook where they normally go, my purse, Vera's diaper bag, the kitchen island, the kitchen counter, the kitchen table. I checked in my car -- the ignition, the front seat and the back seat. Nothing. I didn't think to check inside of Derek's shoe. (Obviously that's where they were otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned that...)
And even as I type this I have a feeling I may have already written something on here about forgetting things...is that possible? I would write about all the things I forgot during the week surrounding Christmas but I have a feeling I've already done that...I guess I'll have to check later. Good grief.
Oh, wait. It just came to my mind. Yup, I have written about this already. Well, thanks for sticking with this post if you are still reading. Clearly this is a big issue for me these days. On a helpful note, Derek got me a planner for Christmas. It's being put to good use.
Now if it could only keep track of my keys.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
baby bullet = fantastic!
So first let me start out by saying that I sat down to write a blog post and nearly finished a whole post and decided I didn't really like it so I deleted the whole thing and started over. I just wasn't grooving with the other post and then I realized that I haven't had a chance to write about something that has changed my life.
The baby bullet.
You may be familiar with the magic bullet -- it makes smoothies, guacamole and most famously, fresh salsa. If you have no idea what I am talking about then navigate your way to youtube and look up the infomercial for the magic bullet. I'm sorry if you immediately want one, but that's perfectly normal.
I think it was the New Life auction of 2008 or 2009 that I got my magic bullet. As the auction approached I told Melissa that I would consider getting something if we walked in and there was a really awesome item. And sure enough, we walked into the gym and there was the magic bullet. I was pretty psyched. I can't remember how much I paid for it -- I'm sure it was about $10 more than if I would have gotten it at a store (although I'm not sure they were sold at stores yet) but it was worth every penny! The pictures used to capture that time are priceless. We made lots of good things in the magic bullet -- whipped cream, iced coffee, sorbet, smoothies. Then we tried to salsa. It did not turn out the way the infomercial let me to believe. Shortly after our salsa smoothie (yes, it was the consistency of a smoothie, nobody wants that) the magic bullet started to gather dust. We would still break it out once in awhile but it didn't get used nearly as much as it used to.
But now there is a new household appliance that it changing my life -- the baby bullet. It looks a lot like the magic bullet but it has little cute smiley faces on all of the cups and everything and comes with the cutest little spatula you have ever seen. And as the name might just imply, it's for baby food. I am LOVING making Vera food. Yes, it takes some time but I honestly look forward to it and I have so much fun with it. So far I have made her pears, bananas, avocados and sweet potatoes. She loves it all and I love seeing her try all of these new foods. I'm hoping that by exposing her to a lot of different foods now that she will like all of them as she gets older too, we'll see how that goes ;)
I'm wondering if I should alert the makers of magic bullet and the baby bullet to this blog post, I am after all heavily endorsing their products -- with the exception of that salsa smoothie.
The baby bullet.
You may be familiar with the magic bullet -- it makes smoothies, guacamole and most famously, fresh salsa. If you have no idea what I am talking about then navigate your way to youtube and look up the infomercial for the magic bullet. I'm sorry if you immediately want one, but that's perfectly normal.
I think it was the New Life auction of 2008 or 2009 that I got my magic bullet. As the auction approached I told Melissa that I would consider getting something if we walked in and there was a really awesome item. And sure enough, we walked into the gym and there was the magic bullet. I was pretty psyched. I can't remember how much I paid for it -- I'm sure it was about $10 more than if I would have gotten it at a store (although I'm not sure they were sold at stores yet) but it was worth every penny! The pictures used to capture that time are priceless. We made lots of good things in the magic bullet -- whipped cream, iced coffee, sorbet, smoothies. Then we tried to salsa. It did not turn out the way the infomercial let me to believe. Shortly after our salsa smoothie (yes, it was the consistency of a smoothie, nobody wants that) the magic bullet started to gather dust. We would still break it out once in awhile but it didn't get used nearly as much as it used to.
But now there is a new household appliance that it changing my life -- the baby bullet. It looks a lot like the magic bullet but it has little cute smiley faces on all of the cups and everything and comes with the cutest little spatula you have ever seen. And as the name might just imply, it's for baby food. I am LOVING making Vera food. Yes, it takes some time but I honestly look forward to it and I have so much fun with it. So far I have made her pears, bananas, avocados and sweet potatoes. She loves it all and I love seeing her try all of these new foods. I'm hoping that by exposing her to a lot of different foods now that she will like all of them as she gets older too, we'll see how that goes ;)
I'm wondering if I should alert the makers of magic bullet and the baby bullet to this blog post, I am after all heavily endorsing their products -- with the exception of that salsa smoothie.
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